Fresh starts in the country and county

Starting anew is what we do. Not just in Washington, where the inauguration of Joe Biden as president was last week's most salient example of a new beginning. "So today, at this time and in this place," Biden said Wednesday in his first address to the nation as president, "let us start afresh. "All of us. "Let us listen to one another. "Hear one another. "See one another. "Show respect to one another. "Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. "Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war. "And we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured." He did more than address extremism, vowing to combat as well the pandemic, the economic dislocation it has caused, racial injustice and global warming. His list was long because the problems facing the nation are daunting, but he wasn't the only leader recommending new approaches to old problems. Members of Elyria's Planning Commission voted Tuesday for a zoning change they hope will encourage a greater range redevelopment possibilities for the sleepy Midway Mall. Granted, a proposed zoning change doesn't stir the imagination like an inaugural address, but they have this in common: a desire for fresh start. A more tangible expression of that desire can be found at the corner of East Avenue and Broad Street in Elyria, where a new central branch of the Elyria Public Library is under construction. A block to the west and on the other side of Broad at Washington Avenue decaying buildings were being demolished last week, making way for what Dawn Calvert, assistant city safety-service director, envisioned as a "very different" downtown, "one that's more welcoming, more vibrant and creating a better opportunity for experiences for people not only in Elyria, but outside Elyria." Sure, she was talking about a transition taking place over years, not months, and she acknowledged that the next use of the demolition site was still being planned, but she embraced the possibilities. Lorain has embraced a chance to restructure its city government. In November voters approved establishment of a commission whose task is to frame a charter. Unlike Elyria, Lorain lacks a charter that defines how its government works. Rather, state law does. Whether the commission will draft a charter worthy of voters' support this coming November is an open question. Its membership is in flux, and its timeline short to complete the task. A fresh start, in other words, is no guarantee of success, as the Cleveland Browns proved over and over and over again before finally fielding a top-notch team this season. Lorain County's two new commissioners also have steered into a ditch. Fiscal prudence, they insisted, guided their decision to rescind more than $4 million in county donations to nonprofit organizations working to combat hunger and other fallout from the pandemic, but they were needlessly stingy and heartless. No, a new path is not necessarily a better one, but the chance for a course correction recurs again and again, at least as often as the sun rises. Every day offers a chance to make new plans. Or, when those plans are worthy of public notice, to make news. We at The Chronicle-Telegram start every day anew, too, resolved to do two things: report the news fully and factually, without the manipulation or manufacturing that President Biden decried, and to provide a forum on our opinion pages for commentary on the news, whether it's our own, that of syndicated columnists or that of our readers in letters to the editor. Starting anew ... It's what we all do. Andy Young is editor emeritus of The Chronicle-Telegram. Contact him at (440) 329-7111 or ayoung@chroniclet.com.