Last modified: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 12:10 AM EDT GUEST COLUMN: Make city better for today, and for grandkids grandchildren BY PAUL SPERA I want to be your Ward 6 city councilor. My goal is to provide the level of representation and constituent service that the residents of Ward 6 deserve. I believe that my experience has prepared me to achieve that goal. Qualifications and experience are what this campaign is about. It is experience that provides the view of the future and accomplishments that demonstrate the ability to help mold that future. As a homeowner and taxpayer in Attleboro, for more than 30 years, I understand the cost and effects of city government on the ordinary citizen. The steady increase in property tax and the increases in fees have affected me and my family as they have affected yours. As parents and grandparents, my wife and I raised our family and are now involved in molding the next generation. Whether it is attending school events, watching my grandson Matthew play football for the White Hawks or shuffling back and forth between little league games when he and his brother Tyler are playing simultaneously at different fields, we are involved. They and their brother Michael are a large part of the reason that I am running. For the past 30 years I have enjoyed being a part of the Attleboro community. If, as the Ward 6 city councilor, I can give something back to the community and help to make it a better place for my grandsons, then the hard work and long hours of this campaign will be worth it. I invite you to visit my Web site at www.paulspera.net. You will find information there on my background, experience and my view of the future. You will, for instance, find that I am an army veteran who served in Vietnam. Also there is the information on my involvement in veterans' issues, having served as the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Recently retired from the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, I served as a special assistant to the secretary, Anthony Principi. Throughout my adult life I have tried to help others in my church and in my community. I've helped to find jobs for people, helped veterans and their families work through the maze to get their entitlements and have always tried to be involved. And that is what I bring to this campaign and to the position of Ward 6 councilor. Constituent service, being responsive to the concerns of Ward 6 residents, is what I see as the responsibility of the position. I will devote my full energy to representing you, the residents of Ward 6 in a timely and responsive manner. I can't promise that I will be able to find solutions to all those concerns, but I will always give my best to the effort. As I have campaigned and visited many of your neighborhoods and homes I have had the chance to meet and talk to a number of you. You have offered encouragement, advice and sometimes criticism. For all of that I am grateful. At an earlier candidates forum a question was asked of several candidates, "What is Attleboro's greatest strength?" In meeting you the answer became even clearer, you are that strength. Together we can make the future for all of our children and grandchildren, better and financially stronger. Experience, qualifications and an eye to the future are the strengths I present to you. A downtown revitalization done correctly, greater effort to control fees, increasing the commercial tax base and working together to insure Attleboro's future are my goals. A strong independent voice, one not beholden to any special interest, is what I offer. Please cast your vote for me for Ward 6 city councilor.