Good morning San Angelo. Today is election day. Make a plan to vote today.
You can find out where, when and how to vote here.
National and state elections might get the most attention, but local elections are the most important in the everyday lives of people
Local decisions impact us more directly than anything happening in Washington or Austin.
Why Local Government Matters
I served on the San Angelo City Council in 2006 when a catastrophic water main failure meant a large part of the city was without water for days. City Patching Up Water Woes – San Angelo Standard Times.
I went to the site in the middle of the night and watched city employees struggle 24/7 in freezing waste deep water trying to restore water to the city. The were no federal or state officials there. There were only our friends and neighbors putting in the long hours.
A crew had to drive to Chicago to get the valve needed to replace and restore water. Then they drove it back through the night arriving in the early hours of the morning. The city learned a hard lesson about the importance of infrastructure and the cost of decades of deferred maintenance.
Whether there is water and sewer service will matter more to your daily life than tariff policy, immigration, school vouchers or transgender athletes. If you can’t flush the toilet and no one picks up your trash, it won’t be long before that is the only thing you care about.
This is an Important Election
The election today will impact San Angeloans more than who is President or Governor.
Whether you know it or not, there are important issues in this election that will determine the future of San Angelo and our community’s prosperity for at least a decade, and maybe the next fifty or seventy years.
These include things like:
- The type of schools your children and grandchildren will attend.
- The level, type and quality of education your kids will receive.
- Whether and how the city will grow over the next decade.
- Will we be able to secure the city’s water future?
- If we will be able to attract new business, and grow our existing businesses.
- Whether we can recruit quality physicians for our health care.
- Can we maintain and improve our infrastructure?
- Will we have affordable housing in our community?
This election will determine the future of one of the biggest economic engines of our local economy, the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo. It beings in over $80 Million into the local economy.
Today will decide whether your children will attend school in old, outdated and structurally-unsound buildings.
Who is elected will determine the course of the city and its priorities for the next decade.
Voters Are The Key
You need look no further than the recent completion of the Lake Nasworthy Pipeline to see what a difference your vote makes.
If it were not for the voters approving use of the Lake Nasworthy Fund for this project in 2019, it would never have happened. We would still be dealing with the back up of raw sewage at the tiny lift stations, and future development around the airport would not be possible, like it is now.
There are some candidates running who oppose efforts like these and whose goal is to oppose change, restrict growth and keep San Angelo small.
Things to Think About
If you choose not to vote, here are some of the things you will be leaving to someone else to decide.
- Who will be leading the city to develop new sources of water, promote economic development and manage the future of our city when Interstate-27 and I-14 become reality?
- Who do you want on the school board to implement the construction and renovations proposed in the school bond?
- Who will be deciding what to do about the budget cuts and school closures that may lay ahead if the school bond doesn’t pass?
- Who do you want on city council overseeing the renovations and expansion of the coliseum if the bond passes?
- What will happen to our old and outdated coliseum in the future if the bond does not pass?
- What will the impact of all these decisions have on the future of San Angelo and the Concho Valley?
Education, infrastructure and economic development are vital to any sort of future for San Angelo.
None of those decisions are made by the federal or state government. We are not China or Russia. We are not ruled by an all powerful central government.
We will decide what kind of future we, and those who come after us, will have. Today.
Money to do these things does not come from Washington or Austin. It is our money that we pay to support the type of services we want in our community. Local government and local control matter. In fact they may be the only thing that matters anymore.
Your Vote Matters
Your individual vote may or may not matter in a Presidential election. It definitely matters in a local one.
Recent local elections, including bond elections in San Angelo have been decided by a handful of votes.
One race last year was decided by a single vote.
Make a plan and go vote in this important election today. Poll are open until 7:00 p.m.
