Mentor City Council Election 2011 Candidate Profile: Bruce Landeg

Editor's Note: As part of Mentor Patch's local election coverage, we will provide profiles of each of the candidates running for office. These profiles will offer biographical and issue-oriented details about each of the candidates to help you, the voters, make more-informed decisions at the ballot box. We also will have a short video of each candidate in which we ask them, "What is the biggest issue facing Mentor and how would you address it?"

Stay tuned for more coverage of the election. 

Name: Bruce Landeg

Age: 54

Occupation: Professional Civil Engineer and Surveyor

Education: Mentor High School (Magna Cum Laude), B.S. in Engineering, University of Connecticut (Cum Laude)

Office Sought: Ward 3 

Elected Experience: Elected two terms to Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of  Supervisors, serving as Fiscal Agent.

Non-Elected Experience: Served on Mentor Board of Zoning Appeals for 4 years 

Stakeholder/taxpayer advocate on the Lost Nation Airport Study

Vice chair of the Lake County Coastal Planning Committee

Leader in creating Lake County’s Coastal Development Plan (CDP)

Board member for a private high school

Serving as an Ohio Army National Guard officer at the old Ravenna Arsenal; U. S. Navy submarine veteran

Chief deputy engineer of Lake County

Lake County’s project manager for the $200 Million State Route 2 refurbishment and expansion

Candidate Statement: There are specific areas I would like to change in Mentor.

1) Drainage woes:
You do not have to be a professional engineer to know that in a city as flat as Mentor you can’t ignore drainage problems. Yet by reducing the money in the infrastructure and drainage fund, that is exactly what Ward 3 Councilman, Ed Walsh, has done (e.g.-8/16/2005, City of Mentor Minutes, “…assistance for storm water drainage projects has decreased due to funds being reallocated to other service areas.” This is poor use of taxpayer funds.

Residents of Ward 3 tell me about flooded basements and standing water. A resident in the Bellflower area lamented about losing her insurance after three events. Ward 3’s failed leadership contributed to these flooding nightmares. I will make it my top priority to restore drainage and infrastructure funds for Mentor’s long term future. My bucket-and-mop prop  in the Mentor Parade is a symbol of the real mess in Ward 3. It has affected home values and quality of life.

2) Lake Shore Blvd. traffic delays:
Between Brooks Blvd and the Willoughby line there are problems getting in and out of the many residential side streets. A turning lane would ease the situation. I investigated the feasibility of using a safer bike-way (widened sidewalk) with ODOT and then restripe the existing pavement to remove the contiguous pavement bike lanes and add a center turn lane for cars. This solution could be implemented at minimal infrastructure cost.

This was a priority of Ward 3 residents four years ago and Ed Walsh got nothing done.

3) Mentor “Beachless” Park:
I remember when you had to walk on the long sidewalk to the water because the sand was so hot. It could be a hot spot again with strong leadership. I would empower the Port Authority to do their job by seeking grants for a beach recovery project as other communities have done. Lake Erie is our greatest natural resource, and as Lake County Project Manager for SR2, it was my idea to celebrate Lake Erie with icon panels on the new noise walls.

So why should voters elect me to the Ward 3 Council seat?

I list three specific reasons below, but first I must say why I lost in 2007 by a narrow margin in the same race for Ward 3. I lost because of 25 percent voter turnout that greatly aided the incumbent. If people do not have enough interest to get out and vote, then we deserve the professional politicians we keep electing and the inferior results (at all levels of governement).

Firstly, Ward 3 voters should elect me because I am a professional engineer, and not a professional politician. Council needs a civil engineer’s perspective to drive solutions for the drainage woes that have adversely affected home values and quality of life in Ward 3. Councilman Ed Walsh voted against the city manager’s recommendation to retain adequate infrastructure funding. Failed leadership cannot be erased by fix-it-all promises from a professional politician that are too little and too late.

Second of all, voters in Ward 3 should elect me for my role in stopping the
county from buying Lost Nation Airport. This is already saving taxpayer’s both federal and county tax dollars. The city’s do-nothing approach is safe, but lacks leadership. I led the petition drive asking the Commissioner’s to perform due diligence by studying the best use of the airport. I proposed a conservation development that will protect Mentor Ward 3 neighborhoods with existing green space and no street extensions.

This proposal would also increase the size of and allow for construction of a much needed detention pond.

Thirdly, voters should elect me because of the changes that are coming to
Mentor and other local governments. From 2002 to 2007, the cost of local governments in Northeast Ohio grew from $16 billion to $20 billion or by 25 percent. In the same period, population growth was stagnated at no growth. In this same geographic area with a total economic activity of about $170 billion this trend must not continue. The same old Mentor Council with their 1980s ideas just won’t cut it. Council has become known for more discord than accomplishments. Aristotle could have been describing some in this
group when he said:

“Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing”.

As a professional engineer and professional military officer I have the leadership skills to help turn council around. As an elected Lake Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor I have served as fiscal agent over the last two years of financial turmoil.

I already have experience with the fiscal realities that are coming to Mentor. I am as committed to serving my community as I am to serving my country. After Sept. 11, I volunteered to serve my country, but I need your support on Election Day, November 8th.

See www.MentorWard3.org for further information on how you can help.

Related Links:

See Landeg's statement at the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce Candidates and Issues Luncheon: http://patch.com/A-mGqv