Christmas seems like it got here in an eye blink this year. As usual we pray for peace on earth. Thanks to the world’s unprecedented media technology, the whole world is at our fingertips, so that prayer is very real. However, many people are also wishful for peace on the political front in the United States, Missouri and Platte County.
Bill Graham
The political cracks and fissures between folks in our county may not be as obvious as what is front and center in current national politics, but there’s an unseen tension that was not present in years past. Strangers are still very polite, maybe even more polite than ever as a counterweight to uncertainty. But acquaintances and friends avoid conversations about politics and policy in the fear that a chasm will open that cannot be bridged. Perhaps national divide stress makes no one want to risk local stress, but the end result is people not talking at all about issues local or national.
We’re not going to build a progressive Platte County huddled in bunkers. People need to follow local issues in the news, visit with local leaders about issues, pay attention and vote. But we also need to communicate in an atmosphere of shared community.
I’m making that a top wish for in 2020. Here are some other things I’d like to see for Platte County in the New Year that’s almost here.
Missouri keeps up current highways fairly well, better than a few other states I’ve driven through in recent years. However, traffic is swelling on both the major highways and the secondary roads, especially in a fast-growing place like Platte County. We need federal and state infrastructure programs that get passed and funded so that very expensive major highways and interchanges get modernized and enlarged. I’m not asking that everything gets rebuilt in 2020. But I’d like to see progress for long-term funding for improvements. I recognize that is somewhat a scary wish, as such progress usually requires a partnership between legislators, taxpayers, and consumers. But the less we keep pace with infrastructure needs, the more painful the transportation pinch will be in the future.
Platte County deserves a county parks and recreation program that is as progressive and service providing as parks in any other county in the metro area. That means saving valuable green space as it becomes available, in partnership with cities and developers. It also means highly trained professionals developing programs and managing both the natural and the built environments in county-managed parks. This requires full funding such as voters have twice supported. Parks have value in creating an atmosphere of shared community.
A good friend of mine with a disability was able to find the just right home, right size and right layout, in a new subdivision south of Platte City, but I think he was a tad lucky. Ditto those of low or moderate incomes who manage to find affordable housing. We’ve had some really good developers here and there in the county who have been progressive. I hope more step forward and include specialty and affordable housing in green-design subdivisions in the midst of high dollar housing, and I hope they brag about it, so the county gets a reputation for progressive as well as profitable housing development.
I keep waiting to encounter or hear a rumor about live music entertainment venues, places where the music is as important as the beer and televisions are scarce. It takes an owner who loves music enough to give it importance alongside the food and beverage business. If you hear of such a place, drop me an email through this newspaper. Otherwise I’ll keep hoping to find one. Places for good music and dancing foster an atmosphere of shared community, too.
A contentious election year is ahead, to put it mildly. I hope that whatever happens, one year from now, the sense of peace in Platte County and shared community is stronger than ever.