A Commenter's Valedictory

Our new "real names only" policy on comments prevents me from approving a comment that *CitizenA,* a long-time reader and thoughtful pseudonymous commenter, submitted this morning. But nothing prevents me from adopting and posting the comment here; I've enjoyed CitA's comments, agree with much what follows, and will miss them, assuming that s/he sticks to the decision not to post by name. I've added some paragraphing for clarity:

Being one of the psuedo's here I am obviously disappointed by the decision but completely understand where it comes from. In my posts I tried to use facts to back up opinion and tried to give information to people that they might not have otherwise. I think there was one post where I was disappointed in myself for having reacted to something emotionally rather than trying to advance ideas.

And that really was the purpose of my posts, to advance ideas and to ask questions of some posters that may force them to rethink their own ideas. Debating about the merits of the assessment process was fun back in June. That is the sort of conversation that I believe can be productive and not personal. What better place than this to see what other ideas are out there to fix a broken system? Sure we can get together at the Crown Plaza and rent out a space but what fun would that be. We can meet here whenever we want! And it costs less than the Plaza!

I suppose in conclusion, I would just ask that people be patient with our newly elected officials. The longest serving member of the School Board has four years of experience and there are four brand new members of that Board. The commission has three out of its five members being newly elected. I do not question the competence of any of these people (or the incumbents for that matter), after all they would not have been elected if they were not competent. If there is a hiccup or two along the way, give it a chance to correct itself...be vocal, but give it a chance. I expect BIG ideas from both the School Board and Commissioners in very short time. We have BIG issues that will only be solved by BIG ideas and not by doing things the same old way. We can no longer look at a budget and raise millage every year to cover new expenses. We need to either find new ways to cut costs or new ways to raise revenue. Perhaps somebody out there has an idea on how to do both at the same time?

As for me, I will attend the meetings that I can and will write to my elected officials when I feel the need. But I cannot post here under my real name. I wish that was not the case because I have enjoyed being part of this blog community for the last year or so.

*CitizenA*