Goodbye, gasoline! We bought an electric snow blower in the fall. I got one with high-capacity batteries that are compatible with my battery lawn mower, which has worked great.
No more going to the gas station in cold weather and mixing up new oil mix! No more raunchy smoke and fumes coming out of the nasty two-cycle engine! No more running the snow blower at the end of the season to burn off leftover gas!
There really is no good reason to buy a gas-powered snow blower anymore. Battery-powered snow blowers are convenient, quiet, clean, reliable, and will lower your carbon footprint!
Bill Simon, Naperville
Our community should be saddened by recent Naperville candidate petition challenges that have been taken to the Municipal Electoral Board and will soon be heard in DuPage County Circuit Court.
Until recently, local Naperville politics have largely been a joy to be a part of. Not only were opposing candidates typically friendly toward one another, in many cases they became great friends while going through the election process.
But our historically friendly political environment is changing rapidly. This is bad news for those who desire to see quality community leaders continue to step up to serve.
A local political party leader has hired a prominent election law firm to file technical challenges to the filings of mayoral candidate Tiffany Stephens and city council candidate Derek McDaniel. The challenges do not question whether either candidate obtained the needed signatures or if they are now Naperville residents. They raise technical defects. The wrong fastener? Page numbering? The date of a house closing?
The result is these candidates have to engage counsel to litigate their way onto the ballot. This is an expensive undertaking and a trick straight out of the Chicago political playbook. Litigate the candidates not supported by the “local machine” off the ballot. The “machine” knows full well that in most cases the challenged candidates will not have the financial means to fight the issue in court.
This is a sorry way to treat two longtime Naperville community leaders. It’s also a loss of well-credentialed options for voters to consider in April should either be unable to pay their way through the court process.
Residents should reject this bullying style of politics and remind those involved in these challenges that residents, not partisan leaders, should be the ones vetting candidates through the election, not through litigious court hearings.
Let’s keep our local elections clean and kick out “Chicago-style” machine politics from our community.
Kevin Coyne, Naperville
Naperville City Councilman, 2015-21
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