Is Rockford a banana republic?

4 comments 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.