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My decision to run was not an easy one,
simply for the fact it put me up against two people I really respect
and consider them as friends of mine, in Beth Davis and Dale Voyles,
both of whom believe in me enough to give me the responsibilities of
being on the committee on youth, disabilities, senior citizens and
chairmanship of the animal control committee, along with basically a
free hand in doing everything that I felt needed to be done, always
having their 100 percent backing and support.
For that reason this will not be a
campaign of character-bashing or performance-evaluating on my part.
I will not lower myself to that type and know overall voters, too,
are getting tired of this type of campaign. From this point on I'll
only dwell on issues at hand and our future.
I truly believe I can make an immediate
impact on Lincoln and Logan County. As I can attest to from my two
years' experience on the county board, which I feel it is an honor
and pleasure to be on and to represent all the people of Logan
County.
I'm not looking to leave my county
board seat, nor will I leave unless I'm lucky enough to be elected
mayor -- an opportunity I cannot pass up
-- but in reality it will
basically be doing the same job, striving for the same things. After
all, what affects Lincoln affects Logan County and vice versa.
If anyone wants to know what type of
mayor I would be, I can only promise that I will attack the city
problems and issues and deal with them the way I dealt with the
problems out at the animal shelter. So if you're happy about that,
then maybe I'm your mayor.
Platform
I have a very large platform of 38 or
more issues of importance. Among those is an economic development
package that is different from others being done now, but I believe
my ideas have solid merits and can be achieved in the near future.
I believe that with the increasing age
of our population and the ever-growing number of students attending
our four colleges, along with continued retail growth out west, we
need to re-explore the possibility of public transportation.
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Senior citizens issues are among the
top of my list. As the baby boomers reach retirement age, the lack
of housing, nursing homes, etc. are forcing many seniors to look
elsewhere for residence. We need to address this.
Our young people are our future. To
keep them here, jobs are a priority, but let's face it, good-paying
jobs and industries are becoming less and less abundant and least
likely to happen. Therefore, with the ever-changing job market out
there, most employers dropping health care and developing two-tier
pay scales, education of our young people is now the major priority.
We need to really invest in our education system. Encourage and work
with our local colleges to expand and invest in our community.
I also have what I call a youth task
force plan that will address the needs of our young people. Many
ideas are new, but with 100 percent confidence and cooperation from
elected officials, I believe we can turn things around for our youth
and school system.
Tourism and Main Street are also major
players on my platform.
Affordable housing is a must for
middle-income families wanting to buy homes. With the economy the
way it is, many families cannot afford $125,000 to $150,000 homes of
average in surrounding communities, so with smaller cities running
out of room, many are turning their sights on Lincoln. Are we ready?
No. I will strongly work on city codes, ordinances and enforcement
of these codes and address the hands-off landlords who choose to
leave town and their houses sit empty or boarded up.
I will close
by saying I really believe I can make a tremendous impact for this
community. To stop the dwelling on our misfortunes of the past and
focus that energy on the future. I also believe I'm of strong enough
character to pull all forces of government to come together and work
as a team. The more together we are, the more powerful. And to get
done what needs to get done, we all need to be on the same page.
[Patrick
L. O'Neill]
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