October/November 2016 President’s Column

…for the greater good.

I was in Boston when writing this column, and as the vast number of issues and candidates come before us during this coming election, I’m reminded of our shared heritage as Americans and residents of our Hayes Valley neighborhood. We come from diverse memories of poverty and privilege, enslavement and freedom, persecution and acceptance. We have inherited a country founded by a small group of individuals with great intellectual capacity who created a combined vision for the future nation. We are now in a time of significant social change, and here in Hayes Valley, we reflect most of the upheaval that taking place in metropolitan areas. It is again a time of the Spoken Word, this time via social media instead of Ben Franklin’s printing press. While our country’s founders used their oratory skills and distributed written pamphlets to reach the voters, they eventually reached consensus for a new way of governance. Today, during this time of dissonance, reaching compromise on governance issues seems difficult.

In the coming election, we will review the long list of ballot measures. HVNA is a 501C-4 non profit organization, which allows the organization to take positions on important issues before our voters. Please attend our community and membership meeting on Thursday, October 27, at 7 pm to hear about some of the issues before you.

One important point about our democracy: eventually, we voters, who remain diverse in politics and lifestyle, must discuss important issues with one another in peaceful and respectful ways, instead of video sound bites and written tweets, and agree to accept the rule of law that will govern us all. And, as we decide on the path forward during this time of great change, consider, as our nation’s, city’s, and neighborhood’s founders also struggled to do, how we will achieve a future for the greater good of all.