What we do and how we do it will affect us now and for generations to come. In addition to the typical policy issues we have broader items we need to prioritize.
1. RESTORE TRUST
People lack trust in government in part because they sense that, although they vote, they feel their government is corrupted and isn't really there to serve them. And they'd be correct. Click HERE for a full explanation. In The Woodlands specifically we suffered a blow to trust in the incorporation election and every general election for seats on the board where there is division in the community. Voters are mis-lead by Political Action Committees who have interests that are narrower than the broad interests of residents. More on that issue HERE .
In general, people lack trust in government. Jordan Peterson in John Stossel's full interview stated "The great scholars ... point very directly to a relationship between the individual's [leader's] willingness ... to speak known lies and the totalitarian excesses of the state, those two things are directly related, causally". In other words, lies mis-informing the public leads to tyranny. PACs put out lies and mis-inform the public a lot. And PACs in The Woodlands are no exception.
"There is a paradox of trust: When it is most difficult to trust—and when there is a stronger conflict of interests in a situation—this is when trust is most needed to form a cooperative, well-functioning relationship...for interactions in relationships, organizations, and society at large" (2013*, p. 1106). At a time when trust in government generally is relatively low, it becomes especially important to restore that trust as much as is practicable and to restore societal cooperation and functioning.
* Balliet, D., & Van Lange, P. A. (2013). Trust, conflict, and cooperation: a meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 139(5), 1090.
2. LEADERSHIP
Unity of Vision-Positive Direction-Forward Looking
Many refer to Mr. Mitchell's vision. Some of it stands, while some of it does not, like the desire to be in the Houston ETJ. He was for many years the way a unifying vision for our community was created. This is no longer the case and times have changed as well as the range of issues with which we have to deal. I think we need someone to step up to the leadership plate to bat. Not seeing too much of that, I wish to work with you and other community leaders to create a unifying vision.
3. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, FINANCIAL, FUTURE & PHYSICAL SECURITY
I want to have the information needed to make the best decisions. It is important to have data in monthly reports with statistics and financial ratios to make good decisions. We lack that right now. We need to increase revenues and continue to look for fat in the budget to cut, and significantly reduce our debt while being prepared to make investments with an ROI to our taxpayers.
We have limited influence in area planning and a share in $350M of which 96% is pass-through funds, working with our County Governments to achieve representation on the H-GAC Council Of Governments and Metropolitan Planning Organization would be useful.