November 21, 2011

As the dust begins to settle

What a weekend. After all of the election excitement and electricity (not to mention three Jazz Council gigs and the CFL Western Final), it's nice to sit at home and reflect a bit on the last few weeks.

First of all, I offer my congratulations to Ron, Albert, Jack, Don, Darryl, Kent, and Bev, and I wish them all luck and success in their term on city council. Their work will not be easy, and given the level of engagement I witnessed throughout this election I imagine that expectations and pressure will be very high during the next three years.

Second, I offer my congratulations to all of the candidates for putting their names forward, along with heartfelt thanks for creating such an enjoyable, friendly, positive campaign period. Almost every day since the close of the nomination period I have run into other candidates around town, and it has been so fun to chat about local issues, laugh at our campaign foibles, and exchange words of encouragement. The sense of camaraderie was absolutely amazing, and in a campaign situation in which we must be so open and vulnerable to criticism, it was wonderful to witness and feel the support that we offered to one another. I will look back on this experience very fondly.

I must admit, though, that I'm disappointed in my 10th place showing and very sad that I won't be sitting on city council this term. I feel like I have so much more to offer now than I did in 2008, and in general feel like I ran a better campaign, and yet I ended up with half as many votes as last time. It's disheartening.

And I'm a little shocked that six our of our seven newly elected (and re-elected) officials are lifetime Kimberlites; with so many intelligent, skilled newcomers (young and young at heart) joining our community, I worry that that demographic is under-represented on council. I hope that the new council recognizes the value and contributions of newer residents and will make an effort to reach out to them. I, for one, plan to keep a close eye on local issues and council's responses to them. I hope that many other Kimberley residents will do the same.

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