{"id":5347,"date":"2011-03-09T14:36:40","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T19:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/?p=5347"},"modified":"2011-03-09T14:36:40","modified_gmt":"2011-03-09T19:36:40","slug":"editorial-well-done-mr-mayor-by-mary-kean-scnow-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/?p=5347","title":{"rendered":"EDITORIAL: Well done, Mr. Mayor (By Mary Kean SCNow.com)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the short, yet most informative span of 15 minutes, <\/span>Mayor<\/span> <\/span>Mel Pennington<\/span> provided residents with a much-needed pep talk and offered them updates on the where the city stands on a number of issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Billed as Hartsville\u2019s first-ever State of the City address, we hope that Monday\u2019s speech in the Watson Theater will not be the last. In fact, we see it as a launching point for possibly holding bi-annual or quarterly events \u2013 either state of the city addresses or town hall meetings, in which <\/span>the mayor<\/span> can keep his constituents abreast of what the city and its leaders are doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pennington\u2019s address served precisely the purpose for which it was intended \u2013 to inform and motivate. <\/span>The mayor<\/span> and his staff put together a speech that touched on a wide array of topics, from crime and unemployment to education and the economy. It covered a large amount of ground in a short period of time, keeping the information concise and to the point.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between his updates, <\/span>Pennington<\/span> interwove reminders of Hartville\u2019s strong sense of community and its ability to sustain and withstand hardships.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have witnessed an outpouring of love, people banding together during trials, quite literally, by fire, and like gold it has only made our values stronger,\u201d <\/span>Pennington<\/span> said after referring to the issues that have faced the city during the first few months of 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mayor<\/span> convincingly pointed out that the city also has much reason to be proud. While crime and plant fires have drawn much attention to the community, so has the announcement of a $5 million initiative that will put the city at the forefront of our state\u2019s education system. Our <\/span>police chief<\/span> may have retired after years of dedicated service, but we have a new city <\/span>manager in Natalie Zeigler<\/span> who appears to be the ideal person for the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no question that the beginning of 2011 has brought <\/span>Hartsville<\/span> more than its share of difficulties. We believe the mayor\u2019s words will go a long way in assuring residents that municipal and state leaders are doing what they can to address and resolve any problems the city is facing.<\/span><\/p>\n

We see nothing but positives coming from Monday\u2019s speech. It provides yet another bridge of communication between the city\u2019s leadership and its residents. <\/span>Mayor<\/span> <\/span>Pennington<\/span> and his staff deserve much credit for establishing what we hope will become a regular event \u2013 annual, biannual or quarterly – that will serve our city well.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the short, yet most informative span of 15 minutes, Mayor Mel Pennington provided residents with a much-needed pep talk and offered them updates on the where the city stands on a number of issues. Billed as Hartsville\u2019s first-ever State of the City address, we hope that Monday\u2019s speech in the Watson Theater will not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5348,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5347\/revisions\/5348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.babypennington.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}