WESTPORT — The new year holds plenty of potential — promise and problems — for Westport.

It’s a local election year, with the town’s top office at stake in November.

A president, who was not supported by the vast majority of Westporters casting ballots in November, gets another go at the nation’s top job starting Jan. 20.

Critical decisions about the town’s largest-ever capital project — a new Long Lots Elementary School — will be made.

Familiar issues, decades old, concerning the lack of both downtown parking and affordable housing, will again top the public agenda.

And, of course, expect the unexpected. 

So, as the first moments of 2025 present a clean slate for the coming 365 days, there may be no better ode to the passing of old times and the start of new days than verses penned 237 years ago by Scottish poet Robert Burns:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
     For auld lang syne.
     We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
     For auld lang syne.

Happy new year from the Westport Journal.