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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 5, 2015 8:59:42 GMT -6
Our City leaders have such good supporters, doesn't everyone agree? Kyle Mitchell, I agree, "Our City leaders have such good supporter..." g P.S. Kyle Mitchell after all your efforts to, in my opinion, discredit our elected officials, under the guise of trying to improve business in Streator, I really don't see a lot of support for your views. Do you really believe voting Streator citizens agree with your viewpoint? Why don't you just review this entire thread and share the names of all your supporters. Otherwise, at least in my opinion, this whole "blog" is just petty and vindictive. Gee greek, why would I need supporters? It's not like I am running for office or anything. I'm just talking about what I think is right and wrong. Do you really not believe that any voting citizens agree with my viewpoint that people's Constitutional Rights should be honored? Why do you want me to out those who may agree that the voting citizens should have Civil Rights? So that you and the other City supporters can start attacking them as being law breakers and mentally unstable? Do you really expect anyone to think that this blog talking about how our City leaders judging people as illegal when they are not is any more vindictive than our City leaders falsely and very publicly declaring business owners illegal multiple times and then refusing to even acknowledge that they were not? Did they or did they not take an oath to uphold the U. S. Constitution?
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 6, 2015 7:45:25 GMT -6
She felt it was her building to do with what she wanted and she didn't have to follow the same rules as everybody else. Sounds kind of familiar. Where are you anonymous? I thought you wanted to talk about Sister Connie and others breaking laws. It seems that Streator has a long history of government corruption, gambling, and other illegal activities. There really does seem to be something that allows people associated with bars to just walk away from witnessed crimes. Considering the "hearsay" of brown paper bags being delivered to City Hall, when a religious woman sells her family farm land and invests in downtown Streator, becoming a bar owner, how would you expect the brown paper bag requirement would play out? That certainly could explain a trip to an FBI field office, don't you think? Don't most successful restaurants serve alcohol as well? Did she close those businesses because of problems with their alcohol licensing? While spreading rumors of her being illegal, did our City leaders and their supporters organize boycotts of her businesses? If she had everything her family owned invested into her businesses, I could understand her turning to higher powers to seek relief. What is Sister Connie's last name? Does she have any family still around?
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Post by dog on Feb 6, 2015 8:46:14 GMT -6
She felt it was her building to do with what she wanted and she didn't have to follow the same rules as everybody else. Sounds kind of familiar. Where are you anonymous? I thought you wanted to talk about Sister Connie and others breaking laws. It seems that Streator has a long history of government corruption, gambling, and other illegal activities. There really does seem to be something that allows people associated with bars to just walk away from witnessed crimes. Considering the "hearsay" of brown paper bags being delivered to City Hall, when a religious woman sells her family farm land and invests in downtown Streator, becoming a bar owner, how would you expect the brown paper bag requirement would play out? That certainly could explain a trip to an FBI field office, don't you think? Don't most successful restaurants serve alcohol as well? Did she close those businesses because of problems with their alcohol licensing? While spreading rumors of her being illegal, did our City leaders and their supporters organize boycotts of her businesses? If she had everything her family owned invested into her businesses, I could understand her turning to higher powers to seek relief. What is Sister Connie's last name? Does she have any family still around? I believe her last name was Louden. From what I can remember, she never opened any business in the hotel, whether a bar business or anything else, so there were no brown bags to deliver, nor business to boycott. She just proceeded to cut holes in the roof to allow God to enter. Her religious beliefs are her business, but cutting holes in the roof of a building to allow God to enter doesn't sound like the work of a mentally stable person. My dad was friends with her husband Jim, and she didn't seem like she was all there. From what I can remember, she created the conditions at the hotel and THEN the city got involved as a matter of public safety.
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Post by Anonymous on Feb 6, 2015 9:38:50 GMT -6
She felt it was her building to do with what she wanted and she didn't have to follow the same rules as everybody else. Sounds kind of familiar. Where are you anonymous? I thought you wanted to talk about Sister Connie and others breaking laws. It seems that Streator has a long history of government corruption, gambling, and other illegal activities. There really does seem to be something that allows people associated with bars to just walk away from witnessed crimes. Considering the "hearsay" of brown paper bags being delivered to City Hall, when a religious woman sells her family farm land and invests in downtown Streator, becoming a bar owner, how would you expect the brown paper bag requirement would play out? That certainly could explain a trip to an FBI field office, don't you think? Don't most successful restaurants serve alcohol as well? Did she close those businesses because of problems with their alcohol licensing? While spreading rumors of her being illegal, did our City leaders and their supporters organize boycotts of her businesses? If she had everything her family owned invested into her businesses, I could understand her turning to higher powers to seek relief. What is Sister Connie's last name? Does she have any family still around? You are off your rocker. THAT is the familiarity I see between you and her, although hers was probably brought on by dementia. Yours is more likely a personality disorder. Crazy people contact the FBI on a daily basis, be it by phone or person. They call, they show up, and they ramble. Feel free to add to their daily calls and visits. Or rather than go that route, you can just put on your tinfoil hat, stand next to your microwave and wait for them to call you. She bought a building, kicked out the existing businesses that were there, and then proceeded to destroy the building. She was not harassed by the city and NEWS FLASH - NEITHER WERE YOU. You twist away all you want you crazy little man you. Oh, but thanks for wondering where I was. I have been happily enjoying life and making plans to visit a few shops downtown tomorrow. Hope your sidewalk is clear!
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 6, 2015 10:05:37 GMT -6
I believe her last name was Louden. From what I can remember, she never opened any business in the hotel, whether a bar business or anything else, so there were no brown bags to deliver, nor business to boycott. She just proceeded to cut holes in the roof to allow God to enter. Her religious beliefs are her business, but cutting holes in the roof of a building to allow God to enter doesn't sound like the work of a mentally stable person. My dad was friends with her husband Jim, and she didn't seem like she was all there. From what I can remember, she created the conditions at the hotel and THEN the city got involved as a matter of public safety. Hmm, I was told that there was a bar and a restaurant in the hotel building when she invested in our downtown. Even if someone else were running a business leasing the space that she owned, renting the space would still be a business for her. Are you saying that she never even operated the hotel as a business? Did she buy the building and immediately close it all up except for the roof? What happened to her husband? Was he mentally unstable as well? Why didn't he stop here from buying the hotel or from destroying it? Did she cut hole(s?) in the roof to let God in? Didn't FOT say it was to let the smoke out? Obviously you are making her religious beliefs your business if you are saying that it is reason you consider her to be mentally unstable. Our City keeps a building downtown that is supposedly holding up other privately owned businesses with people in them regularly and has for years had big holes allowing water to run through it. Are they leaving it wide open to wait for God to enter, or do they have a better reason for destroying a building and creating a public safety hazard to make them look more sane than Sister Connie? The City does what they want with their buildings and creates unsafe conditions, yet you want me to believe that Sister Connie was mentally unstable because she believed God would be coming as she did it? I think there are reasons why Sister Connie is remembered as a criminal although charges weren't filed, why she went to the FBI with complaints about our City leaders, and why the Plumb Hotel was destroyed; reasons that are probably more justifiable than reasons why the City of Streator does what it does.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 6, 2015 10:37:22 GMT -6
You are off your rocker. THAT is the familiarity I see between you and her, although hers was probably brought on by dementia. Yours is more likely a personality disorder. Crazy people contact the FBI on a daily basis, be it by phone or person. They call, they show up, and they ramble. Feel free to add to their daily calls and visits. Or rather than go that route, you can just put on your tinfoil hat, stand next to your microwave and wait for them to call you. She bought a building, kicked out the existing businesses that were there, and then proceeded to destroy the building. She was not harassed by the city and NEWS FLASH - NEITHER WERE YOU. You twist away all you want you crazy little man you. Oh, but thanks for wondering where I was. I have been happily enjoying life and making plans to visit a few shops downtown tomorrow. Hope your sidewalk is clear! I was not harassed by the City? Is that your opinion? The City declared my family illegal when we were not. They targeted my son's business with selective enforcement of overly restrictive ordinances. They threatened fines for not getting a permit for a fence that doesn't even require a permit. Instead of giving consequences, they told offenders that it was me complaining about laws being broken. They stopped a business by giving a requirement that doesn't even follow our laws. The stopped an approved event at City Park based on the subject to be discussed. They interrupted me at public forum to talk about what they wanted. They asked my opinion at public forum and then threatened legal action against me for my giving it. They told me that I should leave the community if I didn't like the way it is run. Now their supporters continue to try to make my family out as illegal and mentally unstable. Harassment is a good term for it in my opinion. It is he City of Streator that does not follow the laws. What are you going to do if my sidewalk isn't clear? Are you threatening to get the City of Streator on me with more of their selective enforcement? Last time I was in Streator, my sidewalk was clear but many others were not. Has the City of Streator even started keeping their sidewalks cleared in a timely manner? They didn't used to. Your attacks against me do not change what our City leaders have done and will not stop me from talking about it. I think they should start doing things differently and work on producing better results for the community. That could inspire me to start talking differently about them.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 8, 2015 13:37:03 GMT -6
Where are you anonymous? I thought you wanted to talk about Sister Connie and others breaking laws. It seems that Streator has a long history of government corruption, gambling, and other illegal activities. There really does seem to be something that allows people associated with bars to just walk away from witnessed crimes. Considering the "hearsay" of brown paper bags being delivered to City Hall, when a religious woman sells her family farm land and invests in downtown Streator, becoming a bar owner, how would you expect the brown paper bag requirement would play out? That certainly could explain a trip to an FBI field office, don't you think? Don't most successful restaurants serve alcohol as well? Did she close those businesses because of problems with their alcohol licensing? While spreading rumors of her being illegal, did our City leaders and their supporters organize boycotts of her businesses? If she had everything her family owned invested into her businesses, I could understand her turning to higher powers to seek relief. What is Sister Connie's last name? Does she have any family still around? You are off your rocker. THAT is the familiarity I see between you and her, although hers was probably brought on by dementia. Yours is more likely a personality disorder. Crazy people contact the FBI on a daily basis, be it by phone or person. They call, they show up, and they ramble. Feel free to add to their daily calls and visits. Or rather than go that route, you can just put on your tinfoil hat, stand next to your microwave and wait for them to call you. She bought a building, kicked out the existing businesses that were there, and then proceeded to destroy the building. She was not harassed by the city and NEWS FLASH - NEITHER WERE YOU. You twist away all you want you crazy little man you. Oh, but thanks for wondering where I was. I have been happily enjoying life and making plans to visit a few shops downtown tomorrow. Hope your sidewalk is clear! Since you tried again to make it look as if my family had done something illegal, but couldn't provide any laws that we had broken, you seem to now be trying to make people believe that I am crazy. Perhaps I am crazy, I did move my family across the country to a declining community and invest in two buildings expecting that the City would support my ventures instead of harass us. You do agree that The City declaring my family illegal when we were not, targeting my son's business with selective enforcement of overly restrictive ordinances, threatening fines for not getting a permit for a fence that doesn't even require a permit, in lieu of giving consequences telling offenders that it was me complaining about laws being broken, stopping a business by giving a requirement that doesn't even follow our laws, stopping an approved event at City Park based on the subject to be discussed, interrupting me at public forum to talk about what they wanted, telling me at public forum to sit down that they don't want to hear what I have to say, asking my opinion at public forum and then threatening legal action against me for my giving it, and telling me that I should leave the community if I didn't like the way it is run, is harassment, don't you? I was only admitting that I may be crazy, not stupid too. What is crazy though? Some people called me crazy for hanging a witch from the top of the marquee and making an 8' Horton to display in front of the theatre, but they both gained free front page, above the fold coverage (normally very expensive) for my business. Not many theatres give away free movies for turkey donations or picking up trash in the community. Not many theatres have Big Hair Contests with dancers on the stage before a movie. Some might consider those things crazy; we don't care, we enjoyed it. I like the way that Edgar Allen Poe looks at the subject of crazy, “Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence – whether much that is glorious – whether all that is profound – does not spring from disease of thought – from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect” Didn't Abraham Lincoln, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, The Wright Brothers, Thomas Jefferson, Vincent Van Gogh, Howard Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, Beethoven, Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Darwin, Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Isaac Newton, and many others have mental illness too? Maybe a little bit of crazy isn't all bad? Maybe that is what it will take for people to come invest here. I would certainly choose crazy over the corruption of our City leaders not following our laws. Crazy would probably get us further than their corruption has.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 10, 2015 9:50:47 GMT -6
Oh, but thanks for wondering where I was. I have been happily enjoying life and making plans to visit a few shops downtown tomorrow. Hope your sidewalk is clear! I noticed that you didn't voice any objection at all to my latest posts. How was your trip downtown? How many properties did you see that didn't seem to have sidewalks cleared at all or had snow piled on them? Were my sidewalks still clear or did another business owner decide to push snow there again? I'm glad that you brought up "snow removal" though. I think it is another good example of the City of Streator's overly restrictive ordinances: shall remove all snow and ice which may have fallen or accumulated upon the sidewalk adjacent to the premisesReally? Private property owners are responsible for removing all of the snow on the sidewalks? The City generally doesn't even remove the snow that is on the streets. They just push it onto the sidewalks. How could I possibly be expected to remove all of that snow? What commercial property owner does abide by that ordinance? Even if a property owner removed every last flake, if someone tracked some on their feet, wouldn't the property owner still be in violation? I believe that it is another example of the poorly written, overly restrictive ordinances that they like so much. It is one of the reasons that ask for new leaders and that they start doing things differently.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 10, 2015 13:25:19 GMT -6
What do you think anonymous? Wouldn't it take someone who might be crazy to invest in our downtown knowing that they can get fined for not removing all the snow from the sidewalks? Doesn't that seem to be an example our City leaders failing if they were even trying to create a perception of being inviting to small business?
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 12, 2015 9:20:20 GMT -6
Hope your sidewalk is clear! Where did you go now? I thought you wanted to talk about snow removal! Did our City have all of the snow removed from the sidewalks of their CBD property? Why do you suppose they would have such an ordinance that is written so that it is practically impossible to abide by? They push the snow from the roads onto the sidewalks and then require the commercial property owners to "remove" it "all". Is it supposed to be some kind of a joke or did they purposely make it so overly strict so that they could then just pick and choose who to fine for not being able to abide by it? It seems very uninviting to potential small businesses in my opinion. Are they purposely trying to keep people from wanting to invest in commercial properties here?
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Post by dog on Feb 12, 2015 9:30:20 GMT -6
Hope your sidewalk is clear! Where did you go now? I thought you wanted to talk about snow removal! Did our City have all of the snow removed from the sidewalks of their CBD property? Why do you suppose they would have such an ordinance that is written so that it is practically impossible to abide by? They push the snow from the roads onto the sidewalks and then require the commercial property owners to "remove" it "all". Is it supposed to be some kind of a joke or did they purposely make it so overly strict so that they could then just pick and choose who to fine for not being able to abide by it? It seems very uninviting to potential small businesses in my opinion. Are they purposely trying to keep people from wanting to invest in commercial properties here? I drove by your building yesterday and it looks like the half of the sidewalk next to your building is cleaned off and the other half next to the curb hasn't been touched. Another planned situation on your part to try to see how the city responds? If they ticket you, they are acting in a vindictive way towards you, or if they don't ticket you, you will claim that they don't enforce the laws they have? Very clever Kyle, leaving a trap for them so either way you can use it against them.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 12, 2015 10:26:27 GMT -6
Where did you go now? I thought you wanted to talk about snow removal! Did our City have all of the snow removed from the sidewalks of their CBD property? Why do you suppose they would have such an ordinance that is written so that it is practically impossible to abide by? They push the snow from the roads onto the sidewalks and then require the commercial property owners to "remove" it "all". Is it supposed to be some kind of a joke or did they purposely make it so overly strict so that they could then just pick and choose who to fine for not being able to abide by it? It seems very uninviting to potential small businesses in my opinion. Are they purposely trying to keep people from wanting to invest in commercial properties here? I drove by your building yesterday and it looks like the half of the sidewalk next to your building is cleaned off and the other half next to the curb hasn't been touched. Another planned situation on your part to try to see how the city responds? If they ticket you, they are acting in a vindictive way towards you, or if they don't ticket you, you will claim that they don't enforce the laws they have? Very clever Kyle, leaving a trap for them so either way you can use it against them. Have you also noticed the many properties that don't look like they had even been touched or had even a smaller path cleared? When my family was there more, we did shovel much more . We even shoveled in front of vacant storefronts in the area. During the blizzard a couple years ago, we had a path cleared down the entire block. However, some City leaders just didn't want us to be in Streator. Obviously it is not possible to clear the entire sidewalk, unless the huge expense of heavy equipment is invested on each snowfall. Even then, "all" of the snow would not be removed to allow for compliance with the City of Streator's requirements. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to be there for every snow fall and that Flips would be open very little, I looked up the ordinance several months ago to see what it would take to comply. Since it didn't seem that I could ever afford to comply whether my family was there or not, I understood why so many didn't even bother to try. I thought that trying to keep several feet clear was reasonable. I'm sorry that it didn't please you as you drove by. It was not a trap by any means. It was an attempt to keep my expenses down. but still allow people to be able to walk down our Main Street sidewalk. I was hoping to just get through winter with no problems from the City of Streator, but anonymous, one of our leaders' strong supporters, insisted on drawing attention to my sidewalks. Perhaps it has turned into some type of trap though. If they ticket every property owner who is in violation of the ordinance, I would expect a ticket too. How do you think that would go over? However, if they start picking and choosing who to ticket for not having "all" the snow "removed", then yes, it would prove my point. Why would they even write such a ridiculous ordinance? Why not have a reasonable ordinance that people are actually able to follow and know that they don't have to worry about someone at our City Hall (or a fellow club member) deciding which individuals that want to ticket? Do you think that these actions from our City leaders make people want to invest in our community? It is a perfect example of why I think we need some new leaders.
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Post by dog on Feb 12, 2015 11:05:55 GMT -6
Obviously it is not possible to clear the entire sidewalk, unless the huge expense of heavy equipment is invested on each snowfall. Even then, "all" of the snow would not be removed to allow for compliance with the City of Streator's requirements. Since it didn't seem that I could ever afford to comply whether my family was there or not, I understood why so many didn't even bother to try. I thought that trying to keep several feet clear was reasonable. I'm sorry that it didn't please you as you drove by. Why would they even write such a ridiculous ordinance? Why not have a reasonable ordinance that people are actually able to follow and know that they don't have to worry about someone at our City Hall (or a fellow club member) deciding which individuals that want to ticket? I never said I wasn't pleased on how your sidewalk looked. I agree that keeping several feet clear is reasonable and I don't see any problem with your snow cleaning effort. I think you did a good job. We had a heavy snow, and I can understand why so many didn't bother or didn't clean all of the sidewalk. I bet the city understands that too. I think the word "all" was the correct word to use rather than than "some" or "reasonable" since those two words make the meaning very vague. You don't seem to like how the ordinance is written. How would you write it?
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Feb 12, 2015 11:39:05 GMT -6
I never said I wasn't pleased on how your sidewalk looked. I agree that keeping several feet clear is reasonable and I don't see any problem with your snow cleaning effort. I think you did a good job. We had a heavy snow, and I can understand why so many didn't bother or didn't clean all of the sidewalk. I bet the city understands that too. I think the word "all" was the correct word to use rather than than "some" or "reasonable" since those two words make the meaning very vague. You don't seem to like how the ordinance is written. How would you write it? If I were writing any ordinance, I would write it so that it would be possible for it to be followed. What difference does it matter how I would write the ordinance though? You don't think they would listen to me, do you? Maybe when I have some more time, I will try to pull out the recommendations that I made to City of Streator when they were talking about an ordinance and I was trying to work WITH them, along with the recommendations that SDAB submitted to them. I'm sure that an ordinance that is practically impossible to adhere to was not what was recommended. They seem to have their own agenda.
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Post by dog on Feb 12, 2015 12:01:26 GMT -6
If I were writing any ordinance, I would write it so that it would be possible for it to be followed. What difference does it matter how I would write the ordinance though? You don't think they would listen to me, do you? It isn't the issue of whether they will listen to you or not. I just want to see if you can write an ordinance that is easy to follow. without making too restrictive that it is hard to follow. You seem to think that it is easy to write an ordinance. I just want to know how you would write one that would accomplish what you want. Just don't tell us how they did it wrong, without providing a solution on how to make it right.
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