Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Rahm Wants Illinois To Raise The Gas Tax



I've been saying "sure, why not, just base it on miles of road per county." Well guess what I found at IDOT's website: Illinois Travel Statistics.

It's clear who needs the most infrastructure repair yearly. It's also clear where most people gas up their cars weekly. Proportionally, Cook county has the highest amount of road usage, at least four times that of the next highest county, DuPage. Beyond the top 13 in the chart, the rest pales by comparison, plus Cook county has the highest cost of living.

It won't really hurt the rich, but a gas tax is regressive and especially hurtful for people down-state who must commute 45 minutes to work or more than 10 miles to the nearest grocery store.


Thursday, September 06, 2018

The Abstract Thinking of Springfield City Council


Abstract thinking is the hallmark of adolescence, according to behavior scientist Jean Piaget, as he developed his research in childhood cognitive development. Abstract thinking begins at around age 11. Children begin to imagine themselves in the shoes of other people, and to consider the long-term consequences of decisions.

According to a news report by WICS/WRSP, 'Filling Springfield street cracks delayed a second time', last year the city of Springfield hired a contractor, which in turn hired labor from outside the city and wound up paying a fine to the city. It was the lowest bid, so what's wrong with that? The fine was just the cost of doing business (CODB).


Now for the abstract thinking:

Fact: Money doesn't just disappear when people are paid. The money then circulates through the economy where it wound up.

Fact: The contractor was willing to pay the fine to the city for hiring labor outside the city of Springfield. So the city got cracks filled and a $14,000 rebate.

Fact: The remunerated contract money wound up circulating somewhere else besides Springfield, so the contract was mostly a SUNK COST to the city of Springfield, of course besides the cracks being filled.

Fact: The Springfield City Council was only willing to do a HALF MEASURE to keep the remunerated contract money circulating in Springfield.

Conclusion: The contractor, whoever it is, will probably only pay a slightly higher fine, and the money that gets paid out to the workers, will leave Springfield forever, again.

To think abstractly one must at least be over the age of 11, especially when one is elected to serve the people of Springfield. 

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Bruce Rauner and the Death Penalty


Some people are saying that Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner added to a bill, the return of the Death Penalty, to ensure the bill was too toxic to pass through the Illinois General Assembly.

Some people are saying the Bruce Rauner wants a return to the Death Penalty in Illinois as a deterrent to crime, which has long been debunked, because as you should all know by now, people who commit crimes worthy of the death penalty, in states that already had the death penalty on the books, don't have the mental capacity to consider the consequences of their actions anyway.

Perhaps the state should eliminate the HIPPA regulations and open everyone's criminal and psychological records, regardless of age, and single-out clinically diagnosed psychopaths, for immediate extermination. Given Rauner's record, this might be a problem for him personally.

On April 28, 2018, the Illinois Innocence Project held a fundraiser at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield, Illinois. Featured Speakers included Co-Counsel to Steven Avery who was featured in the Netflix Documentary "Making a Murderer", Jerome F. Buting of William & Stilling S. C. of Brookfield, Wisconsin. Author of "Illusion of Justice"

Among the stunning and shocking accounts of miscarriages of justice that were told that night, was the case of Grover Thompson. He walked right into the path of Tim Krajcir and one of Tim's many victims. Of course, Grover was arrested and convicted instead of Tim. Grover died in prison 15 years later.

After all the evidence proved that Grover was innocent, Governor Rauner still denied his exoneration. Why? He probably thinks the state will have to pay the family a huge settlement, which they are due. Why else? I have no idea why Governor Rauner thinks the Illinois Innocence Project doesn't have credibility in his mind, unless he fears what they will find out about him.

As a former member of the IIP, one who learned how to research criminals, I now have an interest in Governor Rauner, personally.


Saturday, March 24, 2018

Springfield close to remembering why they switched some streets to one way.


After learning that Springfield was going to switch some streets back to two way streets after they were switched to one way streets, for some reason, I was going to try and figure out how they forgot why they switched the streets in the first place, but it looks like Dave Bakke at the State Journal Register beat me to it, way back in 2013 with the article: One-way streets were the answer to everything.

Thank's Dave for reminding everyone back then. It seems the post World War II boom of the fifties caused so much economic growing pains on the infrastructure, streets needed to be rearranged.

But apparently everyone has forgotten the reminder when another article by Crystal Thomas: Downtown Springfield closer to adding some two-way streets popped up recently.

The configuration might be slightly different. Some of the the rationale for the change seems to be related to safety, but another is that traffic has dropped so much it seems reasonable to reconfigure the flow of traffic. Wait, what?

What does that say about all that planning and studying for economic growth they've been talking about these past several years? Did they incorporate this traffic study with potential economic development?

How many times are they going to change the traffic, and at what cost?

Wednesday, March 07, 2018

Parking Solution for Springfield




There's something interesting about these pictures besides the fact that they were taken at the state capitol in Olympia, Washington. What's missing? Parking meters, of course. How do they pay for parking?

Instead of using parking meters, visitors and employees purchase parking at a few kiosks, where you receive a printout that shows you the precise time your parking expires. You keep the printout visible on your car's dashboard.

You can purchase up to ten hours at a time, I think, maybe more. If you are just visiting to run multiple errands, you don't need to keep feeding any parking meters and you don't have to worry about leaving excess time on a meter after you leave for your next destination.

You may be able to purchase and print a parking schedule online in advance. It would have a bar code for authentication and monitoring by parking enforcement.

Some areas around businesses only allow for 30 minute to 2 hour parking maximum. For this, your tire would be marked with yellow chalk, and even if you paid for several hours of parking, you would still need to move your vehicle to another spot, for the sake of the businesses.

There is potential to have certain tiers of temporary parking permits, with packages for daily, weekly, monthly, or annual parking for residents who live downtown. These could be special window stickers. Ultimately this eliminates the ugly old style parking meters.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Illinois Most Entrenched Districts

Illinois has been a problem for a very long time. The following chart is based on people currently serving in the Illinois General Assembly:

This chart is skewed because it's based on currently serving incumbents, but it does show a rapid increase it the rate that seats are turned over. However the power of the house and senate lie within the list of the longest serving, most entrenched incumbents. The turnover over the years has accomplished little, due to the hidden power structure behind the veneer of what we are taught in public school about how politics works Here is the list of top most entrenched districts in Illinois:


NameDistrictPartyChamberStart DateYears
Michael J. Madigan22DHouse197147
Barbara Flynn Currie25DHouse197939
David Harris53RHouse198335
Mary E. Flowers31DHouse198533
Lou Lang16DHouse198731
Daniel J. Burke1DHouse199127
Jay Hoffman113DHouse199127
Jim Durkin82RHouse199523
Sara Feigenholtz12DHouse199523
Michael P. McAuliffe20RHouse199622
Patricia R. Bellock47RHouse199919
Bill Mitchell101RHouse199919
Keith P. Sommer88RHouse199919
Dan Brady105RHouse200117
Cynthia Soto4DHouse200117
Linda Chapa LaVia83DHouse200315
William Davis30DHouse200315
Robert W. Pritchard70RHouse200315
Robert Rita28DHouse200315
John C. D'Amico15DHouse200414
David B. Reis109RHouse200513
Luis Arroyo3DHouse200612
Gregory Harris13DHouse200612
Fred Crespo44DHouse200711
La Shawn K. Ford8DHouse200711
Mike Fortner49RHouse200711
Elizabeth Hernandez24DHouse200711
Al Riley38DHouse200711
Michael J. Zalewski23DHouse200810
John J. Cullerton6DSenate197939
William E. Brady44RSenate199325
Dave Syverson35RSenate199325
James F. Clayborne, Jr.57DSenate199523
Terry Link30DSenate199721
Kimberly A. Lightford4DSenate199820
Dale A. Righter55RSenate199820
Antonio Muñoz1DSenate199919
Ira I. Silverstein8DSenate199919
William R. Haine56DSenate200216
Pamela J. Althoff32RSenate200315
Jacqueline Y. Collins16DSenate200315
Don Harmon39DSenate200315
Mattie Hunter3DSenate200315
Iris Y. Martinez20DSenate200315
Chapin Rose51RSenate200315
Martin A. Sandoval11DSenate200315
Kwame Raoul13DSenate200414
David Koehler46DSenate200612
Jil Tracy47RSenate200612
Linda Holmes42DSenate200711
Tim Bivins45RSenate200810
Heather A. Steans7DSenate200810

Friday, February 16, 2018

The Rise and Fall of Springfield, Illinois


While doing research on the housing market I came across FRED, the Federal Reserve Economic Database. After viewing their charts I began to see a clearer picture of why people in Springfield seem to be so apathetic and resistant to change. I compiled some charts on a website which I may update if the numbers can be refuted, or there are some positive changes to report. Click the link below to view the site.

Monday, February 05, 2018

City Sales Tax Issue



The State Journal-Register reported "At least half of Springfield aldermen oppose raising sales tax" apparently to 8.75%. Springfield has a population around 115,715. Seattle, Washington has an official population of 608,660 as of the 2010 census, but the wider metro area has a population of at least 3.5 million people. The state of Washington has no income tax. Seattle has a sales tax of 9.6%. 6.5% of which goes to the state, 2.7% goes to the city of Seattle.

Currently, Springfield's sales tax rate is 6.25% but the total combined city, county and state sales tax is already at 8.5%, plus there's an income tax rate ranging from 3.75% to 4.95%.

The problem: Population shrinkage. According to the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED), The civilian labor force in Springfield, Illinois peaked in 2010 and as of November 2017, was at the level it was in 2005, and continuing to decline.

[edit] Looking at the Per Capita Personal Income in Springfield, IL (MSA) shows a steady increase since 1970, but this chart relies on whose data is collected. It could reflect the growth of income inequality. In other words, poor people earning less while wealthy people earn more. Wages have been stagnant over the last 30 years, while capital gains increased dramatically.

The unemployment rate in Springfield, IL according to FRED seems to be declining almost in a similar fashion as the Civilian Workforce, meaning the unemployment rate is lower because there are fewer jobs and fewer people.

So, imagine what a tax increase would do to Springfield. Some factors include the following:

  • People inextricably tied to their home because the mortgage is "underwater" or there are no buyers looking.
  • People in retirement or nursing care facilities on fixed incomes.
  • People inextricably tied to a government job that requires them to reside in or around Springfield.
  • Businesses whose customers are most frequently the people listed above.
  • Crain's: Slow growth, aging population plaguing Illinois.
Eventually, the tax burden will fall on who remains in town. It might be wise to relocate people away from the oldest, most vulnerable infrastructure and close off those older parts of Springfield until such a time as industry returns to the area.

Thursday, January 04, 2018

Fake Political Organizations


There are a few people in town who have insinuated themselves in almost every organization in town. They attempt to take over and run things, making the experience toxic for everyone else but the people they prefer to have around them.

There are also organizations that seem legitimate on the surface, but are really operating against goals of the organization. What are the warning signs that the leadership in your organization might be doing the opposite of your group's stated goals?

Their only purpose appears to be corralling social justice warriors (SJW) and activists into a false sense of actually doing something to affect change, but is really wasting time and effort until they get frustrated and give up.


  1. Only a few select members of the group are allowed to communicate with legislators or be present during communication with legislators. Everyone is notified of scheduled efforts, yet the widely publicized effort results in no progress.
  2. Leaders of the group suggest that some new members will be contacted to assist with important projects, but nothing ever comes of it.
  3. Repeated attempts to join their Facebook group fails, you mention it at the next meeting and they say they will fix it, but they never do.
  4. You participate in public events and pass out literature to other potential activists or SJW's
  5. New ideas about how to affect change are received by the leadership who "will look into it" but never mentions them again.