Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:40 am Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:54 am

"Mayor Larry Morrissey countered Cassaro’s assertion, saying the average AFSCME

worker makes more than the average Rockford worker. As proof, he said, city job
openings normally generate many applicants."

Don't you remember your rhetoric, LarryBoy???????

"Rockford needs jobs; but there are no magic bullets or formulas to create
jobs."

Maybe people APPLY for jobs because they NEED jobs, ya think??????? The personal injury lawyer,raised in an exclusive subdivision.......handing out $23,000 RAISE to his buddy, the City Administrator, (plus there's an opening for an assistant, at LEAST $62,000 a year) I would LOVE to be one of LARRYBOY'S "average" Rockford worker.........I hear he's looking for a DEPUTY MAYOR, also........I'm getting in line NOW!!!!!!!!!!

........BUT LOOK!!!......

ASSISTANT CITY ADMINISTRATOR ...... Starting Salary: $63 - 96K commensurate with
experience!!!!!!!!!!

AND the City Administrator.............from the city budget......$23,000 increase!!!!!!!!!!!! more money + assistant= less work,more pay.......

EMPLOYEES — THE CITY’S MOST IMPORTANT ASSET The City, like most local
governmental units, provides services and can therefore be classified as a
labor-intensive organization. Any organization that provides services can expect
a substantial portion of its budget to be allocated for personnel costs. To help
contain personnel costs, the City has taken several steps in the past to
economize its use of personnel while maintaining service quality. These steps
include: • eliminating inefficient or ineffective services; • improving the
method of delivery for certain services; • contracting certain specialized
and/or seasonal services to private contractors; and • adding certain key
positions.

This is straight out of the budget.......do you see where they plan to screw employees on benefits to "contain costs"????????? No? me either........ How does "the average worker " in Rockford feel about the pay in the Mayor's office??????????? average pay.........$85,000...... http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedFiles/government/Finance/Divisions/CentralServices/Mayor(2).pdf

Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:29 am

Ok, here's one from the campaign rhetoric........

"If we have extra money to spend, we might consider some of those options,
but not while we have glaring deficiencies in our fundamentals."

And here's one from the paper..........

"The cost to hire outside lawyers to represent the city during possible
labor-arbitration hearings could be significantly higher than previously
reported. Hayes originally said an outside firm, which might be used if the city
enters arbitration with its police and firefighters unions, would cost $65,000
to $75,000. On Monday, Hayes said the cost could be higher, but he would not
speculate on a price tag. However, one alderman said the estimate was $190,000 a
union. If both the police and firefighters go to arbitration, the cost would be
$380,000, according to that estimate."

I would just remind folks, we STILL have "FORMER" Legal Director, Ron Schultz on the payroll............."our fundamentals" MIGHT be the money we spend on LAWYER FEES..................

Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:55 pm Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:38 pm

......."Patrick Hayes, legal director for the city, said there seems to be more homeless people downtown than in the past." and "Hayes said homeless people are migrating to Rockford from the greater Chicago area. “They come here because we have many social services available,” he said. “Folks flock to this community. We need to get a handle on it.”
(from this morning's paper,)
Stopping pushy panhandlers

Officials try to crack down on aggressive beggars in Rockford

This is the guy that assured aldermen their combined caucases at Cliffbreakers last Sat. was legal.........now he,s an expert on homelessness...... And I wish I coulda seen the caravan of "migrant" homeless, panhandling their way down I-90 from Chicago to Rockford
Laws aim for cleaner Rockford
Some residents say excellence everywhere is just a nuisance. By Bob Schaper

...But some say the changes are coming too fast.......... the
appearance of a well-run city,........Excellence everywhere is
something we all want to see, but the reality is some people don’t have the
resources to comply with utopia..........“I ran on a campaign that
focused on a broken windows approach,” Morrissey said. “Everybody’s held
accountable. We’re trying to awaken people to notice things that are screwed
up.”

HEY LARRYBOY, ever heard of "living in glass houses and stones!!!!!!!" I invite, no, ENCOURAGE EVERYONE to drive around the 1100 block of North Court Street and view the building and grounds of the old Garrison School which has been owned by him and his father for the past 6 or 7 years..........EVERYBODY'S HELD ACCOUNTABLE?????? MY FOOT!!!!!!!!!!

Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:17 pm

So, not only do we have a Mon. nite circus, now LarryBoy brings you Sat. morning cartoons......... Tune into Cliffbreakers to see the Boy Blunder tussle with aldermen and citizens.......... It could be funny if it wasn't all too true......
Mayor, aldermen spar over health-plan chat By Bob Schaper ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR

...The meeting — advertised all week as a joint caucus between Democrats
and Republicans — was intended as a way for all aldermen to informally discuss a
controversial health insurance proposal offered by Morrissey’s administration.
“I wish we had known about this before quarter to 8 in the morning,” Mark said,
adding that he coordinated the event with the city’s legal department and had
been told the meeting was proper. “We’ve been very specific all week.” Holt said
Morrissey had always been welcome to sit in on the meeting, but the mayor’s
desire to be chairman was political “grandstanding.” He said the council should
hire its own lawyer in the future. “The legal department apparently didn’t give
us good advice,” he told Morrissey. “They work for us, too. They don’t just work
for you.” Eventually, the council yielded to Morrissey, and he called the
meeting to order. Immediately, residents were forced out of the room while the
council went into executive session....

Just hope LarryBoy got some GOOOOD advice on this move.......If they discussed the health insurance plan for ALL employees,[not just the Unions'] HE WAS IN VIOLATION OF THE STATE OPEN-MEETINGS ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.rockrivertimes.com/
....City Council tries to exclude mayor and legal director from meeting ...Ald. Doug Mark (R-3), Republican caucus chairman, said the meeting was posted on the City Council’s weekly “date of call” list by Thursday—more than 48 hours prior to the meeting. City Clerk Diane Reed e-mailed the “date of call” list at 7:30 a.m. July 19 to the media and other interested parties. Mark said “nobody questioned (Morrissey’s) ability to be there.” But he said Hayes and the Legal Department never let on holding a meeting without him would be a problem. According to Mark, Morrissey informed them he was required to lead the meeting when he arrived. He said neither Hayes nor the Legal Department has offered an explanation regarding the allegedly faulty advice."

Sat Jul 22, 2006 6:56 pm

Published: July 22, 2006 Local News:

Morrissey crashes aldermen’s party this morning By Bob Schaper ROCKFORD
REGISTER STAR What
was to be a relaxed, informal conversation among aldermen turned into an
early-morning showdown today when Mayor Larry Morrissey unexpectedly arrived at
Cliffbreakers to announce he was chairing the meeting. After a tense 15-minute
discussion — in which one aldermen was heard muttering, “We didn’t come here to
eat crap” — aldermen relented, and Morrissey called the meeting to order.
Immediately, dozens of citizens were forced out of the room while the council
went into executive session to discuss collective bargaining issues.

Now, what's up with that......... http://www.morrisseyformayor.com/files/Leadership_Position_Paper.PDF

Unity: Communication & Trust: To accomplish great things we must have a
unified team. Unfortunately, moral among City employees, as with the City as a
whole, has been down. This stems from leadership that has not communicated with
and involved its people in a real sense. Everyone in the City needs to know that
we are one City and our fates are tied together. We must know that we are
building toward the same goal. We must staff for success and direct the many
organizations both public and private that look to the City for leadership. To
build unity, public comment must be welcome.......... The basic steps of
leadership involve clarity, unity, accountability, and action.

THAT'S some action!!!!!!!!!!!! [But maybe not very unifying]

Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:04 am

So, I'm watching the Mon. nite circus, Mayor LarryBoy and his silly council, and the topic of putting the 3/4% sales tax on the November ballot, and how it might hurt the school board request to EXTEND an existing tax rate, and Larryboy is like, "we all want good neighborhood schools, but we can't get to them on crappy neighborhood roads," and I'm like, "shouldn't the city be MORE concerned about roads, and LarryBoy is like, " blah, blah, blah,...whitewater raft park........" and I'm like , "isn't that why we pay taxes to the PARK district-TO TAKE CARE OF PARKS!!!!!!!!!!" and I'm like, "why do we have a mayor that can't get the roads fixed but he's ready to fix the schools and parks?????????" Where, O, Where is he gonna stick his nose next????????

The essential three R’s of Rockford’s infrastructure: Roads, Rail and
River.
Action: It’s Time for Action: Moving Beyond the Studies and Task Forces.
Rockford has been studied, planned, and task forced to death.

Just on 6:00 WTVO news.........Rockford's ready to spend $3 million on a transit study to connect Rockford and Elgin, NOT NECCESARILY A TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! $3 million but let's NOT fix our roads...........

Sun Jul 16, 2006 9:57 pm

Reasonable investments in core infrastructure: Morrissey reiterated the
essential three R’s of Rockford’s infrastructure: Roads, Rail and River.
“Internally, through great planning and great community building, Rockford’s
roads and pathways and our public transportation need to connect us internally
and externally,” he said.

GREAT PLANNING= HOME RULE, NO WAIT, 1% SALES TAX, NO WAIT........... GREAT COMMUNITY BUILDING= STICKING IT TO EMPLOYEES WITH HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS, NO WAIT, HIRING MORE LAYERS OF BUREACRACY........

Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:16 am

My point; why "comp" road improvements for Walmart jobs??Is that what Rockford NEEDS????

The public and private sector in this community look to the City to provide
leadership. Where does the City expect growth? What types of growth does the
City want? The City demonstrates leadership that directs home and job growth by
setting strong land use and zoning plans, by coordinating capital investments in
roads, paths, and rail lines, and by focusing its job recruitment and retention
efforts.

http://www.morrisseyformayor.com/files/Leadership_Position_Paper.PDF Below is the image in its original context on the page: www.morrisseyformayor.com/ (In 1999, Larry was the recipient of the Sam Walton Business Leader Award.)

Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:10 am

Q: What will you do to reduce blight in residential and commercial areas? A: Rockford is one city. Unfortunately, we have not acted like "one city." Instead, decades of gross inequality in infrastructure investments has resulted in "sprawl" and blight and decay on the west side and throughout Rockford's urban core. We will reduce blight and increase development on the west side by setting the right priorities and having the right approach. We must do the following: 1. Invest in critical infrastructure improvements on the west side. 2. Institute better land use and zoning guidelines. 3. Institute better development tools and marketing efforts. Our approach must be aggressive
Is this why Perryville and I-90 get the new outlet mall?....LarryBoy made a LOTTA noise of how the downtown Main St. mall strangled downtown traffic flow.........it WAS an IMMEDIATE step he would take=ripping it out....... with the U.S. 20 bypass, and the Harrison/Springfield extension, the westside of Rockford is easily accessible from the Interstate......LarryBoy's own words he would AGGRESSIVELY develop business-How many tax incentives did he SURRENDER for this prime location-He coulda offered even MORE to move if he truly wanted to encourage west-side growth..........why offer concessions to Wal-Mart,richest corp. in the world, to locate off U.S.20?[at alpine] Why not southWEST?? IF HE TRULY MEAN'T ENCOURAGE WEST-SIDE DEVELOPMENT?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!

Tue Jun 27, 2006 10:18 pm

... a "vision" of Rockford SHOULD be in the world according to LarryBoy...... "Q: How should the pedestrian mall be developed? A: My view is that is should be torn out ... on a day-to-day basis, it's a (two-lane) road that will be an interior road, local traffic road. It makes sense to have it open. When you want to close it, I think there's ways to allow hydraulic barriers to come up. Hey, you want to close it down, you got something going on, a street festival, whatever. And build it in such a way that it may have a brick or cobble stone look to it, so it's not going to be a thoroughfare, flying people through there. But it gives you a chance to bring back what we once had in terms of the arteries being open in the main core of downtown. " Now, how hard is it to open up those TWO blocks of Main St.? Does it take 1 1/2 years? Has there been ANY more talk about it? More LarryTalk, less substance..........

Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:19 am

Unity: Communication & Trust: To accomplish great things we must have a unified team. Unfortunately, moral among City employees, as with the City as a whole, has been down. This stems from leadership that has not communicated with and involved its people in a real sense. From:http://www.morrisseyformayor.com/files/Leadership_Position_Paper.PDF Is this the new insurance plan, a well-communicated morale-booster?

Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:44 am

Post subject: http://www.morrisseyformayor.com/files/Morrissey%20-%20Leade -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MORRISSEY OFFERS INSIGHT INTO HIS LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION FORMULA “We must stop planning in secret and start leading in public,” he said. “The City will thrive when we take bold steps and the people of the community, which are the engine of this community, trust and follow the direction the City is taking.” Is this like the employees and their insurance increase? Morrissey also noted that the City must do a better job of managing and coordinating public and private resources. “The City must be accountable for all operations where public money is spent. Under a Morrissey administration, we will be accountable for leading in these areas and achieving results,” he said. Is this like paying debt on the Garrison TIF?? “Rockford has been studied, planned, and task forced to death,” Morrissey said. “To get past the studies and start getting things done, we must have focused, direct, and accountable leadership. We will get beyond the studies and start making positives moves for our future.” Is this like the rail service study, riverwalk study????