Every campaign season brings a new set of buzzwords to the forefront of the community.

This year the popular ones are simple things — streets, housing, crime and recreation.

Every candidate in the upcoming mayoral election is using the words. They’d be silly not to.

But this time the words seem almost too simple. Campaign season has taken complex issues and made them easy, quick words.

It’s the words that are being left out that are worrisome.

No candidate can go into office in a few months and fix all the streets, tear down all the dilapidated houses, solve the crime problem and erect a beauty of a ballpark.

It just won’t happen.

The list of simple words will have to be prioritized. And it’s likely something can’t be funded at all.

St. Catherine Creek is gorgeous right now. The rising Mississippi River has done outdoor enthusiasts a favor on the creek. And Tuesday, supporters of a plan to permanently raise the waters of the creek did a little campaigning of their own.

They took all three mayoral candidates for a kayak ride and a few hours of relaxation.

Hopefully the candidates enjoyed their ride. But we also hope they realize the bitter reality of tossing money toward the project in the future.

It would be wonderful to have St. Catherine Creek as a recreation site. The project would bring some money into town, sure.

But it can’t be placed above things like streets and crime on the priority list.

We hope the project becomes a reality, but the money cannot come from city coffers right now.

That’s just the simple truth.