Month: October 2020

 Meet Steve Widmyer, CdA’s Mayor.

A long time resident of Sander’s Beach neighborhood, businessman, accountant, real estate investor, developer, husband, father, and civil servant, Steve Widmyer has lived an interesting life–the quintessential American Dream. This is the first in a three part series on Steve. Here we highlight the mayor.

The Mayor

As mayor, Steve’s door/email is always open. If inadequate, issues related to city business may be brought to his (and council’s) attention in person by any member of the public for three minutes during bimonthly city council meetings. With public comment topics ranging from UFO’s, Sasquatch, parking problems, and noise complaints, he likely never knows what to expect. Our favorite public comment interaction during the mayor’s past six years in office originate from a recent city council meeting when brilliant Harvard-educated attorney and community activist, David Lyons, attempts to voice concerns in an potentially inappropriate manner. Regardless of the validity of this public comment, the mayor’s response displays diplomacy, leadership, and concern for the well-being of his team. 

Our next two posts about the mayor will highlight his rise to prominence and the scrutiny he faces as he continues to follow his passions of real estate development and revitalization of CdA.

Watch our favorite 3 minutes here. 

When I heard my dad wasn’t going to be here on Monday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day #Noschool), I immediately thought about all the video games we would play. But knowing my dad, I quickly thought about how he could make it just the opposite! He suggested that we try “going out” to Hudson’s by ourselves. Now I personally thought that was a great idea. 

He showed us a clip (below) of a news channel talking about free-range parenting. He told us to remember a lot of the things people said, how they looked at us, and overall how it felt. On top of that, he also suggested that we get haircuts because our mom was coming home from a trip. That gave me brief hesitation. But our dad booked our appointments and we went to bed, knowing the next day would be fantastic. 

As we were walking to Hudson’s people just thought we were taking a stroll. When we entered people didn’t give us weird looks. I assumed this was because they had all grown up going with friends or siblings to the arcade or any other place. We were treated like normal people who were buying a hamburger. I was glad it didn’t get weird. 

As we were exiting I remember someone saying, “Oh, are you guys having a brother lunch? That’s so cool!” Later, we walked to The Innovation Den to get our hair cut at Maverick’s Mens Hair. This was interesting because haircuts cost a lot of money whereas burgers are cheaper. We told them that our dad had sent us and they obviously wanted to get paid, so they did our haircuts. If there is one thing that I’ll say about free-range parenting, It’s that it’s awesome! 

-Alex (11)