Start of new year like getting on roller coaster

The new year is just a few days away. Its arrival brings hope and promise for all the good things to come, as well as a few worries about potential bad news.

Like most years, it will probably be a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. And that’s not always a bad thing, because if you never experience any lows, how will you know how exciting the highs are?

If 2017 is anything like 2016, it will be a year of change.

As we compiled our list of Top 10 stories for the year, it seemed 2016 was bookmarked by events that riled the community and created an atmosphere for change.

The year started with word of animal cruelty at the city’s shelter coming to light and protests by community residents that led to a grand jury indictment against the former supervisor and a guilty plea. Ultimately, it resulted in the abrupt resignation of the city’s chief of police administration.

Since then, the shelter has evolved into a loving, caring temporary home for pets who await new homes.

Now, 2016 is ending with more cries from the public, this time against possible changes to the city’s slow-growth ordinance and potential development. Residents have formed an alliance to get the word out and hopefully make a difference. One of their goals is to have an alliance member run for and win a seat on the City Council.

There is no doubt there will be some changes to the city’s leadership in the coming year. The seats of Councilmen Cam Walker and Duncan McCoy are up for election, and McCoy has already said he will not seek a third term.

The city also will see changes — or at the very least the need to make them — as Interstate 11 inches closer to completion. Exactly what those changes need to be remain as murky as the future itself. It’s impossible to know what effects the interstate will have on the community until they actually happen.

Even if no action is taken, once the bypass opens up, it is inevitable things will change. We do know we will definitely see less traffic in town.

It’s that uncertainty, the potential for good and bad that makes the start of each new year so exciting. Maybe that is why we celebrate with Champagne and fireworks. Those pops, blasts and explosions help set the tone for the surprises we will experience in the coming days, weeks and months.

My wish for you is that just like the person who fears riding that amusement park roller coaster and reluctantly agrees, only to say ‘That was fun. Let’s do it again’ when the ride was over, 2017 bring a smile to your face and some fun into your life.

Hali Bernstein Saylor is editor of the Boulder City Review. She can be reached at hsaylor@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523.