This should go over well in Aboite Township.
Costas set a goal of making Valparaiso “one of the most progressive and vibrant cities in the entire midwest.†In his first term as mayor, Costas’ accomplishments include obtaining $20M of state and federal grants for infrastructure improvements, passing a restaurant smoking ban, the redevelopment of County Seat Plaza and the city’s “Eastgate” area, creation of a public transportation system, and expansion of the city by 25% through annexation.
AWB
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The annexation policy of the city contributed to reduction of the tax burden for the people living in the city. Under the previous mayor, city services were extended to several nearby subdivisions without requiring them to pay full city taxes. Costas annexed nearby areas in order to lower the tax burden on the rest of the people–and that’s a good thing for the city and its taxpayers. In exchange, the Greenfield Creek subdivision, for example, got their roads repaved.
And as I recall, all the annexations of non-developed areas were voluntary, where developers come asking to be annexed in order to hook up to city services.
You really have zero clue what’s going on in Valparaiso. It’s not helping Mr. Zoeller.
dan, that’s as good as you’ve got?
Let’s review the shots against Costas:
He is for a fit city and health. When residents and businesses agreed to a voluntary smoking ban, he supported.
He is for annexation, especially when developers need city services. You see, his predecessor gave away city services without annexing and that created some real problems.
He is for maintaining and improving infrastructure, but wants to hold the line on the budget. So he goes and obtains funding at state and federal level to invest in roads and infrastructure. The Democrat before him didn’t invest anything and the city was a mess.
Because he’s invested in infrastructure and the democrats have been anti-growth, the unions who’s jobs rely on growth, supported him with contributions. He used many of his campaign dollars last year, since he was unopposed, to beat the democrats for council and retain an all Republican council.
And then we get to redevelopment. Do you really think a mayor should let entire communities go to blight, don’t we throw out the bums that don’t have enough leadership to call blight a problem?
Dan, I understand you like Greg better, fine by me. But these shots aren’t worth your time. Jon Costas is a terrific leader and probably applies conservative philosophy better than you can recall. Although the city is smaller, he is probably more conservative even than Steve Goldsmith was when it comes to social and religious issues.
Notice, I still don’t shoot at your guy? I have said one and only one thing about Greg Zoeller … he’s a life long bureaucrat who will struggle to get elected in November and doesn’t bring much to the statewide ticket.
I have met Steve Goldsmith, and Jon Costas is no Steve Goldsmith. Costas does not need shots taken at him, not because of what he has or has not done, his campaign manager’s threats were enough to take him down, hopefully. Good for Greenfield Creek, I am sure the people of Evansville will really come to the polls because of that.
I have met Steve Goldsmith also. Worked for him for Governor. Mayor Costas is a lot like Steve Goldsmith. Jon Costas is a bit more conservative than Goldsmith. Have you met Jon Costas?
It seems that all of the critics of Costas attack his record as a Mayor. The only people you can get in the region he leads to attack him are naive Democrats. Go ahead and join those ranks.