Archive for May, 2008
May 14th, 2008
All the pieces are starting to fall into place. We are preparing the stories, photos, videos and databases for the second piece of the project. This one will focus on where we are and where we’ve been on crime. We’ve even gone back to our newspaper archives and fished out front pages that have carried banner headlines of major crime stories. Do you remember “Rout at Dawn”?
We’re looking at gangs, the rise of heroin and how one neighborhood watch group is responding to an increase in crime. One of the databases we are creating will live way beyond the life of the project. We will be able to display the monthly figures on major crimes in Rockford, broken down by police beats. If you are a Rockford resident, you will be able to check to see how much crime is in your neighborhood, and whether it is going up or down.
May 14th, 2008
As part of Chuck Sweeney’s assignment of this project, we requested Rockford city audits back to 1980. I’m about 2 percent into the data and already one statistic jumped out at me.
In 1980, 48 percent of the city’s local tax revenue came from property taxes — $9,920,816 in property taxes out of $20,590,060 in total taxes collecte — and 45 percent of the taxes came from retail sale. So shoppers were almost equally supporting city services.
By 2005, the most recent data available, property owners now shoulder much more of the burden. In 2005, the city collected $83,796,845 in local taxes. Of that, $47,010,384 came from property taxes or 56 percent. The city brought in $23,378,788 in sales taxes or 28 percent.
Another interesting note, though of little relevance, is that Rockford Mayor Robert McGaw had a salary of $27,000 while police chief Del Peterson was being paid $40,238.
May 13th, 2008
Really, altho we’re focusing on Rockford in this series, the Forest City isn’t all that different from hundreds of cities throughout the nation — not just the Midwest. We are in a fundamental economic shift in the world, in which America will assume a much lesser role in the world economy.
We have all grown up at an unusual time in history, when America has been seen as the world’s essential nation. That increasingly is no longer true, as we’ve sold off our manufacturing industries and are borrowing money from foreign “sovereign funds” to maintain a lifestyle that is unsustainable over the long run.
When a nation doesn’t manufacture, it becomes a colony of the nation’s that do.
May 8th, 2008
A study released this week by sociology staff and students at Rock Valley College reveals interesting perceptions of our hometown. RVC says the phone survey of 450 people reflects the population. Keep in mind is that the survey was done in February 2007, before the economy sunk and gas prices reached for the sky.
Some results: 54% think crime here is no worse than other cities this size. That’s down from 69% in ‘97.
63% said the city’s economy was progressing, down from 72%.
Here’s a surprise: 39% said education in the city is better than it’s been in the past few years. That’s still low, as Prof. Jerry Crane pointed out, but it’s up from 21% in ‘97, perhaps because the deseg suit still was going on then.
And, the ones I’m most interested in for this 180 Degrees project:
73% said the city has improved its arts and leisure offereings, down from 81%.
47% said public/private agencies support arts adequately; down from 73%.
58% said our arts/leisure programs are as good as other cities out size, down from 68%.
Crane said some of the survey results are supported by facts; others are not. But the perception, right or wrong, is a powerful influence on a community.
May 8th, 2008
Rockford Police Chief Chet Epperson talked on camera about crime in our city. Watch the video.
May 7th, 2008
Law enforcement officials say heroin use is rising in this area because the drug is cheap and readily available. I’m reporting on this issue for our next installment in the 180 Degrees project. Has heroin affected your life? E-mail me at jemerson@rrstar.com or comment here.
May 6th, 2008
We all know Rockford is a great place to raise a family. It’s a generous community, a church-going community, place you can round up volunteers for a worthy cause quicker than the weather changes in April.
But, how much fun is our region? Are you, and/or your family, happy with the arts-entertainment-cultural-recreation scene in the Rock River Valley? Has that part of our lifestyle gotten better, or worse, in the past 30 years.
We know NAT went off the map but look what happened at the Coronado, and the MetroCentre, and Burpee, and Discovery Center, to name a few success stories. Or, are you not impressed?
I’m interested in your view of our after-work life in Rockford, and your attitude about the city? Optimistic? Pessimistic? Sure nothing will ever change? Convinced we’re on the brink of a renaissance?
 Please share your thoughts with me at gnikolai@rrstar.com or 815-987-1337. Leave a message if I’m not available, with your name and number, please.
Thanks.
May 6th, 2008
We met this afternoon to talk about the 180 Degrees campaign. We’re looking at five areas that are essential to this community’s way of life: Crime, education, local economy, government and culture/our sense of place. We kicked off the project last week online and have been posting your comments as we get them. We’re now focusing on crime.
Crime affects us all. Some directly. Some indirectly. Though the crime rate remains high, it has declined in Rockford and across the nation. Still, the perception in Rockford is that crime has spread to formerly safe neighborhoods. We would like to know what role crime has played in your life. How has crime affected you?
Write a brief essay, 500 words or less, and tell us what you think. Feel free to send photos, letters or anything else explains your situation. Please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you want the items returned.
Write to us at the Rockford Register Star, Rockford Crime, 99 E. State St., Rockford, IL 61104. Or e-mail us at onlinenews@rrstar.com. Please put Rockford Crime in the subject line. Also, include your full name, address and telephone number in case we have any questions. All submissions may be edited for length, accuracy and clarity and may be published or distributed in print or electronic forms.
May 6th, 2008
we’ve been working on a timeline of notable points in rockford history for this project, from the metrocentre opening in 1981 to the deseg case ending in 2002.
while people who have lived here a long time will remember all of them, those of us non-natives sometimes remember things from the first year we moved here.
for me it was 1995. the homicide rate was high, for sure, as gang warfare exploded. i also, oddly enough, remember serial killer ray lee stewart’s execution in 1996, waiting by the phone to hear the news.
on a happier note, i remember the coronado opening in 2001 and rockford winning the america in bloom contest in 2005.
do you have suggestions for other milestones to include?
May 5th, 2008
We started talking in depth this morning about the next piece of the project, a look at crime and how we got to where we are over the last three decades.
Judy Emerson has been digging into the topic for a couple of months, and we’ve outlined the main stories she’ll write. We want the online experience to be all that and a whole lot more, so tomorrow we will be plotting that strategy.
Already, we have one video in hand, with Police Chief Chet Epperson, and we will be producing many more.
What would you most like to know about crime in Rockford?
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