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Strange Asks for Support from Young Leaders

By TWAY Kris

I was excited for the event last night with Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it, as we were celebrating my step-daughter’s birthday, but it sounds like Mayor Strange hit the right notes.

“Don’t bad mouth us. Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy,” Strange told the group of about 50. “We’ve got good things happening here. We need to celebrate the positive things.”

Strange rattled off numerous examples, from catching a baseball game at the Biscuits stadium to watching a play at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival to sitting on the porch at the Exchange.

Strange was speaking Monday night to members of both the River Region Democrats and the Capital City Young Republicans. The two groups met in the spirit of bipartisanship, which is an attitude Strange championed during his campaign and one he has brought with him to the mayor’s office.

I applaud the River Region Democrats and Capital City Young Republicans for planning the joint event and hope to see similar things in the future. I also applaud Mayor Strange for his willingness to reach out and listen to ideas and I think it bodes well for the city’s future.

Strange asks young leaders to support city | montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser.

April 28th, 2009 | Tags: , | Category: Montgomery, Politics | 3 comments

Where Are Strange’s Cuts Going to Come?

By TWAY Kris

Todd Strange will be sworn in as Montgomery, Alabama’s next mayor on Monday and he already knows he wants more police presence and he needs to cut the city’s budget. It will be very interesting to watch where he pulls that rabbit from…

I’m meeting with (the finance director) to get a better understanding of what the 2 percent budget cut will get us and what the candidates might be for a $20 million (cut). And I’ll ask him to get the department heads and begin to focus on the 2010 budget.

I might ask some of our accounting firms to lend us some of their good minds to help us look at that. And maybe even go to what we call a zero-based budget and budget functionality, and from that, build it up.

Traditionally, government looks at, “Well, we spent $227 million this year. Let’s only spend $220 million. Or let’s cut it 2 percent or let’s add 2 percent.” The reality is you may not need $220 million as a budget. So you go in and start at baseline one. We’ll probably spend the summer doing that.

Sounds good, but that still means something gets left behind…what’s it going to be?

Police, budgets top Stranges to-do list | montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser.

March 17th, 2009 | Tags: , , , | Category: Montgomery, Politics | One comment

Strange to keep Briddell with City

By TWAY Kris

I applaud Todd Strange for recognizing what an asset Michael Briddell is to Montgomery and bringing him back onto the city payroll. That took courage and is a good sign for the kind of administration he will have.

Strange to keep Briddell on staff | montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser.

March 12th, 2009 | Tags: , | Category: Montgomery, Politics | One comment

Montgomery Mayoral Election Night

By TWAY Kris

The Montgomery Advertiser is posting the latest election results

.

7:59pm CDT: As of this moment, Michael Briddell is ahead of Todd Strange, but without knowing which precincts have reported, it’s hard to know what that means. Only about a quarter of the boxes are in. We
ll see how things develop.

8:04pm CDT: Another 23 boxes are in, and Todd Strange has pushed ahead, but it doesn’t look like he will cross the 50%+1 mark and there will be a runoff with Michael Briddell.

8:09pm CDT: Strange’s lead just surged, 12212 to 8392 for Briddell…spoke to soon…Strange may close this out tonight…

8:12pm CDT: Wow…with 85% of precincts reporting…Strange is right at 51%!

8:16pm CDT: WSFA has the numbers with percentages, which is what we really care about right now.

8:20pm CDT: As I say that, the Advertiser added percentages as well…way to go guys.

8:23pm CDT: It’s over…Todd Strange will be the next mayor of Montgomery, Alabama

March 10th, 2009 | Tags: , , , | Category: Montgomery, Politics | One comment
 
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