This is part of an ongoing series of posts that begins with If I Were Mayor Of Greensboro and is linked in succession back to here. If you haven't already I recommend you read them all.
If I were Mayor of Greensboro I'd do what no other Mayor of Greensboro has ever done before. I'd listen to Greensboro's blue collar working class.
Not only would I listen but I'd go out and find them.
There wouldn't be staged events like Mayor Vaughan does on WFMY TV2 where they take questions on Facebook, delete the embarrassing questions and then let the Mayor decide which questions she wants to answer on TV.
I'd go live and I'd go real.
During my working years I spent 4 years as a classroom instructor for MTA Tractor-Trailer Driving School. I began every class by telling them I would honestly answer every question they could come up with before their class graduated. There were times when my students stumped me but before graduation day I learned the answers to every question and passed it along.
Other instructors tried to bullshit their students, not bothering to take the time to find out or ashamed to admit they didn't have all the answers. But it was my students that consistently had the highest test scores of all the students in over 40 MTA truck schools nation wide.
And it made me a better teacher and truck driver.
Politicians want you to think they're smarter than all the rest of us. They're not. Never have been. The average skill set of the average politician is so limited they would literally starve to death if forced into the blue collar, working class environment most of us live in. And that includes our current Mayor.
If I were Mayor of Greensboro I'd schedule 1 day a week to show up where Greensboro's working classes are already at, be in your work places, restaurants, the community bar, a street corner or anywhere else Greensboro's working class happens to be. And instead of making speeches and telling you all the things I want you to think I'm doing for you I'd listen to what you have to say and answer your questions.
When I didn't have the answer at my disposal right away I'd see to it you got the answer. Every time. Because that would make me a better mayor.
I'd invite the media, bloggers and anyone else to show up, bring cameras and record each and every event. No more he said, she said, everyone would know what I said because it would be posted online right here at EzGreensboro.com and anywhere else anyone wants to put it.
Nor would I bring the Greensboro Police Department to intimidate you. I'm not scared of Greensboro's working classes because I've done nothing to anger Greensboro's working classes. Nor will I.
Yes, there will be times when I have to make the tough decisions and not all of those decisions will make everyone happy, but working class people have to make the tough decisions every day. I'm no better than the rest of you, having drove trucks, worked construction, worked in a cotton mill, done mechanic work, construction, etc... And not just summer jobs, all my life since graduating from Greensboro's James B Dudley Sr High School in 1974.
Please come back and read If I Were Mayor Of Greensboro: Part 6 and please share all these posts with everyone you know.
