This is a tough post for me to write.  My longtime friend, mentor, partner in crime and galactic man of action, Creston Owen has passed away.  It leaves a hole in my heart a mile wide.  My heart goes out to his great family and the large circle of friends he leaves behind. 

While I was writing this my daughter asked what “Galactic Man of Action” meant.  Let me answer by telling a short story (note that this isn’t my favorite CMO story but that’s for another time):  About 12-18 months ago I had a private meeting with CMO and 2 other folks.  See, I had heard of this “sesquicentennial” thing and I thought we should do something about it.  I wanted to have a skirmish on Battle street!  We needed a couple of horses riding around and some people firing off muskets.  Maybe a dozen or 2 dudes dressed up in uniform.  Seemed really exciting.  CMO looked at me accross the table and asked “are you asking me to do this?”  With little in the way of reflection about the gears I already saw turning in his head I answered “yes.”  He said “done.”   We busted up the meeting and I didn’t hear from him for about three weeks.

When we finally reconvened I went over to his office and he bounded into the room (by that point he must have lost 80 pounds so he could indeed bound!) and said he had something for me to look at.  He plopped a 15 page presentation into my lap that detailed a re-eneactment of the Battle including 20,000 re-enactors and 100,00 spectators, a Blue & Gray ball, “Dinner with the Generals”, a slew of ongoing events and the establishment of a foundation to make this an ongoing event. 

I was stunned. 

I looked at him and asked, “where’s the event on Battle street?”

he called me a bad name….:)

Thank you CMO.  Thanks for your service to our community and thanks to your family for providing the base of support that makes service possible.  I can’t believe you’re not here anymore…it just doesn’t seem possible……

Before I was elected I used to write for the MJM.  Councilman Randolph regularly reminds me of this and I’ve found an interesting (and a little bit funny) article from 2003.  It concerns a candidates forum that I participated in back then.  Read it through to the end and you’ll get a good belly laugh out of it right near the end:

I was surprised by the turnout at the Candidate’s forum and would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend.  I’d also like to thank the Old Town Business Association and Metz for putting on the forum.  One of our neighboring towns held a similar forum a couple of days ago and the candidates outnumbered the citizens.  Granted, we have more people, but it was still a surprising result.  I would guess that there were a couple hundred people there at the start.  It will be broadcast on Comcast at some point.  

For the most part, I thought the candidates came loaded for bear and stuck to their guns.  Yes, there were some struggles, but my deepest fears that some serious infighting would develop never materialized.  The candidates stuck mainly to the questions (with a few polite pokes) and left each other alone.  Kudos.

 In my mind, this forum represents another step in the maturing of Manassas and our institutions.  Even though the form and function of the questions and answers went from topic to topic the main thrust of how to deal with static borders and a finite amount of dirt was always present.  This problem manifests itself in our tax rate, redevelopment questions and even in our schools.  Some pieces of the solution are obvious: more commercial development will result in lower property taxes.  However, we cannot afford to think of our problems in such a piecemeal fashion.  More commercial development, for instance, may also lead to traffic problems.  In a budget as small as ours, Newton’s law of equal and opposite reactions is set in stone.  Our problems must always be addressed in a more holistic fashion.  Never can we afford a single-minded approach to our budgetary and other problems.  Context is crucial.  There are no single issues in our City.

 Most of the candidates seem to understand this concept.  It can, however, be difficult though as we live in the age of the sound bite and many single-issue candidates.  On the state and national levels, the issues may be amorphous enough to lend themselves to this kind of thinking but at the local level this simply isn’t the case.  The local level is where issues get attached to actual faces and families.  Indeed, I would argue that it is harder, on a personal level, to be a City council member than a member of Congress.  Arguing with a lobbyist wearing a $1000 suit is a far cry from a single mom with two kids in diapers.

 A couple of years ago, I was convinced that I needed to run for City Council.  In watching the recent events I can tell you with all certainty that this will never be the case.  I simply don’t have the resources to deal with it.  I admire those that think they can pull it off, even if I disagree with their politics.

 Whatever your convictions, please educate yourself and vote.  In the end, I can only give you my viewpoint.  Read the paper, educate yourself and take the 15 minutes to cast your ballot.  It is important and in a city this small, it can make all of the difference.  Florida taught all of us that (on a larger scale) in no uncertain terms.