Archive for July, 2011

CSA

Author: yinn

Jul 31

I have been reading the official Confederate States of America government website. From the FAQs:

President Davis and Secretary of State Benjamin both refused to surrender the Government of the C.S.A. and thus no surrender ever occurred and no Peace Treaty was ever signed. Thus a state of war, declared upon the South by Abraham Lincoln, still persists resulting in continued occupation and reconstruction by the military, civil, economic and judicial powers of the Federal Union.

The solution is pretty straightforward: a) get yourselves recognized as a sovereign nation, then b) get your treaty.

And guess who is choosing not to break U.S. federal law?

8. Confederate States registered citizenship shall be granted without regard to race. There shall be no special status, classification, privilege or grouping of any individual based upon race, nor shall hyphenated names be used as a descriptive substitute for proper names of racial groups.

Yeah, especially when the “substitute” is descriptive of a unique and thriving culture that has outlived CSA by 145 years and counting.

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Filed under: National/International

58 Banks Closed So Far in 2011

Author: yinn

Jul 28

There have been 58 bank closures through July 22, five of them in Illinois, including one in St. Charles.

Daily Markets looks at the current climate.

Looking back, there were 157 bank failures in 2010, 140 in 2009 and 25 in 2008.

While the financials of bigger banks have been stabilizing on the back of an economic recovery, many smaller banks are still struggling to survive. Nagging issues like rock-bottom home prices along with still-high loan defaults and unemployment levels continue to trouble such institutions.

Lingering effects of the financial crisis continue to weigh on many banks. It becomes a prerequisite for such banks to absorb bad loans offered during the credit explosion, making them susceptible to severe problems. The uncertain environment is aggravating the risk of bank failures even further.

Failures were expected to peak in 2010, and it looks like the numbers are on track for fewer failures in 2011, but it won’t be a precipitous fall.

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Filed under: Community Resources, National/International | Tagged as:

Aren’t DeKalb’s Finances Recovering Nicely?

Author: yinn

Jul 27

What a lovely surprise.

I can’t wait! I can’t wait for the rollbacks to begin of the tax and fee hikes our city council has approved since 2008 to keep afloat. Shall we start with the property tax, sales tax, restaurant and bar tax, hotel-motel tax, utility tax or the first gas tax hike? When will we hear the glad news that the rest of the planned water rate hikes have been canceled?

Or maybe instead, we could re-hire the 50+ people we’ve let go.

Or maybe, just maybe, this is propaganda, groundwork to justify more planned employee raises; and some parties are swallowing it hook, line and sinker.

And afterward, whatever budgetary badness happens will be something that “nobody could foresee.”

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Filed under: Council/City Watch | Tagged as: , , ,

CCEC Disapproves of DeKalb’s New Police Cars

Author: yinn

Jul 25

Citizens Community Enhancement Commission members are upset their logo was totally rejected as the new design for the police cars, so now they want a do-over:

BUSINESS:

1. New Police Squads

[Assistant City Manager Rudy] Espiritu distributed pictures of the new police cars. A survey was done with Police personnel, and the staff selected the logo in the pictures, he said. The logo recommended by the CCEC
received no votes, he added. However, he said, it is placed on the bumper.

Mr. Barnes disagreed that the logo selected was the best choice. He added that police cars market the image of DeKalb.

He suggested that in the future, the voting be open to all City staff, residents and the CCEC. Mr. Rasmussen agreed and added that the logo looks garish and needs to be subdued. Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Council/City Watch, Snark/Humor | Tagged as:

Mid-Season Garden Blog: Abby, the Beetles, ‘Volunteers’ & More

Author: yinn

Jul 24

Here is an on-the-job shot of our gardening supervisor, Abby. She joined the family late last fall so we do not yet know if she is also a garden tomato lover like our other German shepherds have been. We had one, Heidi, wouldn’t even wait for an offer, but would sniff out a fat ripe one herself, pluck her pick delicately from the vine and tote it intact to a spot of grass and shade.

You can see a bit of grapevine in the background. As in Garden Blog: Deck Photos, this year I once again weave the volunteer wild grapevine through the deck railing as it grows, machete as necessary and, for now, flick Japanese beetles off the leaves twice a day.

Warning: Bugs after the jump. Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Garden Blog, Photoblog

City Again Deprived of State of the City Address

Author: yinn

Jul 20

Here’s what the mayor is supposed to do:

Sec. 3.1-35-5. Mayor or president; general duties. The mayor or president shall perform all the duties which are prescribed by law, including ordinances, and shall take care that the laws and ordinances are faithfully executed. The mayor or president from time to time may, and annually shall, give the corporate authorities information concerning the affairs of the municipality and may recommend for their consideration measures the mayor or president believes expedient.

Here is what he did.

Eggs & Issues: State of the City
Date: 7/19/2011
Time: 7:30 AM TO 9:00 AM

Hopkins Park Community Center
1403 Sycamore Road
Terrace Room
DeKalb, IL 60115

Phone:
(815) 756-6306

Event Description: This is a great opportunity for Chamber members and the community to gather with DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen and DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki for a discussion on the State of the City. The presentation will also include information provided by T.J. Moore, Director of Public Works, an update on ReNew DeKalb, and an introduction to the economic development plan for the city by Roger Hopkins. Breakfast will be provided with registration.

Surprise! There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. DeKalb’s Number One Super Duper role model, Naperville, allows its Chamber of Commerce to host its State of the City address in similar fashion.

However, Naperville’s is conducted as a public meeting, with easy-to-find full transcript, video and presentation materials put up at its website.

From the local newspaper coverage today, it looks to me like care was taken not to have more than one alderman attend the DeKalb meeting, in order to avoid technical violations of the Open Meetings Act. Reminders: allowing reporters does not in itself fulfill OMA; and one alderman does not “corporate authorities” make.

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Filed under: Council/City Watch | Tagged as: ,

The Vehicle Maintenance & Acquisition Fund That Isn’t

Author: yinn

Jul 20

In “Council in the Twilight Zone,” I lauded 7th Ward Alderman Monica O’Leary for questioning this part of the July 11 meeting agenda:

2) APPROVAL OF A RECOMMENDATION TO AUTHORIZE THE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO PURCHASE TWO NEW SQUAD CARS THROUGH THE STATE PURCHASING PROGRAM.
The Police Department was awarded a Grant through the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority Board (ICJIA) to purchase a replacement for the Police Shift Command Vehicle. The award amount is $20,000 and the city is required to provide the remaining funds. The Police Departments portion will be taken from the Vehicle Maintenance and Acquisition Fund.

Ms. O’Leary said she couldn’t find this fund in the budget, and with good reason: It doesn’t exist.

There’s a Q&A about the fund/vehicle funding after the jump. Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Council/City Watch | Tagged as: , ,

A Retelling of DeKalb’s Reduction in Force Story

Author: yinn

Jul 19

This ties together a half-dozen posts delivered over four months. It also better separates the facts from the adventures in obtaining them.

How the RIF Played Out Publicly

In February 2010, staff reported during a special meeting that DeKalb was facing budgetary shortfalls totaling more than $5 million by the end of FY2011. They attributed the shortfalls mainly to a combination of declining revenues and rapidly rising health insurance, pension and other personnel costs.

Although the city’s workforce already had been cut by 19 workers, another Reduction in Force (RIF) plan was proposed in case efforts to negotiate 12% across-the-board cuts in compensation failed — and indeed they did fail. Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Council/City Watch | Tagged as: ,

Feed’Em Soup Wins a New Toyota

Author: yinn

Jul 18

DeKalb County’s Feed’Em Soup Community Project just won a new vehicle in the Toyota 100 Cars for Good program.

After announcing 500 non-profit finalists in April, Toyota has been in the process of giving away one car per day for 100 days.

The winners are selected by popular vote on Toyota USA’s Facebook page. Feed’Em Soup won in voting yesterday, and got official word today during the noon hour.

From Feed’Em Soup’s Facebook page:

Thank You to everyone who voted. Thank you to everyone who shared the link with their friends and families. Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word. Thank you to everyone for your support. Yesterday was inspiring. Thank you all for your help in bringing that Toyota vehicle to help the people of Dekalb County. Thank You.

Feed’Em Soup was one of 10 Illinois finalists that include Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin and Project HOPEFUL from Joliet, an educational organization that conducts workshops on adopting children with HIV.

Congrats!

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Filed under: Community Resources

More on Corn Fest & Parking Fees

Author: yinn

Jul 16

Here’s a piece of an e-mail from an FAA official to the City of DeKalb about FAA requirements for holding Corn Fest at the airport, which DeKalb County Online got hold of in May:

Of particular importance is the amount of money received by the airport from the event. This MUST be some form of Fair Market Value revenue received from the event and put into the airport operations fund. Failure to do so could put the airport in noncompliance with its Grant Assurances. IDA/FAA may request proof of payment to ensure compliance. I would also add that a token sum of something like $500/day or $1,000/day for what appears to be a pretty big event is not considered Fair Market Value.

In early June, the FAA official recapped an agreement made during a meeting with the City of DeKalb:

- There will be a charge for parking for the event. A daily and/or weekend charge/fee was mentioned. Based on historical attendance figures, this could lead to revenue to the airport ranging between $30k to $50K. Also, you mentioned in the previous years’ events that the sales tax collected at the event went back into the airport budget. These two sources of income (if close to the estimated amount) would, in my opinion, be considered Fair Market Value for a 3-day event.

Then the Chronicle editorial said this*: Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Council/City Watch | Tagged as: , ,
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