Nov 042009
Now that the election is over, I thought we could all use a place to talk about the contest and what it means for Spartanburg. Junie White will be Mayor, Cate Brandt Ryba and Jerome Rice will be joining Linda Dogan on City Council, and tons of shakeups have happened in the school board races, not the least of which was newcomer Julie Lonon’s definitive win in District 7-5 (by nearly 1,000 votes).
Now that the elections are over, what are your hopes, your disappointments, your frustrations and your cheers? What changes would you like to see? What fears do you have? Let’s hear all these thoughts while they’re still fresh in our minds.
Steve Shanafelt
I have a fear that even though Junie White was the best candidate available, that we may still take a large step backward during his term.
I have hope because Spartanburg citizens elected Cate Ryba who seems to bring a mindset and background that I feel is a huge step forward for the city.
Hate to leave on a negative, but I also am disappointed by voter turnout…but I always will be unless it’s more in the 75% range (likely to never happen!).
I know what you mean about voter turnout. But low turnout can also offer plenty of insight, since we know that in the people who really care about local government enough to vote in off-year elections — 8.5% or so of registered voters — there’s an encouraging progressive trend, rather than a business-as-usual one. That’s something that can be built upon.
I doubt that Junie’s term will be a step backwards. He’s hinted throughout this campaign that he’d be more hands-off than his predecessor, and that he’d like to see individual council members step up more than had been the case under Barnet.
He’s a “don’t rock the boat” guy. He may not be the sort of bold progressive I’d like to see, but he won’t derail the progress we’re already making.
The really big story is the election of Cate Ryba. It’s huge in a number of ways. First, her election represents a generational shift that will mean ideas about bringing in more young professionals into the city will actually be coming from a…wait for it…young professional.
Second, she will easily be the most progressive person we’ve ever had on council. She’s unapologetically supportive of progressive causes, and will bring a set of fresh ideas to council. In a very real way, her election was a referendum on all the work that the “new-urbanite” class in Spartanburg has been doing these last few years. Apparently, Spartanburg is ready to move forward, by a margin of 45% no less.
As far as turnout, that 8.5% figure is a county-wide number. I expect that when we have turnout figures for each precinct, the numbers for the city will be higher, and that council District 4 in particular had much higher turnout. Obviously, it won’t be at the level of a Presidential election, but I expect to see pretty good turnout numbers in that district.
Linda Bilanchone was pretty progressive in her term on city council in the late 1980s. Not to take away from Cate Ryba – I am thrilled that she won – but I don’t want to see Linda’s service forgotten.
I absolutely agree that Cate’s election marks an important generational shift and that’s very significant as we look to keep moving Spartanburg forward.
No disrespect to Linda Bilanchone intended at all. I was a kid in the late 80′s. I had no idea she’d even served on city council. Hooray for progressives, both past and present!