Mayor Dow Letter to the Editor
Mar 10th, 2005
Letter to the Editor:For the past 16 years I have had the honor, privilege and responsibility of being mayor of our city. My life has been made more meaningful, and I have been truly blessed by these many years of service to my community. I want to sincerely thank the citizens of Mobile for giving me this extraordinary opportunity. As a result of my extended public service, I will always know more, care more and attempt to do more for our city, county and state.
I was not born or raised in Mobile. I came to this city in 1969 after several years of military service in Vietnam as a young paratrooper and helicopter door gunner. I came to Mobile – not yet 21 years of age – angry, uneducated and unemployed. Prior to my experiencing the intense loneliness, fears and trauma of Vietnam, my parents' alcoholism, severe illness, poverty and despair had resulted in a broken home, a series of foster homes and my becoming a ward of the welfare system.
Strangely enough, those harsh childhood experiences and the impacts of my Vietnam service did not weaken or disillusion me but made me a stronger person. I appreciate life and those around me on a higher level. Without question, those early-life experiences educated, conditioned and made me a more knowledgeable, understanding and effective public servant.
I owe so much to this city. Everything good and significant in my life has happened in Mobile, Alabama. I truly care about this city and, most importantly, due to my extended involvement and efforts at all levels of our community, I care for its citizens.
The City of Mobile gave me a GI-Bill education, a BA in economics and an MBA in business and accounting. Mobile gave me my wife Patsy, my life partner, and our three children (Shawn, Steele and Anna) who have given me a more meaningful and complete life. I am grateful to Patsy and our children for their many sacrifices and their many years of support of my service as your mayor. They know that I have been fulfilled.
Mobile also gave me my wife's extended family to include her brother, Jim Busby. Jim's personal vision and inspiration is infectious. His incredible intellect and inventive disciplines provided me the opportunity to learn and grow and challenged and tasked me to earn a ride on his small, entrepreneurial, high-tech start-up company (QMS, Inc.) all the way to the New York Stock Exchange. During the early 1980s as QMS grew and became successful, I began serving as its representative on a dozen or so community boards. I enjoyed that volunteer community service.
During that period in Mobile's history, our community leadership changed our city government to a seven-district, more representative mayor/council form of government. They replaced the chamber staff, hiring economic-development professionals. Arthur Outlaw was elected as our first mayor under this new government. Arthur's contributions to inclusion, racial equity and a more stable politics were significant. I participated as a volunteer during that era as our community leadership formed inclusive public-private partnerships and developed strategic alliances across political, racial and geographical lines. During that period of my private-sector community service, I learned firsthand this city's strengths and weaknesses and its many problems and opportunities.
I participated in the 1987 chamber-driven "Goals for Mobile," a broad-based, inclusive, strategic-plan developed by our area leadership. This strategic initiative provided our community with a consensus-based action plan with 100 clearly-defined goals that needed to be accomplished for this city and county to effectively compete and prosper on a global level.
In 1989, I ran for public office as Mobile's mayor with the fundamental goal of helping to implement the new "Goals for Mobile." I felt confident that with my unique life experiences, my business education, training and background and with my strong desire, motivation and proven ability to organize and "make things happen" that I could indeed make a difference in our city politics and governance. I have served to the best of my ability these past 16 years. I have put this city and its citizens ahead of my family, my friends and my personal life.
It is with a heavy heart and the deepest regret that I inform the citizens of Mobile that I will not seek a fifth term as mayor. This has been an emotional and difficult decision for me. Obviously, legitimate personal, family and life circumstances are compelling me to make this decision at this time. I ask for your prayers and understanding.
First and foremost, I will devote more and a higher quality of time and efforts to my family: Patsy, Shawn, Steele and Anna. Once again, I will be joining Jim Busby at his new, exciting venture, (CentraLite, Inc.) a high-tech, home automation startup. I believe that CentraLite can and will be a larger and more successful company than QMS. I will dedicate my efforts to that challenge and goal. This is family.
It is my intention as a private-sector leader to stay heavily involved in the city's economic development and jobs recruitment initiatives to include our expanding tourism and downtown-redevelopment efforts. I do not rule out that at some point in the future I will return to elected office as mayor or governor.
Mobile's economic future is primed and on a strategic path for success with the funding and construction of our new globally-competitive container port and resulting trade expansion, our modern steel production, high-tech military shipbuilding, expanded aerospace, cruise ships, an upgraded hotel and tourism industry, the RSA Tower, USA's Cancer Research Center and high-tech business park. I am equally as excited about our expanding, local entrepreneurial base and opportunities for more venture capital and homegrown, high-tech business growth.
The future is ours to create and prosper from if we choose to remain competitive and stay on a planned and progressive course. I am optimistic. I believe strongly that our community will collectively choose and work to stay on that planned, progressive and competitive path.
The city has a new January 2005 strategic planning process in progress at city hall. This strategic planning process, sponsored by both the mayor and the city council, is critical to re-establish the baseline for a continued stable politics and the planned competitive growth of our city. This 2005 strategic-plan process (similar to the 1987 "Goals for Mobile" plan implemented during the past 15 years) is designed to be inclusive, build consensus, develop shared goals and strengthen the public-private partnerships to keep our community united and on an upward path. This process will include planning the city's initiatives for economic development, a revenue-neutral tax reform and the planned revenue growth required for stable operations and capital budgets for our citizens' needs.
It is my hope and expectation that Mobile citizens will choose our next mayor carefully. If a candidate shows a lack of caring, inclusion and consensus-building leadership skills or offers little to no positive or significant initiative or accomplishment prior to becoming the mayor, then that individual will not change his/her stripes with another title. Mobile cannot afford a 20-year setback by a person programmed to politicize, divide and make all of his/her decisions by party, race or geography. Our city has too many problems, opportunities and too much global competition for such a simplistic, indecisive and divisive person to cope with and handle proficiently. We need to stay focused on creating a city that nurtures and serves all of its citizens.
I will leave the privileged job as your mayor a better, more knowledgeable and caring citizen. I will continue to work hard as a private-sector leader for the prosperity and quality of life of this city and its citizens. May God bless each and every one of you.
Michael C. Dow