True leadership is about identifying good ideas and advancing them, even when they are not your own. True leadership is about transforming those good ideas into action that can be embraced by people of diverse interests and backgrounds. True leadership involves tapping the wealth of talent, energy and creativity in this community, to steer a course to a new civic and economic prosperity.

Today, as our community of New Bedford faces great challenges to its quality of life -- chronic crime in our neighborhoods, unacceptable school dropout rates, and the flight of real jobs -- new and true leadership is desperately needed.

True leadership can be demonstrated in the development of a successful new master plan for New Bedford that outlines the zoning regulations, transportation initiatives and capital improvement strategies that will position the city for economic and cultural growth. It must be a living document crafted with the people so it is owned by the people.
A failed master plan on the other hand is developed in a top-down manner by elected officials and high paid consultants who disregard the role of the people, the same people who will be asked to live with the plan for many years to come.

Nearly a decade ago, Mayor Fred Kalisz attacked the administration of then-Mayor Rosemary Tierney for having a "program that cannot work, does not work, and will never work because there is no plan.'' He ran for office on the promise that he would write a "skillfully designed plan" to create a city "where its citizens and visitors can be happy.''
It was a good idea and a sincere promise by a good person, but the promise has not been kept. Whatever hastily contrived process that the current administration begins in this election year, it is obvious that any momentum that existed 2,500 days ago has been wasted, leaving us to wonder, what if?

What if the promise had been kept and the community -- from the shop floor to the board room, from the front porch to the classroom -- was mobilized to develop an inclusive, compelling strategy for a new New Bedford?

We would be doing better than a 35-percent dropout rate, better than a Home Depot that may create some low-paying jobs but will also do damage to neighborhood businesses. I believe our community policing program would be a model for other cities; our downtown and historic areas would be truly linked to the waterfront; New Bedford would be a serious tourist destination; and the city would be a leader in regional economic development efforts rather than a bystander.

As a result of the Fairhaven Mills debacle, there is suddenly a committee being formed to study the reuse of mill sites. Too little, too late. Had the committee been formed eight years ago as promised, our community would have seen several job-producing alternatives that do not risk damaging neighboring businesses.

There are other development sites that possess great opportunities that have been vulnerable to misguided development for many years, yet the administration has made no meaningful effort to engage neighbors in their redevelopment.

I am running for mayor because I believe we can do better than creeping mediocrity and City Hall isolation from the real-life needs of the community. There is an urgency to our task. We must pull together for the common purpose of improving our city.

Master planning is more than having a new plan on paper or a new process. The future of New Bedford depends on us building a new civic covenant between the people, the non-profit and business communities, and our government -- a new covenant based on trust and respect, shared responsibility and shared credit.

We must do better, and do it now.

Matthew A. Morrissey of New Bedford is running for mayor this fall.

This story appeared on Page A13 of The Standard-Times on June 24, 2005.