Does Zion need a NEW mayor and City Council?

If only he would answer his phone or return calls someone might, but I guess it's hard to do with NO office hours and all that full time paycheck. I wonder what would happen if the property tax office called me and I refused to answer or call back? I wonder if they would brush off my lack of response as we are supposed to do the with the mayors lack of response to everything problematic in zion.

Oh, I know, call him and invite him to a photo op or a ground breaking of some new entity(doesn't have to be real)he shows up for those.

He is too good to return calls or respond to letters from small people. I freaken hate Zion. Moved out and haven't looked back on that pitiful town. It's truly the pits.

I repeat, money grubbing city officials.

Oh please.. Quit your whining.. Gather up folks that see things your way and vote.. Most people can give a damn about Zion politics.. Everyone knows city hall is worthless, but who do you think will step up to make a difference?

Simple answer......YES!

Why does it take so long to post minutes from the city council meetings? Its been enough time and no posts for july, not even early july. Why are they hiding meeting minutes from the public?

Does anyone know the REAL reason Chief Booth is no longer the cchief of the Zion Police Dept?
I don't buy him leaving for some powerplant job. Guys like him are strickly ego driven. A clash with our racist mayor perhaps?

John in Zion wrote:

Does anyone know the REAL reason Chief Booth is no longer the cchief of the Zion Police Dept?
I don't buy him leaving for some powerplant job. Guys like him are strickly ego driven. A clash with our racist mayor perhaps?

Most likely the jerry hobbs fiasco, it was on his watch, not to mention the uncontrollable crime rate in zion, the attitude of the zion police department, etc. Another thing John, does it seem strange to you that so many unemployed in Zion can't get a job but these guys with the city coffers supporting them seem to have several jobs? I guess that it must be nice to own a bookstore, be on the TIF board as well as the school board and have a hubby that has a nice job and is on the city council as well as being a Zion commissioner.
P.S. That is only one person, multiply that x quite a few. raises an intresting conversation.

im a current resident of zion..ive seen the rise and the steady fall of zion..i plan on gathering enough finances to over throw and replace the joke of a committee we currently have..i applaud those who actually a have a voice and use it to express their opinions openly.i wont let zion fall.i guarantee it.i am derrick and i need your support for this.derrick_qualls@yahoo.com

You don't have to put up with high crime, racial degradation and white trash. Move. We are.

John in Zion wrote:

Does anyone know the REAL reason Chief Booth is no longer the cchief of the Zion Police Dept?
I don't buy him leaving for some powerplant job. Guys like him are strickly ego driven. A clash with our racist mayor perhaps?

How about he reached his maximum towards his pension, and is now working on another one?

Away with this corrupt regime! People are sliding all over the roads. Where is the salt in our neighborhoods. I found myself shoveling the street to give my car traction. I love our new police commissioner. She is has great ethics and has brought positive change within the police department. But the Mayor has to hit the road!

Michah Thompson wrote:

Away with this corrupt regime! People are sliding all over the roads. Where is the salt in our neighborhoods. I found myself shoveling the street to give my car traction. I love our new police commissioner. She is has great ethics and has brought positive change within the police department. But the Mayor has to hit the road!

Can't buy salt?, Maybe the money is needed for the mayors salary. LOL

Michah Thompson wrote:

Away with this corrupt regime! People are sliding all over the roads. Where is the salt in our neighborhoods. I found myself shoveling the street to give my car traction. I love our new police commissioner. She is has great ethics and has brought positive change within the police department. But the Mayor has to hit the road!

When did the police commissioner become a female? "she" is the building commissioner, and she allows substandard work to be done for contractors that supported her election. let's not forget that she hasn't paid her taxes.

yes yes yes new mayor, new council please .....

Yes we do need new a Mayor among other things. This vote to increase taxes while half of our town is losing their homes is insane. What they don't understand is that by raising our taxes they are driving property values down. In 2009 out property taxes were 10.035% the highest in Lake County, the highest in IL and ready for this one, one of the highest in the country. What do we have to show for it? Bad schools, drug dealers on the corners an overworked police department. Where is all of this money going? Straight into someones pocket book.

With the city's current plan what is going to happen is taxes go up, causing peoples mortgages to go up. Well what happens when peoples mortgages go up, they start missing payments. Then before you know it there is another home being foreclosed on. This drives property values down even further. The people in this town who can absorb the increase get their property taxes reassessed. This causes the taxes to go down. Which means that the city gets less money. Not to mention you know the banks are behind in the taxes on all of the properties they own. So then what is next property taxes go up again until no one can afford to live in this town any more.

Here is what they need to do. First instead of a tax increase how about lower property taxes. This will do two things number one all of the home owners will now have lower more affordable homes keeping them in their homes and yes you guessed it paying taxes. The other thing that it will do it make Zion a more affordable and attractive town for potential home owners to live in. Then they buy homes in Zion causing property values to go up which then will cause our assessed value to increase. This will mean that yes our property taxes will go up but our homes will be worth more. In my opinion this creates a win win for both home owners and the city gets what the "need".

If our local Government started running our town like a small business instead of a endless tap of free flowing I think that we would see a huge improvement in our town.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Does anyone know when the elections are?

Goes without saying

Time for Change wrote:

Does anyone know when the elections are?

I think March, he appears to be running unopposed ! I hear nobody wants the mess that is city hall.:(

No one has mentioned that the city council voted NOT to increase the 2011 tax levy. They are the only taxing body to hold the line. Not a word said about the 21.9% increase that the park ditrict approved, or the 6% that Zion Disrtict 6 approved.

Lots of negative comments here, but know one has stepped up to run for city council.

Not defending the current mayor, there is an awful lot of room for improvement, but bitching about won't change anything.

How many of the people posting on this forum have actually been to a city council meeting/park board/school board meeting and raised the issue of taxation?

I attended a tax levy hearing, and I was the ONLY person in the audience.