Will Ron Run?

While the Bryan City Council races seem to be attracting lots of attention and candidates, College Station’s spring elections are looking a bit sparse at this point. I suspect that in part this is due to consternation among the big dollar developers over Ron Gay. While they would love to give Gay in the Mayor’s chair, they recognize that he may have become a political liability.

Ron Gay seems to believe in a community in which developers can do as they please because individual land rights trumps civic authority. In this view the city’s main function is to facilitate the infrastructure necessary for any and all development to occur; and beyond that to get out of the way of growth. While this is popular view with many in the development community and beyond, Gay’s ideology has run headlong into people’s back yards. The once comfortable and complacent neighborhoods of the eastside are now full of anxious voters. Many of these people supported Gay until he backed the Weingarten request for rezoning that would have brought a supper Wal-Mart to their quiet streets.

So, I can imagine that the developers are torn between taking a chance with Gay who has years of strong connections in town and would champion their desires and a less known less aggressive advocate for mayor.

Even though Gay is probably the strongest candidate that the developers could run and I would hate to see them win, I do hope he runs. If Gay runs we will all benefit from clearly delineated platforms. There are other candidates that the developers could run that would prevaricate and avoid taking a real or honest stance on these issues. While such a candidate may be inclined not to stand quite so firmly on behalf of big box developers, they stand a much better chance of winning votes on the eastside.

It is this sort of candidate that I predict. Voters beware.