Announcement Speech
When I was 11 years old, my parents showed me pictures of Wyoming and told me I could have a horse. I lived in base housing in New Hampshire and so the idealistic west and a horse were very enticing to this young girl with a big imagination. Even before I stepped foot in this beautiful place, Cheyenne became my home. Full of promise and hope, this is the only home I have ever known.
I love everything about this community and its people. We are resilient, determined, family oriented, and kind. We take care of our own, fight for what is right, and out volunteer every other community in the nation. We are Cheyenne and we are unstoppable.
My name is Amy Surdam and I am running for Mayor of Cheyenne.
Every person in this community matters. Every person who comes here to visit and enjoy our town matters. Every person has value, a story, and a voice that matters. Your voice matters. My voice matters. Together we can be heard.
I am so thankful for all of the hard work and effort from the City staff and elected officials. They work so hard to make this city a great place to live. They are real people making real decisions and navigating the many processes that are necessary to make ideas realities.
We expect the fire depart to show up when our neighbor’s back porch is on fire.
We expect the police to come when our neighbor’s house is robbed.
We trust when we turn on the faucet that the water is clean, that the trash will be picked up, the pot holes fixed and the snow plowed.
I was thrilled when the blue bin came for recycling and I never thought twice about the process involved with having city wide recycling. Until now.
Over the last three years, I have learned a great deal about many of the processes and people involved in running our city. I want to be a part of it and lead change. This city is great. We can make it better. We… You… me….us….together one voice moving our community into the future while cherishing and appreciating our past.
I have had the opportunity to give back to the City through my work for the Children’s Museum and the Downtown Development Authority(pause). This work has been the most fulfilling work of my life and I am so thankful for each day that I get to serve and better our community. The decision to run for Mayor was not an easy one, but it is the right one.
I want to assure you that my decision to run for Mayor will not affect the trajectory of the children’s museum. We have an amazing team with many hard working community leaders who are just as committed as I am to making the children’s museum a reality. We will have exciting news about our vision, progress and timeline in the next few months and are thrilled to move forward on this amazing place for our children. Our children are our tomorrow. They are our workforce, our leaders, and our next generation. The greatest gift we could ever give in life is to positively influence the life of a child. They are our future.
Being elected Mayor will allow me to further our downtown revitalization in a greater capacity. I am committed to helping our downtown become great again. We have accomplished a tremendous amount of work in the last year at the DDA and have laid the framework for a solid and seamless transition into the future.
And yes, I have four sons and feel like I live in a frat house. With the help of my amazing mother and husband, I have the capacity to serve my community. Yes, kids are coming and going, there are sticky hands, sometimes we eat cereal for dinner, sometimes there are jock straps on the dining room table, the dog runs away, the dog comes back, we laugh, we cry, we make mistakes, we learn, we do it all over again. It’s chaos, but I wouldn’t have it any other way because these boys are all learning how to give back to others in life. Last summer Jake decided to go to Africa to build schools and Lane sold lemonade to raise money for the museum. They are already impacting the lives of others. That’s worth every second of chaos. More than anything I want my boys to want to come back here and live when they grow up. I want to live down the street from them and watch my future grandchildren grow up. How can I help make that happen? I can roll up my sleeves and work for it.
We need a mayor who will listen to the city department heads and make sure they and the city workers have the tools and resources they need to not only get the job done, but to excel and exceed all expectations.
We need a mayor that is going to do something about the lack of housing in our community and find solutions to the development issues that we face.
We need a mayor that has a vision for the downtown and the amenities needed to make Cheyenne a world class city.
I am that Mayor and together….
We can make sure our critical infrastructure and services are strong…
We can find solutions and encourage development and form public private partnerships, examine codes and regulations, and find a way to increase housing in our community so that 22% of our workforce doesn’t have to commute in every day.
We can find answers and together we can weave a vision that makes Cheyenne the greatest city in American.
We can create a culture of positive thinking, flexibility, and work in creative harmony together towards a better tomorrow.
We can reflect our values in our actions and our community.
We can succeed, we can believe, we can achieve, we can do better, and we can do more.
We can have it all: the sunsets, the idealistic wild west, historic downtown, new construction, the dawning of a new day, and that horse that we were promised so long ago.
We can, we can, and we will.
I love everything about this community and its people. We are resilient, determined, family oriented, and kind. We take care of our own, fight for what is right, and out volunteer every other community in the nation. We are Cheyenne and we are unstoppable.
My name is Amy Surdam and I am running for Mayor of Cheyenne.
Every person in this community matters. Every person who comes here to visit and enjoy our town matters. Every person has value, a story, and a voice that matters. Your voice matters. My voice matters. Together we can be heard.
I am so thankful for all of the hard work and effort from the City staff and elected officials. They work so hard to make this city a great place to live. They are real people making real decisions and navigating the many processes that are necessary to make ideas realities.
We expect the fire depart to show up when our neighbor’s back porch is on fire.
We expect the police to come when our neighbor’s house is robbed.
We trust when we turn on the faucet that the water is clean, that the trash will be picked up, the pot holes fixed and the snow plowed.
I was thrilled when the blue bin came for recycling and I never thought twice about the process involved with having city wide recycling. Until now.
Over the last three years, I have learned a great deal about many of the processes and people involved in running our city. I want to be a part of it and lead change. This city is great. We can make it better. We… You… me….us….together one voice moving our community into the future while cherishing and appreciating our past.
I have had the opportunity to give back to the City through my work for the Children’s Museum and the Downtown Development Authority(pause). This work has been the most fulfilling work of my life and I am so thankful for each day that I get to serve and better our community. The decision to run for Mayor was not an easy one, but it is the right one.
I want to assure you that my decision to run for Mayor will not affect the trajectory of the children’s museum. We have an amazing team with many hard working community leaders who are just as committed as I am to making the children’s museum a reality. We will have exciting news about our vision, progress and timeline in the next few months and are thrilled to move forward on this amazing place for our children. Our children are our tomorrow. They are our workforce, our leaders, and our next generation. The greatest gift we could ever give in life is to positively influence the life of a child. They are our future.
Being elected Mayor will allow me to further our downtown revitalization in a greater capacity. I am committed to helping our downtown become great again. We have accomplished a tremendous amount of work in the last year at the DDA and have laid the framework for a solid and seamless transition into the future.
And yes, I have four sons and feel like I live in a frat house. With the help of my amazing mother and husband, I have the capacity to serve my community. Yes, kids are coming and going, there are sticky hands, sometimes we eat cereal for dinner, sometimes there are jock straps on the dining room table, the dog runs away, the dog comes back, we laugh, we cry, we make mistakes, we learn, we do it all over again. It’s chaos, but I wouldn’t have it any other way because these boys are all learning how to give back to others in life. Last summer Jake decided to go to Africa to build schools and Lane sold lemonade to raise money for the museum. They are already impacting the lives of others. That’s worth every second of chaos. More than anything I want my boys to want to come back here and live when they grow up. I want to live down the street from them and watch my future grandchildren grow up. How can I help make that happen? I can roll up my sleeves and work for it.
We need a mayor who will listen to the city department heads and make sure they and the city workers have the tools and resources they need to not only get the job done, but to excel and exceed all expectations.
We need a mayor that is going to do something about the lack of housing in our community and find solutions to the development issues that we face.
We need a mayor that has a vision for the downtown and the amenities needed to make Cheyenne a world class city.
I am that Mayor and together….
We can make sure our critical infrastructure and services are strong…
We can find solutions and encourage development and form public private partnerships, examine codes and regulations, and find a way to increase housing in our community so that 22% of our workforce doesn’t have to commute in every day.
We can find answers and together we can weave a vision that makes Cheyenne the greatest city in American.
We can create a culture of positive thinking, flexibility, and work in creative harmony together towards a better tomorrow.
We can reflect our values in our actions and our community.
We can succeed, we can believe, we can achieve, we can do better, and we can do more.
We can have it all: the sunsets, the idealistic wild west, historic downtown, new construction, the dawning of a new day, and that horse that we were promised so long ago.
We can, we can, and we will.
