A Few Words About the Mayor...of the Year

Mayor Larson! Yay!

reita

Now that Mayor Larson has been selected as Oregon Mayor of the Year, several of you have asked for the full text of my nomination letter. Thanks for asking! Here it is.

Dear Oregon Mayor’s Association,

Some mayors are good mayors. Some mayors are bad. Some mayors are totally wacky. Sometimes these wacky ones don’t reveal their true nature until after they are elected, and then the entire community can just start circling the drain of good intentions. It’s always helpful to know what you’re getting into when you take on a new mayor.

When our mayor, Don Larson, was elected, I didn’t know what to think. I liked our old mayor. I didn’t know Don at all. Whenever I would see Don Larson, he would be walking around, talking to people in downtown Seaside. Was he just “chewing the fat”? Was he a meddling snoop? Was he working for the FBI, or was he really just interested in what was going on? He was not the kind of mayor I had ever seen.

I mean, what mayor actually walks around and talks to the people for fun? He wasn’t even campaigning! He had already won!

Pretty soon after he was elected, he showed me his office. He pointed at a very old wooden sign. He said, “Look, Reita! This is a sign from one of the old buildings in Seaside. The building renovators were going to throw it away! Isn’t it great?”

This was the fleeting moment when I thought to myself, “This mayor could be a total whack job.”

But then he added, “It’s a part of Seaside history!” Right then and there I knew Seaside had a good mayor. Now I can honestly say we have a great one.

This packet for his nomination will be filled full of all of the things that he has accomplished. There is a whole page full of accomplishments and lots of news articles about all that he has done. Some of it is exciting, like our brand new library. Before Don Larson became Mayor, the library project had languished for years and years. People were always asking when the city would get a new library and where it would be built.

My assistant Librarian ultimately said, “I hope they build the new library in the cemetery, because that’s where I’ll be when they finally get it built.”

Then Mayor Larson got elected. Now we have a new library.

Mayor Larson has spearheaded the construction of a new skate park (exciting for our young citizens!), the aforesaid new library, (exciting for all citizens!) and new water tank (exciting for those who drink water and flush!). True to the mayor’s personality, he gets involved with every project, and this is what makes him the best mayor ever.

He visited the new library site daily during construction, keeping in touch with the project manager. He stopped traffic and led our parade of children on the “wagon train” of books down the street, across Highway 101 and to our new library. He visited the skate park, drove up the hill daily to the 500,000 gallon water tank during its construction, walked the prom during the upgrades and immersed himself (sorry for the pun) in the tsunami outreach project. We had a Seaside Recycling day, and Mayor Larson spent an entire Saturday unloading trucks and cars and sorting stuff like old tires and trash into piles. I can see some mayors doing that for a photo op, but all day? I would have lasted two hours, tops.

He is involved in the Jazz Festival, the Tsunami Preparedness Drills, Awana, and, oh yes,

he presides over City Council meetings with grace, professionalism and, at times, humor.

Please give special attention to the pictures (in the photo section) of a Mayor who is just as comfortable in a hard hat (at the library construction site) as in an Easter Bunny hat (at City Hall). Notice how professional he looks in both. He also looks quite festive in his beads at the Jazz Festival. We love a mayor who knows how to accessorize.

I always refer to him as “your honor”, even when he insists that I call him Don. I refuse not out of any protocol, but out of respect. He is a man of honor and it is an honor to be the Library Director in the city that has Don Larson as Mayor.

Thank you for the opportunity to nominate our Mayor for this award. Librarians are, by nature, a picky bunch. We tend to be passionate about things that are good for the community and revile things that aren’t. We are passionate about our mayor. He is the spirit of our community.