I have been at a couple of meetings when Belleville Alderman Joe Hayden has loudly interrupted the meeting with his rants. One that especially comes to mind is when Mayor Mark Eckert was absent from a housing meeting due to an earlier commitment.

Alderman Ken Kinsella was presiding over the meeting, I believe, and was trying to limit the speakers to three or four minutes. One landlord got up and had pages and pages of documents to read from. When Kinsella tried to stop him, Hayden shouted over him and kept going on loudly and rudely that the landlord should be allowed to speak.

I do not always agree with Eckert but my vote will be with him. If he is to be replaced in the upcoming election, I pray it is not with Hayden.

I think if we look at where we were before Eckert it's a no-brainer. He is not responsible for the influx of an undesirable element of people moving into Belleville and as citizens we have to be more watchful of our own neighborhoods. When I have ever needed the police, they have been there within minutes.

Mary Fischer

Belleville