My impressions of Fort Wayne City Council

Posted by Mike Sylvester - 10/24/09 @ 12:09 pm - Filed Under City Council, Featured, Local Politics

I think that the City Council has proved to be a more effective body this year than in the previous few years.  I think that if we can get three more strong members of City Council and replace three of the weak  members of City Council in the next election our City Council can become an impressive body. 

I hope that those of you reading this post will post your feelings of our current members of City Council in the comments section. 

Here is my current opinions of our City Council:

I think we have three very strong members of City Council.  I think on vote after vote these City Council members show that they are fiscal conservatives and make rational decisions.

  1. Mitch Harper (Republican)
  2. Tom Smith (Republican)
  3. John Shoaff (Democrat)

I think we have three members of City Council that I like on a personal level; however, find myself disagreeing with a fair amount of the time. 

  1. Liz Brown (Republican)
  2. Tom Didier (Republican)
  3. Karen Goldner (Democrat)

We have three members of City Council I would like to see replaced.  I disagree with these members of City Council extremely frequently.

  1. Glynn Hines (Democrat)
  2. Tim Pape (Democrat)
  3. Marty Bender (Republican)

Interestingly enough I have at least one Democrat and one Republican in each category… 

I bet Jeff Pruitt’s list and my list are somewhat similar…

Mike Sylvester

Comments

5 Responses to “My impressions of Fort Wayne City Council”

  1. john b. kalb on October 24th, 2009 5:25 pm

    Mike - I go with you, except I would add Tim Pape to the middle list - I don’t very often agree with Tim, but he brings some very good ideas and talking points to the council table.
    John B. Kalb

  2. Evert Mol on October 25th, 2009 1:33 pm

    I agreee with your top three, especially John Shoaff, who would make a fine mayor. It’s too bad Liz Brown didn’t get on the school board. They could have used the dose of reality they’re now getting from the state and the Cambridge group at North Side and South Side high schools, which incidentally cost us $100 million to remodel.

    In today’s JG, the Political Notebook comumn discussed remarks by Mitch Harper on the mounting pressures facing the taxpayers, to which Ms. Goldner replied that increased sewer rates were “disingenuous” because they were federally mandated. In other words that’s not our problem. That’s the same tack Wendy Robinson took during our debate on the FWCS bond issue at the North Side Neighborhood Association debate, which Ms. Goldner attended. Just put all that out of your mind (”it’s like oil and sand, they don’t mix”) because we want our project. Coming from a member of Wendy’s handpicked Yellow Ribbon Task force, Ms. Goldner’s contempt for taxpayers comes as no surprise.

    Likewise Glynn Hines gave me a tirade on my “superficial knowledge of the schools and the need to build more school gymnasiums because we have a problem with chidhood obesity”. This comes from a guy who took $48,000 from his friend Wendy to “manage” (provide box lunches, flipcharts and magic markers) for the the Yellow Ribbon Task force meetings. Another city council member had offered to do it for free.

  3. Jeff Pruitt on October 25th, 2009 10:53 pm

    Let’s not forget that the city would be facing a MASSIVE budget shortfall if Evert didn’t lead the remonstrance against that project. Every house in the district would be up against the circuit breaker - Pape, Goldner, Hines, etc should be sending you thank you letters.

    That’s the problem I have with everybody outside of your top 3 Mike - they are intelligent people but I think they do not sufficiently look at the big picture and the long-term implications of their decisions.

    The previous council’s idea to cut property taxes without cutting spending was an example of such a fool-hearted decision. That one took less than a year to bite them in the ass.

    And I believe this council will make a similar mistake this year by not cutting spending enough to make up the inevitable reductions in revenue we will see over the next 2 years…

  4. Douglas B on October 27th, 2009 9:40 am

    For the most part I agree, although I would move Tim Pape into the second category, for now. While I disagree with him most of the time and find his personal deportment to be often that of a schoolyard bully, he does, on occasion, swerve into a correct position. He just needs a good dose of charm school and should be required to leave his Blackberry in the car. Tom Henry can leave him a voice mail.
    Karen Goldner, all too often, babbles on forever and only occasionally comes to a lucid point.
    Liz Brown also needs charm school. Her inappropriate tirades aimed at citizen/taxpayers, which included sticking her finger in the face of a citizen/taxpayer protesting the Calhoun Street destruction at Buskerfest, are inexcusable. Scratch the charm school, let’s get her fitted for a muzzle….

  5. Chris S. on November 3rd, 2009 8:59 am

    Wow. I’d almost flip this list upside down… almost. I watch just about every City Council meeting on TV, and while Marty Bender belongs at the bottom (what a waste of chair space) Tim Pape is clearly the best councilman we’ve had in quite a while. Smith, Harper and Shoaff are bottom or middle-bottom councilmen.

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