BrandonInfo.com

It seems that McCain’s strategy is to level the playing field. With the announcement of his vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, he’s balancing the Obama=youth&Biden=experience team with his own McCain=experience&Palin=youth team. He’s balancing the history-making black-in-high-office campaign with his own woman-in-high-office campaign. He’s balancing the running-mate-overcomes-wife’s-death card with the running-mate-overcomes-special-needs-child card.

What do you think of McCain’s running mate? Sarah Palin, 44, has been the governor of Alaska for two years. Before that, she was mayor of an Alaskan city.

Does McCain’s choice for running mate make you more or less likely to vote for him? Why?

It’s official. Barack Obama is the Democratic candidate for president. What do you think of his choice for running mate, Joe Biden? As a team, what do you think are their strengths and weaknesses?

Some people are skeptical of Obama’s ability to run a country, citing his youth and saying he doesn’t have enough experience. Biden has been in the Senate since 1972. It’s said he’s on a first name basis with many world leaders.

What do you think their chances are of winning in November?

It looks like the city is going to have to move the skateboard park and the ice skating rink by 2011 at the latest. The city leases school land for those activities, and school district representatives have said they won’t renew the lease.

The school wants to use the land, along Holly Boulevard, for improvements to the high school parking lot.

Moving the skating activities would cost the city at least $13,000 and possibly as much as $93,000, depending on the new location. The least expensive solution would be to turn the Aspen Park tennis courts into a skateboard park and put the ice rink between them and the swimming pool. Tennis association perople have objected to this solution.

The most expensive option would require the city to start from scratch, possibly at McHardy Park.

I suppose there are a couple of options that would cost nothing at all. The city could simply close both activities and not offer them at all. Or, the city could wait until 2011 and hope the school renews the lease after all. A lot could happen in three years. New people could be on the school board by then.

What do you think the city should do? Discontinue the activities, move them to Aspen Park for the least cost, start fresh for a much higher cost, or just wait and see what happens? Or are there other options that haven’t come to light yet?

Across the country, more than 100 college presidents are calling on the federal government to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Their theory seems to be that if young people can consume alcohol any time they want, they won’t binge drink as much.

Do you agree with this theory? Why or why not?

Let’s say there’s a bottle of liquor in front of a 19 year old, and it’s illegal for him to drink it. Does he take none, a sip, a glass or does he drink the whole bottle?

Now the same 19 year old, the same bottle of booze, but now it’s legal for him to drink. Does he take none, a sip, a glass or does he drink the whole bottle?

What would you do?

MED-Star’s contract requires them to notify the city whenever there is a change in employees, vehicles or licenses. Since MED-Star got the contract last year, the city hadn’t received any updates until administrators sent a letter requesting the information.

MED-Star brought everything up to date as soon as asked.

Are you satisfied with that? Why or why not?

I use my car for my work, so I’m required to give my employer proof of insurance. Every six months, I photocopy the card I get from my insurance company, and give it to the human resources department. Sometimes I forget, though, and they send me a reminder. Is this the same sort of situation?

City sales tax revenue is up over this time last year. That could be surprising since house building permits are only about half of what they usually are at this time of year. Contractors have to pay a lot of sales tax on the materials they use.

But commercial construction is up this year, and commercial buildings cost more per square foot to build than houses do. So maybe that evens things out.

There’s no way to know for sure if sales are up at, say, the grocery store. The state provides sales tax revenue totals for the city but not the amounts for specific industries.

It’s possible that because gas prices are up, prices of all kinds of products are up as well, and that may contribute to the increase. Or, maybe people are just spending more money in Brandon than they usually do.

Are you? Do you make a point to Buy Brandon? Have you increased your Brandon spending in the last few months? If so, why? Have you made a conscious decision to buy in Brandon than elsewhere?

Has the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce’s Buy Brandon campaign influenced your spending at all?

Government should answer to the people. American’s founding fathers put many checks into place so that the government would be accountable. Leaders since then have defined the government’s role even more specifically. For example, the law requires that elected bodies print their minutes in the newspaper so that all Americans have a chance to read them. Meetings are open to the public by law.

The public isn’t a big blob, though. The public is made up of individuals, and they can ask questions and give their opinions.

Are elected officials accountable to specific individuals? They are accountable to the public, definitely. And the public is made up of individuals.

I once was president of a group and wanted to do what was best for the group and its members. I always was willing to listen to individual members’ recommendations. I found, though, that one member would lobby me to do “black,” while another member would lobby me to do “white.” I couldn’t do both.

What can elected officials do when some constituents want them to do one thing and other constituents want them to do another? How can they make a decision without disappointing someone?

Let’s have some general discussion on an elected body’s responsibility to the public as a whole vs. its responsibility to individual people.

In recent years, the Brandon Valley School district has seen an annual increase of 100 to 125 in student growth. This year, it looks like the district will gain about 42 or a few more.

What accounts for that, do you think? Single family dwelling building permits are down in Brandon, too. Is it because of the slow housing market right now? Are high gas prices forcing people to stay where they are?

Maybe the Internet is to blame. Maybe so many people are telecommuting these days, there is no need to move for a job.

Brandon Valley always has had an excellent reputation. Could it be that reputation is slipping?

I’m not saying any of these reasons is the correct one. I’m just brainstorming. What possible reasons can you think of as to why the increase is less this year?

What are the benefits of gaining fewer students this year? What are the drawbacks?

School doesn’t start for a couple of weeks yet and I’ve already seen band and football practices on school grounds. I know they’ve been practicing many days already.

Should school start so early for kids? Students who are in certain activities get a very short summer.

What do you think?

Do you plan to attend the Sioux Empire Fair this week? If so, what parts do you consider “must see?”

I was in 4-H when I was young, so I entered vegetables, baked goods and crafts every year. When I was a young adult, I earned many ribbons in the Homemaker building. Once I got a best of show for my apple butter, and once I got a best of show for my dill pickles. I have all my ribbons in a shoebox in my closet.

Of course the kids like the midway. I always liked the rides where you go upside down. But I haven’t been on a ride now in many years.

Do you take in the grandstand events? Do you like to bring home freebies from the booths in the Expo building?

Did you attend any part of Hometown Days on Saturday? This was the first year of the event, designed to bring Brandon residents out and about so they can meet each other and learn more about the place where they live.

How do you think the event went? What suggestions do you have to improve Hometown Days?