Suburban mayors join the blogosphere

He may not be the most Internet-savvy village leader, but Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto recognizes a powerful tool when he sees one.

Last month, the village leader started a blog to communicate with residents.

"This is a way for people to know what is going on in the village," said Sarto, who posts a few times a week. "But I also want feedback from residents … to hear if they like what we are doing or if they don't like what we are doing."

The site contains information on upcoming village meetings. It also chronicles Sarto's participation in local events or activities.

Sarto joins at least three other suburban village leaders who have taken to the blogosphere to keep their constituents informed.

Elburn Mayor Jim Willey started blogging in late 2004 as an experiment.

"I wanted to see what kind of audience I could build," Willey said. "I also wanted a way to get unfiltered information out to the community. People felt like they were getting the straight scoop."

Though Willey has not posted on his site, jlwilley.blogspot.com, since late 2007, the mayor of 11 years says he still regards the blog as the most effective way to connect with a small community.

When the Daily Herald opened online forums for readers to discuss stories at dailyherald.com, Hanover Park Mayor Rodney Craig said he launched his own blog to quell the spread of misinformation from commenters.

"I found that there were a lot of bogus people out there writing baloney about stories the Daily Herald puts out there," said Craig, who has been sharing his thoughts via the Internet for about seven months. "I didn't want to respond to unknown individuals who write nonsense, so this was a way for me to communicate."

Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes, who has been blogging for about three years, agrees.

"Starting a blog was the single smartest thing I have done as mayor," said Gentes, who earned the moniker of "the Blogging Mayor."

"When 20 people e-mail me with the same question it is much easier for me to send them a link to a blog I have written," Gentes said. "I can also go more in-depth with the information because it is tough to answer 20 different e-mails."

But there are some downsides to sharing information with anyone with a computer and access to the Internet.

The mayors said though feedback is encouraged, it is often negative.

"When I started out it was an open blog and people could send feedback," Willey said. "But what I found was that it was the same negative voices over and over again and it was counterproductive."

Now, Willey accepts e-mail from readers but does not post the comments on the site.

But negative feedback is as useful as positive comments, said Gentes, who allows unrestricted comments on his blog.

"By and large comments are calm," Gentes said. "There's about 1 percent that are usually crazy. But as a mayor you have to be willing to take good with the bad."

In an attempt to maintain a positive air on his blog, Sarto requests that visitors use their real name instead of pseudonyms and usernames.

The tactic could be backfiring. While other blogs dedicated to Carpentersville have active commentary, the village president's site had received just a handful of postings.

"People are more likely to be respectful if they use their real name," said Sarto, who uses his full name when posting on sites like dailyherald.com. "You are allowed to say what you believe and you should be willing to put your name to it."