Meet the Candidates: Mike Hyde
In our continuing coverage of the 2011 election, Smyrna-Vinings Patch provides here a profile of one of the three candidates for Smyrna city council's Ward 5.
Smyrna’s general election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011 and a record 19 candidates are on the ballot. In their words, candidates will be introducing themselves here at Patch. Today, we have Ward 5 city council candidate Mike Hyde, who is running against Jason Saliba and Susan Dease Wilkinson.
I have been a resident of Ward 5 in the City of Smyrna for 48 years. For the last 34 years, I have worked as a lineman for the Georgia Power Company. My 25-year-old daughter is an EMT paramedic and seeks to be a firefighter.
I'm not a lawyer or a career politician looking to build a resume or better my career. I'm native of Smyrna who has concerns about the direction our city is headed.
I have specialized training in problem solving. I have served on several committees. In the past few weeks, I have heard and read both positive and negative comments about our City government.
These are concerns that I feel can be fixed internally. We need to keep our vision on moving our city forward. I've seen our city go from a two-lane road with mom and pop stores to a city that is highly developed.
We have a balanced budget with a surplus. We are a small town that only needs small changes. We don't need more industrial, commercial, and retail just to build bigger roads to increase traffic problems. We can move forward with a proactive approach to address issues. I think communication needs to improve to get our community more involved in what the future holds.
As your councilman I will take my experience and knowledge to represent the city and citizens of Ward 5. We are a small town that only needs small changes.
Cunningham
8:03 am on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Mike seems like a real nice guy that cares about his city, but I'm not sure why he thinks Jason Saliba using his Emory law degree as a prosecutor and a Smyrna Ward Rep, instead of "cashing it in" for a bigger paycheck in private practice is a bad thing - I think it's admirable of Mr. Saliba to be so civic minded.
How does being a ward rep in any way advance the career of a prosecutor? Those advancements are based on putting bad guys in jail.
Mike's vision for Smyrna seems a bit cloudy, too. On one hand, he supports the big changes made in the past that resulted in Smyrna becoming a "highly developed city", while on the other hand, he says that "We are a small town that only needs small changes." Which is it Mike, are we a "highly developed city" or a "small town"?
The WindyMac traffic is already here. The varying plans to address this problem and the redevelopment of the "past their prime" buildings on Windy Hill are needed - sticking our heads in the sand nor "small changes" will solve the problem.
"Big changes" are what it took to get where we are today. If Mike's “small changes” had been made in the past, the “Used Shoe Display” in the picture window of Johnson’s Shoe Store might still be the focal point of downtown Smyrna – I don’t think ANYBODY except Mike, and maybe Johnson, wants that kind of progress.
I fear the vision of someone who applauds big changes made in the past but is afraid to make big changes in the future as needed.