I love America. I love being an American, the Constitution is a living breathing document that means something to me, and I like to think I understand it. Our political system was drafted with the representation of the will of the people in mind. The original Boston Tea Party was not about taxes, the colonialist didn't mind paying the taxes, and they did not want to separate from England initially. What they wanted was representation if they were going to be taxed.
Sadly I don't think people today understand that aspect of it. We are complacent in who runs for office. For the past 30 years Omaha has had a series of mayors involved in Real Estate other than Hal Daub, and he had other interest, and our city council has been composed of mainly lawyers and financial advisors. I don't know why that is who runs but it is. So I ask, does that represent the will of the people?
Omaha is very economically diverse. We have the highest concentration of billionaires anywhere in America to my knowledge and we also have many that experience poverty on a daily basis. We need skilled representation capable of understanding this dynamic and caring for the interest of all the electorate.
The role of city council is in my eyes to boost the city economically, spend tax dollars wisely, come up with ways to reduce an prevent crime and help ensure Omahan's have a high quality of life. It doesn't expand much beyond that.
It's not the city council's job to worry about the morality of Omahans.
A member of the city council should not be a solid vote for any union, I'm not anti-union. I'm very much in favor of protecting the security of people that give their time, effort and often body to serving the people. But there needs to be some awareness to what is feasible and what is not feasible, as well as a conscience. IF you write me in that would be one of the first things I would try to do is be a voice of reason to secure pensions so that they are not abused. I'd push for a pension policy where if someone's post retirement income is above a nominal bracket that they must wait to collect on the pensions offered by the city until they reach the age of 60 barring any major health issues.
It's not that radical of a notion.
The core of a city IS important, but it's not the only aspect of a city as we found out election night by who showed up to vote. Our bussing system needs a major overhaul. First, it needs to be more reliable and accessible to work with the city we got. It does not need to extend out to the far reaches but should focus on those in need. On the weekends we need some sort of nightly service that stays running until the bars close. Also it would be in the public's interest to develop partnerships with shopping centers and medical complexes in those far reaching areas to boost their own accessibility. I'd love to see a five dollar pass where visitors to Omaha could take their hotel shuttle to downtown, hop on a reliable bus to Westroads, take a shuttle to Village Point, come downtown for their event then enjoy Benson's night life. It'd be great for people to park in the Midtown parking garage and go between Dundee and the Old Market with ease.
Our city parks are a wonderful and under utilized asset. There should be a campaign for more Vitamin D sun exposure to help with depression and health. As well as an advocate within the city for inclusion of those that are low income so that they know parks are handicapped accessible. It'd also be wonderful to develop small businesses that offer coffee and light refreshments.
Who am I? Maybe I'm a radical, I know I'm a futurist, but in many ways I'm conservative as well. I believe in history in context and I have great novel ideas to boost revenue such as leasing the renaming of streets to better reflect Omaha and give people a sense of pride and ownership in our city. I'm a mother of a young son with medical issues thankful that we have UNMC here in town and benefactors that provide scholarships so my son has been able to attend summer camps. Quite frankly I'm unemployed having graduated in December 2011, I spent last year focused on my son and running for MUD Board of directors because I see a need for a better awareness of our EPA mandates, the fact that investment in infrastructure should be ongoing so we don't face dilemmas in financing. We deserve clean water. I'm a solo mom that wants a quality life for her son, and Omaha is usually pretty affordable and we are here so I have a desire to run.
There will be more. Hopefully much more.
So on election day if you see the name Chris Jerram WRITE IN MEGAN MURPHY
Now I just need to get 10 bucks for a filing fee as a write in candidate.
