“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

Saturday, February 16, 2013

And This is How it Happened

This is the actual agenda and minutes from the recreation board meeting. Do you see the word PICKLEBALL on the agenda?







21 comments:

Peru Town Forum said...

In black and white you can see how this was implemented and yes they received a reprimand from the AG.
Guess what this same board did last week. The same thing with regard to horseshoes.

Isn't there someone in this administration that can watch and see that city business is conducted honestly?

Anonymous said...

It seems that many readers think these things are not a big deal if you can get away with them. They don't really check on the AG site and see that there is latitude in the response, but one of the more serious results can be nullifying the resultant actions from the votes.
That is a big deal, because when presenting damages, the injured parties will claim that the actions that have caused them pain and suffering were caused illegally, by a city or agent of the city acting as a private club, voiding immunity. They have done it callously and continuously.
The civil suits can include issues like fraud, due to the deceptive statements by volunteer board members, and environmental violations like many sound pollution litigations have in the past.
This is some big time stuff over something that has been so ripe for compromise and professional mediation. I do not understand the position taken by the Rec board and the city.
Maybe they could come on here with a position paper statement of some kind and explain it. Something besides, we voted on it get over it, if it were any other people, silly time charts about per cent of time they are being a nuisance, etc. I really would love to read it.

Anonymous said...

Pickleball NEVER was played on the basketball courts at 28th St Park as intended and stated in paragraph 2. Another LIE from the Ambassador ? Notice no statements of impact on the parke were made.

re Horseshoes. Since an organization is taking the program, where lies the liability ? Who's providing the equipment ? Will this require any supervision of the park and playground ?

Anonymous said...

Why hasn't the mayor taken control of this situation? It is a committee of appointments, right?

Anonymous said...

The mayor has not taken control of anything. He is not going to do anything to make anybody mad at him because he doesn't want to lose any votes. Too bad he isn't smart enough to realize if he would have taken control of this board, he would have gained some respect and some votes.

Anonymous said...

Sherry Mayszak is missing from action again. Mayszak is the alderman over the Rec Board. Where was she when this terrible sport was adopted ?
Why was she not in attendance for the next two meetings when this horrible decision to begin a new sport in a City park? Why did she NOT get involved until the courts were converted to Picklball ?
Now after a vote of 6 to 2 vote to keep Pickleball for another year alderman Mayszak is making this a issue that is been voted on and is OVER.
She has a short time left in office before a replacement is voted in.
You will have to defend them as a resident of Peru.
This is the one committee that you have oversight on and you failed to even attend a meeting while this program was being implemented. Now you want to come to the rescue of residents who have complaints. You handled the situation so poorly you could only get one more vote when it came before the council.
It is hard to believe you have the confidence to even run for alderman.
Residents of Peru, do you not know that this Ald. is also in charge of supervising the parks mait. and their cleanliness. The only thing she did was get a swing oiled so it would not squeak anymore. We need an alderman that attends meetings and watches over the committees and gets maintenance issues taken care of on the committees they are appointed to.
So many of you bloggers don't know who is in charge of which program and who has the duties of supervision. Failure of leadership is the problem here and you should realize it is not the duties of people you are blaming in you posts. One last thought remember, alderman Sherry was on the pool committee and how is that progressing?

Peru Town Forum said...

2:21 PM

Your comment is really pathetic and you neglected to tell us that Bob Ankiewicz is the chairman of the committee who has the responsibility of working with Sherry that so that duties were equally shared. You are accusing her of supervising the parks, I thought we had a Recreation Board who was doing that along with the Department of Public Works. Don't try to pull that one, the public property has many duties but keeping the parks clean is not one of them. And you definitely do not know how to read because the swing fiasco was already explained to you by the alderman. If you are endorsing Mike Radtke for that position, I am ready for you on that because he is currently my alderman. Sit tight.

Anonymous said...

Rumor out on the street that I have heard numerous times is Mayor Harl, Mike Radtke and Gary Bleck are out to defeat Ald. Mayszak because she thinks for herself and asks for answers they are not used to giving. In other words she is working for the residents not the special interests in this city. Sounds like an intrusion into the good ole boys club.

Anonymous said...

2:21 You have no idea what you're talking about. The whole conception and introduction of pickleball to 28th street park was done with complete disregard to the OMA and without any investigation by the board. Please don't forget that alderman Ankiewicz is also on that committee. Where was he? At least Sherry went and talked to the neighbors and listened to the noise the game makes. No other representative of Peru did. And by the way were you familiar with pickleball before it became a reality in Peru and were you aware of the noise it made? If so, you are just as guilty as those who allowed it to be put in citizen's backyards. Oh, and nobody is asking the players to give up their precious game. They are just being asked to give another neighborhood the pleasure of listening to the ping, ping, ping of their paddles. You need to go back to the beginning of this game to realize that it was not supposed to be a permanent fixture in an established and well used tennis court. Apparently the ambassador decided by himself that that was what he wanted and with his wife on the board - no problem. He actually took it upon himself to talk to the company that was resurfacing the courts and asking them if 4 pickleball courts could be placed on the tennis court. Alderman Mayszak is doing her job unlike the other representatives of ward 1. She is listening to the citizens and trying to reach a compromise as are the neighbors. They never once came up to talk to the neighbors or listen to the disturbing noise from their backyards. I wish people would get all the facts straight before they criticize and form an opinion.

Peru Town Forum said...


2:21 PM

This one is mine and happy to answer you. Her opponent is Mike Radtke presently one of the alderman of the First Ward and we are very pleased to get him out of our ward. So if you are attempting to denigrate Ald. Mayszak, it won't work as this is what Mike brings to the table. Deals well with the special interests but for the average person, he is not even in the running. Personally thought he would be good when I met him but he quickly proved to be all for Mike unless you were one of the special interests and then he might give you the time of day but don't count on that too much. I would rather deal with Tony Ferrari than Mike Radtke any day. And to think that Mike worried about getting along with Tony because Tony had a Mertel sign in his yard. Mike is most defnitely in the Harl camp and never disappoints the mayor with his vote. Remember 2:21 PM, you brought this up and not me or the blog.

Peru Town Forum said...

2:21 PM

It is not nice to lie and attempt to spread false information especially during an election when many people are watching. Of course non of know who you are since you are just another one of the Anonymous.
So this is for you and since you don't have a clue:
From our municipal ordinance:


Sec. 74-70. - Powers and duties.permanent link to this piece of content

(a)

The playground and recreation board is hereby vested with the control and management of all existing and hereafter acquired parks, playgrounds and recreation centers and shall direct the equipment, maintenance and conduct thereof and shall make suitable rules and regulations for proper and orderly direction and management of the parks, playgrounds and recreation centers and the equipment, maintenance and conduct thereof.

(b)

The playground and recreation board shall have the authority to conduct programs in playgrounds and recreation centers and in buildings located thereon and may, for the implementation of the purposes for which this article is adopted, employ such supervisors, playground leaders and other employees as it may deem proper and furnish and control such equipment and supplies as it may deem proper.

(Code 1996, § 33.049)

Anonymous said...

2:21 What the residents of the first ward need are aldermen that will at least listen and be in tuned to what the issues might be. We do not have that presently. As for the rec board, they should be reporting to the council if not every month at least quarterly. The problem with this board is that they have been able to do what they want with taxpayers money for so long without any oversight, that now when residents are paying attention they do not know how to answer, do not do their homework before meetings, and just use their arrogance to cover up their ineptness. This entire group is a special interest group of their own. Not one of them is interested in the parks as a whole, for example playground equipment and the safety of the kids. Oh sure they make lists every year but do they really do their job? No! To blame Alderman Mayzak for this is just WRONG. Do your job rec board or put in your resignation and let someone else who can look at the parks objectively and know what needs to be done, not just what your special interest groups want done.

Anonymous said...

Lois: Thank you for posting the ordinance regarding the duties of the Rec Board. I knew they were responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the parks and the equipment therein. I hope 2:21 reads this and understands that he or she was wrong and owes alderman Mayszak an apology.

Anonymous said...

The sad brainchild attempt to snow ball Alderman Perez by Treasurer Hylla and other city representatives recently was the initial kick off of reducing the council of representation of the people. Next in the process of those involved is the combined campaign to eliminate Alderman Sherry Mayszak. This would leave only one true voice of the people, Rod Perez, who would be constanly ridiculed for the next two years.
Those who have not followed Peru Politics or the blog have no idea of how importantit is to keep Sherry and Rodney in office together and to vote out the present incumbents.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Radke decided to run against Mayszak because he knew if he finished his 2 years at large and wanted to run again, he would have to run against Perez? And we all know he would never beat Rod! Just a thought!

Anonymous said...

2:21 It's dirty politics as far as I'm concerned and if that's what a candidate has to use to get elected I surely do not want them representing me. I want someone who can stand on their own two feet not someone who plays follow the leader.

Anonymous said...

I'm 9:17 and I should have added "and that means alderman Mayszak". She represents the people not the mayor.

Anonymous said...

We need a write in candidate from the first ward to get rid of Radtke and to have 3 people on the council that will represent us citizens.

Anonymous said...

Mayor Harl has done his best to keep Radke on the city council. This election you can get rid of Harl and vote for Sherry to fill a four year term leaving Harls boy Radke to finish out his remaining two years. Once these two years are over you can vote him out. GOOD LUCK

Anonymous said...

Voters of ward 2 remember alderman Radke remains an alderman whether he wins or loses the election. Therefore a vote for him is actually a vote against alderman Mayszak. In other words for some reason he and his fellow comrades feel threatened by alderman Mayszak and want to try to eliminate her. It's a vote against women and a sign of discrimination. Don't let him or them achieve their goal. We need representatives who will fight for the people not themselves. We need alderman Mayszak.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:31 The awkward method of voting in Ward 2. must be fully disclosed and explained. The local newspaper and radio station should be informing its patrons of this irregular voting procedure. Could a explanation be placed on Channel 13. Be sure to tell everyone. Sadly Peru recently has been managed with the same underhanded, feeble manipulations as this.