Archive for Thursday, February 26, 2009

Candidate has eye on future development

By Nicole Kelley

February 26, 2009

John Broman

John Broman

John Broman says he wants to get the city of Edwardsville back on track, and he has some ideas to make that happen.

The Edwardsville resident has filed for a shot at one of two open city council seats in the April election. A former council member and a former planning commissioner, Broman said he wanted to see changes in the city.

“We need to get back on track,” he said. “There’s been literally zero to no growth in the past few years.”

And like many of Broman’s governmental colleagues, he agrees the key to growth is development.

“We’ve got to find someone to get retail sales into Edwardsville,” he said. “That has been our Achilles heel for the past few years. Without it, we can’t do anything.”

Broman said that because of a lack of past initiative within the city, the task of bringing in those businesses was not going to be easy. He noted two reasons for Edwardsville’s tough time attracting retail business: a lack of infrastructure, such as sewer lines in the north end of the city, and established nearby competition in the Village West shopping area.

“Right now, we’ve missed the boat,” he said, but added that there was still hope in the proposed Golden Gaming casino that would be built partially within the Edwardsville city limits.

Broman said he didn’t think the city worked hard enough to get the Golden Gaming proposal passed during the first Wyandotte County selection process. But now, he said, the city has been given a second chance after the winning casino — The Hard Rock Casino at the Kansas Speedway — withdrew its bid because of financial problems during this tough economic climate.

Broman said he would want Edwardsville to work even harder this time around to get the Golden Gaming proposal accepted.

“It wasn’t properly pursued,” he said of the last effort, adding that the entire council needed to get more involved next time. “We need to do everything we can do to get that casino. We need to pull the right strings and talk to the right people.”

As far as other development goes, Broman has suggested establishing a sewer district and selling bonds to get the necessary infrastructure to the north end of the city,

“Without that sewer line up there, we’re not going to get that development.

Broman worked in the communications field for almost 40 years before retiring. He said he hoped to bring a more business-like and professional atmosphere to the city, if elected.

“If we look professional and act professional, we’ll get it done,” he said.

Comments

  1. triedntru (anonymous) says…

    I have to give credit to Mr. Broman for the amount of energy he dedicates to rewriting history.

    He failed to mention that the city over the last few years has had to turn its attention away from development to focus on the financial mess and lawsuits that he and the previous council left for the city.

    Mr. Broman and the previous council was rife with "good ole boy" politics, conducting a lot of shady deals behind closed doors.

    If that's his idea of professionalism, as noted in the last line of this article, I will most surely cast my vote in a different direction.

    Oh, and that whole police report about him being a peeping tom a few years ago is kinda creepy too.

  2. travelinman (anonymous) says…

    I would extend a personal invitation for Mr Broman to state his positions and to counter his critics in a local forum.

    http://theisland.heavenforum.com/foru...

    The invitation goes to all candidates and those currently in office. There are those who don't get out and this is an opportunity to let a few more people know where you stand on things.