Schmidt Camp Moves Ahead, Reelected

The City of Park Ridge is in the same state it was before April 9, said Mayor David Schmidt on election night. With about 62 percent of the votes, the incumbent mayor extended his stay four years in the office for the voters’ benefit, Schmidt said.

“It just confirmed that what people are most concerned about is spending and property taxes,” Schmidt said.

. While the first time he ran for mayor it was more confrontational, Schmidt said, this time he spent time responding to factual challenges.

“I think it was less acrimonious, but I had to spend more time trying to clarify misrepresentations regarding the record,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said his support was broad based, not localized to any particular part of town, which meant that a good majority of the residents throughout the town appreciated their approach to government, he said.

“I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing the last four years, because the voters spoke tonight, and they said that’s what they want,” Schmidt said. “So that’s what I’m going to keep doing.”

One of the first items on Schmidt’s agenda, he said, was vetoing the pubic works employees' union contract.

“It’s not expense neutral, and we have to continue to cut spending because we still have the Uptown TIF debt to deal with,” Schmidt said. “Nothing has changed. Our situation before the election is the same after the election; we still have the Uptown TIF to deal with.”

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