5 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Improving walkability cost me an election
My general advice is to never do anything new in an election year. Easier said than done, but you're talking about a pretty serious overhaul involving 5 roundabouts when you say roundabouts are controversial in your area. You could maybe have done 1 this year and called it a pilot. People will not have had time to adapt and see the benefits.
OTOH, it'll be quite hard to take them out so maybe people will like them and you can run again on your record, but next time planning out the term in office to not cause major upheaval right before the election would help.
Comment by manchesterisbell at 11/11/2024 at 14:31 UTC
10 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I didn’t give the details, otherwise you would be absolutely correct. This was technically a state project. But we had to kick in $1 million ($8 million project) and we requested it. But they dictated how it happened so we only had one choice. Also, Commissioner term is only 2 years so taking a year off from anything that might be “unpopular” would essentially mean never doing anything. But yes, January 2025 would have been a great start date lol.