I live in a different world than local leadership. I work on the front lines of the pandemic with poor black and brown folks in one of the poorest cities in the country. I have never heard one of them ask for an aquarium or indoor lacrosse field. I hear about hours-long waits for COVID testing and being turned away from full testing centers, backed up or not accepting symptomatic people. I hear about substandard housing and how impossible it is to navigate a healthcare system they don’t trust. I hear about the pandemics of addiction and mental health amid nearly ubiquitous trauma of living in poverty. The above ideas are not the focus of local leaders.

While our health commissioner begs people to get tested, we still don’t have widespread, convenient over-the-counter testing available. We’re still reeling from 30% budget cuts to our health and human services departments over the past decade. Re-funding those departments is not a priority to local leaders.

Meanwhile, let’s flood the county with rapid covid tests, have outreach teams that vaccinate the remaining ⅓ of our county that is unvaccinated and provide booster shots to keep the elderly and chronically ill alive. We should be a model for the rest of the country instead of just trying to get by, while more people die.

You have the chance to vote right now, for new, independent leadership focused on economic development and public health for everyone. Apply for an absentee ballot online now and vote for leaders who respond to community needs.