‘Flood’ the polls and vote to better our community
Do you remember the election day flood 1985? Author Timothy P. Carney wasn’t here. I watched our firefighters pumping out basements, working so hard for our communities. I was working for my boss here in Fayette County, carrying as much as I could out of his basement, while it was flooding, and shoveling mud into buckets for days after. What the author couldn’t see was our community coming together, as it always has. But I am appreciative that a nationally published author (Carney) and a native columnist and nationally published author (Richard Robbins) have joined me in this conversation over the last weeks.
As a Fayette County Democrat, I believe government programs should help us, give us that one hand up during the struggle, and our hard work, our families and community can handle it from there. But over the last few decades, we didn’t get it. Today all of the pieces of the puzzle are coming into focus.
Our state Senator Pat Stefano’s (R) hard work on Senate Bill 667 will provide the needed power to our redevelopment authorities, enabling them to rehabilitate blighted properties and neighborhoods. Those properties, often abandoned, pose a danger to the us, our firefighters and police while reducing all of our property values.
If we can combine his effort with Governor Tom Wolf’s (D) “Restore Pennsylvania” which increases resources for addressing blight by providing financial resources at the local level to establish land banks and acquire and demolish blighted buildings in order to create new development opportunities, the funding will be established to generate the Demolition, Revitalization, and Renewal we need, the ‘relaunch’ we’ve been waiting for.
Make no mistake, Thomas P. Carney, these are both “government programs” a hand up, not a hand out. Temporary and critical to our revitalization. As a Democrat, I see little difference between the help this will provide our community organizations and the hand up provided to the children of headstart, the children helped by Children and Youth Services, Pregnant women and young children assisted by WIC, or individuals of all ages assisted by mental health services. So, yes, after the decades of grief and loss in our small towns, we have a chance to rekindle hope in our community.
I’ve been focused on the concept of working together with ‘government’ programs, and faith based organizations, because I believe that these pooled resources and the individuals who work in them, are called to them, are the key. The President of the American Enterprise Institute, yes, the same Institute for which Carney is a visiting fellow, has a far better way to move forward when we disagree, and it doesn’t demonize the other side. In “Our Culture of Contempt: The problem in America today is not incivility or intolerance. It’s something far worse.”, Arthur C. Brook exhorts that we not hold opposing views in contempt, and that when we find ourselves, “hating something,” or, say, ascribing that an entire county believes that the American Dream is dead, then, “someone is making money…[so] Unless a leader is actually teaching you something you didn’t know or expanding your worldview and moral outlook, you are being used.” Frankly, I am speaking for my friends and neighbors here in Fayette County when I say, find someone else to use. We aren’t interested.
Now, is it possible that we are ready to step out of our difficult past, mourn our losses, bury our missed opportunities, and wake to a new day? We didn’t just stop going to church and start getting divorced in Fayette County. The truth is 30 years ago our families had more spending power than they do today, even with full-time employment; they had jobs that bought houses, cars, and had full health care benefits. Simply put, large employers left, the employees and their families left, churches and social organizations membership shrank, and each lost some of their strength. Did we respond quickly to combine each of the above to create renewed stronger groups? No we didn’t. We know it’s hard, we have heartfelt attachments, personalities get in the way, there are conflicting goals, and too much blight all at once. There were people who were more interested in tax write-offs than rebuilding, and we’ve had scam artists take some of our grants with big promises and no results. I think the time is now. It’s time to come home, both figuratively and literally!
Believing that we need a renewal doesn’t mean that we ever believed that the dream was dead. I will be honest, this academic exercise of trying to find which problem hurts us the most, or what is the root of the struggles is over for me. I preferred to search for solutions so that we can move forward together. It might be a trap to spend too much effort on these differences and we will just continue to drown in a distraction rather than search for solutions that can affect us all.
My claim is the two more floods are coming, but unlike the flood of 1985, this will be a flood of enthusiasm. Once during the primary on May 21 and again on election day on November 5. This is our chance for all of our votes to rise together, all of our boats to rise together. We will move forward together and be stronger together.
Kevin D. Jones is a resident of Fairchance and is seeking the Democratic nod in the primary election for Fayette County Commissioner.