Can you turn a blind eye to unread email?

There's a new land development a-brewin' in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the citizens aren't particularly happy about it. So, rather than picketing or hoping that they'll be heard at a board meeting, they're taking advantage of the power of email. At least, that's what they thought were doing.

Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom revealed Fort Lauderdale Planning and Zoning Board member Fred Stresau's personal email address to the public. "[I was] just trying to make it more convenient for the public to give input. Would they prefer the public call them at home? It's a public process. We are public servants. We are here to serve the public," said Rodstrom.

Stresau thinks otherwise. "I don't need to hear from all these people that were here tonight, to have my e-mail clogged up because the city gave my e-mail address out," said Stresau. He has requested that the city remove his personal email from the public records, but Assistant City Attorney Sharon Miller has suggested that this isn't possible. Stresau's response? "...I'll change my e-mail address. This is absolutely ridiculous!"

It'll be interesting to see how this ends. On one hand, you can understand Stresau's frustration in that his personal email is being used for matters that are not personal. On the other hand, the city doesn't provide advisory board members with a .gov email address, so there's little alternative if residents want to communicate with him via email.