I think people should vote for the candidates who they really, honestly want to see on the council.  I don't believe it's possible to waste a vote.  If I did, I would have stayed home several times in the past year or so for various different elections.  Matthew, good for you for staying in, walking the neighborhoods, funding your own campaign and keeping the faith. 

And good luck to all the candidates.  I'm glad we have so many qualified, interesting, passionate, and knowledgeable candidates to choose from this year.  Decatur has a lot going for it, if we'd just get those energies flowing into more positive collaborative actions. 

Kris 

The post-election analysis is going to be very interesting. Win or loose, I'm going to do a Dollars-spent-per-vote analysis. There is a huge spread in the money spent, with me on the low end (at less than $2K), and well, I'm not sure who's the #1 spender in the 4 year race at the present time - we'll get the final numbers from the State Board of Elections after the dust settles- but I am sure it's easily in the tens-of-thousands of dollars range.

Matthew
I want to compliment you on your interest in this town of ours and your desire to get involved. While we don't always agree on some issues, nonetheless I hope you do continue to be involved and will during, the next cycle, become a viable candidate. I know you have gained a lot of respect during this race. It takes a lot to run for any elected office. There are many sacrifices to be made. We have an election tomorrow that will possibly change the face of Decatur for a long, long time to come. In that regard too, we have another important election for the Park Board as well. I would hope the voters cast their vote for me of course when they vote tommorrow. I have s strong desire to work with the new city council and mayor to make our town a place to be proud of. Let us all work together to that end no matter what the result of the election tomorrow. I want to thank you Matthew for this blog and all of the people of this great town of ours.
John Davis

John, thanks for bringing up the Park Board race.  Considering the fate of Nelson Park, who we vote for to fill the two Park Board seats, matters a great deal.  In fact, I think it matters more to me than who's elected to the city council.  Nelson Park is a big part of Decatur's future, one way or the other. 

If anyone hasn't had a chance to learn much of the Park Board candidates, take a look at these interviews before you vote tomorrow:

Louis "Bill" Wood's interview:

http://www.herald-review.com/multimedia/#vmix_media_id=3430383

The rest of the Park Board candidates:

http://www.herald-review.com/multimedia/#vmix_media_id=3430156

Does anyone know when this mornings Byers Show will be available?  I found the one from04/02/09 but not this mornings.

The Daniels interview and most of McElroy are on the WSOY podcast page. The entire show was not there the last time I checked.

I downloaded all three hours at lunch, and I'm just now listening to the last of the third hour. He's taking the pragmatic approach - nothing wrong with that...I'm just glad there are 47,000+ other registered voters in Decatur!

Election Day! 

And I'm out making the rounds one last time.....

Hijinks already...

 

Isn't it illegal to remove a competitors campaign literature form a location? The “we're not a slate” Daniels/Caulkins/Ruderman/Grady/Philllips candidates may want to reinforce that to their campaign workers. Not 30 minutes ago I happened across a pair of people taping glow-in-the-dark (we're-not-a) slate cards to front doors that I had left one of my pages eralier. Funny thing is, their slips were still taped to the door, and mine had mysteriously disappeared...I noticed the slips didn't have a “paid for by” statement, either, so I don't know who to contact...

 

I'm not surprised by the tactic, but I would like to make as many people aware of it before they vote as possible...I'll be have my camera with me for the rest of the day, so if it happens again I'll get irrefutable documentation and proceed accordingly.

OK - Now it's lunchtime, and I've run across more of the neon stickers taped to doors.  These have Decatur Area Labor Education Comittee printed on the bottom (DALEC?...ha!  Any other Dr. Who fans out there that find this a little amusing?)
The second group I ran in to was behaving (putting their stickers up, and leaving my flyers alone). 

Lunch at Pastablilties!!! 

Any word on how many people have shown up to the polls? So far I'm impressed by the number of people who say they plan to vote for me – I just hope they follow through!

The results come in tonight will be very interesting!

I just checked CNN and they don't have a darn thing about the election at all!      :)>

Aww, Doug - that hurts!!! 

http://support.wandtv.com/election/racelist.htm

wandtv results page

Robert - The Liberty Systems link found in the links section is the "Straight from the horses mouth" data.  (It's what WAND is looking at)

Also, the write-in's have to be counted by hand (which is why I'm sitting at 0 votes)...WAND must be psychic!  Still, from the the unofficial numbers it looks like Adam Brown has done much better than expected - and I'd like to be among the first to congratulate him on his performance.

Frankly, I'll take Adam Brown over Dan Caulkins any day of the week! 

 

Matt if you add up all the votes in your race and (assuming everyone that voted voted for 3 candidates) and divide the total by 3 and subtract that from the total voters listed you come out with about 1100+ votes.  Not bad at all for a write-in.

 Thanks, Doug. It'll be interesting to see what the final numbers are.

Lol – I have a feeling I'll be making another appearance on the ballot in a couple of years, so if anyone's interested in signing petitions, I'm looking for...how about..a couple of hundred spare signatures! ;-)
 

Thanks to all those who wrote me in. Your votes mean more to me than any donation of money ever could...
 

OK....
 

Now then, let's get on with the business of running this town!!!

 

How many more voters were there this year as compared to last year?  Pretty impreasive Matthew with 2 t's.  So now when do they decide who the replacement council person will be?

Matthew, with the election of Tuna as mayor his council seat opens up. The process is for people to apply to the council to be appointed, the new council. The council will meet in closed session and discuss who to apoint. I would think you have as much chance of being appointed as anyone else, more than some. I would really not expect Dan or Betsy to apply.
Steve

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with yesterday's election results.  I've got to stop rooting for the underdogs.  We never win!  Woe is me this morning.  Anyway, congrats to all the winners and my heartfelt appreciation to all those who fell short last night.  I do think the city chose highly qualified, intelligent people but there's an awful lot of people on our new council, who I'm not so sure can relate well to a big part of Decatur's population.

It does concern me that there will be no one on our new council to represent the blue-collar worker, or Decatur's large minority population.  The results clearly indicate to me, that Decatur desperately needs district representation to ensure all of Decatur's populations and regions are represented on the council in the future.  I'm going to be lobbying hard on each and every council member and our new mayor to get district representation on the next ballot.  Decatur really hasn't had a chance to vote on that issue yet, minus the controversies or personality clashes, and I hope we do get the chance soon.

And the Park District results.  People.  People. People!  You didn't do your homework. 

Matthew, you probably do have a good chance of being appointed but I won't offer you any support because I'm poison to anyone I recommend.  The gods hate me. ;-)

Kris

Matt, I actually thought the Mayors race was closer than I expected. I had expected  Tuna to be closer to 70% and Steve to be in the 30-35% range. I was completely taken by surprise by Adam Browns third place finish. I had expected it would have been Dawson as the number one vote getter, followed by Julie Moore-wolf and either Dan or Betsy as third, like Byers had predicted. I had expected Dan to prevail and be re-elected. I don't think John Phillips did Betsy any favor getting Carry Grady to run, I think he got some of the votes she needed for re-election. Marcia Phillips was way out in left field in the canidates show with Jeff Daily, every thing she brought up was something that was going to take big dollars to do and she had no idea where the money was to come from. Especially the city buying 50,000 acres in case some business wanted to come here. I thought Pat did quite well in that program, of course Larry and Marcia way outspent him.

I don't know what I think about districts, they have to be laid out so you don't disinfranchice any group and a minority may have more chance of being elected at large where people from every where in town can votefor them. I think having two black canidates diluted the comunity support a little and Betsys change on responsible bidder did not help her suport.
Steve Payton

I thought the mayoral race would be closer – 55%/45% with McElroy winning.

 

Pat ran a great race, and even though he didn't end up with a seat, he should be very proud of his performance.

 

I really thought Betsy would get the third seat. In my opinion the alleged-bribe controversy did her in more than Carey Grady. I'm sure Adam Brown and I will have plenty of philosophical disagreements, but, even so, there was a little happy-dance in the Jackson household we saw that Adam Brown squeezed out Dan Caulkins. I just hope Adam takes it seriously now, and is not simply using the Decatur City Council as a stepping stone....To that end...Adam, if you're reading: Stay away from advisory referendums!!!! ;-)

 

Still more later...A meeting to go to and all that...

and I’m glad Dan proved the “You can fool some of the people…” saying is true.

Hey!  I voted for Dan!  No matter what some may think of him, he did keep engaged with the community.  He showed up at neighborhood meetings and made himself available to people.  I wasn't always a Dan Fan but I think it's fair to say that we can't lay all the blame at his feet for some of the problems in the council.  Garman wasn't a walk in the park.  Former Mayor Osborne and Caulkins didn't seem to bond as best buds either.  Oh well, that's all in the past now.

I do hope that our new members and the incumbents reach out to the "other side", "the dark side", or whatever we want to call it, regardless of what Brian Byers says.  We're still a community.  Let's not develop narrow minds and agendas and leave anyone out of the process.  I agree with today's newspaper editorial.  Don't shoot down good ideas, or people,  just because they didn't come from "your side". 

"Adam, if you're reading: Stay away from advisory referendums!!!! ;-) "

Hahahahah!

I thought the mayoral race would be much closer too, though I thought McElroy would win.  I wasn't surprised with that at all but I thought Ruderman and Stockard would do much better.  I knew Julie Moore was going to win the day she announced.  With her name recognition and qualifications, she was a shoe-in.  I would've voted for her but I figured plenty of others were going to, so I voted for some underdogs.  The only candidate who won that I voted for was Dawson.  So I guess I'm not complete poison. 

Kris

I want to thank everyone who voted for me in yesterday's Park Board Election. I want to congratulate the winners. I do want to congratulate you Matthew on your hard fought campaign. And I do hope that you stay involved. Don't settle for 200 sgnatures, go for 2,000. As a matter of fact, I do have some knowlege of election law and would like to help you if you are so inclined. We don''t always agree on everything but I do admire your interest and concern for our town.

Speaking of neighborhood meetings, our first meeting will be April 25th at Garman Park for the Ravina Park / Home Park area.  So anyone who lives in the area is welcome to come out.  It's going to be an informational meeting for getting the group off the ground.  We'll be there from 1:00 till whenever it ends.  Hopefully the weather improves!

I'm hoping to schedule times with all the city council members and the new mayor to come out and speak with us over the next several months or so.   Nothing scary - just meet and greet events between neighbors.  That would be great.

I'll remind everybody of the meeting as the date gets closer. 

Kris

Matt, I myself have never heard of anyone being threatened like Steve Daniels. The only strong arming I am aware of from the chamber is their annual dues push & this new fee for service type charges. They are pushing a menu type charge system, so much for tickets to the Ag Caffe, so much for leadership breakfasts x number of seats, so much to be a sponsor, so much for this & that & you always need more
Steve Payton

Hi everybody. Matt, don't give up- I know you won't. We need good citizens like you to get involved. Here are my thoughts on the election: I'm glad Tuna won. As for Steve, his change Decatur and other petetion antics backfired. I thought Julie and Jerry Dawson would make it. I like both of them, and I think they will do great. I was surprised Adam won, but I think he will do fine if he doesn' listen to Bill Mitchel. Bill's legacy continues to haunt us with his worthless leaf burning referendum. I hope Pat McDaniels continues to be involved. As for the losers, here goes my tirade: Betsy, you messed up with your change on the responsible bidder ordinance, and you REALLY messed up with the things you said about Randy Prince. Adam Rudderman, I think (only my opinion) that people saw a problem with your fireman/union head/city employee role vs your role as a councilman. And let me give Mr. Ruderman a bit of advice. Don't ever put handbills on the windows of cars. People do not like to take time to lift the wiper and remove them. They hate them. It absolutely infuriated me when I saw one on my car. You or your workers do not have the right to come in my yard and do that... Dan Caulkins-I think people saw through your charade. Yes, you are one of the best when it comes to neighboorhood meetings. But that's the only thing you did well. You were an obstructionist when it came to issues on council. You voted the way you did not because it was in the best interest of everyone, but what would make you look good to people. There is more that just the neighborhood issue facing us. Ever hear of the advice that people give women when they have a new date-if he treats the waiter and help badly but treats you great, it's a warning sign? I heard about the way you treated City staff, and I'm not talking about Garman. And it wasn't just one time, like you said on the radio. It was frequently. You want respect, right? Would you have allowed someone to go before council and call you dishonest and a liar? I don't think so. Well from what I heard, you did that more than once. And I believe the person I heard this from. Enough of that..... I think we have a council that will move this city forward now. It's about time.

Well, I don't mind if someone puts campaign literature on my windshield.  Not every candidate can afford televsion and radio ads.  Some have to go door to door,  hand out flyers and learn very quickly want a Jehovah's Witness experiences on a daily basis.  I'll be handing out flyers for the new neighborhood group next week.  I wonder how that's going to go?  I hope nobody shoots me. 

My main disappointment with the city council results is that there is no one on the council who I can relate to.  I'm not going to feel comfortable contacting any of them.  Dawson and Brown may be exceptions but I just don't think Foster, Leagler, McElroy and Moore really care what I think.  They seem so out of touch with everyday people.  I hope I'm wrong.  Really, I think they all remind me of the popular kids in high school.  They're intimidating to me.  They bring back too many bad, bad memories of high school.  I think they are all very smart but I don't think I'll ever find myself in the same social circle.

But besides my psychologically traumatic high school years, what also bothers me is that this has to be one of the most one-sided council makeups I can remember.  I don't know that they all share the same exact idealogy but they're pretty close; there's an awful lot of people in Decatur who aren't going to have a voice for their point of view.  It stinks.

Kris

Kris, you may be surprised at the accessibility/responsiveness – at least give them a chance.

At first sight Moore projects the “most popular girl at school” image I agree, but as they say looks can be deceiving. From the few conversations I've had with her, she's very practical, down-to-earth, and approachable. She's got a communications background, and she “tunes” her nonverbal style to match who she's talking to (she may not even realize it).
 

On several occasions I've seen McElroy in the hallway just before a council meeting looking worn out...When asked “long day?” He's answered - “Couldn't sleep last night, thinking about <insert-issue-on-the-council-agenda-here>”. This has happened several times. McElroy is not the best communicator, that's true, but he does listen and think about what's been said.
 

Laegler is surprising. I think he's a very thoughtful guy, an executive and accountant for sure, and a bit on the analytical side, but still very thoughtful.
 

Foster - I've had the least experience with, and I really can't say much. I've talked to him before and after council meetings a bit, and when it comes to personal stuff, I think he tends to error on the side of formality - which makes some people feel uncomfortable. Many people interpret “I don't know, so I'll follow protocol” with “aloof, stuffy and...(wait for it)...Elitist”
 

Brown – we'll see. During the campaign I had a lot of fun ribbing him about always wearing his tie, and he took it very well. He seems like a nice enough guy, but I think he's got an incomplete picture of the reality of the council/manager form of municipal government. He's now joined a team where he's 1-of-7 local legislators representing 77,000 citizens. I hope he takes the advice offered by Gilda and limits the amount of “how to be a council person” advice he takes from Bill Mitchell.
 

Jerry Dawson – Haven't talked much to him, and I don't really know him. Seems like a nice enough guy - kind of quiet. I know as Sheriff he had to navigate some tight budget issues. We'll see how he does on the council.
 

Lol – So there, I've probably totally shot myself in the foot with respect to being considered for appointment to the council!

 

Oh, I'll be giving them all a chance.  And I can't wait to see Moore transform into a nerdy hick to match my nonverbal style.  LOL!  But I will be giving them all a fair chance and try to keep my "Revenge of the Nerds" past out of it. 

I don't think you wrote anything to take you out of the running.  Brown sounds like my oldest brother with the tie.  Alex P. Keaton. 

Kris

Kris

I know how you feel, but give it some time then see how you feel.  I don't feel like the new council won't listen, but I too agree that they are very much in line with each others philosophy.  We have to be fair and give them the chance.  Mr. Ruderman I want to tell you Gilda does not speak for me, I don't see the big flyer issue, I have had flyers put on my car for years I just throw them away if its something I'm not interested in. As for Brown not listening to Mitchell why wouldn't he listen to him he was Browns sponsor through out the campaign. All we can do regardless of who is on the council is continue speaking out and standing up for ourselves.  I don't think anyone on the council would begrudge a citizen that right.  They will need to find the middle of the road if  they lean too far right or too far left then we have problems.    Under our current form of government(which I have always supported) we have a City Manager that is smart and very good with people so I see this community getting better and even more united which is needed to make anything work. 


RBO

I am glad it passed.  I don't get the argument that it will drive up costs.  If as a country we did away with union representation then we would do away with prevailing wages and be at the mercy of Corporate America and we see how they run things.     Their is no substitute for education and safety and their is no reason other than a smaller profit margin for non-union contractors. Sure it costs more money to participate in such programs but now the playing field is leveled so to speak.  Unions couldn't get jobs before because they would be undercut and if the wages are bid the same where were the cuts coming from? I was watching the news last night and they were having a big celebration in Detroit thanking them for creating the middle class.  We don't have much of a middle class anymore and break the rest of the unions and we won't have any.  I think with all the labor issues this town has had is the biggest reason we don't have companies locating here and that mindset need to change or we will be nothing but churches and taverns.  Without a couple or even one larger company coming to Decatur it will be tough for us to support the smaller businesses in town because we will all be broke.  I know the economy as a whole is tough right now but it may rebound and the City needs to be ready.  Mr. McElroy is going to explain the water issue to me when he has a chance because I still have a hard time believing we can't get one large company to come here because we don't have water.  Time will tell and right now I think thats what we have more than anything else.

Its now time to walk the talk and improve our City for everyone.

I've spent some time this morning purging my campaign files, as my role in the Foster for City Council campaign is over.  I generally have avoided getting involved in blog discussions, but reading the posts on this blog prompts me to share my thoughts with you on a couple of topics.

1.  Its regrettable that conclusions are drawn based upon little or no factual information.  It happened a lot in the last 2 or 3 weeks.  The "good people vs bad people" business is an example.  Without benefit of context, many of the things each of us say at home, at work or anywhere, could appear to be what it is not.  Someone latched onto the H & R report and the word spread like wildfire through that part of the community, suggesting that "Foster says union people are bad people".  Didn't happen.  To his credit, Foster took the punches and handled it like the gentleman he is.  My point is that our judgements, if based on inaccurate information, are flawed.  The old saw "don't believe everything you read or hear" still holds.

2.  This business of being "approachable".  Many posts above suggest that this person or that don't or won't listen, and some of the posts suggest its all the fault of the candidate or council member.  My observation is that it goes both ways.  At least one of the posts above suggests that you not write off this person or that without trying.  Excellent point.  Try.  Show respect, speak without an antagonistic attitude, have genuine knowledge of the topic - rather than just an emotional opinion - and I'll bet they'll  all listen.  By and large, if you show respect for them, they'll return that respect.  Badger them, with constant demands and emails, and they'll likely not respond well to you.  I think those points are true of the past council, and the new council.

Matthew, you ran your campaign with just that approach.  You respected the other candidates even though you disagreed with them, you respected  the voters, and you got respect  in return.  The world works that way.  I will watch with interest as an outsider in the next election cycle, and I'll have a smile and a good comfort level as you succeed, and I'd bet you will!  Thank you.

                                       Orv Graham

Matt, I have found in the times I observed the council during the last six years that Tuna looked a little bored and was pretty quiet because he had studied the council packet and asked his questions ahead of time. Unlike some council members, who are no longer going to be on council he was aware of what background information had been furnished. I can't count the number of times Garman referred certain grand standing councilmen to this weeks packet or last meetings packet or last months packet to discuss, and sometimes explain, what they had in their hands.
I have met Jerry Dawson out in public and found him to be a very down to earth guy, just ordinary people with a different kind of job, at the time. One of my friends invited him and his soon to be wife to join our tables one night at LSB when Rock of Ages was playing, the friend did not know who he was at the time, but we had a couple of extra chairs.
Doug, I think the water issue is only part of the problem, there are not a lot of big employeers locating anywhere. The tire industry is a good example, they make more tires and better tires and that creates a surplus of production facilities. You also have some manufactures making product overseas & shipping it back to the states. I know a guy who used to be a manager at Intermet, now he is working for a couple of guys from the Bahamas who own a foundry in China. He says he is selling the same things he made here in Decatur to the same companies he sold to before.
Steve Payton

Orv,  thanks for posting your thoughts.  I think the biggest problem is, we often times don't discuss what matters.  Emotion matters.  Past experiences in our own lives matter.  It comes into play in every aspect of our professional and private lives.  I grew up in a blue-collar family, in a blue-collar town.  I grew up distrustful of management and those with great wealth or prestige in the community.  It's natural that I, and many others, feel intimidated and left out of the process.  We may in reality be part of the process but it sometimes doesn't feel that way.

Decatur is a tough place to live for blue-collar families.  I saw my parents struggle and now my family is struggling.  That's why I would really like to see neighborhood representation because getting someone from my background on the city council is darn near impossible, even though there's thousands of other people out there just like me - unfortunately they don't vote!  Maybe they would if they knew someone was going to be directly representing them.  I would hope anyway.  Non-voters only have themselves to blame if they don't like what's going on in the community.

On a side note:  I wonder what Springfield's voter turn-out rate is?  I wonder what voter turn-out rates are between communities with different government forms?  That would be interesting to know.  I wonder if it makes any difference.

Personally, I haven't had to contact anyone on the council for a problem in my neighborhood.  Thank the Lord I live in a good area of town.  I'm fortunate.  And I haven't have bad experiences with anyone on the the council - new or old.  I certainly haven't badgered anyone.  I only sent one email to one council member in the past 38 of my 38 years - and that's it.  I did send some candidate questions recently but that's different. 

I would hope that we all respect each other more, communicate more, and just get to know each other better.  I'm looking forward to doing that.  My door is open.

Kris

And my door is open as well, Kris.  Come in some time and let me introduce you to Larry Foster.  And Kim.  And Robin.  And Linda, in our offices.   Phone first, so you'll know that Larry & I are both in.  Our office is on the first floor of the Decatur Club building, 158 W. Prairie.  429-9696.  And yes, I mean it.  I'll also give you a tour of the Decatur Club if you want.

                                    Orv     Email Radioorv@aol.com

Matthew,

Any thoughts on who will be the replacement for Mike's seat? You may want to start that as a topic. I see some comments, but don't really have any idea. I would guess Betsy and Dan will be on the list. I would like to see someone for the dark side, but that will never happen. Mike's comments made that clear. I think we need to move forward no matter what, and with 40% of Decatur feeling left out, that will be very very difficult. I think the "GOOD" people have every right to point out the flaws in the dark sides thinking. I know Larry could not care less about me and the problems in my neighborhood, otherwise he would have returned an email, called me back or spoke to me even once in the last year. I GET IT. As for doors always being open mine aren't, we have a bit of a criminal element in my neighborhood, KNOCK FIRST. I did by the way take a walk and you would be surprised to know how close you are to me and my neighbors. Why even Mr. Graham and Foster's office is a short walk. Maybe on some warm Friday night you folks could step off your soap boxes and come on over. See real problems exist in this world. You all have listened to me and maybe even remember a few things I have said, but to do nothing else than waste my time here is why I am a tad upset.

I have been the witness in a murder trial.
My house has been shot at.
My son nearly run over by a car doing 60mph down an alley (71 feet of skid marks)
In a 3 block area there have been 3 rapes, 2 separate murders, 5 attempted murders, 26 burglaries, 5 drug houses torn down.
I have had a gun put to my head and warned to shut up.
Our neighborhood watch was walking our block Saturday night and a man offered us "dope" and said he could get us anything we wanted so I called the Police, while I was on the line with them he ask again(7:27pm) they heard this. The Police got there at 8:12 pm and said they were sorry the whole force was chasing a car that had just done about 90 done Decatur st.  Even though we have only half the officers on the street that Springfield has, our leaders want to spent millions on a new Police station. We have fewer beat officers (12) per capita than every city our size I could find. I digress, in the mean time a really nice crack head ask us if we were looking for a "date"

Our city is at that apartment building nearly everyday, but don't take my word for it. Billy Tyus said "over 300" 911 calls to the 700 block of W. Decatur in 6 months.

So I ask our city leaders to do something, anything and all they do is send the Police. The Police are powerless to do anything and have made almost no arrests

So you tell me how I should deal with that? Orv, how 'bout you? Larry, you? Pat? NO? We didn't think so.

I have done my part, my neighbors have done their part, but our city has NOT! I started a neighborhood group, coach 2 baseball teams, mow 20 yards for elderly and poor families, I reroofed 3 houses at no cost, I helped 4 families buy houses and have tried to get something done about the out of town landlords that are raping our neighborhood.

17 years I have lived here and only in the last year have I said anything, but after a year of trying to get the "good" people to see the problem all I get is Randy Prince defending the slumlord that owned that building and boy did that hurt since Randy had ZERO knowledge of the situation. The Slumlord was just a member of the chamber where he lived and that was good enough for the King of Decatur. I too Love Decatur and am trying to make it better, but how can I when I live next to that? I have seen my property taxes quadruple and all we did was plant flowers. The City attorney says "if we move them out of there they will just be a problem somewhere else". So I guess it is clear that the "good" people want me and my neighbors to deal with the problem and shut up. We are just part of the 40% I guess, that should take the crumbs we get, smile and thank Randy. 

 

Robert, I hate what your neighborhood is going through. It's commendable that you have taken such a proactive approach.  Betsy Stockard did the same thing several years ago and made a difference.  You're making a difference too.  I would like to see that apartment building gone.  If it's causing that much trouble, it's way past time for it to go.  I think landlords should only get so many chances and if they can't keep their rental properties secure, then they shouldn't be able to rent them out.  I think the city wants to create the legal framework to make that happen too.

And Orv, I'll be contacting you.  I'd love to come speak with you guys.  Thanks so much for the offer. 

Kris

Robert, I sympathize with what you all are going through and thank you and the other “good” neighbors for staying and working hard against it!  You are helping my community as well by doing that. 

 

Who is that landlord?  Maybe the entire community could do a letter writing campaign to the local news paper in HIS community.... Property ownership is public record isn’t it?  (except in sleazebag Illinois we have secret property “trusts” so you never know)

 

Although some of my choices did not win this election I think we ended up with a good slate of people who we will find to be caring regarding neighborhood issues.  The more I learned about each of them the harder the choices got….

 

Of course I’m very sorry to lose Dan.  Not just because he attends all our stuff and listens but Dan has been one of the few I’ve seen actually try and suggest ways to bring the bad areas of town back up. 

 

In the long run revitalizing the declining areas would benefit the ENTIRE community by : 1) improving our image; 2) lowing police and fire costs; and 3) lowering costs of physical expansion of city services and infrastructure.  4)increase population, property values and therefore income for District 61, for park district and county government as property values in our city core increased again and these areas became desirable for homes and businesses. 5) I think it would also encourage more people to invest in Decatur because they would KNOW they do so in good faith that our city will do its part in helping these areas remain a viable and worthwhile investment.   My thanks to my friend Dan for all his efforts!!

 

I really did not agree with the big stink made regarding Larry Fosters comments.  I try hard not to judge a person based on just a few words quoted somewhere. I just do NOT think that is fair to ANY person.  My personal guess is that that display probably gained him some votes.  Anger may stir a small group that already agree but it is NOT going to bring in additional folks to our cause especially those not familiar with the details of the issues. 

 

Actually Larry Foster has grown on me…. At this point I have no negative concerns whatsoever regarding his election to council.  Any one with my concerns regarding neighborhood issues should listen to him in a couple council meetings and give him credit where credit is due.  Just my personal opinion, watch him in the council meeting regarding the Edgewood court rezoning 3/16/2009, watch him Jan 5 in the noise ordinance discussion,  Whether you agree or disagree with his choices on these it is obvious in both that he gave them a lot of thought and I do not take that lightly.

 

Sue

 

Ps - nice seeing you on here Orv!  Meet you at the CONO forum!

I meant "met you"  not "meet you"  - I swear no matter how many times I proof read I always screw up!!