Archive: Opinions

This was a particularly busy week in Lansing, and we have the last in our series of candidate interviews in this week's issue.  Over the past month I had the privilege of interviewing the six candidates who are vying for contested positions on the Lansing Town Board.

I like doing these interviews.  I ask pretty much the same questions of each candidate for a position, and that lets me (and you) contrast the choices and decide which will best lead the town over the next four years.  But this year I'm worried.

The reason is this: I asked each candidate whether they think Lansing is at a crossroads in its history because I think it is.  But being an off-presidential-election-year election I know that voter turnout will be low, and I worry that voter interest will be even lower.  I am worried that people will vote their party lines and not look at the candidates as individuals.

Sure, that happens anyway, but in a non-presidential year there are fewer voters, and that means that every uninformed vote counts more.  In my view we do get the government we deserve when we vote.  If we vote carelessly we get a careless government.  Look what happened in Albany!  That doesn't have to happen here.

I don't think Lansing deserves a careless government, and I do think that this could be the most important election we've had in years.  The town is on the brink of a new town center, and a new sewer plan.  It is facing the threat of hydrofracking, and the possibility of rural broadband.  Sometimes the town coasts along, just getting the job done, and those times are fine.  But the next four years are a time that is going to shape Lansing for many years in the future.

I was just telling someone yesterday how much I'd like to sell my house and move into a smaller one in the town center, where I could walk to things and drive less (and not have as much to mow).  I honestly never thought that was more than a dream until about a year ago when things started moving.  Now we could realistically be seeing things like that, shops, a doctor's office... we already got a grocery store this year.

That's going to take clever elected officials with the vision and drive to make it happen.  It's not that past legislators haven't had those qualities.  It's that right now at this point in our history we need those qualities more than ever.

More than half our town board is up for grabs, two of the four council seats and the Supervisor's position.  If ever there was a time for an informed vote, now is it.

The Lansing Star does not endorse candidates, and I try very, very hard to keep my own political views out of the paper as best I can.  So I won't tell you how to vote, but I will say that I frequently vote across party lines, and probably will this time as well.  I have the great advantage of looking a candidate in the eye and asking them what they will do for the town.  You can see what they told me by clicking here.  And you can still make at least one event next Wednesday at 7pm at the Lansing Town Hall where some of the candidates will be meeting voters.

Voting is important.  I hope every eligible voter will vote a week from Tuesday.  But informed voting is really crucial in Lansing, especially now.

v7i42