This blog is maintained for the sole purpose of allowing the people of Peru and those interested in the cities of the Illinois Valley to express their views.
“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
I see in the Fish-Wrapper that Payton has finally revealed that long anticipated "idea" he campaigned on. He suggested going back to having an informal meeting to allow more open discussion within the council and an opportunity for more feedback from citizens during this informal meeting. Of course the idea was immediately shot down by Harl based on his corrupt interpretation that when there is little or no Public Comment at meetings it is indisputable truth that every citizen in Peru is just ecstatic with everything and there is no need for any addtional opportunity for the lowly residents of Peru to question Peru's officials. Of course Harl neglected to mention in that the restrictions he personally placed on Public Comment at Peru's meetings which are specifically desigend to discourage people from stepping forward to do so. Having to fill out cards in advance and being required to stand at that stupid podium effectively intimidates most people who are not inclined to speak in public. Refusing to answer questions in open meeting is the final slap in the face of honest folks who have questions to ask. So Payton speaks up for the first time and quickly gets spanked by Harl and the others for speaking out of turn and his suggestion is immediately "pooh poohed" by the others because they do not want to answer to the public and they sure as hell don't want to have to attend another meeting. Nice try Mr. Payton. You had better take note that your aldermanic predecessor also chose to speak up and look what happened to him. If you continue to push radical ideas like "citizen participation" and "government accountability" you will find yourself banished to the same place that Mr. Perez found himself. Outside looking in! It's just so ridiculous to see how Peru's phoniest react when someone challenges the corrupt mindset they operate under. Ridiculous and disgusting.
8:22 I assume you are referring to the article that was in Friday's paper (the 22nd) on page 3 left column. It was titled "Some aldermen say Peru needs another meeting night". Thank you for your well thought out comments. I would like to read what others think about the comments that came from the other aldermen and the mayor.
Waste of time and money......They have several meetings every month. Two more won't help! You could have a meeting everyday with a few alderman and they still wouldn't be much help.
Currently there is less citizen involvement in the city of Peru than there has been going back several administrations. Communication has effectively been cut off as yes you are allowed to speak after announcing yourself to the select elected ones by filling in your 3 x 5 card but with the caveat that you ask no questions. Well we all know that is an end of conversation arrangement.
Mayor Harl has a very tight rein on the members of the council and you do not hear disagreements publicly coming from the group, they present a united front. The Mayor controls the city committees now reduced to 2 with his prescence. The last committee mtg, I went to the mayor had one comment for me, "the task force mtg is in the other room". He didn't know but I did that they were not meeting that day.
Sorry Ald. Payton you would not get more citizen participation with more meetings as most people that had an interest have been effectively quieted or have decided it is not worth their time to be there. Do we need new elected officials? It would be an improvement but it won't happen because if someone decides to run and they aren't independently wealthy enough to run their own campaign you won't be elected. We saw how that happened in the third ward last election.
The city does not want your questions or suggestions and things will remain at an impasse until a strong, independent individual who can effectively run a campaign on their own appears, you will see all the current crop remain. They think everything in Peru is coming up roses and that all the cities surrounding the city are jealous of all they have. If they only knew.
to the point of the article.... we really need to consolidate the various police departments and fire departments also. There is no logical reason to have four independent agencies responsible for public safety is an area so small. The people of the LaSalle Peru area need to get over it. We are one community - NOT TWO. We need to administer it as such!
Now come the naysayers. Keep in mind, whoever disagrees with this does so because they have a dog in the race. They are afraid that they will be "downsized" as part of the savings. Well folks - the government is not supposed to give you a job, insurance, and a pensions. It is supposed to take care of things efficiently as possible and not waste taxpayers money. Having two police chiefs is a total waste of money. Having two secretaries is a total waste of money.
Consolidate and Cut! That should be the battle cry from the voters of the Illinois Valley! Be it schools, police departments, fire departments, ambulance departments, street departments, or even parks departments. We have to many of them. Consolidate the administration and reduce the payroll!
4:16 I spoke to Alderman Payton and asked about why he wanted to add a meeting. His response was he didn't want to add a meeting but move the meeting as a whole to the Wednesday meeting, like it was before Harl took over. He does want more citizen involvement. When he explained the meeting would give the public a chance to come down and ask about a problem fix a pot hole or complain. As Alderman Pottoff said with the way we communicate now the public just fires off an e-mail. He also said if we moved the committee as a whole the public would probably not come unless there was a controversy. SO Alderman Payton you tried but Harl shut you down. Maybe next idea you should see if you have support before you bring it up.
Peru Town Forum, The other communities only wish they had what Peru has, strong schools, low energy rates and taxes. Lets look at the budgets and lets compare who has a stronger financial picture.
Did you read about the slum lords in LaSalle and the comments about how nice downtown is looking, but the rest of the city look like_____ from their own Alderman. You just have a chip on your shoulder because you don't like Peru.
And you think we don't have slumlords here in Peru? Please open your eyes and see all the For Rent Signs. Some land lords are great and keep up their property while others I'm sorry to say don't give a Damn who they rent to or how their property looks like. That dividing line between Peru and La Salle is meanlingless when it comes to property owners. The same landlords that own and rent in La Salle do so also in Peru.
Go over to the county and check them out for yourself. And BTW they are in Ottawa and Spring Valley too. Boundaries mean nothing .
I would predict that if the city holds these meetings without a agenda you would see how a few of these elected would handle any questions that are not scripted. It may be worth the price of admission. What will happen is that the police chief, city attorney and maybe one or two alderman would handle the questions. Those who tend to argue with the public won't be involved unless we bait them.
The strategy behind having more meetings to expose the incompetent officials. Let's push for more meetings. And keep the city attorney, police chief and e-mail Pothoff at home.
It's crazy to think that Peru residents have email to complain about any problems. And many don't have phones to contact their Alderman about problems. They need to have office hours and weekly meetings to discuss city problems. At least 20 hours a week at city hall. Most of them are retired and hang around the city building all day. If they want to hold another job they should do it at night after the city meetings. And if the roads need snowplows those alderman should help out. And also help in the summer with grass cutting. This could lower the city payroll. I know one alderman was a firefighter and he was removed from office. Why can't this be a requirement for office, office hours, more meetings, and help with snow, grass, fires.
11:09 your comment just shows how out of touch people are with reality. Most are retired? No they are not. They should maintain 20 office hours a week for a thankless job that pays a few thousand dollars a year? No they should not. They should run snowplows and cut grass?
Seriously, what planet are your from? By all means, you should run for office and tell the taxpayers that you would do these things. Your loss will be the biggest defeat in history.
11:09 AM, April 28, 2016 - meetings and telephones are generally useless in this day and age. E-mail is the preferred method. Just identify the problem and follow up with status requests.
Word of caution though..... a group email can be considered a "meeting" for OMA purposes. So if you email every alderman and they start replying, it might be considered illegal because there is no agenda posted. Silly antiquated government B.S. if you ask me.
13 comments:
I see in the Fish-Wrapper that Payton has finally revealed that long anticipated "idea" he campaigned on. He suggested going back to having an informal meeting to allow more open discussion within the council and an opportunity for more feedback from citizens during this informal meeting. Of course the idea was immediately shot down by Harl based on his corrupt interpretation that when there is little or no Public Comment at meetings it is indisputable truth that every citizen in Peru is just ecstatic with everything and there is no need for any addtional opportunity for the lowly residents of Peru to question Peru's officials. Of course Harl neglected to mention in that the restrictions he personally placed on Public Comment at Peru's meetings which are specifically desigend to discourage people from stepping forward to do so. Having to fill out cards in advance and being required to stand at that stupid podium effectively intimidates most people who are not inclined to speak in public. Refusing to answer questions in open meeting is the final slap in the face of honest folks who have questions to ask. So Payton speaks up for the first time and quickly gets spanked by Harl and the others for speaking out of turn and his suggestion is immediately "pooh poohed" by the others because they do not want to answer to the public and they sure as hell don't want to have to attend another meeting. Nice try Mr. Payton. You had better take note that your aldermanic predecessor also chose to speak up and look what happened to him. If you continue to push radical ideas like "citizen participation" and "government accountability" you will find yourself banished to the same place that Mr. Perez found himself. Outside looking in! It's just so ridiculous to see how Peru's phoniest react when someone challenges the corrupt mindset they operate under. Ridiculous and disgusting.
8:22 I assume you are referring to the article that was in Friday's paper (the 22nd) on page 3 left column. It was titled "Some aldermen say Peru needs another meeting night". Thank you for your well thought out comments. I would like to read what others think about the comments that came from the other aldermen and the mayor.
Waste of time and money......They have several meetings every month. Two more won't help! You could have a meeting everyday with a few alderman and they still wouldn't be much help.
Currently there is less citizen involvement in the city of Peru than there has been going back several administrations. Communication has effectively been cut off as yes you are allowed to speak after announcing yourself to the select elected ones by filling in your 3 x 5 card but with the caveat that you ask no questions. Well we all know that is an end of conversation arrangement.
Mayor Harl has a very tight rein on the members of the council and you do not hear disagreements publicly coming from the group, they present a united front. The Mayor controls the city committees now reduced to 2 with his prescence. The last committee mtg, I went to the mayor had one comment for me, "the task force mtg is in the other room". He didn't know but I did that they were not meeting that day.
Sorry Ald. Payton you would not get more citizen participation with more meetings as most people that had an interest have been effectively quieted or have decided it is not worth their time to be there. Do we need new elected officials? It would be an improvement but it won't happen because if someone decides to run and they aren't independently wealthy enough to run their own campaign you won't be elected. We saw how that happened in the third ward last election.
The city does not want your questions or suggestions and things will remain at an impasse until a strong, independent individual who can effectively run a campaign on their own appears, you will see all the current crop remain. They think everything in Peru is coming up roses and that all the cities surrounding the city are jealous of all they have. If they only knew.
to the point of the article.... we really need to consolidate the various police departments and fire departments also. There is no logical reason to have four independent agencies responsible for public safety is an area so small. The people of the LaSalle Peru area need to get over it. We are one community - NOT TWO. We need to administer it as such!
Now come the naysayers. Keep in mind, whoever disagrees with this does so because they have a dog in the race. They are afraid that they will be "downsized" as part of the savings. Well folks - the government is not supposed to give you a job, insurance, and a pensions. It is supposed to take care of things efficiently as possible and not waste taxpayers money. Having two police chiefs is a total waste of money. Having two secretaries is a total waste of money.
Consolidate and Cut! That should be the battle cry from the voters of the Illinois Valley! Be it schools, police departments, fire departments, ambulance departments, street departments, or even parks departments. We have to many of them. Consolidate the administration and reduce the payroll!
4:16
I spoke to Alderman Payton and asked about why he wanted to add a meeting. His response was he didn't want to add a meeting but move the meeting as a whole to the Wednesday meeting, like it was before Harl took over. He does want more citizen involvement. When he explained the meeting would give the public a chance to come down and ask about a problem fix a pot hole or complain.
As Alderman Pottoff said with the way we communicate now the public just fires off an e-mail.
He also said if we moved the committee as a whole the public would probably not come unless there was a controversy.
SO Alderman Payton you tried but Harl shut you down. Maybe next idea you should see if you have support before you bring it up.
Peru Town Forum,
The other communities only wish they had what Peru has, strong schools, low energy rates and taxes. Lets look at the budgets and lets compare who has a stronger financial picture.
Did you read about the slum lords in LaSalle and the comments about how nice downtown is looking, but the rest of the city look like_____ from their own Alderman.
You just have a chip on your shoulder because you don't like Peru.
8:25 AM
And you think we don't have slumlords here in Peru? Please open your eyes and see all the For Rent Signs. Some land lords are great and keep up their property while others I'm sorry to say don't give a Damn who they rent to or how their property looks like. That dividing line between Peru and La Salle is meanlingless when it comes to property owners. The same landlords that own and rent in La Salle do so also in Peru.
Go over to the county and check them out for yourself. And BTW they are in Ottawa and Spring Valley too. Boundaries mean nothing .
The city has a responsibility to its residents.
I would predict that if the city holds these meetings without a agenda you would see how a few of these elected would handle any questions that are not scripted. It may be worth the price of admission. What will happen is that the police chief, city attorney and maybe one or two alderman would handle the questions. Those who tend to argue with the public won't be involved unless we bait them.
The strategy behind having more meetings to expose the incompetent officials. Let's push for more meetings. And keep the city attorney, police chief and e-mail Pothoff at home.
8:20 anon
It's crazy to think that Peru residents have email to complain about any problems. And many don't have phones to contact their Alderman about problems. They need to have office hours and weekly meetings to discuss city problems. At least 20 hours a week at city hall. Most of them are retired and hang around the city building all day. If they want to hold another job they should do it at night after the city meetings. And if the roads need snowplows those alderman should help out. And also help in the summer with grass cutting. This could lower the city payroll. I know one alderman was a firefighter and he was removed from office. Why can't this be a requirement for office, office hours, more meetings, and help with snow, grass, fires.
11:09 your comment just shows how out of touch people are with reality. Most are retired? No they are not. They should maintain 20 office hours a week for a thankless job that pays a few thousand dollars a year? No they should not. They should run snowplows and cut grass?
Seriously, what planet are your from? By all means, you should run for office and tell the taxpayers that you would do these things. Your loss will be the biggest defeat in history.
Who are some of you crazy people?
11:09
You need to stop smoking what ever it is you are smoking.
11:09 AM, April 28, 2016 - meetings and telephones are generally useless in this day and age. E-mail is the preferred method. Just identify the problem and follow up with status requests.
Word of caution though..... a group email can be considered a "meeting" for OMA purposes. So if you email every alderman and they start replying, it might be considered illegal because there is no agenda posted. Silly antiquated government B.S. if you ask me.
Post a Comment