To the Editor:

I write in response to your section on upcoming mayoral elections in Cedar. Each of the aspiring candidates outlined their ideas of what Cedar City needs.

If they want to improve our great community, they had best start by listening to the people they want to serve. Rather than them telling us what we need, we need to tell them what we need.

First, Cedar City needs smarter development. We weren’t all excited with the rapid, and at times reckless, growth that went on here a couple years back. Now we have empty neighborhoods of duplexes and property values have gone down. Our next mayor needs to exercise restraint when distributing new building permits.

Secondly, we need increased transparency in our local government. As our great founders Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith have said, “Government exists to serve the people, not the other way around.”

The mayor should provide residents a monthly report on expenditures, meeting minutes, and the status of approved projects. This report can be posted on the internet.

Next, our mayor is responsible for increasing patriotism. When I was in school we pledged allegiance to the flag every day and received lessons about our great country. Because of the environmentalists this tradition is no longer continued. For shame.

If people are to appreciate our country, they must sacrifice for it as I did in WWII (235th Clerical Division, US Army).

Finally, myself and some others have been disappointed that the current mayor has done nothing to address the issue of the excess wind in Cedar City.

While there are many more things I could write on about, these four items are plenty enough to get started on. Our next mayor will need to remember that government is a privilege.

Mortimer (Mort) Anderson

Cedar City