GUEST EDITORIAL: Moline Alderman Mike Wendt Offers His Side Of The Story
The following guest editorial was submitted to us by Moline alderman Mike Wendt. Mr. Wendt was involved in a situation in his city that was reported by some of the other local mainstream media. He felt the coverage was unfair, and approached us to allow an open forum for him to express his side of the story. As always, we welcome guest editorials, and as the top Quad-Cities alternative media source, we welcome different opinions. Feel free to contact us at Sean@QuadCities.com if you have a guest editorial you would like us to consider for publication.
This letter is in response to a ClickBait article that was published in both the Dispatch and the Quad Cities Times about me last Saturday. The headline of which was “Moline alderman accused of assaulting a utility worker”, and because of that, I feel compelled to draft this letter of correction/clarification because the headline of the article was a brazen attempt to put me in a false light with the community.
This isn’t the first time a certain reporter with our consolidated paper has been surprisingly creative with the facts. Over the past few years on not less than a half dozen occasions I’ve been forced to reach out to paper and oftentimes the publisher after false reporting was published with factual errors. After I provided the facts to the paper/publisher errors were acknowledged resulting in retractions/corrections being printed and/or them changing online stories after the fact, but as we all know those corrections aren’t put above the fold.
The residents of the Quad Cities deserve better from our journalists who are supposed to be provided facts to our community.
Here are the facts. Last Thursday while on my daily morning walk through Prospect Park with my wife, we came across a Metronet truck illegally installing cable aerially as well as illegally blocking off half of the south bound traffic on 16th Street. I know it was illegal because in response to documentation I had provided about previous violations by MetroNet I had provided to the Council we discussed how staff was forced to issue a cease and desist letter to MetroNet to stop all illegal installations within the City. This was a result of them not properly fixing the “right of way” after work was done, illegally blocking traffic, installing aerial cables in violation of our ordinance, and it was communicated to us that their representatives had lied to staff on a number of occasions. This has become such a problem that the Council took the extreme step and voted unanimously Tuesday night (the night before the incident) to direct staff to issue a notice to MetroNet that we were enforcing all penalty provisions under our ordinance.
Let me be clear, and I have said this on the council floor on many occasions; as long as MetroNet is willing to follow our ordinance they are welcome to provide service to our residents, but unless the Council wants to vote to loosen the code and responsibilities of utilities working in the right of way, they are required to play by the same rules as everyone else.
As soon as my wife and I saw the truck on 16th street, I immediately called the City Administrator, Bob Vitas, and told him that it looked like a MetroNet truck was doing work in violation of the cease and desist order. At this time I had not yet walked over to 16th street. The City Administrator indicated that he thought it was best for him to send out a police officer to that location and until the police arrived asked me to document through pictures and video what was going on because MetroNet had a history of when getting caught, leaving the area before staff or police could arrive. So to be clear the police were called in by the City Administrator before I even walked over to 16th Street.
As directed, I took a video of a MetroNet truck slowly driving south of 16th Street with a person in an elevated bucket installing fiber. I then walked north on the sidewalk toward another MetroNet truck further up the street. As I walked, there was a fiber cable draping down next to my head. I did touch the cable enough to steady it for a picture, something in retrospect I should not have done. I then continued to walk North toward the other truck. Then one of the MetroNet workers from the Truck that was installing cable rushed up the hill towards me as I was facing the other direction. At this time my wife started video taping because the worker was confronting me. After the worker threatened to sue me for videoing them I explained I was video taping because they were violating the code, I was the alderman, that the police were on their way; I then asked where his supervisor/boss was located. He indicated it was further north on 16th St.
As I walked over the staging area for MetroNet located in the parking lot on the corner of 16th St. and 30th Ave, I saw one of Moline’s staff members talking with some of the MetroNet crew. So I walked over and spoke with the City Employee until the police officer who was sent by the City Administrator arrived. We spoke briefly, then the officer went to talk with the Metronet workers in the truck. At this point my wife and I walked toward home.
That afternoon the police reached out for a statement and that is when I learned some sort of report had been filed. I gave the statement above and provided the video my wife took that shows there was no “altercation” and the photo of the draping cable over the sidewalk. Later I was told that one of the workers reported that while moving in an elevated bucket truck he dropped his phone when I touched the cable. Apparently this is the basis for the “assault” claim. I should be clear that there was no mention of this phone while I was at the location that morning. These are the facts.
First, I want to thank all my friends and constituents who know me for their outpouring of support who know these allegations of an “assault” are pure fantasy. Second, thanks to those neighbors that since reading this story indicated to me they too were in the vicinity and did not see any altercation or “assault”. Finally, while I agree I should not have touched the cable draping down when I took the picture and I apologize for that; I do not apologize for working for the residents of Moline to ensure our staff knows when ordinances are not being followed. As Alderman we should know the code, and if we see something not being followed or enforced it is our duty to report that to staff.
Clearly from some statements in the Dispatch article there are Aldermen that don’t feel that it is their responsibility to work on behalf of our residents when ordinances aren’t being followed or enforced.
I challenge all Moline residents to let me, other Aldermen or the Mayor know when you see something wrong in the City; be it potholes, utility companies damaging sidewalks and boulevards and not fixing them, or any other items that negatively affect our great City. You deserve elected officials who care enough to work on your behalf.
