“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.”

Samuel Adams

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Peru Mayoral Candidate Promises New Swimming Pool


Peru mayoral candidate Don Baker used Facebook to make a big promise is he’s elected .

To fulfill his promise, Baker will have to beat incumbent Scott Harl and Jim Giordano and Mike Hart. Hart says problems with the leaky pool started while Baker was mayor and nothing was done. (true) He thinks it’s just a case of a politician saying anything for a vote.(could be)

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Baker can promise anything but he should let the voters know which year his promise will come to fruition.
A politician making such a rediculous statement reminds me of when I heard Bush say.... Read my Lips!!

Anonymous said...

I guess you can't repair the old pool. Why not promise a new pool? Why would Mike Hart answer the question, is he the incumbent? Is he pretending to be a engineer incumbent.

Linda said...

Lois: This was on the radio all morning today.

Peru Town Forum said...

Why shouldn't he comment as he is a mayoral candidate and evidently the pool is popping up once again.

Anonymous said...

Harl wrecked it, someone has to fix it!

Anonymous said...

This is already a race between Mayor Baker and Mike Hart as Scott Harl has become known and Mr. Giordano is unknown.
I am sure Mayor Baker has specific ideas on how to finance the building of a swimming pool that others have not thought of yet, knowing his history I am sure they will be ideas which will not be painful to Perus taxing system, both property and sales taxes.
I am also sure that Mike Hart is taking a long, hard look at Perus need of having a pool. What would be the total cost of such a project-swimming pool, parking lot, bath house, concession stand etc. Downstream the upkeep, manpower, and maintenance costs must be considered. Also the increase of government laws and inspections must be considered.
Presently with outstanding pools in LaSalle, Oglesby , Spring Valley and a year around pool at the YMCA would a pool in Peru become overkill and simply fill a outdated idea WANTED by a minority rather than the majority of Peru citizens. Give this group of poolies all the credit in the world they have worked hard for a cause they believe in but they still have to prove that it is a need rather than a want. The group wanting a pool has taken their time to conduct many successful fund raisers and are coming with over $100,000.00 in hand. This effort makes them worthy and viewpoints from both sides have to be recognized.

Peru Town Forum said...

12:45 PM
Perhaps the best thing to do would be to have a referendum with the majority deciding whether we need to go into more debt now and in the future by building a swimming pool. Once the manner in which we will obtain funding, the referendum route should be considered because the citizens will have to pay no matter in what bucket the money is located.

Anonymous said...

Typical miller group news...they wet your appetite but never deliver a full story. Look at township and city they dragged elected officials thru the mud and never cover the ending of the story. I'm canceling my subscription.

Anonymous said...

Only TAXPAYERS (property owners) should be allowed to vote on a referendum. This pool thing is a big joke and a way for Baker to drum up votes. He is not using common sense by starting a campaign with a promise by probably spending 4,000,000 to 6,000,000 dollars and leaving office with city debt of 42,000,000 dollars. He is too old and had his day just like everyone will.

Anonymous said...

With Baker Peru will get stuck wiith a pool unpaid for like the Mirror Building and the New City Hall. The man is living in the past. We are slowing getting things done and some of the bills paid, but Baker wants to create more debt.
It it makes him mad that the pool was taken down, Blame him for never careing about fixing it since 1988. Anyone who believes him is just about as smart.

Anonymous said...

Mayor Baker brought the issue of thinking of a new swimming pool to the city council somewhere in the very early 1990's. The council after Bakers proposal on the pool never carried it any further.
Personally, at this time I do not believe Peru needs a new pool and a splash pad is the future, but I would never say no without hearing Mayor Bakers ideas of getting the pool and his thoughts on financing the upkeep of it.

Peru Town Forum said...

No doubt a new pool would have higher use fees that we previously had and my question is would the intended users have the money to utilize it?

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:37 Yes, and those who don't will find some government branch that will get it for them. This is how things work today.
Remember when Peru passed a referendum for a new grade school there was a attachment to it that promised that a pre school was to be provided to all. This promise was never fulfilled. Those who do not qualify as being low income families cannot get their children into pre school.
It may upset most people to read this but in todays economy the majority of people who use a public pool will be from low income families, and to be fair to all this is the biggest reason to have a public pool in access to everyone. Everyone must realize that it is our responsibility to help with existing social problems and a pool which gives children something to do is one way of doing it. Don Baker being a older man would realize this from going to Veterans Pool during the depression. Growing up in a time when everyone was broke he knows what it is like and it upsets him that Peru does not have a pool. Knowing his past do not call his promise to have a pool a political promise. Knowing this mans and where Peru was when he was first elected Mayor to where it is today if he wants Peru to have a pool. Peru will have a pool.

Anonymous said...

Well said 3:35

Anonymous said...

hey 3:35 if Baker wanted a pool, he should have taken care of it in 1988 and 1993 when it was in such bad shape. He could have cared less. All he was worried about was the building of the Judy building. People don't forget, Forty Two Million in debt when he and Judy left office. So don't tell me he cares about a new pool.
hes trying to succor in votes. Nothing else. I hes got you believeing it. WAKE UP VOTERS

Anonymous said...

Don doesn't have to promise a pool to be elected Mayor. All he has to do is drive through town and pick up the votes Harl has thrown away and he is in. Harl could run on his same campaign of 2009 as he has not fulfilled any of
his campaign promises. Especially the one of "Change".
If Harl did such a great job why weeks before elections is he running a poor third behind Don Baker and Mike Hart. The word was that Harl would be a one term Mayor and all indications are Harl will be a one term Mayor. He will probably be the last person elected for a long time with no prior alderman experience for many reasons and probably the last to come straight off a union trade job which is to bad.

Anonymous said...

that 42 million dollar debt was never proven was it?? all hype for a new mayor 4 years ago, and how would it have been cleared up? certainly not with this administration, read these posts, if anything we are a heck of a lot worse in debt than we ever were, and if those factories go good luck peru-we all know they are not "union" run so does the current mayor care if they leave-think about it