(This letter has been edited because it went over the 475 word limit.)
I have spoken to Lisa Prewitt at length, and I like her. I trust her. She is the real deal. She isn’t someone trying to placate our local environmental community to further her own candidacy, but someone who would bring a broader, environmentally sound approach to saving our land and water, and help to preserve, not pave, our open spaces.
Lisa Prewitt is an actual environmentalist, a former Mayor Pro-Tem of San Marcos, who has helped write and enact sweeping environmental protections for floodplains, river access and riverbank degradation and aquifer protections, while preventing development on sensitive land. She has a long history of working to enhance and protect our Hays County natural treasures.
The People of Hays County voted Will Conley out of office, and there is no reason to let him run it from behind the scenes through Lon Shell.
I watched the actions of Will Conley on Oct. 12, in Dripping Springs, as he essentially floor-managed the opposition to the EP/DSWS pipeline negotiations, and from what I saw, people seemed to be taking marching orders from Will, as he talked to this one or that, outside the meeting space. This self-appointed consultancy by Mr. Conley included County Commissioner, Lon Shell.
I would like to know why in the world a former elected official, who the citizens chose not to return to leadership, who currently holds NO County-wide or municipal office, who is not working for any of the involved parties, and who has NO POWER to help or hinder anyone, is wielding political influence on these very important local water issues.
Elected officials who do “favors” for environmental groups, and then expect silence from them when it comes to other projects that cause environmental destruction and degradation, are taking advantage of us, not doing us any favors at all. If we let these kinds of politicians into office, just because they toss us bones from time to time, we risk allowing people who do not share our values into office, where they can do real harm to our people and our communities, and to our wider environmental health.
Lisa Prewitt is someone who would not only work to do everything Lon Shell has done or promised to do, but in addition would bring advcocacy for broad environmental protection, and would do this without having any opaque connections to developers, which I am certain Conley has, Walt Smith has, Mark Jones has, and by virtue of his relationship to Will, Lon Shell also has.
The Growth Machine is alive and well in Hays County, and is paying lip service to individual environmental issues, while in reality working with people who would destroy our open spaces for monetary gain. Playing nice with these people will not save us. Or our land. Or our water. Or our rural communities.
Susan Cook
Driftwood
