Posts tagged elections

I think that there should be a law requiring all incumbents to use only accomplishments acquired in the previous term on election-related materials. Additionally, they should only be allowed to use accomplishments that they actually pushed for. In recent weeks, I have noticed that most of the incumbents (not just in Norfolk) seem to use accomplishments that were completed long before the start of the current term. Better yet, some listed few, if any accomplishments, or listed accomplishments that had not yet been actually accomplished. It is tactics like this that deceive voters. It is also tactics like these that make voters vote for new people. Personally, I hope that nobody votes for an incumbent that has been in office for longer than two terms. Take Ms. Hester for example. Not to pick on her, but she has been in office for nearly 14 years. Despite this long running term, she is running on the idea that council has “lost its purpose.” While I definitely do not disagree, I feel the need to point out that when anyone is a member of an organization for 14 years, they become part of that organization. Council has not run off track in the last month or even year. Council has been off track for years. As a whole, Council has spent the past umpteen years pandering to developers while ignoring the needs of the residents of this city. Granted, the new development has not all been bad. Large projects such as Broad Creek and East Beach have been fairly successful. Unfortunately, the in-fill housing practices have not exactly been in the best interest of out neighborhoods. The houses that have been built are usually hideous when compared to the surrounding neighborhoods. My neighborhood is made up mostly of bungalows or other small houses. Most have porches. Few have attached garages. That said, when you build a new house that is noticeably larger than the surrounding houses with no porch and a large, ugly garage taking up half of the front of the house, visitors cringe. Technically, the surrounding property values have gone up due to this new construction. Personally, it makes the surrounding houses worthless to me.

Council’s typical reaction to opposition to an agenda item is to either listen and then vote for it anyway or defer it to a later date in hopes that the opposition can not make that meeting. If opposition continues, it seems to be getting more and more frequent that they have to take out petitions and costly lawsuits to have their voices heard. The City of Norfolk should not be spending money to defend itself against its residents. We need to create comprehensive plans with input from the residents of the city. Then the city needs to actually stick to the plans. These past failings can be attributed to our city leadership. We need new leaders. The current leadership has served its time. If they want to run again after a term of someone else, more power to them. All organizations need a change after awhile.