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The improved G.R. Mayorial Poll


snoogit

The future mayor of G.R.  

50 members have voted

  1. 1. Who should it be?

    • George Heartwell
      31
    • Jim Rinck
      10
    • Rick Tormala
      8
    • Jackie Miller
      1


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I believe the mayor and the six commissioners all have one equal vote on every issue. In most cities, when the role is called for each vote, the mayor traditionally votes last. If there is a 3-3 tie when the roll call gets to him, then his vote would naturally "break the tie". But he has no veto or over-ride power. Again, 7 equal votes.

BTW, how come GR has only 6 commissioners? Many smaller communities have 7 or 9 total members of their commissions or councils -- which allows the wards and precincts to be smaller and the commissioners to be much more responsive. You would think GR would have 8 or even 10 commissioners and a mayor.

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True, but does it really matter anyway? His one vote still only effects the outcome in the event of a 3-3 tie by the commissioners. If they are split 2-4 on an issue and the mayor votes yes, it's still only 3-4. If anything it's better this way, because he too is forced to take a stand on the issue.
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So, why are you going to vote for one candidate and not another? I have not made my decision yet.

Reading some information that Tormala sent where he said that he has the backing of the Fire and Police, yet he was not happy with the revising of the master plan and the potential of closing parks and golf courses. But Heartwell mentioned that it would be used to increase the tax base.

I see good and bad in both candidates, and as of right now, I think one of these two will get my vote, but I want to vote for someone who will not only be good for Grand Rapids right now, but will also create a foundation to make Grand Rapids the premiere place to be in Michigan... if not the Mid-West.

I think that Jim Rinck is out in my book. He works with the schools and while the quality of education is far better than what most people realize, the perception of public school system is still so negative, it has a detrimental effect on everything from property values to crime.

If someone can turn around the social perception of Grand Rapids Schools (including religious schools), I think that they would walk into the Mayor job.

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So, why are you going to vote for one candidate and not another? I have not made my decision yet.

Reading some information that Tormala sent where he said that he has the backing of the Fire and Police, yet he was not happy with the revising of the master plan and the potential of closing parks and golf courses. But Heartwell mentioned that it would be used to increase the tax base.

I see good and bad in both candidates, and as of right now, I think one of these two will get my vote, but I want to vote for someone who will not only be good for Grand Rapids right now, but will also create a foundation to make Grand Rapids the premiere place to be in Michigan... if not the Mid-West.

I think that Jim Rinck is out in my book. He works with the schools and while the quality of education is far better than what most people realize, the perception of public school system is still so negative, it has a detrimental effect on everything from property values to crime.

If someone can turn around the social perception of Grand Rapids Schools (including religious schools), I think that they would walk into the Mayor job.

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In my opinion, it's almost impossible for Heartwell to not win this election.

First of all, although there have been some recent decisions, as noted earlier in this thread, that have raised concerns, none of them have resulted in any kind of widespread outcry. I think most Grand Rapidians are relatively content with the direction the city is headed, especially in contrast to the rest of the state, and unless they feel the need to shake things up they will probably just vote to continue on as is.

Secondly, those looking for a change have two viable candidates to choose from in Rinck and Tormala. Both are relatively well known in the city, and I can personally see positives and negatives of each candidate. Similar to the results of this poll so far, I think they will end up splitting the votes of those wanting change. It would at least be a closer race if it was just one of them running against Heartwell.

[EDIT] After some further research, I discovered that unless one of the candidates gets more than half of the votes in next week's primary, the top two candidates will go head-to-head in the November election. That means it's OK to finish in second place so long as the bottom three candidates can pull at least 50% of the votes. [/EDIT]

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Reading some information that Tormala sent where he said that he has the backing of the Fire and Police, yet he was not happy with the revising of the master plan and the potential of closing parks and golf courses. But Heartwell mentioned that it would be used to increase the tax base.
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Tormala says "you wouldn't run a credit check on your surgeon, you just want a good surgeon." Tormala's personal finances are just in shambles...not sure how he can convince me he can contribute creative/wise financial ideas to improve the budget for our city. I'm sorry, but all the other candidates have been wearing kid gloves on that issue. But that makes a big difference when evaluating his character. I just don't buy into his "I fight for the average Joe" persona. PLUS his grand idea for selling our city parking assets is the dumbest idea ever and trumps anything Heartwell has bumbled.
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Anyone care to know why Tormala might have fiscal hardships? If I remember correctly, wasn't he laid-off of his full-time work. It's an unfortunate reality, but how can this say anything about his fitness for mayor? I think the kind of bickering in this community about each candidates is hilarious. There are systems in place that protected the city from Mystery, there are systems in place that keep people from mismanaging the finances of city, there are systems in place that kept the city from selling its economic development devices -- city ramps, etc...

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