Welcome To the 20th Century

So now we have not just one, but two recycled mayors on the council. The good news is that only four members of the previous council will be returning. But only three members have never been on council before.

Too bad that we had to lose so much of our historic downtown in Littell's unsuccessful push for the mayor's job. Maybe this demolition didn't have the support that you claimed Mark. You might have found that out earlier if everything wasn't done in private. Didn't help your right hand man, Mr. Bradford either.

Voting

Which developer's candidate are you voting for?

Of course, to make it easier, some developers are supporting more than one.

Choices

The new

the old

or

the retreads.

Campaign Donations

During the current election campaign we have heard a lot about transparency and openness. But that does not seem to be the case when it comes to just who is donating to the various mayoral campaigns. Before the election some of the candidates even said that they would provide a fairly current list of donations. But with 10 days left to election day a check of the various candidates'
websites provided no clues as to the identity of any donors or the amount that these campaigns have received. Maybe I missed something but I sure couldn't find this information. Not a good start to honesty and transparency.

Names Or It Didn't Happen

On a message board that I sometimes visit, if someone posts something that other don't quite believe, a common reply is "pictures or it didn't happen". The same skepticism could apply to many stories in our local media. Often we hear of large drug busts and the arrest of a number of people, but the names of those involved are not given. Because few court happenings make the media at all, there is never any follow up either. Same for robberies or the arrest of thieves and burglars. I'm not suggesting that these stories are made up but without names how are we to know for sure?

And one of the stupider things that appeared recently was the story about a store in the downtown being robbed in daylight and a citizen who tried to stop the thieves being stabbed. Nothing amusing here. The name of the one robber who was not a youth was given. But at the same time the store was not identified while an appeal was made for those with information to come forward. How could those who might have witnessed something unusual know if it was relevant if they don't know where the occurrence took place. Why all the secrecy about the store's name and location. Is this really going to help the reputation of the downtown, or what is left of it?