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Q&A with City Council Candidates

By Howard B. Owens
Dave Olsen

9 very well thought out and serious answers. Well done to all the candidates and thank you for the respect towards the voters. Throughout the last 10 months, it has been my privilege to become acquainted with Jim & Debbie Rosenbeck and Lisa & Rich Whitehead. Good, intelligent, straightforward honest people, the kind you’d want for a neighbor or co-worker. I’m sure the other 7 folks are all good people as well and want Batavia to continue to be the great family place that it is. The difference lies in the vision.

Anyone who is elected will have to deal with the challenges of the present, obviously. Each decision though should be made with an eye toward the future, because each decision will affect the future. What do we all want Batavia and Genesee County to be in 10 years? 20 years? The city manager has already said that taxes will have to increase next year to maintain the current level of government; the county is raising them this year. This isn’t sustainable. This trend can begin to turn around only if government becomes more transparent to you, the resident and taxpayer. Can electing 2 people to a city council of 9 change everything immediately? No of course not, no reasonable person expects this. Jim & Lisa each have created facebook sites which I will provide links to at the end of this comment. Currently they are campaign sites, but both have pledged to continue them if elected to share their thoughts and ask for your input. This along with the meetings in the various neighborhoods, which others have also mentioned will create greater transparency. The people of Batavia need to be better brought into the decisions of their government. It has to start somewhere, this is a good start.

Transparency and trust are at the core of the differences between libertarians and authoritarians. Authoritarians say things like “I am elected by the people to represent them and make the best decisions for them”. Libertarians say “As much information and choices possible need to be made public, so the people can be heard. Authoritarians want you to trust them, Libertarians trust you.

Yes, there are plenty of bright, creative people in Batavia and Genesee County, everyone has something to offer. Together we can keep all that is good about our home and make it better, but only if we take control of our government.

I ask Batavians to please consider my friends, Jim Rosenbeck and Lisa Whitehead to serve as your council representatives. Thank You

https://www.facebook.com/Rosenbeck4Batavia

https://www.facebook.com/Whitehead4Batavia

Oct 31, 2013, 7:48pm Permalink
Brian Graz

A very useful report... thanks Batavian. Too bad more people don't pay closer attention to these... maybe we'd elect better candidates.

Nov 6, 2013, 5:40pm Permalink

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