Anonymous Comment

“As a Vietnam veteran, on behalf of the 50,000+ who died there, the hundreds of thousands of wounded, including myself, and the untold destruction caused to Vietnam, I hope Robert McNamara rots in hell.”

And We Want This In Illinois?

Required reading from the WSJ Opinion section:

President Obama has bet the economy on his program to grow the government and finance it with a more progressive tax system. It’s hard to miss the irony that he’s pitching this change in Washington even as the same governance model is imploding in three of the largest American states where it has been dominant for years — California, New Jersey and New York.

A decade ago all three states were among America’s most prosperous. California was the unrivaled technology center of the globe. New York was its financial capital. New Jersey is the third wealthiest state in the nation after Connecticut and Massachusetts. All three are now suffering from devastating budget deficits as the bills for years of tax-and-spend governance come due.

These states have been models of “progressive” policies that are supposed to create wealth: high tax rates on the rich, lots of government “investments,” heavy unionization and a large government role in health care.

Here’s a rundown on the results:

Government spending as economic stimulus. State-local spending per capita is $12,505 in New York (second highest after Alaska), $10,136 per person in California (fourth) and $9,574 in New Jersey (seventh).

Has all this public sector “investment” translated into jobs? Not quite. California had the nation’s third highest jobless rate in May (11.5%). New Jersey and New York had below average unemployment rates in May compared to the national average of 9.4%, but one reason is that so many discouraged workers have left those states. From 1998-2007, which included two booms on Wall Street, New York and New Jersey ranked 36th and 31st in job creation. From 2000 to 2007, the New Jersey Business & Industry Association calculates that nine out of 10 new Garden State jobs were in the government.

…

Instead of balanced budgets, these high taxes have produced record red ink. California’s deficit for 2010 is projected at $33.9 billion, New Jersey’s $7 billion and New York’s $17.9 billion, despite multiple tax increases this decade. The Manhattan Institute finds that three-quarters of the loss in revenues this year in Albany is a result of reduced income tax payments by rich people even though the state keeps raising taxes on high earners.

…Powerful unions. Mr. Obama believes union power is a ticket to the middle class. The middle class is getting creamed in all three of these “progressive” states, where organized labor is king. The unionized share of the workforce is 20% in California, 19% in New Jersey and 27% in New York compared to 13% across the country. All three are non-right-to-work states, have super-minimum wage requirements and provide among the nation’s most generous public-employee pensions.

Workers in these paradises are indeed uniting — by leaving. New York ranks first, California second and New Jersey third in moving vans leaving the state. A study by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research found that over the past decade these and other high-union states (mostly in the Northeast) had one-third the job growth of states with low union penetration.

…

Have government controls and Medicaid expansions (”the public option”) lowered costs? Here is what the American Health Insurance Plans found. For family coverage annual premiums in 2006-07, the national median cost was roughly $5,300; in California it was $5,884, in New Jersey $10,398, and in New York $12,254. New York’s coverage mandates cause families to pay more than twice what they do in other states for insurance.

As a result, California and New York have more than one-third of their residents uninsured or in Medicaid — much higher than the national average of 25%. More government involvement in health care in California, New Jersey and New York has raised costs and often reduced private coverage. That’s hardly a model for the nation.
* * *

So goes the real-life experience of progressive governance, with heavy tax burdens financing huge welfare states, and state capitals dominated by public-employee unions. Formerly rich states, they are now known for job losses, booming deficits and debt, wage stagnation, out-migration and laughing-stock legislatures. At least Americans have the ability to flee these ill-governed states for places that still welcome wealth creators. The debate in Washington now is whether to spread this antigrowth model across the entire country.

One Thousand Words

Balancing the State Budget Without Tax Hikes

Click on image to go to report page.

Required Reading

When Quinn came to the rescue of a s(t)inking state budget by throwing us all an anchor, he was quick to demand that any naysayers provide a complete alternate solution.

The Illinois Policy Institute has done exactly that. All that’s required is the will, the moral and ethical fiber, and leadership.

In other news, in a bipartisan effort of will, moral and ethical fiber, and leadership, the Illinois House voted for expanded internet horse race gambling.  More on that later.

NOTE: Still mainly writing over at DGreport.com, but right now Elaine Johnson  just put up an editorial on the increasingly odd behavior of our high school Board of Education (CHSD99), and I don’t want to bump it.  I’ll dump it further down the page if I can.

DGreport “I’m In”

We’ve all read Elaine’s DGreport now for over two years, and recently she asked us if we might help her out for a while. I said yes, so I’ll be posting over there for at least a bit.

RLC: Westmont Rings The Register

One intersection, six weeks = 542 violations, $54,000.

Mostly for right turn on red.  Once Westmont gets the nod from state and county, two more will go in at intersections controlled by the state (Ogden?) or the county.

Play Budget Hero

Can you do what the federal government can’t?

Click on the image and find out…

RLC: The Siren Call Of Cash

A tale of two cities.

Irresistable?

Naperville: One intersection, two months, 1,906 violations (mostly right turn on red) at $100 each.  That’s $190,600.  30 tickets appealed, all denied.  Naperville’s master plan calls for RLC at 10-15 high traffic intersections.

The city’s red light photo enforcement vendor then conducted a detailed analysis of these four intersections that included a 16-hour violation field survey, a detailed review of crash history and feasibility of camera installation.

Schaumburg: One intersection, 10 weeks, 10,000 violations (mostly right turn on red) at $100 each.  That’s $1,000,000.  50 complaints.  Schaumburg has discontinued right turn camera program, but left in place cameras recording straight through red light running.

“We want to be as friendly to customers as we are to villagers, and continuing to enforce the right turn on red when it wasn’t doing anything to improve public safety didn’t make sense,” said Village Manager Ken Fritz.

Illinois Reform Commission Final Report

Required reading.

“We have been troubled by learning that, in core areas governing ethics, Illinois’ laws and operations simply do not measure up.”

“…scandals that have brought down the last two governors leave little doubt that the system is broken.”

“Illinois has the largest unfunded pension liability of any state in the nation.”

“…(enforce) the existing (FOIA) statutes with renewed vigor by adopting a presumption in favor of full public access to information and documents; …make public documents readily and easily accessible to the public through the Internet and online databases without waiting for specific requests from the public.”

“We must also remember that democracy requires citizens to be persistent watchdogs of our government. In recent years, complacency in our watchfulness has emboldened those who would cheat their constituencies for personal benefit.”

The complete 97 page IRC final report is here…and it isn’t pretty.

The full Executive Summary is the first six pages.

DuPage County Puzzle Pieces: An Example?

It can’t happen here…right?

Click on any image for larger version.

Just a maybe example of what could go wrong.  This is based on a development proposal that was brought before council last October and was sent back to county as being opposed to by the village.  It was 24 town-homes on 2.75 acres right next to the village.

MN to IL: Tollway Traffic Cameras FAIL

 Interstate abuse.

Other states are banning red light cameras and the upcoming traffic speed cameras that IL has planned.  Paltry bribes campaign contributions have patiently been buying the needed votes here in IL to keep the gravy train rolling, preventing common sense from regaining a majority.  Minnesota may be dumb enough to elect a bad comedian as senator, but not dumb enough to buy into the flawed system that Illinois inflicts on it’s own citizen’s without their consent. 

If you’re keeping track, red light cameras fail, speed enforcement cameras fail, and now it’s shown that tollway cameras fail to do what the private money making companies say they do…unless the private camera companies say they make money for the camera company, which they most certainly do.

DuPage County Puzzle Pieces: T-01-09

Changing the rules.

T-01-09-Proposed Amendments to the DuPage County Zoning Ordinance relative to Workforce Development Housing (AWFH) Regulations (Request to Send to ZBA for Public Hearing) covers that zoning changes that Sandack and staff are alarmed (concerned?) about.  Downers Grove will word a resolution opposing the changes in the county zoning code this ordinance amendment proposes.  Lombard and Woodridge have already expressed their opposition.

DuPage County Puzzle Pieces: NSP

Going into the real estates business.

DuPage County’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) pumps a one time federal payment of $5,176,438 into a program designed to “provide funding for the acquisition, rehabilitation, and resale of the many foreclosed homes peppering the neighborhoods of DuPage County.  The county, at it’s discretion, can continue the program past the first year, and put additional funds into the program if it decides to.

At the federal level the NSP was initiated in September 2008 by the Bush administration to help stem the rising tide of home foreclosures.

$150,000 has been earmarked for homebuyer assistance.  That might be where the “workforce housing” idea comes from, helping defray the cost of housing so public employees can live near where they work.

$454,043 is earmarked for county personnel to administer the program.  Although the program is a one time payment, the program itself has a four year life span.

$950,000 is earmarked for rehabbing existing structures.  there is no detailed explanation of how this amount will be spent, but the NSP might have specific guidelines within it’s prodigious rules.

$3,558.796 is earmarked for acquisition.  That’s enough to buy maybe 15 homes, or maybe 60 acres of open land.

The Development Committee, chaired by Kyle Gilgis, vetted this item on April 14.  Ms. Gilgis is from District 3 here in Downers Grove.

A complete overview of the federal NSP program can be found here.

DG Stats

Average sale price down, number of homes sold way down.

Source: city-data.com

SB 1451: Amends The Counties Code

Affordable housing champion?

Flying under radar and under cover.

Council expressed a bit of feisty-ness Tuesday, weighing in strongly united and opposed to County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom’s plans to change county zoning ordinances.

That change would enable the county, among other things, to bring “affordable ‘workforce housing”‘ to unincorporated areas of DuPage County quickly, including those parts located almost wholly within Downers Grove.  While council are not necessarily against affordable housing, they are of a single mind against this county code change.

These two things seem unconnected at first.  But in DuPage, things are rarely unconnected…

House Democrats Block GOP Bid To Prevent Raises

Standing around waiting for their (our) money...

Shameful.

Every R and three D’s voted for the measure against the automatic raises.  The rest of the D’s held out their hands and said gimme gimme gimme.

Read the Trib story here.

Currently, state reps earn a base salary of $65,353 annually. They earn more for serving on leadership teams or as chairmen of various committees.  State Senators earn a bit more, $67,833 a year for what’s billed as a part-time job.  Senate legislative leaders will pull in close to $100,000.

This does not include perks.  IL lawmakers (and I use that term very loosly) are among the highest paid in the country.

TCD3: Tracks to 63rd Meeting

Fairmount gym did fill up for the meeting.

About 80 of us attended the “tracks to 63rd” meeting, which seemed to surprise John Lavigne and Community Development Director Tom Dabareiner. We were told we doubled last week’s two meetings.

Please Rise For The National Anthem…

The guy may be a total maniac, but he can still shred an anthem.

The Return of the “Evil Twin” Sandack

This is a joke people…

Spock

Evil Spock

Anyone notice Mayor Sandack sporting a goatee and mustache again?  He wore it during his “evil” days as a council commissioner, then shaved it off to become the “good” Mayor Sandack.  Since then it’s stayed off and he’s been a good Mayor.

Sandack

Evil Sandack

But now, the “evil” Sandack returns.  Beware Downers Grove!  Beware!!

Which twin is evil?

Claremont Traffic Calming

Public Works designs measures into a project for this summer.

Slow down, Parnelli...

Claremont Drive is one of those unobtrusive residential streets that provide an alternate east west traverse from Main Street all the way through to Cass Avenue in Darien.  While there are a couple curves at the Main Street end, for the most part it’s a straight shot from one end to the other.   The problem has always been the street’s through nature encourages speeding, making the neighborhoods all along the way less safe, not just  around those curves.