New Year’s resolutions for our leaders, others

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I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions.

That’s mostly because I never stick to them.

Plus, why wait for the beginning of a new year to resolve to make your life/health/education/whatever better?

Anyway, since it is New Year’s Eve, I don’t mind making resolutions for our beloved leaders, the Panthers and others in the Charlotte region. Now you won’t find any dieting or exercise items in this list, but there is one about drinking, although it only applies to me.

So here they are, ready to be printed out and put into action.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

• The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority should resolve to try and put up some posters in local businesses, hotels and the airport to advertise the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
• The NASCAR Hall of Fame should resolve to actually meet attendance projections for a change.
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools should resolve not to make anyone mad next year. (Good luck with that one.)
• Officials at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport should resolve to give serious thought to quickly conducting their own investigation if someone is thought to have breached security at the airport. (When people across the nation are reading stories about teenagers apparently stowing away in the wheel of planes at the airport, it’s always good for them to know that the airport will launch its own special security review. It would go a long way to putting people’s minds at ease if they were thinking about flying out of Charlotte.)
• The Carolina Panthers should resolve to not to be the worst team in the NFL.
• Panthers fans should resolve not to violate the smoking ban at Bank of America Stadium, even if the team’s crappy playing makes them feel like lighting up.
• With the foreclosure crisis still hurting the U.S. economy, the banking industry, including companies in Charlotte, the second-largest banking center in the country, should resolve to do all it can to win back the trust of Americans.
• The foreclosure crisis should resolve to take a flying leap next year.
• The Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners should resolve to keep the promises they made while campaigning this year.
• Voters should resolve to remember if they don’t.
• Executives with Duke Energy should resolve to not write questionable e-mails that get them fired and attract the attention of the FBI and inspector generals and lots and lots of negative news stories.
• Duke Energy should resolve to make its executives take an ethics class. If they’ve taken one already, make them take it again.
• Government in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County should resolve to do more to make government structure less confusing for businesspeople, who sometimes don’t know who’s in charge of what. For example, licensing falls under Mecklenburg County, while zoning is under the city. Who knew?
• Elected bodies in Mecklenburg County should resolve to communicate with one another before deciding to shut down libraries, schools and recreation centers and consider how those decisions will affect neighborhoods, particularly ones labeled fragile. In other words, they should resolve to do some unified planning.
• I’m resolving not to pour myself a strong drink after having to type that last one.