Mayoral candidate: Time to build Tracy
To my neighbors in Tracy, My name is Burke Gardner, and I’m running for Mayor of our amazing little town. I wanted to take a few moments of your time to talk about the job and the upcoming election on Nov. 3.
It probably goes without saying that I would appreciate your vote, but what I hope to discuss today, is what I would bring to the job. I’ve had the pleasure of volunteering and working alongside many wonderful people since my family and I moved to town, and I feel like if you know me personally, you know my work ethic, my values and the pride I have in our town.
However, I haven’t yet had the opportunity to work with everyone. If you’ll humor me, I’d like to take the opportunity to talk a little about myself, my values, and my approach toward life.
I am a maker, a designer, a builder. Since I was a young man, I have enjoyed the process of how things are made, I take pride in the little details, and making things with integrity. I like to challenge myself with each project and see it as an opportunity to improve myself, my technique and knowledge. I have built furniture, designed houses, and love to create things instead of buying them off of the shelf. I do this partially because I enjoy the process, but also because it’s a way to be fiscally responsible.
If you have seen my signs around town, or been handed one of my brochures as I knock on doors, or even seen my face on a t-shirt asking for your vote, each and every sign, brochure, and shirt was made by myself and some of my closest supporters. I chose that path because, getting your hands dirty, and doing the hard work is required to get the job done. I make them because I want to show that I value how our money is spent, and to show that I don’t shy from hard work.
I also have been going around town, and knocking on doors, which has had a side effect of getting my steps in, but beyond that, if I want to represent the people of Tracy, it is necessary to get out there and understand the many people who make up Tracy beyond those already in my circle.
As I go door-to-door in an effort to meet people, I’m asking the same questions — what do you like about Tracy, and where do we have opportunities for improvement? There have been a variety of answers as one would expect, but my big takeaway is that every single person I’ve talked with shares a common goal: They believe in and want to see the best for Tracy. Each of us is united in a desire to see the place where we choose to call home to be an amazing place to raise a family, retire or to have a business.
We all desire to make and build something that each and every one of us is proud of.
This is where I believe I can get to work, I know how to make things, I enjoy the art of conversation, and I believe fully that if we are to be successful in building our future it requires three things; open collaboration, hard work, and integrity. The last one is a little tricky; we live in an era where the integrity of government is often questioned, and we are often skeptical of politicians. It is the easy road to take where we choose to be negative, and tear others down. But for success, we must move past resentment, and toward collaboration. Any politician who tells you that if they are elected, they will bring down the stars and moon for you, is not being honest. I won’t promise that. What I can promise is who I already am; because I believe who we are is what we do. I will work hard, because that’s the only way I know how to approach a job with integrity.
I will be mindful of how we spend our money, because we worked hard for that, and it shouldn’t be wasted. I also believe no one single person is capable of making anything happen by themselves, so I know that if we work together Tracy’s future is bright. Moving to Tracy was a choice, because from day one I saw what a unique and wonderful place this town is, to put down roots and raise our family. For me this is the foundation of success, I hope you agree, and I would appreciate your support, and your vote on Nov. 3rd!
BURKE GARDNER TRACY
Responsible citizenship
I first wrote about principal John Klang 20 years ago. Principal Klang stood between a shaking ninth-grader and other students. The sad, angry child’s only answer for his pain was to kill John Klang with a gun on September 9, 2006. The lesson rang out three shots. Though written on the floor in blood, that lesson was hard to see through tears and confusion. Has much changed or is one death easily forgotten as the firestorm of violence continues?
Step back enough and you can see that people are dying in greater numbers that are quiet, unreported and dismissed. Suicides, partner violence, and overdoses outpace headline grabbing shootings. Recently we learned that thousands more are dying following 9-11 because authorities lied to responders, cleanup crews and students. The air was poison but Wall Street needed to be open for business. More quiet deaths.
So much anger, deceit and greed replayed for entertainment in slow motion on TV news and parodied in movies and TV shows. Glittery slogans and campaigns about bettering society paint over true causes that go beyond gun laws and reducing taxes.
Few people can withstand the repeated, pounding mixture of isolation, inequality, illness, poverty and betrayal. If you can’t feed your family or get them medical care, what would you do? If you are roadblocked by mountains of paperwork and prejudice, what would you do? When you see leaders who flaunt their wealth and bury their sins under years of legal tricks, what would you do?
It is much easier to destroy a person than to build them up. It is much easier to destroy a country than to make it a place where people can live with a good mix of freedom and responsibility. Destruction can happen in minutes. Rebuilding lives and countries takes generations. We are here at the edge.
There are many avenues to responsible citizenship. Find yours. John Klang drew his lesson in blood. I hope you won’t have to.
BILL RICHARDS WALNUT GROVE
