Dreams without goals remain that … just dreams

OPINION

THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.

I am Glenn RJ Ouellette, and I want to lead this city forward as a candidate for mayor, for I believe greater things are yet to come – and greater things still need to be done in this city. One major problem is the lack of discipline our Board of Mayor and Aldermen have when it comes to decision-making, a pattern in our city over the past 17 years. 

Dreams without common-sense goals remain just dreams, and they ultimately fuel disappointments. Short-term goals that last more than a generation – years our leaders have spent just patching our way through instead of really fixing our major city problems – shortchange the taxpayer, and  leave us with a higher debt in bonding. And without lasting results, the same problems have to be revisited  – we never really deal with solving problems fully, as long-term solutions. Over the years this same money, spent patching problems, would have been better spent on long-term solutions.

Instead we have postponed the inevitable, continuing to waste taxpayer dollars while misusing our precious resources and the result is wasteful spending.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, a short-term solution is just that; to manage the problem for a few years at most, until we can get to actually solving that long-term problem. The meaning of a long-term solution is about getting the job done right the first time, while saving taxpayer dollars in the long run. Imagine having a problems solved that doesn’t have to be revisited every other year?

So, dreams without common-sense goals remain just dreams, when you don’t have any lasting results to show for it.

As the Board of Mayor and Aldermen continue to ultimately fuel disappointments, what’s missing are goals on the road to achievement; goals are central if we are to achieve real lasting results that the citizens can actually see for themselves in a final long-term product. Goals that have been set cannot be achieved without discipline and consistency. Stronger leadership is needed to move us forward to tackle the problems facing us within the Queen City of Manchester.

DO YOU KNOW HOW POWERFUL YOU ARE?

Do you really know how powerful you are as our elected Aldermen and the Mayor, when it comes to solving our city’s problems? 

Today is not my day. Today is your day. Today is about the power you have in making the right decisions on the issues on behalf of We the People, to move our city forward.

Today we are sitting in the dark wondering if that will ever happen, and asking ourselves as citizens why have we repeated the same failed mistakes for nearly 17 years. Ask yourselves as elected Alderman (especially those of you who have been sitting here in that chair for a very long time) WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW?

You can make the commitment to change the same old attitudes that haven’t worked in nearly 17 years. That power is available to each and every Alderman and to the Mayor as well. You are our elected officials who are supposed to show leadership and get expert advise from the various city departments as needed, to make changes in our city. You are the Aldermen, who control the purse strings and who are supposed to look at the problems and make lasting decisions; stop just throwing money at a dream without working goals.

You can only have two things as sitting Aldermen if we are to move Manchester forward: excuses or results. The only thing that counts are lasting results. And results don’t lie, ladies and gentleman. When you keep your commitments, you’re able to produce different kinds of results to move Manchester forward.

Most people will ask you to do something about the ongoing major problems in this city, and you typical answer is, “I’ll try…”, which is really an escape clause. When you don’t come through, it’s really a polite way to say ‘no’! You don’t have the courage to tell us otherwise, so you’ll tell us ‘I’ll try” instead, but it never gets done. And then, come the excuses!

How many citizens out there get what I am talking about? I am talking about the fact that, for the nearly the last 17 years, our officials have politely passed the buck. 

THERE IS A REASON FOR THE TAX-CAP

If it’s hard to decide to do the right thing, then just think how we the citizens feel, year after year, paying more taxes and not seeing major problems resolved a decade and a half later.

You see, whatever you’re doing to solve our city’s problems, however you spin your repeated votes on the same issues, year after year, without long-term results, the pattern really tells me who you are. Now I can tell exactly what you are committed to, and what you are not. Think hard about whatever it is you want ‘we the voters’ to understand about what your goals are for the Queen City moving forward, and who you really represent on this Aldermanic Board.

The only way to move Manchester forward is for you to decide that you want that dream of a better city just as bad as voters want to see the changes made in this city; that you are going to work harder, be willing to stay later at these meetings to get the job done right the first time and waste less of the taxpayers hard earned dollars while letting politics out of your decision-making, to finally move Manchester forward.

I want you to be fearless – I want you to be decisive – I want you to make a truthful decision right now, that when you fail, you will remember the power you hold. I want you to get back up on your feet and take charge. Make a decision today that when you are in that darkness of a hard choice, vote knowing that you hold the people in this great city of Manchester to lead us out of the darkness and into the light.

Beg to differ? Agree to disagree? Got your own issues? Get up on The Soapbox by sending your topical prose to robidouxnews@gmail.com, subject: The Soapbox. Include a recent photo of yourself and a brief bio.