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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?