Skip Lee shows signs of being a good mayor

I had never met Mr. Charles “Skip” Lee until very recently. As you probably know, he was elected mayor of Sterling last year, so I called him to visit and tour our plant. We manufacture leather accessories mainly for law enforcement and fire personnel. I do this for most of the local politicians and officeholders, but few take me up on it.

Mayor Lee did. I gave him a tour, and we spoke briefly. At the end, he asked a question that people in public service should, but rarely do; he asked whether there was anything he could do for me.

I was going to ask that he eliminate all taxes, and if he could find a husband for my unmarried daughter, but I knew both requests were unattainable. Instead, I asked for a street sign at the end of our block. We put up our building 12 years ago, but there was never a street sign on the corner.

The original Mayor Daley in Chicago knew that if you wanted to keep the citizens happy, all you had to do is pick up their garbage, provide clean water and police and fire protection, and answer very simple requests. If you do those basic things, we can be very forgiving of other matters.

Most politicians do not understand this. I think Skip Lee does.

As I write this, our street sign is going up. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.