If you don't like the village manager, why do you need to change form of government?
Suburban Life (Joe Sinipoli) has an article about a Village of Westchester petition that may or may not exist. As I read the article, neither the journalist or the sources interviewed, have seen the petition to switch Westchester from a village manager form of government to a strong mayor (full-time mayor like Broadview and sorta like Forest Park).
I've heard rumors that village employees are unhappy with current village manager, Carl Goldsmith. OK. Employees are unhappy with their boss. Sometimes bosses do dumb stuff. And sometimes public employees think they are entitled to jobs for life even when they are providing crappy services.
The guy who comes out of the article looking classy is Angelo Luciano, who is no friend of the guys who threw him out of office.
BTW, I think the same question applies to Forest Park. If you don't like how Calderone runs things, why not beat him in an election? If Calderone had a 5-2 majority or a 6-1 majority and Forest Park had a village manager form of government, what would be different? Melrose Park and Maywood have village manager forms of government and the "mayors" (really, village presidents) still act like strong mayors because they have compliant board majorities and communities that assume things should be run by a boss.
I've heard rumors that village employees are unhappy with current village manager, Carl Goldsmith. OK. Employees are unhappy with their boss. Sometimes bosses do dumb stuff. And sometimes public employees think they are entitled to jobs for life even when they are providing crappy services.
The guy who comes out of the article looking classy is Angelo Luciano, who is no friend of the guys who threw him out of office.
Former Trustee Angelo Luciano said while he has heard about the petition, he was in no way involved with the movement.
“I told a lot of people that I don’t want my name attached to it,” said Luciano, who served on the village board for 32 years. Luciano added he was one of the key supporters of a village manager-based government when the village made the transition years ago.
“There’s no way I can sign a petition to do away with that,” he said.
BTW, I think the same question applies to Forest Park. If you don't like how Calderone runs things, why not beat him in an election? If Calderone had a 5-2 majority or a 6-1 majority and Forest Park had a village manager form of government, what would be different? Melrose Park and Maywood have village manager forms of government and the "mayors" (really, village presidents) still act like strong mayors because they have compliant board majorities and communities that assume things should be run by a boss.
Labels: Angelo Luciano, Carl Goldsmith, Forest Park, forms of government, Suburban Life, Westchester
posted by Carl Nyberg at
8:30 AM
11 Comments:
You're right Carl - if the current manager isn't doing a good job, hire a new one. This referendum is obviously being pushed by the current Mayor so he can have more power. Typical proviso township power play that makes us the laughing stock of the region.
By
Anonymous, at 6:23 AM, July 26, 2008
What gets me is why has'nt this group of individuals,who want to change the form of goverment,why don't they come out and speak about the reason to change?
I agree that Carl Goldsmith has been a total failure and a political hack of those four liars,Casey,Fox,Bieklman and Boyle.
I agree that Change is needed in Westchester starting with the removal of Carl Goldsmith,along with the removal of the entire board and as well as the Mayor!
KI think that the Mayor needs to be more forceful in demanding accountability on the part of the village manager and of the other board members and if the majority board can't agree,then wait for the election to beat them at the polls!
Whatever the case, both Casey and Fox are responsible for the failure of governing Westchester and have destroyed the fabric of this town,with there lies and accusations!Instead of changing village goverment,lets beat these liars and hypocrites(Fox,Casey,Bieklman and Boyle) at the polls!!!
By
Anonymous, at 7:52 PM, July 26, 2008
What is going on in Westchester is CHANGE! The residents and bussiness owners want change,postive changes.Their tired of the lies made to them by Casey,Fox,Boyle and Bielkman that there way of doing things would improve Westchester.They realize that they were sold a "bill of goods" when they voted for them!
Of these four, the worse are Casey and Fox!Both them promised new changes,promised new developments,promised to bring village goverment into the 21st century,promised televised village meetings,promised to communicate with the residents(via there now extinct bog and newsletters),promised new bussinesses(they brought us 2 nail salons and a barber),promised to bring in a village manger who can bring more money into the village and promised an end to cronyism.All those promised were broken without even an excuse.Cronyism is rampant and incompetancy is now the norm.The village manger under the new board majority has gotton two huge pay raises,eventhough he has not delivered anything.The final straw was how Goldsmith and Casey and Fox ruined this years Westchester Fest!Over budget,mismanagment and allowing the village trustees to have over 400 free passes,while treating the other village employees with none,no electricity and visitors complaining with no recourse and the final straw was seeing Casey and Fox walking around with Maywood officials talking about a future fun fest to be held in conjuction with Maywood in Westchester parks!
Change is coming and will come,and Goldsmith is the first to go,then Casey and Fox!
By
Anonymous, at 8:07 PM, July 26, 2008
Why should voters have to vote for a Mayor,when this form of goverment does,nt represent true democracy?
If a Mayor is chosen why does the village manager assume the role of dictating and not following the Mayor's and the Board's lead and or direction?
What then is the role of a Mayor and a board of trustees? Should'nt we then be able to elect a village Manager?
What if the Village Manager really is taking orders from certain trustees,then starts to destroy the village with their mistakes and cronyism and mismanament? Don't the voters,residents and bussinesses of the village have the right to change the system through voting? Is'nt this the truesist form of representitve democracy???
Just as our founding fathers did to the British,they demanded and fought for there liberty shouting , "Give me liberty or give me death"!
By
Anonymous, at 10:38 PM, July 26, 2008
A Mayor's Community Forum will be announced soon by Mayor Gattuso , to be held at St. Joseph High School to hear from the residents in regard to the petition.
Mayor Gattuso will is this function to hear from the residents and speak to his constiuents.Mayor Gattuso is inviting all to his Westchester Mayor's Community Forum with invitations to all residents in Westchester!
By
Anonymous, at 10:46 PM, July 26, 2008
I believe the real problem in Westchester is related to a few facts,which is that the current Village President,Gattuso, is ineffective and weak and not a forceful dynamic personality and the current trusttee majority,lead by Casey(oh,who sent e-mails out recently stating his desire to run for mayor) and Fox,Boyle and Biekman,are demagouges who have lied to the public and are running Westchester into the ground!
I believe the residents of the village of Westchester are unhappy with the poor performance of the new board,who have given Goldsmith free regign in finishing destroying our village!
As a resident of Westchester,we have been disappointed with our current Mayor for his lack of leadership,but more importantly we have been extremely dissapointed with all our trusttees.Since our trusttees are running our village,overruling the mayor,our village seems to be getting worse and worse!Public dissatisfaction with our form of goverment has worsened and problems that were promised to be fixed and promises of open goverment have been derailed by our current trusttees,who arrogantly go around and claim to "no whats best for us"!
Maybe we should sign a petition calling for the impeachment or recall of all our trusttees,especially Casey,Fox,Boyle and Bieklman?
By
Anonymous, at 8:43 AM, July 27, 2008
The village voters and residents voted for a Mayor and trusttees,we did not vote for a village manager. Carl Goldsmith is an arrogant sob,who has been screwing things up since day one,but yet,when we the voters go to our Mayor with grievances,the Mayor(who we voted for to represent our village) has no power to change the mistakes committed by Goldsmith!
The Mayor has tried,but has been over ruled by the trusttees,so as Goldsmith and the Casey led board have started ticketing Westchester residents with parking tickets,have not fixed the alleys and street lights,have fined St. Joseph High School,have hired outsiders who have made the situation worse ,and broken promises with such matters as televised board meetings and keeping the residents informed,and cronic cronyism under Casey and Goldsmith,the village continues to deteriate and residents and homeowners continue to flee.
The Casey led board and village manager have succeeded in one thing ,that is destroying Westchester piece by piece and finally uniting the residents of Westchester to realize that we alone can fix the problem,but we need to get rid of these political,egotistical,arrogant bums out of office as soon as possible!
By
Anonymous, at 8:57 AM, July 27, 2008
I recieved an e-mail by Casey stating his desire to run for Mayor. Who is this Casey fellow? What has he done?
All I know is he leads the board Majority of Trusttees,who have made the situation worse for Westchester residents.He basically is our current Mayor,since he controls the votes on the village board and controls the village manager.Why should we vote for Casey for Mayor,when he has shown us he can't run a village and all he has done is made things worse?
Maybe Caset should decide to strep down, and see if things improve in Westchester!
By
Anonymous, at 9:04 AM, July 27, 2008
What's up with "Crazy" Casey? I mean what's up with his e-mail,threatening to run for Mayor to fix things in Westchester?
Does'nt he already control the board and the majority and the village manager? If he has to run for Mayor,to supposedly fix things,then what problems is he fixings,his own mistakes
?
I think Casey should look in the mirror and realize he is the problem,Casey your crazy!
By
Anonymous, at 6:11 AM, July 28, 2008
SICKOFTHIS
Don't the voters have a right to vote on how they want their government run? I believe the petition was for the vote to go on the November ballot. Maybe the voters want to have someone run their village that actually has a stake in the village and not someone who lives 30 miles away and does he take home a village car? With our GAS?
Come on give me a huge break these trustees had to see the petition or else how could they send out all those nasty e mails without seeing what they were even talking about. That doesn't even make any sense to my 10 year old.
How dare they tell people not to sign something. Is this Germany 1939? Is that even legal for them to do that? Is it legal to have them try and stop a petition?
Also can someone tell this guy to get a new picture I thought it was a mug shot. That little hairy thing below his lip makes me feel real confident that he is a professional, NOT!!!
Westchester wake up!!! Your town is going to the dogs with this current adminstration. When in God's name will we ever learn. Drive down Roosevelt Road into Broadview and see the beautiful new strip centers they are putting up and the beautiful condo complex they are also putting up. What do we have? What did we spend all that money on for the CONSULTANTS? No listened to them and what did we spend on that? 30,40,50 thousand dollars or more? Nice. People in the village are harrassed so much when they try to improve their properties and stalled for so long that they don't want to bother and contractors don't want to come to Westchester anymore. Wake up people. This is a sad state of affairs.
westchester family
Unlike the Trustees who are making statements without actually seeing a document, I DID see it, and I signed it. The petition is to allow the voters of the town to choose if they want to go to a Mayoral form of government. This will allow the residents to hold the trustees and the mayor MORE accountable for the decisions and the actions happening at the village offices. How? Because they will be making the decisions, not a Village Manager. Currently, the village manager makes alldecisions and has no accountability whatsoever. A majority of the board is in love with him, even though a maority of the residents are not.
In addition, NO WHERE on the petition does it say they are removing Mr Gold smith. The board can make him an administrator who still operates the village under the guidance of the mayor and trustees. The fluff about the petition is to oust the village manager is an untrue statement by the trustees and THIS PAPER. You should all check the facts before reporting and commenting.
Is Mr Casey worried that if wants to run for mayor that he may have to make a bigger commitment than he has right now? If so, dont run, maybe someone who has the skills and ability will run. We, the residents, deserve to have a say-so on if this goes on a ballot in November. To blatently make a statment that this shouldnt be on the ballot is in EXTREME Opposition to how Casey, Fox, Boyle and Bikelman ran on an OPEN and HONEST goverment. Now, they dont want the residents to have an opinion because it differs from their opinion. Another 2 faced decision from these people. Keep lying to the public they are finally starting to see your true colors.
need to expand on a couple more things.....
Why are Mr's. Casey and Boyle sending emails to people on private email lists advising them NOT TO SIGN this petition?
First, the emails they are using were NOT MEANT for public use, they were given to a school for internal use only. I know, I received an email to an email account I only give for my sons school.
Second, why are you so against residents having a chance to vote on an issue - publically? As an elected official, shouldnt you be in favor of issues being voted on by the residents? If you want to take one side or the other, campaign for the YES or No side but Residents should question why you dont want it to appear at all - that's not allowing people to have a say.
By
Anonymous, at 11:04 PM, August 01, 2008
I would be very curious to know if any of the 'bobble head Board' have even seen this petition. I have, and I signed it. You actually insult the intellegence of the Westchester Registered Voters...and I hope they know it. The petition is being circulated BY THE PEOPLE of Westchester- who apparenty know more than the Board of Trustees. It is not being circulated with support of the village trustees. Please remember one very important fact: you 'trustees' were voted into office by us, the residents of Westchester. We do not need your support-it would be highly irregular if the very person you people fall all over to give raise upon raise, were the guy you were all trying to get rid of. That would make you look pretty stupid now wouldn't it? We entrusted our village to you -Bailey, Boyle,Buikema,Casey, Fox,Ryan. We trusted you to make the best decisions on our behalf. YOU FAILED. This petition cannot be controlled by the spin doctors on the board- who actually emailed registered voters and told them NOT to sign. Are you joking? Since when does an elected official email constituants and tell them NOT to sign a petition created by the VOTERS of Westchester? Isn't that crossing the line? Are we going to believe a board who continually negates the facts? Does anyone else wonder what the heck goes on behind closed doors? I do. I know for a fact justby asking some simple questions abiout what goes on. How about Mr. Dale Bogda? Does anyone with a conscience even realize what happened to him? He was there 40 years, dedicated- and guess what? Let go- no reason- no thanks, no insurance,nothing...Ignorance is bliss. And the Bobble heads just bobbed their heads? Hey- lets give another increase to the guy whose'very driven to do a good job' you should add- when he decides to actually work a full day that is, This man has completely unionized the village. yes, each AND EVERY DEPARTMENT has formed a union because of this guy and his Yes man. But 'he has done a brilliant job'.....who is kidding who here? The people are speaking bobble heads......I reccommend you listen. This is not a petition- This is up for ELECTION. Its on the ballet. So- let the spin doctors spin, and the bobble heads bob- but I hope the RESIDENTS SPEAK>>>>>>>>this is our town!
By
Anonymous, at 11:06 PM, August 01, 2008
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