Well its been quite sometime since I have posted anything. I'll be honest and explain why. Being a father is more rewarding than anything I could have ever imagined.

I saw today that the city has a new web site layout. It looks better and is easier to navigate than the old one. Its far easier to find the most useful portion of the website.

The only beef I have with the site is that it seems to depict Columbia as being a river town and that the JB Bridge is part of our community which I have to admit are not the first things that come to mind when I think of Columbia.

In the coming months I plan to tackle the upcoming 12th Congressional District race in the same manner I have our previous city elections. It looks to be good race with some new faces and for the first time in a long time someone other than Jerry Costello will be elected.

Columbia Lakes

See it was back on the agenda last night. Follows with how they voted the last time, no one voted yes and no one voted no.

Wonder how much the plan changed.

Costello Office Hours

Call to schedule if you'd like.

All during the day so working people can take some time off work and voice their concerns to what I feel are deaf ears. Town hall forums, later office hours, anything of the sort?, nope.

Columbia Lakes

I went to the council committee meetings last night in order to present some information for the library board. I did get to sit through another round of Columbia Lakes discussion while waiting for my meeting to begin.

In the end the council seemed against the CUP. The Mayor noted the criteria in the CUP citing something along the lines of "promoting the moral well being of the citizens". The motion was made to approve the CUP by Aldermen Ebersohl if I remember correctly and that motion died on a lack of second. After a few more comments Aldermen Huch made a motion to not approve the CUP as presented, it also died on a lack of second.

The crowd, mainly consisting of Columbia Lakes residents, seemed happy with the results. I think the coucil was trying to do a couple things last night.

• Work to keep the public happy, which it seems it accomplished, for now at least.
• Keep the city out of a lawsuit, by neither voting for or against the CUP the city has in fact set it aside and is simply saying they are not interested in it as presented. The trouble with that is they were interested as recent as a few weeks ago, until people started calling them. The plan was approved by I think the zoning board of appeals, so it had traction for being accepted.
• By not approving or disapproving they leave the option open for the developer to come back and tweak the plan and try to get it approved again.

The real estate broker representing the developer was sort of called out for "threatening" that R-7 is a real possibility, I feel that's a real shame since he is also a resident of Columbia Lakes. I think the city once again proved unable to work with a developer. They asked the developer to change some things and he did, the developer had worked from what I saw very hard to meet whatever concerns the city and the residents had (tree lines, fences, use of amenities, open to suggestions of any kind, assurances there would be no section eight housing, assurances to sell as a preference to leasing)

The people in Columbia Lakes all seemed very willing to "gamble" that no developer will come in and just build to the R-7 restrictions. If/When the property gets cheap enough someone may do just that and there will be nothing to stop that from happening.

I was glad to see the school district voice a request for some money from the developer to offset the increase in residents. I still cannot figure out why the school district and the city seem to never talk to each other, maybe we should open that channel of communication a little more.

How would I feel if I owned a house backed up to the proposed CUP?
Would I want the proposed CUP built behind my house? Probably not.Would I want R-7 built directly behind my house? Definitely not and I'm normally not a betting man.

Jerry Costello

Have you ever tried to get an actual answer from your Congressmen? I have and its really not possible, unless you know them in their personnel life or are a hefty campaign contributor. I had attempted to contact Congressmen Costello back in August of '09 with general questions regarding the then hot topic of government health care. I received back an email from "Jerry" that contained in Jerry's words, "a brief summary of questions and suggestions I have received."

Number six was my least favorite.

6.Why are you not holding town meetings?
I have held over 400 town meetings since I have been in Congress. In the beginning, the town meeting forum was productive. Unfortunately, they became unproductive for almost everyone in attendance when a few people traveled from meeting to meeting in order to dominate the time with their one issue; therefore I stopped holding town hall meetings a few years ago.

The issue I have is that Costello had been in Congress for just over twenty years when this email was sent out. That works out to about twenty meetings a year. It is important to note that he sent this email out when the "Tea Party" was forming and town hall meetings that showed political figures giving no answer or bad answers to questions were the news story of the day, I could understand his hesitation to these meetings then but its time to stop hiding.

I can't think of another word to use other than hiding. Its time to come home, stand for your actions, and listen to people who may or may not agree with you. I'd have to think that a congressmen would want to come back to their district and gain as much information as they could. At $175,000/year we should get a couple of meetings while he's not in Washington.

Try not to pigeon hole me into a political party when you read this post. I have voted for people in both political parties. I have voted both Democrat and Republican in primary elections. I am losing my faith in both parties and fully understand that neither truly reflects my beliefs. This is not a slam towards Congressmen Costello on the basis of his party but due to his reluctance to face his constituents. I'd like to see what he's planning for us since so far the only person I can see that is planning on running against him is good ole' Terri Davis Newman........,on that note I'm done for the day.

Columbia Lakes

I received pdf copies of eight sets of meeting minutes from 2004 and 2005 regarding the then Columbia Lakes CUP discussions.

I read through them and didn't see the vote that actually put a stop to the development moving forward. I'm still of the belief that the CUP provides "the best, worst case scenario", unless you want to gamble.

Aldermen Row said that the site could be built out with a lot of apartments if the CUP was not approved. Aldermen Unnerstall said he was willing to take that gamble, and he also mentioned that if the developers were required to follow the R-7 code without any variances, it could be cost prohibitive for them to proceed. - Page 3, Minutes of the Meeting of the Ordinance Committee held July 26, 2004.

I think that is a possible course of action that makes sense if the city can find a way to deny the CUP in a legal way. If developing that land under R-7 was profitable, it may have already been done.

Columbia Lakes - My Take

I didn't go to the committee of the whole meeting last night as I imagine the council has its mind made up already. I have never seen our council change their minds on to many issues, granted I haven't seen our present council in action for that long.

I imagine this eventually passes the council vote next week for a few reasons.

• Lack of legal basis to deny the developer what he wants. If the developer meets all of the guidelines for a community unit plan then denying him opens the doors for my next point..
• The possibility of legal action. Remember that many of the sitting aldermen have stated that the city needs to get its legal bills under control. Starting a new legal battle regarding a development would leave a bad taste in many peoples mouths.
  
• Four of these aldermen campaigned on the concept of controlled growth. The city working with a developer to get things done and in place may go a long way in showing other commercial developers that Columbia is interested in working with them in a rational way as well.
  
• The plan on the table now is what I have refer to as "the best, worst case scenario". Not many people want to have an apartment complex built behind/amongst their current single family houses. But if given the opportunity to have 200+ units built as currently proposed or to have 500+ units built along with a convenience store and no real park/common space by the next developer, I know which most people would choose.
  
• It ultimately increases the tax base.
  

I have submitted a FOIA request to get the minutes from 2004 when a development similar to this was proposed and voted down by the city council. The city has said it will take some time to sort through the documents and scan them in, since '04 is not saved electronically.

I find it hard to understand why no city official has gone back and checked these records themselves to see what history can illustrate to us. No elected official I have talked with could tell me why the council voted the way it did in '04.

Columbia Lakes Meeting - July 20, 2011

Edited 9:36AM 7/22/11

Here is the first video from last nights Columbia Lakes Community Unit Plan Meeting with the developer.

Thank again to St. Paul UCC for allowing the space to have this meeting and for the developer, David Levinson, for coming to Columbia to state his plan in person.

Part 1


Part 2

Levee Plan is Outlined

Link to the Project Implementation Plan

At first glance the timetable here seems very fast paced. I'm glad to see things progressing with this project. Hopefully the estimates turn to realities and the government accepts the work once completed.

Shocking?

Link to the story.

I have a hard time believing he was the best candidate.....is he getting a taste until he needs to slip in the US House?

Long record of public service? I thought I was going to read the untold story of Jr. being on a city council, volunteering for various public boards, or having been elected by his piers in some manner.........

Almost too busy........

A quote I just read from last week urged me to post something.

"He is the president of the United States. I know he is busy," Pelosi said. "I myself am almost too busy to continue listening to some of the things going on in that room, so I know he must be very busy. But he has treated everyone there with great dignity."

I'll be upfront and say I am no Pelosi fan right out of the gate, I am not attacking her but I am sure others are tired of listening to her as she is tired of listening to the GOP. I continue to wish that one day I will see the work of a political party or one politician stand and say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done without care for their hopes of being re-elected. Their whole constituency will never support their actions fully, regardless of those actions so continuing to please everyone is pointless. The tactics used in Washington to save face, raise money, tow the party line, and constantly campaign for oneself do more damage I fear than I have yet to fathom, though I have tried.

Pelosi may be right in saying they are all busy. Busy doing what though, I’m not sure. I cannot see a more important issue than what is at hand. The ceiling must be raised, the spending must be cut, and our tax system must be overhauled. I have heard calls for reforming these items as long as I can remember, yet nothing has been accomplished to fix the problems. The main problem facing the budget is that social security & medicare/medicaid do not function in their current state. Eventually we'll be incapable of borrowing more money and an unlucky group will be the first unable to claim what they need from the funds they supported for many years.

Washington needs to understand there must be middle ground. Everyone must sacrifice something of what they want for what is needed. A politician’s sacrifice may be that they do not get re-elected or they drop in favor with their party. Unfortunately when I say everyone must sacrifice I am not only referring to both sides of the isle and 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I speak also to those accessing the programs at the current time, who may need to in the case of misfortune, and those who plan to in the future as part of their retirement. All of these groups may get less, but the trade off is that the programs will be sustainable; the point being you will continue to get something. I hope to receive a social security check at retirement like so many before me, although I plan for retirement in a manner that does not factor that income for my survival.

The debt our country has is a sacrifice every American carries, although we never truly feel it. Raising the debt in the short term is the safe way to preserve our everyday lives, while allowing a period of time for Washington to show reform is in store. If we cannot find a way to "get serious" about fixing our spending then raising it again is ill advised, regardless of the possible default. Obama it seems would prefer to not revisit debt ceiling talks again before the election, raising in the short term forces cuts to be made in some manner or a return to debt ceiling talks may come to close to everyone’s election cycle.

In regards to tax reform make no mistake; I would surely enjoy having a lower tax bill in any regard. I never quibble over how much I pay in taxes, at least not since high school. I have come to accept that the freedoms, protection, oversight, & services the federal and state governments provide do in fact cost money. Do I use every service the government provides to its citizens? No, but I do assist in paying for them all and I understand some of the people in this county do need these programs. I also do not agree with every expenditure the government makes, though I am sure there are people that would not agree with items I feel the government should fund. In short we all pay in and we all get something back, even if it is not tangible.

I like many people I talk with just want things “fixed”, we often see what will hit us directly and look no further and accept that as the solution that should be put in place. We want our money spent in a more useful, no a more respectful manner. We work hard to earn the money from our employer and they all work hard to keep us working in order to earn that money. The people paying our employer for services or goods have worked hard for their money and choose wisely how they should spend it. We want the government to begin to look at the money in the coffers as if they need to spend every single dollar in the best manner possible. We have all seen the waste that can be generated.

It’s no easy problem. I don’t think the correct solution will be made before August 2nd. We’ll get the band-aid fix and move on until someone takes a stand and risks their career or life, like those who formed our country, to find the right solution. I hope I live to see that day.
I feel I have rambled enough and unfortunately may have succeeded in nothing more than looking not much more than long winded, young, and naive.

July Already?

It’s been too long.......

A few have asked me why there haven't been updates or why I haven't been making it to the Monday Council meetings The simple answer is that my wife and I had our first child in March and I enjoy spending as much time as possible with her.

Aside from the "Columbia Lakes Super Development" not much is happening from what I can see. I was recently told that the Waffle House was only a mention and not a final decision for the development. I think a little part of me died when I heard that, Waffle House is good place to get some quick eats at a moderate price, the wife and I enjoy Waffle House.

There will be an upcoming meeting with the developer I hope to get video of and post here so everyone can see and hear what the plan actually is.

Interesting Redistricting Article

Link to the article

Senate Redistricting

Capitol Fax

Good compilation of news feeds from many sources citing the changes to their districts. You would think redistricting would really change in one or two places to tweak things. A whole new map of the state with obvious cutouts and land grabs to make political territory more solid for some and a sandy foundation for others.

Our district has shifted a bit. We'll see what happens when the House releases their proposal.

Monroe County Independent May 10, 2011 E-Newsletter

I occasionally read their site to sort through the vehicle accident stories to see if anything interesting pops up. Two items caught my eye in the May 10th edition.

Life Returning to Normal in Columbia

(Ed-itor’s Note: So we suppose now the Columbia police will be back to their normal rounds, and the from-home folks will be once again complaining about high taxes, the CPD pulling over too many cars, cops checking for speeders on I-255 and Route 3, the CPD keeping a very close eye on the bar regulars, kids speeding along the side streets, bicyclists taking up the middle of the road and teens loitering in the parks.)

I'm not sure they can pull over enough cars in town, especially on Rt. 3. I grew up primarily in Edwardsville where three state highways converge (159, 157, & 143). In Edwardsville these roads all slow down to sub 40 mph speed limits. Is it too much to hope for people to actually drop down from interstate speeds before they pass the first stoplight entering town, let alone actually do the speed limit all the way through town. Haven't we all seen enough people die on Rt. 3?

Columbia Council, ICS In Accord On Plan For New Church

Mayor Kevin Hutchinson and the Committee of the Whole (all eight aldermen) apparently are willing to waive utility tap-in fees and legal and engineering fees, which will save the parish more than $100,000.

I wasn't at the meeting and I assume the City has done this for other churches in the past but that's a large chunk of money. I wonder what the actual costs to the city are given that these fees normally cover at least some actual costs. I'm glad construction will be starting on the church though, I don't go to ICS but I know they need the space.

New Aldermen Take Their Seats

Monday night’s council meeting was lacking a few participants. Only two of the aldermen whose terms were up came to the meeting. The mayor presented plaques to aldermen Oberkfell and Row. Aldermen Stumpf and Hejna I suppose decided coming to their final council meeting was not worth their time. I’m not sure I understand that reasoning and it’s not worth theorizing as to why they didn’t come.

Once the new aldermen were sworn in Row left and Oberkfell came and sat in the back row near me. It seems that Oberkfell will now be a member of the audience and keep tabs on what the new council does; maybe the city will have a new source of information.

The new council settled in quickly and voted all yeas to the remaining items on the agenda with little to no conversation on any item. I suspect we’ll be seeing a great deal of agreeing with the new council.

A plan was shown for a large addition to the Columbia Lakes subdivision. It appears to be for all apartments which have some positive s and negatives associated with them. I’ll do my best to obtain a copy of the proposal.

Newly Elected Aldermen

Columbia’s newly elected aldermen will be sworn in tonight at the city council meeting. They made a number of claims throughout the election process, mostly regarding how important new non-residential development is to the future of Columbia.

The mayor has always said that new development is necessary for the future of Columbia. It is needed to give some relief to the strained municipal budget and to offset the need for higher rates on residential property taxes.

The mayor and newly elected aldermen appear to share a great number of beliefs regarding non-residential development in Columbia. I would think anything short of a number of new places to shop and eat in Columbia would mark their terms as elected officials as failures. I am not sure how they intend to attract new businesses to Columbia in a way that makes fiscal sense to Columbia and its future; I hope they have a good plan. I suppose filling our current TIF district would be a good start but I would suspect something larger could be in the works.

After the last election cycle when Mark Roessler took over the reins from Jay Unnerstall the Programmatic Agreement from Columbia Crossing was reintroduced, it quickly settled back into the shadows. We’ll all be waiting to see if a large scale development is proposed or talked about in the coming months.

The way in which I have seen the newly elected aldermen act and some comments I have received from them lead me to believe they have spent a great deal of time discussing the issues facing Columbia with one another. They will now have all of those discussions in a public forum and be judged by those who elected them.

The aldermen leaving should be thanked for their time to the city. If you disagreed with them, their still entitled to your thanks, they have spent their time doing what they felt was right for the city, and I feel they never hid what they stood for. I can honestly say I have not always thought the four of them made the best choices but they would explain their position if I asked them about it, which is not always easy for people in elected positions to do. My thanks go out to Aldermen Stumpf, Row, Hejna, & Oberkfell for the time they served the city.

Who Votes in Chicago?

Good little article over at a tech site called engadget. "The iPad is taking away American jobs, Jesse Jackson Junior's sanity (video)"

Video shows Jesse Jackson Jr. attacking the iPad as a cause for the employment issue facing our country and then going on he somehow ties Steve Jobs' success, China, job loss, and the 1st Amendment being taken advantage of all into one quick summary.

I know at least ten kids in high school right now that could have written a better explanation of why job loss should be a more important issue to Congress. They would not have used those poster-boards in their presentation. They would have used the HDMI out on their new iPads to present their powerpoint, who makes those giant posters for everyone in Congress, someones has to be getting rich off of those.

Obituary

The Obituary of Charles Todd can be read here.

I have some video of what he said back in September '09 when September 28th was proclaimed Charles Todd Day. I'll try to dig it up and get it posted. He was moved by the city's gesture and recognition.

For the Good of Illinois - Illinois Reality Check

I receive a number of emails from political parties and elected officials from being on email lists. I dont have to necessarily support or agree with Costello, Obama, the Republican Party , or our mayor to want to receive emails from them when the send out update emails. Being informed is always a good idea. They are my elected officials even if I didnt elect them and I should want to know what they are up to, or at least what they say they are up to.

I received an email invite from the Monroe County Republican Party from Myron Neff earlier this week for their annual Lincoln Day Dinner. I scanned through the speaker list to sees whose coming to our city. The Democratic Party recently had the Governor come to town. The keynote speaker for the Lincoln Day Dinner is Adam Andrzejewski, who is the founder and CEO of forthegoodofillinois.org. I'd never heard of the site so I browsed on over to it. I started reading some info on their site regarding the state budget. This pointed me over to another site called http://illinoisrealitycheck.com/ promoting a Republican backed plan to fix the state's budget. This I had to read. Their plan tallies a quick savings of $6.71 billion. Some items are well explained and appear to be thought out, while others were quickly mentioned with little explanation.

I have no issue with a well thought out plan to save the state over $6 billion. But when a savings titled "Pension Reform" recieves the following explanation,

Meaningful reforms reduce state liability going forward and, therefore, reduce the required payments on that unfunded liability. Illinois must adopt significant pension changes, such as those proposed by the Civic Committee. Targeted Savings: $1.35 billion

I have to ask someone for the details. The total saving of their plan is $6.71 billion and the line item that saves $1.35 billions has a two sentence explanation? The document is twenty-two pages long and they documented 20% of their savings plan with two sentences split over the end and start of two pages which made it easy to glance over.

Later on in their plan there is a cherry of an item anyone living in Illinois should pay attention to.

Local Government Revenue Sharing: Review the over $6 billion that local governments receive in revenue sharing from the State of Illinois. They receive around 6% of income tax receipts, over half of all gas tax receipts, 20% of sales tax receipts on items other than food and drugs, 100% of sales tax receipts on food and drug purchases, and 100% of revenues from the Personal Property Replacement Tax. A $300 million reduction represents around 5% of those revenues. This approach has been suggested by many groups including the Governor’s Taxpayer Action Board, the Illinois Policy Institute and the Civic Committee. Targeted Savings: $300 million

The state cannot pay what they owe local communities now. Local communities are trying to find new sources of revenue and someone thinks its a good idea to take more money from what local government was operating on? Someone thinks that will be a positive for the taxpayers?, how?

I fired off an email.

After reading your plan I have one concern. You offer good explanations regarding many of the proposed cuts and ideas for saving money for the taxpayer.

I expected to see a line item regarding pensions and I found it split between pages 16-17. A proposed savings of $1.35 billion should have a little more explanation than what was given. Who will this affect and how will it affect them? How will it be implemented? Smaller dollar amounts were given much better explanations than what was provided for a cut the covers 20% of the proposed savings.

I would caution the idea proposed in the section Local Government Revenue Sharing. The state of Illinois has been overdue on paying these funds to local communities for a few years. Communities have been struggling with paying their bills without these funds. You have named nearly every revenue source smaller communities in the state have and you feel a 5% reduction is fair. Your simply passing the responsibility of raising revenue on to local government and thsi will come at the cost of the taxpayer in the end. Its money raised in those communities for those communities, why should the state simply get more of that pie?

I would welcome a response of any kind. Thanks
-Levi Ottwell

After re-reading that I suppose I had more than one concern. I didn't really expect a reply, usually nothing is sent back when you fill out the web form like they provided to contact them. I received a reply back in a little over 24 hours.

Dear Mr. Ottwell,

Thank you for your thoughtful comments on the Senate Republican Caucus' "Reality Check" plan.

In retrospect, I would agree with you that we should have offered more explanation on the proposed reforms to state pension systems. This issue has been debated and discussed to such a degree here in Springfield that I think we fell victim to assuming that everyone would be as familiar with the proposals as we are.

The truth is, the debate over pension reform could easily have filled the entire document and then some. It is a very challenging issue, as any discussion of changing retirement benefits always is. The challenge facing Illinois is that the cost of anticipated pension benefits for teachers and other public employees is consuming an ever-growing percentage of the state budget. It will become increasingly difficult to meet our basic obligations to provide public safety, fund education, provide health care and also to meet the obligations of our pension systems.

Yet, those obligations represent a constitutionally protected contract between employers and employees that cannot be lightly dismissed. Much of the debate in recent months has focused on differing legal opinions as to whether or not modifications in benefits for existing employees would violate that constitutionally-protected contract. Beyond that, significant questions exist as to what form appropriate modifications might take.

At least two organizations have taken an active role in promoting pension reforms. You may wish to visit their websites for a more thorough discussion. They are the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago http://www.illinoisisbroke.com/index.aspx and the Illinois Policy Institute http://illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=3929. These are just two organizations and two sources for additional information.

Our purpose in the "Reality Check" document was not necessarily to endorse any particular plan, but rather to acknowledge that pension reforms must be a significant part of any budget solution. We set an aggressive, but also realistic, goal of finding $1.35 billion in savings from the state's retirement systems. One of our goals is to jump start negotiations as to how to achieve those savings.

Your point regarding local government revenue sharing is well-taken. This is also a very difficult issue that will require balancing the needs of the state and the needs of local governments. As with almost every reduction recommended, Senate Republicans recognize that these are difficult choices and that ultimately negotiations will be needed to balance the needs of the state with the needs of the local governments. However, you are exactly correct that we should not simply pass on the costs to local taxpayers. Protecting local taxpayers must be an integral part of any negotiation.

Again, on behalf of the Senate Republican Caucus, I want to thank you for taking the time to review the proposal and for your thoughtful comments. Illinois would be in much better shape if all citizens took the time and interest that you have taken to learn more about these public policy issues.

Sincerely,

Mark Gordon
Director,
Communications and Public Affairs
Illinois Senate Republican Caucus

Now I have some more reading to see what the plan is really based on. I do appreciate getting a response. I am very appreciative that it was not a canned response. Sounds like the plan is centered around a few negotiations. How do you negotiate with all of the local communities in Illinois? At least the document had savings explained and outlined in a way most people could understand there may be hope for the state budget.

Colbert PAC

If I'm up late enough I usually catch part of The Colbert Report. Even if you do not agree with the political views he has and I'm not saying I agree with him all or even most of the time. I do often agree with the method he uses to illustrate how shockingly ridiculous the system is.

If you don't understand what a political action committee (PAC) is, Colbert gives a fairly good description and illustrates the flexibility in how the money can be spent along with commentary and perspective from Trevor Potter. Colbert ends the segment stating he is starting Colbert PAC whose goal is "Making a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow"

Maybe my generation is missing the point, at least some would think so since we tend to tune into things like "Colbert" over "Meet the Press". I tend to think we understand whats going on fairly well. We may tend to look at things with a simplistic approach and be ridiculed for it, but I have always heard a lot of the "older" generations tell people my age how things used to be simpler and better because of it.

Seriously Cahokia? & Columbia's Election Recap

Cahokia:
The situation in Cahokia only gets worse and worse. In '09 four men were charged with vote fraud, two of which were newly elected village trustees.

One of these men, Trevor Tompkin, again became mixed up in a situation with Cahokia police yesterday at a polling place.

According to Tompkin, the officer, who was not identified, asked him, "Why are you eyeballing me?" to which Tompkin said he replied, "I'm eyeballing you because you're eyeballing me." The officer then placed Tompkin in handcuffs.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/04/06/1659842/cahokia-poll-watcher-on-probation.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz1IkgjWzSO

"Why are you eyeballing me?" We're supposed to believe a police officer said that out of the blue? And the response to the officer was "I'm eyeballing you because you're eyeballing me."? Seriously? Then the cuffs were placed on him. If that dialog is what actually happened it's the most ridiculous back and forth between a cop and a person I've heard of since I last watched a good rerun of Cops from the 90's.

I imagine more was said between the two before he was arrested.


Columbia:
At least Columbia didn't have any arrests at polling places yesterday during our election.

Instead we had four new aldermen elected. No incumbents won the right to serve four more years. With the vote totals from the election a candidate really needed to have a few blocks of their wards turn out and vote to win. 200-300 voters is all it took to win yesterday. That's it.

If your candidate won then I hope you follow their actions at city hall very closely and make them stand by what the told you they could/would do for you, take notes and keep them accountable.

If your candidate lost, I'll assume you'll be watching their successor very closely in order to point out their failures and what they have done that you do not like or want. I would however caution against this. It will be nearly impossible to measure the newly elected aldermen against what the sitting aldermen accomplished and stood for while they held the position. In every ward that had a true aldermanic race the candidates stood for different ideas and very different ways of achieving even similar goals. I feel these comparisons will only continue to split the community. I encourage those who voted for the incumbents to grade the new aldermen on what they said they could/would do if elected. They all had some lofty goals, some of which I feel may be unattainable. Grade them on what they said they would be, not on what you wanted from your candidate.

For those of you who did not vote, I would ask why not? Then again if you take the time to read the blog I would hope you took 10 minutes yesterday and voted. If you were silent yesterday I would encourage you to keep tabs on your aldermen in the same manner I stated everyone else should. They are your aldermen now.

In closing I would offer the incumbents leaving office soon my thanks. As disingenuous as that may sound post election, I do mean it. Your time spent serving the city should be appreciated and a thanks should be extended to you, being an elected official is often a thankless job at the end of the day.

Election Day

Well I stopped and voted on my way into work this morning.

I was there at about 6:50 and was number 15 in my precinct who had voted this morning. I hope as always that there will be a good turnout. I try to keep the site fairly neutral so I wont say who I voted for. My ward gets to choose between Jeff Huch and Brad Oberkfell.

When selecting a candidate I tend to weigh out the negatives/positives they have on an individual basis and then weigh out what their impact will be on the council as a whole. I see two individuals that have what the feel are the best interests of the community in mind, I truly think the feel they do. I then see two very different possible impacts on the city council. I'm still not sure which council impact will be best for the long term health and future of Columbia.

Is it too early for someone to start doing their homework and paying attention to what the city is facing to run for office in 2013? A lot depends on this elections outcome. Plenty of claims were made and regardless of who wins, I plan to hold my new aldermen to their campaign promises. I hope all of you do the same.

East st. Louis School District - School Closings

Asked whether class sizes will increase, Saunders said yes, "but not by much."

She said elementary schools will have 25 students per class, middle schools will have 30 per class and the high school will have 32 per class, which is what the teachers' union contracts call for, Saunders said.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/03/30/1650380/district-189-closing-3-schools.html#ixzz1I6kn7cmI

I don't understand how closing three entire schools and laying off 287 teachers can be described as increasing class size "but not by much." Are children leaving the district as well? Its troubling what is happening in regards to their school system and the city in general. I know for a fact there are good people in East St. Louis trying to improve things. They're life long residents and everyone seems against them.

Responses from John Piazza

Copy and pasted responses from John Piazza. I did go back and highlight the responses in red. Hopefully I did not miss any.

1. What is the extent of your education? I have a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois in Champaign.

2. How long have you lived in Columbia? We moved to Columbia almost eleven years ago. If not a lifelong Columbia resident where did you grow up and where did you live right before you moved to Columbia? I grew up in Cahokia, IL. With my job I have lived in many communities but most recently in a small town, Plainville, IL, just outside Quincy, IL.

3. Do you feel that the length of time you or your family has lived in Columbia makes you a better candidate than someone else? I don't think it has a particular bearing. Perhaps, since most of the council has a significantly longer tenure my perspective might be a bit different and thus add to the diversity of opinion. Why is this continually an election talking point? Probably because it is a point that differentiates the candidates. Unfortunately, it splits the town in an unhealthy way. Many residents of Columbia, my family included, do not have deep rooted family trees in Columbia, is their opinion worth less to you when compared to others who have lived here for generations? Certainly not. And while I might be better prepared to represent your family's position, I feel that most residents desire the same things from our community.

4. What is your occupation?I have worked as an engineer for over 24 years. My current position is as a business manager having several engineers and technicians reporting to me. How will it affect your serving on the city council? I believe that it has prepared me to objectively consider very complex issues to determine the best solution available for a particular opportunity. I have both a technical and commercial background that will allow me to contribute to finding solutions that help the city move forward in a responsible manner. Much of my energy is spent first understanding an issue, then evaluating the possible solutions, and then making (and taking responsibility for) decisions that can have a significant impact on my employers success.

5. Does your occupation make you a good candidate to serve as chairmen of any present city council committees? I am certainly interested in serving and think that there are some committees that could more effectively use my skills but will serve as requested.

6. How have you gathered your information regarding issues facing the city? I have gathered most of my information primarily by speaking with the citizens of my ward. In addition, I have also taken the time to attend some of the council meetings, to read the council meeting minutes for the past several years,to speak with current aldermen, the mayor, various department heads, and those citizens (and groups) that have offered their opinions.

7. How many city council meetings have you attended in the last year? Two years? I have attended only a few meetings but have read the minutes from the past four years.

8. If you support commercial growth in Columbia what specifically will you do to make that a reality? I believe that commercial growth is good for Columbia. New businesses typically creates jobs, produces sales tax revenues, and increases the value of the property - all generating revenue for our city. I will begin by meeting with existing businesses to better understand why they chose Columbia and what they think other businesses are looking for as they choose their location. My experience has taught me that the best way to win is to understand the rules. What types of commercial entities do you feel Columbia needs the most? I believe that we need to encourage both commercial and light industrial growth. Those businesses that either allow us, as residents, to spend more of our dollars in our community or encourage non-residents to spend their dollars in our community.

9. Does commercial growth belong in the bottoms in light of the current issue facing the certification of the levy? If the levy issue is resolved do the bottoms become a good place for development? Why or why not? If elected, I will expend significant energies to better understand this opportunity. In short, I believe that the bottoms are a natural area for our community to utilize for commercial growth without adversely affecting our small town atmosphere. It also has the unique benefit of being likely to draw dollars not only from other communities but also from across the state line. A very positive benefit that must be fully explored before making any quick decisions.

10. Alderman Stumpf has proposed the idea of having an economic development committee in order to field questions, comments, and ideas regarding any economic development opportunities that may present themselves to the city a number of times over the last year. Would you support this idea? Why or why not? I have not fully reviewed the concept of creating another committee, but it seems that we already have a Director (and assistant) for Community and Economic Development. While I intend to become very familiar with their goals and methods, and I would like to think that I can have a positive impact on this department, I do not think that I, as an alderman, need to control this function. I believe that this is such an important issue to our City that we need to have professionals whose only focus is the development of our community. I believe that the council should set the tone/policy and then we should rely upon those dedicated to this purpose.

11. What types of incentives if any do you support to attract development to Columbia? Get specific, developers will know what they want. Each opportunity brings with it unique opportunities - both in terms of possible revenue to the city and requirements from the city in support of the business. The issue is too complex to offer a single solution that fits all sizes. I have spent many years negotiating very large contracts and the first rule you learn is to know the value of what you give and only give when you receive in exchange. I do not believe that we as a city must give away a litany of prizes to attract businesses. We just have to help them to offset the risks that they take when they start a new business. I will do my best to utilize my education and experiences to serve the city in this matter.

12. Do you support the annual 4.99% increase in Columbia’s tax levy? Is this an “ethical” practice to the community and its residents? Since I have not had the opportunity to fully evaluate this question, I will not offer an opinion at this time.

13. Should the city vehicle sticker tax be re-instated? Why or why not? It seems unfortunate that the city lost this source of revenue especially when we are currently struggling financially. I would avoid re-instating the tax.

14. Should city departments be allowed to carry their budgeted balances over yearly, rather than the end of year balance rolling back to the general fund? Why or why not? This seems a mute point as the city is not operating in a surplus. But as this seems to be a major issue in the fire departments bid to join the rural fire district, I think it is worth investigating. Once we understand the benefits and the ramifications, I believe that we can find a good solution.

15. Do you support the fire department merging with the rural fire district? How will the merger improve the department for city and rural residents? Does it benefit the city? Since it has been decided by the current council to put this to the voters, I believe it is best to allow the entire city to decide.

16. Will you vote for aldermen to receive a pay increase again in the next election cycle in light of the budget issues we face as a city? I haven't given it a lot of thought - I am certain that none of the current or those seeking the position are doing it for the stipend.

17. Are there any pressing issues facing Columbia in regards to infrastructure you feel should be immediately addressed, other than the road by McDonald's leading past Firestone on the way to the Post Office? Since I have not had the opportunity to fully evaluate this question, I will not offer an opinion at this time.

18. Do you feel my questions are biased towards any one line of thinking or candidate in particular? Not at all.

For Challenging Candidates

1. What compels you to run for city office? I feel that in order to keep our quality of life, both at a high level and affordable, requires a professional approach to managing the city. My education and experience have prepared me to contribute to the city. Do you have higher ambitions in politics? No

2. Have you met with other candidates or community groups to discuss issues and the upcoming election? Yes If so which ones? I have met with the three other challenging candidates and I participated in the forum hosted by the Progress for Columbia group.

3. Were you brought up to speed regarding city issues by any certain people? Answered in question 6 above.

4. Are you a “member” of Progress for Columbia? No Did PFC or any of its members assist you in your candidacy in any way? While I am not certain of their membership, I have garnered their support as a result of my desire to help Columbia prosper.

5. Have you ever met with or discussed issues facing the city with your aldermen? Yes with Mary Ellen Niemietz. Specifically the one you may be running against? No If not, why? I am not sure it would be a profitable use of time. If yes, did you find that conversation satisfactory?