Did we really get change

Seems to be the question that many are asking now that the current city council has been seated for a year. Of course I'm not talking about those that weren't changed only those seats that changed hands.


Cynthia (Cindy) Rushefsky defeated Sheila Wright in a race that was decided quite easily. Ms Rushefsky showed promise early on when it came to the pension fund monies and those agencies, however recently she hasn't voted any different from the person she replaced. Cindy was also endorsed by the firefighters and police department as the person most likely to work with them. And the knife gets turned with every council meeting as she hasn't done anything which would avert a financial crisis for the city.

Douglas Burlison defeated Conrad Griggs in a close race but not a nail biter. This is perhaps the biggest disappointment of the newly seated council members, as Mr. Burlison has always proclaimed to be for individual liberties and freedoms and a smaller less intrusive government that was fiscally sound. His voting record says just the opposite. During his one questioning moment of decision he cow tailed to the majority and allowed for an extreme $575 million Capitol Improvement project to be approved unanimously. You may think I'm being hard on Mr. Burlison but I had NO reason to believe that Cindy or Dan would do what was the most fiscally sound policy for the taxpayers of this city. Mr. Burlison campaigned on such and has done the exact opposite since that time.

Dan Chiles defeated Jack Steck, the firefighters and police departments choice to fill this seat. Bob Jones filled this seat before this race. Mr. Chiles fits my definition of 'ecolation' to a "T". He doesn't care how much money is spent as long as the project includes LEED certification or bike paths. Mr. Chiles has shown himself to be the typical democrat with rhetoric about the War on Iraq at a recent energy conference and if it weren't for this war we could've spent this money on renewable energy resources. NO !!!! Dan if we didn't have this stupid war in Iraq then this money wouldn't be getting spent at all .

All in all the firefighters and police agencies are shaking their heads trying to figure out why our newest three council members are no different then from the ones they replaced. The citizens of Springfield, those that give a damn, also are shaking their heads because they swore they voted for change not more of the same.

Mr. Buckley RIP

William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 82.

read the article

Mansion 'mistake' piles the pressure on Barack Obama

A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses.

The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago.

A company related to Mr Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr Obama's bagman Antoin "Tony" Rezko on May 23 2005. Mr Auchi says the loan, through the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million.

Three weeks later, Mr Obama bought a house on the city's South Side while Mr Rezko's wife bought the garden plot next door from the same seller on the same day, June 15.

Mr Obama says he never used Mrs Rezko's still-empty lot, which could only be accessed through his property. But he admits he paid his gardener to mow the lawn.

Mrs Rezko, whose husband was widely known to be under investigation at the time, went on to sell a 10-foot strip of her property to Mr Obama seven months later so he could enjoy a bigger garden.

Mr Obama now admits his involvement in this land deal was a “boneheaded mistake”.

Mrs Rezko’s purchase and sale of the land to Mr Obama raises many unanswered questions.

It is unclear how Mrs Rezko could have afforded the downpayment of $125,000 and a $500,000 mortgage for the original $625,000 purchase of the garden plot at 5050 South Greenwood Ave.

In a sworn statement a year later, Mrs Rezko said she got by on a salary of $37,000 and had $35,000 assets. Mr Rezko told a court he had "no income, negative cash flow, no liquid assets, no unencumbered assets [and] is significantly in arrears on many of his obligations."

Mrs Rezko, whose husband goes on trial on unrelated corruption charges in Chicago on March 3, refused to answer questions about the case when she spoke by telephone to The Times.

read the rest and you decide

my address to city council

Screw the little guy !! after all if they default on their taxes because of over inflated property values then the city can seize the property for non payment

I appreciate the opportunity to speak in front of the city council on an issue which I and many others feel have repercussions into the next generation of taxpayers. I firmly believe that the area outlined in the Commercial Street TiF commission report needs to undergo redevelopment, but at what cost ?

It appears the school board would like to see bonds issued to pay for this to speed up the process which will allow for the schools to reap the benefits of an area with higher taxation rates and much higher property taxation levels. In essence what could transpire is that through government involvement people could lose their property because of the forced increase in property values. To artificially inflate property values to create commerce in an area where the businesses themselves do minimal advertising shouldn’t be compliant upon the taxpayers of Springfield to write off these possible business losses.

The city of Springfield continues to spend in areas which have NO relevance to projected revenues. The past few years have been quite challenging to Springfield. Consumer cost have sky rocketed which in turn increases revenues for the city, however the dilemma remains that the surrounding areas are developing and with this development creates a tax void for this city. Springfield is beginning to experience that shoppers from the surrounding areas NO longer have to drive here to meet their consumer needs and the internet also impacts the revenue structure of this city.

The elected and selected leaders of this city seem to believe that revenues into the area are an unlimited source and will increase exponentially with every development, but this is a fallacy that can be easily dispelled by looking at the amount of office space not leased throughout this city and to the current financial problems that need to be fixed. Development can bring many facets of economic gain into the area as long as the revenues received are properly managed and as long as the figures of this economic gain are not spent based on assumptions of greater projected revenues then what are actually received. It wasn’t that long ago that many on this very council scoffed at the cost of an $80,000 state audit of the books and yet unnecessary expenditures such as the $20,000 for the Partnership for Sustainability, a $350,000 Tricycle Park, close to 3 million to redevelop a square that needs cosmetic surgery not a facelift, and to top of this list $575 million for the recently approved Capitol Improvements Project

The city through the use of infrastructure projects can control how an area develops and whether or not it is successful. Recently projects in this area have been undertaken by entities in the private sector, which goes to show the area can be redeveloped and made a viable portion of the city as the influx of more private money become available to the area. I commend those businesses that have invested their capitol into an area that has spent years being distressed, you have the spirit of the pioneers who settled in an area not knowing what to expect and they worked hard to provide a living for themselves and their families.

"The idea of entering public service as an elected official in order to limit the power of government, and maximize the freedom of individual citizens, is an obsolete concept." As said Henry Lamb and we see that currently in this area as well.

In closing I and the taxpayers of Springfield expect our elected and selected city leaders to manage tax revenues as if it were coming out of your very own wallets and checkbooks. Ask yourself if you had to pay for a project out of your own money would you do it ? If not then don’t force the rest of us to foot an expenditure that you yourself wouldn’t be willing to risk your money on.

"it's for the children"

The Larry Rice issue was raised this evening, I didn't stay for the whole part of that discussion due to a severe migraine. All of the speakers I personally heard used the age old adage "it's for the children" a phrase taken out of the democrat play book to spend millions of dollars on a substandard education
It appeared that no one is comparing apples to apples in this debate including the few council members I heard make remarks. Here is the skinny, when one of Larry Rice's facilities has something go down that causes a death or injury Larry Rice gets blamed NOT the perpetrator, however when someone in a school gets injured or killed then why don't we blame the administrators or at the very least the government that would be along the same lines.
The argument to keep this homeless shelter from becoming a reality is nothing more than knee jerk reactions by a vocal minority that truly hasn't researched the subject. The probability of anything happening in or near this veterans homeless shelter isn't any greater than going downtown to one of our many bars.
Personally this shelter doesn't affect me in any manner although there are some half-way houses in and around my neighborhood and as of yet I haven't heard any complaints from anyone that lives near them.

Based upon the arguments I heard this evening if just one child that attended Central H.S. has been convicted of a robbery then shouldn't we send ALL children going to Central to jail now before they have the opportunity to commit a crime.
You may feel that statement is extreme however it is the very same argument turned around against those that are against the homeless veterans shelter.
I believe the shelter should be given the go ahead with stipulations that make it a very secure place to be and to verify that the neighborhoods will continue to be as safe as possible. I usually like vocal minorities when they make a point that is conducive and well thought out, however when they go off half cocked like those that spoke this evening on this issue they do nothing except move a conversation into the extreme.

So city council has a choice on this matter and it appears they are once again going down the wrong direction.

there is a website for everything

If you ever wondered about all the teacher sex scandals one only need to visit the following site.

http://badbadteacher.com/

I've often wondered myself (Deaths of 58 in tornadoes is baffling if a God exists)

I'm sure many of you that read this blog will chastise me either publicly or privately but hey this is designed to make you think. I have often wondered why it is that many praise GOD if someone survives a tragedy such as a flood, tornado, hurricane, wildfire, or earthquake, and yet they don't fault GOD for creating the disaster in the first place. I used to think I was the only one who thought in that manner until I was able to read the following in today's Springfield News Leader.


The dozens of tornadoes that ripped through a handful of southeastern states during the night of Feb. 5 claimed 58 lives and wreaked hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage. But the news surrounding this extreme weather event was not uniformly gloomy.
In the wake of a tornado that ravaged the rural community of Castalian Springs, Tenn., an emergency worker was searching for survivors in a field littered with dolls. Imagine his shock when he saw, in his words, the "little butt cheeks move" on what he had supposed was just another toy! Instead, it was 11-month-old Kyson Stowell. The tornado had hurled him the length of a football field from his home, left in ruins. Amazingly, he suffered only minor injuries.
Headlines around the world celebrated his story. "Miracle baby found in twister's wake," proclaimed Australia's Sydney Morning Herald. "Miracle baby Kyson Stowell alive after tornado whisks him away," trumpeted Britain's Times Online. While Kyson's story was the most widely reported, there were other wonders as well.
A tornado that swept across the campus of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., laid waste to the dormitories, but none of the estimated 1,200 students in them was killed. Many people of faith gave thanks to God for these "miracles." "We've had some divine intervention," declared Kyson's maternal grandfather. And Union University professor Michael Chute insisted, "It's a miracle of the Lord more people weren't injured" on his campus.
Such statements are deeply puzzling. They seem predicated on a conception of God as a kind of gallant knight who rides onto a battlefield to protect the innocent against forces of destruction. Just as we would lavish praise and gratitude onto such a knight, we should, on this conception, praise and give thanks to God for his benevolent protection. The trouble with the analogy is twofold.
First, the gallant knight did not create the forces of destruction. God did, if he exists; he created the universe and everything in it.
Second, the knight does everything in his power to save as many innocents as he can. Given God's omnipotence, and the tens of thousands of deaths around the world every year due to natural disasters, God obviously does not. If the "miraculous" survival of Kyson and the Union University students is in fact owing to divine intervention, the apt analogy is not with a gallant knight, but with a powerful tyrant who presides over a mass killing but capriciously decides to spare a few lucky souls. "Killing?" you ask incredulously. Yes. To kill is to cause death. God, assuming he exists, is the creator of the universe, so he caused the tornadoes. And the tornadoes caused the deaths of the 58. God may not have directly killed, but neither does an arsonist who foresees the fatal consequences of his action. "Capricious sparing of lives?" Yes. If God spared Kyson and the Union University students without caprice, this means he had a good reason for letting the 58 tornado victims die. But what could such a reason have been? Were all the victims especially bad people who were deserving of an early demise? Not likely. One woman drove a school bus for special-needs children and, according to newspaper reports, "was very well-liked." Kyson's unfortunate mother, 23-year-old Kerrie Stowell, was credited by her fiancé with having turned his life around.
Was God's reason for allowing the deaths of the 58 victims to bring about some greater good? Perhaps the warning system for weather-related emergencies will be improved. Perhaps people will build sturdier homes in the future. But such measures wouldn't be necessary if God had not created a world terrorized by natural disasters in the first place. When faced with such apparently senseless tragedy, many believers take refuge in the thought that "God's mysterious ways" are beyond our comprehension. But if this is so, then we cannot claim to know that it is God's goodness at work when some innocents "miraculously" survive natural disasters while others perish.