MASON CITY – Mason City Mayor Eric Bookmeyer wants you to go on a bike ride with him next month.
And for $5.00, you will be able to go.
On August 22nd, 2013 at 6:30 PM Mayor Bookmeyer will be riding his bike from Newman School to Lester Milligan Park.
The cost to join the “Mayor’s Ride” is $5 for adults 18 and over or $10 per family . Youth 5-17 are free and registration is required. Each participant will receive a t-shirt and water bottle.
A billboard is now at the corner of 6th Street SW and President Avenue, advertising a bike ride with the mayor on the evening of August 22nd with more information available at youthtaskforce.org. However, a check of that website showed no further information about the “Mayor’s Ride” and nothing about Mason City at all. The site is dedicated to the Holyoke, Massachusetts Youth Task Force. The Mason City Finance Department said late last week that the city did not pay for the billboard, but indicated that the city gives the Mason City Youth Task Force $25,000 to $30,000 each year.
The event is also listed on the city’s web site on the home page and under the Youth Task Force’s page.
On the city’s web site, it says citizens can contact the Recreation Department at 421-3673 for more information.
I just have a moment to comment; I have an appointment to have my haircut and I go out of town to have it cut.
There is a perspective here that is being overlooked. Bookmeyer has a family. You would think that he would show more compassion to those in his family that he has showed up to now. Why would this egomaniac continue to subject his family to this level of abuse when all he’d have to do is not run for another term….or stop drinking? That by itself speaks volumes about who he is as a man. There is only one person in his family he really cares about…..wanna Guess who that is?
Here we go again. NIT picks and chooses what comments can be posted. Mine got the boot because I called Matt out on some of his ridiculous comments. Am sure this will disappear just as my others have!!
I really have no need to ever delete any comments of yours. Perhaps you used profanity and our spam blocker software never allowed it to be posted. Either way, glad you are here again at midnight blogging on NIT, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
@Matt- I think he secretly loves N.I.T. and is just embarrassed to say so. My opinion of course.
$5.00 to ride a few blocks??? OMG!! What do they get at the end of the ride? Bookmeyer will have his beer hidden in the bushes again! Geesh,what a wonderful example he’s being to our kids! NOT,!!by the way……I’ve seen him hide the beer with friends and laughing the whole time!
Matt, in no way was what I wrote meant to be taken as a compliment. And that just shows your mentality.
I have no obsession with Max & Peter Children but am just using them as an example since you so often refer to the mayor’s “cronies” or the “elitist”, etc. Just doing the same as you!
And you are absolutely RIGHT! Yes, RIGHT when you say it’s nobody’s business who Max & Children work for just as it’s nobody’s business who the mayor hires and for how many hours a week they work.
NIT is going to work harder now slamming the mayor and council after today’s article from Matt Marquardt’s sister-in-law in the Globe Gazette today. Good letter, Heidi!!
All of us have an in law drinking the Kool aid from time to time
Not only Matt’s sister in law but from what I hear Matt’s own brother has signed off and is a Bookmeyer supporter. Good for Heidi is right.
The mayor does plenty to put himself into question; all that is required here is reporting the truth and letting him run from the scene.
As far as what the Globe published, it doesn’t hold water.
Giving Bookmeyer credit for: “the beautiful downtown, new and retained businesses, the Blue Zones Project and tourism (who would have thought!) and professionalism” … sounds like this was written by someone who has probably attended perhaps one or less city council meetings in her life or is delusional. I’ll break it down so you can try to understand.
“the beautiful downtown” : That is a product of the former city council voting to pass the streetscape project. Also, I never saw Eric in Central Park picking up litter, although I did see his Pal Robin Anderson there with a skid loader destroying a garden. Great example to stand behind.
“new and retained businesses” : Sorry, what new businesses, what new jobs? WS Live? That’s 29 jobs at $9.50 per hour. We may never see the other 106 jobs; IC System taught us that lesson. Job retention is a line from Eric’s drinking buddy Brent Willett. With this group of cronies, when a business DOESN’T leave town, that’s a reason to celebrate. Again, we have set the bar pretty low in Mason City. Maybe the letter writer means all the new pawn and thrift shops downtown. Do you really think Metalcraft and Harley would have left town? Get real.
“the Blue Zones Project” : Potentially a bottomless pit of expenses to the people of Mason City; we may never know, except that I can tell you our pavement paving costs increased from $100,484.08 in 2012 to $117,303.17 in 2013 due to Blue Zones (painting lines for bikes on the streets). By the way, all that urgency from Bookmeyer for Mason City to join the Blue Zone movement… now there are 18 towns and counting in Iowa that are Blue Zones demo sites. Perhaps it was all hype to sell more insurance policies, after all, that’s what insurance companies do, isn’t it? Nothing like championing an industry that rips the rest of us off. For me, I will continue to eat right and work out. I do not need a Blue Zone to tell me how to live.
“professionalism” : Perhaps the biggest joke of all. Anyone who knows Bookmeyer knows this man is a huge fraud who hasn’t had a job in years, never started or ran a business, and only knows a couple of dozen people in town beyond a “hello”. He is not a professional in any sense of the word; he’s not good at anything except bullying the elderly, cashing his wife’s checks and acting like a drunken buffoon occasionally (I’ve witnessed it more than once). Bookmeyer is just a hand-picked puppet by some downtown cronies because none of them want to be mayor. Pretty much simple as that.
Shame on you Matt for slamming your own extended family on here. I know Heidi personally and have attending SEVERAL city council meetings with her, and she has such a great view of what Mason City is truly about and is someone who doesn’t just lend her support to someone or something without doing her research. She made the choice to move back to Mason City, not because she HAD to, but WANTED to because she loves it there. She may not share the same view as others on here, but that does not make her “delusional.” And at the end of the day, she may not agree with you, but that doesn’t mean you need to slam her and her view without a thought or care – it simply means that someone disagrees with you. That’s it. This site seems to be about sharing different view points and opinions and I love how as soon as someone if different than yours, they are wrong. And you get to tell them how wrong they are from behind your computer screen. It is ok Matt, for not everyone to be or think just like you.
Politics is not always for the faint of heart. I found that out three years ago. In the political arena, lending your opinion to any issue may then invoke a response. Sometimes the response is agreeable, other times not, but it should always be expected. I slammed no one; I simply articulated more facts to back up my arguments than Heidi did and now you are angry about that. Don’t be a sore loser. What you should really do is counsel your friend, ask her to take the blinders off and remind her of this growing list of transgressions from Eric Bookmeyer:
– In 2010, Bookmeyer was told to leave the Other Place Bar after slamming two $1 bills onto the bar and yelling at the bar staff “I want to play some f****** pool!” The young lady behind the bar refused Bookmeyer’s request to make change and told him it was time to leave. Brent Trout then put his arms around Bookmeyer and the two men laughed and walked out of the establishment.
– In December of 2009, with a drink in his hand, Bookmeyer was screaming at a television set at Frank’s bar during a football game as his Nebraska Cornhuskers were losing to the Texas Longhorns. A Mason City citizen warned him to quiet down.
– Early in his tenure as Mayor, Bookmeyer berated an employee at a local hair salon when he wasn’t treated to a haircut fast enough. According to reports to NIT, Bookmeyer raised his voice to a young woman and demanded his haircut immediately, asking her “do you know who I am” and then telling her he is the Mayor of Mason City. The young lady was in tears over the experience.
– Bookmeyer admitted this year that he took postage and invitations from City Hall for his “private” mayor’s luncheon; a meeting that he claims was closed to the public and not official city business. In the business world, this is called pilfering.
– Bookmeyer commandeered city staff to perform his personal errands in setting up his private meeting at the Mason City Library that he says was not official city business and then ordered Brent Trout to physically intimidate and force a citizen of Mason City out of the meeting.
– After using the IC Systems call center to help him get elected in 2009, and using a family member of an IC Systems upper management on his election committee, Bookmeyer then set about the task of tearing down Human Rights in Mason City. NIT has been told from many sources that IC Systems faced a number of complaints at the Human Rights Commission, as it does all over the internet.
– Since 2010, Bookmeyer has now taken three trips to Washington D.C. all paid for in full by the people of Mason City, with absolutely nothing to show for it.
– In February of 2010, Bookmeyer referred to long-time Mason City council members Max Weaver, Don Nelson and Jeff Marsters as “stupid.” Bookmeyer then directed the people of Mason City to pile on the three councilmen and leave comments on the Globe Gazette’s website where they criticized the three men.
– Early in his tenure as Mayor, Bookmeyer stood up at the Mason City Country Club, after consuming alcohol, and proclaimed in a loud voice that “Weaver, Nelson and Marsters have to go!”
– Bookmeyer claims to be a “stay at home dad” but in reality distorted the very definition of a stay at home parent. Bookmeyer employs cleaning personnel at his home and daycare providers for hours and hours each week.
– In October of 2010 at the Prime n Wine restaurant, Bookmeyer approached a Mason City citizen whom he had never met and told the man to “give up” on his new business and that it would for sure be a failure. Bookmeyer then set about doing his part to make that happen, by approaching customers of the man’s business and discouraging them from working with him.
– In 2013, several expensive pet projects that Bookmeyer advocated for – including Blue Zones, Micro-Enterprise, sculptures and others – cost the people of Mason City tens of thousands of dollars and contributed to an amended budget that the city council will face this month. The new 2012-2013 budget is $1.8 million larger and the city must raid its reserves to cover the expenses.
– Bookmeyer has mocked citizens of Mason City with facial expressions and hand gestures as they walked to the podium to address the City Council.
– Bookmeyer insulted all senior citizens when he told a Mason City citizen that he was looking for “young people” with “fresh ideas” for his appointments to boards and commissions. Several upstanding citizens questions whether Bookmeyer was guilty of age discrimination.
– In 2013, Bookmeyer bullied an 82 year old volunteer and refused to allow her to speak freely at city council meetings.
AMEN , MATT AND PETER!
Matt, the way you write your articles & replies is hysterical!!! No “professional” journalist would ever do what you do, say what you say and act the way you do.
You talk about the mayor’s cronies. What about your cronies-Max & Peter Children?
You talk about the mayor not holding a job. How long has it been since Max brought home a paycheck from a regular job?
And how do you know personally who the mayor hires for cleaning services or day care and that it’s for hours and hours each week?
You should really put your money where your mouth is and run for councilman or mayor. Since you have all the answers, Mason City would benefit from your so-called expertise. Or better yet, get Peter Children & Max to run with you and if you all win, maybe Mason City will finally shape up according to your standards.
And yeah, I know I’m hiding behind my computer screen!! Anyone who doesn’t agree with you has all heard the same thing before!
Well I take that as a compliment. I don’t want to be like everyone else. As far as what you have to say about Max and Pete, what does that have to do with me? They are private citizens, it’s no one’s business who they work for or earn a living. Why are you so obsessed with those two gentlemen?
I’m just amused at how hard YOU work here at NIT in a futile attempt to … well I’m not sure what your point is, but welcome, and please feel free to spend all your free time here leaving comments.
You just can’t control who your relatives are although you can sure be embarrassed about it.
Well, if in fact, the Youth Task Force used the money the City gave them for the billboard– another huge waste of taxpayers dollars!!! I would be astounded if just one organization around here would use a little judgement and common sense… And, I for one have not seen one thing that the Youth Task Force has actually done for the youth in Mason City. They get grant money up the wazoo and what??? Kids still drinking, doing drugs, and when u talk to the kids- they know all the ways to have lots of sex and then some…. I have friend who didn’t even know about some of them and they are married and in their 40’s, sexually transmitted disease is on the rise here, teen pregnancy was going down, but on the rise again, youth smoking, driving like crazy people, texting and talking on the cell phone while driving, suicide, teen date rape, teen domestic abuse,…. Please tell me what the Task force has done but send the director to seminar after workshop and then what????
They brought the “Blunt truth” to Mason City to lie about pot.
He’s got a ticket to ride and I don’t care. this isn’t about the mayor-it’s a fundraiser to get money for bike racks. too bad no one caught the error on website. how much did that billboard cost anyway. Will they raise enough money to pay for the billboard?
One more thing, the Blue Zone, He could stand to lose 50 lbs. Just sayin again.
I wouldn’t give him the sweat off my xxlls. Just sayin again. he might get enough to buy bubble gum.
Sure I would! Here’s your chance Peter, this is better than a lunch.
5 bones is a good deal for a shirt and bottle. Here’s what you do and be calm about it. Get about ten riders and Peter. Let peter peddle up next to biermiester and then the other nine slowly surround the two and corral them together like a pod of killer whales. That way they will have to talk.
Can you feel the love? Yet another opportunity to slam the mayor. I’m no fan of Eric but give it a rest. Is there anything else newsworthy in North Iowa or just cheap daily shots fired by NIT?
Who is Heidi Marquardt? Weird article in Glob today – is it Matt’s wife, OMG ! Newman School to Milligan Park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — wow — do you think he will make it? Who in hell would pay $5 to ride a couple of blocks with an overweight drunk?
One thing is certain, if I could go back and do it all again, I’d take a page from BierMiesters book. Instead of chasing the sexy broads without regard to their career potential, in my youth, I would have been smarter and have looked for a doctor wife or some professional with a career.
With more woman in careers a man should be more like a woman when looking for a mate.
I’m not intimidated at all by a wife with a bigger paycheck. I’d be happy as all hell!
I wouldnt walk down the street with him yet ride a bike for a mile. Hes a fat slob trying to make himself look good. Wonder how many ribs the fat boy ate the BBQ fest?
I won’t pay but I’ll place a $5 bet that Obookmama will be pouring sweat before he crosses 19th Street.
@Anonymous-She has been on record before supporting the mayor. Old news.
He’d have to pay me $ 5.00 to go along!!!
So how much did the sign cost with the wrong URL that could have been easily caught with simple oversite.
Normally yes this would be a good thing. In this case Drunkmeyer is not a good role model for these kids. Wouldn’t surprise me to see signs protesting the Mayor along the way.
Other communities do this too but the cost is much more. $5 is a good deal for a shirt and water bottle. Thanks for advertising this event.
Did everyone see the article in the Globe by Hedi Marquardt supporting Bookmeyer for mayor? I believe she is married to Matt’s brother but she may be his sister. Either way makes for some interesting discussion.
Sister-in-law. And, as LVS said, “old news.”
This is a huge story NIT should do three stories on it and peter children should write an op-ed