Saturday, October 24, 2009

Lou Amici - Candidate for Phoenixville Mayor

I would like to state my qualifications for Mayor of Phoenixville.

My wife, Maryann and I, have been borough residents since 1971. I have a degree in Political Science from St. Joseph's University. I served on the Civil Service Commission from 1988 to 1991. The Civil Service Commission tests, interviews, and then recommends to Council both applicants to serve as police officers and also applicants for promotion within the Police Department. I was elected to Borough Council in 1991, and served from 1992 to 2004. On two occasions, I was Council President. During my first term as Council President (1998-2000), the borough had a one million dollar surplus. I participated in the revitalization of the Foundry Building as well as downtown revitalization during my years in Council. My academic background and my government experience make me qualified to run the police department, which is the Mayor's primary responsibility. I have a good knowledge of Phoenixville and know the history of its issues.

My wife and I are charter members of the Colonial Theatre Association. I have contributed over three gallons of blood throughout the years to the Red Cross blood drives at St. Ann's parish. For eight years, I was the coordinator of the blood drive. I have served as Leader of Song in both St. Ann and Holy Trinity parishes.

I promise as Mayor to provide experience you can trust as well as the ability to listen to you and respond promptly.

11 comments:

Weneedachange said...

Lou,

Where do you stand on the expansion of the library and how do you feel about Second Ave being closed ?

Also,what would you do differently with the Police Dept. that the current Mayor hasn't done ?

Thank You

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Amici,


How do you feel about another HUD funded housing unit at the corner of Starr and Bridge Sts?

Do you feel the town has their fair share of HUD housing?

If possible, would you encourage the zoning be changed back to Historic District prior to the fiasco with the Evans project on the Saint Nicholas Brotherhood parcel of land deeded and leased dfor 99 years?

Karen said...

Received via email from Lou Amici.

Dear Weneedachange,

I am opposed to a plan to close Second Avenue, as the residents oppose that part of the plan. Perhaps satellite operations of the library need to be considered.

I intend to utilize the Pennsylvania Association of Boroughs for information of programs that have worked in other boroughs to gauge their appropriateness to Phoenixville. Obviously, I must work within the constraints of the budget approved by Council.

I would also work with the police chief to address more police interaction with the community. By the way, whatever happened to National Night Out that was usually done in August?

Karen said...

Received via email from Lou Amici:

Dear Anonymous,



Anytime there is more housing in Phoenixville, the cost of police and fire services is affected. They generally go up. I don't know how you gauge fair-share of HUD housing when you ask if Phoenixville has it. I know there were always plans to revise the Zoning Ordinances while I was on Council. I am not aware that a revision of the Zoning Ordinances was passed. In any event, I would be in favor of not modifying the Historic District zoning regulations.

karlub said...

I will be the first to admit I wondered if people were ready for a change in the Mayor's office.

But over the last year, I have gotten a chance to know Lou almost as well as the many people in the community who knew him while he was on Council, or from Mummering, or as a leader in his Church.

There is no doubt in my mind, after getting to know him as well as all these people do, that he would make a great mayor.

Anonymous said...

Now I understand the bullet point on Mr. Amici's campaign card handout:

Will improve communication for residents to contact mayor with 48-hour maximum response time.


He will send a email to someone to post his answers to questions rather than answer the question directly.

Mr. Amici, why didn't you use the 'leave your comment' feature of this blog to answer the questions directly of the posters? It would have been quicker.

Two day response time that you propose in your campaign handouts is waaaay to long in this age of text messages, email, and cell phones. If people get to the point of involving the Mayor on an issue they need a quicker response than 48 hours.

Are there response issues that you have identified with the current Mayor that need correcting?

Karen said...

Anonymous 10:07, as the blog owner I can attest to the fact that Mr. Amici did attempt to use the comment feature but was unsuccessful.

Anonymous said...

I believe he is misinformed to believe that "I am opposed to a plan to close Second Avenue, as the residents oppose that part of the plan". If he were truly informed, he would see that many more "residents" are for the expansion rather than against it. Maybe you, Karen, and a couple other neighbors are against it, but the "residents" as a whole are for it. I also think that if Lou can't figure out how to use (and be successful) the comment feature, he shouldn't be the one deciding important issues for Phoenixville. P.S. I'm not saying I'm necessarily in favor of the expansion, just that he needs to be better informed of the "residents" feelings on the issue. Scoda isn't exactly in favor of the expansion either, but he hasn't made this type of inaccurate comment.

Karen said...

I happen to "believe", Anonymous 11:45 A.M., that the majority of Phoenixville residents are opposed to the current library expansion plan.

Just peruse the comments regarding the plan on my blog, other blogs, and the archives of the Phoenix.

Most recently, political candidates who have conducted door-to-door campaigns have mentioned that, unsolicited, many voters are bringing up the subject of the current library proposal.

Those who do speak to it are most definitely in opposition.

The current expansion is clearly a hot-button issue, with child and resident safety and emergency response being a primary concern along with the parking and traffic problems which cannot ever be resolved.

In order to maintain credibility, one cannot simply make a blanket statement on any issue unless one also has facts to back it up.

Anonymous said...

While I do believe many people are in opposition to the expansion, when attending the council meetings, I tend to see more people speaking out in favor of it. I will not touch the issue of looking at blogs for a sense of where "residents" as a whole stand on the issue of expansion. There are many reasons this is not a good source for that type of information.

Karen said...

Anonymous 1:07:00 PM, you may not be aware of this but I have received pamphets and other information urging support for the plan which is distributed to the visitors of the library prior to meetings on this subject.

If each of the thousands of weekly visitors to the library receives a pamphlet, the resulting turnout of supporters at local meetings is dismal.

Those in opposition to the current plan do not have the resources to put thousands of pieces of literature out to the public. We rely on word of mouth and the blogs.

I'd say we've done a very good job in comparison to the library.