We all know what New Year's resolutions are.
Wikipedia defines them in this way: New Year's resolutions are "a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year's Day and remain until fulfilled or abandoned."
But there are many things that an individual would like to see happen in 2010 that are beyond one's immediate control.
Here is my wish list of things beyond my control about Merced that I share with you today.
We are a growth-bound city and this is due in large measure to UC Merced's continued growth.
Unlike a community college, which only offers an associate degree, a four-year university gives further meaning to the term higher education.
Many who graduate community college continue on to the UC or CSU system to finish off their education.
In addition to attracting quality teaching and research staff, UC Merced allows free reign for its students to dream their dreams of changing the world by expressing their liberality.
Indeed, the UC system is constantly ranked among the most liberal of schools; right up there with Brown, Brandeis, Harvard and Yale.
This is not to say that UC Merced and our city and county do not work well together. But as UC grows in what is an essentially conservative community, the liberal university and the conservative city will inevitably clash.
I have seen how culture wars affect a community's growth and my wish for this year is that there begin a public dialogue between the city and UC Merced about our mutual goals and aspirations; so that, through public discussion and forum, we ameliorate our growing pains before they get out of hand.
Another wish would be that our fourth estate -- the media -- can rebound from the effects of our city's economic crises. An educated citizenry is a fully committed one. Only through more live and in-depth coverage of local life will we be able to grow in a profitable manner.
As to television and radio, I wish that we see more on the spot rather than canned coverage. Thirty seconds on the local TV news is no time at all in a visual-oriented society.
There are quite a few "hits" on the Sun-Star Web site, and we are quite fortunate that our local paper does not yet charge for reading it online.
I would wish that this free service continue but with one proviso: I believe that we must remove the anonymity of its reader bloggers and hold each one who comments on an article responsible for what they have written.
In that same manner, we need to keep blogs on point and not allow pontificating and self-aggrandizement.
The third wish on my list would be some settlement of our homelessness conundrum.
At present we are focused on encampments. Such facilities are tools of enablement and do nothing to alleviate the burden that the homeless face. A tent camp is reminiscent of the "Field of Dreams" line "If you build it -- they will come."
Our mayor says that it will take political will to work out a just solution to dealing with the homeless and he is correct. But no amount of council meetings or homelessness task forces will succeed without knowing the will of our populace.
Given a chance, Mercedians will exhibit both sensitivity and sensibility on this issue. Therefore, I would wish for a public referendum and dialogue (not a debate) by our voters so that our elected leaders know where we -- the citizens and taxpayers -- want them to go on this important issue.
Another wish would be that North and South Merced come together as it has never happened before.
A start has been made with our local clergy having bi-monthly meetings on the south side with an ever increasing attendance from both north and south. Carl Pollard ran for City Council on a platform of representing the south side. Actually, we are all both the north and south side and must finally be united in working for a better and greater Merced.
My last wish for our fair metropolis is that our city and county get their acts together. There has been much enmity and fingerpointing on the lack of cooperation between these two governing entities. With the advent of a new county CEO and a relatively new city manager it is time to figuratively "smoke the peace pipe" and work together for the betterment of us all.
By the way, all of us would wish for new and exciting restaurants coming to town.
Herbert A. Opalek is CEO of the Merced County Rescue Mission.
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