New Election, Same ol Crap

I'm not usually a political person, however with the recent Municipal election I did pay a little more attention to things.

I'm the type of person that believes that no matter who is in power in politics you're never going to be happy any way. That doesn't stop me from voting. I also believe if you don't vote then you don't have a right to complain.

I have to admit that I wasn't really thrilled about the latest local election because there weren't a lot of choices that interested me. It was more with the council that I had trouble making a choice. The choice for mayor was obvious to me as I felt it was time for a change and I'm happy to say my choice was elected. It's not that I have anything against the previous mayor but I just think change can be good.

What also made it somewhat difficult was the fact that I knew all of the candidates personally. At some time in the past I had interacted with each and everyone of them. In the end I made my choices and not all of them were elected and a few of the same boneheads were reelected much to my chagrin. I know it won't make much of a difference any way because the real power isn't with council but the old boys network that pulls the strings and keeps things going to benefit themselves.

The things that need to be done and should be done to make our city grow and prosper won't happen because it might hurt their bottom line. I'm sick of hearing about the downtown and how it is hurting. Well I'm sorry that they're having a tough time but you can only visit so many banks and dollar stores in one day.

Some of the people in this city aren't motivated either. We have third and fourth generation welfare families. These people are simply satisfied living off the government and doing as little as possible. Lets not forget the teenage baby making machines that seem to congregate here. Once again, they get money for having these kids and it all seems to easy for them. What a nice image our city has as people drive through town and see society's uneducated misfits roaming our streets at all hours. But that's an issue for another day.

The city needs to expand and make use of its two major assets. It sits on a beautiful body of water and to sail into our city there is nothing worth stopping for along our river banks. In fact, I know several boaters have been told to just sail on by without stopping. Improve the appeal of the waterfront would be one priority. How about a hotel by the water. No, instead we have a factory on one side and the backside of a grocery store on the other shore. Just lovely.

The second asset is the world's busiest highway which travels right by our city and there's nothing out there to draw people in. You drive past our city and all you see are a few factories, a couple hotels, a Tim Horton's and an airplane on a pedestal. Not a lot of incentive to pull the car over is it? We need to develop that land adjacent to the highway with things that will encourage people to stop. Suggestions would include a shopping mall or big box stores like Best Buy, Lowe's or perhaps a restaurant or two.

I'm not a city planner or someone who gets paid to create traffic flow but when I go to other similar sized cities and I see what they've done I see the potential for our city to grow. This growth can even happen in the beloved downtown as well with some specialty stores and variety.

Perhaps this new council will remove the blinders, turn a deaf ear to the "old money", grow a set of "balls" and bring my city into the current century...but I'm not counting on it.