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More About Mike
Peace Corps and After
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| Mike's Platform |
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| Let's Bring Auburn Back to Auburn! |
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| Mike Walter believes that city government belongs to all of Auburn's citizens, not just to the privileged few. For nearly 20 years, Mike has worked, fought and litigated to make local government accountable to the people who pay the bills. Mike wants an Auburn that cherishes its rich history, protects its environment and respects the processes of democratic government. Auburn's greatest assets have always been its quality of life and the trust that its citizens have placed in one another and in their community's institutions. The former is threatened by mismanaged growth and corporate greed; the latter, by overbearing arrogance and obsessive secrecy in City Hall. Mike believes citizens deserve respect simply because they are citizens; that everyone has a right -- a right! -- to participate in the decisions that affect their lives and their neighborhoods. Here's Mike's pledge to the voters of Auburn: 1. To preside over the City Council with absolute fairness; 2. To strive to reform Auburn's "never say no" tax abatement policies; 3. To pursue policies friendly to neighborhoods, the environment and a high quality of life. 4. To press the city council for police and fire department merit boards to assure due process fairness to our police officers and fire fighters. 5. To pursue a program of sidewalk extension and repair. 6. To cooperate with NATMUS to save the old Electric and Waterworks Bldg. 7. To re-orient our economic development emphasis toward developing a more diverse retail business base for Auburn. 8. To put city council meetings back on T.V. 9. To plant trees. And more specifically... * Mike wants to send Rieke Park back to the drawing board...to appoint a citizens' committee with a mandate to produce a plan for a multi-use park that can be built in phases...as we can afford it! * Mike absolutely will not raid utility funds to build Rieke Park. * Mike's park board appointees will be responsive to the community's recreational needs and respectful of the opinions of the taxpayers whose dollars they spend. * Mike will ask the city council for a six-month moratorium on tax abatement during which we can examine the whole system and develop standards that applicant industries must meet and be held accountable for by means of an independent audit. * Mike will continue efforts to complete the extension of Auburn Drive to County Road 35...and to complete the traffic study that will lay the legal foundation for impact fees to assure that future developers pay their fair share for the road. * Mike will let the folks at Greenhurst Glens keep their present house addresses until the time that the numbers create a practical problem. Mike will also let the Greenhurst Glens people keep their ornamental street lights...with the service change for the lights (which each homeowner now pays) deducted from their monthly bills. * Mike will try to deed back the old Nickel Plate right-of-way (or as much of it as is practical) to the property owners from whom it was condemned. * Mike opposes the condemnation of the old Vandalia right-of-way for the 69kv power line and, if he has the power, will most likely choose the Old Brick Road/Auburn Drive route for the line, even if the short-run monetary cost is more. * Mike wants to work with the folks in the Pheasant Run area to develop a plan for the dedicated recreation area in their neighborhood. * Mike will ask the city council to bar truck traffic on Indiana Avenue between Ensley Avenue and Fifteenth Street. * Mike will continue efforts to place a traffic signal at the East Seventh St./ Duesenberg Drive intersection. * Mike wants to work with INDOT to pinpoint and eliminate accident-prone locations on West Seventh St. * Mike wants to make sure that Auburn's police officers are well-trained in domestic-crisis intervention techniques. * Mike will appoint a committee of citizens to evaluate childrens' day-care needs in Auburn. * Mike wants to work with the DeKalb County Humane Society and with local veterinarians to start a low-fee spay/neuter clinic to help curb the proliferation of unwanted kittens and puppies. * Mike thinks that fire hydrants in new subdivisons should be spaced at 300 feet. That was the standard until the present city administration changed it to 500 feet in 1995 over the objection of the fire chief. Mike will ask the city council to re-adopt the older, safer spacing. (And no, that doesn't mean changing the infrastructure that's been built since 1995.) * Mike remains firmly in favor of keeping Auburn's city-owned electric and water utility rates regulated by the IURC. And here are a few more things: * Mike has been critical of Auburn's west-end "tax increment financing" (TIF) district that pre-empts tax revenue that otherwise would go to the schools and other taxing units. Mike would like to end TIF...but that probably can't happen until the reconstruction of Grandstaff Drive is completed. That was the main justification for TIF in the first place. * Mike knows that a lot of people want to re-open Eckhart Park to cars. Mike's willing to look at that, but the final decision rests with Auburn's semi-independent park board; and it might be one or two years before Mike is able to appoint a board that's responsive to the public. * Mike has long wanted a "tot-lot" type of park for the Helen/DeKalb Avenue neighborhood; but that depends on a lot of factors, including money, a responsive park board and the wishes of the neighborhood. But it's on Mike's "wish-list." * Mike also knows that there's a desire among many city employees for a program of disability insurance. This could be a really expensive item. Mike's willing to investigate it...but right now he's not promising anything more than that. * Mike strongly disagreed with ending the Auburn Police Department's support for D.A.R.E. Mike will look for ways for the city to support and help the D.A.R.E. program, which is now sponsored by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department. * Mike is willing to explore the possibility of combining Auburn's police dispatching with that of the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department. Mike knows that there are two sides to this, but thinks that the potential cost savings warrant revisiting the issue. * Mike strongly disagreed with ending the park department's summer "Fun-in-the-Sun" day camp; and Mike was especially upset when the park department rejected the offer of the program's former assistant director to run it as a volunteer. Mike wants a responsive park board that will restore this popular program.  |
| Auburn, | IN | 46706-0267 |
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