Boy, can we use a new year. The past one gave us economic turmoil that devastated some and certainly rattled everyone paying attention.

So long, 2009. Hello, hope.

But if 2010 really signals a fresh start, it’s in the same way a person trying to lose weight starts a diet. You begin with unwanted pounds and push forward from there.

Of course, you also start with the knowledge acquired from past years. Too much cake makes you fat, too much spending makes your wallet skinny.

In Arapahoe County, there’s a full plate of issues facing officials, businesses and residents as 2010 begins. It seems the economy permeates most of them in some way.

With an unemployment rate of 6.6 percent, Arapahoe starts the new year in better shape than many counties around the state and in much better condition than the nation as a whole, which has a jobless figure of about 10 percent.

While experts will tell you that serious job growth is probably another year off, more work was already on the way in our local communities late in 2009.

In December, both Sierra Nevada Corp. and Norgren Inc. announced they would be adding jobs — a combined 240 — at facilities located in our backyard.

We’ll see if more companies follow suit.

As the year unfolds, we’ll also learn more about the economic impact of the fledgling Streets at Southglenn in Centennial. The development offers a wealth of retail and dining, as well as a residential aspect, and could become a major draw for southern Arapahoe County.

School districts like Littleton Public Schools are feeling the squeeze of the recession as much, if not more, than most segments of our county. The district is looking at increasing budget cuts even more in 2010-11 than it did in 2009-10, a school year that opened on the heels of the closing of two elementary schools.

Let’s not forget, however, that dedicated teachers and dynamic technology abound in our classrooms.

The economy’s impact on the world of politics will surely be seen in 2010. In Colorado, two of the biggest races will be for governor and U.S. Senate, both seats presently held by Democrats who are seeking to retain their posts.

Arapahoe County was a key battleground in 2008, when for the first time, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the county. As 2009 came to a close, the county was blue by a margin of about 8,000 voters.

That’s a small gap when you consider there are about 340,000 registered voters in the county, including more than 100,000 who are neither Democrat nor Republican. Keep that in mind and you can see why Arapahoe residents’ votes will be courted with dogged determination.

While the addition of businesses would always seem to be welcome in this economy, some new neighbors have created a firestorm in several of the county’s cities.

Medical marijuana dispensaries started popping up in greater numbers in the summer of 2009. But this is a trend that could be short-lived.

Englewood, Littleton and Centennial each have passed temporary moratoriums on the opening of new dispensaries. The cities are grappling with this issue for a variety of reasons, but the main one is that they didn’t see it coming. Further complicating things is that federal and state laws are at odds.

Officials in local cities are taking care to give this dilemma plenty of thought, so look for them to make decisions that strike a balance between patients’ right to access and the communities’ standards.

Sure, there are plenty more issues that will crop up in 2010. But none of them will be what you’ll remember most about the year.

Maybe you’ll run your first 10K. Maybe you’ll enjoy an afternoon at Western Welcome Week with your family. Somehow, you’ll make memories that will push the weighty stuff to the background.

Come to think of it, maybe 2009 wasn’t so bad after all.

Chris Rotar is a news editor for Colorado Community Newspapers.