Volunteer to work with children: find out what real scrutiny is. Then come back and whine about how no one appreciates the volunteerism of service here and shows ingratitude by wishing to subject the volunteers to scrutiny. Those who don't like the heat can get out of the kitchen.
Riverside Info » About Riverside
COW Tuesday, April 3, 7:30 !!!
(109 posts)-
Posted Tuesday Apr 10, 2007 11:37 #
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I spoke with a Trustee tonight and he couldn't really give me much info on the Caucus. I saw the Village President this evening at the discussion about extending the No Smoking ordinance to the entire Village, Naturally I was speaking against it as I thought it stupid to tell people they couldn't smoke if they were walking alone through the parks. He advised me to look after my health - hmmm. I guess he really cares about us. Each and every one.
Posted Tuesday Apr 10, 2007 22:00 # -
This forum has really degenerated into one focused on the Caucus rather than the TIF. The Caucus is not a "secret" organization or some sort of cabal that runs the Village. I know from reading the comments of some that they will never believe that. You need to understand that no one is going to post the names of the Caucus members on an open site on the Internet.
Frankly, it is irrelevant to me what a few of you decide to believe about the Caucus. I have participated in it for years and know what it really is - a group of well-minded, responsible people who are committed to Riverside and devote their time to helping insure that Riverside has at least one top quality candidate for each open position on every ballot. "Quality" is a subjective factor and one left to the conscience of each Caucus member who votes. There is no litmus test and no after the election control. Join the Caucus and you'll be impressed by how serious the members take their responsibilty.
I turn to this forum no more. I will look to information concerning the TIF elsewhere. You folks can continue to argue about what the Caucus is and ignore the central issue facing Riverside.
Finally, it is important to keep in mind that people can disagree on the issues without having their integrity questioned.
Posted Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 11:36 # -
I am not surprised that it is irrelevant to you what - in fact - MOST of the voters in Riverside think of the Caucus since MOST voters do not bother to turn out to vote for your endorsed candidates. Trustees running a village on the power of hundreds of votes is a joke. You did not come here to learn about the TIF but arrived when people began discussing the strange role of the caucus in our political life.
An organization that one cannot find out about without joining it is, ipso facto, a "secret" organization. Why would anyone want to join? Perhaps that is why you have only 80 members.
You are correct, you and your organization have no right whatsoever to decide who is a "quality" candidate, nor can you vouchsafe the quality of the consciences of your members.
I suggest you accomodate the current century by establishing a website, just in case there is something you have to say about yourselves.
Posted Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 11:54 # -
Yes, this forum's creation was due to the impending tif, and in exploring this issue, its causes and factors and players, I notice that each and every trustee associated with this TIF has the word 'Caucus' next to their name on the ballot, like some kind of last name. So this is why we are trying to find more out about this thing.
I repeat that I appreciate wsuriano and frantsiz coming over and presenting information on The Caucus.
Considering how controversial The TIF is in this town - across the general citizenry- I would expect to see a lot of realclose votes on the board such as 4-3, or even better AGAINST the tif-tod, and yet I think we see 7-0, 6-1 in favor of it.
The will of the people does not seem to be the factor animating this voting pattern. What else is? I am EDIT: NOT saying it is the Caucus. They all got the same last name and they all vote the same way despite a strong public opposition.
It probably has to do with other factors such as where people work and where the experience they have. We already learned that the trustee leading the tif charge is a partner in one of the biggest pro tif law firms in chicago. I also heard somewhere that the Riverside Village president served on some train transportation board for like 3 decades or something like that. Maybe THAT might explain why we need a parking deck to help out the transportation biz.
These factors have nothing to do w/ the Caucus but they are out there and shoul be presented to people when they decide whether to establish a TIF district in Riverside.
VOTE APRIL 17 TUESDAY to show you care, people.
Posted Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 12:18 # -
And the Lord said, "This TIF is blasphemy! You shall have snow in summer, and if you ignore the Will of my people a plague of locusts shall descend upon your village.
Why is everyone affiliated withn the Caucus so thin-skinned. I think more than 95% of what is posted here was about the TIF. There was no mention of the Caucus for months and months. It was all TIF. Then we asked the Village for some numbers, and got obfuscation. So we asked again, and exercised our rights, and discovered some facts - not all - but some. Like the fact that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on the ineffectual B2 Zoning code that allowed the VC to be built, the TOD study that says we need 70-100 additional condos downtown "as fast as we can build them, things like that. Then we had a free citizen's initiative circulate a petition to ask the residents what they think about all this, and over 600 signed. Throughout I never heard the word Caucus or saw it here on the Forum.
THEN we had a Trustee at a Village Board meeting tell us that he was totally uninterested in this election, words to the effect -that didn't care how many people voted for or against it, because he knew what was right and he was put into office to do as he thought best. "Put into office by who?" one might ask. This tirade was a little strange after hosting a series of workshops where the vote was 3-1 against the TIF and most of the "features" of the TOD study that this same Trustee had voted to implement. Could it have been triggered by something we said about representing the will of the voters?
Then we got the "silent majority" line, just like old Spiro Agnew used to give it to us, while he was taking a frozen turkey as a bribe. Well Nixon wasn't a crook - he told us so. But he was a lawyer. And so was John Mitchell and a lot of others before and since.
So then people started to ask, how do these people come to be elected as Trustees, and why don't we have opposition candidates, and what voice do we have if elections are uncontested? And we see other communities having candidate debates and signs on the street and media coverage of the candidates views, but here - all is silent as the tomb. Nothing in print or debate. And you begin to wonder, how does a small group of people exercise such a mastery of the electoral process?
And naturally, that raises curiosity about what it means to be a Caucus candidate, because here we have a Caucus candidate that says he doesn't care about the results of an election. So then people ask more questions - and some people give you a bit of fluff like "concerned citizens" and "doing their civic duty to supply at least one qualified candidate for each position" and "join with us and you'll learn what great guys we are" and how we are all good fellows etc., etc. But ask any question that requires a direct detailoed answer and suddenly, those that have answered before are now insulted. They wabnt to take their ball and go home. You know, I, like most people, declare my party affiliation in a primary, and I don't keep it a secret. Dem, Lib, Rep, Ind. whatever. It's public and it's OK. But ask someone if they are a member of the Caucus, and suddenly, it's "What do want to know for?" Ask who it's members are and no answer is forthcoming. Ask too oten and people are insulted.
It seems that Caucus members don't want to tell us who selects the candidates that run in these elections and get elected by default and who will, by their actions, effect this Village for a long time to come. We'd like to know who among us unearths and selects these candidates. Exactly how they are picked? After all, we are talking about our shared public government here, right?
We are addressing exactly THE CENTRAL ISSUE that faces Riverside - THE TIF. It is a unique financial tool in that it, almost alone, does not require a public vote to enact it. All it needs is a majority of the Trustees. So that makes it very relevant to know everything we can discover about these Trustees and how they obtained their placees on the ballot, who they might represent, what business dealings they might have with developers, all that. It is absolutely relevant. I can't fathom why you don't understand that or think it is deviating from the main issue - the TIF. If people don't like scrutiny they shouldn't be in public office.
This TIF is about the future of Riverside. It centers on development issues, the us of land, the size of buildings, the use of ED, the protection of green space - the quality of life for all the residents - not just the Caucus member. Once a Trustee says he doesn't care how people vote - and no other Trustee or anyone else at that table takes issue with that statement - then you really do have an issue here that requires the utmost scrutiny. This is fact finding. Like the old Russian saying that Reagan quoted so often to Gorby - "Trust, but verify."
Posted Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 12:32 # -
Mr. Suriano ~ You have to understand that there might be some questions about the Caucus' role in Village politics. You state that you "have participated in it for years and know what it really is - a group of well-minded, responsible people who are committed to Riverside and devote their time to helping insure that Riverside has at least one top quality candidate for each open position on every ballot. "Quality" is a subjective factor and one left to the conscience of each Caucus member who votes."
Do you see, though, that you are making decisions for the rest of the voters in Riverside? I don't get to determine for myself if a person is a quality candidate. I feel that I am well-minded and responsible and are committed to Riverside. By pre-selecting candidates, your group is taking the decision-making out of the hands of the voters where it rightfully belongs. I know that the system is there, and I can accept it because there is no alternative, but I do question if it is necessary. If there was another party in town, then I could see the need to have two platforms to choose from. But where there isn't, and when more people would like to run but don't have the support of the Caucus that is just getting in the way of the voting process.
I know that the obvious reply is that anyone can run independent, which is true, but that rarely happens because those people don't have formal support. In a town our size, I'm sure that staging a debate or having q & a sessions in a town hall format or newspaper interviews would bring the candidates' views out in the open. I do believe that the Caucus members are nice and well-meaning and responsible citizens and I appreciate that fact. But so am I...and so are so many others. Acknowledging that there is more than one facet of this issue is not so difficult and shouldn't cause you or anyone to take offense - I am sorry if you feel differently.
Posted Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 13:08 # -
Elisa, in order to run for a trustee position you do not need formal support to get elected. Its nice but not neccessary. What you have to do is work at it.Kay Schnieder got herself elected by stumping around town, ringing doorbells and talking to people face to face. Also you you are going to have convince people as a candidate that you are not a one issue candidate because that would not get my vote, and I think plenty of people think the same way. So if lets say, you, ran for a trustee position. I'd want to know that after the tiff issue is over oneway or the other, are you going to put in the 20Hrs per week for four years that it take to be a good trustee? Back in the 90's an opposition party ran against caucus candidates and won, includung the president position.The thing is, they were not a one issue group. So forgive me if I say that all this moaning about the caucus is a little over done.
Posted Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 13:34 # -
The Cacaus is not thin skinned. It has taken all sorts of unjustified abuse for years. I just don't have to participate in a forum that doesn't seem interested in what the Caucus is or what it actually does. If you just want to bash the Caucus, continue on without me. To say that the Caucus takes the decision out of the hands of voters is patently absurd. What do you think a political party does when it nominates people? The big difference between the Caucus and a political party is that the party truly does run the candidate after an election. If you think the Caucus needs competition, quit complaining and get in the game.
Posted Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 13:35 # -
No, it would be simpler and better for the Caucus to withdraw and let candidates stand before the voters on a level playing field.
Is all criticism unjustified? It sounds like it.
Posted Wednesday Apr 11, 2007 13:48 #
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