Next Person Up

 

 

No, I’m not running for West Lafayette City Council this year.

There; I didn’t step on the lead!

 

I have been serving West Lafayette’s Second District for the last 16 years. For half of that time I have served as President of city council.

I have made the case, successfully I think, that a multi-class, multi-generational, near campus neighborhood is worth preserving in a college town. Older homes on smaller urban lots should allow first time home buyers, even those who come here without a pricey contract in a STEM field, a way into our housing market, and so a way into the services this special community provides. This in spite of the challenges we face from those who see houses not as homes but as commodities.

A near campus neighborhood also serves as a reminder that before the university was a corporation, it was a community. I am proud of the residential land use plan that was developed by the APC for New Chauncey. I am glad that the city’s story will be preserved because of the historic preservation ordinance I authored.

 

It’s really been fun.

The city’s growth over these last four terms has been exciting. My professional career was lived as a mainline Protestant minister. That’s not a growth industry. Personally, it has been wonderful to be involved in projects filled with optimism, power, hope.

But John Dennis is leaving.

In a parking lot conversation this past year the mayor said, “You know why you and I have managed to get along all this time? We’re both irreverent.” I think he was right; though if “irreverent” were a race John would probably have lapped me. Even more colorful in private than he was in public, the mayor could look out his window in Margerum City Hall (a great name) and be honestly astonished at what this community has become. I liked his style. Also, John didn’t veto my most important stuff. Phew.

I think it’s a good place for me to stop too.

I don’t believe government should be a gerontocracy. (My apologies to Joe Biden and Mitch Daniels.)

I could serve the people of my district well for the next four years. But if I could find someone who could do this work energetically for the next 8, or 12, or 16 years, that would be better. I did this thing.

There should be someone who can do the next thing.

My wife and kids worry that I’ll be sad if I can’t feel important. Oh, probably a little. I also got our council salaries up; I think I’ll miss the extra cash.

But here’s a story. A few weeks ago my one year old grandson and I were bonding over a great game of “swap the pacifier”. I pulled his “paci” out of his mouth, he pulled my “paci” out of my mouth, laughed, and put it in his and I put his in mine. I pulled his “paci” out of his mouth, he pulled my “paci” out of my mouth, laughed, and put it in his and I put his in mine. Or sometimes he threw it over the back of the couch and laughed hysterically as I retrieved it.

 As I was going out the door he looked at me, and his eyes lit up, and he smiled, and he started, enthusiastically, out loud, to go over his list of important people names.“DADA”. . . . “MAMA”. . .   “NANA” (that’s his sister).  So, I think he was saying, “look gramps, I don’t quite have a name for you yet, but I am sure you belong in this tight little group of people who mean something good to me. Let’s do this again.” That made me feel very important. I wanted to slap him on the back and buy him a beer.

Katy and I don’t anticipate moving anywhere; not with one daughter in Indianapolis and the other in Chicago. We are still sure to have our opinions about how the place is being run. But as a retired couple, we won’t have to go to all those meetings. I’ll be interested to see what the folks half my age do.