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Health & Fitness

100,000 MINUTES . . .

Early voting is over; tomorrow is Kennesaw’s 2013 Council elections with a day of rest as there is no voting today.  This leaves some time, since registering as a Candidate, to reflect on all the experiences and what I learned over the last 100,000 minutes (70 Days).

For those of you that like numbers, assuming talking 24-hours a day and folks lined up in a row, those minutes equate to 3 minutes per citizen, 5 minutes per registered voter and 2 hours per voter in the last council election.  In reality, even with help, it is impossible to meet every citizen for obvious reasons.

To those met, I had three objectives ~ (1) LISTEN and understand citizens concerns; (2) SHARE my knowledge of the current opportunities facing Kennesaw; (3) ADVOCATE the importance that everyone vote.

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LISTEN

The majority of voters had two primary concerns ~ Unchecked/Wasteful spending of taxpayer money, the negativity and bad press about city officials and how it reflects on our City.  Other concerns heard were; degradation of ambulance response time, poor traffic flow through downtown and Cherokee Street and lack of road maintenance to mention a few.

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SHARE

My initial concerns have not changed and I shared my stance saying I will provide leadership and creative solutions to change the historical widespread WASTEFUL spending of YOUR tax dollars, NEGLECTED city employee programs and the overall ACCOUNTABILITY of city officials in Kennesaw. 

Some of the opportunities for change are ~ Unchecked/Wasteful SPENDING by elected officials, ETHICS and SPENDING rules NOT applicable to elected officials, DAY-ONE vested Retirement programs for part-time elected officials while we have UNDERFUNDED employee benefits, SPENDING $1.4 million annually on supposedly self-funded attractions, $13 million in Cherokee Street improvement FUNDS DIVERTED to Jiles Road project and At-large council positions voted by position NOT majority vote.

ADVOCATE

Ninety-five (95%) percent of registered voters in Kennesaw do not vote.  My goal was to instill the importance of citizens input as the only way to initiate change.  Some of the Candidates have repeatedly asked for contributions and votes; I have asked citizens to take time to read/talk to ALL of the Candidates and make an educated vote for the Candidates they felt best served their needs.

A heartfelt THANK YOU to all the citizens that took time to share their concerns, listen to the opportunities for change, committed to vote and made me feel my efforts to better Kennesaw were appreciated.  For those I could not reach, my hope is they speak out and exercise their right to vote for the betterment of Kennesaw. 

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