Public Forum:
It is a good thing when local offices are contested in the April elections. On the other hand, voters and candidates must keep a sense of perspective. These elections are properly nonpartisan.
There are certainly concerns that can be addressed locally. Stormwater retention, for example, can and should be addressed on a yard-by-yard basis all over the Milwaukee area. Pressures of traffic growth or increased costs of essential services must be studied. These problems are best solved in a spirit of cooperation and listening, however, without partisan rancor. There is no place in local elections for negative campaigning or exaggeration of the issues.
Positions on the River Hills Board of Trustees have often been uncontested. Both of the current incumbent candidates began their service as appointees: one has since won election twice, the other will be trying for the first time to become an elected representative. A third candidate, Victor Harding, lost narrowly last year to a trustee who then had to resign. Despite the close vote, he was not appointed to the vacancy, meaning that at present there are still two members of the board who have not yet come before the voters.
All this competition to serve the village of River Hills is an improvement over apathy or business as usual, but this time, I repeat, it should not lead to negative campaigning. These are good people who want to reach good solutions for the village. Heated talk, or translating anger over larger, national issues to local ones, will only set neighbor against neighbor, delay solutions and cause bad feelings that will not soon be forgotten.
Wendy Walcott
River Hills trustee
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