What Do You Stand For?

When it comes to our nation's 1st and 16th presidents, there is no doubt the value of Honesty ranked supreme. We can recall, somewhat fancifully, how both Washington and Lincoln personified this noble trait. As a refresher, Washington is known as having never told a lie (confessing to his father that, yes, it was he who had used his brand-new hatchet to cut down his father's cherry tree), and Lincoln was given the nickname "Honest Abe" when, closing out the cash drawer at the general store he worked at, realized he hadn't given a woman enough change (upon closing, he walked six miles to return the change that was owed her...all 31 cents).

When faced with difficult circumstances, these men didn't opt for the easy way out. Instead, they did what they knew to be right. They let their high regard for honesty guide their actions.

The community needs to rely upon a core set of values to help direct our actions. The values of a Safe community, one that is Environmentally-Progressive, with an Informed, Involved, and Interconnected citizenry, who shows Care to one another and the natural environment will be the ones that steer decisions.

And as these two former presidents demonstrated, it's not enough to just state your values. You need to live them out. That is the hope of the City, recognizing that doing so isn't going to be easy...but as Washington and Lincoln have demonstrated, doing so will pay off. Fancifully, or not.

Happy Presidents' weekend! City Hall will be closed Monday 2/16, but we'll be back to serve you on Tuesday, the 17th. Also, a reminder there will be a City Hall meeting that evening. Click here to see the agenda.