Guccione Politicizes Street Renaming

Everyone has heard the talk of renaming one of our historic streets, what everyone doesn't know is how it all started and who was pushing. Once residents got wind of what the City was about to do, they began calling their Aldermen and several organizations in town  were motivated to oppose the change. The petitioner withdrew their request, the resolution was tabled, and citizens began breathing easier knowing that their historic street names would not change, unfortunately, this is when things escalated ... in the beginning:

Mayor Nickolas Guccione, owing the local NAACP for supporting him in his election last year, advised Mr. Curtis Davis of that organization, to write a formal letter to the City requesting the change of Kohrs Avenue to Dr, Martin Luther King Drive. When he received their letter Guccione drafted a resolution: "Resolution No. 12-472 Providing to Approve to Change the Name of Kohrs Avenue to Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, and Matters Relating Thereto," and presented it to the Aldermen for adoption or rejection. Interestingly, the resolution did not go through Planning and Zoning for their recommendation instead, Guccione circumvented the system and brought it straight to the Board of Aldermen. He did what he is best at; manipulation of the system in an effort to pull a fast one and put our good Aldermen on the spot. No one in the City could draft a resolution and present it to the board without going through channels other than the Mayor. If anyone is looking for who was responsible for this entire thing this is proof that Guccione was behind it all. At any rate, the Aldermen tabled the resolution until it could be investigated properly.

Since Kohrs Avenue is in Ward 1, Alderman Cheryl Kross called for the petitioner to meet in City Hall to determine what they were asking and things got hairy; George Kolb, City Administrator got involved suggesting a more high profile street to rename, and Nick Guccione took a powder leaving Alderman Kross holding the bag. He is a master of deception; it is leaked that Kross is in support of the street naming because she's running the meeting, Guccione leaves no trace of his involvement, and his plan to replace her in the upcoming election is in full swing by recruiting Robery Hussey to run against her. His only tie; the illegal resolution that did not go through the process, he must have figured no one would notice.

Today, Alderman Kross is facing another election where Mayor Guccione has recruited her opponent and he's determined to get her out. Armed with the lie that Kross is behind the street renaming fiasco, Guccione is out there hand in hand with Hussey spreading it to the HOA's and other public venues. Speaking of that, I find it interesting that Mayor Guccione is including his candidates; Hays and Hussey, and politicizing his duties as Mayor. Something stinks unethical there, but that's our beloved mayor, he is drawn like a moth to a flame whenever questionable ethics is about.

This Wednesday night at the regular Board of Aldermen meeting the resolution is back on the agenda. Alderman Kross is bringing it back off of the table to be voted down once and for all. Other than Guccione, George Kolb has been it's largest proponent and Wednesday is his final meeting as the interim City Administrator. Now we need to figure out a way of keeping Guccione from sneaking in a resolution memorializing our streets, after all he did make a promise to Curtis Davis of the NAACP and you can bet he's not finished. Mayor Guccione is responsible for a lot of our problems in the city today and this context is the only time the words "Guccione" and "responsible" should be used in the same sentence.