Many Niles residents may have seen the firestorm of news that resulted from the council’s recent action to defund the Riverfest. The Riverfest has been a part of Niles for about 20 years and has been funded by Niles for the entire time of its existence. After all this time, the festival has come to maturity and needs to support itself, just like the council made the Apple Festival do this year.

It should be noted that the Riverfest is still receiving fire protection, police protection, free use of city grounds and reimbursement for their utility costs. This alone is several thousands of dollars’ worth of services.

I hope that the Riverfest will continue to be successful over the next few years; but the committee must realize that the city is in financial straits and simply can’t afford to spend money like it did before. We have to make fiscally responsible decisions to keep this city afloat.

My voting record has been consistent — I voted to defund all three of the major summer festivals and my record will be consistent in the future.

It’s time that we stop catering to special interests and time to start making decisions that make sense for this community.

David Mann

Council Member, 3rd Precinct