Cabarrus Cheap Seats

I was walking out to my car the other day when I saw the beginnings of next year’s lawn peeking through the remnants of what was left of last year’s. Right before the last rains of autumn, I managed to lay down a lot of grass seed. My father-in-law (from whom I borrow most of my lawn tools, fertilizer, seed, or most anything else useful) said I’d put down about a half-acre’s worth of grass seed down on my 1/6th of an acre lot.

Oops.

But when I was watching the bright green shoots poke through the ground it got me to thinking about how the immediate future is guided largely by what we did most recently. I concede that it’s a rather obvious observation. Under the surface of the lawn for the past few months, seeds germinated and took root. The lime, fertilizer, seed and rain of autumn and the time that followed are now yielding promise. The quiet and cold of Winter are both deceptive. Out of sight, so much happens. I can even act now to improve conditions just a little more to make my yard greener. Maybe I’ll keep up with my neighbor with the new sprinkler system. Maybe I’ll keep the weeds from taking over parts of my lawn - as what happened this year. Maybe I won’t lose more dirt down the backyard incline.

Maybe this year will be better than the last.

Similarly, local candidate filing starts tomorrow. The different factions are quietly raising money, maneuvering, etc - largely to either maintain the status quo and/or settle old scores. I’ve watched this process through a few election “seasons” and I grow weary; because the discussion is rarely about cultivating the future. For instance, during the Concord mayoral and City Council elections - during the Q&A in the media, there wasn’t one mention of the jail - and that has been the most contentious issue since November 2005. There was more discussion of Concord’s designation as an “All-America City” in the previous year.

I hope that there is more discussion about candidates that are actually running (rather than those that did most recently). For the County Commissioners race, we have two from the old majority that couldn’t balance a budget without raiding the fund balance - nearly lowering the County’s credit rating without once going to the voters to approve massive borrowing. Will we return to the old ways of borrow and spend, or will we continue the current fiscal restraint. How will we approach the continued residential growth and the promise of revitalization from the North Carolina Research Campus? Will our representatives in the County Commission, the NC Legislature, and the Congress continue to encourage and facilitate the budding renaissance of this community, or will we fight abstract ideological battles? Will our local leaders spend more time recruiting promising firms or will we go back to getting into lawsuits with our neighbors?

I think a lot of it has to do with the conversation we choose to have. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be putting together the 2006 Candidate Challenge for everyone on the ballot - Democrats, Republicans, independents; both in the Primaries and the General Elections. I’m hoping to go beyond the “what is your favorite color” and “what are you reading now” questions and talk about people’s visions for the future; and give those interested an opportunity to gauge how candidates would respond to their constituents by seeing how they respond to a single voter. If there are issues you would like covered, please feel free to e-mail me (tbojustin@yahoo.com) over the next week or so. I’ll be posting the schedule and details soon.

For an example of what questions were asked last year, here’s the summary.