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Whether or not America’s “institutions” are failing is open to debate.  It’s difficult to generalize the problem and just include “everyone” or “those guys”.  Certainly the federal banking institutions were asleep at the switch in th runup to the financial collapse.  However, Congress is just as much to blame for hamstringing effective laws that prevented financial panics for the better part of 70 years.  Even a layman like me understands that having housing appreciate at 100% a year is maybe not natural.  In this much I agree with the Tea party folks: our federal institutions are an unmanageable mess that are being goverened for political ends.  That needs to fundamentally change and perhaps starving them of cash is the way to do it if nothing else will work because make no mistake: anything exists in the Federal government only because Congress wants it to exist.  Elected officials in Washington who have oversight of a particular apparatus of the government guard that role jealously.  As I’m not inside the federal institutions, I’m sure my opinion isn’t all that different from most folks.

I never thought that I, the metal-head, down-with-the-man college student turned business-man would say the following but: I am a part of the institution at the local level.  From my perch inside the local institution I think the problem has another aspect: neglect.  People don’t understand anymore that local governance is not a spectators sport.  Everyone believes that someone else is going to fix that problem.

We had a 10% turnout for the election a few days ago.  The institutions don’t get done what people want because nobody can be bothered.  They put an angry, anonymous post on someone’s blog and call it done.  It’s as though all of the City activities are provided by some mysterious thrid party.  Couple that with very limited reporting of local government issues (an under-reported (har-har) and huge problem) and nobody knows what’s going on.  People don’t have any clue as to the scope of local government activities or how much is spent in the pursuit of such.  I once had a Washington Post reporter apologize for calling me at home, she said “I’m sorry, this number was listed on the city website and I thought it was your City office”.  I replied: “it is.”

I believe that neglect is the main problem because it’s what I see the most.  One of the first votes I took on Council was to spend several million dollars on sewage treatment capacity.  We really didn’t have any option – we had to have more capacity but I remember clearly thinking: “I’m about to spend $4 million dollars of taxpayer money and there’s not a damn soul here.”  It surprised me.  Now it suprises me if anyone bothers to show up – unless it’s a contrived political issue.  Want to do something funny?  Take two of your closest friends and go to a Council meeting along about 7:00 on night.  You’ll probably be the only people in the audience.  Watch as the Council members lean over to each other and say “are those your people?  What issue are they here for?”

Read all the way to the bottom of the Atlantic article – the guy actually goes to a Board meeting.  The board listens to his tale of woe and does something to help the guy out.  Odds are that board had some City staff on it as well as some appointees.  They’re all just people like you and me yet both the person involved and the author of the article are both shocked something good happened.  Local government does work but people have to be willing to put their shoulder to the wheel and make it work.  The more people who have at least some understanding of what’s going on the better.  Engagement drives the process at the local level and makes this work.  If people aren’t engaged and don’t understand, they’ll do what people always do: unplug.  Difficult policy decisions are only possible when the citizens are engaged and that process is going to become central to local governments success in the coming years.

Despite a long and relatively brutal mis-information/anti campaign, Mr. Wolfe was the top vote-getter.  The voters seem to be happy with his brand of politics.

Getting elected is hard work.  It’s a tall order to fill and door-knocking is the best way to be succesful.  I saw Ian door-knocking in the snow before the convention.  It’s what it takes.

I find it astonishing that a write-in campaign run for an un-involved candidate nearly won.  I think it’s a real testament to Sheryl’s character and long service to the city as well as the organizers of the campaign.

The School Board leadership was retained.  This was relatively important.  It is fair to say that they were late in recognizing that there was a problem but they’re moving now and, from my perch on the EdFwd committee, I find them reasonable partners to work with.  Now if we could just get more than 10 people to the public input sessions….

I’ve only been in politics for a couple of years (I guess it’s actually 6 years now) but this was a relatively ugly affair by Manassas standards.  Don’t know that I’m a fan of “win at any cost” politics.

The Howlers have recently taken an interest in City politics and their first story (in 4 parts) was an interesting take on what they see.  You can learn alot about yourself or the things you are close to if you listen to the reflections of those who aren’t so closely involved.

I was watching TV this morning and there was a commerecial with Andrea Mitchell saying something along the lines of “the only goal in elections should be to get as many people to vote as possible.  When the American people are engaged, the right decisions get made”.

This sort of “vote at any cost” mantra gives me heartburn.  Not so much on the Federal level, there’s almost too much coverage of the Federal system.  The eternal campaign for president ensures coverage of a – “We’ve always been at war with Eastasia” sort of deal.  It never ends.  However, information at the State and local level is far more difficult to come by.  The WaPo stops by when they smell blood in the water and the JM sends a reporter when there isn’t really anything else going on anywhere else.

When I was in Front Royal several weeks ago, I went for a run the morning after we had dinner in the Old Town part of Front Royal.  On my way back, I ran into an older woman who was putting campaign signs in.  I inquired as to whether she was the candidate and she responded that she was indeed running for office.  Turns out her big issue was to move town elections to November.  She asked what I thought.  I told her I didn’t think much of the idea.

My concern, as I alluded to above, is that the local issues just get lost in the mix.  I think some level of focus on local issue in May elections is no bad thing.  What do you guys think?

Update: no, it isn’t me.  don’t ask b/c I don’t know.

However, it’s back.  I wanted to keep it down longer but I was really touched by the number of people who wrote (an actual letter), called, emailed and stopped by the office to lament the maintenance mode.  That was humbling.

The rules are the same now as they were before but with a twist: no anonymous posting.  All posters will have to create an account before they post.  The registration process is simple and therefore not foolproof but it is better than nothing.  Accounts might be suspended if I get tired of individuals.  Will it decrease the number of posts? Probably.  However, I write the blog for me and nobody else.  It’s a fact I’ve probably lost sight of over the years and it’s affected what and how I write.  If I’m succesful in passing along information, that’s great but I’m not the PR department.

Peace.

At the risk of another “Miami Episode” I’ll say that Lynchburg isn’t a bad place.  It kinda reminds me of Roanoke although, on the fringe, it looks a lot like parts of NoVa.  For whatever reason, having at least 3 and maybe more colleges hasn’t transformed Lynchburg into a hip little mountain town.  Mr. Falwell may have something to do with that…dunno…whatever the fact of the matter, both are relatively small conservative southern towns.  I like them.  They have an incredibly strong sense of community.  of “self”.  From a visitors point of view, Roanoke’s vision…or maybe identity seems a bit more cohesive.  However, both have significant problems as well.  Outside their central cores, zoning is kind of crazy – gas stations next to houses – and there is quite a bit of run-down almost blighted property.  That part I don’t like so much.

Manassas has this kind of identity or “self”.  It’s changed over the past couple of years but it is still here.  I know it’s here because through all we’ve endured, people still care and argue passionately about this place.  Go look at the previous post: 100+ comments.  That’s not a community where nobody gives a crap.  People call me, they come to my house and setup grand plans to take over the governement.  People that don’t care don’t do stuff like that.  People call us “Manaxico” and “Manassashole”, hell, I called it “The Jungle” but many of those same people aren’t leaving.

Now we all join arms and sing songs right?  Not exactly.  I have a confession: I like that Fairfax has killer schools.  I want to live in a place that has killer schools.  I like that central market in Roanoke.  I like that Fairfax and Prince William have tons of infrastructure for public recreation.  I want great schools and great recreation in my town.  I want to maintain that sense of place and identity.  We’re doing none of this.  At all.  In fact, the leadership of the city is very busy in making our town compare ever more poorly with our neighbors.

However, there is one bright spot: Our tax burden is the lowest in the region.  A great example of how that is helping us is that the “Fashion Fantasy” adult store has closed and been replaced by a “we buy gold” store.  Let me put it to you like this: have you ever encountered someone who said, “well, we were going to move to Prince William so we could enroll our child in the Science and Tech high school but taxes were a couple hundred bucks cheaper in Manassas so we moved there.”  Ever heard that?  Me either.

None of this is an argument to raise taxes.  I don’t want to pay more tax than I have to.  I also own a business in the City so I pay almost every tax we have.  I’m arguing that we’re always having the wrong conversation: let’s figure out what we want Manassas to be and figure out how to make it happen.  Our ambitions are clearly limited by our means but we need to set those goals so, when resources are available, we make strategic choices that everyone understands.

Now, I don’t know a hell of a lot about Coburn’s politics but, in the healthcare debate, his physicians’ point of view is pretty interesting.  Indeed, along with some of the others who seem to know what they’re doing it makes me wonder how the healthcare bill was so horribly botched.  Face it, you might not like Obamacare but something needs to happen with healthcare.  It’s a mess.  My favorite idea is nation-wide insurance instead of state by state but I’m no expert.

A little closer to home the state Senate, a somewhat regular bastion of sanity in Richmond, have tossed their mental cookies.  As a part of their budget, they’ve included a provision that requires localities to deposit fines resulting from the violation of local ordinances with the state treasury.  At that point they’ll divvy up the resulting money according to a formula.  As always, that formula will be very favorable to begin with but, within a couple of years, most of it will be state revenue.  It’s kinda like having a friend of a friend over to your house and you emerge from the bathroom to find your friends’ friend digging around in your couch cushions for spare change.

Right here in river city, the Council and School Board are finalizing our respective budgets.  Almost every strategic planning session I’ve been involved in has concluded that communications are not well-handled in the City.  Education Forward also identified it as a priority.  The Schools had half a position in their budget to begin with and then took it out.  The Council has failed to do anything about it 6 years running.  However a majority of the Council, if polled seperately, would agree communications are a real problem…:)  I’ve asked for a communications position to be put on the open items list.  We’ll see.

I don’t know what all of that means but it is interesting that institutions resist any and all change until it is absolultely inevitable.  I guess the trick is figuring out when that is without letting the whole damn thing plunge over the cliff.

All of this reminds me of a saying my Grandfather used when my father asked if one of his friends could come over and help with chores:  “Son, if I got one boy, I got a whole boy.  If I’ve got two boys, I’ve got half a boy and if I got three boys I got no boy at all….”

A snap meeting of the Education Forward committee has been scheduled for Thursday at 7:00pm.  Haven’t seen an agenda or anything else so I don’t know what we’re meeting about.  I do recall that, at the last meeting, the committee asked staff to price out the different programs we were looking at.  No idea if we’ll see that.