Voice of the People: Moving Forward

Congratulations to the representative sampling of Grand Terrace voters who flexed their free agency muscles at the ballot box on November 5, 2013! An overwhelming majority of 61% informed their local leaders that their pockets were empty. Personally, I am for all the good government we can afford, no more, no less. The hook is in the implementation. There have been those who have not hesitated in freely offering their opinion that “the old way is not always the best way” when it pertains to 35 years of funding by the former Redevelopment umbilical cord. Then why not apply the same logic in the way we move forward? Government, like business, must re-tool if it is going to survive in an economy that is woefully short in recovery. Our local elected representatives were never the enemy. Despite qualified advice to the contrary, they may have mistakenly assumed that throwing money at the problem was the best solution for a broken system, and were therefore morbidly out of touch with the will of the people, but after having visited with a representative sampling of the Council over the course of the last couple of days, I can report that their intentions were nearly as pure as the “Save Grand Terrace” motto they advanced. Bloody, but unbowed, the majority who signed their support of the Argument In Favor of Measure C honestly believed that to Save Grand Terrace, the status quo had to be preserved. (Strange medicine for two who ran for public office under a banner of “Change”). What will soon follow is the true measure of the metal in the backbones of our leaders. With or without our help, they are charged with the responsibility of crafting a hybrid system of local government that satisfies agency requirements and services the needs of a people who have become grossly accustomed to a “hands-off, fast-food, there are other people who do that” life style of uninvolvement, convenience, and self-indulgence. It will require more of each council member than the production of slick flyers and the placement of signs the correct distance from the face of the curb. At any rate, I wish them God’s speed.