March 21, 2017: Today’s the day, calloo callay, where We The People get to choose our representation on Roswell City Council.

While the race to fill the 6th District Congressional seat (Vote April 18th!) is demanding a great deal of attention – rightfully – remember that your local elections have the larger impact on your day-to-day world. What kind of a town do you want to live in? The City Council is about much more than setting millage rates and noise ordinances; it’s about setting the tone for a place’s identity, now and in the future. The decisions that the Council makes affect your quality of life – and beyond your property values, they reflect your values.

Nobody will be surprised to read that I’m not thrilled with aspects of Roswell’s recent development direction. The Great Wall at Coleman and Marietta Highway? Packed-in townhouses breathing down the necks of Civil War-era graves on Woodstock Street? Housing prices way north of half a million dollars? I mean, thanks, great, we’re super-fancy and high-end and we’ve gotten more than one unsolicited offer to buy our house. But – this is progress? This is us? I sympathize down to my toes with the folks in North Point subdivison, where a parcel of three lots will be sold to a developer who wants to build 20 homes on it. A subdivison crammed within a subdivision. Lovely. (The Planning Commission meeting to discuss that plan is tonight, Tuesday 3/21, at 7:00 in Council Chambers at City Hall.)

I love my town, though, and I have faith in our future. I’m voting today, with pride, for Lori Henry for Roswell City Council.

I’ve been a Lori Henry supporter for a long time. I’ve urged others to get to know her, too. She’s wicked smart, incisive, and inquisitive. She will never back down from her core principles, which are in line with mine: a Roswell that is vibrant, welcoming, alive, progressing, united, and grounded in its history. Truly “One Roswell.” Lori will be beholden to nobody and nothing except the citizens of Roswell. Sadly, that’s a rarity. She’ll be thoughtful, she’ll listen, and she’ll make excellent decisions.

You live here. You decide who steers the ship on your behalf. Today’s the day to put the right person in that 6th seat on City Council.

Today’s the day, calloo callay. Don’t squander it.