Letter to the Editor - The Telegraph

I think the letter written by Scott Darr recently about the golf course, and how it is an entity that should be treated as a business, is just the surface of the iceberg. Ideally, it would be great to keep the golf course, but financially it may be too late. This should have been addressed years ago, but our city leaders had no foresight.
The city government needs to look at their practices and learn how to run it like a business. The citizens of Alton would be the shareholders and have more input in the decisions of running the city. Too many times have occurred when citizens have voiced concerns and the city leaders listened with deaf ears and proceeded in what they perceived to be the right way. What this city really needs is a businessperson to run Alton, and that includes our mayor all the way down to aldermen and positions that make an impact on our citizens.





The government today is more of a "good ole boy" system, even though elected. Many times I have considered running for alderman or mayor, but the problem lies within our voters. The citizens of this city need to raise the bar in expectations of our government. A "people" mayor or alderman would set examples by holding public forums at least quarterly for input. I can't even get my alderman to respond to me, let alone hold a meeting for a group of people.
It is time for the citizens of Alton to unite and decide how they want this city to be run. Until we put new blood in with the aldermanic system, nothing will change, as not every decision is a mayoral decision. We have another year before we elect some of the aldermanic representation, and three years for the other half and mayor. Now is the time to start organizing strategy to make changes happen. Until a group begins to learn how to strategize, and band together to run only one person against the incumbents, the odds of changing things are severely tilted in the incumbents' favor. Only you, the voters can make it happen, no one else!
RODGER JENNINGS
Alton