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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 5, 2006 One year into this council, what has been done? The Ashland City Council, in its current form, has been at the helm of the city for exactly a year now. And, as is traditional, Mayor John Morrison marked the passage of time with his annual State of the City address. At any level of government, be it city, state or the union, it is a speech that sums up the accomplishments of the past year and uses those as a foundation for moving ahead. So the dearth of accomplishments mentioned by the mayor is striking. Granted, a list of the decisions made by the council in 2005 would run about as long as a dormitory student’s grocery list, so it’s not as though Morrison was overwhelmed by material. In short, nothing happened. Some say that a government that does nothing is the best kind. If no decisions are made, people go about their business and the world doesn’t come to an end. Far too many representatives at all levels of goverment see themselves too narrowly as “lawmakers,” and conclude that if they aren’t making laws, well, what’s the point? This inevitably leads to expensive solutions that desperately seek problems, or laws that “fix” a one-time problem that common sense could have handled just as well. In contrast, Ashland has real problems in search of real solutions, and little tangible progress is being made. Morrison touched on these issues in his speech: • Housing prices. In December, the Tidings featured a photo of the one house for sale in the city that a family making $50,000 a year could qualify for a mortgage on. Affordable housing ideas have been bandied about and endlessly debated, but for all the Sturm und Drang, where are the results? • Jobs that pay. Employment is available in the city, but a lack of positions between service sector and high-end professional means skilled laborers are stuck working for minimum wage. To buy that December house, both people in a two-income household would need to make $12.50 an hour. • A plan for the future. Without a destination, planning the route is impossible, whether it’s the Downtown Plan or anything else. As was a theme in 2005, everyone exercised their right to join the discussion — in perpetuity. Discussion has its place, but discussion with no end among people elected to make decisions is futile. • Growth. Despite a bumper crop of people who think that they should have been the last allowed to move here, growth is happening right now — and it will continue. Instead of wasting time debating if growth will happen, we must focus on how we grow. But for this, a long-term plan is needed. • AFN. Finally, a decision — to start a process. Keeping the Ashland Fiber Network under local control is the best choice, which the spin-off option guarantees. The council would do well to remember that it’s not time to drop the balloons until at least some of AFN’s debt is out of taxpayers’ hands. These important topics were among those Morrison covered in his speech, and action is sorely needed. Yet 2005 does not give much hope that action will be the order of the day going forward. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams