Give Us Leaders to Match Challenges

* Re “Forging a Bright Future,” Sept. 27 editorial:

I too have witnessed many changes over the past 45 years of living in Orange County. These changes have brought progress and prosperity, but they have also brought challenges and hard decisions. At the dawn of the new millennium, the greatest need in Orange County is for enlightened civic leadership.

We need problem solvers and not politicos in decision-making positions. We need all of our communities to be effectively represented in the major regional issues of the future, whether it be airports, jails, transportation projects or development.

We also need all societal sectors to be effectively represented and for collaborative leadership to cut across geographic and jurisdictional boundaries to address the most pressing of our civic and social needs.

While we desperately need current leadership at all levels, we also need to develop a mechanism to groom new leaders at both the city and county levels, emerging leaders who understand the process and who are able to access the system. Civic leadership programs, especially one at the county level, should definitely be a part of our future.

Several other communities up and down the state have established collaborative regional initiatives to foster better civic leadership on cross-sector issues.

We need a collaborative project to tackle decisions in education, the environment and growth, and to break down barriers between north and south, coast and inland, large communities and small. We also need leaders who are as sensitive about multicultural issues and building community as they are passionate about high-tech development and building economy.

We need civic leadership to provide a vision, ensure participation, strategically plan, manage information and effectively allocate resources. Our future depends upon the quality of our leadership and upon the process of developing leadership to deal with the 21st century issues.

TIM GEDDES

Huntington Beach