There are nine people on the Rockford Register Star Editorial Board. Community members serve one-year terms, although those terms often are extended at the discretion of the editorial page editor.
A rotating staff position, currently filled by Annette LaCross, also is a one-year term.
Peter Ricker, publisher
Wally Haas, editorial page editor
Doug Gass, interim editor
Mary Kaull, assistant editorial page editor
Tom Lasley, director of audience and business development
Chuck Sweeny, senior editor
Annette LaCross, deputy managing editor/local news
John Gustafson and Patricia Chavez, community members
This is an idea for whoever may be the new school superintendent. Dr. Sheffield had a very difficult job, and let’s face it, the root issue, which the opposition didn’t like was the idea of having their $’s cut and being told their performance was below par. The person who comes in will face these same root issues. In order for real change to take place the opposition’s “card” of how much you make, and your committment to change needs to be removed. That said, why not find someone who is committed to changing this district and who is willing to not take any compensation from the budget. That person can boldly stand up and say this is broken, it needs to be fixed, I’m committed to making these hard decisions and I’m not going to effect the budget in doing so. Who will work for free you may ask? The person who takes on this job may either be financially secure and has a passion to fix this thing, or private investors within the community who also want to fix this thing could fund this person’s compensation until order is restored. There’s no doubt there is a difficult road ahead, however, the leader needs to be in a position to walk the talk in order for others to follow.
I have read quite a bit about the roundabout planned for North Main and Auburn, but there is one aspect I have seen nothing about, namely how this will affect pedestrian traffic crossing across Main or across Auburn.
For instance, I live on the east side of Main. Where would I have to go to find a stop light so that I could get to the Farmers’ Market on the other side. I assume the stop light at the corner of Myott would be taken down as that stop would create havoc with the flow through the roundabout. Obviously, there would be no stop light at Main and Auburn.
And just how would I get across Auburn to head north? I’m glad that my children are adults because one of their favorite pastimes was to bike to North Towne. I don’t see how that would be possible now.
Have the planners of this project given any thought at all to pedestrians and bikers?