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Post by colplumb on Jan 23, 2015 8:45:14 GMT -6
and dog said that they do not have any association with people of Strerator. Actually I said this:" and probably doesn't associate with the people of Streator that releasing the name, would be protected from", meaning they don't associate with the "good" people of Streator, aka. the Mitchells or the dogs, or the other lawabiding citizens of Streator. We would have no idea who they are but I would bet that they were here to associate with the criminal element in town. By you actually calling these people tourists, you significantly diminish your argument. IMO Every time he opens his mouth he diminishes his argument. Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.
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Post by dog on Jan 23, 2015 8:50:16 GMT -6
There is an article in today's paper that mentions a couple of tourists. Do You think the Chicagoan charged with felony aggravated battery for an October downtown Streator incident could have seen a public forum post from a Streator/Naperville Tourism Commission cross promotion of the acceptability of violence? Tourism Commission members are Mayor appointees aren't they? How many of the recent shoot out participants were tourists? The Times indicated that the "victim" was a tourist. One article indicated that the shooters were also tourists that just happened to stop in the area. In yesterday's paper the Mayor indicates that they are protecting the identity of the shooters to keep them from leaving the area. What do you suppose the motivation was behind our Mayor parading the media to the search sites? It's not like they are reporting that they found anything at the locations to have taken into custody any of the people who feel comfortable that they can get away with having a shoot out while visiting here. Even though he said that cleaning up Streator and it's image should not be politicized, his media escort to the sites with no news to report seems to me like he is playing politics with the public's safety. The criminals in possession of (and seemingly willing to freely use) firearms are still at large within our community is what I take from the article. OMG Kyle. You moan that the city doesn't do anything to change the perception of Streator being a rough town and violence is accepted. They charge a couple of people with a felony and you focus on the past on how you think they ended up coming to Streator, rather on the effort that was made in the present to curb crime by making an arrest. Then, when the police make an arrest in connection with the shooting, instead of praising the police and the mayor for making the arrest and investigating the crime, and getting the word out to the public thru the media that this type of crime will not be allowed in the community, you bring up the past again on cleaning up Streator being politicized. In case you haven't noticed, Lansford will be our mayor for the next term and doesn't really need to control an election, unless you think he is building points to run again in another for years. It seems to me that when the city does what you are asking for, you find something to be negative about , rather than seeing and acknowledging the positive. It makes me wonder what is really more important to you..............building a better community, or getting even with our leaders.
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Post by ~MnM~ on Jan 23, 2015 23:44:33 GMT -6
Well I never thought that I would come on this thread and post again...like many have also stated back pages, and pages ago........... But.... KYLE I have an idea here! Why don't we have an SO shindig like we all used to have, and all meet at Carbo's the next time that you do come into town, then many of us can discuss yours, and of course our opionions of also regarding our town.... Hell I'll buy you a shot of fireball, that is if you'll do one with me....along with anyone else too as well! Whatcha think...is that a plan than Stan? Seriously I think that you need to chill out, and definitely need some downtime! M
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Jan 24, 2015 10:10:05 GMT -6
Yes, I also appreciate that our city leaders are allowing the expansion to happen. They have proven that they can indeed stop business with one of their made up requirements that do not even follow our laws. I see in tonights paper that the good Dr. was given a facade grant for improvements at his building. It seems like he is now willing to work with the city to better his property. The city doesnt seem to be acting in a vindictive manner towards the Dr. I wish him success in his venture. Yes, I did see that too. I was rather surprised. I had worked to try to get him bids for that work which was started long before the City even started considering a facade improvement grant program. It seems that the program has been used a lot for projects that were done in the past. I find it interesting that so many had the foresight to pay prevailing wages on the chance that there could be City funds handed out in the future. “Work” with the City? You seem to talk about that a lot, typically suggesting that I am wrong because you think I should be doing something else to try to “work” with them despite their clearly working against my family. Do you consider accepting the $10,000 hand out for work that he was already doing as 'working “ with the City? If I would have turned in some wage reports claiming that I paid myself some high wages to paint my building and asked to be reimbursed, would that really have made you happy that I was "working" with the City? Either way, my building did get improved. I agree that they don't seem to be vindictive towards him. I haven't heard them declare him an illegal resident or target him with their selective enforcement. Why would they be vindictive towards him though, did he ask them to clean up our community and its image? He might as well get the $10K after the Mayor stopped him from using his building for a business with a requirement that does not even follow our laws, leaving it vacant for years. I think maybe they just gave it to him because they are ashamed that they treated him that way. Don't you think?
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Jan 24, 2015 10:10:46 GMT -6
Yes, these individuals were just traveling down route 23 southbound to destinations unknown, when they thought "hey, let's turn on 9th St. And see what's down that road", as they drove down the street at 3:00 a.m. They noticed suspicious activity at a residence, they stopped to see what was going on and a confrontation ensued, they were forced to protect themselves with the legal firearm that of course they have a conceal carry permit for, Wow, I am so glad these fine upstanding individuals were just passing through and saved the day! The City seemed to stress that the shooters were not from Streator. And that there was no immediate danger. Here's what the newspaper reported: The participants in the shooting did not live in the neighborhood, but rather, were in cars that happened to have stopped near the corner of Ninth and Center. It sure does seem to me like someone wants people to think that it was some kind of isolated random incident unrelated to ongoing problems within our community. When our City leaders allow crime to continue with very few consequences and promote violence as being acceptable, this is the type of tourists they attract here, in my opinion.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Jan 24, 2015 10:12:14 GMT -6
and dog said that they do not have any association with people of Strerator. Actually I said this:" and probably doesn't associate with the people of Streator that releasing the name, would be protected from", meaning they don't associate with the "good" people of Streator, aka. the Mitchells or the dogs, or the other lawabiding citizens of Streator. We would have no idea who they are but I would bet that they were here to associate with the criminal element in town. By you actually calling these people tourists, you significantly diminish your argument. IMO Do you really think that these people come to our community and only associate with their own kind, having no contact with the “good” people of Streator? Are you sure that the guy in line at the gas station behind you couldn't be one of the bad aim, trigger happy visitors? Do you know for sure that they didn't sign a lease in the last couple of days for a local home owned by one of the “good” people of Streator? You are right, we would have no idea who they are, shots could break out just about anywhere, couldn't they? “Good” law abiding people? Haven't you heard? The City declared my family illegal residents even though the Accessory Use Clause clearly covered our residency, but then refused to admit that we were not illegal. Willy also recently told us that it was "obvious" to the City that my family were law breaking criminals, otherwise he wouldn't have had a reason to turn his head, would he? Obviously the City had judged my family, and not as “good”, shortly after we arrived. They made it very clear that they did not want us here.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Jan 24, 2015 10:16:47 GMT -6
There is an article in today's paper that mentions a couple of tourists. Do You think the Chicagoan charged with felony aggravated battery for an October downtown Streator incident could have seen a public forum post from a Streator/Naperville Tourism Commission cross promotion of the acceptability of violence? Tourism Commission members are Mayor appointees aren't they? How many of the recent shoot out participants were tourists? The Times indicated that the "victim" was a tourist. One article indicated that the shooters were also tourists that just happened to stop in the area. In yesterday's paper the Mayor indicates that they are protecting the identity of the shooters to keep them from leaving the area. What do you suppose the motivation was behind our Mayor parading the media to the search sites? It's not like they are reporting that they found anything at the locations to have taken into custody any of the people who feel comfortable that they can get away with having a shoot out while visiting here. Even though he said that cleaning up Streator and it's image should not be politicized, his media escort to the sites with no news to report seems to me like he is playing politics with the public's safety. The criminals in possession of (and seemingly willing to freely use) firearms are still at large within our community is what I take from the article. OMG Kyle. You moan that the city doesn't do anything to change the perception of Streator being a rough town and violence is accepted. They charge a couple of people with a felony and you focus on the past on how you think they ended up coming to Streator, rather on the effort that was made in the present to curb crime by making an arrest. Then, when the police make an arrest in connection with the shooting, instead of praising the police and the mayor for making the arrest and investigating the crime, and getting the word out to the public thru the media that this type of crime will not be allowed in the community, you bring up the past again on cleaning up Streator being politicized. In case you haven't noticed, Lansford will be our mayor for the next term and doesn't really need to control an election, unless you think he is building points to run again in another for years. It seems to me that when the city does what you are asking for, you find something to be negative about , rather than seeing and acknowledging the positive. It makes me wonder what is really more important to you..............building a better community, or getting even with our leaders. After all the years of the excessive numbers of violent incidents (as printed in the paper last year), do you really think that there being charges for just one incident changes everything? Are you expecting me to praise them for doing the job one time that they should have been doing for years and years? How are the recent “arrests” connected with the shoot out? Did they load the shooter's bong? Were they taken into custody or just written tickets? Because the City filed some minor charges as a result of a search, is that supposed to make everything all better? Do we now not have to worry about there being any more shoot outs here or armed criminals running our streets? When the City does what I am asking for? I haven't seen that they have done what I am asking for yet. I am happy that they made the arrests for the incident three months ago, it shows a small step in a positive direction in my opinion. However I do not see it as having solved the extensive problem that has been on-going for years. Because I am discussing what has been reported, with people willing to hold shoot outs in our community at large, and my opinions of how our City leaders deal with the problems here, you are questioning my motives? My expectations that we could have less violence and not have armed criminals running loose on our streets makes you wonder if I want a better community? Really? Despite what you may say, it really doesn't appear to me that you really do consider me a “good” person; not that I care what you think of me. I could see though how you could easily feel that I have plenty of reason to just want to get even, but that is not the case. I truly believe that cleaning up the violence and Streator's image, our City not declaring business owners illegal, not targeting them with selective enforcement of overly restrictive ordinances, not stopping business with requirements that they can't justify with our laws, not violating people's civil rights, etc. would make our community a much better place. Instead of working with us to address the problems, they worked to drive my family from the community and succeeded. I remember one Councilman saying that if we don't like how the City is run, we should just leave. Meanwhile, they left the violence go unchecked to result in the excessive numbers printed last year, the recent shoot out, and many other unchecked crimes. I really think that our City leaders choose the type of people they want in our community by their actions. Maybe this election cycle, we should start hearing much more about how our potential future leaders feel about the acceptability of the excessive violence here. Don't you agree? Even though he is uncontested, I feel that we should also be hearing more about our Mayor's views towards the acceptability of violence going forward and his plans to make some better "vision" become reality here. However, I think that pigs might fly first.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Jan 24, 2015 10:17:14 GMT -6
Well I never thought that I would come on this thread and post again...like many have also stated back pages, and pages ago........... But.... KYLE I have an idea here! Why don't we have an SO shindig like we all used to have, and all meet at Carbo's the next time that you do come into town, then many of us can discuss yours, and of course our opionions of also regarding our town.... Hell I'll buy you a shot of fireball, that is if you'll do one with me....along with anyone else too as well! Whatcha think...is that a plan than Stan? Seriously I think that you need to chill out, and definitely need some downtime! M The "O" does stand for online, doesn't it? Why would we meet in a bar to discuss opinions? I am not having a hard time expressing my opinions right here. Is alcohol required for others here to be able to express theirs?
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Post by dog on Jan 24, 2015 14:32:16 GMT -6
I see in tonights paper that the good Dr. was given a facade grant for improvements at his building. It seems like he is now willing to work with the city to better his property. The city doesnt seem to be acting in a vindictive manner towards the Dr. I wish him success in his venture. Yes, I did see that too. I was rather surprised. I had worked to try to get him bids for that work which was started long before the City even started considering a facade improvement grant program. It seems that the program has been used a lot for projects that were done in the past. I find it interesting that so many had the foresight to pay prevailing wages on the chance that there could be City funds handed out in the future. “Work” with the City? You seem to talk about that a lot, typically suggesting that I am wrong because you think I should be doing something else to try to “work” with them despite their clearly working against my family. Do you consider accepting the $10,000 hand out for work that he was already doing as 'working “ with the City? If I would have turned in some wage reports claiming that I paid myself some high wages to paint my building and asked to be reimbursed, would that really have made you happy that I was "working" with the City? Either way, my building did get improved. I agree that they don't seem to be vindictive towards him. I haven't heard them declare him an illegal resident or target him with their selective enforcement. Why would they be vindictive towards him though, did he ask them to clean up our community and its image? He might as well get the $10K after the Mayor stopped him from using his building for a business with a requirement that does not even follow our laws, leaving it vacant for years. I think maybe they just gave it to him because they are ashamed that they treated him that way. Don't you think? I would ask why you dont approach the city for some type of grant either to recoup some of the money that you spent or to further beautify your building. It might make it more attractive to a potential buyer and allow you more of a chance to sell it for a number you are comfortable with. Since it was the Dr's building and the Dr's proposed business,and not yours, that was shot down, I would think he would have taken it more personally than you did since it had a much bigger impact on him than you. I wonder what he is planning for the building and if aquaponics is involved. If he were to go before the city and ask for aquaponics in the downtown area, and industrial zoning was required, as a neighbor, would you fight the Dr's request or support him and his new business?
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Post by ~MnM~ on Jan 25, 2015 0:53:49 GMT -6
Well I never thought that I would come on this thread and post again...like many have also stated back pages, and pages ago........... But.... KYLE I have an idea here! Why don't we have an SO shindig like we all used to have, and all meet at Carbo's the next time that you do come into town, then many of us can discuss yours, and of course our opionions of also regarding our town.... Hell I'll buy you a shot of fireball, that is if you'll do one with me....along with anyone else too as well! Whatcha think...is that a plan than Stan? Seriously I think that you need to chill out, and definitely need some downtime! M The "O" does stand for online, doesn't it? Why would we meet in a bar to discuss opinions? I am not having a hard time expressing my opinions right here. Is alcohol required for others here to be able to express theirs? The O stands for OHHH KLYE...seriously we are a great bunch of people here in this town, that is those that do actually give a crap...have been here from the duration, etc! We ARE willing to hear you out, accept you as an 'import / transplant' and YES come to some sort of ............. PLAN maybe? I really thought when I first met you that you were new blood getting involved in alot of things, and you really cared as much as all of us generations of did then too as well. My offer to you to come to an SO shindig...was only an invitation for other to get to meet and know you, as I have. I felt that you did have alot of positive things to add to our fine town.........BUT ......... You lose ALL credibility when you post youtube videos degrading our town, the Police, and the City Government. Then continually go after WILLY for not ignoring ANY problem, but for trying to befriend you as a newbie to our town, you then start to make no sense......like "cutting off your nose to spite your face"...... This WHOLE blog of yours, and continuation of saddens me, it does. TRULY! I wish that you would divert all of your energy in some other manner........ "O" KYLE.............. M
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Jan 25, 2015 11:01:57 GMT -6
I would ask why you dont approach the city for some type of grant either to recoup some of the money that you spent or to further beautify your building. It might make it more attractive to a potential buyer and allow you more of a chance to sell it for a number you are comfortable with. Since it was the Dr's building and the Dr's proposed business,and not yours, that was shot down, I would think he would have taken it more personally than you did since it had a much bigger impact on him than you. I wonder what he is planning for the building and if aquaponics is involved. If he were to go before the city and ask for aquaponics in the downtown area, and industrial zoning was required, as a neighbor, would you fight the Dr's request or support him and his new business? Gee dog, now that you have shown that you don't really think I am a "good" person by questioning if my wanting less violence in our community and to not have armed criminals ready to have shoot outs running our streets is to make our community better or for some sinister reasons, are you also trying to show that you agree with the other City/bar owner supporter who says that I have the highest level of retardation? If I had a million dollars to spend on my building, I could probably add some marble, brass doors and trim, and other very nice finishes. Would that make my building then sell for $1.1 million, or would buildings here still need to have some type of use, demand, or even people interested in owning commercial property here? Do you think that my building looks too terrible for someone to want to open another used plywood store? What do you suggest I do, paint over the rest of the brick? I really do like the architectural detail surrounding the sign panels on my building, but since the City will not allow them to be signs, I suppose I could rip them all off to replace with some of the exposed plywood or residential vinyl siding that seems to be so popular on commercial buildings here. That certainly would make it look more like our City's Main Street property. Don't you think? I had also been thinking about taking a crack at painting my own murals on the sign panels that they won't let be used as signs. They say that a picture can paint a thousand words and you do know that I have a lot to say, don't you? I have been following the advice of some people who say that I need to study Streator's history to understand why things are the way that they are here, and have been reading about previous City leaders (term used loosely). I was thinking about maybe a panel with portraits of our current Mayor and Mayor Sopher tearing up the Constitution and our ordinances. I was thinking that maybe another panel could be a scene of the boarded up move palace with people brawling and urinating in the street in front of it. Maybe I could have them done be the big celebration when the other planned murals are unveiled. Many here admit that the violence and our laws not being followed is acceptable, so there shouldn't be a problem with that, right? Now, if they start doing things differently here, maybe I will have to come up with some different mural ideas. I had been asking for a facade improvement grant program here in hopes that people wanting to open their own used plywood or other type of business here would at least make it presentable looking to encourage others to consider having businesses of even a little better class and appearance. However, I suppose that using it to try to keep some of the buildings that our City continues keeping vacant from just crumbling away could be helpful too. Other than wanting the funds to be used for projects that I feel would benefit our community more, one of the problems that I would have with using the program is that the prevailing wage requirement typically makes the work so much more expensive than it would have otherwise been. I have seen projects cost twice as much when prevailing wages are applied. Getting half of a doubled cost project possibly being reimbursed if they approve the person after they jumped through all of their hoops, doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Do you think they would allow me to use receipts from what I've already spent on my building to apply for one of their grants so that I can turn around and donate the funds back to them specifically to try to make their Main Street property look better? Wow, do you really pretend to know what the details of the ownership were planned to be for the Aquaponics business? I had said that the Dr. was willing to provide an extended period of free rent and a considerable amount of financing for the project, but do you really think that the Dr. was planning to be there building grow beds and harvesting plants? Do you know that the Dr. had no expenses and very little time into the project, while my son and I had invested months of research, visiting other facilities, interviewing consultants, developing a business plan, etc.? Having very little invested in it, why do you think he would take it personally? Was his family also attacked by our leaders as being illegal, targeted with their selective enforcement, and told that they should leave the community? Do you really want to know if I would support an industrial zoning change for Main Street? I don't know why I should even take time to answer a question that I find to be so insulting to my intelligence, particularly since you continually avoid answering my questions, but here are some hints: If approved, the property would retain the industrial zoning, even after an Aquaponics business was gone. The next business requiring industrial zoning that wanted to go in there would not have to obtain any permission from the City. Many of the businesses that do require industrial zoning create major negative impacts on the surrounding community including but not limited to very loud noise, strong odors, and heavy truck traffic. So, do you really want to know if I think that a smelly plastic processing plant with large tank trucks and loud industrial blowers moving the materials in and out of the building would be a good fit for Main Street? Would you support a spot zoning change on Main Street to industrial?
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Jan 26, 2015 9:43:44 GMT -6
The "O" does stand for online, doesn't it? Why would we meet in a bar to discuss opinions? I am not having a hard time expressing my opinions right here. Is alcohol required for others here to be able to express theirs? The O stands for OHHH KLYE...seriously we are a great bunch of people here in this town, that is those that do actually give a crap...have been here from the duration, etc! We ARE willing to hear you out, accept you as an 'import / transplant' and YES come to some sort of ............. PLAN maybe? I really thought when I first met you that you were new blood getting involved in alot of things, and you really cared as much as all of us generations of did then too as well. My offer to you to come to an SO shindig...was only an invitation for other to get to meet and know you, as I have. I felt that you did have alot of positive things to add to our fine town.........BUT ......... You lose ALL credibility when you post youtube videos degrading our town, the Police, and the City Government. Then continually go after WILLY for not ignoring ANY problem, but for trying to befriend you as a newbie to our town, you then start to make no sense......like "cutting off your nose to spite your face"...... This WHOLE blog of yours, and continuation of saddens me, it does. TRULY! I wish that you would divert all of your energy in some other manner........ "O" KYLE.............. M You say "we". Who is the "we"? Obviously you are considering yourself as part of the "we", but I didn't realize that you considered yourself some kind of an authority here. Does your "we" include our elected City leaders too? Is a bar where our leaders usually meet to discuss who should be accepted here under some type of "import" or "transplant" status? Does the "we" that you speak of also get to determine which images of our community are degrading to share? Some people seem to think that images highlighting the heroin problem in our community will help solve the problem. Do you find that as degrading our community as well? I support their efforts. The newspaper printed an image of a burnt out apartment building where a child was murdered, as well as other works of an arsonist who has not been caught. By keeping the public informed that these crimes happen here, do you see them as degrading our community? Haven't I even seen you also share images of burning structures? Is it perfectly acceptable for others to share images of someone burning another's property, but degrading to share images of people hitting each other, even though the violence does happen so often here and many find it as very acceptable? Even our Mayor(or someone impersonating him?) posts on here that the violence is acceptable and about him fighting people. If Willy wanted to befriend me, I think he should have come to discuss the matter with me. A new family comes to the community to open a business that was boarded up for years and not one City official came by to welcome us, see if there was anything they could do to assist our venture, or tell us what they are calling my family at City Hall. Instead he let people within our City's administration think that we were criminals. Do you also see his unveiling the City's judgement of my family as criminals before even getting a chance to be accepted under their "import"/"transplant" status, as an attempt to befriend me? Maybe he should think about honoring people's Constitutional Rights if he wants to be friends, don't you think? Yes the situation that our City leaders have created here saddens me as well. They succeeded in driving my family from the community with their vindictive attacks. Now I own a building in a community with many great people, but where commercial real estate is very low and keeps declining along with business and population. Considering that the "generations" don't seem to be keeping our community thriving, don't you think maybe it is time for our community to start accepting people who come here to operate legitimate businesses as full fledged members instead of "imports" or "transplants"? It doesn't seem that I am the only one saddened by the conditions that our leaders are responsible for. You can see many comments from others on Facebook who also find what our community has become as being very sad.
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Post by cmon on Jan 26, 2015 9:58:05 GMT -6
Snore.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Jan 26, 2015 10:09:02 GMT -6
Yes, I think some of our City leaders are asleep too.
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Post by cmon on Jan 26, 2015 19:20:03 GMT -6
You are so full of yourself. We get it Kyle. You have a raging hard on for anybody that doesn't see things your way or agree with you. It gets boring. Same crap just a different day. With your sorry attitude no wonder you've made no headway. And the sad thing is that you'll never change your sorry attitude. I used to laugh at your comments. Now I just feel sorry for the life you have. It must suck to get up every day and be bitter about everything.
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