So I was watching an old "Family Guy" the other night, and I was struck by the situational similarities of the plight of the citizens of Quahog and Rockford.

See, Quahog's mayor is Adam West and he's arrogant,self-centered,and really doesn't care about the citizens' needs. He spends the entire budget(and adds DEBT) on a solid gold statue of the Honey Smacks' mascot, Dig'Em in the city's center.(Rockford's 'Dig'Em statue'??? the MetroCentre?removing the downtown mall??? YOU DECIDE)

So there's a frame in the show showing taxpayers picketing around the statue with signs like 'Don't Cut Basic Services'...ironically real....so the mayor figures he needs to distract the people and proposes a bill to outlaw gay marriage(OK,so not gonna go THERE, )but in Rockford the distraction is Firefighter Pensions...(LarryBoy made contemptous remarks in last Council's 'Officers' Report' then the AdamWesthead admits nothing can be done with the CURRENT firefighters' and retirees' pensions....what a maroon....

LarryBoy says,"... “we can’t spend more than we take in. We’ve been doing that, unfortunately..." No foolin'
He spends so much time pointing fingers at the Fire Union, nobody bothers looking into his empire's 'inner sanctum'....
http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedFiles/government/Finance/FinancialInformation/CAFR/Rockford%202007%20CAFR%20FINAL.pdf

II. EXCESS OF ACTUAL EXPENDITURES OVER BUDGET
For the year ended December 31, 2007, the General Fund and Major Special Revenue funds had an excess of actual
expenditures and financing uses over budget at the legal level of budgetary control (department level) as follows:
MAJOR FUNDS:
General Fund
Mayor's office $ ( 49,191)
City Council ( 10,653)
Board of fire and police commission ( 3,660)
Board of election ( 98,235)
Police department ( 1,003,259)
Fire department ( 639,744)
Building department ( 13,999)
Public works - Street and sewer ( 1,547,622)
Community Development Fund ( 16,445)

http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedFiles/government/Finance/FinancialInformation/CAFR/Rockford%20CAFR%201208.pdf

(newer PDF,can't seem to copy, but)...Board of Elections was OVERBUDGET...$1,255,969!!!!
WTF????

http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedFiles/government/Finance/Divisions/CentralServices/Mayor.pdf
Here you see LarryBoy's office budget grew 30% in 2 YEARS!!! AND STILL WENT OVERBUDGET....sheeesh,buddy get a grip....


Oh, then the comments on that web story babble idiotically"...Do not use the motor gas tax money for anything other than what it is intended for. "....so I sez(WITH documentation...) "MFT is being used for stuff likeRIVERWALK, http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedFiles/government/PublicWorks/Reports/2009-2013%20CIP%20Book%20Final%20Version.pdf DOWNTOWN ONE-WAY PAIR FEASIBILITY STUDY (PH II), WEST STATE STREET - LAND ACQUISITION

LarryBoy sure got some pinhead followers...

It's been a given that the Rockford Register Star has a DEFINITE PRO-LarryBoy bias....

That being accepted, I just was floored by this recent fable they published...
http://www.rrstar.com/carousel/x1849220981/Depth-of-Rockford-jobs-cuts-varies-by-division

"...Some, such as the planning division under community development, have shrunk from 15 employees to 5.3...."

Now, as I commented on their site, it took me all of SEVEN MINUTES to find that was a plain simple LIE!!!!

Look HERE...http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedFiles/government/Finance/Divisions/CentralServices/CD%20Plan(5).pdf

"...The decline is a result of the creation of the new Construction and Development Services Division budget unit, of which five staff came out of the Planning Division. The balance of the staff changes occurred with the reallocation of staff, between divisions within the department...."

(Gee, I can remember when there were REPORTERS that checked FACTS and ISSUED CORRECTIONS when 'mistakes'(?) were brought to their attention....)

Matter of fact,this smoke and mirror bullcrap starts with the 2007-2009 arbitrary time line in this LarryBoy ADVERTISEMENT....
See, way I see it, need to compare BL(before LarryBoy) with AL(after Larryboy)...
And according to the most recent CAFR....http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/uploadedFiles/government/Finance/FinancialInformation/CAFR/Rockford%20CAFR%201208.pdf

one finds MOST departments within City Hall saw increased staffing AND new positions CREATED since LarryBoy's election(notable exceptions,Police Officers and Pubic Works)[the guys on the streets,not the office/administration/engineer-types that merely sit in offices and call contractors to adminstrate,engineer,etc.]

In REALITY, fire personnel HAS stayed consistent, BUT even with the two-year personnel 'cuts' touted by LarryBoy are STILL ABOVE 2005 levels!!!

So FIRST off...
I gotta highly recommend this guy(if you haven't found him already)....
RockfordRhetoric...

We've been somewhat discussing Venita Hervey,5th Ward alderman...I gotta add my observations of her LarryBotic-SchizoBabble I heard last week on WNTA and then her impassioned rantings on Council floor Mon. nite.

See,the City(LarryBoy,'TightSuit'Hayes,etc) TWICE has been spanked by an arbitrator, and the firefighters' contract specifies 4 on a Truck! Well, LarryBoy just CAN'T STAND LOSING, heck he went to SPRINGFIELD crying to state law makers.
So anyway, Venita McCarthy(amazing can't see Larry's lips move when she talks) was
on the radio, she was touting this 'they're not volunteers, they would be unpaid firefighters-in-training'.... explaining the vision she has of CIRCUMVENTING the contractual language.
(God, I can't stand lawyers-turned-politicians)

Well I had to watch her meltdown at council TWICE...and still not able to understand much of anything she said....first she says she's probably the one person there most likely to have a heart attack and she HAD a health scare and drove herself to the hospital and her wards full of crime and blight and there's no way she will back down on the Morgan St. bridge and if we gotta get rid of cops and fire stations that's OK she won't let the ward down with that bridge and those unpaid fiefighters (sounds to me like she's advocating slavery or indentured servitude), well they should be minorities cuz they don't have hope cuz of crime and blight and this bridge is the ONLY future southwest Rockford can even dream of anymore.......sheeeesh

See, FIRST off, I just don't get why it's a fire station or the bridge. WHO EVEN SUGGESTED THAT?? Nowhere I can find anybody suggest that idea....must be a lawyer thought floating around the 7th/8th floor of cityhall.

Secondly, West State and South Main reconstruction ARE priorities...the West Side HAS been neglected for decades, but near as I can tell,despite McHervey and Ann Mortimer Thompson-Snerd blind allegiance to LarryBoy, I think it's STILL going on....and from what I hear that bridge woulda been DONE BY NOW if LarryBoy hadn't had it redesigned into a mini-Golden Gate and I suspect some bunch of insiders needed time to buy up all that crappy surrounding property so they can sell it at top-tax-dollar when demolition gets really underway.


And the final straw in all these baskets is LarryBoy's CIP mantra is all about 'leveraging' city funds against state funds. Ah, HHEEELLLLLOOOOO, McFly,anybody home??? THE STATE IS BROKE!!!

Well, the details changed a bit, but LarryBoy seems hell-bent on sacrificing the safety of west-side residents....

"...Fire Station No. 8, at Auburn and Sherman streets, is targeted for closure July 1. That’s a change in plans from what was announced in May when city officials said Station No. 8 would lose its lone engine company but would still house an ambulance crew.

Chief Derek Bergsten also revealed this week that Station No. 3, at 1520 S. Main St., is targeted for closure on Jan. 1, which also is a change from plans to remove one of two engine companies from Station No. 1, at 528 Woodlawn Ave...."

Meanwhile, City Hall has no problem crowing about cutting cops and crime...
http://www.rrstar.com/news/publicsafety/x696774441/2-stage-armed-robbery-at-East-State-store
http://www.rrstar.com/news/publicsafety/x383299299/Two-at-large-in-Rockford-bank-robbery
http://www.rrstar.com/news/publicsafety/x1501908692/Family-fight-escalates-ends-with-stabbings-in-Rockford

Oh but that cost-over-run 'Streetscape' debacle...THAT'S where idiots want to SPEND MORE!!!
http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/2010/06/19/main-street-streetscape-needs-to-be-finished-pronto/

So I'm remembering how LarryBoy used to campaign on 'we're ONE city,no more eastside/westside inequalities' and topped off with EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE cowpie topping....
And I'm remembering we (Rockford School District) just got out from under the federal discrimination lawsuit....
So WTF LarryBoy with THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!
"...Rockford will eliminate a fire suppression crew July 1 at Station 8, 505 Sherman Ave. One of the two crews will be reduced Jan. 1 at Station 1, 528 Woodlawn Ave...."
Splendid...REDUCE FIRE PROTECTION ONLY ON THE WEST SIDE!!!!!
Brilliant,brilliant...INCREASE the response time to an area with older buildings,closer together,greatly increasing the possibilty for great property damage...
this flipping pinhead....
roll out the lawyers(methinks Ald. Venita Hervey was among the group that sued the schools when West High was closed)....
VERY GOOD!!@!

All the 'doom&gloom' financial forecasts coming out of City Hall is cause for reflection on the 'legacy' of LarryBoy's Empire.
Think about it...BEFORE he even took office there was the Garrison TIF district,followed by here a TIF,there a TIF, everywhere a TIFTIF...
Matter of fact,THIS has GREATLY COMPOUNDED THE CITY DEBT...Bond payments coupled with frozen property tax income....for WHAT??? To improve PRIVATELY-OWNED REAL ESTATE...a large percentage of which are owned by FAMILY and CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS!!!!!!!!!!!
http://rockrivertimes.com/2010/05/19/rockfords-tif-report-card-negative-balances-will-drain-public-funds/

"... the source of such development funds—tax increment financing (TIF) districts—was the subject of a recent analysis by Andres Sammul, the city’s finance director. His prognosis was not especially rosy. ..TIF districts are often commenced with an infusion of cash through the issuance of bonds under the assumption the district will not only generate enough of an increment to eventually pay off the debt, but to provide some sort of benefit to lure investment

...

The primary reason for creation of the Garrison School TIF District was to aid in the redevelopment of the former Garrison School into residential lofts and adjacent row houses, spearheaded by then-civilian, now mayor, Larry Morrissey and his family. In addition to $1.5 million in TIF assistance, $700,000 in historic preservation tax credits helped make the project possible.

Despite the advances, Sammul reported, “This project is not built out as planned,” but noted the TIF “could be successful.”

If built out in the next year, the district will close in the black in 2028, he added. The district, which bears $2,155,568 in total debt service through 2023, presently shows a deficit of $284,300, which could be out of the red by 2027 with available funds in the amount of $220,000 in the TIF’s last year.

“For each year of delay, $100,000 will be lost,” Sammul warned, however. “Delay past 2011 may require a transfer from the General or Redevelopment funds for closeout.”

(another big expense since LarryBoy got spending was his pseudo-property-cops,the Code Enforcement Division. Drive past Garrison,north-side on Court St. and see the cars/trucks parked on gravel(a BIG violation), and piles of debris that would bring multiple fine$ to any regular citizen. It's good to be the King's Daddy)

(TO BE CONTINUED...)