I’m beginning to wonder if it’s me, or are members of the Naperville city council walking closer to the line of lunacy when it comes to comments during council meetings. During the June 4 city council meeting, councilman Benny White wanted to know everything that’s not going to be built on a particular property, and now during the June 18 meeting two more council members added their gems of brilliance to the proceedings.
First it was councilman John Krummen. It happened during the discussion of changing the current water meter reading method from manual to an automated system which allows residents to see their water usage in real time. In other words rather than seeing a spike in water usage when a residents gets the water bill, they can actually see it when it happens in the comfort of their homes, at the exact moment it happens.
Watch and listen to Krummen as he explains the advantage to residents for the automated real-time viewing of water usage:
Imagine a resident, with nothing better to do, than watch his or her water meter usage on line, and then all of a sudden, there it is, a water leak. What are the chances of that actually happening. It won’t be like an explosion, most leaks are gradual, that’s why they are leaks and not geysers. Does Krummen actually think there is a resident anywhere in Naperville with that much time on their hands to actually be sitting in front of their computer waiting for a leak to occur. This is Naperville, not Twodot, Montana.
And then, during the discussion on Naperville’s leaf pickup program, here comes councilman Paul Hinterlong with a mind boggling question to Dick Dublinski, Director of Public Works when he asks, when will the leaves fall:
To Dublinski’s credit, he tries to keep a straight-face, which is not easy when presented with a question like that. Dublinski’s answer did confirm that he is not a meteorologist. We can assume Dublinski was referring to WGN weatherman Tom Skilling, and not his brother Jerry who stayed at the Graybar Hotel for years with his Enron shenanigans.
In a way, you can’t fault councilman Paul Hinterlong for his desire to know when the leaves will fall. I’d like to know if my tire will ever go flat, or when the Cubs will start winning consistently. Hinterlong is a Cubs fan, so that proves he is a good guy, but come on, ‘when will the leaves fall’ , that’s above Dublinski’s pay grade.
Rather than getting an answer to that imponderable, maybe Hinterlong should be focusing on ways residents can make their leaves fall quicker, like using a leaf blower, or getting the neighbors together for an old-fashioned “tree shake”. Bigger trees require more neighbors, and more shaking.
It’s unfortunate that the July 2 city council meeting has been cancelled because of July 4th. It would have been exciting to see who will be the next council member to join the ranks of White, Krummen, and Hinterlong with another off-the-wall comment or question.
Imagine a resident, with nothing better to do, than watch his city council and pretend like people actually care what he thinks. Apparently there is a resident, with nothing better to do, than anonymously share his inane thoughts on local politics as if his voice was actually somehow important. Yes, it is you, you’re the problem. But hey, nevertheless, I keep reading your gems of brilliance because it’s funny! Thanks for that!
Thank you…I think. I’m often amazed that anybody reads anything, especially if it’s local politics, which is exactly why local politicians everywhere are able to get away with all sorts of things. I will continue to attempt to be ‘the problem’. That’s something I can share with politicians.
What drove you to write the comment, Mike?
Imagine a resident, who so objects to any conversation of local politics and what is happening in our city government he decides to try an intimidate and bully one of the few residents attempting to prompt such discourse. An individual who has nothing better to do with their time then to try a marginalize the efforts of a resident who would like to stimulate interest in what our city government is up to among residents, and spend some of his time and money operating a local blog in an effort to do so. Yes, I mean you Mike, your the problem!
The Watchdog’s efforts to motivate residents into discussing what is happening in our city government is admirable. If he succeeds we might actually have a consolidated election were a significant percentage of Naperville voters will participate with the result that the makeup of our city government might be decided by more then a handful of special interest.
To Jim Haselhorst:
If “you’re” going to criticize people on this forum for their comments, you may wish to learn the difference between “your” and “you’re”. When you say “your the problem” … it is incorrect. The proper word usage is “you are the problem” which the contraction “you’re” properly states.
Criticizing Haselhorst for grammar, is like criticizing the placement of deck chairs on the Titanic. Focus on the important, not the trivial.