If you think I’m referring to Smart Meters, that would be incorrect, since the Naperville city council would not allow the vote to occur. However the informal vote still stands at 4,199 against the installation of Smart Meters and 9 in favor. The 4,199 refers to the number of petition signatures, and the 8 refers to eight of nine council members plus one lone objector to the petitions.
What I am referring to is the November 2010 referendums for term limits and district representation which Naperville voters approved by a landslide. We are not talking about a simple majority; we are talking about nearly 75% favoring term limits and nearly 70% demanding district representation versus the current ‘at large’ representation which the Naperville city council would prefer.
The current at-large representation allows for council members to get lost in the crowd, and it makes it more difficult for voters to single out and expel incompetent council members. It would be like the running-of-the-bulls in Pamplona, Spain. If a bunch of fools, let’s say council members, are running down the street, it’s easier for one fool to avoid the bulls, whereas one fool running down the street allows the bulls to focus and achieve their goal of neutralizing one specific fool.
An example of Naperville city council incompetence is the fact that the council approved the referendums for term limits and districts to be placed on the ballot for voters to choose. What was the council thinking. They could have squashed the idea just as they did for voting on Smart Meters. The council made the same two mistakes that most politicians make; 1) thinking that voters don’t care, and 2) thinking they can’t lose. Well the voters do care, and the council did lose.
The Naperville city council did succeed in delaying the voter’s wishes by postponing the implementation until 2015, that’s five years after the voters spoke. So if we wait another three years, then the voters get what they wanted, right? Not so. Five years is a long time to allow the Naperville city council to pull a stunt. And here is the stunt….let’s have another vote on whether or not the citizens of Naperville really want term limits and district representation.
Think about it. Isn’t it strange that the Naperville city council didn’t hire a consulting firm for big bucks to design a district map for Naperville, just as they hired a public relations firm in Chicago to bamboozle residents about Smart Meters. The answer is, why hire a company to create a district map if the city anticipates different results in a next vote. Instead, use those tax dollars to hire another PR firm to bamboozle residents into thinking what we currently have is better than term limits and district representation.
Mayor Pradel said that many people have expressed their views that our current at-large system works well for the community as a whole, and that he is not sure that the community had enough discussion on this new district system before it was voted on. Sounds like the mayor is laying some groundwork for another vote.
Watch and listen as council member Hinterlong sounds as enthusiastic for districts, as a funeral director at a health and fitness convention. Then watch and listen to council member Brodhead when she states the vote was fair and square but not that many people voted and hence the margin (landslide) was not that big of a deal. If that’s the case, than council member Brodhead’s election to the council was far less of a big deal, and another vote on her might be order.
As Sir Walter Scott said
Oh what a tangled web we weave
When first we try to deceive
Just as this morning we lost power in 300+ homes because our illustrious council decided to waist 30 + million on smart meters verses burying and hardening power lines we are confronted with yet another quandary.
Who will accept free electric car charging station with special electric rates (euphemism for tax payer subsidy) while extorting money from seniors and infirmed who want desperately to keep their perfectly good analog meters?
Oh, the agony of power and decision making when a bunch of bullies write their own laws, rules and regulations and then claim they are doing it for our best interest. Can’t speak for everyone but for me I outgrew needing parents at 18 and I sure as hell don’t need a bunch of autocrats running my life and trespassing on my freedoms and property.
The deception of this council knows no bounds and the faster they are replaced the better.
Thank you so much since you hit it on the head. I will closely watch that they do not overturn this.
John Groll
Why should we have to come back and tell them AGAIN that we want term limits and districting. Why do we need to repeat what we have already said, face to incompetent, insulting, self-serving city council face. They don’t listen to us anyway. The way they treat people who disagree with them would keep most self respecting residents as far from council chambers as possible. There are very few strong willed, thick skinned, individuals who are willing to stand up and speak their mind for a whole three minutes, and then deal with the name calling and insults that spew from the counsel for as long as they want.
We voted on it once, 70 percent said they want districts, 75 percent said they want term limits, enough said! We “won” fair and square – as councilwoman Brodhead stated, leave it alone. If they want us to come back and tell them in chambers what we already have told them in the voting booth, okay, you will see me at the next meeting.