Frankly Speaking...

I was told by my parents, if I couldn’t say anything positive about a situation, I shouldn’t say anything at all. That advice would leave me lacking two minutes of airtime today.

2019 was not a good one for our region…specifically Fairfield. Let me speak frankly…

Fairfield is broke. Our infrastructure is falling apart around us. The power grid is fragile and the roads stink. Nobody wants to run for local office but are more than willing to rant anonymously on-line about it.

Our leaders are not focused on the obvious need for jobs. That would solve a lot of our ills. One thing that won’t is the pervasive strategy of developing more and more gambling opportunities.

I’m convinced those video machines are driving local crime. This year saw fewer meth busts and more burglaries. We are doing little to find ways to help people who put their meager means into the local slots. It is an illness even more destructive than anyone seems to realize.

Fairfield has become a battleground. Local leaders, who should be pulling in the same direction, don’t trust one another. We are becoming fractionalized. Younger and more liberal thinkers can’t seem to be civil with the older and more conservative crowd. And vice-versa. I get it every day.

This is what happens to a region which loses hundreds of jobs and doesn’t do what it needs to replace them. We turn our guns on each other instead of civilly disagreeing and finding a way to work together on filling empty buildings and former businesses.

There are positives…and I promise to talk about them….but until then…