Archive for July 29th, 2008
July 29th, 2008
 Machesney Park Trustees Mike Luke and Stan Wentland are questioning the sheriff’s department’s $2.6 million contract for policing the village.
Does anyone really think that it would make more sense to start a police department, at a cost estimated by Trustee Mark Sorrentino at from $4 million to $6 million, with mushrooming union contracts forever after??????
Does anyone think another bidder would have the capabilities to police MP? Roscoe, perhaps? Get real.
I urge Luke and Wentland to do cost comparisons. Consult Loves Park, which insists on doing everything (except bus service) all by itself. I’ll have more to say on this in my Thursday column, and intend to look at the cost of running a full-service police department in comparably-sized cities Belvidere and Loves Park.
There’s no way MP could provide the same level of police protection as the sheriff for anywhere near the price.
Why do we rail against “big government” at the national level, only to create exactly that at the local level? MP’s founders in 1981 had the wisdom to establish a village cheaply and efficiently by hiring out municipal services. It’s worked well over the years.
Other villages and cities should be consolidating services instead of building municipal empires just so they can have their own, shiny squad cars. What’s the cost of squad cars with vintage airplane symbols on the side? Too danged much.
July 29th, 2008
The Rose Garden at Sinnissippi Park survived the flood and the roses are gorgeous. But southbound motorists on North Second Street can hardly see them for the scruffiness near the street. The grass needs serious mowing and the ground cover hedges need to be trimmed back. This used to be done routinely. What gives?
People driving in from out of town don’t know that the area is going to be changed in 2009, so it at least should be kept up to snuff now.
July 29th, 2008
Out on Falcon Road at the airport, there’s a “Speed Zone Ahead” sign. However, a merry prankster has painted over the letters “S” and “d” on the word “speed.”
Now it reads, well, you figure it out.
July 29th, 2008
I used to talk a lot about CAVE people, you know, the Citizens Against Virtually Everything. Well, Rockford has a mutant strain that seems to be gaining strength — the BANANA — Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone. Everything that is proposed to bring jobs to Rockford is opposed by this group. The latest is a property owner’s attempt to get her nearly 900 acres of land southeast of the airport annexed to Rockford. This is not forced — she wants in. The problem with the Banana people in the rural area is that Rockford wants to develop the site for industry. Which makes a whole lot of sense: We need jobs badly. This site is near the railroad. It’s near the airport. It’s near Interstate 39. Those are the kinds of places where industry locates.
I’ve toured the site and not all of it is condusive to development. Some of it must be preserved. But the “conversation” about the property on local talk radio shows has been hysterical, as if Martian invaders are about to take over.
Perhaps Ald. Lenny Jacobson, D-6th, who seems to be the lead skeptic in questioning this project, has a better idea about how and where to create jobs? If so, he should let us know.Or maybe everyone in the 6th ward is swimming in all the highly paid work they can handle. I toured the ward recently — much of it is in bad shape.
If Rockfordians put one-tenth the effort into supporting economic development as they do opposing everything, we’d be a world class city by now. Lenny, don’t be a Banana.
