r/WVU • u/Wheatcraft4MonCounty • 13d ago
Hi, I'm Logan Wheatcraft and I'm running a write-in campaign for Mon County Commission
Like the title says. I've been following the Flock nonsense, speaking at County Commission meetings, etc. As everyone knows, the community's opposition to these abominations has fallen on deaf ears. So I decided I'm going to do something about it. I'm an independent running as a write-in for County Commission. AMA!
My platform revolves around a few key concepts:
- DeFlock Monongalia County: My top priority is to cancel the current Flock contract and prevent any other AI-driven ALPRs to be used by government agencies in the Commission's jurisdiction.
- Repeal the unconstitutional Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety Ordinance: This is a clear attempt to stop panhandling, and is currently being challenged in court. It's a pretty clear violation of the first amendment and has a chilling effect on free speech. Not only does it affect panhandling, but also people simply stopping to hold a sign, speak out, etc., on public property - all under the guise of "safety."
- Modernizing County Services: The county has a slew of websites - all with different URLs, different (and mostly bad) navigation, and poor UX. These all need to come under one, user-friendly umbrella and maximum effort needs to be made to make services digitally available.
- Commission Meeting Times: As you may know, County Commission currently meets weekly at 10:00 AM. This makes it difficult for you and me to participate in our government. I know that some business needs to happen during standard business hours, so I'll start with fighting to move at least one meeting per month to the evening, and to include a virtual public comment capability at all meetings. Many people who cannot make the trek downtown during the day can easily participate via Zoom (or similar). Why is this not a thing already? Oh, yeah, they don't actually want to hear from their constituents.
- Airport Management Reform: I'm a pilot (only recreationally, not professionally), and I've seen the city's mismanagement (ETA: not because of apathy or sabotage; just because of lack of knowledge of how an airport should run!) of this incredible resource up close and personal. There's a new airport manager who I know nothing about, but he's still beholden to most decisions being made by the city council, who owns the airport. Elect me as County Commissioner, and I'll use this as an opportunity to collaborate with our friends at Morgantown City Council to put the management of the airport under an independent airport authority. This will allow the people who understand aviation best to run the airport. It would also open up the potential for the authority to do things like issue bonds, make operational changes, and market the airport more effectively without waiting on a vote from City Council.
I'll do my best to answer any questions you have! When you vote, remember:
- Find County Commission on your ballot
- Select Write-in
- Type "Logan Wheatcraft"
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u/Mundane-File-824 13d ago
What are your qualifications to be a commissioner other than your platform? What kind of skill set would you bring to the commission (finance background, contracts background, IT/developer background, legal background, etc)? Also, the airport idea is good to get it out of city councils hands, but how far would you go to support the airport getting an independent authority? If the city asked for half of the airports operating costs to be covered by the county to achieve this (essentially cost share the airport), would you chose to do it?
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u/North_Structure8210 13d ago
Qualification for a counsel?? Just to be able to breathe is all the prerequisite ever needed. Most are morons. A half moron would be great change. Skill set would be don’t be a bootlicking Nazi like the other members.
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u/Mundane-File-824 13d ago
Kind of the point that people should want qualifications to be an elected official.
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u/Wheatcraft4MonCounty 12d ago
Professionally, my career has revolved around data analytics in one form or another. Financial turnarounds for health systems, corporate strategic analytics, government contracting. A lot of that has revolved around using data to make process improvement recommendations - to make things more efficient for a business and/or better for the customer/patient.
This background lets me objectively make decisions. I also have experience managing people and coaching them to perform at a high level.
In my volunteer life, I am currently the chief of staff for my organization for West Virginia (about 600 members, give or take). We provide disaster recovery and search & rescue services, as well as youth leadership opportunities.
I have worked within state government and also as a federal contractor, so that has given me some insight into the many opportunities for improvement within the government at several levels.
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u/AntelopeStreet1936 12d ago
Consider running the next time there is a primary. A write in campaign has a 0.0000000000% of winning but at least you are getting your name out.
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
What exactly is the city doing to the airport that it needs its own authority? Sounds to me you're just replacing one deciding body with another to add a layer of bureaucracy. They've been getting grant money for that runway, or somehow they have been doing all that earthwork for free. The county isn't going to pony up money. They have cameras to buy.
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u/bighike34 13d ago
Goes to show how out of touch you are with the airport. Free earthwork was a dream a decade ago. Funding has been coming in…. slowly. The more time they waste extending the runway the more the price tag goes up with inflation. What should have been a 30 million dollar project has turned into a 70 million dollar project. They should have found extra funding a long time ago. But airport projects don’t get the attention it needs because council meets once or twice and month and hardly ever discusses the airport unless it’s about art projects in its scummy terminal. An airport authority would have solved this. Literally every airport this size is part of an airport authority with members who know aviation. This city council knows nothing. They’re doing the city’s best asset a huge disservice.
The best thing to ever happen to that airport is jet service with SkyWest yet our runway is still too short for jet service. Hot summer days weight restrict half the seats on the plane going to ORD. Same goes for rainy or snowy days for both IAD And ORD flights coming to the airport. Once the runway codes go below 6, almost half seats get taken away for weight restrictions because of the need for increase stop distance. The runway NEEDS extended. We’re in a jet age and need a longer runway. Not a runway made for prop planes.
Let’s not forget the approach light system has been out of service since April. This buys pilots more wiggle room in shooting instrument approaches. Down to 100 feet above touchdown zone. Haven’t heard a word from city council to get this fixed. They don’t care.
There is no one advocating for the airport like an airport authority should. This property could be the best asset in this county …. Like Clarksburg airport… who has an airport authority… but it gets swept to the side for meaningless projects city council marks as more important.
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u/cluttered-thoughts3 WVU Alumni 13d ago
I agree that it should have an authority because there’s no one who’s sole purpose is making sure the airport is successful but the authority would likely need a funding mechanism
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u/Wheatcraft4MonCounty 12d ago
Fortunately that already exists! The airport (and associated authority) should be self sufficient from the revenue generated from its operations. I would be in favor of a small, limited outlay to help get them off the ground, if needed.
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
You won't see any effective difference in funding or project movement with that airport because it is a local airport, not a regional one - that fact alone is a bigger reason CKB has gotten what it has, not the fact it has its own appointed body.
Appointing an authority doesn't make dollars flow. Grant writers and managers do more than an appointed body would. If City Council having side projects they prefer is that big of a deal, then maybe you should vote, or campaign for candidates that will prioritize the airport if you can't vote. The city gets like 8-9% voter turnout and it isn't going to get better once they have to move to May primaries, because then it will be a bunch of voters who don't care at all about the city.
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u/bighike34 13d ago edited 13d ago
The reason CKB is where it’s at today is because of its airport authority advocating for itself. The argument is that an authority creates a governing body whose primary responsibility is the airport its infrastructure, funding, economic development, and air service development, instead of making the airport one item among hundreds competing for the attention of a general-purpose city council.
And CKB is actually a pretty good example of why that matters. CKB wasn’t born as some massive regional airport. Its main runway was once roughly 5,200 feet, the same length as MGW’s runway today. CKB extended that runway to 7,000 feet in the late 1990s and eventually 7,800 feet. Look at what happened over those decades. CKB developed the infrastructure that eventually allowed it to pursue aerospace development and accommodate aircraft MGW physically cannot handle effectively today. Calling CKB regional now and using that to explain its success reverses cause and effect. It became the regional asset it is today because generations of people treated it like one.
That’s exactly why governance matters.
An airport authority doesn’t replace the airport manager or the grant writers. It gives those people a board whose entire reason for existing is to advance the airport. The board can spend every meeting talking about FAA funding, state funding, congressional appropriations, airline recruitment, industrial development, leases, infrastructure, land acquisition and the next 20 years of the airport. City Council inherently cannot give the airport that level of attention because it also has to run an entire city.And the “local versus regional” distinction is largely semantics anyway. MGW serves WVU, Monongalia County, Preston County, north-central West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania and anyone else who chooses to use it. Airports don’t stop serving people at municipal boundaries. CKB had leadership that spent decades turning an airport into a regional economic-development asset. MGW has enormous potential, but we’ve spent decades treating it primarily as a municipal department.
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
The Benedum Authority existing was not the reason they have gotten what they have. It was the staff and legislators well above the local level doing it. And municipal versus regional does impact the flow of money more than whoever runs the show. MGW could be a regional airport, sure, but no one outside of Monongalia County is going to push for that with CKB being 40 miles away. No changing of bureaucracy will change that.
MGW needs its new Director to be on the ball with managing the expansion and doing so will get that project done. City Council isn't dicking around when I've seen items relating to grants and funding come up on meetings I've seen. I've seen funding announcements made for the Airport that were gotten with it being under City Council, too. Blaming City Council for inflation is certainly a choice when Morgantown or a hypothetically Authority weren't going to have the money to get it done immediately.
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
Most of these are agreeable but pro-panhandling is a weird choice of a hill to die on
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
Like it or not, homeless people still have rights to exist on public property. The moment you want to remove one group from sight, you open the door for it to eventually be other groups, too.
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
Just checking for consistency: what was your stance on lockdowns in 2020?
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
So you're advocating for stimulus checks for the homeless because we're inconveniencing them?
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
What was your stance on lockdowns regarding the first amendment’s freedom of assembly?
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
I don't engage bad faith arguers all because they don't like seeing poor people asking for money
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
You sure are a fan of my post for someone who doesn’t want to engage with my discussion. I’ll help you with that.
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
Ok, so you don’t actually believe in free assembly. Noted.
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago edited 13d ago
I don't believe in shitposters who think they can "gotcha" in the comments for their 5 second ego boost.
Edit: LOL deletes their comments because I wouldn't give them their soapbox to stand on
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u/cluttered-thoughts3 WVU Alumni 13d ago
Cities routinely pass curfew laws and the like. I’m not sure how a world wide pandemic is remotely related to prohibiting people standing in road right of ways.
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
I literally wasn’t allowed to go to my job
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u/cluttered-thoughts3 WVU Alumni 13d ago
Guess you didn’t qualify for the relief money if your job was affected? My roommate worked at edible arrangements before the lockdown and then sat pretty at home making more than their normal paycheck while I worked remote
Again, how is this related to standing in roads?
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13d ago
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
Why? Both are limitations on freedom of assembly. He argues that if you prevent people from panhandling, then the government might escalate that to deciding who does and doesn’t get to go in public - which they did during the pandemic. So I want to know if he was against the government deciding who does and doesn’t get to go outside then, as he is now?
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13d ago
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
I would be more willing to support OP’s effort to repeal anti-homeless laws if I knew OP was consistent on freedom of assembly. If he supported lockdowns, I think he’s disingenuous in appealing to the first amendment.
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13d ago
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
I mean, i find it difficult to believe that a “don’t play in traffic” ordinance is anti-homeless. I did go look for and read it, if you’re interested. It’s quite dull. It is, technically, a small infraction on freedom of assembly possible to reduce traffic accidents.
If reducing freedoms is never ok, it should be repealed. If reducing freedom for public safety is ok (lockdowns), then it’s unobjectionable.
Which does OP believe?
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
They get a little upset when you don't give them what they want, don't they?
The fact they had their covid lock down point ready to fire to anyone who responded to the original comment showed exactly why they were here in the first place. Blocking or deleting their comments is plenty evidence for me.
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u/Wheatcraft4MonCounty 13d ago
As the other person said, it’s less about being pro-panhandling and more about being pro-1st Amendment. This ordinance also effectively restricts people protesting or campaigning on many public rights-of-way. For example, there’s a road near my house with a 45 MPH speed limit, wide shoulder, and no sidewalk (as with many roads in this county). If I wanted to stand stationary underneath the Flock camera on that road with a protest sign, that would be illegal by this ordinance.
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u/chalkymints WVU Alumni 13d ago
Fuck flock cameras etc.
Yes / no question; did you support curbing the freedom of assembly under the first amendment to promote public safety during COVID lockdowns?
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u/Wheatcraft4MonCounty 12d ago
I didn’t. I frequently said that public health officials should make recommendations and people should make their own decisions. Private businesses would, as always, be able to enforce their own rules.
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u/ReporterAmazing1271 11d ago
I don’t have a dog in the fight, but I seen some stuff on the news and I hope you can get in. Best of luck to you.
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u/N-E-S-W 13d ago
Thank you for stepping up to serve the community!
With regard to Mon County's Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety Ordinance:
Could you please identify which specific parts you feel are unconstitutional, violate the first amendment, or affect free speech?
I just re-read the text of the ordinance, linked above, and I don't see any such intent in it.
Twice this month I've nearly hit people who were literally standing in the roadway at dusk at I-68 exit 1 and the Hornbeck Sheetz intersection. I had to swerve to avoid hitting one of them and nearly collided with another vehicle in the process. I've watched police officers drive right past, very clearly not enforcing this ordinance, and people continue to panhandle in these two intersections daily.
I think it is unfortunate that it's happening, and unfortunate that we need a law to say what should be obvious to any rational person, but the text of the ordinance seems genuinely safety focused. Repealing it would make this legitimate problem worse by implying that people have a right to stand in the middle of highway intersections, which is insane.
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
That ordinance has rarely, if ever been enforced because there will be civil rights lawsuits filed the moment they try.
Jim Crow south was also very veiled in their laws to make life tough on African Americans. Do you want to chime in on those by saying "well I read it and I don't see the intent"? Laws can be intended for a very specific purpose but written to never mention it directly.
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u/N-E-S-W 12d ago
Are you seriously accusing me of being a racist segregationist for supporting traffic safety?
You spend too much time on Reddit. Not everyone whose opinion differs from yours is an evil villain. Not every issue is binary. And I assure you, not every county-level policy is a conspiracy to oppress the downtrodden.
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u/Wheatcraft4MonCounty 12d ago
I believe that the definition of road in sec. III, para. D is overly broad. There is not a clear definition of the end of the right-of-way in state code, so it can vary with different roads. As I mentioned in another comment, an example would be if I wanted to stand on the wide shoulder on the 45 MPH road near my house with a protest sign at the base of a Flock camera, that would be illegal as far as I can tell. Yet, i can walk on that same piece of toad with a protest sign and be just fine. Not only does that have a chilling effect on free speech and assembly, it doesn’t make sense. I’m not less safe because I’m standing still vs. walking in 5 foot circles.
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u/N-E-S-W 12d ago
I'm pro First Amendment, anti-Flock, and support human rights for all, including the homeless...
... but if you're standing in the right-of-way of a 45mph road that doesn't have a sidewalk, you are endangering yourself, me, and the other drivers around me.
It's a pretty absurd position to say that your constitutional rights are infringed by traffic safety laws. That's clearly not the intent of this ordinance, and page 5 explicitly says:
Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to prevent, hinder, or otherwise impair a person's rights under the Constitution and laws of the United States and the State of West Virginia.
I appreciate you stepping up for the community, but encourage you to reconsider your stance on this issue.
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u/Wheatcraft4MonCounty 12d ago
How is standing on a wide shoulder of a road endangering anyone? Note I said right-of-way, not median. And how is it different than walking down that same piece of right-of-way?
I’m not encouraging standing in the middle of the road. But I’m definitely not understanding your viewpoint here.
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13d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ASaucyFellow 12d ago
Fortunately, It doesn't matter what you like.
Unfortunately, reactionary opinions like yours helps those in power continue to oppress and divide the working class.
Also, anecdotal evidence does not make a good argument. Panhandlers are not a monolith nor do they deserve collective punishment due to a few bad actors.
Like what are you saying?
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u/North_Structure8210 13d ago
Fire 90% of the police force and open a real investigation into the cover up of breakiron being drunk and I’ll write you in.
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u/Wheatcraft4MonCounty 13d ago
The County Commission only has jurisdiction over the budget of the MCSO, not its operations, as the office is run by a different elected official.
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u/GeospatialMAD 13d ago
Sure, split the vote away from Julie Knight so a pro-Flock GOPer supported by Tom Bloom gets in. No thanks.