This the Union pushing for the Bike Path deal. Wonder why it made it to the ballot again? Funny how politics work...

"Burd said the Laborers Local 149 union was her biggest campaign contributor, providing $2,500 of the $6,000 or so she collected for this race."

Who was the other 3,500? Anyone have the info handy to post?

What..."REC Center provided a substantial community service and should not have to be self-sustaining."...this thing is a train wRECk. It is not functional by any standards and the parking lot is a safety hazard. Inadequate parking, lack of walking paths, insufficient lighting, track layout vs classroom locations, the list goes on....

Below is a link taken from the 4-27-2010 Budget discussions which I believe is illustrative of Mr. Golinski's leadership and his tendency to say one thing and do the opposite, just to be "part of the problem" and the voting block of obstructionist aldermen, again joining Spears and Gilson. It also illustrates the “CUT” mentality of Mr. Golinski, Alderman Spears and Gilson. If one is to suggest cuts they must also suggest where they need to be made and then provide some guidance as to what is considered non-essential employees to the Mayor, who did ask them about what they defined as non-essential. Please remember the Mayor (executive branch) and staff proposes the budget, but it the legislative branch that finally approves it and should also provide some guidance as to what they will accept and vote on. It is not just the Mayor's job.

http://yorkvilleinsider.org/election/yvcc042710.pdf

At the City's special budget session in February of 2009, Mayor Burd brought in a budget that still needed another $200,000 cut from it; she asked the aldermen's help. Instead, Spears and Golinski, after once again attacking the public relations dept., added money to the budget - Spears $6,000 to go to the Municipal League Conference, $1,500 for sponsorships she wanted to give to worthy causes, and $70,000 for Ken Com even though the City was still operating under the 2007 agreement; Golinski $10,000 for a legislative attorney in case he wanted to fight the mayor in court? At the end of the session, aldermen had added $200,000+ to a budget already in deficit. Spears has a habit of making a big deal about $250 cuts here, and $100 cuts there, but then adding huge chunks of money for the police dept, Even though former Chief Harold Martin voluntarily cut $500,000 from his proposed 2009/10 budget, Spears demanded the money be put back in because he was making the City "unsafe." This year, after making a scene because of money spent for a small event to honor City volunteers, Spears tried to put $40,000- $80,000 back in the budget for new police cars. So much for cutting the budget!

I'm not just threatening. I really am voting for bob gryder. Now that it's all out there and there are clearly "camps" among the aldermen, i'm afraid we're in for 4 more years of contentious city council with either val or gary as mayor. Unless Gary and his 4 candidates for alderman win. Then they'll be able to just shove things down people's throats just like we've had the last 4 years. Why do we have to vote for either of the candidates asking for us to vote them and their team in. Gary, you really lost points with me last night when you took an opportunity to sell us on yourself and instead chose to talk up your slate. I'm sick of slate politics. Leadership is working with what you have, not begging for what you want.

I viewed the petition for the proposed bike trails and it's even worse than I had imagined. The same address listed seven times (I find it hard to believe that 7 people are over 18 and are able to vote in one household). Some with the same address listed 3-4 times. Some with illegible signatures that just list their street address as "Yorkville". Numerous addresses such as 1542 Orchard St. & 4212 Klatt Street that the United States Post Office Website says are not Yorkville addresses. 84 pages with only approx 8-10 pages that residents of Yorkville (Robyn Sutcliff & Mark Johnson) petitioned the voters signatures for. Most from Greyslake, Lake in the Hills, Rockford, Valparasio & Wheatfield, IN. The current mayor says it's legal and OK, but I feel it is wrong that people that won't be using the bike trails, get to vote for or against them, and won't have to pay higher property taxes for the next 20 years can come into our town and try to influence our vote for them. I hope that the voting taxpayers and actual residents of this town use good judgement and tell our current elected officials how we residents really feel about this on April 5th, 2011.

Lisa Peterson, (Aka Tired of Taxes)

If you want to be taken seriously, please do your homework. Mark Johnson would be the last person in Yorkville to circulate a petition for the Shared Path Referendum Initiative. I did not see Mark Johnson's name as a petition circulator. Before you make statements on Patch, please check them out. I know of some homes in Yorkville that could have 7 residents that are voting age and it is common to have 3 or 4 voters in a household. That would explain why you would have had the same address listed 3 or 4 times. People do not have to have a readable signature and most don't, that is why it is called a signature and is unique to that individual. As for people who signed that may have not lived in Yorkville, that happens and if a prior Patch Poster could only find 50 to 60 signatures that were questionable that would still leave around 740 to 750 good signatures which was well over the percentage needed to have this Citizen Petition put on the ballot.

It is our Right as Citizens to petition our government, local, state and Federal. The worst thing about this petition is it gives residents a chance to be better informed in which to cast their vote. Being informed and educated about an issue is a good thing and something you need to spend more time doing before Posting?

Mark, Thanks for setting the record straight. I did post the petitions here on Yorkville Patch for anyone who wants to look at them for themselves. All 84 pages are attached as a PDF to this post: http://patch.com/A-f0FB

Mark,

Thank you for welcoming the idea of bike trails in Yorkville. Can we not afford to take advantage of the 80 percent funding that the state is offering our city? This is a one time, take or leave it opportunity that is going to evaporate after April 5th. There will be no 80% State Funding for this city infrastructure improvement in the future. Your short-sightedness to take advantage of this chance to do it now, when it will cost less overall shows a lack of thinking about the future & what is best for Yorkville now. Your beliefs and dogma are so rigid that it allows for little if any compromise when we can improve the safety for area children and adults for 20 cents on the dollar. I don't know what the bond interest rate will be, but what the state will kick in for that 80% match will be less than the total interest Yorkville citizens will be asked to pay on this bond. It is a 4 to 1 or 400% return on making this sound financial decision. Look at the numbers & tell me this is not a good deal for Yorkville residents. You & others, which have such rigid thinking, will only hold Yorkville back & it shows that none of you can plan for our city's future.

It is good to have you back & using your real name. Maybe you can now get Rose Spears to start using her real name too along with Tom Gilmour, then maybe the rest of the other anonymous screenname posters will start to take ownership for their rhetoric & opinions by also using their real names too.

It is like someone offering to sell you a $20,000 car for $4,000. It's not the right time but we didn't choose the time, IDOT did. If someone wants to sell me a $20,000 for $4,000 I would find a way to get $4,000.
We pay, as a city, $690,000 now or $3.5 million later for the same 13.5 miles of trails.
Which is the frugal decision?

KLN If you want a bike trail then vote yes for it. I don't; my vote is no. I have a real problem with 695 signatures from the bike trail petition being collected by people that do not live in Yorkville, will not be able to vote for it, will never use it, and will not have to pay higher property taxes for the next 20 years for it like I will. Only 67 signatures were collected by actual residents of Yorkville. Robyn Sutcliff collected 15 of them, but then she goes on to say in her profile, that she was forced to vote yes for them to be on the ballot a 2nd time. Noboby forced her to do anything. That was a conscious and deliberate and action on her part to put it back on the ballot. The 16,000 plus residents of Yorkville were sold down the river for a $2,500.00 campaign contribution to the mayor by the unions.

There are no bike paths south and west of the river. How are kids going to ride their bikes to school without having to a hwy? Will the school be providing crossing guards at Rt. 71, Rt. 126, Rt. 34 etc. You are not any safer with bike paths then you are without. It's a false sense of security. Our family walks our dog every morning in the dark at 5:30 or 6:00am. There are no sidewalks, but we have yet to be run over by anybody texting & driving. Sometimes you just have to use good ole fashion common sense and take some personal responsibility for where you are and what you are doing. The bike paths which is nothing more than a "glorified" sidewalk basically leads nowhere. It doesn't go to Silver Springs state park. It doesn't go to Kendall Market Place. It doesn't connect to any other bike trails already in existence. There doesn't even look like there are any in downtown Yorkville. You won't be able to use it year round. Is the city going to do snow removal on it? Meanwhile the roads in our neighborhood that people have to use 24/7 365 days a year are in deplorable condition and falling apart. The city (which is in a financial mess) can't afford to repave the roads, or pay their bills (sewer bonds) without me having to pay $300.-$400. a year in higher property taxes, but yet they want me to tell them it's OK to take out even more bonds that they won't be able to pay without having to raise my property taxes even higher for a bike trail. I don't think so.