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Lauren Ritchie Shares Views of Lake's Prospects with AARP Chapter

Friday, January 20, 2012

Wise, creative, constructive political leadership guided by responsible citizen action are the keys to success for Lake County if it is to be successful in the decade ahead, according to Lake Sentinel columnist, Lauren Ritchie. Ritchie was the featured speaker (shown addressing the group, with Peg Weaver, left and Mary Black, chapter president ) before the Lakes and Hills AARP Chapter's January 8 meeting in Clermont. She addressed the timely topic, "Lake and Central Florida - Prospects for the Decade Ahead".

She urged the AARP members to join with other citizens in demanding that our elected officials be held personally accountable for their promises to resolve very pressing challenges themselves, rather than to rely on staff, as too often happens. "They are paid good salaries with our tax dollars to provide the leadership needed to solve the basic issues we face, such as conserving and providing our limited water resources, bringing our public education system up to global standards so that our children can be competitive in the 21st Century," Ritchie stated.

Ritchie also stressed the urgent need to create jobs so that families can support their members, as well as to resolve the problems of homelessness at a time of massive foreclosures and home vacancies. She noted that perhaps as many as 10,000 children are homeless or living in near poverty conditions, as evidenced by the large number of Lake children who are eligible for reduced price school lunches.

These are challenging times that call for effective leadership and this can only come about if we are attentive both in the election process and in the follow-up afterwards to make sure that our elected leaders are delivering what they promised. News media and the web will play an important role, but this will also require citizen attentiveness as well as a demand for accountability and leadership from our politicians, Ritchie noted.

The next meeting of the AARP Chapter 5199 will be held on February 8 at 1:00 PM at the Kehlor Bldg. in Clermont. The featured speaker will be Nancy Stanton of Florida AARP, who will discuss the 2012 legislative agenda and proposed AARP political actions.