Election Leaves Many Residents Looking Forward to Change
Washington area voters sighed yesterday at the end of a long and tumultuous presidential campaign and, in reflecting on what it means, expressed hope for more jobs and opportunities. But skeptics among them warned the change may not be for the better.</br></br>From the sprawling campus of the University of Maryland to the streets of Southeast Washington, residents said the Clinton administration may help create jobs or assist with tuition for college students. Women and members of minority groups said they may get new chances at advancement; others just hoped for a better life for their children.</br></br>Standing outside one of the District's troubled public housing complexes, Alphonzo Parker, 31, said the next four years could make or break the futures of his sons, ages 9 and 3. He said he wants his neighbors to feel hope so that drug dealing and violent crime will disappear. That's why he voted for Clinton.</br></br>Bibbie Puryear, of Fairfax County, who supported President Bush, admitted to mixed feelings about the election results.</br></br>"I'm frightened of who we've got, but I was tired of Bush. And Perot, he was a no-no, a nut," said Puryear, who was having a pancake breakfast with her 77-year-old brother-in-law, a staunch Democrat, at the Tastee Diner on Route 29 yesterday. With Clinton, Puryear said, "we'll get change, but is it going to be change for the better, that's the question."