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
Monday, December 30, 2013
Is This What Your Campaign Card Has On It??
Anonymous said...
I have one of mayor Harls original campaign cards and no where on it does it state anything about town hall meetings. There are eight bullet points so I am still waiting for some factual evidence he has done contrary to any of these points. If you can't remember what he said then I guess you really aren't referencing facts.
You reap what you sow. All of you had opportunities for change. From mayoral to alderman; this is what you get. If you want new leadership, you had better stop hiding behind "anonymous" and get out there to speak your opinion, you too, Lois. You'd be surprised to find that more and more people share your opinion but you don't get out there to speak your mind enough.
There are 11bullets but only ten things listed on his campaign card. Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce is a continuation and not a separate point. Who proofed these? And Harl handed these out and people voted him in? He couldn't even get his campaign card right.
Water front! A dump still. Lol. Streets and sidewalks, stink, can't see lines or arrows to turn(rt. 251), ill comment more tomorrow. Total crap on Harls mission statements for his campaign. Now, that doesn't lie. He failed to fulfill his promises in four years and seven months. N
Mayor Harl, what has been done to the river front???????? How about a fair and honest hiring process instead of all of your appointees? Frugality??? Are you kidding people?
Apparently, we have addressed the practice of no bid contracts, and made the decision to continue with them. I suppose competition that could bring down costs is no longer favored when it comes to our money.
"Improve all aspects of our Infrastructure "Rebuild Peru"--Anyone who knows what happened to the Infrastructure Committee (as I do) can tell you that that has now become a rather comical statement.
"Support & work to increase industrial, retail and residential growth in Peru"--This is too easy, anyone else remember our major industrial businesses wanting to leave Peru because of hiked up electric rates?
The last point I find the most useless---"Work with the Illinois Council of Governments in order to promote the most appropriate type of growth and development for our city"--Why would you consult governments and not the people actually providing the growth? What is "appropriate type of growth?" Can you site different examples of growth type? This nonsensical campaign promise should of instead focused on creating an environment where people want to invest here, rather than consult the slowest, most lagging entity there is(government)--to promote growth.
Infrastructure improvements continuing, rt. 6 improved with aid of state grant. Bond no longer needed for improvements as "Harl " tax (sales tax, not property tax increase ) now funds such programs. CSO separation project underway. IVAC, all I have to say is check out their website, and now it is also located in Peru. As far no bid contracts 7-1 vote by alderman for Test, out of the mayors hands.I. could go on and in but am tired of typing already. Oh and as far riverfront, powerplant gone and possible green area development along with possibly another restaurant.
What bothers me about this campaign card is the I promise to:.....maybe he should have said I will try my best to:. Promise is a very strong word. The "No Bid Contract" promise bothers me the most, he could have easily took a stand on that bullet point and lived up to his promise. I am sure he knew the council would pass it, so he would have come out of that smelling like a rose.
River front development? Lets see - they sold a building that should be condemned to somebody that wants to start a gourmet hamburger shop. No activity seen at that building in what - six months? How much are we going to have to pay when we take that rat trap back? As far as the town hall meetings - when he was campaigning before his first term, he said that he would hold these meetings once a quarter. He said this at the library Q&A session also. However, after he got in office people started asking hard questions that he did not want to answer, so he has distanced himself from the people. Remember the town hall meeting over the sales tax? And all the flack over moving the fireworks?
The mayors campaign card does not state that town hall meetings would be held, but as all campaigns the Mayor made certain specific commitments to his supporters that he would hold quarterly town hall meetings updating all interested citizens of what was truthfully playing out in the city. Also a yearly address by the Mayor to citizens of Peru were discussed such as a State of the City address. The campaign card is a statement of generalizations and if looked at closely and fairly may give you more reasons to defend the Mayor: *Address the practice of "No Bid" contracts *Support and work to increase industrial, retail and residential growth in Peru *Encourage citizen involvement in the political process, I will listen to the voice of the people *Continue the progress and growth of our city to keep our economy strong The recent contract with TEST is a example of not addressing "No Bid" contacts. The contract was for a significant financial amount and time frame. The method of 3 X 5 cards with a three minute limitation for public comment in which the citizen is told that they are only allowed a public comment, which means public comment not a open conversation or question answer session with city representation. The second and fourth promises are generations as are most of the other campaign promises. These two which are saying the same thing have not been acted upon unless you are considering that our government is now paying over $50,000/year with four different promoters than the one and only Illinois Valley Chamber of Commerce at a cost of $13,200 we had in previous administrations.
Funny how the Harl defender(s) are creeping out with some weak defensive jabs here and there. Splitting hairs on what promises were made and which were kept is really a waste of time. Everybody has to make their own interpretation of what kind of mayor Harl has turned out to be based on the knowledge that they personally possess. I happen to possess quite a bit, and my interpretation is we have a mayor who indicated he would conduct himself in office as an ethical and honest "leader". My observation after more than four years reveals to me a mayor who is unethical because of the political favors he provides to those that contribute to his campaign, and a mayor who is devoid of honesty as proven by his authorizing and approval of overtime pay to employees for hours not actually worked. To anyone who beleives those actions are acceptable, or worse yet, defensible, I say, you have sold out too.
Don't forget the lumber and nail company money. Weren't they supposed to give back the rent money on the Market Street rat trap - money to be used for "infrastructure." How is that deal going???? More money flushed down the toilet by our frugal mayor. Oh... and has anyone found the misplaced dump truck yet?
There was another page to his website that included "establishing relationships with City employees" and it also addressed having town forums. I have a copy; this is card is NOT complete compared to Harl's original website.
How can this be? I thought he was independent and "political parties have no place in municipal politics." Lets face it - he was originally fronted by Local 150 to oust Baker. Along the way, even before his first term, he became a shill for both the union and the LaSalle County Democrat Party. He also duped a lot of people along the way.
Seems to be the intersection has been improved now as the proof is in the pudding, accidents down from previous years. I think IDOT are the ones that came up with the design for public safety. No life is worth any amount of burgers.
Many more accidents now occur on North Peoria Street and probably has something to do with the so called new and improved intersection. Also there are a good number of accidents at the intersection on 251 adjacent to the "famous" intersection and often backed up traffic across 251.
Those accident numbers will go down now that the new laws are in effect regarding driving and cell phones. If you can't concentrate on driving because of obstructions which create a unsafe condition you shouldn't be driving. One must remember that driving a car is different than getting on a ride at Disney Land.
8:43 you did notice I said fix not change it back to the original design. That intersection has been flawed since it was built. They have only taken one problem and pushed it somewhere else...Peoria St. Way too much traffic for that narrow of a road, with three very busy intersections.
How to say this without upsetting people.... Hmmmmm.... Well, here goes. Much of the traffic problme in Peru is caused by people that should not be driving due to age and infirmity. Not their fault, it just happens. These people approach intersections defensively and find it difficult if it is safe to proceed. Nothing wrong with that but it gets compounded. Add to that the cell phone talkers that are not paying attention and you have a huge problem. So what is the fix? Simple - something this area has been without since the late 50's or early 60's. Public transportation. Give older drivers a choice to use a reliable and convenient system. Right now we have on call van from LaSalle County. Not very convenient and you need to call them 24 hours in advance. Why not take a portion of the infrastructure "Harl" tax to fund a bus system for Peru. Add to that the property tax that is being wasted on the library and we could have several busses running during daylight hours. We could also add a special tax levy to nursing homes, medical facilities, and property owned by those over the age of 65 - call it an area impact fee.
Some say that there was never any promises of town hall meetings and others say that there was never a promise of a BB Gun Club built by donations. Rod did Gary ever meet with you over charges of $11,000 he didn't want to discuss at a open council meeting?
lie after lie after lie . cover up after cover up . wake up peru . this city is worse then then coruption in chicago . now they find city dump truck ? wonder who sold it or gave it away ? just too get new one !
27 comments:
Actually someone gave me a copy of this weeks ago and thought I should post it and tonight when someone persisted, I decided to post.
Listen to the voice of the people is what people wanted to hear and they believed and they were lied to.
So what hasn't he done besides maybe listening to you???
You reap what you sow. All of you had opportunities for change. From mayoral to alderman; this is what you get. If you want new leadership, you had better stop hiding behind "anonymous" and get out there to speak your opinion, you too, Lois. You'd be surprised to find that more and more people share your opinion but you don't get out there to speak your mind enough.
Why wait till now??! Looks like you're getting your strings pulled now!! LOL
OK point counter point, what is your evidence he has done contrary to each of these promises, let the debate begin.!!!!!
Address no bid contracts! HA!
There are 11bullets but only ten things listed on his campaign card. Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce is a continuation and not a separate point. Who proofed these? And Harl handed these out and people voted him in? He couldn't even get his campaign card right.
Water front! A dump still. Lol. Streets and sidewalks, stink, can't see lines or arrows to turn(rt. 251), ill comment more tomorrow. Total crap on Harls mission statements for his campaign. Now, that doesn't lie. He failed to fulfill his promises in four years and seven months. N
Mayor Harl, what has been done to the river front???????? How about a fair and honest hiring process instead of all of your appointees? Frugality??? Are you kidding people?
Apparently, we have addressed the practice of no bid contracts, and made the decision to continue with them. I suppose competition that could bring down costs is no longer favored when it comes to our money.
"Improve all aspects of our Infrastructure "Rebuild Peru"--Anyone who knows what happened to the Infrastructure Committee (as I do) can tell you that that has now become a rather comical statement.
"Support & work to increase industrial, retail and residential growth in Peru"--This is too easy, anyone else remember our major industrial businesses wanting to leave Peru because of hiked up electric rates?
The last point I find the most useless---"Work with the Illinois Council of Governments in order to promote the most appropriate type of growth and development for our city"--Why would you consult governments and not the people actually providing the growth? What is "appropriate type of growth?" Can you site different examples of growth type? This nonsensical campaign promise should of instead focused on creating an environment where people want to invest here, rather than consult the slowest, most lagging entity there is(government)--to promote growth.
Infrastructure improvements continuing, rt. 6 improved with aid of state grant. Bond no longer needed for improvements as "Harl " tax (sales tax, not property tax increase ) now funds such programs. CSO separation project underway. IVAC, all I have to say is check out their website, and now it is also located in Peru. As far no bid contracts 7-1 vote by alderman for Test, out of the mayors hands.I. could go on and in but am tired of typing already. Oh and as far riverfront, powerplant gone and possible green area development along with possibly another restaurant.
What bothers me about this campaign card is the I promise to:.....maybe he should have said I will try my best to:. Promise is a very strong word. The "No Bid Contract" promise bothers me the most, he could have easily took a stand on that bullet point and lived up to his promise. I am sure he knew the council would pass it, so he would have come out of that smelling like a rose.
River front development? Lets see - they sold a building that should be condemned to somebody that wants to start a gourmet hamburger shop. No activity seen at that building in what - six months? How much are we going to have to pay when we take that rat trap back?
As far as the town hall meetings - when he was campaigning before his first term, he said that he would hold these meetings once a quarter. He said this at the library Q&A session also. However, after he got in office people started asking hard questions that he did not want to answer, so he has distanced himself from the people. Remember the town hall meeting over the sales tax? And all the flack over moving the fireworks?
The mayors campaign card does not state that town hall meetings would be held, but as all campaigns the Mayor made certain specific commitments to his supporters that he would hold quarterly town hall meetings updating all interested citizens of what was truthfully playing out in the city. Also a yearly address by the Mayor to citizens of Peru were discussed such as a State of the City address.
The campaign card is a statement of generalizations and if looked at closely and fairly may give you more reasons to defend the Mayor:
*Address the practice of "No Bid" contracts
*Support and work to increase industrial, retail and residential growth in Peru
*Encourage citizen involvement in the political process, I will listen to the voice of the people
*Continue the progress and growth of our city to keep our economy strong
The recent contract with TEST is a example of not addressing "No Bid" contacts. The contract was for a significant financial amount and time frame.
The method of 3 X 5 cards with a three minute limitation for public comment in which the citizen is told that they are only allowed a public comment, which means public comment not a open conversation or question answer session with city representation.
The second and fourth promises are generations as are most of the other campaign promises. These two which are saying the same thing have not been acted upon unless you are considering that our government is now paying over $50,000/year with four different promoters than the one and only Illinois Valley Chamber of Commerce at a cost of $13,200 we had in previous administrations.
Funny how the Harl defender(s) are creeping out with some weak defensive jabs here and there. Splitting hairs on what promises were made and which were kept is really a waste of time. Everybody has to make their own interpretation of what kind of mayor Harl has turned out to be based on the knowledge that they personally possess. I happen to possess quite a bit, and
my interpretation is we have a mayor who indicated he would conduct himself in office as an ethical and honest "leader".
My observation after more than four years reveals to me a mayor who is unethical because of the political favors he provides to those that contribute to his campaign, and a mayor who is devoid of honesty as proven by his authorizing and approval of overtime pay to employees for hours not actually worked.
To anyone who beleives those actions are acceptable, or worse yet, defensible, I say, you have sold out too.
Don't forget the lumber and nail company money. Weren't they supposed to give back the rent money on the Market Street rat trap - money to be used for "infrastructure." How is that deal going???? More money flushed down the toilet by our frugal mayor. Oh... and has anyone found the misplaced dump truck yet?
There was another page to his website that included "establishing relationships with City employees" and it also addressed having town forums. I have a copy; this is card is NOT complete compared to Harl's original website.
The LaSalle County Democrat Party also has an active HARL web page:
http://www.lasalledemocrats.com/candidates/scott_harl.html
How can this be? I thought he was independent and "political parties have no place in municipal politics." Lets face it - he was originally fronted by Local 150 to oust Baker. Along the way, even before his first term, he became a shill for both the union and the LaSalle County Democrat Party. He also duped a lot of people along the way.
If he really wanted to support retail growth he would fix that intersection.
Seems to be the intersection has been improved now as the proof is in the pudding, accidents down from previous years. I think IDOT are the ones that came up with the design for public safety. No life is worth any amount of burgers.
8:43 PM
Many more accidents now occur on North Peoria Street and probably has something to do with the so called new and improved intersection. Also there are a good number of accidents at the intersection on 251 adjacent to the "famous" intersection and often backed up traffic across 251.
Those accident numbers will go down now that the new laws are in effect regarding driving and cell phones. If you can't concentrate on driving because of obstructions which create a unsafe condition you shouldn't be driving.
One must remember that driving a car is different than getting on a ride at Disney Land.
8:43 you did notice I said fix not change it back to the original design. That intersection has been flawed since it was built. They have only taken one problem and pushed it somewhere else...Peoria St. Way too much traffic for that narrow of a road, with three very busy intersections.
How to say this without upsetting people.... Hmmmmm.... Well, here goes. Much of the traffic problme in Peru is caused by people that should not be driving due to age and infirmity. Not their fault, it just happens. These people approach intersections defensively and find it difficult if it is safe to proceed. Nothing wrong with that but it gets compounded. Add to that the cell phone talkers that are not paying attention and you have a huge problem. So what is the fix? Simple - something this area has been without since the late 50's or early 60's. Public transportation. Give older drivers a choice to use a reliable and convenient system. Right now we have on call van from LaSalle County. Not very convenient and you need to call them 24 hours in advance. Why not take a portion of the infrastructure "Harl" tax to fund a bus system for Peru. Add to that the property tax that is being wasted on the library and we could have several busses running during daylight hours. We could also add a special tax levy to nursing homes, medical facilities, and property owned by those over the age of 65 - call it an area impact fee.
If there is a second page to Harls 1st campaign would someone see that it is published.
Some say that there was never any promises of town hall meetings and others say that there was never a promise of a BB Gun Club built by donations. Rod did Gary ever meet with you over charges of $11,000 he didn't want to discuss at a open council meeting?
lie after lie after lie . cover up after cover up . wake up peru . this city is worse then then coruption in chicago . now they find city dump truck ? wonder who sold it or gave it away ? just too get new one !
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