NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Local Politicians Helping Smaller U.S. Cities Grow, Prosper

Many face infrastructure issues in coming re-election battles

In communities large and small throughout the United States, local elected officials are planning for the future while responding to citizens' immediate needs. How well they do will help determine their chances of being re-elected.

In Wilmington, North Carolina, one of the most important issues for Laura Padgett, who is running for re-election as a City Council member in October, is support for developing enough park and recreational space to serve the area's increasing population.

In Iowa City, Iowa, a key issue for Dee Vanderhoef, seeking re-election to the City Council in November, is public safety - specifically, the need to build a new firefighting station in one of the city's growing suburbs.

And in Rochester, Minnesota, Marcia Marcoux, a City Council member who will be up for re-election in 2008, says a major issue in her area is paying for the upkeep of local roads and bridges. Good roads are needed to accommodate the increasing flow of traffic between Rochester and the state's main metropolitan area of Minneapolis-St. Paul, 129 kilometers north. A fatal bridge collapse in Minneapolis in August has raised concerns about adequate public funding for infrastructure maintenance.

The three officials, who work in partnership with hired city staff and state and federal government agencies, are examples of the vibrant, grassroots level of democracy in the United States.

Like their peers around the country, they want to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used effectively to provide for the health, safety and prosperity of all their citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or income. They learn about voters' concerns in public city council meetings and during personal meetings.

Typical of many city council members in the United States, Padgett, Vanderhoef and Marcoux run in elections that are not influenced by national political parties. Their campaigns rely on informational brochures, media interviews and open citizen forums.

Many issues that concern voters in Wilmington, Iowa City and Rochester are the same, they said.

"Almost everything has to do with infrastructure," Padgett said. In Wilmington, a city of nearly 100,000 near the Atlantic shore, issues range from access to clean water and sewage services to the need to manage growth while preserving surrounding natural resources.

She said Wilmington's 2007 elections may be influenced by voter opinions about the possibility of building a new conference center. It would draw more business and tourism to the community but also increase demands for public services.

In Rochester, Marcoux said officials are putting plans in place to manage any potential disaster such as a flood, a tornado or even a pandemic. Response planning done after a 1978 flood proved successful when a flash flood struck in August, minimizing potentially costly property damage.

And in Iowa City, officials are working to address how to increase energy conservation in government-run facilities, according to Vanderhoef. The issue is influenced by the city's ecology-minded population. Iowa City already has adopted strict energy-efficiency standards for building construction.

Padgett first was elected in 1993 to the City Council of Wilmington, a city with burgeoning high technology and industrial manufacturing sectors and a population boom of retirees relocating to the area.

Vanderhoef first was elected in 1996. Iowa City, population 63,000, is home to a major university and a growing manufacturing sector that is bringing in new workers and their families. She said she is a strong supporter of "Kids Voting," a national effort to teach young people about the election process.

Marcoux has been on the Rochester City Council since 1998. Home to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, Rochester, population 100,000, has several university branches and small industry. Historically the center of southeastern Minnesota's farm sector, it is becoming home to more people who want to live close to a major metropolitan area but without a big city's higher living costs.

In a recent letter to the National League of Cities, a local government lobbying group, Marcoux said successful local government calls for many partners working together.

"We will continue to depend upon ... collaboration between local, state and federal agencies, businesses and our citizens to ensure that we make the best decisions possible," she said.

Source: U.S. Department of State

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com