COMMENTS TO CITY COUNCIL

This past week I appeared before the august body of Lakewood Politics to ask about street and sewer rehabilitation.

As I have stated in a previous post my street was not evaluated by the City Engineer. I think that is at least a bit unfair so I made up my mind to get the City to do at least that much. I also wanted to find out if the City was going conduct the Sewer rehab work or was it going to have to be done by the residents on Maple Cliff.

Here are my comments:



JANUARY 17, 2006

In December 2005, the City Engineer provided a report on rating of the streets, however after reviewing the spreadsheet, I noticed that my street of Maple Cliff was not rated due to its listing as a Private street.

Upon further review this list identifies 14 streets as Private, including Maple Cliff.

9 in Ward 1, Mr. Butler

Beach Road (Lake Road to Clifton Lagoon)
Captain’s Cove
Clifton Lagoon
Clifton Park Lane
Kenneth Lane
Maple Cliff
McClure Dr. (Edwards Ave)
North Clifton Dr
Webb Cliff


3 in Ward 3, Mr. Chairman (Seelie)

Edgewater Lane
Estill Drive
Roy Drive

2 in Ward 4, Ms. Madigan

Beach Parkway
North Lane

Not all the streets are highly populated, nor are they in high traffic areas;

What concerns me is that this information is a determination of what streets will be rebuilt and that those 14 streets will never be rebuilt and that the residents or homeowners on those streets will have to incur the added cost of doing the work themselves.

I ask that the Administration and Council request that the 14 streets listed as Private be evaluated by the City Engineer and be included in all future ratings.

As the City is currently asking all homeowners to share in the burden of increased water and sewer rates and for some individuals the possibility of increased income taxes to cover the cost of infrastructure repairs, I would ask that we all share in the benefits as well.

With respect to my street, Maple Cliff we do not restrict the public access to our street or to the park area at the north end of the street. Any rehabilitation will enhance our street, but will also be an asset to the City, since during the warmer climate we do get a higher number of vehicles and pedestrian traffic to view the Lake.

IF the City does not intend to conduct the rehabilitation work on those streets I think it is necessary to for the City to inform the owners and/or the appropriate Homeowners Associations so that necessary measures can be taken by those affected by this decision.


Mr. Seelie, In your Committee of the Whole Report you indicate that the water is a “bargain” well, if I am having to pay the increase rates, but not get the infrastructure work done on my street, then that is not much of a bargain to me.


After the meeting I received several favorable responses from some of the Council members and the Mayor to at least getting the street evaluated.

We will see how that goes.

Odds & Ends

As I stated in the previous post, the members of Council voted for Bob Seelie to retain the President's gavel with At Large Councilman Mike Dever as Vice President.

What was must be some behind the scenes bickering is that Demro was the lone vote against Seelie. Although Seelie did get a shot in by saying that everyone must check their egos at the door.

It looks like the Tax increase issue is still bubbling around the Council chambers -- once Council member told me point blank that he was not for it. So as I see it the count is 5-2, for sending the request on to the voters.

Received a copy of the Street repair rankings and found that my street was not reviewed due to its status as Private. Looks like I will have to go before Council to see if I can get them to look at it to rate it. I think I will also ask about the sewer rehab for our street.

Received this week a request to sign a petition to amend the City charter to allow those who work for the City Schools be allowed to run for City Council. Right now I would have to say that I would vote down that amendment. My problem with that is what I call double dipping, that individual can get two checks from the same master and also can boost their retirement via the state pension system if they remain in office for ten years.

I think I would reverse that amendment to state that no individual can work for the Federal, State, County or Local governing entity or board and run for City Council.

Hey that just me!

NEW YEAR- NEW COUNCIL

Tonight, a new council is sworn in and the first bit of interest is the election of Council President and Vice President.

Will Ed Fitzgerald have enough backing from the new members (Butler & Antonio) to overthrow Seelie as President? As I understand it, Councilwoman Madigan is the swing vote.
Fitzgerald wants to be Council President, he has essentially stacked the Council with his people through the November election. He will use that power to his advantage on Committee assignments. Whether or not he has the power to make the Mayor do anything remains to be seen.

The other item that was supposed to be discussed at tonight's meeting is the Income Tax hike, however in perusing the docket for tonight's meeting it is not listed. Perhaps they're tabling that for the January 16th meeting.

I also don't see on the docket the Smoke Free legislation, this could be a short meeting.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here is hoping your New Year is full of bangs, pops and lots of color!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MAY EVERYDAY BRING LIGHTS AND PRESENTS TO YOUR TREE OF LIFE!

Tired of the Left wing Crap

Over the last few days the media has been playing on the issue of President Bush' s use of electronic eavesdropping and whether its an impeachable offense.

Well I say screw them:

As a Paralegal, I would say that Executive Order #12139 signed by James Earl Carter on May 23, 1979 and Executive Order # 12949 signed by William Jefferson Clinton would indicate that that there this a reasonable conclusion to not impeach the President.

Tax Hikes

First, I can't believe that it has been a month since I last posted here. A lot of things happening.

As I stated in my last post, the Mayor was quoted as talking about the voters allowed him the flexibility to raise the Water Rates, well guess what, he did just that, he proposed a $1.00 per hundred cubic foot increase beginning in 2006 with half coming this year and the remaining portions coming in 2007 and 2008.

As I figure it on my water bill, that will add an additional $12 to my water bill for '06 and then another 3-4 dollars in years '07 and '08. Not a lot but, we are not big water users. I would figure this is going to impact business who use a lot of water as well as families.

Now to add insult to this hike, the Mayor has also asked for a Income Tax increase for those people who live and work in Lakewood. He is trying to drive this through with out much discussion, but that may have gotten a bit sidetracked.

Hey Mayor -- How much is these new taxes going to bring in to the City coffers?

My answer not a lot. This is purely a ploy for him to go to the Unions and tell them that there is no new money and layoffs will be necessary.

UPDATE -- Just got back from City Council meeting (12/19), the Mayor is proposing to put the increase on the ballot. At least he has the good thought process to let the voters have a crack at it. The Council essentially tabled the idea until the next meeting when the new members are all in place. That is on January 3, 2006.

A little bit of tinkering going on

I realized that when I shifted over to the new background the links field didn't transfer over, so I was adding and subtracting some links.

So some of the blogs that I read are now back and listed on the left hand side of this column.

Go check them out.

Speaking of tinkering --the day after the election the Mayor is asked by the Lakewood Sun Post about the ability for the City to raise the utility and sewer rates without voter approval, his response made it sound like that he will be making those increases in the next budget. So hang on to the wallets folks, here comes another subtle tax increase!

That money better be going to street/sewer repair!!

Another Day After

Well I went back to work this morning and began the first day in 11 months of not having to think about the campaign. But really all I did was talk about it. Co-workers were asking about the results and I how I felt. I heard the Abraham Lincoln line about how he lost all of his elections until he won for President. Now if I was only 6+ feet tall and have beard, that would be cool.

I called the winners to offer my congratulations and offer my support for anything that they may need for the next four years. I kind hope they take me up on it.

I tried to talk with all my siblings to thank them for their love and support over the past few months, some where home others not but the sentiment was left on the answering machine.

What I am going to do now you ask, well, sleep for one. I am going to concentrate on my job and also learn a little bit about Asperger Syndrome so I can help my Godchild. The other thing I am going to do is spend some time with Rita, she deserves to have me all to herself for awhile.

As for this site I am going to keep it going and talk about the issues out in the forefront and give you my take on it.

So to end this campaign and this eleven month journey of Lakewood Politics,

Thanks for Commin' - Thanks for havin' us!!

It's Over

LAKEWOOD CITY - MEMBER OF COUNCIL-AT-LARGE
Vote for 3
(With 69 of 69 precincts counted)

EDWARD FITZGERALD 5707

MICHAEL DEVER 5193

NICKIE J. ANTONIO 4279

DANIEL THOMAS BRENNAN 3527

TIMOTHY CARROLL 3174

SUZANNE KENNEDY HORRIGAN 1769

Not the outcome that I wanted, but the jury spoke and they wanted this.