The Journal Star reports that Ryan Spain announced he’ll be running for reelection to the Peoria City Council.
“The city of Peoria needs leadership that is not afraid to make difficult decisions to position Peoria for the years ahead,” Spain, who was first elected to the council in 2007, said in the news release. “This means living within our means, streamlining services and investing in the future.” […]
Spain said he pledges to continue to “work hard to improve economic competitiveness” of Peoria and stimulate economic development and job growth.
Mr. Spain voted to continue funding ArtsPartners, advocated for development of regional branding (just imagine how much that would cost), and voted to give an East Peoria developer nearly $40 million to build a private hotel next to the Civic Center with an attached pedestrian bridge. Living within our means, indeed.
When he first ran for Council I had high hopes for Ryan but he now reminds me of a puppy dog trailing along side his master. While I truly believe Ryan to be a very nice and community conscious individual, he is not the independent leader we need on this very troubled City Council.
Pat Lewis
We are not going to vote incumbents in that WASTE money.
I am glad he is running. The wider variety of choices we have, the better it is for all of us.
By the way, I now call it the “Imaginary Wonderful Development,” not a “hotel”. 🙂
Except for possibly one, I will not be voting for any incumbent. Nuff said!
I won’t be voting for any incumbents. 😉
I won’t be voting for Spain. He was a disappointment on the council and if he loses, who will shine the Mayor’s shoes and besides, he’ll make it big in his other taxpayer funded job.
Spain will likely win. He has the support of the Heartland Partnership. It is the current brand of vodoo doctors that attach themselves to the public dole. HP, Peoria Next, etc. Dig around even a little and it’s clear these places are of the class of usual middle men, facilitating deals and taking a cut. Watch how the council deals with ‘economic development’ and how Spain votes (he shouldnt, but conflicts have rarely stopped any Council person from voting). He’d be happy to have it ALL farmed out to HP. and it will be. with minimal discussion and no open bidding.
I won’t be supporting the re-election of any Council member who voted in favor of the so-called “Wonderful development.”
Conrad, that is shocking! 🙂
I too won’t be voting for incumbents. I’ll abstain if there is no real alternative.
…Montelongo says he won’t run for re-election to City Council.
Montelongo was going to lose his seat anyway. He would be a weak candidate just as he was a weak councilman.
Spain has no clue and has proven it over and over. His age and lack of experinece have shined through time and time again. He has been overwhelmingly disappointing. He and all other incumbents need to go.
Spain’s statement when he filed for reelection was moronic. “I enjoy making the hard choices..blah..blah…blah” or some such nonsense. with people like that running for office, we’d be better off scrapping the election and getting councilmembers by just picking names out of a hat. Put the names of all registered voters in, so everyone has an equal chance. Seriously, I think you’d get a better group of people.