Mathematician
Reason, and reason again
Due to my want to stay in this area and teach after I graduate from college, recent events have fired me up more than they otherwise would have if my intentions were to move. I've been playing with the idea for the past year, but with the list of problems building, I think I've come to a pretty strong conclusion: I'm going for it.
Running as an 18 year old will of course be a challenge, but hopefully I've got what it takes to make people forget my age and just know my policies. If not, I obviously don't deserve the position. But I'm confident that I will at least be able to get a large number of my brothers and sisters to rally together in support of a cause:
Recently our small city of 15,000 has witnessed some terrible decision-making by part of our leadership -- last year the City council rushed to amended our charter so that Walmart and other store chains could develop outside of our quiet and peaceful neighborhoods, ignoring the city's unfavorable opinion. To make the issue worse, a promimant activist was charged with libel and slander. The lawsuit cost him $725,000.
The reasoning behind the support for major development was growth and property taxes. However, the latter of the two is looking to be an empty promise as each day passes us by. Our city has always had high property taxes (.56%), and now that we're sacrificing some of our 'homely' feel, I think it's about time the citizens start paying less.
The second issue I have is with lake negligence. A school mate of mine died this past year due to a drunk boater. The tragedy became an outrage when it was revealed that our lake patrol was not only untrained, but also uncaring. We share some parts of the lake with neighboring cities, but I feel obligated to at least make sure our citizens feel safe when they're out on the water.
Lastly, recent growth has made for our schools to become overcrowded. The city is unwilling to address the issue, knowing that with WalMart, Barnes & Nobles, and a movie theater will come more growth. I want to respond to this issue so that our children don't have to stack up 30+ in a classroom, as we're now seeing in the middle school.
There are also smaller issues I want to address, such as having citizens pay to buy a certain number of recycling bags. I personally feel we should return to the city's early years when recycling and natural preservation were high priorities.
So yeah -- consider this my own Clinton-esque announcement, down-sized to a pea.
Running as an 18 year old will of course be a challenge, but hopefully I've got what it takes to make people forget my age and just know my policies. If not, I obviously don't deserve the position. But I'm confident that I will at least be able to get a large number of my brothers and sisters to rally together in support of a cause:
Recently our small city of 15,000 has witnessed some terrible decision-making by part of our leadership -- last year the City council rushed to amended our charter so that Walmart and other store chains could develop outside of our quiet and peaceful neighborhoods, ignoring the city's unfavorable opinion. To make the issue worse, a promimant activist was charged with libel and slander. The lawsuit cost him $725,000.
The reasoning behind the support for major development was growth and property taxes. However, the latter of the two is looking to be an empty promise as each day passes us by. Our city has always had high property taxes (.56%), and now that we're sacrificing some of our 'homely' feel, I think it's about time the citizens start paying less.
The second issue I have is with lake negligence. A school mate of mine died this past year due to a drunk boater. The tragedy became an outrage when it was revealed that our lake patrol was not only untrained, but also uncaring. We share some parts of the lake with neighboring cities, but I feel obligated to at least make sure our citizens feel safe when they're out on the water.
Lastly, recent growth has made for our schools to become overcrowded. The city is unwilling to address the issue, knowing that with WalMart, Barnes & Nobles, and a movie theater will come more growth. I want to respond to this issue so that our children don't have to stack up 30+ in a classroom, as we're now seeing in the middle school.
There are also smaller issues I want to address, such as having citizens pay to buy a certain number of recycling bags. I personally feel we should return to the city's early years when recycling and natural preservation were high priorities.
So yeah -- consider this my own Clinton-esque announcement, down-sized to a pea.
