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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Mar 17, 2014 14:05:34 GMT -6
Isn't it a shame that downtown economic conditions are so bad that buildings don't generate enough revenue to just hire the work to be done by professionals? Instead, people look to others for help with no knowledge of their experience in that type of work. Unless of course you know Tonija and know of her experience and how nice she can make a building look, if that is the case, my apologies. I would think that that kind of work would take engineering and skilled craftsmen. It would be a shame to see the whole facade fall off the buildings if there is not proper support for those beams below the windows. It is a shame that downtown building owners look to people with no knowledge or experience in a certain type of business to work on their buildings. Sounds like a certain business venture we keep hearing about. Perhaps I had no experience in Aquaponics but obviously I do have knowledge. We were working with a consultant who had a lot of both. He suggested that we get clarification from the City of what business activity they would most closely relate it to. If you want to talk about lack of knowledge, lets talk about our Mayor and our zoning ordinance. Does he not have any knowledge of it or does he just enjoy going against our laws? I mean, if he had knowledge of the ordinance then he would have known that he would not be able to provide a justification for the industrial zoning requirement that he gave. If he didn't want to take time to look into Aquaponics and wanted to make sure that we didn't allow anything bad, he could have required a Special Use Permit and there would have been a Public Hearing, Planning & Zoning Recommendation, and Council approval required. If he just wanted to stop the project all together, he could have required agricultural zoning and there would be justification that would be pretty hard to deny. Does our Mayor just enjoy going against our laws or does he just not have knowledge of them?
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Post by northsider on Mar 17, 2014 14:38:09 GMT -6
I wasn't questioning your experience with aquaponics, I was questioning your experience and understanding of the zoning laws. It's painfully obvious that you don't understand them and your lack of understanding has led you to believe that the City is corrupt. Had you consulted a zoning professional you wouldn't still be harping on the subject because you would realize that your interpretation of the laws is simply wrong.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Mar 17, 2014 16:22:49 GMT -6
I wasn't questioning your experience with aquaponics, I was questioning your experience and understanding of the zoning laws. It's painfully obvious that you don't understand them and your lack of understanding has led you to believe that the City is corrupt. Had you consulted a zoning professional you wouldn't still be harping on the subject because you would realize that your interpretation of the laws is simply wrong. It is painfully obvious that our Mayor and City Manager don't understand them or they would have given me a requirement that they could provide a justification for. Explain to me the correct interpretation, how is industrial zoning justified by our laws? You didn't provide any justification the last several times that I asked, although I will give you credit, at least you did read the ordinance.
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Post by northsider on Mar 17, 2014 16:37:29 GMT -6
So the mayor and city manager don't understand our laws even though they have the benefit of the city attorney's council at their disposal but you do? Did you consult any zoning professional or are you merely basing your claims on how you interpret what the rules mean. If I could explain the correct interpretation I would, lord knows I've tried. You are convince you are right and nothing I have shown you in the past has made you see the light. The fact is you are wrong and you are either too stubborn or too dense to see it. Either way you can continue exercising your 1st amendment right on the subject because luckily for you, you have the right to free speech even if you don't know what you are talking about.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Mar 17, 2014 17:27:46 GMT -6
So the mayor and city manager don't understand our laws even though they have the benefit of the city attorney's council at their disposal but you do? Did you consult any zoning professional or are you merely basing your claims on how you interpret what the rules mean. I also base my claims on the City's inability to provide any justification for it. Do you really think they would let me say at public forum that it goes against our laws and is corrupt and not stop my or even comment afterwards to explain their justification if they had one? I don't think they consulted counsel to make their decision. No, I don't think they understand the ordinance or they would have selected an option that could be justified. If I could explain the correct interpretation I would, lord knows I've tried. You are convince you are right and nothing I have shown you in the past has made you see the light. The fact is you are wrong and you are either too stubborn or too dense to see it. Don't you mean that you would explain if had some kind of explanation for their justification? You never explained one before in our many conversations about it. You said that a Special Use Permit should have been required, which I agree would have been justified. If I were wrong they would just provide their justification. Either way you can continue exercising your 1st amendment right on the subject because luckily for you, you have the right to free speech even if you don't know what you are talking about. Yes, I will continue to use my First Amendment rights to try to make sure that as many voters as possible know how our City has turned business away and continues to head us in the wrong direction.
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Post by greekgod on Mar 17, 2014 17:42:41 GMT -6
I know what the signs say, but the footprints say otherwise. LOL, they did try though. kyle, Actually, that looks kinda like chickens wearing shoes making a break for freedom, ya know chickens can't read signs either. They were probably tired of being "cooped up", and were heading for city hall to request their own hearing about having to live inside a "retail store" all winter. Hopefully, they (the chickens) have done their homework and retained a better "consultant" than you. What was that "consultant's" name again? g .
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Post by northsider on Mar 17, 2014 17:48:02 GMT -6
The fact that they choose to ignore your rants doesn't prove you are right. They probably have figured out long ago that there is nothing they can say that will satisfy you. As I've stated before, if you would have followed the zoning rules then you would have gotten a justification for any decisions made. You didn't follow the rules which is on you, not the city. The end result is that you don't really know what you are talking about when it comes to this zoning issue. I noticed you didn't answer if you had consulted a zoning professional about these issues.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Mar 17, 2014 20:22:45 GMT -6
The fact that they choose to ignore your rants doesn't prove you are right. They probably have figured out long ago that there is nothing they can say that will satisfy you. As I've stated before, if you would have followed the zoning rules then you would have gotten a justification for any decisions made. You didn't follow the rules which is on you, not the city. The end result is that you don't really know what you are talking about when it comes to this zoning issue. I noticed you didn't answer if you had consulted a zoning professional about these issues. They chose to ignore me long before the Aquaponic issue even came up. Even if they did figure that their justification wouldn't satisfy me, isn't it a shame that even after I talk about the requirement going against our laws and being corrupt at public forum, they also don't have anything to tell the public that they feel would explain it to them. Instead the Mayor just blames business owners for not going to City Hall to find out what is required. Are you saying that the Mayor is full of crap, and people shouldn't go to him to find out what is required? How many of these professional zoning consultants do we have in Streator? Maybe not being able to go to City Hall and get the proper information and having to hire professional consultants to try to find out what our City will require is why we have so many empty buildings. The end result is a dying downtown.
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Post by northsider on Mar 17, 2014 21:35:24 GMT -6
You went to the city and they told you what was required. The problem is you don't understand the law so you think that the city broke the law. The fact is you are wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong wrong wrong. Did I mention that you are wrong. You could have consulted any attorney and they would have told you the same thing, you are wrong. I hope this clears things up for you.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Mar 17, 2014 22:35:44 GMT -6
You went to the city and they told you what was required. The problem is you don't understand the law so you think that the city broke the law. The fact is you are wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong wrong wrong. Did I mention that you are wrong. You could have consulted any attorney and they would have told you the same thing, you are wrong. I hope this clears things up for you. No it doesn't clear anything up. Just because you repeat wrong a bunch of times doesn't make it so. If they did follow the law then there would be no problem providing the part of the law that explains their requirement. I don't need an attorney to tell me anything, I can read our ordinances. The end result is that you will just have to keep listening to me talk about corruption because the Mayor can't provide any justification for his made up requirement. Declining population, occupancy rate and property values and our Mayor makes up requirements to keep business out. People can't trust going to City Hall to get proper information, because of his corruption. I think he should be ashamed of this situation he has created.
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Post by mommytoo4 on Mar 17, 2014 22:40:37 GMT -6
You went to the city and they told you what was required. The problem is you don't understand the law so you think that the city broke the law. The fact is you are wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong wrong wrong. Did I mention that you are wrong. You could have consulted any attorney and they would have told you the same thing, you are wrong. I hope this clears things up for you. No it doesn't clear anything up. Just because you repeat wrong a bunch of times doesn't make it so. If they did follow the law then there would be no problem providing the part of the law that explains their requirement. I don't need an attorney to tell me anything, I can read our ordinances. The end result is that you will just have to keep listening to me talk about corruption because the Mayor can't provide any justification for his made up requirement. Declining population, occupancy rate and property values and our Mayor makes up requirements to keep business out. People can't trust going to City Hall to get proper information, because of his corruption. I think he should be ashamed of this situation he has created. Maybe you should try bitching about Illinois, were you aware that exelon is in talks with the state about 3 nuclear plants, this state is full of "CORRUPT" politicians, maybe it would be in your best interest to go back to Arizona
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Mar 18, 2014 6:54:03 GMT -6
Maybe you should try b*tching about Illinois, were you aware that exelon is in talks with the state about 3 nuclear plants, this state is full of "CORRUPT" politicians, maybe it would be in your best interest to go back to Arizona Oh yes, let's just suggest that more people leave Streator. That will really help, won't it? One more vacant building not being maintained will really make our downtown look better, won't it? There would be less people downtown, less sales tax being generated, and less money being brought into our community. Then what, would that make you happy because people would just be able to fight in the streets without them worrying about later being seen on YouTube and you wouldn't have to listen to me talk about how wrong it is for the violence being allowed to continue? If I leave, I do plan to take a computer with me, but the video cameras will stay. I was in Florida when the street brawl happened last summer; I downloaded the video there and edited and posted it. Since so few people are investing in Streator, I will obviously still own a building here and so, will still be very interested in what does go on here, and will still keep posting and writing letters to the newspaper. Does it really matter if I am in my building on Main Street, watching a Spring Training game in Arizona, or sitting on a beach in Florida? If you really want to be done with me, make a good offer on buying my building. I will not be dumping mine at a loss like many have, but if there were a good offer I would sell, otherwise I will keep trying to protect what I have.
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Post by mommytoo4 on Mar 18, 2014 8:31:40 GMT -6
Maybe you should try b*tching about Illinois, were you aware that exelon is in talks with the state about 3 nuclear plants, this state is full of "CORRUPT" politicians, maybe it would be in your best interest to go back to Arizona Oh yes, let's just suggest that more people leave Streator. That will really help, won't it? One more vacant building not being maintained will really make our downtown look better, won't it? There would be less people downtown, less sales tax being generated, and less money being brought into our community. Then what, would that make you happy because people would just be able to fight in the streets without them worrying about later being seen on YouTube and you wouldn't have to listen to me talk about how wrong it is for the violence being allowed to continue? If I leave, I do plan to take a computer with me, but the video cameras will stay. I was in Florida when the street brawl happened last summer; I downloaded the video there and edited and posted it. Since so few people are investing in Streator, I will obviously still own a building here and so, will still be very interested in what does go on here, and will still keep posting and writing letters to the newspaper. Does it really matter if I am in my building on Main Street, watching a Spring Training game in Arizona, or sitting on a beach in Florida? If you really want to be done with me, make a good offer on buying my building. I will not be dumping mine at a loss like many have, but if there were a good offer I would sell, otherwise I will keep trying to protect what I have. You missed the point, nobody is investing anything in this state, you keep blaming the town, your anger is misdirected!
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Post by Anonymous on Mar 18, 2014 8:32:47 GMT -6
And how much do you think that building of yours is worth? I was in it about 4 1/2 years ago. Checked out the top couple of floors. It needed a LOT of work then.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Mar 18, 2014 8:48:08 GMT -6
And how much do you think that building of yours is worth? I was in it about 4 1/2 years ago. Checked out the top couple of floors. It needed a LOT of work then. Yes, as you can tell from the picture, I haven't done any work to the outside, so why would you expect that I have done any on the inside? Don't be thinking that I will be negotiating a real estate transaction on here. Plus why would I discuss prices with someone who has already left Streator? If you do want to try to imagine a price, throw out any thinking of comparable sales, since other than properties being dumped to get out from under the City's threat of $750/day with each day being a separate occurrence fines from their vacant building ordinance, not many have really been investing in our downtown. Think more along the lines of someone who doesn't really want to sell, especially while market conditions here are so bad, and someone who would want to get back what they have invested. Think along the lines of it being bought by someone willing to pay a bit of a premium, because they want to get me out of here, like I said, a good offer.
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