New councils, presidents can realize future
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 12, 2000
L’Observateur / January 12, 2000
Monday was inauguration day throughout the River Parishes, and with that came the perpetual hope of a spirit of cooperation, professionalism, public-mindedness, fairness and an end of politics as has historically been practiced. Alas, such will likely not be the case this time, either.Virtually every new panel of public officials take office, often as “reform” candidates, promising new vigor, resolve and determination not to repeat the mistakes of the past group. Unfortunately, they often notonly repeat those mistakes, but repeat their own earlier mistakes and come up with a few new ones of their own.
If this sounds cynical, it isn’t intended to be so. However, consideringpolitical history, it’s a realistic view. They are only human and mistakeswill be made.
We certainly hope such problems will be at a minimum and such pledges and promises have real meaning this time. The River Parishes region is ata critical juncture in its long, common history. From colonial times, whenthey all struggled together to carve a living from the resources at hand, to the shared grief of the Civil War, to the shared prosperity of the 20th century, the River Parishes have suffered together, fought together and celebrated together and hope to continue to grow together for many years to come.
This is a time for true leadership to step forward, to take command of the circumstances and not react to events but act to make events happen for the shared and common good of all citizens.
This is a time for petty personality differences to be set aside and for true political leadership to shape our future and our descendants’ futures.
What happens now, at this point in our history, will have lasting effects for decades to come. Projects and plans are afoot to direct many areas ofgrowth, from government reorganization to unprecedented residential and business growth to new dimensions in education and public utilities.
The River Parishes’ political leadership need to realize their potential and come together with a shared vision of controlled growth, managed prosperity, plans for a downsized economy when it will surely come and vision to insure the future for coming generations.
In the three River Parishes there are new viewpoints, new political facets and new diversity. Historical political alliances may find themselveschallenged by the new status quo, as many more voters move into the area and take an interest in local government. And improved education willcertainly lead to a more greatly involved electorate which will not be content to allow the “good old boys” to continue as they may have been accustomed.
We have the potential to mire in mediocrity or rise to the challenge and make those improvements more and more people see as vital to our future.
Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.
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