Editor Don Rogers’ recent attempt to sort Park City’s candidates into so-called “Team Kind” and “Team Mean” is more than just careless shorthand. It is unhelpful and trivializes the stakes of this election.
If you must label the two “teams,” why not “Team Status Quo” and “Team Change”? At least those labels are somewhat descriptive. If you have not noticed, like it or not, Park City is changing. If you like the way it is changing without a unified plan for traffic mitigation or organized development, go with Team Status Quo. But if you want to change to move to a thoughtful, mindful strategy, go with Team Change.
Rather than labeling candidates meaninglessly, Don, will you help the citizens of Park City make informed decisions regarding the policies and plans of each of these candidates for the upcoming election?
As an informed citizen base, we can send a collective message of the direction we want our community to follow on the issues that face us. I want to tell the government how to proceed, not have the government tell me. That is the essence of democracy.
Good governance is not a matter of who smiles more. It is a matter of competence, judgment, and proven ability.
Residents of Park City entrust their elected officials with oversight of multimillion-dollar budgets, critical infrastructure, real estate assets, and the stewardship of our quality of life while big development and Olympic pressures mount.
The next council will determine whether we address legislative and resort-driven growth head-on and in the best interest of our community or just watch it happen. They will oversee some of the biggest housing, transit and zoning initiatives ever to confront Park City.
They’ll hire a new city manager, who will be the most significant hire in recent years. The real question is how each candidate will address the issues (and we need substantive answers).
Jay Hamburger’s piece “Next mayor will select a city manager” on page one of the same Aug. 20-22 edition of The Park Record does a good job of discussing what’s at stake with the addition of a new city manager and interviews both mayoral candidates, asking what qualities they would look for in a new city manager.
Based upon their responses, it is easy to see that Jack Rubin has the experience we need to lead us and hire a city manager that will be able to manage the change for Park City that is occurring.
Otherwise, we are looking for a city manager, council and mayor that are “kind” to large developers and Vail rather than protect the citizens’ interests by saying what they “mean” and “meaning” what they say.
I fully agree with Don’s question of whether “it’s really so much that residents question the city government’s direction as it needs to settle on one.”
I, for one, do not see clear direction and want to change that. Please help the citizens elect candidates that will lead in the direction that we choose.
This election should not be about labels imposed by a newspaper editor. It should be about ensuring that those entrusted with Park City’s future are prepared to meet the complexity of the task in the direction that the citizens would like.
Kirk Baker
Park City