There is a great opportunity for Palmer residents to serve their city with the upcoming election Oct. 4. There are several open positions, including five council seats and one mayor position up for election this fall. Filing dates are July 18 through July 29. This is a very short window to get your name in to be included in this fall’s Palmer city election. I urge those common-sense, middle-of- the-road, wise city residents to sign up to be a council member or mayor of our city.
I have followed the behavior of the city council and mayor that we have now with dismay. Unfortunately, we are being led by an inept mayor, a new clerk with learning to do to be proficient, one councilman whose sole purpose appears to be to further punish the recalled council members, and four newly appointed members. Basically, the city is like a ship adrift without a captain or competent crew to navigate the waters.
And if you haven’t been following the meetings, there is still a cry from the far right to get this ship over further into the right lane! That is truly how they present their positions to the city, accompanied with pounding of fists on the table.
The City of Palmer has so much going for it, and we need to get a crew on board to sail this ship down the middle of the shipping lane — not on the right or on the left, but in the middle where all can complain a bit, but each gets a bit of what is important to them.The city needs to attend to many issues, including, but not limited to: paving the remaining streets in the city; creating safer crossings at many busy streets within the city limits; continuing the great services at the Palmer Airport and Golf Course; creating a plan for annexation based on the study of 2020-2021; planning for the growing homeless population; upkeep and maintenance of our existing wonderful parks, trails and green spaces and adding to them; keeping the home rentals in town affordable and not becoming too heavy with AirBnBs so there is no place for families to rent; promoting new vibrant business opportunities; and the list goes on.
This job is not an easy one, and it doesn’t come with much accolades or pay; rather, it is a position of leadership and service. Palmer needs those moderate, level-headed, intelligent, educated members of our community to come forward and say, “I am willing to sit in that chair and lead our community wisely into the future.” We need people who do not have an agenda that is polarizing or disruptive to the well-being of all the citizens of Palmer.
We are a small community in a beautiful setting, with a beautiful diverse population — let’s agree to disagree on what we can’t agree on and let it go. Moving on with what is important and with what helps our community is greatly needed right now.
Please, if this speaks to you and you live in Palmer, sign up to run for Palmer city council or mayor.
— Liz Jackson
Palmer
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