Are You Smarter Than a City Council Person…

Well?  Think you are smarter than a city council person?  Let’s play and see. Simply pick the correct answer for each question and see if you are Smarter Than a City Council Person!  (Of course this is based on the popular game; Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader)

1. Your city has a crime problem.  You as a council member….

          A) vote to appropriate more money to the police department

          B) create and fund better neighborhood policing programs

          C) cut funds to the police and lay off officers.  What crime? You have witnessed no crime so there must be no crime. 

2. You and other council members are facing a budget shortfall, You…

         A) vote a slight increase in property taxes to cover it even though you might not get re-elected again but it is the fair way to balance the budget on all people that use city resources, private and business alike. Take the high road and be concerned about the city instead of your ego.

         B) Look hard at high end salaries within the city and make cuts in city car usage, city cell phone usage, and the fact that a secretary for the city can draw almost a 6 figure a year salary.

         C) Dream up a faux tax and call it the Garbage Fee to balance the budget.  Tell people this is a temporary tax, will never go up,  and act concerned for the elderly on fixed incomes while voting to implement this tax.  Blame city manager.

3. The Council has balanced the budget on the backs of working people, now you….

        A) Try and correct the problem before the next budget by getting rid of fees, and simply raising property taxes to be fair to all citizens. You try and stop corporate free riding and make OSF pay their fair share for use of city services. 

        B) Stop voting for TIFs and tell your other council members that if we keep going this way, the whole city will be one big TIF zone and the school district will not survive with the limited funding. Demand better control of crime and improvement in schools and streets. This will draw private businesses on their own.

        C)  Sell $40 million in bonds and give to a developer for a hotel.  Screw the public.  After all, chances are you’ll be gone when it comes due. Get a consultant to tell you and the public that this will be a money maker.  Crime will disappear when the hotel is finished.

4. Now the new budget is short again, you can again consider…

        A)  a slight increase in property taxes to cover the costs of doing business as a city without cutting street services and fire services.

        B)  Get rid of the planned hotel project as public money shouldn’t be used for private business saving millions. Instead concentrate on the schools and improving the streets and crime.  In fact, make a crime a discussion at a council meeting.

        C) Screw that. Raise the Garbage Fee by 110% and tell the public that a rental fee for garbage totes are included for a tote you don’t have or won’t get until June. What promise?  Blame city manager.

5.  The hotel deal is stalled because no bank is stupid enough to finance it, so, as a member of the city council you decide to….

       A) agree with the banks and tank the deal as not wise for public funds.

       B) Tell the developer thanks but no thanks, maybe when the economy is better and the public won’t have to be on the hook for so much money, come back. 

       C) try and steal $3 million in TIF funds from the south end and give it to the hotel developer. Those people won’t care and they are too stupid to find out.

6. A backlash comes from irate citizens who live in the south end and weren’t too stupid when they found out you are transferring TIF money to the hotel project so…

       A) note that they are correct as over 60% of the streets in the south end don’t have sidewalks or haven’t had them replaced in over 30 years and apologize for having a collective lack of judgment.

       B) that no neighborhood in the south end has ornamental lighting or any basic improvements in infrastructure in 20 years and the TIF money could be used for which it was intended for, improvements to the south end instead of the new hotel which isn’t even in the TIF. Apologize again for lack of leadership.

       C) Backpedal like the lying asses you are and grin at the public and say: “How silly”  It was only a suggestion and we never would have done it.” Apologize and then look the public in the eye and say you were never for this in the first place.  Lying your ass off again. Blame city manager.

7.  After years now of delay and being almost caught for shifting TIF funds you and your fellow council members…..

      A) Decide that the hotel is a big folly and we should stop this deal before they cost the public money for generations to come.

      B) Actually address the crime issues within the city instead of holding state of the city addresses and having a committee look into the problem…again

      C) Continue to ignore the crime and the streaming exodus from the city and fund monuments to your egos no matter what it costs us.

 

You know if you picked any answers to the above other than “C”, you are smarter than a city council person.  If you picked “C” for all the answers you are a City Council person and if you hadn’t sold the rail line for a trail, we should have run you out of town on that rail. But once again that was one of the smart things you have done for us these past few years.  I could list many others, like FireFly, Mid-Town Plaza?  Remember that money making proposal? Your hired consultant said people would come from East Peoria to shop CUBS Foods.  It will make the area richer.  Well, that didn’t happen.  Let’s talk Med Tech District which has changed names.  The hospitals stood up and took notice of that.  They built out on Route 91 instead.  The list of stupidity or lack of leadership goes on and on.  It isn’t that hard.  If you treat the city like it was YOUR check book. You don’t write checks for money you don’t have and you improve the place where you live and keep it up. 

No, not this council.  The place where we live continues to rot and checks are cashed on future generations to pay back.  Nothing, and I mean nothing this city has loaned, lent, bonded for, has paid for itself.  Nothing.  The public pays for it and we pay for it with less police, a fire department that is stretched so thin, you could see through it, a street department that crosses it’s fingers every time it snows and has to pat itself on the back if they manage to keep streets clear, which is their damn job anyway.

Let’s build a shiny new hotel, ironically next to an old defunct hotel.  We are told this will make millions and the city will grow and benefit yet there isn’t enough private financing to get it going.  Why?  Because even brokers, bankers, and private investors won’t pour money into something that doesn’t have a least a chance of making a return.  Why would a group of 11 people then decide this will? 

Look, a new car smells and looks great.  New anything is wonderful.  But if you can’t afford it, you lose that item and your credit or in the case of the city, credibility.  You end up at the Goodwill store for your furniture and clothing and at Pat Adair’s Motor City for your new 10 year old car.  Do we really need to end up like East St. Louis or Detroit?  At voting time, that is your decision.