Three candidates fit the bill to move Auburn forward

Published 6:36 pm Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Auburn residents have an opportunity to make a significant and positive change in their community as they vote in the upcoming election.

Our choice is between a slate of new promising candidates and long-term “experienced” people who have spent years and taxpayer dollars to give us years of successive problems. We hear them say “experience is important.”

Under Mayor Pete Lewis and his council, we have seen development “experience” in which City funds have been used to support undeveloped and sometimes disastrous projects over time: the Cavanaugh block, for one; numerous tax-paying small businesses around town forced to close or relocate so the City could acquire their land still sitting vacant; the Auburn Avenue Theater, which we renovated and continue to pay $5,000 a month in rent to its owner; the fancy restaurant at the golf club in Auburn (supposed to be self-supporting) that we are subsidizing heavily; and community planning groups with architectural plans for three failed attempts to build a community center that always seems to fall through.

They beautify and plant flowers and shrubs and put up street barriers so drivers can’t get into local businesses. They tell a developer who wants to put in low-income housing for senior citizens, we have too many poor people here now. We need to build high-priced homes to increase our tax base. Is this the kind of experienced people Auburn needs to make it a livable city of all its citizens?

I recommend we, as voters, make our choice known by the way we vote. We want people who are experienced in personal honesty, social integrity, in the law that requires open meetings, public involvement in critical decisions and people who value and work for quality of life for all Auburn residents – its families, children, senior citizens – rich and poor alike.

I see three among our choices that fit the bill:

John T. Partridge for mayor

Frank Lonergan for City Council

Michelle Binetti for City Council

I believe it is entirely possible these three candidates will work harder and longer on behalf of the whole community and not just to provide “payoffs” to their political supporters.

– Deanna L. Briese