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Public Comments - Speeches
Monmouth Mayor's Remarks
Chamber of Commerce Forum
January 13, 1999Before I begin, I want to take a moment and thank you for allowing me to be here today.
I also want to thank each one of you for the things you do, to make this community - just that much better than it would be if you didn't do the things you do.
And I want to thank Mayor McArdle for his on-going efforts to work together with me and help our shared community prepare itself for the challenges of a new Century.
It is fitting that we are gathered here today, residents of the two cities, here for a shared purpose: gathered together to discuss our shared future.
And that future is dependent upon a firm foundation in community... I am here today to share with you some thoughts about community. For community is not a space, but rather, a place.
Community is a place of time and circumstance - it is the collection of individuals at a given opportunity. Community is a verb, it is an unending quest to see the larger canvas and personally invest ourselves in making our corner of the world, just a little better. For me, this year will be spent in the pursuit of developing the three tenets of creating community: cooperation, collaboration, and communication. We must do our best to cooperate with each and every person - at each and every opportunity, on issues large and small; and focus on where we must go, and why.
We must do our best to collaborate at any and all opportunities for timely, meaningful change; all the way, sharing the labor, and sharing the harvest.
We must do our best to communicate through all available means, the direction we believe we need to go, how we can get there, where we fit, and why it matters.
These three things I will do, as long as I serve as Mayor in Monmouth - they are the necessary ingredients for lasting community.
I believe it is time that we commit ourselves to the 'politics of community'; and I want you here to know that the people deserve no less. It is time for us to specifically emphasize initiatives that open avenues of communication, enable citizens to chart their own destiny and make local government - relevant once again.
It is time that government, and government's associates, reach out and build working relationships with organizations that can help our community, help itself.
You see, government is really nothing more or less, than an association of neighbors working together for a common good; it is a tool for good people to do good things.
Over time, I believe that we will be able to make that definition - our reality.
I believe this because Monmouth has been blessed with a proud heritage of self-governance, a highly competent staff and a constituency that values the small town ideal.
We have the ingredients for a rich and wondrous future and we have the will to make it happen.
We have achieved much but there is still much, to do.
We have just turned a page and begun a new chapter in Monmouth history; the citizens are excited because they see the opportunities before us and they want progress.
The citizens want to feel empowered again and they want to make a difference in their community - and they want a vision for the future. We need a shared, community-driven vision - something more than merely an inventory of possible land usage; we need a blueprint for the kinds of business, housing, schools, roads, and infrastructure we want.
The visioning process we are about to begin in Monmouth, will be a citizen's initiative; developed and implemented by those willing to give of their time, talent, and treasure because they know it's the right thing to do.
Over these next twelve months we hope to begin a conversation that over time leads to a consensus; but first we have to know what we need, and what we want.
By next January, we will have reached out to the community in a new and meaningful way; and that alone is worth the sacrifice.
By next January, I hope to propose a community development department for Monmouth; because I believe that it is time we enabled our staff and provided them the tools to seek out potential partners for our community.
By next January, I hope monthly gatherings, where our governments and voluntary associations can come together and share schedules and priorities are the usual rather than the unusual; times where we can communicate and work together.
Our community has real needs but we must not allow others to dictate those to us; we must know what we want before we get stuck with what we get. We can do marvelous things in the coming years if only allow ourselves.
In closing, I want to reaffirm today, that we in Monmouth, are willing partners for expanded opportunities of cooperation, collaboration, and communication.
And while we may differ on this or that, I want each of you here today to know that we must always be able to put the interests of our community first, last, always.
Monmouth and Independence are members of the same family; we are neighbors forever bound by a shared history, tied by an undeniable inter-relationship.
This is a strength not a weakness - if we are only able to see it.
A few years ago, Tom McCall gave us an Oregonian ideal that we would do well to remember, over the coming years.
He said, "Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky, they are people who say: This is my community, and it's my responsibility to make it better..."
This is my community, and this is your community; it is our responsibility - and we can make it better.
Together we can and will develop a shared vision for this community that can withstand the effects of growth and development, but we can only do this together.
We are separate and equal partners - one family, one community, one destiny...
