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Minutes of a Public Hearing <br />October 6, 2010 <br />Page 22 <br />really concerned about that's going to be a long-term process and no matter how much <br />time and effort people put in to trying to say why we did stuff, it's very difficult to get <br />that message across. Obama spent, it's really interesting to watch President Obama <br />trying to explain his programs and you can ask most people and they still don't <br />understand what's in the Healthcare Act or other things that he's talked on. People have; <br />a limited amount of time in order to absorb complex issues and if you're trying to inform <br />a whole public of what's been deliberated by a group, it's very time consuming and very <br />difficult to do. It's not impossible, but it's difficult. <br />Q: That's why we have paper. <br />Dr. Keller: The trouble is, if some people oppose it and have interest in it, they use soundbytes <br />and most citizens from my experience are unlikely to read long documents. That's just <br />an issue. This is an issue for you to decide. I can just say, that's the experience. <br />Q: How many of the Congressmen read the entire Healthcare Bill? <br />Mayor Rinker: I'd be surprised. <br />* * * <br />Q: I have a two-part question for Dr. Keller and I enjoyed his academic presentation, but I <br />don't know how many people are in Lakewood, over 100,000? <br />Dr. Keller: No, 52,0000. <br />Q: 52,000, so it's approximately 10 times the size of Mayfield and I think and I would hope <br />that you would agree that a village the size of Mayfield would lean toward the <br />Jeffersonian more than a city the size of Lakewood, the Hamiltonian. The second part of <br />my question which is more serious is again using Lakewood and I know nothing about <br />Lakewood, I know nothing about the water rates or what was done there or what should <br />have been done there, but when you say that it was necessary to let representatives rather <br />than the people decide how the water system was going to be paid for, aren't you really <br />saying that the people just aren't smart enough to do that themselves. <br /> <br />Dr. Keller: No. Not at all. Not at all. I go back to why I vote the way I do for my <br />Councilmembers. I can never know all of the issues in sufficient depth to vote on <br />because I can't devote the time and I want these to be part of a deliberative process and