Don’t look now, 2012 is right around the corner
By: Douglas Heizer
I know a lot of you out there are thinking about the upcoming holidays. Well, so am I. But I am a little bewildered by the rapid passing of time. 2011 is nearly over, and the long-awaited year 2012 is almost upon us.
Yes, I know Thanksgiving is just a few days away. Then we launch into the Christmas and Hanukkah season, which is really the busiest of the year. Before we know it, it will be New Year’s Eve, and we will be celebrating the arrival of 2012.
A lot of people want 2012 to get here so they can take part either in the re-election effort of President Barack Obama, or the effort to choose a replacement for him from the Republican Party. I’m not going to talk about my feelings yet. It’s much too early, and there are still a lot of people angling for a spot on the ticket.
I can comment about the recent announcement by Boca Raton Councilwoman Constance Scott that she is running for re-election. I don’t know if she will have an opponent, but she certainly has to be congratulated for doing an excellent job during her first term.
As a council member, she has worked tirelessly on a number of projects, including the city budget, which seems to get more and more difficult each year to resolve.
Scott is also chairwoman of the Community Redevelopment Agency, where a number of things have happened — most notably, the completion of the downtown pedestrian promenade on Palmetto Park Road and the purchase of the Wildflower property at the east end of Palmetto Park Road.
We’ll wait and see what happens now that one name has been tossed into the race for political office in Boca Raton.
Remember, the city election is in March, so it does not coincide with the presidential election in November.
However, voters are reminded to cast ballots in January in the Florida Presidential Primary. Remember, this was the election that got kicked around and moved to early in the year to beat the primary in New Hampshire. In the process, the Republicans seem to have alienated the national GOP, which may reflect itself on Election Day in January.
Speaking of the election, let’s not forget that Lynn University will host the final presidential debate of the season in October of 2012. That likely means that Obama will be coming to Boca Raton – unless the Democrats pick another candidate, which is not probable. The GOP hopeful will also be in the city.
We are sure that South Florida – and Boca Raton in particular – will be visited by a number of presidential hopefuls during 2012. It happened in 2008 and 2004. And we can only hope that there will not be a repeat of the 2000 Presidential Election debacle in Palm Beach County when it comes time to count ballots.
As long as we are counting, don’t forget that the Boca Raton Tribune will mark its second anniversary in 2012. That will be an event to remember.
Here again, it seems like only yesterday when we published edition 00 – the prototype for the paper you are reading today. And if you look at the front, you’ll notice that this is edition 74. No doubt we will also mark the arrival of the 100th edition when it comes out next year.
Yes, there is a lot to celebrate – and a lot to look forward to – in 2012.
