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9/15/2004 |
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GC Mayors Candidates Forum A worthwhile event tonight. You should have been there. Well organized by the mayors (mostly Deena Barnes I suppose) and effectively moderated by Patti Stokes of the Northwest Observer. You can catch it on video tape - cable access TV: Oct 11th 6:00pm, 14th 2:00pm, 23rd 9:00pm and 27th 10:00pm. I had one dud answer, which was to suggest that expanding the White Street landfill was still an option for handling waste in the county. Some rolling eyeballs in the small audience on that one. The whites of those eyesockets having momentarily unnerved me, I wasn't quick enough to point out that unlike what people in the affected area might suspect based on prior treatment from government bodies, I would be willing to discuss to options they have never seen before: 1) Having an offer made to buy their property that reflects its TRUE value to the rest of the county's citizens who are looking for somewhere to put their trash. 2) Offering those who do not wish to sell, the option of being paid a monthly stipend that would again reflect the true value of being able to use the White Street facility. (note: Throwing out the garbage is not a cheap proposition and those who would offer the use of their neighborhood should be justly rewarded by the free-market, assuming of course that we are not getting fabulous rates on piling our trash somewhere else, where landowners and their property rights are getting dumped on.) I know I must of done well enough, because Mike Barber suggested I use his good name to gain a spot at the Greensboro Observer's forum...Now, I have to figure out to appeal to some of his constituency as well. (Mike Winstead and I were neck and neck on most items. He is even going to be voting against Amendment One. Bravo!) I'll have to wait and see the video tape, but the only thing I felt bad about was having to send 1996 Libertarian candidate for Governor Scott Yost home without getting to see any public bombshells dropped by a fellow political radical. Half-way through the forum, with two TV cameras tempting me, the thought did cross cross my mind to throw water on Mike Barber for no reason at all other than effect, but then sanity overwhelmed me and the urge was defeated. No sense making a scene when everyone was being so accommodating to me: 1) I was invited 2) I was offered the first question to open the discussion 3) I was given the opportunity to ask the last question of the discussion. 4) I was the next to last of five candidates to make closing remarks. 5) The Republican candidate was the one put at the end of the table farthest from the audience and the camera. 11:58:39 PM
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