Last week’s election totals told the whole story. I’ve been sitting and stewing for some time about it. Why? Why on earth did so few go out to vote? In some cases, no challenger probably had a lot to do with it. But what about others?
In Leesburg, the City Council Race yielded a whopping 90 votes, of with Jeff Sexton got 20. Now, Jeff was fighting an uphill battle. He’s not a native of Leesburg, and was relatively unknown. His 24% of the vote is actually a respectable percentage all things considered, despite what some Oxendine supporters are screaming.
Christopher Pike won against a long time fixture in city government, but how many just stayed home? There will be some doubt that Pike was actually the more popular candidate, though I think that doubt would be misguided…don’t they actually remember Arthur Williams last stint on the Commission?
The problem is apathy. People don’t care. And why don’t they care? Simple, it’s because the governing bodies don’t give a damn what the people think anyways. People railed against the sign ordinance. They fought and protested against the injustice of telling Bo Henry he couldn’t have that sign. So the Commission threw the people a bone and started up a new sign task force…and promptly popped out a proposal that sounds suspiciously like the old one.
People expressed misgivings with the downtown efforts, and still things pushed through. No matter what was asked for, the people of this community were ignored. Plans kept clipping forward regardless of our wishes and we got good old Don Buie to keep things going. How did that work out again?
A lot of us were concerned about cameras downtown. No, we were told, it’ll make us safer. Many of us weren’t convinced, and others of us were concerned about privacy. Well, as it turns out, once again we were right and they were wrong. But does that matter? Nope.
So now, people are apathetic. Not everyone, but many are. They just don’t care, because no matter what they do, nothing’s going to change. The Commission will just keep doing as they’ve been doing and ignore those who disagree. The Herald will keep calling us “detractors” and blame us for the problems, despite the fact that they’ve done nothing to fix them either. At least we’re trying!
We had a crappy voter turnout last week, and a lot of it had to do with having had crappy leadership for so long. Perhaps that was their plan all along?
Tom. In the interest of avoiding Comment Apathy, I will post a reply.
Voter apathy is unfortunately common, especially during off-cycle elections. And all the more frustrating in the face of poor public leadership. I wish more voters would realize that incumbents count on apathy.
Brilliant posts, Tom and Cartman.
Yeah, unfortunately they do count on it. What’s bad is that off-cycle elections are generally local elections, which has more of an impact on our daily lives. I sometimes wonder if apathy is cultivated, rather than just counted on.
And thanks Kevin
And thanks from me as well.
In the end, however the result was achieved, there is a good result in the city of Albany vote. With Chris Pike, a bright, young, forward-thinking, approachable candidate was elected to the commission. Just as a negative presence can undermine a group process, a positive one can lift up the entire team.
I would hope that if people considered themselves to not have a voice on the commission, Pike seems to be open to solid ideas that move the city toward improvement…and very importantly is a big fan of sunshine and open government.
I do not think he will support a “do nothing” approach, but seems to have an honest sense of fiscal responsibility and effective use of taxpayer monies.
So how about it? TODAY we have a solid step in the right direction. Let’s be positive and give this new voice a real opportunity to lead. It may take more, but he did prevail pretty much across the board and in almost every precinct and demo.
btw, maybe we shouldn’t point the finger too quick on voter apathy. Where were our candidacies? Did we run for office?
Maybe a time is coming for people to come together on a solid local plan for recovery…with enthusiasm and spirit and smarts and work effort.
Actually, when I came to Albany, I saw that community effort with Turtle Park along the river downtown and the turtle sculptures and I got excited….OK, too excited.
Peter, I share your hopes that Chris Pike will do a good job. He should be commended for stepping up at a very challenging time for Albany leadership. …and the turtles were cute.
Cartman, I’m not sure if you were trying to be funny, but you made a poignant observation about the turtles. I had to laugh when you pointed out to me how I added the “cute” turtles as one of the reason’s I felt OK about dumping a few mil of my own dough into Albany…great business rationale, eh? lol….Ouch!
Odd as it might seem – I was in agreement with you. The turtles were cute.
http://www.ajli.org/ama/orig/December_2004Hi.pdf
And to give credit where it is due for a great marketing idea with good execution – hit the link.
I did and yes, Junior League did a fabulous job on all fronts in that project.
Sadly, the turtles have not fared too well with some deterioration and abuse going on, and then just being put in storage and not being used to anywhere near their fullest potential.
I was indeed energized by the project and by seeing all those volunteers, including children, out there doing awesome work. Impressive for any community.
Is that sort of thing over downtown? It seems hope and community spirit may have been replaced by politics and malaise.
We need another does of Junior League effort, it seems.