Council
of the Town of Greenbelt
The
citizens of Greenbelt wanted to be involved in choosing their
government.
The Town
council and other
citizens' associations were very important to the
city of Greenbelt because they wanted to be involved in every aspect of
their neighborhood, especially the government. There was the Council of
Town of Greenbelt, the Greenbelt Citizen's Association and the Junior
Citizen's Association. The Council of Town of Greenbelt was basically the
city government. It governed over everything that happened in the city
and handled all municipal affairs. It was made up of elected officials
who represented the citizens and made decisions on their behalf. The
Greenbelt Citizen's Association, on the other hand, was made up of all the
citizens in Greenbelt who were over the age of 21. The members voted
for officers and committees to govern meetings and discuss topics.
The most interesting aspect of this organization that illustrates
Greenbelt's sense of community, whether forced or otherwise, is in the
NOTE after the description in the Directory of Greenbelt Organizations
which states that,"EVERY RESIDENT SHOULD FEEL IT IS HIS DUTY TO ATTEND
THE MONTHLY MEETINGS" (Ibid, p. 3). I feel
that
this is basically saying
that to be a resident in this community, you must belong and
contribute to this group and if you do not than you could be excluded
from the community very easily.
The final organization in
this group is the Junior Citizen's Association. It was made up of those
citizens who were between the ages of seven and 21. The purpose of this
group was to provide a chance for the youth to voice their opinions.
Personally, I found this purpose to be hypocritical because at this time
children were to be seen and not heard. If they did have an opinion it
did not matter because what their parents said was what was law, not what
they thought. Maybe the other two groups took the Junior Citizen's
Association seriously, but I doubt it due to the rights of children being
limited in the late 30's and early 40's.
This sculpture is in the center of Greenbelt and symbolizes
the
theme
of
the council which is to be the protector of the rights of its
citizens due to its theme of mother protecting child.