Hey,I got this big,shiny mailer from the LarryBoy campaign over the weekend...
the guy really "stays on message",huh? Seems every debate opening statement by LarryBoy was scripted here"From floods to winter storms to a collapsing national economy...." kinda like an opening EXCUSE....'I coulda done more but this darn Northern Illinois weather"....that stupid national economy..."

Then his first two "accomplishments"listed?
Reductions in truancy and crime,BOTH shown to be based on FAULTY DATA....
EXCELLENT!!!!!!!Data-Driven Drivel....and the thing is,MANY voters will BELIEVE it.....

another thing that floors me is his obvious disdain for organized labor,
BUT he pulled THIS off...

Quote:

Contributed By
Northern Illinois Building Contractor's Association 1111 S. Alpine Rd.
Ste. #202
Rockford, IL 61108 $10,000.00
3/18/2009 1A
Citizens for Morrissey

See the roads WILL be fixed,regardless of WHO becomes mayor,but LarryBoy has THESE guys going...oh well...

as anyone really surprised by THIS...

http://data.e-rockford.com/upload/files/1/ENDORSE2.pdf

Quote:

OUR VIEWS | OPINIONS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Morrissey our pick for mayor

But you know,the whole logic of their selection seems so....oh,what's a word to describe it...disjointed?
See they start with...

Quote:

Accountabilityour eyes tend to glaze
over when the mayor talks
numbers, but we think
gathering data, using
Rockstat to measure where
the city is and where it
needs to go is important.

They ADMIT a sense of confusion by the numbers....STATS
But then they credit LarryBoy's success WITH meaningless numbers....
first off,the crime rate ....the general public seems to be unaware that in the last few years,LarryChetBoy have instituted a new CRIME REPORTING SYSTEM,which on the surface seems more detailed...BUT to use it for comparisons is WORTHLESS because the majority of the state(and NATION) use a different system,so all the LarryBots try to compare apples to oranges...(a frequent public speaker at Council meetings,Bruce Roberts,(ex-cop,ex-County Board memmber)has continually explained that under the accepted FBI numbers,serious,VIOLENT crime is UP and RISING....
Secondly,with praise for LarryBoy and education, really got to wonder if the editorial board follows THEIR OWN NEWS REPORTING....
.http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1984813776/Rockford-School-District-files-incorrect-truancy-data

Quote:

No one can rely on truancy rates reported by the Rockford School District to the state, which uses the information to compile the School Report Cards that social workers need in the city’s battle against rampant truancy.
A clerical error by district staff made it appear the district’s chronic truancy rate improved last year when it actually worsened.....

Now I just am flabbergasted ANYONE can be so "glazed over" that they praise LarryBoy with data that WAS JUST PROVEN TO BE FALSE!!!!!

See,it's printed proof,if you repeat a lie often enough,everyone believes it...
or the old programmer saying"garbage in,garbage out"....

Sorry editorial board,but I find that page-full endorsement to be the pinnacle of irresponsible journalism


WE KNOW WHAT'S BEST...SIT DOWN,SHUT UP!!!!!WE CONTROL THE NEWS!!!!WE CONTROL THE STATS!!!!

So I must confess,I didn't watch my recording of last night's debate yet,so don't know quite what to make of the follow-up story...
http://www.rrstar.com/homepage/x1416197427/Block-Morrissey-trade-digs-at-mayoral-debate
but seems LarryBoy has an obsession with Block 'looking in the camera'...and blaming the unions in Rockford for everything wrong in the Forest City....same thing he pulled "on-line"...
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1236370
Sorry,but this just makes those sappy campaign spots(notice the birds singing in the background?) REALLY make you look like a phony,LarryBoy....so much LOVE for Rockford, so much HATE for all the working stiffs footing all your grand "Re-Development Visions" BOND DEBT....(heard Harmon make an excellent point lately...next year,property will be re-assessed,with dropping values,how's those TIF"increments" gonna fare,huh??The BOND DEBT WON'T go down....)

(psst,buddy,wanna buy a TIF?...It's the only game in town)

Didja check out Council Mon. nite? Curran certainly pulled out all the stops with his dramatic "catastrophe"-avoidance plea....
http://www.rrstar.com/homepage/x599209477/Rockford-aldermen-to-discuss-how-to-trim-the-budget
I guess Pat has no problem carrying water for LarryBoy since he's unopposed....I may be wrong,but certainly appears most of Larry's lapdogs (noteably Sosnowski and Mark)are keeping their distance,sensing a weakeness in the "LarryBoyExcellenceForce"....
And over at WREX,there's a hint at the "b**tch" side of LarryBoy....
http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=10058428&nav=menu1352_2

Quote:

...."Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow?" says Mayor Larry Morrissey. "I feel a little bit like that seems to be the general mood of the council."...The Republicans and Democrats are expected this week to meet in their separate caucuses where they can negotiate cuts.
"Now apparently there's another series of cuts that somebody is discussing at some meeting which I've not been privy to, where they're going to come up with another series of cuts," Morrissey says. "If they're going to do it at caucus, where are the caucus mintues?"....

Kinda irks you,huh,LarryBoy? See,that IS the DUTY of the aldermen to appropriate funds,not yours....elected officials work for the taxpayer,not you....deal with it.....

You know,it seems a little silly when the newspaper does a big long article....
http://www.rrstar.com/communities/x599207478/Rockfords-TIF-districts-a-long-term-investment...
with such a bias and a lack of depth. The entire story just paints an overall rosy future for Rockford because of the LarryBoy philosophy of "a TIF for everyone"....a little more analysis of TIF theory and purpose...(http://www.ncbg.org/tifs/tifs.htm) would have been responsible journalism....
I'm not gonna sit here and do Mr.Kolkey's job for him....but an original intent in TIF creation is to allow cities to encourage development in specific areas....nowdays,the "developers"get a TIF wherever it suits them,NOT the areas most in need of development.... the willy-nilly "re-development"schemes LarryBoy has encouraged has mortgaged Rockford's ability to provide basic city services. ....
And how can the author/newspaper just accept THIS malarkey....

Quote:

... When combined, the city’s TIF districts are projected to end 2009 with a negative $2.2 million fund balance. That’s money that must be covered by better-performing TIF districts and the city’s common cash pool composed of all district budgets, including the general fund, water fund, sanitation fund and others. ....
Badly performing TIFs are not part of the deficit the city had to close to propose a balanced 2009 budget, Finance Director Andres Sammul said.
....Meanwhile, shortfalls in TIF district fund balances are not expenses charged to the general fund.

Whatta crock!!!Look,ALL things funded by the city have only one source for revenue....TAXES,whether it's sales,property,(the "other") sales...TAXES....and they all go into the city coffers...and if Sammuls feels a NEED to individually label them('this is an infrastructure dollar, over there sits a police dollar,') it doesn't change the reality,over-extended "development funds".


(psst,buddy,wanna buy a TIF?...It's the only game in town)

All the budget stuff's been quiet this week....I bet old Sammuls burning thru calculator tape trying to find other creative ways to toe LarryBoy's threat to cut city services to balance the budget(BUT NO TOUCHING MY"ECONOMIC{BUDGET-BUSTING} SUICIDE DEVELOPMENT"!!!)
So looking for more DATA,I'm struck how,while LarryBoy praises,embraces "new" technology,how LAME is the city website...
http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/
Still touting his inauguration trip(real UP-TO-DATE), with all the hundreds of thousands of TAX DOLLARS he's spent with BlackBerrys for all his henchmen,pay bills on-line...yada,yada,yada...
Course,you get THIS...

Quote:

For the complete March 12 2009 RockStat Report, click here.

Lead issue...

Quote:

SICK TIME USE REVIEW

Great,what can we learn???
Seems like a lotta meaningless numbers,BUT near as I can tell,they use 3% as some benchmark and those deptartments sucking up all the tax dollars ALSO harbor the biggest sick time(ab)users!!!

Economic Development.... 13%
Administration..... 19%
(both with 0 in "Lost Productivity"column)
Wow,now THAT'S some useful DATA!!!!

Wonder how much we paid for that ROCKSTAT dog and pony show......

AND YET...
there's also Fire Dept. DATA that PROVES LarryBoy's LYING to the public about fire service,staffing needs...LOOK....

Quote:

Fire Call Growth.... 9.46%
Analysis
• Fire full response times in this area are
longer compared to the rest of the city
due to the lack of concentration of
resources. The most firefighting units
this area can accumulate in 4 minutes
drive time is 2. A full complement for a
house fire is 4 firefighting units (2
engines, 2 ladders).

So IF he wants to claim "EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE!!" AND cut staffing,he actually needs to BUILD MORE NEW STATIONS WITH MORE APPARATUS

(psst,buddy,wanna buy a TIF?...It's the only game in town)

So I'm talking with a buddy today(YES,I've got a couple friends[?]),
anyway,he was wonderin'aloud about that $10mill. the city borrowed to buy up those houses that flooded out twice,remember?
http://www.rrstar.com/archive/x481183698

Quote:

Last update Nov 14, 2007 @ 07:19 AM
ROCKFORD —
The City Council approved Tuesday night a committee report that recommends a $10 million plan to buy homes in the Keith Creek floodplain.
The buyout plan would be financed through a line of credit expiring in June 2009 through Associated Bank. The buyouts will be administered by the Rockford Local Development Corp. The RLDC will own the homes while the city applies for state and federal grants to finance the project.
If the loans aren’t enough, the city will have to absorb the remaining cost.....

so I suppose THAT came due,huh?
So then look into RLDC...
http://www.rldc.us/index.html(really nothing THERE...)
So I went back to the city website to TRY to find ANY trail of OUR TAX$$$$$

And I stumbled on THIS...
http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedFiles/government/Finance/Divisions/CentralServices/Fincond(3).pdf
Gotta check it out!

Quote:

YEAR END FINANCIAL CONDITION
Fund balances for the 2008 budget year ending December 31, 2008 are deemed to be sufficient to insure a healthy
financial condition for the City. Of the seventeen funds projected to have year-end deficits, none are considered to
be of concern....

Note: ( ) denotes DEFICIT DOLLARS
REDEVELOPMENT TAX...(4,452,142)
TAX INCREMENT DISTRICTS...(1,357,751)

THERE'S $6MILLION of OUR TAX DOLLARS WASTED ON LarryBoy's"DEVELOPMENT" EXCELLENCE....

Whatta wasteful administration.... they NOW have the AUDACIOUS ARROGANCE to want to CUT emergency providers OR RAISE ambulance rates!!!!

Get outta here...

(psst,buddy,wanna buy a TIF?...It's the only game in town)

This whole firetruck manning issue is so bogus...

LarryBoy has FRAMED the discussion with mere staffing numbers,but,there's more untold...
My research:
Aurora: 9 stations,responding to 16,000 calls,covering 33 square miles
Joliet: 9 stations,responding to 18,000 calls,covering 28 square miles
Rockford: 11 stations,responding to 22,000 calls,covering 56 square miles....
IF the city added maybe 3-4 stations, to give the same coverage per square mile,the number game would be MEANINGFUL...
(and though there seems to be no budget links for Joliet,I find this also interest...
Aurora Mayor's Office Budget...$680,000
Rockford...$980,000
Aurora Law Dept. Budget...$420,000
Rockford's Legal Dept.....$2,000,000

So do we dare to compare???There's cuts without raising ambulance fees.....

That's another perspective,eh?

Well, I've been following the LarryBoy regime since it's inception,so I admit I feel a little stupid that I didn't see the obvious in his attempted manipulation of public perception in his vindictive mission to stick it to the fire union....
http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1683625444/Rockford-officials-look-for-more-cuts
"...Mayor Larry Morrissey said he is open to suggestions for other areas of the budget to cut. Although the union representing firefighters has opposed a reduction in the minimum fire engine staffing, Morrissey believes it to be the right way to balance the budget.

Morrissey said he opposes the large increase in ambulance fees that is currently being considered.

“There is a huge question mark over how citizens would be able to pay for amounts above what is the customary and reasonable expense,” Morrissey said. “We have other options that enable us to cut costs, while still ensuring public safety and that’s the manning change.”..."

See,the arrogant,lying NATURE of this guy...HE'S the one that put those increased fees into play...

I may very well be wrong,but despite the obligatory pro-LarryBoy editorial...

http://www.rrstar.com/opinions/x1676801954/Who-s-pushing-to-raise-ambulance-fees-Not-us
just don't get the impression citizens are buying it this time...sure there's the firefighter-bashers in story comments on-line,but seems a general attitude of "Whatever"towards Larry and Sammuls game...
(On a totally unrelated note) Anyone notice the brief,out-of-the-blue, appearance last night of Adam"I-still-got-a-job-here"Smith???What the bloodclot, he's been the InvisibleMan for most of his tenure,THEN he's exposed as an extortionist('gimme more $$$$$or I walk') ,he's fired/resigns/position eliminated and NOW he's got the ARROGANCE to come waltzing thru Council...gimme a break!!!!!

So much going on so fast....
Checking out the aldermanic forum...
http://www.rrstar.com/multimedia/x599193192/Rockford-aldermanic-forum-tonight
and see,all this downtown stuff....well,so WHO'S Next Rockford,anyhow?

http://www.nextrockford.org/
So it's this hip,urban,successful group of Gen X/Yers with a committment,appears to me,basically centered on Charter Schools and Downtown Development....hmmm,sounds familiar...
Who is it???

http://www.nextrockford.org/uploads/NR%20Member%20Database%20010809.pdf
Members include....
Geeser, Ed Morrissey, Larry Sosnowski, Joe

Gosh,don't suppose there was an AGENDA to the 'forum',huh?

I guess I got a question for THEM...how many of this group live in some of those fabulously hip downtown lofts we taxpayers have subsidized over the last few years???you putting your money where your mouth(s) is????they must ALL BE FULL,huh,is that why we need to pour million$$$$$ more down there?????????

And so I was so pleased to hear a committment to finally move on WestSide development...
http://www.rrstar.com/news/x108122020/Questions-praise-for-West-State-Street-development-plan

Quote:

.... Anderson’s Spring Creek Development Group, shared with residents plans to bring a grocery store, a restaurant, an immediate-care facility, a dentist office, a senior citizen complex, a private ambulance service and other businesses to the area....

but my expectations were lower when I saw this....
http://www.nextrockford.org/uploads/NR%20Member%20Database%20010809.pdf

Quote:

Anderson, David Real Estate Developer Spring Creek Partners

So appears to me just another(little BLATANT) taxpayers-TIF-rip-off at the hands of a pay-off to another LarryBot....

http://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/ItemizedContrib.aspx

Quote:

Spring Creek Development 330 Springcreek Road
Rockford, IL 61107 $500.00
3/7/2008 Individual Contribution
Citizens for Morrissey
Spring Creek Development 330 Springcreek Road
Rockford, IL 61107 $1,500.00
6/7/2008 Individual Contribution
Citizens for Morrissey

Oh,and by the way...this was held at Heartland Church,and so the Rockford Business College moved there with a fabulous remodel project and now called Rockford"Career" College.....do you suppose the city subsidized that????

Quote:

AHED of Illinois Rockford Business College
730 N. Church St.
Rockford, IL 61103 $500.00
5/14/2008 Individual Contribution
Citizens for Morrissey

No wonder services at Heartland actually thank God for sending LarryBoy to "lead" Rockford....
jeez,does the guy have ANY scruples????

WOW...
http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1331524353/Mayor-to-address-education-boss-raise

Quote:

ROCKFORD — Mayor Larry Morrissey admitted today that he should have done a better job communicating with the City Council about education boss Adam Smith and his salary. Morrissey earlier announced that Smith will step down May 31....

I really thought LarryBoy would go down on the S.S.Edu-Czar...he was so defensive when the story FIRST broke,now he APOLOGIZES???????

Could there be a crack in the LarryBoyEgo???

stay tuned....

Well,this was interesting...
Big rush to get the budget to the floor....
http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1593365868/Rockford-sales-tax-from-Dec-down

Quote:

...The Finance and Personnel Committee recommended raising fees for ambulance service to 68 percent of the actual cost, potentially raising $650,000 in revenue this year.
But doing that eliminates a proposal to reduce the number of firefighters on city fire engines, one measure among many to find $8.6 million in proposed budget cuts and balance the 2009 general fund....
Mayor Larry Morrissey is concerned with the change in direction, saying no information was presented on what the city can expect as far as how much insurance companies, Medicare or Medicaid would cover under the new proposed fee structure....

See the thing is...this didn't COME from the F&P Committee...this proposal came in a memorandum from NumberMan Sammuls...And better still...that proposed deficit WENT DOWN!!!
After so many weeks where the total kept climbing,$4mill,$6.2,$8.9....suddenly!!!$4.8!!
What feat....SuperNumberCruncherSammuls In the memo...Jeff Kolkey(writer of the news story) seemed to miss that ...
What a web we weave.....

So LarryBoy is simply getting pounded at the comment section on his boy Adam....
with the economic troubles and the election so close, I'm thinking unless he cut's Mr.Smith's(and Cindy Hall's) salaries, this could amount to POLITICAL SUICIDE....

EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE!!!such a "tough"decision
“we’ve got to throw every dollar we can at redeveloping downtown.”
ROCKFORD'S RISING!!!(YOU HAVEN'T SEEN EXCELLENCE LIKE THIS BEFORE!!!!!)
EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE !!!!("T'aint what you do, But who you know" ) READY FOR ACTION!!!!!!(psst,buddy,wanna buy a TIF?...It's the only game in town)
WE KNOW WHAT'S BEST...SIT DOWN,SHUT UP!!!!!WE CONTROL THE NEWS!!!!WE CONTROL THE STATS!!!!WE CONTROL YOUR TAX$$$$$!!!SIT DOWN,SHUT UP!!!!!

Oh, yea,

EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE!!!such a "tough"decision
“we’ve got to throw every dollar we can at redeveloping downtown.”
ROCKFORD'S RISING!!!(YOU HAVEN'T SEEN EXCELLENCE LIKE THIS BEFORE!!!!!)
EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE !!!!("T'aint what you do, But who you know" ) READY FOR ACTION!!!!!!(psst,buddy,wanna buy a TIF?...It's the only game in town)
WE KNOW WHAT'S BEST...SIT DOWN,SHUT UP!!!!!WE CONTROL THE NEWS!!!!WE CONTROL THE STATS!!!!WE CONTROL YOUR TAX$$$$$!!!SIT DOWN,SHUT UP!!!!!

Well,I started this to back up my "LarryBoy in his own words,for what it's worth" thread...
and just verifying to the reading public my comments on RRStar as of March6th will show up as "Demanager" due to some unknown reason of losing my "unmanager" screen name for story comments....
Thank you for your understanding....