I am honored to have won reelection to represent Ward 2 on the Keene City Council.
Thank you to my opponent, Howie Bagley. Howie and I don't agree on basically anything, but he ran a clean and honest campaign - and made it so the voters could have a choice - and I appreciate that.
I have to say that I'm really stoked that my friend Laura Tobin will also be joining the council, as will my neighbor, Ed Haas. Besides those two, everyone else coming back is an incumbent. I'm happy to say that, together with city staff and our new mayor - Jay Kahn - this is a really solid group of people to work with.
A shout-out to Ashok Bahl, who ran for a councilor-at-large seat and came pretty close. And especially to Cora Elliot, who didn't come quite as close, but who is an outstanding young woman who has the makings of an excellent leader. I feel honored to have been able to work with her on her campaign, and I hope she will take another shot at it sometime.
Terry Clark, I am happy will continue as a county commissioner.
I hope nobody takes it the wrong way when I say that I hope the next four years are not quite as eventful as the last.
The one thing that just about everybody has in common is that we all want to live in a nice community. But when we spend all our time arguing over high-drama issues, it keeps us from working together to address the structural problems we face that are long term in nature.
The increasing cost of replacing worn out infrastructure is one of those problems. So is the changing state of our natural ecosystem. Housing is a problem we have failed to face, which has compounded into a problem of homelessness and its many related miseries.
These are the kinds of problems that require diligent work and creative thinking on the part of city councilors, city staff, and the public. I look forward to doing my part.