Today as the former mayor becomes the current mayor, we want to congratulate the new Jacques Roy administration and give a big round of applause to the Jeff Hall administration for the last four years.
Alexandria needs to be and should be a vibrant city. Hopefully, the new administration understands that and has a clear plan or path to accomplish that.
Today should be a day of hope, of optimism.
As citizens of Alexandria, we should be happy about the city being under new leadership with a new vision and a new outlook on the direction of the town. It should be a significant time of excitement for us all.
Unfortunately for some, the reality is it is not new leadership. It is not a new outlook or a new vision. It is an old mayor whose 12-year reign put us in some predicaments we still find ourselves in today.
The disaster that is our utility system came to the current operating format under the previous Roy regime.
It feels like sitting down to watch a movie or sporting event, and you realize 5 mins in that you saw this movie or that this game is a replay, and you can just look up the score to see what will happen. We have gone through hell as a city since Mayor Ned Randolph left office.
The last 16 years in Alexandria have not been great. The two administrations in office during that time did a disservice to the citizens of Alexandria. They didn’t look for ways to change the city’s operating dependence on utility profits. They did not seek ways to increase good jobs in our city.
While across the river, Pineville is thriving.
The first incarnation of Jacque Roy as mayor had highlights (Coliseum buildout) and lowlights (no equity for all sides). That is in the past.
Mayor-elect Roy is starting with a clean slate. Maybe he has learned from the mistakes of his first time in office and will do things differently. Perhaps he will see that all of Alexandria deserves attention, not just the well-off side.
But we have all seen this Jacque Roy movie before. We will sit back and not tell the movie. But we don’t know how long we will be able to sit and watch the same scenes play out and not start telling the next scenes.
This should be a day for all to celebrate in the city. For 3iA and UrbanCast, it is a day we mark and get our “I told you so’s” weapons loaded up.
Hopefully, we don’t have to start firing them off in the next four years.
My prayers are with the City of Alexandria. I pray that there is a leader out there willing to step up and help fix this broken city because I just don’t think Jacques Roy is the man to do it. You have to care about ALL of the constituents not just the wealthy ones.
Alexandria deserves better.