Our Town did something: Pandemonium and mayhem will ensue !

Our town "did something" this week...it elected a 28 year old Republican as Mayor and in the only contested city council race, chose a 19 year old Republican for city council.

In less than two minutes after this earth shattering event, and my messenger and my email began filling up with people in a panic..."What does this mean? How could they do this? They elected a kid? We are doomed!!!" Now to be fair most of those people are the same people who don't understand bike lanes either.

Everyone was looking for "meaning". I had a feeling this could happen and had told several people this was possible, although I try to avoid politics as much as possible, don't ever endorse people because I am communication director for Logansport Landmarks, but there was some handwriting on the wall.

The reason? Well there were many. Low voter turnout ( a lot of people are burnt out from the 24/7 political cycle our country is in). This was not considered an "controversial election", there were no big policy issues here. It is hard to tell the difference from the typical Republican or Democrat in this town...typically moderate to conservative, common sense people on either side of the aisle. People will also tell you our soon to be former mayor, Dave Kitchell is a great guy who really cares about his community and has accomplished  a lot  in his four years, He has done a good job,  and I have worked with him on preservation issues and found him to be very responsive. ...however I think the reason for this change is the changing demographic in our community and the people who see Logansport's future,  rather than clinging to its past.

Since 2014 when we moved our home and business here from Indy, MUCH, has changed in Logansport. Our Midtown neighborhood  now has few vacant homes, new ones being built on vacant lots and property values have close to doubled. City wide real estate grew at over 30 percent this year. and of course last year, Logansport was named the number 1 small city you'd actually like to live in....in the United States! by realtor.com . Our business continues to grow and we have had visitors from 40 states now.

But a lot more is going on since we opened. The downtown has two coffee houses downtown. Black Dog Coffee and Intersection  Coffee Shop. Both draw a new crowd, young and old, who "see possibilities" in the downtown.

The Record Farm has become a regional icon among collectors and aficionados of vinyl bringing people in from all over

Air B&B has come to Logansport with several air b&b operations ranging in style from Period traditional to urban loft offerings.

The State Theatre draws crows from far and wide with an eclectic offering of music.

In short, the demographic and perhaps expectations of Logansport are changing. People are moving here from Indy , Chicago, Carmel, Fishers and Westfield. I recently met someone who moved to Logansport , from San Francisco, and loves it here. There are more people here living here now who never hung out at our now dead mall on the east end, never road the railroad, and they don't wax eloquent bout the good ole days downtown, because they are too busy enjoying today and think Logansport, and our downtown, is coming along just fine.

So am I concerned about a young mayor? Yes and no. I understand there will be a learning curve. Most 28 year old's don't probably know that a police car cost 70 grand or a firetruck can run a million, but the fact is that the city council is the primary decision maker of the city. The mayor is basically the ambassador or cheerleader for the city, and hopefully our new mayor may be able to throw a lot of energy into that mix. Time will tell but I'm optimistic. If nothing else we have shed the image of politics as usual and perhaps this is a new beginning and a great start as the city grows and expands.

At a time when the "old guard" is still complaining about bike lanes and waiting for the 'magic factory' that will give everyone without a high school diploma some high paying job...maybe, just maybe...things are changing and a new "brand" for Logansport may occur. A city looking forward, not backwards and not afraid to 'take a risk' to make this city better.