So been working on a longer blog post about the LarryBoy'sEmpire's budget dog and phony show, but this week was some typical silliness deserving a notice...
Thought it conspicuous LarryBoy didn't show in the Labor Day Parade....I mean it's obvious he detests public service workers' unions but never stopped him from showing his smiley wave before...
But lo and behold, there he is at the 911 ceremony honoring his ARCHENEMIES...police and fire!!!

unreal

Wow, LarryBoy's Empire just tumbling around in BizarroWorld....didja see the TIF tiff?
"...If the city doesn’t get enough money from taxes to pay back the bonds, it will have to find a way to make up the difference. Typically, when a TIF district isn’t producing enough revenue, city leaders have to borrow money from the general fund to pay its bills for the year...." WORRIED NOW???

It appears most the TIF Districts created by LarryBoy have been robbing the general fund for years..,.transfers in,out,de-tiffed,re-tiffed...it's the ULTIMATE SHELLGAME
http://www.rockfordil.gov/media/7535/CAFR1210.pdf

I have an idea! Let's blame the EMPLOYEES, LAW, CONTRACTS, and ARBITRATORS...BRILLIANT!!!!

Didja see this story, with the picture of LarryBoy in front of the casino 'set'? It was at the Riverfront Museum Park.

Let's step back, remember his website,http://www.citizensformorrissey.com/issues-rockford-mayor.htm
and his "Leadership Position Paper"?
"...The current administration has failed to set clear priorities, and instead has been distracted by novelty
items like a gambling casino and a publicly funded convention center. ..."

So we got Rockford leaders celebrate official start of riverwalk (also at the Riverfront Museum Park.)
And today, In Saturday's paper: Study keeps whitewater park dreams alive.

So in these economic times HOW IN SAM HILL, IS A RIVERWALK and WHITEWATER PARK NOT "NOVELTIES???????????"

So I'm not gonna go into how my computer crashed and I lost passwords (and blah, blah, blah).
Now I'm back and just gotta say, LarryBoy's Empire of Rockford resembles "BizarroWorld" more with each passing day.


Check THIS out....LarryBoy swaggered into office with all this talk of cutting-edge-modern-technology-better-government. I understand used to be every supervisor (guess they're "managers" now) was issued a Blackberry (don't know if this still is going on, budget cuts and all, dontcha know).

On that webpage, under ISSUES we find Time for the Future... (gee, gives me goosebumps!)

"We must improv communication opportunities with public
elected officials through use of technologies like e-mail and the City’s web site."

REALLY??? Maybe oughta think about, oh, that futurist program SPELLCHECK!!!







The
current administration has failed to set clear priorities, and instead has been distracted by novelty
items like a gambling casino

Couple things this week...
"... Dave’s Hot Dog Stand, a summertime fixture. This summer, the stand and other street vendors will have the opportunity to return to the Main Street Festival Zone, which is Main from Elm to Mulberry streets...."

Got THAT? They kicked out this guy to tear out the pedestrian mall where he set up....
And MILLIONS OF TAX$$$$$$$$$ later....http://www.rockfordil.gov/public-works/projects/downtown-streetscape.aspx we let him move back though probably have to CLOSE the street to be safe for customers...


Have you driven that clusterf*&%k?
The way they go from the parking lane and then ballooned out corners...a regular BOTTLENECK....and moving 'traffic' thru downtown? WHAT A JOKE! there's no left turn signals or lanes so IF someone wants to turn left and you are 3-4 cars back, you might sit thru 3-4 green lights,waiting while traffic stretches behind block after block. Amnd just wait till they spend hundres of thousands to make Church St. 2-way...25 cars downtown will have the potential for absolute GRIDLOCK!~!

That'll 'revitalize downtown' huh?

I've always gotten a real kick out of the daily paper touts "Sunshine Week" a hypothetical time to call for more openness in government dealings. They publish a few editorials, cartoons, and then it's gone till next year.

There's just so much about our city administration they choose to keep in the dark.
How about...did you get your new "at&t Real Yellow Pages" phonebook? The inside of the front cover-LarryBoy and LarryDaddy's grinning faces, advertising their ambulance-chasing law firm. Seems SO UNETHICAL that a full-time, elected public official shills for his private practice.
AND, to top it off, there, right next to The Mayor's head, the CITY LOGO taxpayers PAID for, the ubiquitous "Real, Original" crap!!!!!!

Just don't seem right.

Haven't heard about that 'selling the water system' idea for a while, but that doesn't mean LarryBoy isn't scheming behind the scenes.
So here's an example of "Privatized Government" services...

"About 360 residents of Cherry Valley Township could see their water rates quadruple by the end of the year...."

So been under the weather a bit so where to start?

Oh check THIS OUT....

"...The arbitrator’s ruling “finds that (police Chief Chet Epperson) and (city Legal Director Patrick Hayes) willfully violated the collective bargaining agreement,”..."

CrackerJack legal minds,huh? Then LarryBoy uses his "Officer's Report" to bash the arbitrator, just like when a fire arbitration ruled 64 MEANS 64...imagine that?

So couple things struck me....
for a LAWYER LarryBoy sure doesn't RESPECT THE LEGAL SYSTEM....I mean he loses and it's open season on courts, laws, and arbitrators.

Secondly, as a TAXPAYER, I'm FED UP with this administration wasting so much time and money TRYING TO BREAK CONTRACTS signed 'in good faith'...

So this past week saw the kinda whiplash reactions LarryBoy's Empire has spawned...See,THIS http://www.rrstar.com/news/yourtown/rockford/x1111634582/Developer-seeks-delay-of-historic-designation-in-Rockford
story brings out commentators so angry that concerned citizens would DARE to apply(and GET) historic designation for the Amerock Building and yet the next day
http://www.rrstar.com/news/yourtown/rockford/x1111634582/Developer-seeks-delay-of-historic-designation-in-Rockford
people act like LarryBoy, using THE SAME "redevelopment tool" just healed a couple lepers....different rules for different folks...
the talk of property tax breaks led me HERE http://ims.wingis.org/
and low and behold, LarryBoy has NO PROPERTY ON WHICH TO PAY CITY PROPERTY TAXES...
see...

11-14-459-001 1027 N COURT ST MORRISSEY REALTY GROUP LLC,
11-23-315-001 127 N WYMAN ST MORRISSEY REALTY GROUP LLC,
11-14-455-015 1128 N CHURCH ST MORRISSEY, JOSEPHINE

So

Rockford Scandals and Shenanigans

had a fabulous (as always) find on a lobbying firm the city pays $120,000 a year....so I'm thinking what 'fund' is THIS coming out of and so I head to http://www.rockfordil.gov/ and
OH BOY!!!!!

A 'new,uplifting' City WEBSITE!!!!!!!!!
Bright,new logo scrolling pix,starting with LarryBoy followed by his masterpuppet...Venita!!always in his corner..,.screw the citizens,I'M A LAWYER I AM SMART I KNOW WHAT IS BEST...SHUT UP

The EXCELLENT Facebook page-writer at Rockford Scandals and Shenanigans ,well, they beat me to the punch on half this post.

See,past week brought THIS dandy downtown deal they wrote about...A DOWNTOWN development fundraiser in....CHERRY VALLEY!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh, but that's only half the story...
Keep in mind,MILLIONS of TAX DOLLAR$$ for the Riverwalk, right, so some of the reasoning is starting at Burpbee Museum to showcase the dinosaur exhibits, right, SO are we building that FREAKIN'RIVERWALK ALL THE WAY TO THE CHERRYVALE MALL????

That' s where the newest,bestest DinoBones are........

So this past Mon. at CityCouncil, LarryBoy's 'co-chair' of the "citizen"group pushing the "INFRASTRUCTURE!!" tax claimed the use of this tax 'reduces the city's long-term bond debt'....



REALITY?
from the CAFR "For the Year Ended December 31,2006"
general fund balance was $29,714,629
longterm bond debt was $148,149,882,OK?

And for 2009....
general fund stood at $22,006,223(that's -$6.7mill.)
and longterm bond debt stood at $201,771,748(increase of about $52million!!!!!!)

As they say,how's that working out for you??????????

Well,the propaganda ministry of LarryBoy keeps cranking it out....

"...Mayor Larry Morrissey said Monday that the union’s latest offer to the city amounts to an 8 percent pay raise....."

See, there is NOWHERE I can find anything to that supports this statement...certainly seems just another attempt to turn citizens against the people(public works,police,fire) that actually PROVIDE SERVICES tax dollars should provide.

Meanwhile..."To prevent overspending"
we read "...Morrissey and some aldermen insisted on and pushed for a balanced general fund budget before 2011 spending started so the city wouldn’t overspend in the first quarter...."

As been pointed out by "Rockford Shenanigans...." LarryBoy's administration has habitually overspent (that's where most of the General Fund drawdown has gone) and additionally, keep in mind LarryBoy promised to give Julia Valdez that $38,000raise as soon as the budget passed....this administration worries about passing a 'balanced budget' then spends wherever and whenever LarryBoy wants../.

Well,THIS passed tonight...

"....To some, establishing a separate fund for aldermen to hire their own attorneys rather than use the city’s Legal Department is a way to avoid placing staff in the middle of their battles.

But to other aldermen, it’s a political power play designed to divide and conquer.

“I think they want to shut certain people out of city operations,” said Ald. Venita Hervey, D-5. “It’s being set up by a group of people who are carving out their own niche to create a subcouncil on the City Council that wants to make all of the decisions.”...."

Well, EXCUSE ME Ms.Venita, but the same could be said about your constant LarryBoyBlind Allegiance, even going so far as to release INACCURATE information(in MY opinion, BLATANT LIE!) concerning the fire union wage 'request' a few weeks back.....seems you were elected to represent CITIZENS not the administration....

Rockford City Council misses 2011 budget deadline - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Rockford City Council misses 2011 budget deadline - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star: Here's another one of thosae oddities one finds in LarryBoy's Empire ".....the city could have a budget surplus of $38,860."
Now $38grand is how much MORE LarryBoy promised to pay Julia Valdez-(something,drawing a blank on that hyphenated woman)....
Weird,huh?

Hey,now on facebook...hahaha!!

Been out of touch,but so much to touch on....

So this whole Mike Dunn Deal just reeks of Scandal-In-Waiting...






"Fear of flying
The first scandal of the Thompson administration over misuse of state planes saw the ouster of two top executives in June. Michael Dunn, the governor's young patronage chief, was forced to resign June9, following charges that he failed to report flights for political purposes on state aircraft. The director of aeronautics Melvin Rosenbloom was next, fired 11 days later, when his asked-for resignation was not delivered. Rosenbloom said he was fired for reporting Dunn...."

(I guess LarryBoy shows he's a true disciple of shady Illinois politics,huh?)

Here you find a bunch of "Downtown Supporters"( seriously, REAL ONES,actually INVESTED their OWN MONEY,some live downtown,and many, former LarryBots!!)

So, they are trying to block LarryBoy/MikeDunn's "vision" for downtown..."...Dunn called the Friends efforts to secure historic designation for the building "silly" and "a waste of the community's time"."

See, it's just more of this administration's determination to spend money(they DON'T HAVE,over and ABOVE the hotel/motel/beverage tax first instituted to pay for the MetroCentre) on entertainment venues...(WTF, don't we HAVE a PARK DISTRICT???? Seems that's THEIR mission) Money THAT SHOULD BE SPENT ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC WORKS!!

The whole mismanagement of the Metro Centre rehab money would seem to plop down in LarryBoy's lap...HE appointed the board,did he not? Always suspected this whole "RAVE" deal was a calculated effort to indirectly funnel more money to the IceHogPalace...the public was starting to grumble...we were told the refinancing/rehab meant the city would lessen the subsidy to the MC...THAT wasn't happening...heck let's change the NAME of the hand-picked "board" maybe the public won't realize more tax money is being dumped into the venue...

And besides, what makes Dunn a 'voice' for downtown??Near as I can tell, Dunn appears to be a realtor of "questionable scruples", (living somewhere NE Rockford, so much so, it could quite possibly be considered Loves Park or Roscoe.)

I assume anybody that cares about the seeming misdirection Mayor LarryBoy has headed the city of Rockford is,by now familiar with Rockford Scandals and Shenanigans...

The writer has proven to be an astute researcher of many fiscal irresponsibilities LarryBoy has foisted on the taxpayers in the name of "economic development"while slashing (and threatening MORE ) the BASIC TENETS of local government...Public Safety and Public Works....

Now, just for a minute, let's go back to those talks of switching some Motor Fuel Tax dollars from the Capital Improvement Plan to the General Fund to supplement other road maintenance needs(salting,plowing,sweeping,patching...you know the BASICS most municipalities fund with MFT). Well, the LarryBots came out full force crying 'the citizens passed the 1% sales tax to get these projects done,we can't "break their trust" '......
So anyway, Rockford S(candals)S(henanigans) offered several 'feelgood/fluff'' projects that could/sh
Sould be cut/delayed IF the budget is truly so dire....

Well,I started scanning the CIP info and couple things jumped out at me....
1.) the site lists TWO CIP versions(?) one 2010-2014, the other 2009-2013...what's up with THAT? Is one updated? revised? WHY overlap 3years in two plans? PLANNED CONFUSION??????????
2.)Using numbers provided, depending on the 'version',there's $1.9million OR $2.1million set aside for " CITY CENTER / RIVER IMPROVEMENTS "
Funding for infrastructure improvements in the City Center. Projects
include infrastructure and streetscape improvements in the "Cultural
Corridor," engineering analysis of projects that contribute to the
revitalization of the Downtown Core.
Funding source?
SALES TAX
Now that sounds transparentAND neccessary
GeeWhillikers, LarryBots...,TAXPAYERS CAN TRUST THIS ADMINISTRATION WITH TAX DOLLARS!!

RAISE SOME MO'MONEY,MO'MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So couple recent "news"??-stories to consider.....

"...Converting one-way sections of Church and Main streets to two-way thoroughfares..."

And see, the story link talks about "downtown 'business'leaders...what does THAT mean...they the quote Mike Dunn, LarryBoy's RAVE leader and the guy from the Coronado....

So two CITY-OWNED VENUES are "downtown BUSINESSES"???????????

And let's cut public safety and public works, ..." total cost to transform Main and Church to two-way streets is estimated at $2.5 million..."

BRILLIANT!EXCELLENT!!