Ummm it's not that hard

From a story today about a bill requiring Metra to take credit cards in the Beacon

John Doe dreads the ticketing lines at the Route 59 Metra station in Aurora. But no matter how savvy this commuter has become through years of riding from Aurora to Chicago, he always gets stuck somehow.

Having to pay in cash or check for his rides on the Metra has delayed this IT consultant more than enough times on his way to work. "It's painful to carry a checkbook around. It doesn't fit anywhere," Doe said.

Well where do I start on this (the rest of the story has people complaining). First, you can take a check out of your checkbook, fill it out and take it to the station with you. It's not rocket science. You can go to this place called a bank and get cash and take the cash with you to the station as well. You can also get tickets by mail...

Glad I was able to help.

Well Richard send a negative mailer today...

Can't say I am really surprised, I also doubt it is going to be very effective.

OneMan

Some local election stuff...

Well it appears a political organization from Chicago has asked for a large number of poll watcher credentials.

Isn't 29 a little young to be the head of the state police?

I at first thought is was a misprint. I can't tell if the guy has any law enforcement experience. According to the wikipedia a captain will lead a company in the Army a unit of 75~200 men. A bit of a step up to lead the state police.

Or another way of putting it, you have to be at least 21 in most cases to become a trooper, so if he had followed that path in life at most he would have had 8 years on the job.

A Look into the future...

Rod pushes the book...

Some more budget thoughts...

Well it's going to be interesting to say the least during the session but here are a few thoughts.

-- Keno/Video Poker. There was an argument for the Daily game that it would help eliminate or greatly reduce policy/numbers as an illegal gaming activity. Does anyone really think these video poker machines at all of these bars are just for entertainment purposes only. Lets keep in bars, but lets bring it above board.

-- Hospital Tax exemptions for non-profits. Unless X% of your services over the past 3 years were charity (also the 'cost' of charity calculated for this should not be retail) you have to start paying property taxes.

-- Cigarette Taxes, raise the tax on all tobacco products.

-- Every drink served has a .10 additional tax added on.

More thoughts to come.

Just caught the phrase 'Ninja star danger jock' and a TV show and am now blogging it to see how many hits it gets...

That is all.

SB600, Seriously?

Now is the time you want to have this fight? With a Democratic governor removed from office a US Senator he appointed under a cloud, the HDO trial so now is the time you want to do this?

Now is the time you want to refer to Republican leaders as “self-serving, officious, lying, arrogant thugs”?

They like to trot out the Keyes example as what is wrong with the central committee. Does anyone remember the Air Ford One guy or the other folks who were looking to run. Can you name anyone who held a Republican elected office offering to step up to run, a single state rep, a single state senator?

Didn't think so... Yes Keyes was a bad pick, but without someone willing to take one for the team what choice did they really have?

Also last time I checked really conservative wing of the party, Alan was sort of your guy, not Judy's..

Sorry I just don't get it. Do people really think that having folks spend raise and spend money to become a central committeeman is a worthwhile use of time and effort in moving the party forward, is it worth it to have a state central committee dominated by elected officials or folks with name recognition?

A Few Thoughts on the Forum

I was able to only catch the end of the mayoral forum tonight, but I have some general thoughts.

Mayor Weisner seemed way to defensive, yes I know it's two on one, but he didn't need to fight back imho.  It gives the feeling that he thinks they are real threats.

Stephanie came accros better than I expected, I was also surprised that the others viewed the city manager idea as a sign of weakness of Stephanie's part.

Richard did a decent job as well, some of the same themes from last time.

Got my first mailer today on the race, from Tom about crime.  It was interesting the two cops featured in the ad had either fake or blurred patches on their sholders but one of the pictures was in front of an Aurora police car.  But the message was very effective.

OneMan

With the Road Closings in Aurora Today Due to the Rain..

What is going to happen when McCoy is closed due to flooding (it's happened at least twice so far this year, one westbound lane has been closed on and off for a whil) and there is more trains running and we need a response from the firehouse by the mall that needs to go west on McCoy?

When we need a response that has to head north on Eola from Wolfs Crossing and that firehouse when Eola is closed due to flooding (has also happened at least twice this year)?

OneMan

Some Actual Budget Suggestions...

Keno -- Yes I have written against this, a big part of me thinks it's a bad idea. But it would raise some cash and could increase some sales of other things at restaurants, bars, etc.

South Side Casino --

Put it in the city or Cal City or Dolton ( I have good locations just off the Bishop Ford) off of Dante avenue. No one from Illinois should feel the need to go to a casino in Indiana. We have given them a free pass for too long.


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A change in the write-off for local property taxes. Set a limit on it, if you are paying a ton in local property taxes odds are it's because your house is worth a fortune. Keep the full deduction for seniors, everyone else it goes down at some number.

Seriously Review and downgrade possession prison terms. I would rather keep dealer McDope in jail as well as the armed robber, gun crime guy, etc in longer than have to let them go because we have to make space for fools who do lesser stuff. Reduce corrections costs.

Lease the Toll Road -- Only condition is that the proceeds are used in large part to fill at least some of the state pension hole. Also it's a completely open process.

Increase On-Line options at State Schools -- It's cheaper to deliver some classes electronically. Give each university a goal of 5% on-line in 3 years.

Eliminate redundant state university programs: Do we really need more than one state school offering a Russian major? Do we need virtually every school offering a history major?

Start forcing school district consolidation: Reduce some admin overhead and spread the costs over larger areas. Yes, this is going to really piss some people off. But it needs to be looked at.

Railroads: Don't know if they pay property taxes or not, if they don't perhaps it's time they did. If they do, perhaps they should pony up a bit more.

Income Tax: .50% increase for only 3 years, has to be approved to be continued.

Elimination of Government Units: Yeah I know good luck with this but we need to look into it.

Rod's Book

Sneed is reporting that Rod spent 12 hours with a legal pad and his writing jacket on working on the book the other day.

Why do I suspect he ended up with a steno pad filled with drawings of him defeating Madigan the Dragon, Madigan the Shark, Madigan as Col. Parker.....

OneMan

Now is when we stop talking about Rolland

He isn't going to step down and we are not going to force a special election, so lets let it go for now. We want him to run for re-election, we want awkwardness within the Democratic party, we want ministers and others to talk about how this is 'their seat'.

We want an ugly primary, continually attacking Rolland Burris isn't going to get us an ugly primary. Keeping quiet why he goes about being senator while Alexi and others step up to also run is going to give an ugly primary. Does anyone think that everyone else will sit it out and just let it be a race between Alexi and Burris? If Democrats did that then we would be talking about Senator Hynes and State Senator Obama...

Nope kids, this is going to get ugly without our help.

The Beacon Today Has A Story about..

The lack of first run movie theaters in town.

It appears that some minds think alike, check the posts from early this week and back in April of 2008...

The CD5 Special Election...

Well kids, it's tomorrow. I have to admit it's been kind of fun to watch others deal with this, instead of it being me dealing with it. Having done it, I have to respect everyone who is dealing with it during campaigns now.

Also parts have been really fun to watch.

OneMan

Got a call from Bill Brady today...

It was a robo call asking for support but a call all the same.

Oylmpic Mascot Idea

I don't know how about Chalky.

Some questions for the next mayoral forum

I have a few (with a far East Side bias)

Are you comfortable with the changes that took place in terms of membership of the board of the Aurora Election commission? Were you surprised by the timing?

With the increase in monthly parking fees at Rt. 59, what should the city do with that extra revenue?

What is your plan (if any) to improve traffic on Eola?

What is your plan (if any) to improve the flow of traffic in and out of the Rt 59 train station?

What could the city have done differently in terms of the 'adventure' that became siting of Meta Valley? Do you/Did you agree with Senator Holmes actions related to quick take?

What does the fact there isn't a first run movie theater in town say about Aurora?