Herald Express 6th May 2011 - a few published 'Frank' words......
SOMETIMES when you get what you think you want you find it wasn't what you wanted at all.
Perhaps during the process of getting you couldn't understand why everyone was rushing around and now you suddenly realise that you didn't understand the nature of the beast.
But now you have it and perhaps worry that you don't quite know what to do with it!
I've watched the antics of Torbay's mayoral candidates and listened to the almost endless rhetoric. We've now popped out of the first mayoral reign which was a time of visions and dreams, some of which did actually become a reality while others disappeared like the morning mist on a hot day. All this happened at a time of great economic, political and social change. What a stunning rollercoaster! Well here we go into the second term of mayoral leadership. But you know nothing is truly going to change unless you can capture the hearts and minds of the population.
Perhaps during the process of getting you couldn't understand why everyone was rushing around and now you suddenly realise that you didn't understand the nature of the beast.
But now you have it and perhaps worry that you don't quite know what to do with it!
I've watched the antics of Torbay's mayoral candidates and listened to the almost endless rhetoric. We've now popped out of the first mayoral reign which was a time of visions and dreams, some of which did actually become a reality while others disappeared like the morning mist on a hot day. All this happened at a time of great economic, political and social change. What a stunning rollercoaster! Well here we go into the second term of mayoral leadership. But you know nothing is truly going to change unless you can capture the hearts and minds of the population.
Now I know that term easily runs off the tongue, but it is the essential truth! You can paint the buildings, construct new facilities, plant beautiful flowers and hold endless gatherings, but unless you can capture the identity of a community nothing, absolutely nothing, will change. We live in troubled times and it has been increasingly easy to focus on the negative, to look for what has been done badly and to find fault.
That has to change. Let the new mayor build community that looks for the positive, celebrates what has been done well and seeks not to find the proverbial splinter in a neighbour's eye whilst sporting a plank in our own eye. It isn't impossible but it does require the rejecting of empty political rhetoric and the almost constant cross-party sniping. Whether you like the mayoral system or not is neither here nor there because for a while we are stuck with it.
That being the case, let us use it to advantage and make it a shared experience. It is our system of government and so we must use it as best we can. But here is the rub. Our mayor must also use it as a post of social responsibility and captivate us all into a more meaningful vision. It is a time for pulling our people together, of energising communities and demonstrating that there is a better way. So here is the starting point; an open gathering perhaps once a month at the Riviera International Conference Centre, which has potential as a village hall for Torbay. Gather the people and share the excitement of a shared journey and see a new social horizon together. At the end of the meeting everyone can take away a bag and on the walk home pick up all the waste paper drifting on the wind. What a wonderful shared experience and a simply way of increasing community pride.
There you have it. A new mayoral vision for Torbay.
