Here is a positive idea: abandon this idea of a riverwalk. You see, many Rockfordians don’t have time to stand around in the park all day and stare at the river. The people who would utilize it the most are the winos and transients, whom we have more of.

Here is a positive idea: Let’s demolish Concord Housing Projects and Auburn Manor the same way we did Jane Addams. And keep going, to Fairgrounds, etc. This is one lesson we can take from Chicago, where they tear down public housing and replace it with high priced housing and send their riff-raff and criminals to live in Rockford. Well, we can do it too. Get out the bulldozers; that’s what I call progress.

Positive idea: Revisit zoning laws and buiding permits and apply more scrutiny. I don’t care about what the free market says, common sense dictates that we don’t need a Walgreen’s drugstore on every corner or payday loanshark stores. We didn’t need menard’s/home depot/lowe’s within a block of each other either. I realize this idea is too vague and won’t pass the sniff test, but is it not positive to think about how to undo the damage done?

Positive idea: The next time some wealthy health care corporation wants to build another Taj Mahal glass palace medical office suite, we must apply econimic pressure so that they can only build it on the West Side, in the heart of the toughest neighborhood. This way, they will be forced to serve the medical needs of the surrounding (poor) community who is most at-risk and in need of health care. Sound crazy? John Hopkins does it in inner city Baltimore and also Chicago has several university hospitals in its South Side. Rfd Memorial….or whoever, they all seem to have the money for such lavish places…should build it in the vacant lots after we tear down our worst slums

Positive idea: Become serious about being a “green city”. Recycling centers and a lot more bins and locations to separate paper and plastic bottles. We could do so much MORE if the logistics were better and if it were more convenient.

Our school district needs to get serious about RECYCLING. The new scab janitor service refuses to separate glass, cans, paper, and plastic. We waste millions of pounds of paper and recyclable products in our schools alone. Being a “green” city means more than growing flowers and gardens. It means self-discipline to recycle and it means instilling routines and habits. And means leadership to put a structure in place, year round.

Start at the old Davis Furniture Bldg and go north to Whitman on both Water and Madison. Give all the small factories and job shops along the way a FREE building from the many unoccupied factory buildings in Rockford we have to choose from. Throw in a tax incentive just like we do for once famous rock stars that want to build on the edge of town. Then fill the area with small shops and restaurants. There’s already the ice house, the brewery, boat docks, two ethnic clubs, and the bike path. North of Whitman is the”Y” and Sinnissippi Lagoon along with the proposed re-vamping of the garden area. Tag on a decent walkway over to Anderson Gardens (or have a shuttle trolley from Sinnissippi). If you want to connect with the Museum area, put in another walking bridge from the Verdi Club area, across the river and into the Burpee/Discovery/RAM area.

Then get that I-Max built! Imagine that running the latest I-Max feature and having daily showings of their Dinosaur flick to tie in with Jane. I’m sure folks would make the trip from the ‘burbs to Rockford to avoid having to see an IMax in the Chi/Metro area. Re-open and subsidise the Storefront somewhere downtown.

Look at the great strides the first half mile of East State has made.

We don’t have to have a Riverwalk only where the Morrissey family owns property. Or do we?