If you want change, you have to vote for it
Wed, October 29 2008
They control how you park, what your children study at school, what days your garbage is collected and how much you will pay in home taxes, water fees and sewage treatment rates.
They dictate the policing and emergency services in your area.
You want libraries, parks or community centres, you have to deal with them.
If real estate investment is your game, you curse and congratulate this lot depending on the assessment notice you have received.
These guys are in charge of where you can walk your dog right up to multi-million-dollar zoning changes that can affect an entire neighbourhood.
But for some inexplicable reason, we don’t seem to care who these people are, where they come from or why they should be in office.
As we head into another municipal election, voter turnout, or more precisely the lack of it, has again become the focus of this regular exercise in democracy, which is held once every three years.
D-Day is Nov. 15 for taxpayers in B.C.’s 189 cities, towns and districts, the day they will decide who will be their regional representatives.
According to a poll published in the Vancouver Sun, fewer than four in 10 British Columbians - or 37 per cent of those surveyed - said the outcome of this election is “very important” to them personally.
The same poll revealed that at least half of respondents in the survey said it’s time for a new mayor and council.
Translation: Let someone else go vote for change because we are not too concerned about who is in City Hall.
There are many reasons for this apathy, according to the political pundits.
No one, however, seems to have an answer for it.
Many do not even know who is running, because candidates focus on areas that are likely going to give them the most votes while ignoring large swathes of their constituencies.
The electorate, when not enthralled by the personalities or engaged by their platforms, feels their individual vote does not make a difference.
Add to this the fever pitch American presidential election which has grabbed our attention, the just-concluded lackadaisical federal election and the upcoming provincial election, and there is also voter fatigue to contend with.
As far as new immigrants are concerned, there seems to be silent trends indicating disturbing correlations between the colour of the candidate and immigrant voter turnout.
Nevertheless, there are many issues in this municipal election that demand our attention.
Crime, homelessness and poverty rank among the top things that we say need immediate attention.
We say we want change.
To have change we need to make change.
We need to find out who is running for office and what he or she plans to do about the things that concern us.
Most importantly, we need to turn up and vote for the change we want.
Local governments affect us most directly in our daily lives.
They will shape the future of our cities, towns and districts.
On Nov. 15, heed the words of Abraham Lincoln, who said: “You can`t escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
The Asian Pacific Post
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