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Soapbox
 Happiness Is...
I am excited to have Paul Berry as our mayor! In his first month in
office he has combined his understanding of city operations and issues
with a vision of open and efficient government to streamline
procedures, make the inner workings of the city more accessible, and
draw up a road map of issues that need to be addressed, all with
unassailable integrity and good humor.
A great example of his leadership is the
work session notes he published on October 20. I highly recommend
this "State of the City" report to anyone who wants to understand where
we are and where we need to go.
And if you have something to add, I see Paul is having "coffee with the
Mayor" Thursdays at 2 pm at the Fireweed gallery and coffee house. As
always, you can also submit your comments and
questions to the city council in writing. And for the latest city
council news you can follow the city council
forum.
In The Geography of Bliss Eric Weiner writes, "Canadian
happiness researcher John Helliwell believes that quality of government
is the single most important variable that explains why some countries
are happier than others." Weiner explorers many other variables in the
book including my favorite, connectedness to nature, but who could
argue that good government is an important factor?
I would like to thank outgoing council members Sandi Marchbanks, Wayne
Howell, Lou Cacioppo, and Bill Unkel for all their hard work promoting
our collective happiness. Thanks largely to their efforts (and to all
the other council members and city staff and volunteers and
participating citizens) Gustavus is already the envy of small
governments across Alaska. And now Paul is working to set an even
higher standard.
Nathan Borson
Volunteer Webmaster, Community Section
City of Gustavus
Views expressed in the soapbox are those of the
author and are not necessarily shared by the City of Gustavus. If you
have a rant, a rave, or a rhyme about our fair community, e-mail it
to me with a photo of yourself and I will post it here subject to
common-sense considerations about decency, legality, and
readability.
If you're here for Internet access
instead of general community information head over to the GCN service area.
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