Dixonville's Doom

Dixonville has two problems that are bigger than its million dollar deficit and they were both speaking at the chamber of commerce last night. Both Bill Smith and Frank Jones have been in the heat of their election campaign for mayor of Dixonville, but neither have pulled away in public polling. A reason for this is because both men seem as if they are questionable candidates at best.

Challenger Smith a entrepreneur of sorts whose latest business venture of glow in the dark hats has had heavy criticism from the public for being arrested for methamphetamines in his past. On the other hand Mayor Jones has also faced heavy public criticism for getting the city into such a big deficit in the first place, while holding very little accountability for his actions. The debate last night was integral for each candidates campaign if they were going to become the leader of our city.

The room was packed past capacity as some of the 200 people in attendance even had to stand during the important debate. The residents of Dixonville were hoping to hear a well thought out plan from the future mayor of the city. Instead the attendees got two candidates who were not quite prepared for the daunting task of fixing Dixonville’s economy.

Challenger Bill Smith addressed the audience first explaining his economic proposal of closing both the parks on Elm Street and Kennedy Avenue, as well as closing the city’s senior center. Smith explained to the audience, “My economic plan does close down two city parks and our senior center, but the city is losing money. We have to be sensible about our budget. We simply can’t afford all of the services we are paying for during this crisis.”

Although it may be sensible, will the city want to close the park which holds many city events as well as other community building activities such as little league games, barbeques, and birthday parties? As for the senior center, it is another popular establishment that the elderly have attended for years, and is often revered as the activity they look most forward to. While the residents of Dixonville did not seem too enthusiastic about this plan they waited patiently to hear incumbent Frank Jones speak.

Mayor Frank Jones approached the podium with a little more confidence and swagger than his opponent, confident that he has won an election before, and he can win another. He came out on the attack, striking directly at his opponents proposed plan. “He says two of our parks and our senior center have to be closed. Yes, painful cuts must be considered in the coming year. But to take out the bad economy on our vulnerable seniors and precious children is nothing short of cruel.”

The statement landed with some applause, but the mood of the room quickly changed when the audience learned that Jones had no plan of his own to fix the deficit but would be open to working out budget cuts at public forums. This was when an old narrative of Jones began to resurface, that our current mayor was unfit to lead the city and did not hold himself accountable for the mistakes he made in his first term.

Jones said, "To blame the city's economic crisis on me loses sight of the bigger picture. We are in a down economy and have been faced with unanticipated cutbacks in state and federal funding. No one could have seen this coming."

This was an all too familiar response from the mayor, one that many citizens were tired of hearing. Dixonville needs a leader who is going to anticipate and prepare for the worst of times and help the city get through them. What happened to the politicians who believed that the buck stops here?

The debate did give the public a good look at the two candidates. They let the public into their policies which were lacking or nonexistent. With the Dixonville Daily showing a public polling of the two candidates at 46 percent each it is likely voters are choosing between who is less unqualified to ruin our great city.