The Results Are In

Election 2009 has come and gone. My predictions for the State Ref questions were almost 100%. I don't know why so many folks oppose the idea of clerks having a few more days to validate petition signatures, but I guess they do. All in all, a pretty good night for the VOB.

On the City side, I was slightly off with my prediction of Paul Lodgek over Pat Blanchette as Paul was smoked hard and came in 5th. Pat's got a loyal following of cronies, so its no real surprise. Cary Weston got the nod over Peter D'errico, and ol Geoffrey gets his third term as expected. I hope Cary is up for whats looking like a rough road ahead for the Council as they move the City "in a new direction". Nobody seems to know where that is, or why we're going there, but its a new direction none the less.

Things got a little testy at last night's Council meeting as a few citizens showed up to express concern over the new parking ticket quotas. Chief "I'm a freaking weasel" Gastia has the nerve to say that he's only enforcing the ordinances as written. Dave Neally took the little shit to task and asked why everyone going 1 mile per hour over the speed limit wasn't ticketed. His point was that the Police use their own discretion in giving out tickets everyday, and should use more with parking tickets as well. Rest assured people, these tickets are not written to protect the safety of the citizens of Bangor, but to fill the Police Dept. coffers with your hard earned cash. One woman was ticketed in front of her church on Sunday, even though she had a handicapped placard. WTF is wrong with these cops? You could tell by the tone of the meeting, and several comments and statements made by the Council, that folks have been calling and bitching about the operations of the Police Dept. Keep up the heat folks...keep it up!

Lastly, a good percent of the campaign signs were removed last night. Good job to all involved.