Crazy Pinz
Yesterday, the Fort Wayne City Council voted down a rezoning effort (Z-11-03-09) by the owner of Crazy Pinz, a local family-oriented entertainment center. The owners wanted to expand their services on the outside of their property to feature outdoor games and activities that could be in use from June through September each year for parties, company picnics, etc. Also, the outdoor area would feature no amplified sound or excessive lighting and would only be in operation from noon until dusk (or 9pm, whichever comes earlier) each day. This issue has become rather controversial because of the potential impacts on the residential properties directly surrounding the Crazy Pinz property.
Unfortunately I was unable to attend the actual meeting but I watched the taped meeting later last night on Public Access. For anyone who may be interested, this meeting is definitely worth a watch, if nothing else for the entertainment value. The issue caused a great deal of back-and-forth and noticeable frustration.
Who I voted for this morning, and why
There were only three contested races on my Republican ballot in my precinct today.
For Mayor I voted for Liz Brown. I have discussed my reasoning in several recent posts. If Doden wins I will be able to support him in November as well…
For City Council at-large I changed my mind since my earlier post. I decided to vote for everyone except Marty Bender. For reasons I posted earlier I do not want Marty Bender to be re-elected. The Republican “at-large” field is EXTREMELY weak. It is likely in November that I will vote for Crawford (It kind of kills my soul to vote for him), Shoaff, and someone else as yet to be determined or I may just vote for Crawford and Shoaff. I will look at this closer over the next few months.
2nd District City Council was hard for me. All three Republican candidates are candidates I can support in November. I decided to vote for Jehl. I think Jehl may well have a better chance to unseat Goldner than the other two. Jon Olinger was the deciding factor for me in this race… That being said I will support who-ever wins this race in November.
Does anyone know why the Republican “at-large” field is so weak this year? The Republicans did a good job filling other portions of the ballot; however, some of the Republcians running for various districts should have ran for the “at-large” seats.
Mike Sylvester
Jon Olinger endorses Tom Smith
On Tuesday we have a choice to make in Fort Wayne’s 1st City Council District. The choice is between Tom Smith, a strong proven conservative, and Ken Nicolet, a nice man, but by his record a “RINO”.
Tom Smith has been working for the tax payer as Fort Wayne’s First District City Councilman for many years. Tom has tried to hold the line on senseless spending. He opposed Harrison Square and the lavish spending by the Mayor’s Office on Renaissance Square. Tom has fought for small business and helped to keep jobs in Fort Wayne. Smith has shown integrity and has tried to reign in unnecessary government spending over the past two Democrat Mayoral administrations.
At the same time Ken Nicolet went to work for Graham Richard and continues to work for Mayor Tom Henry. In fact Mr. Nicolet’s campaign finance report looks like a “who’s who” of Fort Wayne Democrats. Graham Richards, Jerry Henry, Karen Golder, and Jill Downs all contributed to Ken Nicolet’s campaign. I was always told that if it looks like a Duck, quacks like a Duck, and swims like a Duck, it is most likely a Duck. In Ken Nicolet’s case, if he works for Democrat Mayors, upholds the policies of Democrat administrations and is funded by Democrat donors… he is most likely a Democrat.
I’m voting Republican in the Republican primary¸ I’m voting for Tom Smith.
Sincerely
Jon J. Olinger
Jon Olinger endorses Russ Jehl for 2nd District City Council
So many times during Fort Wayne City elections we choose the same candidates and they pursue the same policies. At best, these candidates, keep the lights on in the city-county building, at worst they sink millions to building downtown monuments to themselves.
This year we have the opportunity to make a difference. When I vote, I will cast my vote for Russ Jehl. Mr. Jehl is a professional commercial realtor who believes that the most successful development of real estate is done by private investment dollars, not by my tax dollars. Mr. Jehl understands that government does not create jobs, people do. Mr. Jehl understands that for our children to have opportunities to work and build their lives in Fort Wayne our economic development planning must be about creating jobs and building business, not creating government subsidized $300,000 condominiums and building luxurious government office spaces.
It is time to elect someone who remembers that government is accountable to us. It is time to elect someone who will be more concerned about growing the city’s economy, than growing the city government’s office space. It is time to elect Russ Jehl.
Sincerely
Jon J. Olinger
Abortion and the primary races for Fort Wayne City Council
I received a mailer a few days ago for the Republican primary for the 2nd City Council District (Which is the district I reside in). The entire point of the campaign mailer was to let me know that this particular candidate was extremely “pro life” and that the candidate would make a good member of City Council because they are ”pro life.”
This mailer turned me off…
I am “pro life” myself. That being said I abortion is not one of the issues that is extremely important to me. Further it is not an issue that I would consider in a City Council race at all.
While I am “pro life,” I still believe that:
- The fifty states should each regulate abortion as they see fit and the Federal Government should stay out of this issue; that being said Federal funds should not be used to pay for abortions.
- I beleive that abortion is OK in same cases when there is rape or incest.
- I beleive abortion is OK when the safety of the mother is a consideration.
If you were running for City Council would the first major mailer you distributed to Republican Primary voters be a single issue mailer focusiing on abortion?
Mike Sylvester
Indiana Politics
Unfortunately for Hoosiers the State Legislature has been taken hostage by the minority Democrats in the Indiana House. These Democrats have run away because they lost the last election and the majority Republicans are passing legislation they feel is appropriate.
If the Indiana House Democrats were smart they would have stayed in Indiana and made a big deal about voting against these proposals and then they would have made these issues a big deal during the next set of elections…
Alas, they knew they would get outvoted and so ran away like spoiled brats…
I imagine the Democrats will pay for this blunder at the polls in the next couple of elections. I also think there may be some backlash against Democrats that were not involved all across Indiana. For example I think this debacle could effect several local races; three in particular.
I think that Democrats Karen Goldner and John Shoaff may get fewer votes due to this even though they were not involved at all. I am not sure if either one has taken a public stance on this issue. I also think this could effect our upcoming Mayoral race.
Karen Goldner is currently my City Council representative. I voted for Karen last time because the person she was running against had been on City Council way too long. I doubt that I will vote for Karen this year because I expect a conservative will win the Republican primary and I will vote for that conservative. That being said, if Karen supports the Democrats who ran to Illinois then I may well monetarily support her opponent and help them try to defeat her.
I ALWAYS vote for John Shoaff. He is an excellenet member of City Council. I will be asking him his view on the House Democrats. If he supports them running away to Illinois I MAY not vote for him in the upcoming election. John Shoaff is an excellent member of City Council and while there are Republicans I would support over him; they are few and far between.
I will NOT be voting for Mayor Henry in the upcoming election unless his opponent is just “awful” irregardless of his stance on this issue.
Mike
A very good place for the City Light $’s
Bob Caylor on Thursday in the News-Sentinel wrote a news report, “Design work approved for $25M pump”. He reported that the Fort Wayne Board of Works had approved the final design work on the second most expensive part of the work required under the consent decree that the city negotiated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed in 2006. The total estimated construction cost of this part of the work is estimated to be $25 million.
Members of the Legacy Fort Wayne Task Force, Mayor Tom Henry, and the Fort Wayne Common Council Members need to move toward approving the use of the required funds from the Fort Wayne Community Trust Fund to pay for this part of the project. Why? Well, for, starts the source of this fund was the investment made by City Utilities back when City Light was run by them. And the funds for this investment came from the City Light rate-payers - NOT from any taxes! So for once let’s use funds generated in the past to pay for a required improvement to our city - instead of expensive bonding that pushes the costs onto our kids and grandkids !!
Now I’m sure that someone is going to say that the feds will be paying for a portion of this - well who do the feds get this money from?? Of course it’s us, the taxpayers! And with the inflation we are going to see due to the Federal Reserve’s printing of money, any savings that we have are going to buy much, much less in the near future.
Fort Wayne City Court
The Henry Administration has embarrassed itself, again. Over the last couple of weeks the Henry Administration asked the Fort Wayne City Council to approve a “City Court.” The Henry Administration declared this an emergency request and wanted the approval to be expedited.
No matter what the request is; taxpayers need to be worried anytime ANYONE says that it is an emergency and the request must be approved now. Look back at what happened when the Bush Administration asked for its various emergency measures to fight the financial crisis…
Even with Marty Bender, the supposedly “Republican” leader of City Council, immediately supporting the Mayor; as he ALWAYS does, the Mayor was not able to secure the support of all four of the remaining Democratic members of City Council.
So the Mayor has already withdrawn his request… It must not have been that much of an emergency…
This was a blatant attempt by the Mayor to take even more revenue from the County in order to bolster City revenues.
I oppose the idea of a “City Court” for two main reasons:
-
- Most troubling was the emergency nature of the request. There is no emergency and we have operated without a city court for many, many years.
- I find it hard to believe that operating multiple courts will save the taxpayers money; in fact, I am almost certain that it would cost the taxpayers more money since City employees are paid more the county employees and running two smaller courts would be more expensive then running one larger court.
I certainly hope Mayor Henry is defeated in the upcoming election.
Mike
Crawford for Council
There are three “at-large” seats on the Fort Wayne City Council. Dr. Crawford has announced his intent to run for one of those seats in 2011.
The current City Council has the following at large members:
- John Shoaff (D)
- Liz Brown (R)
- Marty Bender (R)
Dr. Crawford served as a City Council member and was defeated in 2007. He had a reputation as being a thoughtful and well informed member of City Council. He had the reputation of a person who favors smaller Government. He lost for several reasons, including the fact that he supported some things that were in no way things supported by those citizens who favor smaller government.
It will be interesting to see who decides to run for the office. Dr. Crawford will be a strong contender; however, he damaged himself with some small Government advocates with his support of the smoking ban and the failed Harrison Square Project.
Mike Sylvester
Kevin Knuth defends Democratic Mayor no matter what
Kevin Knuth has a post that is worth your time over at his blog. I have an earlier post here.
Kevin is trying to defend the City of Fort Wayne’s absurd decision to waste $72,000 taxpayer dollars on a Chicago consulting firm to assist the City of Fort Wayne with ”Social Media Consulting.”
Kevin, think about it this way:
1. The City Budget is going to be very challenged over the next few years. The City needs to focus on critical items and needs to eliminate wasteful consulting contracts.
2. If there is a legitamate reason to spend money on “Social Media Consulting;” (which I highly doubt) then a local firm should be hired.
This is not a complicated issue.
Mike Sylvester
