Gotta Change moments

Something’s gotta change with the way we do local government in Waynesboro – actually, several somethings gotta change. And we’re going to make ‘em change.

First, the May election thing. Gotta Change. I know the arguments in favor of May. The people who vote in May are at least paying attention. A November election can lose the local races in the shuffle.

I call BS. The tradeoff is that we have 2,500 people in a city of 22,000 calling the shots.

Mike Harris and Jeff Freeman both got in the area of 1,400 to 1,500 votes in May to “sweep” the elections for the conservatives. That 6 to 7 percent of the total population. Some sweep.

By contrast, there were 9,000 votes cast in the November 2008 presidential election in Waynesboro. Still short of 50 percent overall, but we’re talking about four times as many people weighing in.

What do the conservatives have to lose here? In that ’08 election, we still saw John McCain and Bob Goodlatte roll to big wins over their Democratic opponents in Waynesboro. OK, so they didn’t do as well in Wards A and C, but …

Which brings me to the next Gotta Change. If we’re going to continue to seat members on City Council and the School Board by ward, then they need to be elected by their ward. Not by the whole city.

It’s been awhile, but for a long stretch in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s we had this weird little tradition in Waynesboro where the voters of Ward A would cast their lot with the candidate running for the Ward A seat on City Council that they wanted, only to see the rest of the city vote for that candidate’s opponent, who of course would then end up representing the ward on City Council.

I call retroactive BS. Ward A should decide who represents Ward A. Maybe then we wouldn’t have the problems that we’re having on Commerce Avenue. You ask me, we’ve been sorely lacking in the representation department in Ward A for about, oh, let’s say the last 30 years, and leave it at that.

I love Jack Higgs and Tim Williams as people – really, I do. Neither has done squat for their ward or the city on City Council. Ward A has largely been forgotten, and it’s because of the way we elect its leaders to our City Council, from my view.

The people in the Tree Streets and Pelham who vote bedrock conservative every two years in May may never venture on the other side of the river to get a glimpse at what life on the other side is like. It’s criminal how little our City Council has paid attention to issues there over the years. The chickens are coming home to roost, and now we’re all up in arms.

November elections, ward by ward. One more Gotta Change. Keep the at-large seat, but whoever represents the city at-large is our mayor.

Which is the case now that Frank Lucente has ascended to his throne. Chuck Ricketts held both for his nine years on City Council.

(Aside: Chuck, we really, really miss you!)

Not that being mayor of Waynesboro is like being mayor of New York or anything. You get to make comments at ribbon cuttings, largely, outside of being the one to bang the gavel at City Council meetings.

I said I was done, but I want to throw in a P.S. Gotta Change. That City Council TV channel is OUR CHANNEL, not THEIR CHANNEL. Remember the furor that Lucente and his minions generated with the help of the local paper a couple of years ago when I suggested that the TV channel be used for a City Council candidates forum? They all cried foul, but you notice that they didn’t take a moratorium on appearing on the City Council TV for the duration of the election cycle themselves, did they?

Two avenues on this one – no more City Council TV, which means no more Oscar moments for Lucente to conjure up tears that make it seem like he cares about people even as he cuts services and school spending to the bone and lowers our standard of living in the process, or open it up to THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY PAY THE BILLS and let us have access to the airwaves.

November elections, ward by ward, elected mayor, City Council TV. It’s time to get started.