Time for A Change (Again)
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 00:00
Starkville has just elected a new mayor. Parker Wiseman, 28 years old, will be the mayor for the next four years, and we’ll see if his plan for “change” really brings the changes we need, or if it’s just more campaign rhetoric said to get him elected.
An April 24, 2009 MSU Reflector article quoted Wiseman as saying he wanted to be a “candidate for change” and that Starkville needs to “change” it’s economic focus. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a non-incumbent candidate speak without claiming that “change” was needed.
Our last election, the most significant change we had was who was sitting in the mayor’s chair.
I believe I recall our current mayor talking about the need for a change, especially building a new Justice Complex, back when he ran for office four years ago. On that front, there’s been no change. Today, the much-needed Justice Complex is still little more than just a topic for discussion.
There’s no accepted floorplan, no land purchased, and our police officers are still tripping over each other in the under-sized, over-stuffed quarters they call home each shift. The building they struggle to work from houses City Hall, city court rooms, the City Clerk, the Mayor’s office, several other departments of the city, in addition to the entire Police Department. Parking is less than adequate (there’s an understatement), and it’s right across from the First Baptist Church, which make sparking even more difficult for city employees, city residents trying to do business at City Hall, and the Baptists.
The last administration managed to throw out every plan that was presented to them, even a plan presented with the full support of the police department. There wasn’t enough enough spirit of compromise in the recent city administration to identify. “Let’s work it out and get it done for the good of the city” was not their credo. “I’ve got my pet project in mind, and that’s all I’ll agree to” seems to have been their operational standard.
So, once again, it’s now “time for a change”, according to most or all of the recent candidates. Time for a change. I think I agree with that, but in a way different from what the candidates may have envisioned. I’m not thinking about change in terms of whose seat is in which chair at City Hall. I don’t really care about that. I’m thinking about a change in attitude. Drop the preservation of self interests,. and let’s get a new Justice Complex, one that will enable our police department to operate as they should, with room to expand.
The change I think it’s time for is the adoption of a new city motto: “Let’s get it done for the good of the city.”. That would be change I could believe in.
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