KEEPING RESOLUTIONS

January 1, 2011 at 12:04a.m.

Area public figures weigh in on last year’s goals

YOUNGSTOWN

After the confetti clears, nothing remains of New Year’s celebrations except the resolutions.

Many people will make resolutions for 2011, but if trends from last year continue, less than half will keep them.

Of the people who made a resolution last year, 60 percent said they kept their resolution for at least part of the year while 40 percent did not, according to a survey by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion.

Marist surveyed 1,029 U.S. residents by telephone between Dec. 2 to 8, and each region of the country is represented in the poll in proportion to its population, according to the Marist website.

This year, several local public figures reflected on their 2010 resolutions and looked ahead to 2011.

Some sought a fitter lifestyle.

A year ago, Randall Fleischer, music director and conductor for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, said he wanted to “eat healthier, exercise more.”

The results, he said, were “I didn’t really work out all that much more this year. I did some, but my New Year’s resolution didn’t quite materialize in 2010.”

In 2011, Fleischer said he wants to “get out ahead of the work load more. Stay six months or so ahead of my deadlines.”

Boardman police Chief Jack Nichols’ resolution about a set fitness routine had a similar fate.

“I have not kept it, but I’m going to do better this year,” Nichols said. “I have to get that one accomplished before I start making any new resolutions.”

Lou Zona, director of the Butler Institute of American Art, succeeded in his goal to maintain his weight, but not to “simplify his existence and go lighter,” as he put it last year.

“My closet still runneth over!” he said. “But I resolve in 2011 not to get a bigger closet and to try again to streamline my existence, even if that means getting rid of my cherished bobblehead collection.”

Carol McFall, chief deputy in the office of the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office, vowed to more consistently update her calendar to remember birthdays.

“I got halfway through the year, and I will probably try that one again. And I’m going to do the usual lose weight resolution, that one I have to do this year,” she said.

The Marist survey also found that 56 percent of people said they will likely not make a New Year’s resolution.