Spotlight on Community
Why Bother with Voting?
People are quick to tell you your vote matters, but then you watch the evening news. Lots of Texans feel their vote doesn't influence what happens in Washington D.C. at all. Honestly, on the national scene your vote does get diluted, but when it comes to city, county and state races, that same vote is critical.
In a world becoming more global every day, you may wonder what local politicians can do for you. Well, for one thing, your local representatives have a huge impact on your daily drive. When you sit in the traffic on the I-30 bridge wondering why "they" don't do something about it, you should realize "they" is you and you can do something about it by voting. That's something I figured out recently.
Rockwall Road Consortium
Until this month's Rockwall/Royce City MLS meeting came along I had no idea there was anything called the Rockwall Road Consortium, but now I am happy they are there. I keep an eye on national issues, but hadn't really thought that much about local concerns. I learned all kinds of things about potential population growth and tax rates, but that was just the warm up.
When they started talking about the traffic on the I-30 bridege and tied that daily mess mess back to the growing population here in the Lakeplex, they really got our attention. If we've got less than
100,000 folks out here now, what's it going to be like when it gets to 300,000?
According to all the fancy charts, (which you can find here) we'll have all our road problems under control by 2025 - if the projects stay on schedule. What would get them off schedule you might wonder? Well, everyone in the room wanted to know the same thing.
There's a little road down the way a bit called LBJ. Seems there's a dust up down in Austin about whether or not the road should have discretionary toll lanes. All that was approved years ago, but sometimes what gets approved doesn't stay approved.
Take left turn lanes for instance. Austin had given the go ahead for a local municipality to have a left turn lane which would facilitate turning into a potential chicken finger establishment. Then they changed their mind. Now half the people who might buy chicken fingers on any given weeknight wouldn't have ready access to the potential establishment, so chicken fingers have been taken off the menu. Many people in the community are up in arms and the EDC hears about it almost daily. They want their chicken fingers, but somebody somewhere is very happy.
What Do You Care About?
I can't say what matters to you, discretionary toll lanes on LBJ, traffic on the I-30 bridge or being able to buy chicken fingers on the way home, but if you care about any of them, now is the time to do something about it. Your vote can actually make a difference. Go do your research and then vote!
Early voting for this years primaries began on the 20th and will continue until March 2nd. Election day is Tuesday, March 6. Make your voice heard. Don't sit on the I-30 bridge talking about them. Remember, them is you!