When I first moved to Castroville, “Charlie Boy” Suehs, the man who sold us our house and who adopted us as extended family, explained the obligation of the house and its legacy. Both of Charlie’s parents served as Mayor, and I think everyone expected that Charlie would one day do the same. He’s one of the most likeable, reasonable, smart, hard working, and straight up great men I know, so of course he would. He said that I was obligated to serve the city, get involved, and make a difference. He also said I would one day have to take up that gauntlet and serve my city as Mayor if he wasn’t able to do that himself. …of course he was only kidding.
Charlie told us stories of his late wife Connie – of her creativity, her work on city council, and all the work she did to help put together our city codes and ordinances. He told us the history of the home and their lives there for over 40 years. We heard stories of the great flood of 2002 – how the river came up almost to the house, which was nearly 800 feet past the banks! We heard stories of how Connie designed out the house almost perfectly for the builder. The only thing she missed was the 6″ walls where the plumbing would go. Everything else was spot on. We heard of the day Charlie got home to see a gaping hole in the living room ceiling. When he asked Connie what was going on, she said, “I’m putting in a fireplace!” …and that she did. We heard stories of the old wood that was throughout the house: the old crown moldings from St Louis Church, and the fence posts outside that were the old floor joists in the Church before they poured the concrete. We heard about the little ceramic mice that were hidden in the holes of the wood. Charlie told us there were three, but we only found two. I think he just enjoyed the thought of us continuing to scour the house to find the final one.
Fast forward to today (don’t worry – I’ll come back to the origins later). It is such a challenge to have open communications. My view is that I serve the people of Castroville, and the only way to serve well is to have free flow of information.
I have come to realize how difficult it is to keep free information flowing – both intaking thoughts, ideas, and preferences from citizens and community members & outflowing details about plans, strategies, challenges, successes, and opportunities for improvement. This is an effort to do just that.
Life in Castroville 