I want to commend the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce for the great job on the procedures for the Meet the Candidate.

All realized that nothing is accomplished if candidates did the political bash routine and came up with a procedure that was very effective if controlling the bashing and keeping the candidates focused not on each other but on the questions presented to them.

KUDOS and Special KUDOS to Chamber President Mrs. Judy O'Brien. She pulled off something short of a miracle!!!

A special Thank You to Jackie Hull who recorded this event and to the News Herald Reporter Jason Alley for supplying the questions. There were at least two questions used that many of us had discussed here which I think is AWESOME.

For those that could not attend this meeting, it will be televised on Cable via Comcast Channel 12 and WideOpenWest via Channel 10. The dates / times will be posted as soon as I know.

My opinion of the deliver of answers from the candidates are:

Treasurer:

Patricia Lulko - Standard out of the box answer and did not provide her thoughts & ideas on how she intended to be successful at the collection of taxes - delinquent or otherwise.

Craig Sochocki - His answer was pretty much stock but did touch on using his experience and education to effectively collect the taxes. Craig pointed out that he is concerned about the revenue and expenses in this city. He tickled our memories about the guy that lived on Ruth (the one with the chickens) who had called City Hall for years complaining about a broken water main near the creek water line.

Craig (as Mayor) met with the homeowner and seen that we had a bad water main break that was costing our city (we the taxpayers) THOUSANDS of dollars of water expense over several years.

Council Candidates:

Brady - She was slightly nervous at first but I felt that she effectively answered the questions. Brady discussed the Redevelopment Program and how effective it can be and that she has already seen positive change as it relates to the communication between departments and businesses, residents, etc.

One of her questions was on the City Manager and how she feels about it. She pointed out that supports the Manager/Council form of govenment and that having a City Manager to help with the research and (and recomendations) that normally each council member would have to do on their own allowed the council members to spend more quality time on the issues and their solutions. She added that she was not supportive of giving the City Manager a raise given the city's finanical status - the raise was too much too soon.

Brady applauded her peers on how they have collectively faced some hard decisions and that she believes that this council has made much headway in making Lincoln Park a better community ---- and there is still so much more to do.

Cotter - She was very nervous which is understandable - if you are not used to public speaking it can reak havoc with the nervous system. Despite the nervousness, I feel that she was in-effective in her actual answers.

On one hand we shouldn't expect that she should know the inner workings of our city depts but on the other hand I felt that she should have had some solid ideas on how to promote Lincoln Park, etc. and to know of some of the issues that our community is facing. She pointed out that she was very happy with the level of city services.

Our city is at a point that we must have stong council. We simply cannot afford to have any council member that cannot carry their own.

I think that Sandra Cotter would eventually be a great councilwoman but she needs to be more familiar with the issues that we are facing and have solid ideas on how she would address them. With the problems that our community is facing and tough road our council has to walk is just too much this candidate (given her experience and answers to questions relating to the problems facing our community.

Disanto - What can I say.... He cracked me up last nite. Councilman Disanto has a flare about him...you know the type of flare that causes us to pinch the cheeks of someone just cuz they are so cute LOL!

The crack up came on the second question when the young lady that asked the question. She asked Councilman Disanto if he wanted to hear the question again. He said he didn't.

As he settles in on the podium he looks over at Bicycle Don (Petrie) who is the clock watcher, Disanto turns to the young lady and asked what the question was again? You had to be there... it was actually kinda cute. I hope that turned out on the recording. It lightened up the candidates and kinda eased the nerviousness of most.

Anyway, Councilman Disanto as usual was singing the same tune that he loves this city and the people and that he only wants our community to succeed. Disanto may not bring alot of resolutions but one thing he does VERY WELL and that is he asked some of the hardest questions as it relates to taxpayer $$. He pointed out that he wants to continue to make our city thee place to live like it was in the 60s.

Higgins - Mike has come a long way in his two year as a councilman. His presentation was excellent. He pointed out how the community came together to support Lincoln Park's First Business Expo and that we had well over 3,000 visitors that attended. The business expo is one of the programs that will help jump start our business district. Marketing businesses and reducing the derred maintainence through Brownfield Development Authority $$ is a positive start. Higgins knows that it takes a community to build a community.

Mike states that there are two sides of the services consolidation and neither side is right. We need to find a middle ground and guard against putting our community in jeopardy.

His message was clearly that we can do better at making our Lincoln Park better and he is willing to continue this endeavor.

Kandes - I was surprised that Mark was so nervous. His responses I thought were off target a bit and I found one of his quotes quite disturbing. Kandes as recent as three meetings ago was stating that we are in a budget crises -- yet last nite in one of his answsers he states, "we are stable financially". He stated that first important isssue is to be "organized from the top down."

I think it's worth mentioning that Mr. & Mrs. Kandes have an 8 month old baby. Congratulations (albeit belated) on the arrival of your new daugther!

Murphy - The one thing that stands out about Tom's response was that he reiterated that it's the people that live in our community that is the most important and that our city government needs to embrace this. He does not believe that taxing our citizens more is the answer to the budget crises. He pointed out that we have different levels of household income from people who are well off, to people that are not making it or living paycheck to paycheck.

He strongly disagrees with the Road Millage Ballot and pointed out that he was the only NO vote on this. He believes that this millage must have a sunset provision - he sent his message home with "the definition of insanity is giving government a blank check".

McPartland - He is concerned with the blight, loss of businesses and the regionalization or collaboration of services for those that don't like the word regionalization.

He agrees that animal control and maybe even dispatch could be cost shared with surrounding communities but believes that applying this idea to fire/police, etc. is not something he would support. The minimal cost savings of regionalizing our safety services is not worth the loss of time / service that may occur.

Nelligan - As some of you recall, John registered himself as a write-in council candidate. He wanted everyone to know that you can get involved in your community and that it doesn't take alot of money. He pointed out that we need more community involvement to garner the ideas and put them into an action plan.

Nelligan believes that we can turn our community around ---- it only takes we the people to do it.

In regards to four year terms for council, John believes that a two year term is appropriate because the longer an elected officials term is the less accountable they become.

Rutherford - Jim was very well spoken and pointed out that he believes four year council terms is more appropriate. The reasoning is that most policies/procedures, etc. are on a five year plan and that by the time an elected official launches their approved planes, etc. thier term is over. The time that it takes elected officials to campaign for office,etc. takes away from the momentum of the projects that are being developled.

Jim does not support the road millage with no sunset provision. He states that the City Leaders must find a way to put an expiration date on this ballot. He believes that this ballot will fail as people will be objectionable to approving a tax that affects their children and then their grandchildren.

Vaslo - Frank pointed out that out that there is absolutely no room for any luxuries. Exactly what is paid in (revenue) is paid out (expenses) and any increase in staffing or services means that something in the budget will get cut.

Generally Frank is pretty well spoken but this go around he was dancing around the questions. I felt that he didn't really answer the question presented but provided his answers in such a way to present his own message.

Either way, his delivery was professional but I thought that he was not his usualy ham for cameras and people.


I just did a cursory of the each candidate. Please, if you attended last nite or if you happen to see the recording, I would enjoy reading your comments on how each candidate did.

What one persons may miss another may see and we are here as a community to educate ourselves on all aspects of our community and the decisions that affect our lives so profoundly.

In closing, I am disappointed in Mayor Brown that he was not there as part of our City Officials.

Donna Breeding was there and greeted just about everyone.

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"Sometimes we must serve in order to lead"
by Unknown

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DonnaBird (10-26-05)

My bad... I forgot to add my comments on Councilman Higgins......Sorry folks.... please refresh to read about Councilman Higgins.

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What about the School Board Candidates? I was told that Mr Knapp and Mr Kovacs are both in FAVOR of School of Choice. It this True?

I am a resident of Riverview. We have School of Choice in Riverview. The residents are not happy about being a School of Choice.

What does Mr Knapp and Mr Kovacs feel they will obtain at making Lincoln Park a School of Choice?

Isn't it a better idea to correct the problems withing the LP School System so that parents do not choose to send their children to another school?

LP Parents who send their children to Riverview or other schools do so because they believe their students will receive a better education.

From what I was told, Mr Knapp and Mr Kovacs are in favor of LP being a School of Choice because they feel they can attract good athletes from Ecorse and River Rouge.

Who would want a School of Choice in order to better the football team?

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Congratulations Councilman Mario DiSanto. The Dean of the LP Council

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You beat me to the school board candidates... I was just writing those.

Yes you are correct that Mr. Knapp & Kovacs are in favor of School of Choice.

Candidates Johnson and O'Brien are not and the reasoning of that is

a) there is legislation happening as we speak that put all schools ($$ per student) on a more level playing field. For instance, Lincoln Park could boost the amount of money received federally by allowing students from other areas to go to our schools which is one of the main reasons other cities participate in the School of Choice. The new legislation that is being discussed removes this pretty much from the equation when deciding to be a School of Choice School district.
b) with the strict rules that are applied in many school districts (and which LP District would adopt if they went this route) to invoke the privilige of choosing a school from the ones participating in the school of choice program, particularly as it relates to sports could cause our Lincoln Park children to be left out of sports, etc. because a student from another district who may be better and transferred in only because of the sport.

I know I am not explaining this right so I will say it this way.

Right now there is not enough financial gain per student in Lincoln Park to justify allowing the School of Choice program and run the risk of even one Lincoln Parker being overlooked in any aspect by a child that is attending via the School of Choice Program.

Ok .... all you School Administrators....help me out on this......

with strict rules on qualifying for the School of Choice students, that could cause our children who don't meet the same GPA , etc. to fall behind and/or

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I feel that the candidates should have had some time to prepare. They should have had the option of knowing all the possible questions. How does that forum even seem fair to the people who haven't been in an elected office? As far as someone being nervous or not speaking well in public, it shows humanity and humility.

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That, in my opinion, would be like giving them the answers to the test.

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Arctic Cat Thundercat Test Pilot

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Leaders need to think and act on their feet.

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A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.

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When residents approach the mayor and council at council meetings, they don't turn in a cheat sheet beforehand. If someone expects to be a city official, he or she must be able to think on their feet. And if they're unable to, perhaps public office isn't for them.

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Sometimes even professional speakers can have off days and be nervous and it doesn't mean that the speaker can't be a good leader.

If I implied that in my overviews, that was not I meant. All of the candidates well maybe save one or two, showed a little nervousness and I think that we are able to seperate that from the actual responses of the candidates to render an opinion from the actual responses and not the emotion on whether or not that candidate fits our own ideals of a city leader.

As far as knowing the general range of the questions, I think I have to agree with you to a point that the brand new to politics candidates may not be able to answer on the same level since the incumbents/seasoned politicians are more intimate with most aspects of the city businesses.

On the other hand, if someone is brand new to politics as a profession, I think that they should become very familiar with the issues that are facing the community. I don't know how anyone can expect to be elected but not know what the issues are or how to approach them.

I am not in politics nor was any of my family, I have become very familiar not only with issues in our community as it relates to our social capital and inner workings but also how other communities, state and federal issues/laws affect us and to what degree.

I could not have learned and grown as much as I have without all the input from our community members.

I think for the most part that (at least on these boards) we all want our community to be the best it can be and the multitude of discussions are all part and parcel of a community that is finally talking about issues and trying to help to fix those issues.

Oh boy....Mr. Magoo is gonna hunt me down for going a bit.

BTW: WELCOME, I look forward to input.

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I couldn't disagree with you more! The last thing I want to see is a bunch rehearsed answers being spit out like a robot!

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The idea of a Meet the Candidate Night is to have them answer questions "from the hip" To see how they react under pressure. Answers to questions posed in the print media allows the candidates to do research and privide an answer. Questions in person is to show the ability of a candidate to think quickly.

A Meet the Candidate Night also allows the audience to MEET the candidate. Once the formal presentation is over, the candidates mingle in the crowd. This is when you can speak to them directly and ask them questions of concern to you.

I hear a couple of candidates high tailed it out of the bandshell as soon as it ended. Bad move on their part. That type of behavior is long remembered and speaks volumes.

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I hear Mr Murphy stated he would like to see the position of City Manager and Finance Director combined.

I totally disagree. Just because Mr Murphy may be experiencing a "personality clash" with the current people in these positions, is no reason to eliminate the Finance Director position and combine it into the City Manager.

The already combined the Personnel/Purchasing Director position with City Manager. Not having a full-time Personnel Director will prove costly in the years to come There are too many changes in the Human Resouces field to let it be handled by someone who cannot devote their full attention to it.

Same with Finance Director. The city needs someone with the proper background to fill this position. What's more, we need someone who can devote their full attention to this position.

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