Archive for November, 2006

Allentown 1, Rockefeller 0

Author: yinn

Nov 28

[Updated with links 12/16/2006]

Remember Allentown, N.J.? Last June found residents fighting hard against another Rockefeller Godzilla Warehouse project just as some of us in DeKalb were this time last year. Click here to link to that article.

A visitor to citybarbs at that time, Wayne R. Smith of Allentown has returned today to leave this comment:

Wayne R. Smith Says:

November 28th, 2006 at 1:03 pm e
It is with the GREATEST JOY that I announce that the Rockefeller Group has withdrawn its application for the general development plan for almost 2 Million square feet of warehouse in Upper Freehold Township (bordering Allentown, NJ). IT is a happy day!!!!!

Congratulations, Allentown, N.J.!! Woo hoo!! Read the rest of this entry

4 Comments
Filed under: Growth, Warehouse Mania

Our Fiscal Conservatives

Author: yinn

Nov 20

Credit where it’s due. I see where our State Sen. Brad Burzynski and State Rep. Bob Pritchard each voted for resolutions that would have blocked pay raises for lawmakers and other top state positions.

Their side lost, so now $5 million has to be budgeted for salaries of $66,000 annually for a job that’s not even year ’round. That’s not counting the $125 expense allowance for each day they’re in session, nor the mileage reimbursement.

How obscene is it that our state lawmakers voted themselves a pay raise while leaving pensions and schools underfunded and Medicaid reimbursements later than ever? Pretty darn obscene in my book. My thanks to our local guys who refused to act like pigs at the trough.

0 Comments
Filed under: Payment Due?

We are Cannibals

Author: yinn

Nov 14

Our property taxes are becoming too burdensome to bear. Yet we can’t pay for our schools. We’ve invented impact fees to pay for our schools but that increases the cost of our homes, which leads to higher property taxes once again. We homeowners get stuck coming and going. In effect, we’re cannibalizing ourselves to make ends meet.

I got most of my schooling in the ’70s. We had great schools then. My parents had great schools. And property taxes weren’t the premier topic of conversation or worry. What happened? Read the rest of this entry

0 Comments
Filed under: Payment Due?, Warehouse Mania

Who Thinks Gas Prices are being Manipulated? Oil Investors Do.

Author: yinn

Nov 2

[UPDATE 11/17: Here's a link to U.S. retail gasoline prices across the country that compares the price just before the election with gas prices one week after the election. Please note that crude oil prices are down right now. Question: How high will gas be by Christmas? Any guesses?]

I don’t usually post about national happenings, but this one hits every last one of us in the pocketbook. If you ask your neighbors whether they believe that gas prices are being manipulated for political reasons and will rise again after the election, chances are at least a few of them will say, “Yes.” I’ve personally stayed neutral on the subject up to now because of reading conflicting opinions by people who know something about the energy industry. They can’t agree on whether that is even possible. Then today I read this little blurb from an investor’s newsletter put out by New York Global Securities: Read the rest of this entry

2 Comments
Filed under: Energy & Environment, National/International, Payment Due?

Education Finance Reform & District 70

Author: yinn

Nov 1

I attended Candidates’ Night at Kishwaukee College last week. The 70th District* candidates were there along with DeKalb County Board candidates, county clerk and county treasurer, and two judges from the 16th Circuit. One of the more interesting parts was how little it can matter what party you belong to when it comes to countywide issues. No one party has a monopoly on conservation, farmland preservation, management of the growth of government, support for veterans or the jail referendum. At this level, a good (or bad) idea can just be itself.

For me, the meat served up that night came from Rep. Bob Pritchard and Chuck Sauer, the pharmacist/attorney who is after Pritchard’s seat in the 70th District. Read the rest of this entry

0 Comments
Filed under: Payment Due?, Political Campaigns, State Campaigns