I’m very proud that together, Antioch residents overwhelmingly passed Measure E with 67.04% of the vote (or 9,940 votes as of this week).
Today, residents have a little more control in shaping the future direction of our city. This could have been accomplished in December of 2014 or February of this year when we submitted 9,302 signatures asking the City Council to put voters in charge of gambling expansion, but they refused.
Personally, this also came at a cost for me when I was publicly humiliated and shamed by being removed from the Antioch Economic Development Commission for not supporting gambling expansion. In the end, we sent the Mayor and City Council a loud and clear message – enough is enough; Antioch does not have to settle for low-rate predatory businesses that threaten the health and safety of our community.
As we draw closer to the 4th of July holiday and celebrate our independence and representative democracy, I cannot help but remind us about the importance of respecting, preserving and enhancing our democratic principles.
In 2000, while serving in the US Navy, a few dozen of my shipmates and I signed up to volunteer for a humanitarian effort to advance democracy in war torn East Timor. As a result, we earned the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation. I don’t personally speak about this out of respect for the children who were tortured, whose hands I felt, whose voices I heard, whose schools were blown up, whose villages were set on fire, whose parents were killed, simply because their elders stood up to fight for a democratic society and independence from Indonesia. Later, I earned the Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal in defense of our democracy following the attacks of September 11th, 2001 for my service overseas.
As someone who was willing to give his life in the name of democracy around the world and in defense of our country, I cannot express enough how embarrassed I am for the Mayor and City Council for acting in a manner that was contrary to our democratic values and at the heart of our American experience.
I personally understand, as I’m sure most of you do, that upholding our democratic principles is hard work. It requires patience, compassion and understanding because as Americans we have varying opinions that are shaped by our diverse experiences. Locally, our democracy does not belong to 5 individuals on the City Council; it belongs to all of us.
Antioch is a diverse community made up of various ethnic, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds and much more. Antioch is going to have a diversity of thought when it comes to charting our future. And, it’s not the responsibility of our elected government to bully people out of the democratic process, but instead to convene varying perspectives and help build consensus that lead to solutions. Our democracy is not a joke or a weapon individuals use against those with opposing views or have differences in opinions. Our democracy is about respecting those perspectives even when you disagree with them. It’s not easy but it’s worth it when you live in a democratic society.
Let’s continue make a good city, great by setting high expectations and respecting the democratic process.
Lamar Thorpe
Antioch Resident
13 comments
I am not a Lamar fan but he is 100% right on this one. He may even change my opinion of him. What happened with Measure E is the same thing that is going to happen at the Beede lot.
The Council is so out of touch with what the community thinks its not even funny. Measure E passing was never even in question, they had all the signatures prior to the council meeting, yet the Council went off ego and arrogance rather than listening to the people. Monica Wilson and Wade Harper got a dose of that in their County Supervisor Race of what happens when you do not listen to the people. Consider them history this fall in their re-election bids.
Hopefully we can get a new council elected that will fire Steve Duran.
Amen.
Great piece Lamar!
More power to you Lamar. Thanks for standing up for what you believe in and that which is right.
Nice job Lamar! Though we did not feel strongly either way our selves it was the principle of the thing. Time for city councils in general in this city to listen to the voters and the citizens that take the time to go before them.
The voters spoke LOUDLY and clearly.It is unfortunate that there were no leaders on the council to stand up and save Antioch the money to put it on the ballot. Each one of those council members and the mayor should think hard and clear about what happened. Harper, Wilson & Rocha are all likely to be on the ballot for reelection and Ogorchuck is running for mayor. It will be interesting to see how they will explain their terrible behavior towards Lamar Thorpe and how out of touch they were regarding this issue.
Antioch may only have one card room now but they also may have a whole new council and mayor come this November. Shame on all of them!
On behalf of Antioch I send my sincere apologies to Mr Thorpe for the terrible way our leaders treated you and I thank you for helping make Antioch a better place to raise our families.
Mr. Thorpe – If you’re really interested in helping lift Antioch back out of the pit it seems to have fallen in to, why did your measure really just benefit the existing card room by blocking competition? Wouldn’t it have been better to work to shut down the existing room and prohibit new ones?
This is just something I’m curious about; I’m not an Antioch resident and have no say either way. However, as a disinterested party, it really seemed more to me about benefiting the existing club and not about economic development.
Going off healthy competition, I wonder if Lamar has another agenda to keep a monopoly on card rooms in Antioch. But then again, I wonder of the Council also had an agenda to get kick backs and deals from competitors to open more card rooms.
At the end of the day I can’t trust Lamar because of his past and can’t trust Council because of their incompetent performance. Ogorchock seems to be ok in my book.
I’ve met Lamar personally and I have to say, I like him. He is very respectful and is in tune with the majority. The City Council, sadly is not.
The council used him as a fall guy. This is government behavior which should NEVER be tolerated anywhere or anytime.
I wish Lamar all the best in what ever he takes on. He appears to be in it for all the right reasons.
My dear friend Lamar
What a nonsense letter.
The way you twist the issue in the name of democracy makes me puke.
Measure e was NOT about safety, democracy, jobs, economic grow or anything else.
I am also not surprised by any action/ inaction of our city council .
Measure e was simply about one gambling entity controlling the other .
Outside powers/ interest groups have thrown $ 300,000 plus
, into their campaign
And have “won”
Thanks to you, helping, making it happens.
Measure e shows a clear defeat of democracy , it simply shows that money , special interest , and manipulated voters ( you partnered up with them) voters who don’t read the ballot measures , don’t have the time etc .
There is nothing to celebrate .
It’s just another shameful event in antiochs history.
Karl, I have always respected your opinion and this post is an excellent one to get people to think and do research behind a politician’s agenda.
Thank you.
Karl, from reading your post, it is evident that you have taken a lot of shortcuts in life. You come across as angry and uneducated, so attacking Mr. Thorpe’s well written letter makes you look shallow. No offense, but I suggest you reacquaint yourself with spell check, the shift key and a tune up on your punctuation and spacing. From there you can take a giant leap into gathering factual data. It works wonders my friend.
You see, it’s not always what you say, but how you say it.
In this case Lamar did both well. You, not so much.
Keep swinging, you are bound to hit something, someday.
…and Lamar, thank you for your service in our military. You are indeed a Nobel man.
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