Link to All of My Articles and Videos Regarding the Waukegan City Council and/or Mayor Sam Cunningham

      The following is a link to all the articles and videos I have published, which pertain to the city council of Waukegan, Illinois; current Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham; or both of the above.

     The author of this blog - Joe Kopsick - has lived in Waukegan for eight years (since 2017), and began commenting on city affairs in 2019. The following articles and videos are from 2019, 2021, and 2025.

     1. "Licensing Breeds Licentiousness: Speech to the Waukegan City Council on July 15th, 2019", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on July 15th, 2019:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/07/licensing-breeds-licentiousness-speech.html

     2. "Public Officials Should Not Appear in Ads for Public Events: Speech to the Waukegan City Council on August 5th, 2019 (First Draft)", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on July 15th, 2019:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/07/taxpayer-funded-local-events-should-not.html

     3. "Speech to the Waukegan City Council on August 5th, 2019 (Second Draft)", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on July 30th, 2019:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/07/speech-to-waukegan-city-council-on.html

     4. "Speech to the Waukegan City Council on August 5th, 2019 (Third Draft)", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on July 31st, 2019:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2019/07/speech-to-waukegan-city-council-on_31.html

     5. "City Governments Could Make Revenue-Sourcing and Land Use More Efficient by Taxing Vacant Lots and Abandoned Properties", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on April 3rd, 2021:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2021/04/city-of-waukegan-could-expand-vacant.html

     6. "Waukegan Should Adopt Land Value Taxation to End Double Taxation and Provide Property Tax Relief", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on April 14th, 2021:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2021/04/waukegan-and-lake-county-should-adopt.html

     7. "Video on Land Value Taxation to Be Included in Waukegan City Council Livestream on April 19th, 2021", published to YouTube on April 16th, 2021:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2021/04/video-on-land-value-taxation-to-be.html
     [To see the video referenced, see the links within, or click on Link #8 and/or Link #11 below.]

     8. "2021-04-19 City of Waukegan City Council Meeting", published to YouTube on April 21st, 2021:
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxuTD85iZ4A

     9. "Former Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham Excused Joe Biden's Child Molestation, and Then Physically Assaulted My Friend", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on July 25th, 2021:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2021/07/former-waukegan-mayor-sam-cunningham.html

     10. "Speech to the Waukegan City Council Regarding Former Mayor Sam Cunningham (February 3rd, 2025)", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on March 17th, 2025:
     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2025/03/speech-to-waukegan-city-council.html

     11. "Enacting Land Value Taxation in Lake County IL", published to YouTube on May 19th, 2022:
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKt1EZ2FPc

     12. "Speech to the Waukegan City Council Regarding Land Value Taxation (March 17th, 2025)", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on March 17th, 2025:
     https://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2025/03/speech-to-waukegan-city-council_17.html

     13. "Speech to the Waukegan City Council Regarding Sanitation, Traffic, and City Council Business (August 18th, 2025)", published to the Aquarian Agrarian on August 17th, 2025:
     https://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2025/08/speech-to-waukegan-city-council-on.html

     14: "Link to All of My Articles and Videos Regarding the Waukegan City Council and/or Mayor Sam Cunningham" [i.e., this article], published to the Aquarian Agrarian on August 17th, 2025:
     https://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2025/08/link-to-all-of-my-articles-and-videos.html

Compiled and published on August 17th, 2025.

Speech to the Waukegan City Council, Regarding Sanitation, Traffic, and City Council Business (August 18th, 2025)

      The following speech was written on August 17th, 2025, and will be read aloud during the public comments period at the upcoming regular meeting of the city council of Waukegan, Illinois, on August 18th.

     This speech is addressed to the city's nine aldermen (including Alderman Juan Martinez, mentioned by name), as well as the mayor, the treasurer, the city's corporation lawyer, and the secretary.

     The time limit for public comments is three minutes per person. This speech will likely take just over three minutes to read aloud.

     The city council usually meets at 7:00 P.M., on the first and third Monday of each month.

     I hope that you will find the following suggestions constructive.

     First off: Several months ago, Alderman Martinez reminded Waukegan residents to empty-out  our bags of recyclable goods directly into recycling receptacles, instead of placing sealed bags of recyclables into the bins.

     I’m happy to comply with this request; in fact, this advice saves us all money on trash bags. But I do have one concern: If the receptacle tips over on windy days, then the recyclables are more likely to fall out, and blow all over the place, if they are not bagged, than if they are bagged.

     So I’d like to ask – the next time you have a chance to renew the contract with the company providing the recycling receptacles – that you please ask that contractor to provide residents with receptacles that don't lock, but can snap securely closed, and can still fling open easily when the receptacle is flipped upside-down.

     This will help keep the areas around the trash bins clean, while getting the recycling taken out efficiently and with minimal waste.

     Second: Drivers heading north on Green Bay Road, and turning right onto Washington Street, are not sufficiently informed that they will have to make two complete stops before turning.

     This intersection is monitored by camera, and people are being ticketed for failing to stop twice. So if the city is going to profit off people who fail to stop – and if people are going to be honked at by drivers who don’t know what the rule is at that intersection – then the city should install signage which is sufficient to get the point across (that drivers need to stop twice).
     Therefore I propose installing – at the southeast corner of Green Bay and Washington – either: 1) an additional stop sign; 2) a second white stop line, painted onto the street; 3) a sign which reads “inch out and stop again before turning”; or all of the above.

     Third: Some of these meetings last way too long. No sane person wants to still be in a government building at 10:00 P.M. (including, I think, you, yourselves).

     I hope that any and all aldermen who agree with me on this, will propose an amendment to the city council’s by-laws, which would shorten meetings from three hours to one-and-a-half hours (by meeting four times per month instead of two), or else an amendment which would shorten meetings from three hours to two (by meeting three times per month).
     A rule to dismiss at 9:30 P.M., automatically, would also solve this problem.

     Fourth: Several months ago, there was some concern expressed, regarding the duration of aldermen’s speaking time.

     Therefore, I ask whomever is interested, to propose a three-minute limit upon the total duration of each alderman’s general comments (which, unless I’m mistaken, are currently unlimited). This proposal would afford each resident – and each alderman – the same amount of speaking time.

     Fifth: It has been more than four months since a video from the regular meetings of the Waukegan City Council has been posted to the WaukeganTV channel on YouTube.

     Please ask someone to update your channel; the public needs to see what’s happening here, from home, so that they don’t have to endure these long meetings.


     Thank you.

Written and published on August 17th, 2025.

Delivered, with edits, on August 18th, 2025.

Edited on this blog on August 19th, 2025.