Mequon needs to replace Mayor Gielow

Public Forum:

Having lived in Mequon since 1976, served as an alderman, president of the Common Council, chairman of the Mequon Visioning Committee and a member of the Board of Ethics, I have a fair sense of Mequon and its residents. Our residents have always desired a rural, predominantly residential community and said so during a survey conducted in 2000 by the Mequon Visioning Committee.

Through irresponsible development, Curt Gielow and a group of his supporters are destroying what was carefully crafted for Mequon. An employee of Concordia, Gielow prefers a college town - one with more fast food restaurants, bars, apartments and hotels. He encourages urban sprawl to gain an increase in students in our K-12 school system - a system that exists for the benefit of our community, not the other way around. He has been disrespectful to residents when they appear at city meetings to express their concerns about the impact of proposed developments on their homes - that level of arrogance and disrespect has no place in Mequon.

The mayoral race presents a choice - if Gielow is re-elected he will continue with more poorly conceived development, which will not fully financially support the expansion of the infrastructure and services needed - meaning higher property taxes for residents. The rural residential character of Mequon will be negatively changed forever.

If Dan Abendroth is elected I expect a much more respectful government - which will pay attention to residents' concerns and to preserving the character of Mequon. The current members of the Plan Commission, who so aggressively ignore what we have and engage in poor development, will also be gone once we elect Abendroth. The city will be run for its residents, not for the benefit of Concordia or those looking for financial gain.

James D. Friedman

Mequon