Touchy-Feely

Mayor Nick Guccione needs to pay more attention to the welfare of Wentzville than the welfare of special interest groups. His touchy-feely mode of operation is creating huge problems for our city and things will soon be out of control.

The $20 million dollar parks project has problems. First they unexpectedly hit rock trying to dig the pool for the splash station and now several other problems with the design have surfaced and it looks like the answer is going to be time and money. The question is not going to be the time, we know who will suffer for that — the citizens who expect deadlines to be met. More importantly, who is going to pay for the mistakes in the design and the many high-dollar change orders that are forth coming?

It is the opinion of this writer that the design company is responsible for errors and oversights but there's another problem. The city engineers looked over the design and must have approved the plans; where does that leave them and us? Does our city staff have the resources and expertise to review a design of this magnitude? A simple question that should be answered by our mayor since they work for him. If they do, why are there design change orders being presented by the designer? Did our city bite off more than they can chew? How many of these problems will relate to higher costs for the city and who is ultimately responsible? Mr. Mayor, rather than walking around in La-La land with your thumb in your mouth you need to get to the bottom of this very serious quandary. In case no one told you, you are responsible for the employees in the city; if they cost the taxpayers more than you told them, the buck stops with you!

Another subject I reported about was Mayor Guccione getting with the local NAACP inviting them to approach the Board of Aldermen to change one of our historic street names to Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. It started out with wanting to change Kohrs Avenue and then, deciding that that street wasn't high-profile enough, it went to changing Pearce Blvd. The latest I heard was they have added the possibility of wanting to change Allen Street. Their justification for changing Allen Street is because the founder of Wentzville, Senator William M. Allen, was a slave holder. It wasn't uncommon for quite a few of our founding citizens to be slave holders simply because the town of Wentzville was a Confederate stronghold of sympathizers. This was the reason that during the Civil War, Union troops regularly raided the town and was the main cause for the Battle of Wentszville, the only recorded Civil War battle in St. Charles County.

Proponents to change the name of Allen Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. are essentially saying that the name change is not really to honor Dr, King as much as it seems to be a punitive action against our slave holding founder. Using that logic, since Wentzville was vastly Confederate, its name should be changed to Dr. Martin Luther Kingville. To deny William Allen is to deny the history of our city.

Citizens of Wentzville are rallying around saving the heritage of our city and preserving our historic street names. The Wentzville Rotary has already adopted a resolution to save our history and the Wentzville Community Historical Society is right behind them. Other groups in town will soon join in to petition our Board of Aldermen to keep our historic street names intact.

Mayor Guccione was quoted to say; "This matter has been blown out of proportion." Something tells me that it's just begun to get blown out of proportion. Mr. Mayor, you have poked your touchy-feely nose in a hornet's nest; I hope you get stung real bad!

The Splash Station Rocks!

The Board of Alderman meeting of Wednesday, December 12th revealed some interesting discussions regarding various topics and since it didn't last until after midnight there was even  talk of setting a record in adjourning early. I watched this meeting and observed first-hand who ran the meeting and I can tell you it was not our mayor. Once again, the President of the Board, Rick Stokes took charge for our maladroit flounderer, Nick Guccone. Delos McKown said; "There are three things that look alike; the invisible, the hidden, and the nonexistent," this description handily illustrates the leadership of the Mayor of Wentzville.

Since the passing of the half-cent sales tax for Wentzville parks it has been the drive of our past mayor, Paul Lambi and our current Nickcompoop to start digging dirt. The urgency of the mayor, staff, and the Friends of the Parks was high and the Aldermen were blamed for delays. A $20 million dollar project and all our mayor could keep spouting was Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. They didn't want to resolve any problems or offer good stewardship of the taxpayers money, the just wanted to see shovels digging and dirt flying. The Aldermen tried their best to ensure that things were in order and Wentzville would get the best Parks for their money without oversights through the constant barrage of criticism.

Well, all of the rush, rush pressure on the aldermen by our mayor who activated citizen groups and the press may very well have jeopardized the August 2013 planned opening of our splash station. Mr. Doug Lee, Acting Public Works Director announced that in excavating the pool for the splash station they unexpectedly hit bedrock...ut oh. It must be noted that our nit-wit Nickcompoop said nothing through the ensuing discussion. The aldermen asked how this could happen when the design company did surveys and took core samples to determine the exact position of the pool. Mr Lee didn't know but is in the process of meeting with the design company and builder. This situation could significantly increase the cost of the project and who is going to pay for it. The aldermen directed Mr. Lee to have the answer to their questions by the next meeting. I have since learned that there are other mistakes and oversights on the plans and blueprints that will create more problems for the project.

Next subject: A list of early registrated candidates for the April 2013 election was handed to me the other day by our City Clerk. More candidates will come forward during the registration window but for now it includes one unexpected candidate; Michael E. Carter who is running for Municipal Judge. You all remember Judge Carter, he's the guy who almost singe-handedly destroyed the Wentzville Police budget. Carter is also a good friend of Mayor Guccione and actively campaigned for him during last April's "big mistake." I'm sure Guccione will be reciprocating Carter's effort in getting him elected.

Carter lost his bid for re-election in 2011 to our current Judge Stephen Martin. Unlike Carter, Martin is well respected by the police and citizens of Wentzville, he is doing an exemplary job in our court. Mayor Lambi and Chief of Police, Bob Noonan tried their best to rein Carter in from his judicial antics to the extent of trying to limit his autonomy and even talks of having him removed from office. Our Wentzville patrol officers loathed his habit of releasing law-breakers and reduction of fines, it actualized a lack of trust that could have put the safety of Wentzville citizen's at risk. As the election nears, I will report more on Carter, it's gonna be a hoot!

We'll see a new group of Nickcompoop's knuckleheads on the April 2013 ballot and I'll identify them as they become known. Until then, be safe and keep looking over your shoulders, the bad guys don't wear black hats anymore, sometimes they look like old-time car salesmen with slicked-back hair and a thin mustache.

The Nickcompoop

It's two-hundred and fifty-five days into Mayor Guccione's term of office and it's time to evaluate his accomplishments. I'll admit it's going to be tough simply because so much has happened that he's taking credit for. Of course, most of the advancements in Wentzville were well under way long before he came to the throne, but never the less he expects to take the credit.

Guccione is proud to have Rankin Technical College in town but he conveniently seems to forget that  Alderman Guccione said "NAY" every time the issue came up for a vote. Even more interesting he tried unsuccessfully to postpone the final vote until after the election when he became mayor. But today, he tells everyone that he loves Rankin and takes credit for bringing them to town.

It's a frightening place you enter when you delve into the mind of our mayor, don't go in there alone. Sam's Club is open and Guccione takes credit for bringing it to town. Being the good union butcher he is, he opposed Sam's through all the City talks, he had too, or risk losing all the money donated to his campaign by the various unions. He even pushed off Sam's Club's dedication and grand opening asking the President of the Board of Aldermen, Rick Stokes to represent the city at these events. But today, he's taking credit for them being here even though every vote made by Alderman Guccione was "NAY." There are many very intelligent union men in Wentzville, they must be embarrassed by the Nickcompoop who is now representing them. It's unfortunate that he is more dedicated to politics than the well being of our city.

Michael Hays is now an Alderman representing Ward 3, the same Michael Hays that this board denied several months ago. Being a resident of his ward, I opposed him being my Alderman but it doesn't matter when Guccione says: "It's my way or the highway!." When his appointment of John Luby walked out of the job a few weeks ago, back came the Hays appointment. I was disappointed when Alderman Cheryl Kross flipped on her vote and allowed Hays to serve. I think she was counseled a little too much by Alderman Forrest Gossett because her decision was purely political and not one that was necessarily good for  the citizens of ward 3. She should have listened to our other Alderman of Ward 3, Rick Stokes, when he voted "NAY" to the appointment of Hays. Stokes is a good alderman and has served his constituents well. Maybe the Aldermen of other wards should keep their noses out of Ward 3 and concentrate more on their own wards. Ward 3 is not a political football and I doubt if the residents appreciate what the other aldermen have done.

So here we are, nine months into Nickcompoop's term and what has he accomplished? Other than throwing a hand full of papers in Alderman Stokes' face in a public meeting and continually crying "It's my appointment, it's my appointment," he's done very little. He moved his office and inconvenienced our City Administrator, took credit for every business that has opened in Wentzville during his term, and riled up the NAACP. On his watch, employees are allowed to take scrap metal owned by the City and sell it with the gains going somewhere other than back into the City coffers. Isn't this criminal, or have they changed some rules? I know Guccione likes to make his own rules but come on!

If you watch the meetings during the budget talks, Mayor Guccione can be caught dozing off through most of them. On his watch, $38 million in City investments were unaccounted for, if you ask him where they are, he hasn't a clue. This is our Chief Executive Officer we're taking about here, and he knows nothing about our budget or investments? All in all, he's accomplished nothing! I take that back, in the footsteps of his idol Obama, he is extremely involved in the homeless and give-away programs, it's all he knows about. The things he's supposed to know, he doesn't know, the things he's not supposed to be involved in he's all-knowledgeable. Oh, did I mention that he wants to ban the sale of guns and regulate the sales of ammunition in Wentzville?

"We have a problem Houston," our Mayor is incompetent and in my opinion he's derelict in his duties as Mayor. He needs to be removed from office but these Aldermen keep doing his job in order to keep the city from failing. It's time they let him fall on his ass, let him screw up and impeach or have him recalled. Public trust is fading on our Mayor, I'm hearing more and more people questioning whether or not he is able to lead our city. In my opinion it's a no-brainer, he should have stuck to cutting up chickens, instead of carving up our city, he is a complete Nickompoop!

It's Time To Come Out Of Hiding

I've been out of sight for way too long. I had planned to remain in seclusion until after the first of the year but a rash of recent calls and emails has me back banging on this keyboard. I've watched the meetings and stayed up to date on what's going on in City Hall but have declined comment until I had finished an important project. Well, the project isn't complete but I can no longer remain silent.

There's been a number of changes in Wentzville with employees quitting their jobs and some others having choke chains tugged on. The Aldermen are still cutting the budget and departments are being made to become more accountable, there's even talk of the unionization of the police department. Of course, our union chicken-cutting mayor, Guccione is behind that one. What a mistake this city made electing this  panderering vapid black hole, ugh, 1221 more days until a chance for sanity.

The reason for this writing is the plethora of rumors regarding the changing one of our old-town streets to Martin Luther King Blvd. Originally, the local chapter of the NAACP applied to have the street known as Kohrs Avenue changed but they pulled their application. Now rumors abound about them wanting Pearce Blvd. changed and our illustrious mayor said: "This is all blown out of proportion." If anything is blown out of proportion, it's his ability to lead our city.

Historically, our mayor has been associated with Mr. Curtis Davis who heads up the local chapter of the NAACP. On the advise of Guccione, Davis ran unsuccessfully for an Alderman's seat last April but Guccione has kept close ties still pandering to him and his organization to support his hand-picked slate of candidates to be named for the April 1013 election. Guccione is trying to bring this name changing along as quickly as possible to give him and his election-hopeful goons leverage in April. Guccione's goal is to bring pressure on our Aldermen to bend to his wishes and gain support for his candidates opposing them next April. This whole situation is to play the race card. Everything Guccione gets involved in is politically motivated and he'll use any underhanded dirty trick he can find..

Dr. Martin Luther King was a great man and accomplished great things in the attitudes and advancement of the people of United States, surely there's room in Wentzville to honor his name, I'm just not sure the answer is renaming one of our historic streets. The streets in our old-town have been named for great men in Wentzville to honor their accomplishments in making our city what it is today. Most people here do not know these names and may even think that changing our street names is of no consequence, I strongly disagree.

I heard last week that the Mayor set up a meeting Monday, December 10th held in city hall  with stakeholders, curiously, the Wentzville Historical Society was not invited. Why would Mayor Guccione set up this meeting and not invite our Historical Society, the very organization that knows what our street names mean? The answer is simple, he doesn't want anyone giving good reason not to destroy our heritage, he doesn't care, all he's looking for is votes! 

I know that the Wentzville Historical Society has over one hundred voting members and another 600 voting followers who are motivated to actively protect our history, including fighting city hall, if necessary. I think they would be quite interested in his plan to change our historic street names. Perhaps Guccione would like to meet with members of the Historical Society to explain exactly how his proposal is necessary to our city.

The City of Wentzville is always dedicating new streets and assigning them names, why is it necessary to change a part of our heritage? It's just another grab for support. Nick, if you are so interested in honoring Dr. King, put a monument in one of our many new parks, stay the hell away from our historic streets!