By the time this newspaper is published we should have the results of the election and I’m hopeful that Hillary Clinton has won. In my opinion anything else (in the words of Donald Trump) would be a “huge, huge disaster” for our country, which has always been about individual freedoms and never about punishment of our opponents nor restriction of the media.

Having said that, we have a lot of work to do regardless of who has won the presidency. We need to start having civil, respectful conversations with each other regarding actual issues and stop the personal attacks, name calling, and conspiracy theories.

Let’s deal with facts only and not innuendo and supposition. For the sake of our future and the futures of our children and grandchildren, we must try to find common ground, let go of fear and blame of others, and unite to solve our very real problems. Remember when politics stopped at the water’s edge?

And similarly, our town must come together to solve local problems such as drug use among our young people; teachers and students leaving our town for better opportunities in Scottsdale; and finding a stable funding source to maintain our infrastructure, improve our education and implement the town’s vision for the future!

We need to begin evaluating policies based on their importance to our states and country rather than on party affiliation. This isn’t a competitive reality TV show—it’s our life!

Finally, I want to thank Gary Lvov, Lina Bellenir, Phyllis Kern and all the others who have worked so hard to develop the event coming up later this month when the fountain will be turned blue. It’s a wonderful gesture of unity to display the Democrats’ color and a visible symbol of our efforts to turn Arizona blue! Thanks everyone!