Three File for St. Charles Mayor

As predicted by many, Mayor Patti York filed for re-election, and she will be opposed by Councilman John Gieseke and former Mayor Grace Nichols.

In all reality, this election should come down to York vs. Nichols. Gieseke is still a punk with an attitude, and while he talks about bringing an end to the division within our fine city, he fails to realize that he is largely responsible for the division.

Nichols did a fairly good job as mayor, but she's been out of office now for 12 years. While she's done an admirable job working on the projects she has been involved in, such as the Foundry Arts Centre and MOSAICS, I'm not so certain people are prepared to bring St. Charles back to the days of her tenure. There were many monetary problems at the time, and while Nichols was instrumental in the negotiations to bring what is now Ameristar Casino to St. Charles, and guaranteed their involvement for years to come, there still hangs a dark cloud over her tenure -- part of that cloud is the reason she lost in 1995 to an unknown candidate, Bob Moeller.

If you truly care about the economic vitality of St. Charles for years to come, York is clearly the only logical choice to continue as mayor. She was quite correct when she pointed out in a PD article that she's not the one dividing the city council, they've done a pretty good job of doing that to themselves.

I will also continue with my belief that this entire council must go. I understand there are many that will not seek another term, that is just fine by me. I think there are good people on the council, but they have proven to us all that they just can't work together, and it is time to get some people who can.

More about that later, though ...