ADVERTISMENT
ADVERTISMENT
Heralding Freedom of the Press Since 2003
COMMENTARY
JONATHAN BOWERS
COUNCIL DISTRICT 3
THE FIFTH VOTE
A view to transparent government
District 3 Councilman Jonathan Bowers, has been extended an invitation by Compton Herald to write a column on the complications and complexities of governing a municipality the size of Compton with a population slightly under100,000 residents. This column will also serve as a window to transparent government.
Councilman Bowers' column will serve as a ceremonial "Fifth Vote of Truth and Transparency" to the citizens of Compton, restoring faith and trust in governance and in those elected to govern.
Compton Herald recognizes Bowers, as a visionary bearing sound reasoning and fresh ideas that can move City leadership from its current flux of confusion and bickering to one of cooperative politics.
A 60-year resident of Compton, Bowers began his career in public service in 1979 following graduation from Compton High School, as an emergency medical technician at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, advancing from that position to firefighter with the Compton Fire Department, where he served 37 years. In addition to his duties in fire service, Bowers also held administrative, leadership and instructor roles in the department. He earned a bachelor of science degree in fire science administration, and a teaching credential in 2002.
Bowers also served as liaison to the City Council while employed with the Compton Fire Department. Additionally, he served as the executive vice president of the Los Angeles County Stentorians, a community service organization also known as The African American Firefighters’ Association. Bowers also served as a liaison to the county Board of Supervisors.
Councilman Bowers was elected to the 3rd district seat in 2021.
Compton: double-minded 'hive,' er, city is unstable in all its ways
By JARRETTE FELLOWS, JR., Editor-in-Chief
Compton Herald receives news releases and requests daily to cover events from nearly every city in Los Angeles County—but not the City of Compton for which the newspaper was created.
Yet, a few officials and gadflies alike, have the temerity to mewl, "We don't have a newspaper!"
That's just simpleminded, like the donkey dying from dehydration because it's too obstinate to see the water trough a few feet away. I'm convinced certain political influencers in the City—whether official or gadfly—are insentient. They cannot feel anything but their own selfish lusts.
Then, there are the rabble-rousers. People that foment confusion—happy to see the city in a constant state
of flux. You know them; the liars, rumor stokers, and mealy-mouths.
How is it that a smallish town, merely 10 square miles in circumference harbors such turpitude? You need only look at the city officials and gadflies. They are not dissimilar. Cram them together and it's a double-minded hive. And we all know a double-minded hive is unstable in all its ways.
City officials mishandle the budget year after year inflating the deficit evermore. Gadflies buzz, whir, murmur, then fizz. Is their passion only pretentious? Both groups bid to aggrandize the tiny principality known as the "Hive of Hubs," otherwise known as Compton.
It has become the nobler ambition of some of them to aggrandize, and to reassume the protectorate of the Compton hive where their wings collide.
Unfortunately, Compton is a double-minded City and unstable in all its ways.