New Brooms

Submitted By: tmweissbach@charter.net – Click to email about this post
GENERAL INTEREST: New Brooms?
Recent elections in Manzanita have brought new candidates to the fore. While the candidates are new, are their ideas either new or practical? What are their claims?
1) We’re long-term residents, and we will bring back the good old days. Too late!
2) We will listen to you, unlike the current mayor and council. What they mean is that that they didn’t get their way. They were listened to but what they wanted was either ill-informed, required money that wasn’t available, or just impossible to grant under the law.
3) The current leadership is beholden to special interests. Who are these special interests?
4) There are too many short-term rentals. Agree, but how else can you fund city government? You know, things like police, city manager, office staff, maintenance of our infrastructure.
5) There should be more diversity. Have you ever looked at the population of Manzanita? Where is the diversity to come from? What I look for in a candidate for office is someone who can contribute to effective governance regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
6) The city should bring back the 4th of July parade and fireworks. The city doesn’t have the funds, and many of the volunteers who helped manage these events have aged out. The fireworks were paid for with donations, not city funds. If you have $25 to $30 thousand dollars handy, let the City Council know.
7) The City should stick to its comprehensive plan. That plan hasn’t been examined and modified for 20 years. The plan needs to be revised, and is being revised. Are you willing to spend the time to help in that process or is it just someone else’s responsibility?
We have been blessed in Manzanita with exceptional leadership. Consider carefully before you listen to promises that can’t be kept. Manzanita is undergoing rapid and irreversible change. Life here is not what it used to be, and it will never revert to the good old days. We can only hope to manage the change as intelligently as possible.
Ted Weissbach