A Pattern Under Mayor Miller

For the past eight years, Freeport has been in decline under Mayor Jodi Miller’s leadership. Instead of tackling crime, crumbling infrastructure, unemployment, or the housing crisis, Miller has focused on alcohol and parties.

She even created her own nonprofit, Freeport Festivals Inc., then changed city ordinances to benefit it—expanding the Festival District and creating a new liquor license for nonprofits. This will allow her group to sell alcohol at events, diverting revenue from local bars and restaurants.

Now, Miller has pushed through another ordinance that throws obstacles at small competitors. Any local business or organization offering BYOB options must go through an expensive, time-consuming approval process—while the mayor’s own interests expand unchecked.

Public Safety or Cash Grab?

City officials say this ordinance is about safety. But Freeport residents know better.

Just last night, following Freeport’s Eats & Beats event, residents were woken up to partygoers staggering, screaming, and fighting in the streets. Families were forced to confront intoxicated, confused, and belligerent trespassers wandering on their property, residents spent the morning picking up trash and empty liquor bottles scattered across their lawns.

If public safety were truly the priority, the city would crack down on the disorder spilling out of its own festivals. Instead, Mayor Miller’s administration uses “safety” as a cover for a cash grab and power play—tightening control over small businesses and community groups while ignoring the chaos caused by its own events.