Re: City Creates new Ordinance to hire a city employee that doesn’t live in our city Archived Message
Posted by politicalfavors on February 22, 2019, 9:55 am, in reply to "City Creates new Ordinance to hire a city employee that doesn’t live in our city"
As someone that has worked in GC and has observed the population and the politics, here are my thoughts: GC has many good citizens, but also seems to be somewhat dismissive of the quality of life issues that those that aren't so good. I heard countless times, "those things happen everywhere". When commenting on citizens leaving trash in the parking lot, after walking past obvious trash cans. I am not mentioning this to knock GC. I am mentioning it because a trashy looking city with poor upkeep of property makes other leery of investing or relocating in GC. I was told by more than a few that the schools were changing, due to rentals and children that may or may not official live in GC being in the school system. I was also told by many of the high school age that teen pregnancy is a problem. Again, maybe this is a problem everywhere, but you have to tackle the issue locally and not dismiss it as a societal problem. The biggest issue I saw was the grossest nepotism with City hiring that I could imagine. Someone please take a listing of city employees and connect the dots. Many city employees are appointed by the Mayor. City Council seems to rubber stamp nearly everything the Mayor puts forth, due to concern the Mayor might not support the "non team player" council member. It seems the voter turnout in GC is low in voter elections. That might explain that the city and the township do everything they can to help the seniors with events to help garner the votes for the status quo. I suspect the largest voting block in GC are the seniors. In regards to the Economic Development position, that position has been appointed twice before by the Mayor with little result. In all fairness to anyone in that position, there is only so much you can do to bring businesses to an area that is geographically and demographically not as ideal as Edwardsville. Retail businesses are struggling, they rely on larger stores and access to our highways. Route 3 isn't going to compete with the the roads around and through Edwardsville. You also have to consider demographics. GC, however great it is in some areas is right next to Madison and Venice. You all avoid those yourself, so why would a business want to potentially draw from there. The same thing happens in north county in St. Louis. The first things I would do if I wanted to make a positive change in GC would be: 1.Pick up your trash 2.Call the city and demand other property owners maintain their property. Attend council meetings 3.Vote in local elections for thoughtful candidates and not "GC legacy names". 4.Support all your local businesses Please realize you don't have to have been born in/live in GC to care. Now, please seriously, get a list of city employees and connect the dots: city hall, township, fire, police and sewer. It would be fun.
|
|