Showing posts with label Steve Mandel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Mandel. Show all posts

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Looking for that "commitment to transparency, accessibility and ethics..."

Sharing a letter sent to Mayor Nancy Rotering today -


March 15, 2012
Mayor Nancy R. Rotering
nrotering@cityhpil.com

SUBJECT: Termination of the Storm and Sanitary Program & Reimbursement to Residents


Dear Mayor Rotering,

Congratulations on completing the search for a new city manager. David Knapp appears to be an excellent choice and I look forward to welcoming him to Highland Park.

As you know, in addition to a good mayor, a knowledgeable and sound city manager can have a significant and positive impact on the city.  Unfortunately, the lasting legacy of our former city manager is that nearly 50 residents were seriously harmed financially with regard to an ill-conceived storm and sanitary sewer program.  There were several other better solutions to HP's storm sewer problems but he decided upon and promoted the very worst alternative, patently inequitable, discriminatory, and unfair, and the City Council accepted his proposal. 

Other communities in northern Illinois addressed their city's storm and sanitary sewer systems holistically and ensured that the entire community paid for any necessary updates to the infrastructure. Our former city manager and City Council devised a program to foist the entire infrastructure problem on individual homeowners in uncapped and undefined amounts possibly as high as $20,000+.   Nearly $250,000 was paid by about 50 of these unfortunate HP residents in 2008 -- an inequitable financial burden that the City has yet to foist upon all the other residents, yet was clearly ready to do so at the clip of 50+ homes per year had not the Ravinia Neighbors Association put up a fight.  You were a part of that fight, and that fight helped you to gain a seat as a Councilman which, in turn, helped enable you to succeed in your election as a mayoral candidate. 

To the best of my knowledge, this storm and sanitary program has yet to be terminated by the City Council under your leadership.  Yet, approximately 50 of our fellow residents and neighbors have borne the brunt of this shameful program.  It’s long overdue and time for the Mayor and Councilmen to do the right thing now -- reimburse all those who were coerced and forced to pay under threat of lien for this program.  Terminate the program and embark on a new program that is equitable, effective and cost efficient for the community.

As indicated in my blog, “Down the Drain in HP,” many of these homeowners were in their retirement years, some of them had to move or leave the community as a result.  I've had calls from widows, as well as families trying to pay for their children's college tuition, or just get by, and they are asking, "why is Mayor Rotering doing nothing about this? Why is the City of Highland Park not reimbursing us? They know this is wrong but the Mayor and the Councilmen just don't give a damn about us." The homes of some of these residents were foreclosed upon by the banks and some are no longer able to live in our community. I've informed those who are in touch with me that I wrote to the Mayor and all the City Councilmen but only Paul Frank has met with me, and Jim Kirsch had a phone conversation with me. That Steve Mandel is strongly opposed and the others are silent. I’ve told them that Paul Frank informed me that he is “sympathetic” but he doesn’t believe City Council can reimburse the residents because the City doesn’t want to set a precedent of [doing the right thing and] acknowledging they did the wrong thing and making it right ("because they have made so many other errors in the past, so this might mean other residents will want reimbursement, too, for other mistakes").  Is that the kind of reasoning that our mayor and City Council should abide?  In any event, the reimbursement requested by these residents is completely distinct from any other program in the City and would not set a precedent with regard to former programs.  However, the point is that we look to the Mayor and Councilmen to do the right thing, under any circumstance.

This is a sad, disgraceful story community story. In the face of the facts that have been disclosed to this current City Council, they cannot just say that this program was started by former City Council.  It is the current City Council’s job to resolve this and yet they show an egregious callousness to our City's residents and the principles of community and equitable treatment under the law, made worse in the economy that existed then and now.


Over the years, I have heard various councilmen indicate that the City of HP's program was the only way the work could be done.  No other viable alternatives existed or exist even today in their minds. This is likely because the former city manager didn't provide them with alternatives, and they didn’t and haven’t looked for any. It is clear that many of the Councilmen have never taken the time to read the detailed information in my blog or to seek the appropriate information from the City’s Public Works department.  Everyone in HP city government has failed to fix these problems and search for better answers.

So, I reached out to the Mayor of Downers Grove, MartinTully, and he provided me with the Downers Grove Sanitary District PrivateProperty Infiltration and Inflow Removal Program, a copy of which is attached with this e-mail.  Not only will you find a practical solution to the City of Highland Park's problem, you will see the overriding philosophy of Downers Grove:

“The financial assistance is being provided by the District to recognize that the removal of I/I from the sanitary sewer system benefits all users of the system and, therefore, the costs of this removal should be paid by all users as a system cost. The program also provides a mechanism to insure that the work is performed cost effectively and in a manner which protects the integrity of the sanitary sewer system.”
Downers Grove asks permission to go onto private property and the community – not individual residents -- pays for all the work need to be done to ensure that the storm sewers do not invade the sanitary sewers and vice versa.  The Mayor of Downers Grove informs me that the residents are very pleased with this system.  Isn’t it amazing that their community with a lower per capita income (according to Wikipedia) has the ability to provide more valuable services to their residents than Highland Park?  I would be glad to provide you with an introduction to Mayor Tully who has shown great leadership in his community and perhaps he has other valuable insights to share with our community.

As you’ll see, the Downers Grove program was determined by their Sanitary District.  So, I have copied Daniel Pierce on this correspondence.


 Quoting from your email today to Highland Park residents:

“Less than a year ago, four new Council members and a new Mayor came to City Hall. We ran for office out of a desire to serve our community, to make our City government more responsive to our residents and to use your money wisely.

We made a commitment to transparency, accessibility and ethics.”

I would like to see the Mayor and City Council walk the talk. So far, this community has seen the former and current mayors and councilmen turn their back on 50 residents that have been harmed by the City of Highland Park, a City Council that for too long has ignored this issue and has not been willing to do the right, fair, and just thing and reimburse residents who who were cherry-picked to bear the burden of an ill-conceived sanitary line program.

I would like to meet with you as soon as possible to seek a resolution of the storm and sanitary sewer program.  If possible, it would be great to meet with the new City Manager, too. We can meet jointly, or I can meet with David Knapp on my own.  Please provide me with several of the earliest possible dates to meet with David Knapp and you. I will do my best to arrange my schedule to accommodate yours.  Please advise me a few dates, and please schedule 1.5 hours for the meeting as there are considerable details that need to be discussed not only for resolution, but to also constructively move forward in way that’s a benefit to our entire community.

Frankly, it is very difficult for me to find the time to keep going back to City Council on this issue.  Running the City equitably is not my job.  Learning everything I now know about storm and sanitary sewers is not my job.  I’m not even one of the people whose homes were affected by this inequitable program.  Yet, I care about deeply about this City and look to City Council to fix this problem once and for all. 

Respectfully, and with best personal regards,

Debra

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The list of the residents forced by the City of HP to pay more than $237,000...

In response to yesterday's blog, we were contacted by several people who asked questions such as "how do I know whether my parents had to pay and need reimbursement?" and "how do I know whether, or how soon, the City of Highland Park will send me 'the letter' demanding payment?"  Additionally, another reader wanted to know who the people are that already paid, and how much.  In essence, the question is, who are the people who have already suffered this financial injury and are they friends of mine?

We can't say when the City of Highland Park will take the Sewer Program off of "hiatus" and put it on your street again. We can only say it remains a viable program, one that Councilman Mandel recently referred to as "huge success."    We haven't heard anything from Mayor Rotering or any other councilman to confirm they will propose to terminate the program "as is" and take another look to develop a program in which the financial burden for improving City infrastructure is placed on the City.  So, it appears more likely than not, at this time, that the Sewer Program will raise its ugly face sooner rather than later, and, individual residents will continue to bear the burden of improving the community's infrastructure.  

EVERYONE who has ever had their sanitary line rodded for tree roots, or who should have this done, is at risk of getting "the letter" that will most likely cost you a minimum of $4,500 for a line on a small lot to $20,000+ for larger properties with deeper lots.  The definition of a broken sanitary lateral line in need of repair, according to City Hall, is any line that has ever been rodded for tree roots or that has tree roots. Given the fact that Highland Park is a Tree City and our parkways are usually beautifully planted with trees, chances are that you will eventually receive "the letter."  When?  Probably when it is least convenient for you, such as when you're selling the house, or you're ready to pay your children's tuition, or you're just about to retire.

Of course, you can prevent this scenario by contacting Mayor Rotering and all the Councilmen and telling them in no uncertain terms that this must stop -- that the  City must pay for improvements to storm and sanitary sewer infrastructure.

The group first targeted in the Sewer Program is revealed in today's blog in the Invoice List the City of Highland Park provided to us in response to the FOIA request.  (Finally figured out a way to post some documents on this blog.  It will be too small to read initially, but if you click on the page, it will expand, with a further opportunity to zoom in on it.)

You'll see friends, neighbors, former neighbors, maybe family, and see how residents were chosen from various neighborhoods.  It's hard to know why an entire neighborhood wasn't addressed at any time -- perhaps it is easier to shove "the Code" down residents' throats if you don't concentrate them into a viable group.

In talking with some of the people on this list, we've found people who have said "why did they choose my home, but not the home down the street where they have to use special toilet paper because their sanitary line is really broken?"  They think the other home has been entirely skipped. To which we reply,  the neighbor just wasn't targeted in this wave.  The City will be back for them.

Did the City choose a handful of residences in one neighbor and then a handful of residents in another neighborhood, rather than just improving a single neighborhood at a time, in an effort to "divide and conquer" the residents?  We really don't know, as we haven't seen any documentation, nor has anyone interviewed City Hall about this.  Unfortunately, we suppose it is possible...perhaps time will tell.


Sunday, June 26, 2011

All to pay for sewer lining when home is sold? Outrageous!!

Again, trying to keep everyone up to date, following is the response received from Steve Mandel to the previous correspondence. Perhaps the most important thing to note is that Councilman Mandel continues to put your savings at the core of repairing City of Highland Park infrastructure.  Highlighted below, you'll see that one of Steve's "solutions" to our complaints is that the residents be forced to pay for sewer lining upon sale of their homes.  Pay now, or pay later.  You'll be paying, and, most likely when you're most vulnerable, needing to sell.  And, imagine the impact on our already depressed real estate market.   Friends, neighbors, you've got to speak up, now!
Please remember that for most of us, there is nothing wrong with our sanitary lateral lines -- our plumbers come out and rod them from time to time to remove tree roots.  They don't suggest replacing, repairing, lining, because they know that no liner will ever withstand a tree root -- and, believe me, your plumber would love to tell you that you need an expensive repair, if you really needed it for your household or if your sanitary line was invading a neighbor's property.  That simply isn't the case and I've discussed this with my plumber.
This is an HP infrastructure problem, a matter of how HP storm sewers function and impact on our property and, yes, interface with the sanitary lateral lines.  Councilman Mandel and the rest of City Council need to focus on managing the HP budget to take care of infrastructure issues and not pawn them off on residents who already pay high taxes specifically for such things. 
And, to anticipate Steve's response that everyone won't have to pay for sewer lining, just the homes with "broken" sanitary sewer lines, just remember, the City's definition of broken is whether the line as ever been invaded by tree roots.  In HP, as a Tree City, almost everyone has had tree roots at one time or another.  Open that checkbook! 
June 23, 2011 
Steve Mandel to Debra Rade
e-mail
Debra,
Again, the work that was done on the sanitary sewer program was with unprecedented subsidies, a low interest loan provided, and the a negotiated price with one contractor offered to everybody through the fine work of our staff. 
While many other residents through out the city have repaired or had to install brand new sewers on their private property over the past 20 years, none of them had the costs reduced and subsidized as we did in this program. We went the extra mile to help you comply with the law. 
The fact that we could change policies and laws in the future does not mean that old policies were bad or I'll conceived, it just means that we might try a different approach and change the policy.
As you know, I had proposed we change our policy in Ravinia and look for other ways to accomplish our goals... That does not mean that people with broken sewers would not be required to fix them. It could mean they are required to fix them upon sale. It could mean more or less participation from the city....  There could be new technology to change outcomes that could facilitate a change in policy.
The bottom line here Debra is that the city council made the decision they did with the communities best interest in mind and it was not a mistake. Policies and laws have changed quite often over the years but I have never recalled us refunding money for private repairs due to policy change. 
Economics have hurt all of us over the past 3 years and the idea to not stress our residents at this point in time was a change in policy that was generated by the change in Economics. I would be very surprised to see any current or future City Council refund public money to you for work on your private property. As a matter of fact it could be illegal and I would think extremely unlikely.
You can share my words with whomever you wish... As a matter of fact I will probably write about this matter in my blog and send it to the 1000 people on my list for their feedback. I don't fault you for your advocacy but I am troubled by the tone of your past rhetoric and claims of some wrong done to you by our city. 
We will continue on refining our policies and laws to fit the time, technology, and our priorities. Our consideration of our residents individually and as a whole will always be foremost on our minds......  

Steve

Friday, June 24, 2011

Do the right thing. Reimburse the residents. Now.

For those of you waiting with bated breath for my response to Councilman Mandel's reply to me, posted earlier today, it follows here in whole.  Frankly, it was great to get a reply from Councilman Mandel -- it was the first time we heard from him on the issue, even though my brother was writing to all the Councilmen in City Hall on the subject since 2007!  At least we now have a better idea of where he stands. 

Please do take the time to read Councilman Mandel's reply.  Now is also a good time to let him know your opinion. He is our elected representative...

As always, your comments are most welcome. 

PS  This will be my last posting today.  New blog posting will resume on on Sunday, when I'll post Council Mandel's response to the following e-mail.  Yes, there's more.  Will try to keep you up to date. .

Sent: Thu, Jun 23, 2011 4:22 pm
Subject:  Reimbursing Residents for the Failed Sanitary Sewer Program

Dear Councilman Mandel,

First, thank you for taking the time to reply as a Councilman to my letter to Mayor Rotering, copied to all City Councilmen.  It’s good to see our elected officials articulate their positions. 

Please be assured that the statements in my previous letter concerning your position on the Master Plan for Storm & Sanitary Sewers (“the Sewer Program”) was based directly on your own communications with my family.

In August 2007, my brother, David Rade, wrote his first letter in a series of letters/e-mails to Mayor Belsky, with copies of all to City Councilmen, to complain about the Sewer Program, particularly with regard to the inequitable treatment of residents, the extraordinary cost, the coercion by lien, the demand that residents agree to undefined repairs with undefined expense, the requirement they provide indemnifications to the City and to the contractor and their neighbors for work done solely at the City’s direction, with the City’s contractor, etc.  Frankly, there were so many flaws to the Sanitary Program and the manner it was implemented, so many insults to residents, and callous disregard for them, that it would take too long to cover it all here.  You and the rest of City Council, particularly the new Councilmen, can easily access the history through the Mayor’s and David Limardi’s office, and some of that correspondence and relative facts are posted on the Down the Drain in HP blog.

Throughout nearly four years of correspondence, only Mayor Belsky and former Councilman Mike Brenner responded in writing.  Only Mike Brenner, and much later, Nancy Rotering, called David to ask questions about his letters, to demonstrate an active interest, and approached his correspondence with an open mind, in learning how this single resident viewed the program. (We did not know then how many others had also complained to David Limardi’s office, their complaints also falling on deaf ears - needed a FOIA search for that.)

I believe David’s last e-mail to Mayor Belsky, copied to all, was on October 27, 2010 (see attached PDF).  Only after three years of this series of e-mails sent by David to the Mayor and Councilmen, did you finally send David a response -- on October 30, copied to David Limardi and Scott Levenfeld only, as follows:
“David,
Nothing is a no brainer…..No. 1-- just because I oppose this continued program does not mean it is public or Council  policy No. 2—just because we change public policy does not mean it is retro active.
 If that were the case my parents should get back the money they paid for a public street being paved (Ridge Road). That is also not our policy anymore for us improving arterials……. and that was a public improvement, not on private property.
Now, I say all of this because I am 100% behind the policy change but I am not sure about your second request for reimbursement….. Don’t fry me yet since I have not vetted that issue.. but is far from a no-brainer to me.  Hey, I also finally got my taxes reduced from them doubling them but that did not save me from the years I was unfairly taxed… Can I hire you to get that reimbursement?
Call me if you want to talk further.
Steve Mandel
847.456.6933”

If you are unhappy with what I wrote, look to the response you sent to my brother, who has been working diligently for three years to gain reimbursement for all the residents of Highland Park, including himself, while City Council ignored him and other residents who had complained.. Frankly, you responded with a “life isn’t fair” type response to a resident on mission to ensure that all residents are treated appropriately and fairly.  We’ve always expected that HP Councilmen are on that mission too in making our voting decisions.

Yesterday’s response will be shared with others interested in this issue.  Many of them remember you running for election the last time, promising that you were not supportive of the Sewer Program. Three years later, nothing has been done. Indeed, most residents in Ravinia thought the program was dead and were shocked to learn it was merely “on hiatus.”  They will be interested to learn that you believe the program was a “huge success” and that, even if it isn’t, your position is that the 45 unlucky targeted residents for 2008 should pay for an expense that thousands of others will not have to pay, except in increments of less of than $10.

Just yesterday, I received an e-mail from a highly articulate Ravinia resident encouraging me to point out to City Council that:
·         There has been no quantitative measurement of success for those neighborhoods where the program has been implemented;
·         The City has not sought additional/alternate funding sources to pay for the Sewer Program (if the City decides to move ahead with it), as promised by David Limardi at the public meetings of irate residents at the Public Works building; and,
·         It does not appear that the City has changed the way in which it handles improvements to the main and lateral junctions for current infrastructure projects, potentially damaging the very laterals the residents are then asked to improve.

Huge success?  Maybe Mr. Limardi, former Mayor Belsky and you think so.  If anyone else on City Council thinks so, he should let me know, preferably in writing, so I can share it on the blog and with the interested residents – or, better yet, they can post their positions directly to the blog.  We need to hold our Councilmen accountable.

Finally, I suggest you take the time to read the AECOM report, attached. It may help you understand the technical issues as well as options considered by other communities.  Frankly, a report like this should have been required by City Council before the Sewer Program was voted on.  In any event, the report is actually issued by the same folks who helped Mr. Limardi design the Sewer Program in the first place.  After the public meetings with the RNA, the City agreed to get a third opinion.  This hardly qualifies as an unbiased opinion, but you will find that, as stated in my previous letter, it is a useful document and notes that  no other community in Northern Illinois forced individual residents to pay for this.

I hope that all the new members of City Council will look at these issues with fresh eyes, and not just rely on Mr. Limardi and Mary Anderson to explain it to them – they certainly didn’t do a good job of it when questioned at the Public Works meetings set up for the RNA in 2008.  Also, I am available to sit down with you and the others at any time  to talk about the Sewer Program. 

In any event, the issue of reimbursement is quite separate.  The City of Highland Park NEVER should have required individual residents to pay for unnecessary “repairs” to their private property to address a City infrastructure problem. The residents should have their payments refunded immediately.

Your e-mail response notwithstanding, this is not a personal matter with you.  Our family is among your constituents.  Your constituents need to be heard and represented.  This is important City business.  I certainly respect your contributions to Highland Park and your long service on the City Council.  This is a single issue that continues to deserve your reconsideration and all the good work you’ve done does not detract from the fact that you’re very off base here.  Do the right thing, reimburse the residents, now, with the new found money in the reserves.

Respectfully yours,
Debra

PS  With regard to your parting and unnecessary comment that I should run for office if I want to change city policy:  It is your job, as Councilman and oft times Mayor Pro Tem to listen to your constituents in setting appropriate city policies and laws.  My brother has done an extraordinary job of fighting for equitable treatment for all, and I've been proud to support him in doing the right thing. It is a shame that either of us and the Ravinia Neighborhood Association has had to work so hard and so long for such little success with our representatives.  Three years after the two meetings with the RNA, three years after promises were made and not kept, nothing has been done to address the underlying issues other than place them "on hiatus."  Steve, I'm doing a good job of being an constituent.  I'm looking for you and the others to change the policy and to do the right thing.  That's your job, you know that...

Councilman Mandel: Sewer Program a "Huge Success"

Haven't heard back from Mayor Rotering yet, although am confident she will reply in due course with her considered response.  I remain hopeful that she will live up to her campaign stances.

Meanwhile, Councilman Mandel responded promptly, on June 22, copied to City Hall and the others on my initial list.  His response is provided in full, without comment. Wishing to avoid you having to read too much in any one sitting, my response to this e-mail will be provided later today.  

In the meantime, please provide your comments directly to the Mayor and your City Council representatives, hopefully sharing your comments with us on the blog.  If necessary, the blog will publish comments anonymously, but only if you provide us with your name and address and we can verify you are a "real resident" here.  There may be some who fear commenting on this issue publicly, especially from the many who do, or wish to do, business with the City.  Nonetheless, their voices should be heard...

E-MAIL FROM COUNCILMAN STEVE MANDEL TO DEBRA RADE, 6/22/2011

"Thank you Debra for representing my position of why I am opposed to funding…NOT! My parents are not the only folks over the years that have been made to pay for public improvements. There have been thousands of residents that helped build the PUBLIC streets that we all drive on.  I do resent your tone on suggesting that my logic is based on a personal matter and find it extremely offensive. You could not be more incorrect. I spent countless hours on this issue working for resolution and you have a lot of nerve writing off my opinion on a personal note….

Now, YOU’RE not even asking for reimbursement of a public improvement that is owned by the City of Highland Park. You are asking for reimbursement of a PRIVATE line that was leaking and causing back up in other people’s homes because of massive water infiltration that was overloading the lines from broken pipes like yours. And many folks in Sherwood forest (many more that 45) spent money on their laterals and private lines due to flooding issues without the city subsidy that you received.

Even though I personally requested we put the program on hold and asked that we look at changing our policy, the policy which caused you to fix your broken sewer line was the opinion of the entire council without one no vote. This decision was based on factual data presented by the staff and was enacted to protect the citizens that had basements that were flooding. The City has also spent millions of dollars of all of our taxpayer money in your and other effected neighborhoods. We instituted a master plan to address these matters across the city and continue to have a robust spending policy to deal with flooding.

Finally the program was not a failure, and quite the contrary a huge success since many that were having water issues are now without flooded basements. Sorry you’re so upset but please do not represent my thoughts for me. If you want to change city policy, run for office and see how well your rant is accepted by the voters.

Steve"

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Your comments...

This blog does get comments from time to time, even from Mayor Belsky, and I'm not sure if everyone can find them. They trail the various posts (some under "archive") and in teeny-tiny Googleblog letters, if a comment was left, there is a place to click to read them. You can also subscribe to the blog and the comments individually directly in the right hand column.

Dan offered a helpful comment last night. "Couple questions: 1) what's the best way to express our concerns to the candidates; and 2) I don't know Steve Mandel so why is it not surprising he wouldn't want to reimburse those who have already paid in?" Dan is clearly a strategic thinker and person of action!

1) Lots of ways to express our opinion thanks to social media and the fact that we're a rather small city.

If you don't want to go through all the technical and other details, you merely need to tell the candidates that you support Debra's position on the Sanitary Sewer Program and that you will not support a mayoral candidate who does not actively work now to fix this situation before the election. They will understand. They will be sympathetic. Tell them that this isn't enough, that you want to see action now.

You can:
  • Send a message: Both candidates have Facebook pages: Nancy's and Terri's. If you'd rather deliver your thoughts more directly, Terri's email address: terri@olianformayor.com and Nancy's: Nancy@FriendsofNancy.com. They also have websites.
  • Call them (I just don't want to publish their home numbers but they are in the book...)
  • Talk to them when they visit your home. Nancy showed up at my home a few weeks ago in the cold!
  • Let them know when you run into them at Sunset Foods and other stores.
Let the blog know if you contact them and what their response is. If you do not wish to be published, that will be respected. If you need my personal e-mail address, that will be provided if you leave a comment on the blog and request it.

2) Why wasn't it wasn't a surprise that Steve Mandel was a vocal opponent of Terri Olian's brave position at the budget meeting that the Councilmen address the issue of reimbursement in planning for 2011?

My brother has been writing City Councilmen for more than two years now. Until recently, Steve never even responded to those letters. (And neither did any other Councilman, except for Michael Brenner.) In November, Steve finally sent an e-mail in response David's umpty-ninth correspondence that demanded reimbursement.

Steve responded that he is opposed to the continuation of the Sanitary Sewer Program, although for the past two years he has done nothing to place it on the agenda and get rid of it. (Actions speak louder than words.)

However, Steve further told my brother that he was opposed to reimbursing the residents who already paid for this unsupportable Program. Seems that years ago Steve's parents had to pay for Ridge Road being paved, and that they weren't going to get their money back just because it is not the City's policy anymore with regard to improving arterial roads. He ended his e-mail with a something that purported to be an analogy stating that if he (Steve) was able to get his taxes reduced from them being doubled, that would not save him from the years he was unfairly taxed.

I guess Councilman Mandel thinks the City should operate under the principle that "oh, well, life is tough, it isn't fair, get over it." He did nothing to respond to the complaints before my brother and other HP residents were targeted as individual residents, and has done nothing since. And, now, that these targeted residents have been relieved of their hard earned cash (remember, we're talking $5000-20,000) upon threat of a lien for a program he no longer supports (at least in theory), it is no surprise that he opposed Terri Olian when she raised the question of reimbursement. (The fact that he also supports Nancy Rotering as the candidate may also weigh into his vocal opposition at that meeting, but, who knows?)

BTW, we do give Steve Mandel credit for finally replying to my brother's e-mail. Shortly afterward, Nancy Rotering called my brother. Terri Olian and I had a long chat about the issue. There remain three other Councilmen who in nearly three years have never responded once to any of the letters sent to City Hall with copies to them.

You can reach Steve Mandel at stevemandel@comcast.net. He is most welcome to articulate his position in a comment to this blog.