A couple of days ago, I wrote about the current downtown redevelopment project in relation to the news that San Joe’s was leaving downtown. Well, something very cool happened. City Commissioner Bob Langstaff came and gave us the “skinny” on details that the mainstream media either can’t or won’t give us. Frankly, I don’t think they can. Just click the above link and see the detail that Commissioner Langstaff gave us and you’ll see why. They only have so much space after all.
So, with that in mind, I want to offer an invitation to every elected official in this community, or their staff. Bring it on!
I don’t mean “bring it on” in a combative way either. When an assistant district attorney comes on and corrects my misunderstandingsabout grants, like Christopher Cohilas did, it doesn’t just correct mymisunderstandings, but a whole lot of other people’s as well. I think Mr. Cohilas for that. When I say bring it on, I simply mean for folks to come and set us straight. If we’re wrong, let us know how and where.
Commissioner Langstaff’s comments seemed to have gotten around, as we had a busy day yesterday and a good chunk came off of that one post. The only thing new? The inside scoop from a city commissioner. That should tell you one thing about the people of Albany. That one thing is that they want to be informed. They want to understand the whys. They want to support their commissioners, but need the tools to do that.
I’m asking for more of our elected officials to come here and set us straight when we’re wrong. Not only does it help the community (and frankly, this blog), but also it helps you. I communicated with several people who were impressed that he commented and were appreciative. These are the voters of Albany, and if they understand why you did something, they’re more likely to support it.
We provide a pretty open forum. We don’t permit personal attacks to continue, but other than that we don’t do heavy moderation unless we tell you upfront in that post that it’ll be moderated like that. Discussion is the life’s blood of a democratic republic, and we provide that like no other place on the Internet.
I ask you, dear readers, to pass this along to your elected officials. Tell them you want them to post their comments over here and let us know what they’re thinking and why. We’ll even publish posts of their own under our “Publius” account…signed by them of course.
Commissioner Langstaff’s comments yesterday presented us with a unique opportunity. We have an opportunity to raise the level of public debate to unprecedented levels, so seize this chance. We’ll say what we’re going to say anyways, but you can help make sure we’re right!
