When I qualified to run for Roswell City Council 10 weeks (or so) ago, I had no idea what to expect.  I just knew that I felt a pull to make a difference – to provide a new voice and a new perspective.  To stand up for the people who live and do business here, and for what we want for our town.

In ten short weeks — the blink of an eye — we went from zero (or, to be fair, a handful) to almost-2400.

We didn’t win, but we sure made some noise, and this is only the beginning.  It would be foolish to ignore the inroads that Eric Schumacher and I made as we came from relative obscurity to mount a real challenge to the entrenched establishment that is Roswell’s City Council and, by extension and perhaps more concerning, Roswell City Government.

I don’t intend to fade away.  We must move forward, building on the momentum from this campaign to continue to remind our city government whom they represent, and why.  This page, the Facebook page, and the Twitter account will remain live and active.

One of our first orders of business is to take a step back and think about why turnout was so embarrassingly low.  Of a town of almost-100,000, with about 50,000 registered voters, fewer than 5500 people cast votes.  That is painful.

Local politics affect our daily lives, much more so than national and even state politics.  Local politics are your roads, the businesses you patronize, your property taxes, and your property rights.  They are your schools.  Your sanitation and water.  Your protection, your parks.  Your neighbors.  What sort of place should Roswell be?  How do you want to live?  Your local officials make those decisions and shape those directions.

But if we don’t vote, then the officials and city staff don’t hear from us.  Even if we don’t vote because we’ve thrown up our hands about the whole enterprise – “you can’t fight City Hall,” or “what’s the point, they’re going to do what they’re going to do” – or if we don’t vote because we think we don’t matter: when we don’t vote, they think we don’t care.  They think that we think that everything is going just fine.  And so they proceed with their “visions” and their priorities, doing business the same way they always have.  And we find out about a water tank in a park by accident, a 350-foot radio tower through a blurb in local media.  About zoning that opens Roswell up for new apartments in ten new categories – when it’s too late.

Is that what you want?

It’s not what I want.  It’s what will drive me in the coming weeks, months, and years: raising the community stakes.  Bringing people into the process.  Energizing the rest of the city – as you have become energized – to guide and mold our Roswell.

Thank you all for caring, thank you for helping.  Let’s keep going.  It’s still your voice … your vote … YOUR Roswell.