Reader opinions on election, steel jobs, Belleville fees, MetroLink crime | Belleville News-Democrat

More patrols

The derelict Rob Nora apartments in Belleville are coming down and new $200K attached homes are being built. Be nice to have the eyesore gone, but there aren’t any homes in the surrounding area worth $200K. Crime in the surrounding neighborhoods has been increasing year after year. Bet the neighborhood associations would rather have more police patrols and green space from the city instead of wasting their tax money on a developer.

Rauner for me

A letter written by Jeanne Ives was published in the Wall Street Journal responding to an interview with Bruce Rauner. It reads like a typical political ad. It says nothing about what she would do about the myriad of problems she ticks off, only that Bruce Rauner is bad. It's easy to call yourself a Republican in her hometown of Naperville — it's nice and clean and rich and close to the boss. Her message is basically: Illinois sucks, Bruce Rauner sucks, I wanna be governor, I'm a mom and a veteran, so vote for me. I'll stick with Rauner because he "resists" the Mad-man, and let Ives go back to her comfy spot in the Dem-stacked Illinois legislature where she can get along with her kind.

Self-serving politician

Erik Jones, a candidate for U.S. Congress in the 13th District, often touts his legislative track record and Washington, D.C., experience. But when I really look at his track record and career progression, I see an individual who has changed jobs every two to four years and who moved into the 13th District from D.C. less than a year ago. Washington already has far too many self-serving politicians driven by ambition and opportunity. I want a U.S. Representative who is committed to the 13th Congressional District and whose life and career choices before becoming a political candidate reflect this commitment.

Romanik' lies matter

On Jan. 15, Bob Romanik stated on his radio show Black Lives Matter was endorsing his political opponent, Tanya Hildenbrand. Bob has PhotoShopped Hildenbrand into pics, created a fear-mongering commercial and talks daily of Black Lives Matter's support of his opponent. One problem, other than from Romanik's mouth and his Facebook sites, there is no evidence of Black Lives Matter's support. Romanik even stated Black Lives Matter called him and told him they are supporting Hildenbrand. So, in the last 54 days, the only person Black Lives Matter has called to express support of Hildenbrand is her political opponent who says the N-word 30 times in a 60-minute radio show? Bob professes to tell the truth; however, it appears he's done nothing but lie.​

Illinois 15 forever

Another multi-year Illinois 15 bridge project — I lived through the last Illinois 15 multi-year replacement of two bridges in my daily commute. Now, I have another. Why did I move to Belleville? In St. Louis, Interstate 64 and all bridges were completely replaced within two years. No delays or million-dollar cost overruns. Is IDOT so riddled with Democratic patronage jobs they can no long function? The ineptitude of IDOT will be on display for another two years.

Steely resolve

It’s good to see steel jobs coming back to Granite City. It’s an economic shot in the arm for all and will hopefully grow the economy as the plant expands. The growing Trump economy is one factor and the Trump steel tariffs will be the other. After 8 years of Obama and Democratic blabber, President Trump is actually doing something about unfair trade policies.

Self-protection

An East St. Louis woman, living in public housing, should be able to own a gun to protect herself. Her Second Amendment rights are being violated. Law-abiding people living in public housing should be allowed to protect themselves. Does anyone with a brain think the criminals won’t be carrying guns? The housing authority is a useless political organization full of lazy, corrupt political appointees who don’t care. If residents of public housing are allowed to carry, I bet public housing crime would drop significantly.

Gun control

When assault weapons are no longer available in corner stores, possibly accessibility will be limited. Maybe, having to go to a few licensed dealers to fill out forms and have a background check and waiting period will deter gun buyers who decide to buy a weapon in the same place where they can get a tennis racket or a loaf of bread. Hooray to the companies who are no longer selling assault weapons. Let's patronize them.

Judgment

Who wears black, gets paid, but never works — Judge Ron Duebbert. Charged with sexual abuse and intimidation in 2017, he continues on paid leave, with health benefits and accruing pension. Meanwhile, taxpayers are out more than $221,000 and counting.

MetroLink crime

Everyone knows MetroLink is unsafe to ride. People I know, who took MetroLink to the Cardinals' games last year, are thinking twice about riding it this year. No one is willing to ride it alone in the day or night. Violent crime on the MetroLink has increased this year even though MetroLink supposedly has more security. Didn’t Kern meet with all the political clowns to resolve this last year?

School tax

The article on the proposed Madison County sales tax increase quotes Nancy Moss saying, “This isn’t Branson, people don’t come from all over the country to shop here.” Is this lady serious? With the close proximity to St. Louis and the interstate access, Moss, people from all over actually do. Whether you are for or against this tax, at least speak with some common sense. I can’t believe she’s anyone’s spokesperson.

Base boss

Kudos to BND reporter Teri Maddox for her recent article covering the new 375th Air Mobility Wing at Scott. What a grand introduction for Col. Leslie Maher. Maddox’s fine piece served to humanize and personalize the base’s new boss in a very special way.

False alarm fee

If Belleville charged the property owners fees for sending out firemen to all of the false fire alarms that are called in on South Jackson, we wouldn't have to charge business owners more for their slot machines. We'd make money, save taxpayer money and encourage business owners to stay here.

Toss trash trucks

Instead of raising fees for Belleville big trash pickup, how about cutting some expenses. Get the city out of the trash business. You can get a real company to do this job cheaper and save a lot of money. You can get rid of trucks which means no maintenance for them, you would not have to pay drivers and laborers. Also, there would be no insurance payments on trucks and employees, no pension payments, no payroll taxes. Add that all up and you would not have to have higher fees.

Insanity

The BND points out 84 percent of the voters thought Illinois was going in the wrong direction. Yet, the same voters keeping re-electing the same people who are destroying our state. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Independent voice

As evidenced by many letter writers, people are dissatisfied with the current governmental bodies — local, state and national. However, they still vote for status quo; they still vote same party lines; they still vote for those who do not have an opponent or are incumbents. Time to vote against party lines and incumbents and vote or write-in the candidate that can best right the wrongs. Vote independently.

Promises, promises

The lot where the new Dollar General Store has been built in O'Fallon was zoned single-family residential until the city council rezoned it. During the negotiations the developer promised an 8-foot-high fence across the entire field behind the store prior to construction. Despite an audio recording of him making statements that verify this, he developer is refusing to build this fence, stating that he doesn't remember the promise and plans to build a lesser fence sometime in the future. For some reason, the city left this detail out of the final project write up, so they are unable to hold the developer accountable for his promise. The lesson is that you cannot count on city officials to protect you or a developer to keep his word.