Throughout his campaign for Gladewater City Council, Stoney Stone was very clear about one thing in particular.
“I still got a lot to learn,” he repeated one more time Monday after May 4’s Election Day saw voters choose him for Place 3 on the council dais. Likewise, Stone has one particular goal for the community after his first term: “I hope it looks better.”
The retired firefighter and small business owner campaigned on his ‘newcomer’ status in city politics, ready to bring a fresh perspective to his new seat at City Hall.
“I don’t what they got cookin’ or anything,” he said. “It’s going to be a learning process, a learning curve to begin with, then we’ll see how it goes.”
Definitely, he wants to push improvements to the water system and to city streets. Projects are underway in both areas, but more attention, time and resources will be necessary to get the work done long-term.
Stone also spent some of his campaign bandwidth spotlighting the lack of local opportunities to engage and entertain young people.
“I just want the kids to have places to go, things to do,” he says. “When I was growing up, there were swimming pools, there were activities for us to do. Now there’s nothing for kids.”
Granted, “I don’t really know what kids do anymore besides sit at home and play video games.”
Stone’s not sure yet what form a city outreach to youth would take, but he’s paying attention.
“The pickleball courts are exciting,” he said, noting a recent grassroots effort aimed at re-crafting and revitalizing tennis courts at Lake Gladewater for pickleball, a pastime exploding in popularity. “I think they’re on the right track. They just need things to do.”
Grateful to the voters, Stone says he’s ready now to put in the work.
“I think they’re ready for a change. They’re ready for transparency. They want to know what’s going on with the city,” he said. “I really don’t know yet. Just getting elected was the hard part. Now it’s time to get in there, get my feet wet, figure out what’s going on.
“It’s just a matter of where we can get money to do these things, just to build the city back up.”
– By James Draper