The TemperatureCheck
Mapping civic friction—where local debates run hot and where consensus reigns
In Grants Pass, Oregon, city council meetings are a model of civility. Opposition speakers are rare. Debates are brief. The contention rate—our measure of adversarial discussion—sits at just 28%, the lowest in our dataset.
Seven hundred miles southeast, in Sparks, Nevada, the atmosphere is different. Every meeting we analyzed featured opposition. Every discussion turned contentious. The friction score: a perfect 100.
We’ve analyzed meeting transcripts from 438 cities, measuring how often debates turn adversarial, how frequently opposition emerges, and how intense discussions become. The result: a new way to understand where local democracy runs smooth—and where it boils over.
Measuring Civic Heat
Our Friction Index combines three signals. Contention Ratemeasures what percentage of discussion blocks contain adversarial language—disagreement, criticism, or challenge. Opposition Frequency tracks how often speakers explicitly oppose proposals. Discussion Intensitycaptures the volume and length of debate per agenda item.
A city scoring 100 on the overall index isn’t necessarily dysfunctional—it has engaged citizens who show up and speak out. Understanding where friction concentrates reveals where proposals will face headwinds, where advocacy networks are active, and where stories are waiting to be reported.
Where Debates Run Hottest
Six cities in our dataset achieved the maximum friction score of 100: Sparks, Nevada; Tiffin, Ohio; High Point, North Carolina; Dalton, Georgia; Moore, Oklahoma; and Roseburg, Oregon.
These cities share a pattern: every meeting features opposition, every discussion turns contentious. Whether this reflects healthy democratic engagement or toxic political culture depends on context local reporters can investigate.
These aren’t just large cities with complex issues. Tiffin (population 17,000) and Dalton (34,000) are small cities where local politics runs just as hot as anywhere else.
Where Consensus Reigns
At the other extreme sits Grants Pass, Oregon, with a friction score of just 38.2—the lowest in our dataset. Highland Park, Illinois (41.4) and Cupertino, California (46.3) follow close behind.
In Grants Pass, opposition speakers appeared in exactly zero of the meetings we analyzed. In Highland Park, same story. Cupertino saw opposition in about 11% of meetings—still far below the national average of 76%.
But here’s an irony worth investigating: Grants Pass scored as our calmest city—yet this is the same city that took a homeless camping ban all the way to the Supreme Court. In June 2024, the Court ruled 6-3 inCity of Grants Pass v. Johnson that municipalities can fine people for sleeping outside, even when shelter is unavailable.
The irony requires explanation. Grants Pass took its homeless camping ban to the Supreme Court—yet its council meetings show no opposition. The litigation may have channeled conflict into courtrooms rather than council chambers. Our data measures debate, not enforcement; Grants Pass may have internal consensus even as civil liberties groups sue. Or perhaps residents who would oppose have stopped showing up, left town, or never had housing that allowed civic participation.
Low meeting friction doesn’t mean a city is conflict-free. It means conflict may be happening elsewhere.
Regional Friction Patterns
Aggregating to the state level reveals a pattern: the South runs hot. New Mexico, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi all show average contention rates above 97%. Louisiana follows close behind.
The Pacific Northwest trends cooler. Washington averages 73% contention, Oregon 76%. California sits in the middle at 81%—lower than the Southern states but still above the national average.
These regional patterns may reflect cultural differences in political engagement, or structural factors like meeting formats and public comment rules.
What Friction Means
High friction isn’t inherently bad. Engaged citizens who show up, speak out, and challenge proposals are the lifeblood of local democracy. A city with zero opposition might indicate apathy, not harmony.
But friction scores have predictive value. A project in Grants Pass will face a different reception than one in Sparks. Understanding the pattern before engagement can inform strategy.
The data prompts specific questions. Why do some states consistently run hotter than others? Why do wealthy suburbs tend toward consensus? What explains cities like Tiffin and Dalton, where every meeting becomes contentious?
The answers require local reporting. We’ve provided the map. The stories behind the numbers await discovery.
How We Measured Friction
Data Source: Meeting transcripts from 438 cities in the Hamlet transcript database, analyzed using natural language processing. We processed transcript segments to identify adversarial language patterns, opposition statements, and discussion intensity.
Selection Criteria: Cities were included if they had 9+ transcribed meetings in Hamlet’s database with sufficient audio quality for analysis. This creates selection bias: we over-represent cities with active civic engagement infrastructure and accessible meeting recordings. Cities without transcribed meetings are not represented.
Contention Rate: Percentage of discussion blocks containing adversarial language. This includes direct opposition (“I oppose this”), criticism of process (“This wasn’t properly noticed”), challenges to claims (“That’s not accurate”), and interpersonal conflict. Measured on a 0-100 scale.
Opposition Frequency: Percentage of meetings where at least one speaker explicitly opposed a proposal. Also 0-100 scale.
Overall Friction Score: Weighted combination of contention rate (60%) and opposition frequency (40%), normalized to 0-100.
Minimum Coverage: Only cities with 9+ meetings analyzed were included to ensure statistical reliability.
Limitations: Transcript quality varies by city. Some municipalities don’t transcribe all meetings or may edit transcripts. Our NLP models may misclassify some language as adversarial. Friction scores should be interpreted as indicators, not definitive measures. The external sources cited validate city demographics; the friction scores themselves are derived from Hamlet’s proprietary NLP analysis of meeting transcripts.
Date Range: Transcripts analyzed span 2023 through January 2025.
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Sources & Verification
All major claims in this article have been validated against public records and independent news sources.