My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot Thursday. I attended a forum in Portsmouth for the candidates for city council and mayor. (Pilot reporter Dave Forster was there, too.)
As someone who doesn’t live in Portsmouth but who tries to follow the issues facing all of the cities in Hampton Roads, I found some of the questions to not be self-explanatory. One issue I obviously have missed is that of the city getting a disparity study. The candidates generally made the mistake of assuming that everyone in the room knew what they were talking about. I hope they don’t do that when they are talking to voters!
There was a real undercurrent of mutual dislike of each other by the two candidates for mayor. Speaking with some people afterwards and also reviewing the material from the two candidates gave me a better sense of where this is coming from. Whether this becomes a real campaign issue will be interesting to watch.
Even with that, there was the sense that everyone on the stage loves their city and wants to do what’s best for it. From my perspective, it appears that Portsmouth is going to have people who will work hard on behalf of their citizens, regardless. And that’s a good thing.
My column appears in The Virginian-Pilot on Wednesdays (unless something comes up, in which case it’s Thursdays). You can see the columns as they are published here, or navigate to them from the PilotOnline.com homepage by clicking on Opinion and then choosing my name at the bottom of the dropdown list. You can also see the columns by liking my Facebook page. Although my column appears weekly, I am not and have never been an employee of The Virginian-Pilot.
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