I still owe the world an election wrap-up. I’m working on it, but it keeps getting longer. A few more days if you don’t mind.This morning I had the pleasure of going to US Representative John Dingell‘s Unity Breakfast. I’m still all new to this and am not ashamed to admit I’m a little wide-eyed to having a meal with a congressman. To be fair though, US Representative John Murtha was the guy who got my brother into the US Naval Academy, so it’s not like I haven’t been around a congressman before, but it’s still pretty cool.

There were probably a hundred people there. It was your typical rah-rah Democratic pep rally. It was a ton of fun too. About everyone important in the area spoke and if you didn’t have the democratic spirit in you by the time it was all over, you must have been dead. I thought the best speaker was the congressman’s wife, Debbie Dingell. If she decided she wants to run for President in 2008, I’d go door to door for her even if it were raining Cadillacs down from the sky.

Anyway.

Since Tuesday, I’ve gotten more than a dozen emails wondering about or worried that the blog will die or change in tone and content. Even one of Congressman Dingell’s guys asked me about the fate of the blog this morning. I’d like to think that he was asking on behalf of Mr. Dingell because the congressman is a big fan and likes to know what’s going on in Ypsi, but because it was never explicitly stated that way, we’ll leave it open for interpretation.

The blog is fine and will continue.

One of my positions during the campaign was that we need more transparency in government. I never suggested nor implied that it was easier to get information about Castro’s stomach ailments than it was to get good info from City Hall, but I truly believe things are more opaque there than they are transparent. It’s one of my goals to change that. A lot of people have been making a big deal about the lack of audience participation in the meeting minutes, but that’s not the be-all and end-all of transparency. I want more discussion at the council table. I want fewer votes taken over email. I want to engage the community more. We’re obviously facing some serious challenges in the years ahead. A wise man told me that we have two years to fix what ails us in Ypsilanti and I believe him. If we’re going to do that, we’re going to have to do it together. And there’s no way we can do it as a team if we all aren’t looking at the very same information.

I have a lot of ideas about how to do this, so you’ll just have to wait and see what I offer up. And you’ll have to kick my ass if you don’t like my solutions. Regardless, the blog will remain as a key element in the process.