Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
To the editor: My wife can string together a beautiful quilt. She takes scraps of material that were not big enough to make anything by themselves and sews them together into works of art. In Oregon, Ohio we have a wonderful mix of people that make up our town. We have farmers concerned about vanishing crop land and urbanization.
We have retirees concerned with flat incomes and rising costs. We have new home buyers seeing dreams crushed by rising prices. We have homeowners concerned with tax increases. I could name more. The problem seems to be everyone wants to see responsible change that is helpful to their groups.
They are like pieces of fabric waiting to be quilted into a beautiful change quilt. They seem too diverse to come together yet they must. Farmers, your patch is not big enough to effect change. Retirees, your patch is not big enough. Home buyers, your patch isn’t big enough. If we want change from city government, we must vote for different people.
Our patches by themselves will not be enough unless we join together behind someone who has a proven track record of listening to people.
We need someone who will be transparent and accessible. For 16 years people have heard the same story. Mismanaged public money, inflated budgets, unnecessary emergency measures with limited time for citizen response, slow reaction to city needs and worst of all a lack of openness. This city needs to be more citizen friendly.
I have heard many different opinions on the upcoming mayoral election on November 4th. Most fall into the category of why I can’t vote for some person. Let’s ask ourselves, will things change with the same people in office? If not, can we come together and vote for Steve Salander and Paul Gibbs for change.
Who to choose is on everyone’s mind here. May I remind you of the old expression: “All that it takes for bad people to get elected, or reelected, is for good people not to vote.”
This quilt idea comes from a speech given 30 years ago at the 1994 Democratic National Convention by Jesse Jackson. The concept has never been more relevant than today.
Fred Lewis
Oregon 5 Precinct Chairman
