克利夫兰及周边地区消息
　

浦瑛開講:好友Jenny和我分享

 
  美國政治領導人是如何獲取社會最基層的訴求而制定政策的？
   好友Jenny和我分享了她作爲小企業的代表到華盛頓首府向國會議員訴求的經歷。
   On July 20, Goldman Sachs 10k Small Business Voice Day, I joined my fellow small business owners and had the opportunity to meet U.S. House of Representatives Shontel Brown (Ohio’s 11th district) and Tim Ryan (Ohio’s 13th district) in front of Capital Hill, and Senator Rob Portman in Baseball Stadium National Park. We were able to voice our interests: renewing the employee retention tax credit that ended in 2021, creating a new tax credit for hiring and retention, increasing access to capital, controlling gas prices and inflation, improving the supply chain, increasing quality childcare funding/tax credit, and simplifying the government contracting process for small business applications.


   Rep. Tim Ryan spent the most time listening and talking with most numbers of individuals from our group. From his conversation with my fellow small business owner, Teresa Goski, I got to know that he is much into wellness and has supported a fitness tax credit. Rep. Ryan is currently running for U.S. Senator. Wellness is my business, definitely he won me over on this point. Styled in her chic light blue blazer, Rep. Shontel Brown gave us an overview of the current U.S. administration’s achievements in the past two years. She especially mentioned $1.6 billion of debt to HBCUs (historically Black Colleges and Universities) has been discharged. This had never been done before. A lot of people don’t know. Rep. Brown spoke very articulately and passionately to our group. She is a charm!! Senator Portman grew up in a small business family background in Cleveland. From his interactions with us, he definitely shares our pain and knows our creative side. He is going to retire from public service, returning to the private sector this year.
   I grew up in Communist and Socialist China. Honestly speaking, I benefited from a free public education from elementary to high school and from a subsidized college education in China. I am deeply grateful for that. But I was never educated to communicate my interests to politicians. Sacrificing self-interest and taking the government’s orders were promoted as virtues. U.S. Representatives and Senators know quite well about all the above issues small business owners raised and some of those issues are already being worked on. Why did Goldman Sachs spend millions of dollars to organize us to meet with these politicians to give our input on issues? Why did politicians and our small business owners (suffering 90 degrees under the sun) meet to talk over issues the federal government is already aware of? I think this is what the American bottom-up democratic process is about: extending to each individual the right to voice their own interests to government in a civilized, open manner.

 
 

　
社會的文明進步的一個特徵就是有個機制和程序保證百姓可以説眞話，政府官員能聽眞話，我非常高興，我在Twinsburg住了25年，現在正在賣房,馬上就要離開這座我非常喜歡的城市，眞的是戀戀不捨。這么個小鎮，人們留給我的是善良樸實，有個女火警在這服務社區二十五年， 最近被Woodmere挖去，成爲火警總管，也是我們Cuyahoga County第一位女性火警總管。Jenny給我分享她參加火警總管Gina的宣誓儀式的心得：


     Since I was a little girl, I had been always looking up to firefighters. They are super brave, selfless to fight for fires and catastrophe-savers even if sacrificing their own lives. They are most close to God. They are men who I trust.
But today I honorably witnessed our Woodmere Village fire department Chief Gina DeVito-Staub being sworn in as the first female top fire official in Cuyahoga County by Ben Holbert - Woodmere Village Mayor. Our county council lady Meredith Turner hosted the ceremony. Ohio Senator Kenny Yuko, Moreland Hills Mayor Daniel Fritz, Twinsburg Mayor Sam Scaffide, Pipper Pike Mayor Richard Bain and so many city fire department Chiefs and Captains attended the ceremony.
   It is not for the sake of promoting a female to make history. What kind of lady Chief Gina is to have one state Senator, four mayors and so many leading fire officials to come for her swearing-in ceremony?
    Besides 25 years of service experience in Twinsburg Fire department, Chief Gina has a solid and broad education and training background: biology, business, leadership and fire suppression. She holds a degree in biology from Hiram College, and an MBA and Masters in Leadership from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. She is a also graduate of the National Fire Academy’s executive fire officer program and a member of the Summit County Hazardous Materials Team.
   Chief Gina has many qualifications to become rich or make a comfortable living, but she chose to be a public servant and put herself always “be ready” to give out her life to save others!
   Chief Gina has beautiful smile with an amiable aura. She stands there like a lighthouse where you watch for charting out of dangers. Congratulations, Chief Gina!!!

    在美國當官，是一個職業。看了Chief Gina的簡歷，在美國做火警的簡歷像個CEO，生物學碩士，工商管理碩士，領導者特殊培訓…. 在美國任何職業都講專業和進修，所以美國社會不當有精英階層，更偉大的是爲衆生提供成長爲精英的機會和資源。