About Don
I have been self-employed in Gainesville for the past 29 years. I started a window cleaning business on University Ave. when I had a negative balance in my bank account, had reached the limit of plasma I had given that week, and did not have enough gas to get out of town. It was a frightening time when we were in a bad recession, interest rates were almost 20%, and there were no big employers for people without college degrees. Since then, there has been very little growth in the creation of good-paying jobs.
In my early years, I was involved in many volunteer activities: from teaching Sunday School, counseling prison inmates and housing the homeless. I learned that a lot can be done with very little money, and that people are able to turn their lives around. I also learned that you cannot make people do what is in their own best interest if they don’t want to do it.
After I had been in business for 20 years, I decided to become a candidate for the Alachua County Commission. I was the first candidate in 2002 to run against the onerous Comprehensive Plan, but before long all the challengers were saying the same thing. Although I lost, it was gratifying that my issue had prevailed.
Since then I have been using the Internet to help other people to start their own window cleaning businesses across North America. I have also created a local portal to all local candidates in Alachua County, regardless of party affiliation. Any candidate for local office has had all the free space needed to get his or her message out, and many people who are registered to vote here and serve overseas in the armed forces have been able to find information about their home elections after they got their absentee ballots.
I am currently a member of Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Gainesville. My wife, Cindi, and I have just celebrated our 32nd anniversary, and we have a son and daughter who are both grown now and living in Gainesville.