Post in Oxford needs an elected Mayor

May 11 14:14 UTC

Not certain how you went from the problem posed in paragraph one to the "clear"
solution in the next.  Not so clear to me how one more elected official can
make a difference.  It would simply lead to another bureaucratic set of
offices.  It's almost like you are asking for a mini-dictator who will ensure
"effective decision-making".  And who is to say this person would have any more
authority or willingness to get things done than the current crop of leaders?

As for "business interests", I would offer that what Oxford needs to preserve
its unique and beautiful heritage is far less commercialism and more looking
after the true interests of the city - its environment, its transport and its
people.  We need folks who can help guide and transition our city to a more
sustainable post-oil-age economy - not more business development projects
(which will suffer increasingly higher cost overruns due to the imminence of
peak global oil production), not more shopping malls, not a gigantic
underground parking facility in a flood zone, not more resulting roads and
traffic, and not more destruction of historic sites like Bonn Square.

What we need are plans put into place to deal with the problems just now
starting to show themselves globally where we are faced with a permanent
shortage of cheap energy and food, rapidly rising costs and climate change.  We
need folks in power who are willing to recognise the changes moving across the
globe, understand that we in this city are not cut off from those global issues
and who have the strength and vision and courage to deal with them effectively.
We need leaders who understand that this old world of limitless possibilities
and unending growth is rapidly fading away, replaced by a world in which "less
is better" and efficient use of our remaining resources is paramount and where
the social and economic dynamics will be far different than they are today.
Who will prepare our city and its people for this?

Oxford needs not a change in leadership, but a change in attitude.  A change in
attitude will result in the appropriate change in leadership.

Victor Wood
Oxford, Oxfordshire