Should Leroy Brown re-run for Trustee?

The Brook Report has given many reasons why Leroy should not re-run for Trustee.   Some of the allegations included working for two publicly funded governmental agencies (Village of Bolingbrook and VVSD School's) which some can say is double dipping, and others might say he has been given the VVSD position by clout.  Either way, his salary at the school district increased by 30$K in three years, from $50K to 80$K.  This is a big raise, where most people in the area are losing jobs or are satisfied with a 1-3% annual raise.  The school board has been cutting services to the students (Special Education, sports, and even text books).  They are doing this while Leroy takes a 10 - 20% raise annually. 

We think that Leroy is making enough as a VVSD security officer and will get a suitable pension for his services soon.  We think Leroy has done some great things for the Village in the past, but cannot think of anything he has done recently to continue his campaign.  Pursuing a Trustee position again could twist his years of good service into something truly ugly.  Sometimes knowing when to bow out makes a good man.

For example, last year Bonnie Alicea attended the board meeting and addressed a question to Leroy concerning the renters ordinance (the ordinance states that any tenant with consistent criminal activity will have to be evicted).  She asked why he had not addressed this issue in lieu of the gang and drug problems in town, and they were not pursuing this ordinance, as her own block had renters that were imprisoned for these activities. 

Leroy claimed that the Police all knew and pursued this ordinance, however, Police officer Mr. Mitchem (son of principal Mr. Mitchem of BHS) told Bonnie to her face that there was no law about this, when responding to her call about a neighbor selling guns.  When she addressed this, the very next board meeting stated that 90+ calls to her block were "typical" for a Bolingbrook block per year.  Thus Leroy tried to justify the security risk for residents with words like "typical".  This did not bode well for the residents. 

Later in the year Leroy held speaking events where residents could come voice their opinions and ideas about crime.  As the lead speaker and coordinator, we found that taking these steps were courageous.  When we followed up with asking him about the outcome and what they implemented from this, there was no answer.  We do not think anything came of these meetings, hence wasted time from residents.

It is one thing to service the residents and do what you can to help, but it is another to state your helping but have nothing to show the proof of that. 

A few years back people were getting robbed at gun point and forced to ATM's.  Chief McGury finally ratted the administration out to the papers, as he felt the residents needed to know the threat to protect themselves.  People were getting hurt.  McGury moved on from his job after that.  Leroy was the Deputy Mayor at the time and one of the "security" people on the board that did not advise the Mayor to release this information to the public.  Many people were hurt.

Recently there has been a rash of murders and attempted murders in Bolingbrook.  Just a few weeks ago a man was shot blocks away from Leroy's house.  The Village has yet to release a statement regarding what the outcome of that shooting was.  Was the person caught?  Was it gang related, drug related, random?  There has been homes being robbed lately too, while the residents were at home.  Why is this not for front of the news?  We look to Leroy, who is the Mayors Deputy, the Mayor's security advisor, the Mayor's confidant. Is it more important to risk lives in order to be ranked the top 43rd community?  (This dropped 9 points by the way this year over last).

Trustees are suppose to be public servants.  A famous quote applies here... 

"The mistake a lot of politicians make is in forgetting they've been appointed and thinking they've been anointed. "

-- Claude D. Pepper