Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 08-25-2026: Alderman Allen Przysucha on Sterling's proposed smoking ban in city parks

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Talk Line 08-25-2026: Alderman Allen Przysucha on Sterling's proposed smoking ban in city parks · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey there, Sog Valley. Welcome back. You're with The Waking
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Crew here on FM 95.1 and AM 1460 WIXN. It's
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  Speaker 1: 816 on your Tuesday morning, and that means it's time
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: for Talk Line. And I'm joined in the booth for
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  Speaker 1: the first time since taking over the helm at the
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  Speaker 1: legendary Steve Marcos studio, Sterling Alderman-at-Large, Alan Prejuka in here,
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  Speaker 1: to kind of We're going to get into a hot topic,
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  Speaker 1: as hot as the debate of the topic could get,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm going to put that mouthful aside. What's going
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  Speaker 1: on here is the city of Sterling has been discussing
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  Speaker 1: and kind of kicking around back and forth the idea
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  Speaker 1: of possibly banning smoking in city-owned parks and trails. Am
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  Speaker 1: I getting that right, Alan?
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  Speaker 2: Correct, yep.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Yep. And so I'm going to let Alan kind
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  Speaker 1: of take it from here. I've just laid the very
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  Speaker 1: framework for it, and Alan's about to kick down the door, baby.
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  Speaker 3: So basically, the city's put forward a proposed ordinance to
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  Speaker 3: ban smoking in all the city-owned parks. There is a
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  Speaker 3: difference between the city parks and the Sterling Park District parks.
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  Speaker 1: Great point to bring up. I think so many people,
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  Speaker 1: you read comments and talk with people directly, unaware.
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  Speaker 3: Of that absolutely and there is an ordinance through the
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  Speaker 3: park district that prohibits smoking pretty much it's not exactly
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  Speaker 3: prohibited from the parks but a majority of the parks
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  Speaker 3: are the way the wording is it pretty much rules
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  Speaker 3: out a majority of the parks so what the city
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  Speaker 3: so the city of Dixon city Rochelle they have similar
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  Speaker 3: bans right now in their city parks And what City
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  Speaker 3: of Sterling is trying to do is go towards kind
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  Speaker 3: of that same route, banning the smoking in the city parks. Now,
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  Speaker 3: that's all well and good. I am a non-smoker. But
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  Speaker 3: my big thing is smokers and non-smokers alike should be
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  Speaker 3: able to enjoy the parks. They are city-owned, which means
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  Speaker 3: they are publicly funded owned. So every taxpayer pays to
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  Speaker 3: use those parks. I do agree that there should not
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  Speaker 3: be smoking around the playground equipment and the splash pad.
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  Speaker 3: What I'm proposing is we leave the parks as is,
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  Speaker 3: but designate those areas around the playground equipment and the
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  Speaker 3: splash pads as non-smoking areas. That way, smokers can still
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  Speaker 3: enjoy the outdoors, the parks, the full amenities, the multi-use uh, pathways,
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  Speaker 3: stuff like that. Um, because if you think about it,
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  Speaker 3: I forget how many years ago, but you know, we
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  Speaker 3: forced smokers outside of restaurants, which is no offense to smokers,
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  Speaker 3: but I'm all for that. Um, I do enjoy having
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  Speaker 3: a meal without breathing in smoke. Uh, but, uh, you know,
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  Speaker 3: we do force them outside. They can't be within 15
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  Speaker 3: feet of doorway. Well, we forced them outside. Well, now
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  Speaker 3: we're trying to enforce, well, because you're outside in a
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  Speaker 3: city park, you can't smoke. Well, where does it end?
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  Speaker 3: We've already forced them outside, saying you can only smoke here.
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  Speaker 3: So at the end of the day, the way I
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  Speaker 3: look at it is, as an alderman, and this holds
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  Speaker 3: true for all the aldermen on city council, we represent
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  Speaker 3: every single person in the city. The ward alderman, they
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  Speaker 3: represent the people in their ward. As alderman at large,
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  Speaker 3: I represent the entire city, just like alderman wise. And
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  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, whether you're a non-smoker
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  Speaker 3: or you're a smoker, we represent you. And I feel
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  Speaker 3: like just based off of Sock Valley Media's posts on Facebook,
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  Speaker 3: my own posts that I put on, smokers and non-smokers,
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  Speaker 3: granted it's a small sample size, but both smokers and
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  Speaker 3: non-smokers have, just as a majority, have voiced their opinions publicly.
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  Speaker 3: against the uh the smoking ban and again i know
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  Speaker 3: it's a small sample size but you've got non or
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  Speaker 3: you've got smokers saying that or i'm sorry you've got
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  Speaker 3: non-smokers coming out saying that they they should shouldn't be
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  Speaker 3: smoke-free so i feel like you know this this would
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  Speaker 3: be my opportunity to tell the citizens to you know
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  Speaker 3: talk to your alderman let them know how you feel
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  Speaker 3: if you don't if you're not for the smoking ban
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  Speaker 3: let them know um That's how we make our decisions.
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  Speaker 3: That's how we should make our decisions. And because at
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  Speaker 3: the end of the day, I may have an opinion,
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  Speaker 3: but my opinion might be totally separate from what the
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  Speaker 3: rest of the city wants. And that's what we're there
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  Speaker 3: to do. That's our job is to represent the city
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  Speaker 3: and represent what they want.
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  Speaker 1: So we didn't have this before. What actually prompted the discussion,
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  Speaker 1: considering obviously we haven't had it up and, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: still don't have it, but it hasn't been a thing
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  Speaker 1: up until this point, or at least a consideration. Do
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  Speaker 1: you know what kind of first sparked the conversation to
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  Speaker 1: say that projected it to city council level for a proposition?
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  Speaker 2: Honestly, I don't know. It came up.
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  Speaker 3: Two meetings ago. It was on our agenda, and Um, I,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I, I take, take being ultimate serious. I
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  Speaker 3: read the agenda, go through, do my research, stuff like that. Uh,
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  Speaker 3: and this one came up and it just stuck on
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  Speaker 3: me and, you know, I'm not one to just, I'm
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  Speaker 3: not one to just die on a hill for just anything,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, we're, again, we're talking about city, city
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  Speaker 3: owned property that is paid for by the taxpayers. And I, I,
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  Speaker 3: I'll die on the hill saying that every person in
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  Speaker 3: the city should be able to enjoy the parks, whether
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  Speaker 3: you smoke or not smoke. You are outdoors. I understand
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  Speaker 3: the argument where children should not be exposed to secondhand smoke,
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  Speaker 3: but if you're across the park, away from the playground equipment,
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  Speaker 3: the air is going to dissipate by the time it
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  Speaker 3: gets to the kids. Um, you know, I do enjoy
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  Speaker 3: an occasional cigar. I'll, I'll be on the golf course
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  Speaker 3: and have a cigar. And, you know, if I want
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  Speaker 3: to go sit at a park bench away from the
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  Speaker 3: kids and just try to solve, solve the world's problems
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  Speaker 3: in my head and have a cigar and think about it,
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  Speaker 3: I want to be able to do that and enjoy
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  Speaker 3: the outdoors just like the non-smokers. Um, granted that's very
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  Speaker 3: few and far between, but, but still, I don't, I
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  Speaker 3: want to be able to make that decision on my own.
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  Speaker 3: But as far as what was sparked, like I said,
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  Speaker 3: it was on the agenda. I'm assuming somebody may have
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  Speaker 3: gone to whoever put forward the motion or the ordinance.
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  Speaker 3: But I don't know exactly who or what prompted that.
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  Speaker 3: I've talked to Chief Bartell about it, talked to Brad
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  Speaker 3: Schrader about it. Uh, my biggest thing is enforcement. Um,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we put forward this ordinance. I hate to
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  Speaker 3: put it this way. You have a Karen that's on
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  Speaker 3: a mission and they see somebody smoking in the park and,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they call it into the police department.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they've got to answer that call.
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  Speaker 3: Um, by the time, you know, talking to chief, by
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  Speaker 3: the time they get to the park, one, the smoker's
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  Speaker 3: probably already done smoking the cigarette, puts it out, hides it. Um,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's a terrible allocation of resources, um, when,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the city's got other problems. Um, you know,
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  Speaker 3: if there's an accident across, across the city and they're
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  Speaker 3: dealing with a smoker, um, I just think that's a
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  Speaker 3: horrible allocation of those. Um, and then on top of it,
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  Speaker 3: as far as enforcement, you know, there's no cameras in
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  Speaker 3: the parks other than like the splash pad. Um, if
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  Speaker 3: it goes to court and the Karen decides not to
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  Speaker 3: go to court, well, there's no witness. And so now
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  Speaker 3: you're wasting tax dollars on a court case that quite
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  Speaker 3: possibly the person that smoked is probably going to get
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  Speaker 3: off because there's no witness to collaborate that. So, plus
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  Speaker 3: you have the, you know, the officer has to be
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  Speaker 3: in court. There, there's another waste of resources. So there's
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  Speaker 3: that signage for, for the city to post these, the
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  Speaker 3: banning and the rules and stuff like that. You'll have
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  Speaker 3: signage regardless, but if you've got to put it on
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  Speaker 3: the walkways, all over the parks, that costs money, that
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  Speaker 3: costs manpower, rather than putting a no smoking sign in
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  Speaker 3: those designated areas. And I've proposed that to the council,
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  Speaker 3: and we've had lengthy debates. The consensus right now is
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  Speaker 3: to do a full ban. Um, but again, I'm not,
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  Speaker 3: this is why I'm here today. I'm not going to
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  Speaker 3: be quiet about it. Um, I think we can make a,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I think consensual concessions can be made and,
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  Speaker 3: and we can still please everybody without entirely banning the
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  Speaker 3: parks or the smoking in the parks.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know, it, it is really, it's an
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  Speaker 1: interesting thing, right? It is, uh, You don't want to
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  Speaker 1: infringe on anyone's civil liberties. Certainly don't want to tell
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  Speaker 1: folks how they should live their life. I'm in an
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  Speaker 1: interesting position myself. I was a smoker for 10 years. Thankfully,
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  Speaker 1: I was able to quit. I think I can speak
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  Speaker 1: for most smokers. Let's say most all of them want
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  Speaker 1: to quit if they're regular smokers, and that's usually that
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  Speaker 1: a that, that demon riding on your back. And it's,
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  Speaker 1: it's tough. I tried to quit several times and I
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  Speaker 1: was lucky the, uh, the last time stuck for me.
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  Speaker 1: And it's, Oh God, I can't even remember that far back,
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  Speaker 1: but I think I'm getting to that age now, Ellen,
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  Speaker 1: where I'm just starting to forget parts of my life anyways.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Um, well, I was a smoker too when I, when
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  Speaker 3: I was in college and, um, I, I started young,
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  Speaker 3: I was 14 and I smoked till I was 19.
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  Speaker 3: And by the time I was in college, I was
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  Speaker 3: a pack and a half smoker a day. And, um,
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  Speaker 3: fortunately that's when I'm, I met my wife and she's like, well,
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  Speaker 3: if you ever want to kiss me again, you can't smoke.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that was a.
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  Speaker 3: Very easy, very easy reason to quit. But I get that,
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  Speaker 3: you know? And back then, uh, when I was at SOC, uh, they,
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  Speaker 3: I was there a couple of years after they, they
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  Speaker 3: banned smoking on, uh, or no, you could smoke on campus. Uh,
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  Speaker 3: but it was, it was banned indoors. And, um, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I remember the days where we're out back huddling with
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  Speaker 3: each other, trying to stay warm, having a cigarette. And so, so,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I, I get that and, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's.
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  Speaker 1: It's, it's interesting. I can't speak for everyone and I'm
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  Speaker 1: certainly not condemning anyone. When I smoked, I, I had
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  Speaker 1: my own role here. Here's the thing. I'm not, Again,
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  Speaker 1: I was a smoker, so I'm not on anyone. I've
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  Speaker 1: had three people die of cancer. My mother, my uncle,
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  Speaker 1: who was like my father, and my best friend's mother
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  Speaker 1: have all died of cancer. I smoked, but I did
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: not smoke around other people if they were not smokers.
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  Speaker 1: I always find this... I do find a very interesting thing.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody does immediately go, and they should, don't get me wrong,
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  Speaker 1: no smoking around children.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think... People should be lighting up around anybody
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  Speaker 1: who doesn't smoke because here's the thing. If secondhand smoke
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and people developing cancer from it who are non-smokers never
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  Speaker 1: lit up, I mean, there's hundreds of thousands of documented cases.
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  Speaker 1: Giving somebody a death sentence because I can't walk 20
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  Speaker 1: feet across the street is extremely selfish of me. Having
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: been a smoker for 10 years, I could wait if
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I couldn't walk. Most anybody can wait. Maybe some people
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: are not going to be happy with me for saying that,
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  Speaker 1: but I would, for me personally, I wasn't going to
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  Speaker 1: contribute causing somebody else the kind of pain and grief
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  Speaker 1: that I had felt in my own life from cancer
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  Speaker 1: just from not doing something like that. So what if,
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  Speaker 1: and again, this is going to be something that gets
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  Speaker 1: kicked around, what if maybe, like you said, concessions, If
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  Speaker 1: we had, I don't know, maybe designated smoking areas in
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  Speaker 1: the park so that you could go to that spot,
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  Speaker 1: everybody would know, hey, you don't go over there unless
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  Speaker 1: you want to be around smoke, dummy.
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, if it's a smoking area and you're walking
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  Speaker 1: in it and you're like, Oh, my God, why is
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: all this smoke? Well, it's a smoking area, man. Like,
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  Speaker 1: why are you there?
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  Speaker 3: And that's actually how I started out was let's have
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  Speaker 3: a designated smoking area.
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  Speaker 2: I could see that.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like it kind of gives everybody. You could
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  Speaker 1: still be in the park and know you've got an area.
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  Speaker 1: You don't got to go walk across the street, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Because I get it, and I mean, there's certain reasons
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: they don't want fire in parks.
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  Speaker 2: No, absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: Also, so I feel like it might be an idea.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: It might not be the perfect one, and I'm not
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: going to pretend I know the answer. I don't.
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  Speaker 2: I know I don't. Right.
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  Speaker 3: No, and like I said, that's originally how I started out,
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  Speaker 3: was let's have a designated smoking area. But after the
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  Speaker 3: first meeting got tabled and I had two more weeks
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  Speaker 3: to think about it, it's like, okay, well, what about...
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  Speaker 3: the single moms that have a smoking habit, and I'm
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  Speaker 3: not condemning them, they do.
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  Speaker 2: Sure.
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  Speaker 3: But what if they have a smoking habit and they
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  Speaker 3: have a two-year-old and a four-year-old playing at the park?
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  Speaker 3: So if they want to have a cigarette and they
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: can't wait, they have to pull their kids and go
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: smoke somewhere else, go smoke in their car, or they
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: walk away and leave their kids on the playground equipment.
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  Speaker 3: I know my wife would have killed me if I
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  Speaker 3: left my kids alone at the park.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And I don't know too many parents, single parents, it
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: doesn't have to be a single parent, but I don't
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  Speaker 3: know too many parents that are going to want to
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  Speaker 3: leave their their kids unattended at the playground equipment. So
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  Speaker 3: that's why I've kind of switched gears to having those
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  Speaker 3: areas as non-smoking areas within a certain amount of feet.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you could have a fence around the playground
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: equipment and smoking right at the fence. No, that's not
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: probably a good idea. But, you know, 10, 15 feet
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  Speaker 3: back or something like that.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: It's having the mindset of respect, right?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: And I'd like to think I know that if I
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: was a regular smoker right now, that I would step
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: away from the kids.
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to smoke around kids.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: I'd like to think that most people would think in
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: those terms.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: But, you know, there's those people out there that will
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: just light up.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: We wouldn't have laws if there wasn't individuals that go
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: out the commons. You know, you're absolutely right. Right. Yeah,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: with everything.
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  Speaker 3: Well, and then, you know, then there's, you know, the...
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: the argument about the quality of air that they're breathing. And,
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: and I, and I get that. Uh, but I can
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: also make the argument, you know, we were breathing in
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Canadian smoke, what, a month ago.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: And how toxic, how toxic is that by the time
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: it gets to us?
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: Um, living in Sterling, you smell the mill when, when
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: they're producing product and that's fine, but it's probably not
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: the best stuff to be breathing in either.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: You've got the pesticides and the, and the, Oh, I agree.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: It blows my mind. And I think it would blow
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: everybody else's mind when you go and see what's actually acceptable,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: even through like, you know, agencies like the EPA. And
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I'm like, you mean any, you know, I would have
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: thought any level should be unacceptable. And then you start
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: reading it and you're like. oh my God, you guys
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: are okay with this? And I don't think it's okay,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: but I think it's, I'm sure it has something to
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: do with the economy and how it affected and things
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: far beyond my knowledge base.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Everything has an acceptable level.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: And a lot of people don't realize what those acceptable
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: levels are. They just feel, unless you're in the mountains.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: You may not want to know because your shock won't
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: change it and you might not sleep at night.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: No, absolutely. And you know, unless you're in the mountains,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: you're probably not breathing the freshest of air.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: And not that I'm saying, hey, I want to breathe
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: secondhand smoke. No, mm-mm.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: I mean, there's a lot in the air that we're breathing.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: So that would be my... Not that I'm arguing about
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: people breathing in secondhand smoke, but we're still breathing in
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: not-so-good things. So that's kind of my counterpoint to that. But,
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: you know, at the end of the day, like I said,
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: we're representing the entire city. And based off of what
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: I've seen, like I said, off of Shaw Media's posts,
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: off of my own posts, and I've had a couple,
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: it's been... I don't want to say it's been a
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: super majority, but it's been a majority of wanting to
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: be against it, and we have to listen to that. And,
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: you know, I implore my fellow aldermen to listen to
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: their constituents and vote on what they want rather than
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: personal opinion. I mean, I've got all kinds of personal opinions,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: but that doesn't mean the city's going to be better
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: off for it.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: So... So, you know, that's what we're there to do.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: That's our job is to do what's best for the
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: city and not necessarily what's best for ourselves.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. And, you know, it would
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: be nice to see, and I don't know how maybe
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: feasible it is to, you know, maybe have the city
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: try to, you know, again, you know, not everybody's going
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: to respond to these things, but to even, you know,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: really broaden it out and say like, hey, you know,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: give us your opinion. You know, what do you think?
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Like you said, we want to do what you want
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: us to do as a majority, you know, of the
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: city to, to make these ordinances, you know, to, to
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: what you're looking for. So that, that would be good
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to see. I don't know if that's feasible or possible.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: But it's been done before, like with the parking and,
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: and there's, there's been other, you know, do I like
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: to fill out questionnaires as much as the next person?
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: No, no, I don't.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: But I, I feel like we do, we owe it
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: to the city to, to get their opinion on it. Um,
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: because I mean, What's the point of passing an ordinance?
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: I mean, let's be honest. I mean, if we pass
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: this ordinance, people are still going to smoke.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: And I hate to put it in those terms.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, it would be like saying because there's
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: a law for speeding, now nobody ever sped again.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Right, absolutely.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: And it's almost kind of those things, okay, I guess
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: I'll smoke until I get caught. And, okay, they get caught,
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: and they'll probably still smoke. So, you know, again, it's
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: the enforcement. And, you know, unfortunately, it's a vicious cycle.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And, and I, and I do see that how,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm not quite sure how there would be a,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: a better proposed suggestion when you got enforcement, um, and,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: you know, limited resources and, and different things going on.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: So that's another, uh, you're absolutely, that's another very interesting
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: piece of the, uh, piece of the puzzle.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: So, and I kind of hate the thought of, you know, some,
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: some Karen out there and I hate to say Karen,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: but I can't think of a better term, but you
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: think of some Karen out there calling nine one one, hey,
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: Joe over there is smoking. I need you to come
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: get him to put that out. Well, that's another resource
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: that unfortunately is going to get tied up. I'm not
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: saying you're going to have a million phone calls about smokers,
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: but the fact that Somebody may call 911 for that.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's not what 911's for. No, no.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: You have a non-emergency number for that. But you're absolutely right.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: You do have people who use 911 for things they
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: probably shouldn't, and it adds to the possibility. So I
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: can see that.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, it's a lot of things, but I, you know,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: you made, um, one of the best points is that
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: getting people to share their opinion, you know, outside of
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the city, putting out something like that, the best thing
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: to do is, as you know, you, uh, have those conversations.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: I've seen that on Facebook is to talk to your alderman,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: contact your city, contact your mayor, whoever it may be,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: and to have that conversation to express your opinion so
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: you know because keeping it to yourself certainly isn't going
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: to do anything.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: And then at the end of the day, if you
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: didn't get what you want, Well, you only really got
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: yourself to blame for not having spoken up, at least
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: in my opinion.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: No, I 100% agree with that.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: It's the same thing with voting, in my opinion. If
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: you didn't vote, don't complain for what you got. You
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: didn't seem to care. That's just my little rant. No,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: I'm right there with you. Yeah, you know, at least try.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: So this will be interesting. So when is the next
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: time they're going to talk about this?
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: So it'll be a week from today. Week from today.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Yep. No, sorry, a week from yesterday. Is it scheduled
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: for discussion or for action?
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: It'll be on... Well, it'll be on the agenda again. Okay.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Because we did table it last meeting. It'll depend on
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: if it gets tabled again. I don't know if it will.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: You know, we've spent two meetings now talking about it.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: It's been tabled twice.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Like I said, there's not too many hills that I'm
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: going to die on, but this is one of them.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: And I'll... I told the mayor a few weeks back,
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: I'm done being quiet and I'm not afraid to have
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: these discussions. That's what we're there for. And that's the,
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: that's the forum for it. And so I'll discuss it
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: until they tell me I can't discuss it anymore. And
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: if they, I know I'm on the losing side of this,
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: this battle, but this is really more for awareness. You know,
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: if we get people out there, talking to their aldermen
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: and letting them know how they feel and what they want.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: And the vote still passes. At least I know I
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: did my part. Sure. And we had these discussions.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: And I've actually enjoyed, not that I don't enjoy city council,
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: but I've really enjoyed the past couple meetings because we
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: had these discussions and debates. And I get along with
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: all the aldermen. And I just, you know, it's nice
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: to hear both sides of it and actually have these discussions. Um, so,
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: you know, uh, I, I, I imagine it'd probably get
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: voted on. Um, I don't know how the vote will go,
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: but I know I'm on the losing side of it
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: right now. But again, just trying to get that awareness
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: out there and just let people know, you know, your
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: voice does matter. Uh, and please talk to your alderman
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: about it and, and, and, you know, let's, let's see
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: what can happen from there.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. That's why, you know, I, I thought
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: it was really important when you had reached out to me.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I absolutely agree.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Awareness.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: I am not an expert. I am not the guy
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: to come ask what's the perfect way to do this
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: or what's the right or wrong. I don't want to
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: see anybody be told how to live their life, and
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: I don't want to see anybody have their health risk either,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and I don't know what the medium is, so that's
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: not me. So the best thing for me to do
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: was for me and you to have this conversation to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: bring the awareness so the people are aware, and then
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: they can go express their concerns to their city leaders,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and then it's just going to be interesting to see
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: how it shakes out.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: So, Well, Alan, thank you for coming on the show,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: for having the courage to have the conversation, to put
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: your opinion out there, because it's getting conversations started is
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: how things begin to happen. Conversations need to happen, even
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: if they're not the easiest, even if they're somewhat controversial.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: We've got to get the dialogue started if we want
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: to have civil resolutions to things. It's when we stop
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: talking and start trying to force what we're going to
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: do that things start to break down. And that's why
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: conversations are important. So, Alan, thank you so much for
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: coming on the show today.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.