Walking the town, knocking on doors, and speaking with residents has been eye-opening. The nicest surprise, each time it happens, is when someone inconvenienced by my uninvited presence nevertheless shows amazing grace, asks good questions and gives me their vote.
However, as I expected, the community is polarized, and in ways that cut across conventional divisions. What I understand now is just how insidious the dynamics at play are.
I’m running for City Council partly because I can’t sit by passively and watch the quality of our local conversation continue to decline. We need to put civility back in civics, for starters, and each of us has a role to play.
Let’s get back to basics.
The basic job of citizens is to be informed, ask good questions and hold their political leaders to account.
The basic job of City leaders is to deal with the issues. Let’s start with the basic ones; clean up and maintain our town, catch up on backlogs in code enforcement and planning, and fill the police vacancies. We need to put safety first, listen to residents and hold businesses to the highest standards of sustainability and distinctive, small-scale design. Of course, there are many other specific challenges to tackle. While I’ve addressed some of them here, there is more information on my website.
In my campaign, I’ve tried to set a positive tone and to reflect the sort of spirit I will bring to the job should voters elect me to serve on the City Council. If you do have any questions, please let me hear from you.
Mark Orgill, City Council Candidate
All talk Orgill. Tell me, HOW do you plan on doing these items you mention? Talk is cheap, but I think most people are on to you by now.