Comments on: All Decatur City Commissioners To Run Unopposed, No School Board Surprises http://www.decaturmetro.com/2011/09/02/all-decatur-city-commissioners-to-run-unopposed-no-school-board-surprises/ Decatur Georgia News, Events, Atlanta News Mon, 15 Sep 2014 01:05:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0 By: William http://www.decaturmetro.com/2011/09/02/all-decatur-city-commissioners-to-run-unopposed-no-school-board-surprises/#comment-137145 Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:36:16 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-137145 I don’t think it is necessarily a lack of citizen involvement – many candidates I know who were thinking of running for both Commission and School Board spots are very involved in community affairs – past and present. It is just that the entrenched establishment of Decatur politics makes such mince meat out of anyone who tries take on an incumbent in an election (or a candidate that the “establishment” favors in an open race) it is no wonder that many good candidates decided to sit it out this time. They just didn’t want to put themselves and their families through what they would have to go through with little to no chance of taking out an incumbent

The 3 Commission incumbents that are running unopposed this time have a combined service of 48 years on the Commission. While that is honorable – and we are fortunate to have had their service – what are we and they doing to make sure that when they finally do retire – that there is some continuity?

I think that is really something we need to think about. Bill Floyd, Peggy Merriss, Lynn Menne and Lynda Harris aren’t going to be running things forever. Shouldn’t we be grooming their successors instead of incumbents running for 3rd, 4th, and 5th terms on our small town city commission?

]]> By: Peter http://www.decaturmetro.com/2011/09/02/all-decatur-city-commissioners-to-run-unopposed-no-school-board-surprises/#comment-137121 Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:15:20 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-137121 Also worth remembering that it is a holiday. Internet traffic is bound to be lower while people are out and about, enjoying the lovely summer weather.

]]> By: Judd http://www.decaturmetro.com/2011/09/02/all-decatur-city-commissioners-to-run-unopposed-no-school-board-surprises/#comment-136863 Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:42:41 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-136863 This is not meant in any way as a criticism of the incumbents, and the fact that they are running unopposed is no doubt a sign of approval of their service. But whenever there is more than one candidate, the level of public attention to and education about the issues increases a lot. Contested elections encourage public participation and oversight, and those are always healthy. Decatur could use more contested elections.

]]> By: Steve http://www.decaturmetro.com/2011/09/02/all-decatur-city-commissioners-to-run-unopposed-no-school-board-surprises/#comment-136766 Sun, 04 Sep 2011 01:31:10 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-136766 The lack of citizen involvement in local politics continues to amaze me. Average turnout for a municipal election is about 20% vs 60% for a Presidential election, yet what has the most effect on our day-to-day lives?

]]> By: Decatur Metro http://www.decaturmetro.com/2011/09/02/all-decatur-city-commissioners-to-run-unopposed-no-school-board-surprises/#comment-136764 Sun, 04 Sep 2011 01:19:51 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-136764 Honestly, I think many of these convos are going on “beyond the blog.”

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