What helps PB?

Editor, The Commercial:

I’m not originally from here, but I got here as soon as I could.

In fact, it was 61 years ago this month that I became a resident of Pine Bluff, so I saw and experienced the end of its glory days. During my time in this fair city, there have been dozens of committees, organizations, campaigns, and individuals who came up with schemes, ideas, pie-in-the-skyplans, and acronyms to resolve the issues we face, none of which ever got to first base.

[Go Forward] stands alone in creating a real data-based plan created from expressed opinions by people who live, work, and invest here, raising public and private funds and actually making measurable achievements for the betterment of the city.

Let me repeat. N-O-T-H-I-N-G worked prior to GF. Since there was not a blueprint to do something, the organization was plowing new ground. Never before had there been a working protocol to leverage public funds with private and vice-versa, for the benefit of all.

Unfortunately, short-sighted individuals, organizations, and communicators disagreed with the process and apparently expected decades of urban decay to be resolved in just seven years.

I am a member of a group with an admirable record of helping folks who have strayed from the straight and narrow to achieve a modicum of normalcy. It is said in that group, “Don’t leave before the miracle happens.” Those unthinking folk mentioned above did exactly that.

Now these same people are targeting our mayor, an honest, hard-working woman whose only agenda is doing everything she can to improve the lot of those of us who live and work here. This administration despite rumors, accusations, and outright lies continues to be good for this city and deserves overwhelming support to continue.

Regardless of anything they say, the other contenders’ qualifications to be our mayor do not include “been there, done that.” And in this ol’ boy’s humble opinion, that’s the tippin’ point. Right now, we don’t need no beginners. JOE DEMPSEY, PINE BLUFF