Not sure what the Mayor is smoking but Naperville never has been, isn't now, and I strongly think never will be a vacation destination.

Everyone I know who lives in Naperville usually plans their vacations far in advance and plan to get as far away from here as possible.

Personally I can't think of a single reason why I would want to spend a single day of my vacation time in Naperville. Maybe that works for a few hermits who like to hang around the house and just chill out. There is a great big world out there and I want to see as much of it as possible.

What's the worst thing that could happen? Possibly that I find someplace I like a whole lot more and move there? The way this town has changed it is getting easier and easier to find other communities that are more appealing.

"Vacation" in Naperville?? Eeewwwwwwwww!!!!! It's bad enough to live here!

Once again, if you don't want your residents supporting other towns then you don't deserve to have nonresidents supporting you. Simple as that. Naperville should be happy to have people come from all over eating in their restaurants, shopping, etc. If it weren't for them you wouldn't have a DT district.

How is it ridiculous to have a Mayor ask the residents support the businesses in town?

If you want all residents of Naperville to stay in Naperville then maybe you should close your "borders" to people from other towns. Let's see how much tax revenue is lost, empty restaurants and businesses shut down. Not all those cars in the parking lots DT and in the strip malls all over 59 and elsewhere are residents of Naperville.

After all Mayor, if you don't want your citizens to spend their money else where, then you shouldn't have others coming into your town and spending theirs.

What a ridiculous request to make of your citizens.

I only have one question for the Mayor.

If we all agree to stay in Naperville... would he then be willing to do us a favor and leave?

Wealthy towns with McMansions are not inhabited with gang bangers. The McMansion owners buy their kids cars at age 16. They don't need to steal or deal drugs to survive or get the hot wheels they want.

Any wealthy town has less crime than any poor town.

________________________

The difference from the crimes in Naperville and other big cities is that they call it "white collar crimes". You know the ones with people who have the money to buy illegal drugs and abuse RX. Drug addiction and illegal use of RX drugs is a crime and it's happening in Naperville. YOu many think it doesn't affect you but when they get behind a wheel to drive their car pools around and ride home from the train station you better be careful.

Many drug dealers exist not because of teenagers but because of adults with cash. Anyone who doesn't no that is living under a rock. Time for all hermits crabs to come out of their shell and view reality.

It exists everywhere, even in, gasp, Naperville. I bet you anyone with HS kids could tell you that.

Marshall,

There is more to crime than just gang bangers. Robbers know to go where the high value goods are and with that, the better possibility of success in getting away with it. Keeping a lot of officers out on the beats and in motion creates the stigma in a city that they can respond very rapidly when someone calls something in and your chances of being seen doing something or stopped and allegedly 'harassed' make this a town most people up to 'no good' will go elsewhere to do that 'no good'.

"The Naperville Police are very lucky to be policing a very wealthy town with relatively little crime...not because of their excellent work. But because the son of a millionaire will go to his Daddy for money before he sells drugs for money...before he robs for money."

I have known plenty over the years who are sons of millionaires who sold drugs and lots of them too. That is the real world. 8 years ago they were selling them in the Taco Bell parking lot on 75th and Rickert when literally hundreds of kids used to 'hang out' there and do other things as well.

They have the officers and manpower to scoot people out of there and there's not been a problem since that I'm aware of. Most kids know not to even go there to 'hang out' like they used to setting up street races down 75th all the way to Book Rd.

Anonymous on July 1, 2008 10:31 AM

There is still quite a bit of crime in Naperville, including violent crime. There are still murders, rapes, etc. The violent crime in Naperville has not touched the police. Right now it is just touches fellow citizens.

__________________________

Be Careful Anonymous, there is an entire group on another blog who are arguing that there is no violent crime in Naperville and that being a Naperville Cop is the easiest, cakewalk of a job anyone could find. As represented by the following two postings: (I particularly like the second one where June argues that being a teacher is much more stressful).

Lillian on June 24, 2008 10:46 AM
Cops in general are not even one of the 10 most dangerous professions in America and yet they sell themselves to the city council as risking their lives everyday for us. Naperville Cops in particular probably would not make one of the 100 most dangerous professions in America.
Not one Naperville Cop has ever even been shot at while on duty in the 178 year history of Naperville

June on June 3, 2008 8:11 AM
Teaching students is much more difficult than writing parking and traffic tickets. Much more stressful! Grading papers at home is much more difficut than walking up and down Jackson Street during the LAST FLING and getting paid up to $900 dollars for your OT shift(75 dollar X 12 hours.)

Joe,

I think you are missing the point.

Wealthy towns with McMansions are not inhabited with gang bangers. The McMansion owners buy their kids cars at age 16. They don't need to steal or deal drugs to survive or get the hot wheels they want.

Any wealthy town has less crime than any poor town.

Naperville is going to rank very well in comparison to Detroit.

Is it because the police are doing a better job or is it because the gangs are just not here turfing and designating their own streets?

Gangs don't go to different neighborhoods to control streets and blocks. They do it in their own neighborhoods.

Yes, sometimes they do cross borders and commit serious crimes. But most of the time Chicago and Aurora Gangbangers commit crimes in their own towns...thankfully!

The Naperville Police are very lucky to be policing a very wealthy town with relatively little crime...not because of their excellent work. But because the son of a millionaire will go to his Daddy for money before he sells drugs for money...before he robs for money.

This is the real world Joe. You know what I mean.

There are many great young kids in Aurora and Chicago...don't get me wrong...but unfortunately they have more than their fair share of bad kids who join gangs!

Anon,

You can compare cities over 100K and their crime rates to Naperville (you know, the ones that touch the ordinary fellow citizens) all you want.

Post away.

Let's see how badly Naperville ranks compared to them.

Joe,

That DOES NOT mean the police department is "doing something obviously very right". There is absolutely nothing factual to support such a ludicrous statement.

Fact is another department could be doing a lot of things wrong and still have an identical or better record.

There is still quite a bit of crime in Naperville, including violent crime. There are still murders, rapes, etc. The violent crime in Naperville has not touched the police. Right now it is just touches fellow citizens.

It could be argued that the response by Naperville Police to violent crime is such that they never place themselves in harms way to be potentially shot at by someone who is in the act of committing a violent crime.

So be careful on how you sing the praises unless you have compelling proof.

Results matter, we have a great police force with a broken pension system.

Bubo

"No Naperville Police officer has even been shot and killed on duty or off duty. No Naperville Police Officer has ever been shot and injured by a bullet in 178 years history of Naperville. Where is the massive danger? It is fantasy danger! It is illusional danger! It is delusional danger! It is not REAL DANGER!"

And that means we're doing something obviously VERY RIGHT in the police department to have a city like that.

Keep pointing that out because it speaks volumes to the good job they do.

I have two policy issues with the Mayor:

1. Anything the developers want is good.

2. Anything staff wants is good, which turns out to be the same as #1.

Bubo

Anonymous,

I believe Naperville teachers pay 35% of health care costs when they start and it gradually deceases to 0. Told to me by a Naperville Central High School teacher at the pool the other day.

I believe City Police and Firemen pay nothing and most likely have no deductible or tiny ones on their health insurance policies.

Basically we are subsidizing everything for them.

It really is ridiculous!

And being a Naperville Police Officer or Fireman is a relatively easy job. Especially a fireman! We have 10 fires in town a year and yet we have all this OT in that department! Why!

We had a 50% reduction in fires and we are still hiring new firemen! Why?

Police are no longer one of the 10 most dangerous professions in America. That is when talking about all the police in the country in one sense!

If you are talking about Naperville Police specifically, that is not even one of the 1000 most dangerous jobs in America.

No Naperville Police officer has even been shot and killed on duty or off duty. No Naperville Police Officer has ever been shot and injured by a bullet in 178 years history of Naperville. Where is the massive danger? It is fantasy danger! It is illusional danger! It is delusional danger! It is not REAL DANGER!

Yes, a police officer was killed on a motorcycle accident and another was injured off-duty on a motorcycle. But my Napergatian friends have been preaching against motorcycles before Councilman Bob made his revelations.

No one is listening. Chief David Dial went ahead and bought 2 more dangerous police motorcylces for his officers to ride. He obviously is too smart to ride them himself. Mr. Dial knows about the former Police Chief who was involved in a high speed chase against a robber on his motorcycle and his unfortunate death in 1929. That should have been a lesson learned but unfortunately it was not.

That is a good point that I had not considered before... health care benefits for retired city workers, including police.

Does anyone know if the city does provide health care benefits? Who is the plan administrator? How much do retired employees contribute? Etc. etc?

Maybe Councilman Bob can chime in with some solid facts pertaining to the regular city employees as well. How much do they contribute per year? What is covered... health, dental, eyes, drugs, etc.? What are the deductibles and co-pay? Etc., etc.?

How about a nice comparison between what typical private sector benefits plans and what the city is providing?

If you go back and study how the Mayor has voted you will know that he has never voted against something the police department wanted. Never. Not once. If nothing else, this suggests that he is incapable of being impartial. It also suggests that he places the needs/wants of the police department above the needs/wants of the taxpayers. Clearly a conflict of interests for someone who carries a retired police officer shield in his wallet yet never recuses himself on police department.

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Anonymous,

A retired police officer shield in his wallet is not the only problem. He also collects a very nice police pension at taxpayer expense.

The pension system is so broke and yet he votes on such issues when he should recuse himself.

He gets a check and is benefitting from this very broken and underfudnded pension system.

I agree the Mayor should not be voting on any issue concerning the NPD!

Mostly he should not be voting on the starting salary of new Naperville Cops which could be the root cause of most of the problems in the NPD!

I think we need to bankrupt those pensions and we need Mayor Pradel to recuse himself so we can file bankruptcy and rid ourselves of this $51.5 million red pension deficit!!!

We should also stop health insurance to former and current Naperville Police. It is simply no long affordable and not a benefit that is required by State Law. It is optional! He needs to recuse himself on this vote as well!

If you go back and study how the Mayor has voted you will know that he has never voted against something the police department wanted. Never. Not once. If nothing else, this suggests that he is incapable of being impartial. It also suggests that he places the needs/wants of the police department above the needs/wants of the taxpayers. Clearly a conflict of interests for someone who carries a retired police officer shield in his wallet yet never recuses himself on police department.

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Anonymous,

A retired police officer shield in his wallet is not the only problem. He also collects a very nice police pension at taxpayer expense.

The pension system is so broke and yet he votes on such issues when he should recuse himself.

He gets a check and is benefitting from this very broken and underfudnded pension system.

I agree the Mayor should not be voting on any issue concerning the NPD!

Mostly he should not be voting on the starting salary of new Naperville Cops which could be the root cause of most of the problems in the NPD!

I think we need to bankrupt those pensions and we need Mayor Pradel to recuse himself so we can file bankruptcy and rid ourselves of this $51.5 million red pension deficit!!!

We should also stop health insurance to former and current Naperville Police. It is simply no long affordable and not a benefit that is required by State Law. It is optional! He needs to recuse himself on this vote as well!

To Anonymous on June 28, 2008 4:15 PM,

Honestly, I think your speculations on what things "therefore must be" with regards to the Mayor are a bit off, based on my experiences with George.

I believe there is a part of his personality and who he is that places A LOT of trust in those giving him information. He trusts it to be accurate, he trusts it to be unbiased, and he trusts it to be thorough. I don't believe he gives this trust blindly, but I do believe that he expects those people he knows and deals with to be on the same honest and forthcoming level as he is. This alone leaves a gaping hole that can unfortunately be abused by those with whom he has placed that trust. Whether it is or not, I don't know specifically, but it was something I noticed based on conversation with him. I had the fortunate opportunity to actually sit down with him in a restaurant one night this past week and he was genuinely interested in soliciting my feedback on things about the city in comparison with other places I have lived. From his discussions about a Mayoral conference he attended, I got the impression that he doesn't play the political games like you suggest. He's just a genuine person and expects everyone else to be the same; open, honest and genuine when they present information to him. This may explain the rarity of voting against city staff recommendations because he expects THEM to have done their homework, analysis and reached the RIGHT decision in the recommendation.

To be honest with you, I wish all of city staff could work to his expectations. I think that would be a good thing for the city to actually live and work in the world George expects us to. I certainly respect your opinion and your stated voting decisions in the future but I thought I would share my perception of things and tell you I would vote for him again because I believe he is the beacon of conduct that city employees (regardless of department) should strive to live up to.

No doubt, the Mayor IS a nice, friendly guy. He is also known as unabashed cheer leader for the city though at times he chooses to do it doesn't present the city with much class or sophistication; rather makes the city look a little like yokels and backwards. Maybe he is representing the friends, neighbors, and relatives that he regularly associates with in these portrayals though the rest of the city tends to be reflected in the same light.

No doubt, the Mayor has good intentions. As they say the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. The fact remains that the city employs hundreds of people and has an operating budget of hundreds of millions of dollars. Voters need to take a hard look at the experience, qualifications, and education of all candidates for city council, including the Mayor.

Just being a nice guy isn't good enough today. We need someone who has the analytical ability to dig into what city staff recommends and truly understand the details and the issues and votes to represent the best interests of the taxpayers.

If you go back and study the Mayor and his council service you will know that he never leads the charge. He never initiates discussion on controversial issues. He sits back and he only picks a side, when he decides to vote, when there is already a clear majority. This is not leadership and in fact it is abdication of leadership.

If you go back and study how the Mayor has voted you will know that he very rarely ever votes against city staff recommendations.

If you go back and study how the Mayor has voted you will know that he has never voted against something the police department wanted. Never. Not once. If nothing else, this suggests that he is incapable of being impartial. It also suggests that he places the needs/wants of the police department above the needs/wants of the taxpayers. Clearly a conflict of interests for someone who carries a retired police officer shield in his wallet yet never recuses himself on police department business. Funny how conflict of interests don't apply to him, but he tries to make them apply to other council members.

If you go back and study how the Mayor has voted you will know that he even more rarely, as in most rarely, ever ends up with his vote being on any issue being anywhere other than with what the majority voted. As in he votes with majority flow. If nothing else this strongly supports, as other posters have suggested, that he makes decisions in the "back room" instead in an open public meeting like he should.

So despite his dismal voting record and lack of introducing any meaningful city ordinances during his entire council service I still like the guy. Because I like him does not mean I will vote for him.

Our city government is spiraling out of control. City employees have developed a culture of we vs them, with them being the residents that pay their salary and benefits. City services are slowly deteriorating. Costs are increasing and some are out-of-control. The needs of the city have changed and so must the qualifications of those who represent us.

I'm a BIG believer in term limits. I'm a BIG believer that professional bureaucrats are the source of many of our problems. If you want to serve, fine. One or two terms, on rare occasions even three terms. The it is time to step aside and let someone else have a chance. Let someone else make a mark. Hello, Doug Krause... does this sound familiar to you?

Fact is those who make most usually make their mark in the first few years. Those who hang around for decades really start just taking up space. New blood is better any day than someone taking up space. Doug is another nice guy and has been serving for way too long. He did his turn, move on. Same for George.

And because of how things have gone down for the last 10 - 15 years there is no way I'm going to vote for anyone on city council who is either a lawyer or a retired police officer. Just my opinion on where the source of some of our problems lie and how I intend to vote.

In reference to the personal attacks against Pradel above:

1. He is a great cheer leader for the City, it is good that we have one, so I thank him for the extra effort.

2. No one can be as UP as he is all the time, so I thank him for the extra effort.

3. No one is more available at City Hall than the Mayor, so I thank him for the extra effort.

4. When the Mayor is convinced that there is a problem he gets it fixed, so I thank him for the extra effort.

If you have policy issues with the Mayor by all means post them. If you wish to post personal attacks against the man, post them with your full name.

If you watch or attend the City Council meetings, what you will see is that the mayor is but one vote. The Council plus Mayor give approval to the policies and the actions of the City Manager and occasionally change a program or two. Like a board of Directors.

Ann,

The City portion of my real estate tax bill increased every single year the last decade. Sometime the rate decreased but that is expected in a town with huge growth.

For example we now have 52,000 households instead of 38,000 households paying for those same large Police and City Hall buildings. They are the same buildings running the same town. We may have more staff but I am not sure. We should have less staff now since growth has tapered off immensely. Much of the staff was related to growth. Checking development sites, issuing housing permits, making code inspections, etc. etc.

A good town would terminate growth related positions once growth stops. Naperville feels an obligation to keep them not only on the payroll but give them pensions at young ages till they die.

Once growth stopped and we could no longer add to the assessed value of our tax base, the seams all cracked wide open and revealed our inefficient and incompetent city government.

Now all the ridiculous expenses such as for pensions are paid fully by the old taxpayers. The blow is not being softened significantly by new McMansions which are drying up. Amoco left town and will probably have a hearing to reduce its real estate tax on its empty building in Dupage County soon. Any reduction they justifiably receive will be passed on to the residential taxpayer.

The situation for the taxpayers will get worse if those 3 parking garages downtown are built. It will get much worse if we chose to pay those police and fire pensions instead of declaring bankruptcy.

Our council members have to be strong at this time and give the city employees tough love. They need to ask them to take a 20% reduction across the board and agree to half the pensions they were promised or face bankrupty and get nothing.

If it was not for home rule that allowed 20% tax increase this year, Ann, we would have had to file bankruptcy. Our council members just passed the puck to the taxpayers. I doubt they could pass it again with an election looming early next year!

Especially not, if the Napergatians decide to pool their money and buy some ads in the Sun and tell residents what is really happening. I think most residents would be shocked if they ever learned the entire truth about the crookedness in City Hall!

There may be no need for Napergate ads, if the Naperville Sun decides to put this issue on the front pages. I honestly would rather see that than have these Napergate ads start all over again!

Sorry Ann, but you are off the mark a bit.

There should be consistent cutting. Don't forget the city has gone through a growth phase. All the new home, all the new residents, all the new tax money pouring into city hall should be giving us all a scale of economies due to more people paying for the cost of city government.

It is rather outstanding and odd that we did go through a period of consistent cost cutting, albeit rather minor cost cutting from the city and then as soon as we have a new temporary city manager... boom, up go the taxes. Clearly Marshall does not have the ability to manage the budget as effectively as Burchard did.

"He is not the policy maker." I'm assuming you are referring to the Mayor from the context in which that statement was made. While the Mayor is elected separately he still is a city council member and all of the city council members are definitely responsible for setting city policy. This is not a responsibility they can subrogate to the city manager.

"A trip to the mall funds another town." Too true. You probably haven't lived here long enough to know that the entire area surrounding Fox Valley mall was unincorporated many years ago. The developers wanted to be annexed to Naperville and yes our wonderful city council in their infinite wisdom turned them down so the developers turned to Aurora instead. The rest is as they say history. The Cantera development in Warrenville was a stone quarry years ago and is another example of how powerfully shortsighted the thinking our city council has been for many, many years. Look at the Naperville boundaries around the quarry and ask yourself how and why this piece of ground wasn't annexed?

Just look at all of the tax revenue we are now missing out on because of bad decision made years ago. Hopefully thru this forum we can all work hard to keep the number of really bone headed mistakes to a minimum from here on.

Commenting on Amy's comments;
"Even a 5% tax increase" .. Have you looked at your tax bill the last several years? Last year was the first year the city portion increased. Prior to that the city cut CITY taxes. Remember, the city has nothing to do with school taxes, park district taxes, county taxes, etc. Maybe all the years of cutting made the last increase look large but look back at your bills.
Also, why complain to Mayor Pradel? The city manager runs the city and makes recommendations, including when your taxes were CUT by the city in years past. The Council is who is really in charge. Mayor represents us to the world, and does an admirable job. He is not the policy maker.
Homeowners expect an awful lot for their tax dollar and I think we get a lot more than other towns around us. Look at the tax bill and see where your money really is going. With fuel prices going up can the city really afford to run out and do unnecessary things that a property owner should be doing for himself? Also, shop in Naperville so taxes stay here. A trip to the mall funds another town.

I did take my kids downtown the other night; the movie ticket at a first rate theater was $4, pizza next door was $2 a slice, ice cream cones were $1.40 and a police SUV was circling the downtown every five minutes.

We went to Downers Grove.

Maybe the Mayor and City Council should ask themselves how they managed to screw this up so badly?

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I don't think they know!

There still trying to figure out how to add 3 more parking decks with free parking and yet find a way not to increase our taxes 50% a year instead of 20% a year.

Just give them a little more time and they will put the town in foreclosure.

I hope there is a bidder or two out there!

Maybe Donald Trump can buy Naperville for 5 cents on the dollar and fix it up for us! You never know!

He thrives on taking over other peoples "screw-ups."

Naperville could be his biggest investment yet!

I have to say I agree with some of the earlier posters. I too have pretty much given up on eating downtown. We used to have a pretty good mix of small owner type restaurants. Now there is mostly nothing but a bunch of chain style restaurants that you can pretty find anywhere... nothing special, nothing unique with pretty much run-of-the-mill fare you can get anywhere else. Not even a really, nice romantic spot anymore for those special nights out. Add in the hassle of parking, all of the out-of-towners, the ridiculous taxes and it is just not fun and relaxing like it used to be to go out for dinner in downtown Naperville. We find ourselves more often than not frequenting more and more of the mom and pop type operations in less popular locations and many are even in different towns. What we have discovered is that not only is the food better, the portions bigger, and the service nicer but 9 times out of ten we are able to get a table either immediately or within a few minutes... nothing like the hour to 90 minute waits downtown and the total meal cost is usually between one-third and one-half of what it cost downtown. In my opinion a far better value for our money. The real nice part about the mom and pop operations is that they really appreciate your business and after you come back 2-3 times they actually start to remember you and call you by name.

There was a time when downtown Naperville was like that too. I'm afraid we have lost that part of our history and charm for all time. Now downtown Naperville has become a destination, just not for those who actually live in Naperville.

Maybe the Mayor and City Council should ask themselves how they managed to screw this up so badly?

I use to take my kids to the playground at the Riverwalk until they built the skate park; and all the foul mouth kids got to take it over after the Park District banned the cops from the skate park and refused to staff it with anyone from the Park District. If anarchy is good, and placing the lowest common denominator in charge is better, than the skate park is great.

We loved going to Centenial Beach until the pool became unsafe from extreme rough housing in the pool while the lifeguards and management look the other way for hours. I especially enjoy watching the Park Police breaking up the gang related fights and other activities in the NE corner of the property.

Start enforcing the rules, put up the cameras and get your heads out of the sand.

Reality is that the first career position for some of the kids in Naperville is going to be dogie in Stateville. Hopefully everyone else's suffering can be minimized by getting them into the system sooner rather than later.

If the City wants to keep the lowest element in the city contained during the summer months when they are not trying to ruin our schools, I suggest a time honored outdoors exercise activity, chain gangs. I always liked watching them clean the beaches in Florida at sunrise. Surf, sand and fun.

Maybe they can pick up trash along Rt59 while rival gang member throw beer bottles at them from passing cars.

This begs for a metaphor, but one does not come to mind, any suggestions out there in blog land?

Little Italian IS one of the best values in Naperville! Great pizza and very cold beer.

I agree with your sentiments about the large franchise restaurants. Few can afford to go to Morton's, Catch 35, Sullivan's, with the exception of the corporate expense account crowd and even that niche is drying up as companies reign in spending.

We need to support the Mom & Pop businesses in this city (what few are left) to keep from turning into the same bland franchised restaurant landscape that you can find just about anywhere.

Go patronize some of the locally-owned restaurants like Your Neighbors, Little Italian, Traverso's, Quigley's, Angelie's, or any of the 300 Chinese restaurants in a strip shopping center near you.

Dannosden,

They do really have great food at Little Italian on Bailey Rd for about one third the price of downtown restaurants.

Plenty of parking right in front of the store and even an outdoor patio.

For 22 bucks you can get a Super King Size pizza with 2 items that can feed a a family of 8. About twice the size of the pizza that you get at Lou Malnati and even more delicious.

I guess when times get tough those Mom and Pop shops can come through for us with great values!

I have to agree most of downtown is not only unaffordable but not worth the hassle! And I am not eating down there anymore and paying that extra 1.5% in sales tax for parking. Until the landlords pay for that parking, I am done with downtown Naperville! I am sure I am not the only one done with the situation either!

I guess at some point a message needs to be sent to our city council leaders, that enough is enough when it comes to all these subsidies.

They need visitors to get the DuPage Children Museum out of millions of dollars or debt.

Or you can go see the Dr. Seuss statue that we are buying for over $100k.

I'm all for nice things, but this is getting ridiculous.

Btw, I don't patronize downtown Naperville restaurants. I can't afford plunking down upwards of $140 for 2 at Sullivan's or Catch 35.

I'll go to Little Italian on Bailey or Neighbor's on 75th. and support a local business. The pizza is great and the beer is cold.

I don't go to Ribfest because everyone is drunk when they leave. Someday someone will be killed by a drunk driver coming home from a Naperville festival.

We need to get back to basics and quit spending big money on bronze statues and supporting big corporate restaurant chains.

I only patronize family businesses in Naperville now.(whats left)

What a pompous old ass! Sadly and as usual he has no clue how insulting his patronizing little Chamber of Commerce rant came off.

Just about as insulting as the time I saw him "working" a wake at a funeral for a friend of mine only George didn't realize none of the mourners were from Naperville. Imagine going around glad handing everyone and they all know you don't belong and you don't have a clue they are on to you.. yep that's good old George! Hopefully the rest of the NPD has better intuition skills for goodness sake.

Since George never did have a real clue on how to be a Mayor maybe the next time around he will do us all a favor and step down and step aside for someone who knows how to lead this city. What did we expect anyway from someone with a high school education and Officer Friendly as a career highlight?

George has really never done much of anything noteworthy for the residents of Naperville despite all the years and all the opportunities. All he cares about is the new taxes and higher taxes he keeps hitting us with. Maybe the Chamber of Commerce will hire him full time as head cheerleader and give him that pay raise he his civil servant heart has been complaining about for the last several years.

What I don't understand is how someone who is so obviously a Democrat has managed to get in and stay in office in Naperville for so long.

I like leaving the area all together to get away from the one upmanship and elitist in this town. You all complain about the price of gas as you get into your big old SUV to tool around town with only 2 kids in the backseat and drinking your Starbucks. Give me a break.

It sounds funny to hear the mayor try to help us to save gas!! I just wish I didn't have to battle bumper to bumper traffic in the four miles that I have to drive to any of these attractions. and... where do I park? Have you forgotten that we are sadly lacking parking anywhere in the downtown area? .. Congratulations to whoever is responsible for ruining a good thing by allowing overbuilding, congestion and frustration when we actually do try to take advantage of what naperville has to offer. but.. at least i have a garden to look at on Naperville Road while i sit there burning gas in traffic that goes nowhere!!! How about some bus service!!! wouldn't that help???

I like going out for a drive....up and down Ogden Ave and checking out the gas prices...just to see if I can afford to get to Centennial Beach and back home.

I like the local forest preserves, as they are less crowded than the downtown areas and there's no Starbucks there. Yet.

Mayor George Pradel,

I agree with you that we should try to vacation at home whenever possible. It would save us gas money and put desperately needed sales tax money in city coffers.

I understand our consumption of gas is down 6%. What is not being told to Napervillians is that our TRUE DOLLAR expenditure on gas is probably up 30% or more since gas went up nearly 40%. It just seems like the City is always trying to sugar coat the impending disaster that is on our door steps by not having FULL DISCLOSURE. (I hope you are listening CM Kenn Miller)

While I got your ears, Mr. Mayor, I would like you to comment on the excessive salaries and pensions you and your fellow council members agreed to for the police and fire unions. As you probably have read on these blogs, the pensions resulting from the high salaries and given at very early retirement ages are no longer sustainable...they are deep in RED INK!

I don't think the city can get away with another 20% tax increase next year. With our homes down in value your tax collections will be much worse in coming years. What are you going to do next? Double our tax rate to compensate for the lower assessed values of our home which should result in lower taxes! Let us face it you will have to double our tax rates if you don't reduce city expenses in a serious way!

You have a great reputation Mr. Mayor! Let us not let your great reputation as a 4 term elected Mayor be remembered for bankupting the city due to excessive pensionalizing. Have a chat with the City Finance Director and demand some answers while looking him straight in the eyes! Council Man Bob is doing a wonderful job unravelling the mess at City Hall for us! Please help him, Mr. Mayor so we can get to the bottom of this and solve it before it worsens.

Chicago has set up a 32 person commission headed by a former City Finance Director to deal with these runaway city pensions. They are 10 billion in the red and falling 400 million more in the red each year despite massive contributions to their city pension funds. They woke up and smelled the coffee in the last few months!

Are you going to wake up, Mr. Mayor and smell the coffee or are you going to continue running this town "Business as Usual" as if the world has not changed since the turn of the century?

You must be aware that you and your fellow council members have to take responsibility for this 51 million deficit shortfall in our pension funds that we have just for 2 city departments. What is the total shortfall for all city departments? 100 million...???? 200 million...???? It is time for TRUTH THRU TRANSPARENCY!

It is time the city council told the union that either they have to renegotiate the unaffordable contracts or you will have to file for bankruptcy. Please return our town to state rule instead of home rule so we can have tax increases capped at 5% and be bearable once again. Even a 5% tax increase is hard to swallow these days when you combine it with higher gas, food and schooling costs.

I do not know how you and the city council came to the conclusion that it was easier to increase our taxes 20% instead of asking the unions to renegotiate the no longer affordable contracts!

Pensions were developed when government employees were paid much less than civilian employees. As an incentive! Nowadays a Naperville Police Officers starts at a higher salary than almost any undergradute student and even many graduate students including lawyers. There is no need for pensions....they should be made obsolete.

Please make a start as Chicago is and at least eliminate them for new City Employees. The city council screwed up the lives of all adult Napervillians with runaway taxes. Please don't screw up the lives of our children! Our children want to grow up and live in Naperville just as we have! Make sure it is affordable for them, Mr. Mayor! You always claimed you loved our children...please show it by eliminating these ridiculous and unnessary pensions!

Thank You Mr. Mayor!!!