Two guys are on a safari in eastern Africa, and in the distance they see a tiger; more importantly the tiger sees them. The first guy reaches into his backpack for his running shoes and puts them on. The second guy says, ‘you’re not going to outrun that tiger’. The first guy says, ‘I don’t have to. I just have to outrun you’.
Eleven candidates are running for four open seats on the city council. It’s not important who gets the most votes other than bragging rights. What is important is who gets the 4th and 5th most votes, because 4th most will be a city council member, and 5th most will be history.
During the last three city council elections, the difference between the last candidate voted in, and the first candidate not getting elected was just a few votes. In 2013 the candidate coming in 5th place and not getting elected, lost by just 129 votes from getting elected to city council. Current councilman Kevin Coyne remembers it well, because he is the one who came in 5th place losing by just 129 votes. In 2015 the difference between last in and first out was 161 votes. And in 2017 the last person-in coming in 4th place was current councilman John Krummen with 5,193 votes, while 5th place finisher Julie Berkowicz had 5,103 votes, falling 90 votes short of getting elected to the city council.
The point is, there is little difference between last in and first out. A few more handshakes, or a few more yard signs, or a huge bump from an endorsement can make the difference.
On March 28th, Watchdog will be endorsing a mayoral candidate, followed by the endorsement of four city council candidates on March 31st. For each of the last three elections Watchdog’s readership has skyrocketed during the month of March. Elections have a way of doing that.
It’s sad that a website claiming to be a “watchdog” hasn’t touched the news of Chirico’s conflict of interest regarding Central Park place and other developments.
Your readership may boom, but your credibility is damaged.
Credibility is a matter of opinion dependent upon which side of the issue one is on and thus can vary, whereas ‘readership’ is a rock-solid metric. Conflict of interest is open to interpretation thereby making everything a possible conflict of interest.
Claimed conflict of interest.
It is worth noting that CBS which interviewed Chirico twice about this possible conflict of interest, did not make a statement concluding such a conflict exists. CBS has dropped the matter and is not investigating it further.
In fact the only reason they did a second interview is because Chirico called them to correct is original statement after his family informed him about Great Western Flooring being approached by a Realtor to provide a bid. Otherwise the story would have end with just the first interview.
The City Attorney has looked in this and publicly stated no conflict of interest exist. And Chirico even recused himself from the discuss and voting on this development during the last council meeting just to make sure there was no appearance of undue influence on the council vote regarding this development.
So, Wendy’s offers 4 for $4 and Notre Dame had the Four Horsemen!!! … now we have your beloved mayor, Steve, “I’ll do anything for $4…..and, then some”Chirico booting out another event from Naperville, Winefest.
The JC’s “donated” (look into that WD if you really are into the truth) money to build an ill-advised WI-Fi park which is so out-of-date it makes Steve’s ties look in-date!!! The Exchange Club didn’t donate to steve’s fund; but after being strong-armed it became apparent what they had to do…too little too late. the EC motto of helping moms & children didn’t jive w/Hiz Honor (Hello Chicago) Welcometo Romeoville
What did the Chriskindle Market do to pi$$ the beloved mayor? Obviously whatever they did was reciprocal toward the Winefest——which, as we now know, both are GONE!!!! Gone off of city property! Rather ironic wouldn’t you say? Steve appoints an opponent running for Council to the Settlement Board in the hopes his buddy wins ( we laugh) a councilseat…and, all this happens. I shake my head in disgust. Utter disgust.
very strange, we never had these issues w/the previous mayors and I’ve been around here since 1974. It’s no wonder.this conniving swindler only won by 666 votes. makes one wonder.
Let’s add the Old Nichols Library, the 5th Ave Development, Steve’s brother’s property on Emerald, the property wehave on the north end of town and his beautiful bluiding onWashington St AND what do we have??? Steve Chirico as your mayor… Best of the best to us all–we’re going to need it!! it’s going to be a long 4 years.
WOW!!! What a BS filled, uninformed comment.
First Ribfest left because the Park District , not the City, told them they could no longer use the Park they are presently using and none of the Parks the Park District offered to let them use instead met the Exchange Club requirement to host Ribfest (The city does not control any of the parks or large open spaces in Naperville, the Park district or Homeower’s groups (HOAs) do).
Second the Chriskindle Market left because the SECA board would not give them funds to subsidize some of their operating expense (SECA funds application specifically state that funds will not be granted to cover salaries).
Third the SECA funds are getting harder to obtain which is putting a financial strain on all the organization in the city that host special events, not just the WinFest or The Chriskindle Market. So do not be surprised if more of this events no longer happen because of this funding short fall.
Fourth the JC’s are also struggling financially to host the Last Fling because of the SECA funding reductions. And it is not sure how much longer we will be able to continue with this event. It has definition caused us to make some radical changes in how Last Fling will operate this year.
Fifth there was no pay to pay with respect to the Jaycee Smart Park. Chirico came to us because we have a long history of funding these type of amenities in our community. This project was funded not because of anything Chirico said to the member but because of the many highly respected and honored members of the Jaycees that spoke to the membership in support of this project. It took several votes by several different group to get this park funding, involving over a hundred JC members. But since you are not a JC is it understandable that you do not have a clue as to how this organization operations or the Nature of it charter.
Finally, As to the various developments mentioned:
====> Nichols Library, nothing about how this site will be developed in the future is in away the way Chirico wanted it. He fully support property owners right (which lost) over historic preservation (which won).
====> The working committee that made the recommendations to the city council on how the 5th Ave project should be developed and by which company was not maded up of Chirico selected members nor was the methodology they used in making their recommendation dictated by Chirico. Again, anyone pay attention know this project is preceding in ways that Chirico has openly opposed. So 5th Avenue can hardly be called a Chirico project, simply because he supports going a head with this project in spite of his objects.
====> Steve has no more control of over what his brother does then I do over what my brothers do. The reality is not of us have any control, what so ever over, what our siblings, parents, adult children or friends do. And blaming Chirico for the behavior of his relatives, while popular, is still moronic.
====> Yes Chirico has many personal interests in our community, but that is true of anyone as involved in our community, both business and charity, as Chirico is and always has been. It is that involvement that provides him with and understanding and insight that is lost on those that have little if any involvement in the business and charity communities in our city.
I look forward to the next four years of Chirico’s leadership. While I was not an early supporter of his mayorship, and still openly disagree with him on some issues, he has convinced me over the last four years of his commitment to improving our community. I do not have to agree with everything Chirico has done, or how he has done it, to respect what he has done to improve our city and the quality of life in our community.
WOW… I am thankful you DID NOT win acrtually ever have a chance to win! 😉