My family is voting for Paul Kuhns for Rehoboth Beach mayor because he is a great candidate who wants better long-term and responsible financial planning. The present mayor has been in office for way too long (30 years).
Our vote goes to Paul Kuhns because the present mayor was the only vote last year among the RB commissioners against a resolution to oppose offshore air-gun blasting and eventual offshore oil/gas drilling.
All the other commissioners sided with the local environmental groups and homeowners who urged our city officials to join all the other coast towns in Delaware and almost all the coast towns down the Atlantic Coast to Florida to oppose offshore air-gun blasting and oil drilling.
For those of your readers who missed it last year, our voices were heard that coastal communities don't want seismic air-gun blasting to test for oil and in the process blast out the hearing of our marine animals, many of whom count on echolocation to find food and survive. President Obama responded by placing a moratorium on these destructive blasts. Unfortunately, this year, President Trump is reversing that policy so we have to fight all over again to save our ocean and beaches, the life blood of our business and community values.
Why did our current Rehoboth Beach mayor vote against this proposal to protect our coast? The answer he gave at the commissioners' meeting was that the vote wasn't going to do any good. Our vote and the votes of other towns along the Atlantic Coast did do good, did work in convincing the federal government not to bring oil spills to our coasts, oil spills like the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska have experienced, and will likely experience again as oil drilling continues offshore there.
We need a mayor who is not a knee-jerk vote against clean oceans and the environment in general. We need a mayor who will help Rehoboth Beach join Lewes and other towns that are passing resolutions to join the U.S. Climate Alliance of States, like Delaware [thank you, Governor Carney], counties and cities [thank you, Lewes Mayor Ted Becker] who pledge to uphold the goals of the Paris Agreement of nations to stop climate change. We need measures to address sea level rise and climate change, such as clean solar and wind energy, clean electric cars and a price on carbon pollution.
That is why we want to give Paul Kuhns a chance to consider these ideas as mayor of Rehoboth Beach.
Charles Garlow
Rehoboth Beach
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