Senior citizens sure have clout in this state. They stared down lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn when it came to the possibility of losing their free mass transit rides. Sturdy legislators turned to Jell-o when facing the voting booth wrath of Illinois geezers denied gratis bus and train rides. Quinn, too, waffled after transit agencies thought they had an agreement to restrict the free rides to low-income seniors and half fares for other seniors.
For all of you who thought there was no free lunch, talk to Illinois pols. They fear seniors mainly because they vote. A lot. While the nation's youth vote may have propelled then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama into the White House, they only come out when they're energized on an issue or candidate. Seniors don't care. They just vote. A lot. Which is why seniors get so much free stuff and reduced rates for everything from hotel rooms to national park entrance fees.
A group of seniors storming Springfield sends shivers down the spine of normally unswayable pols. Which is why the two-year-old free rides for seniors 65 and older is still running. When faced with re-election prospects, pols err on the side of seniors and their growing numbers (see, Boomers, Baby).
Chicago Transit Authority officials believe the free rail rides instituted by former Gov. Rod "The Apprentice" Blagojevich has cost them some $60 million. They were hoping to recoup that. Guess again. Now the CTA is looking at service cuts and fare increases.
We like what one lawmaker unconcerned with geezer rage said: "There is no free ride on a bus that doesn't exist." Who said seniors are in their golden years? Not The Hound.
Looking at those long queues of thousands of Lake County residents waiting for H1N1 vaccinations, The Hound wondered: Is it time to panic?
The county expects to run out of the vaccine shortly after getting about 10,000 doses. This is the clout Lake County has: Health officials ask for 100,000 doses, we get 10,000.
But what the county did get was dispensed at five different flu shot locations --- Mundelein, Gurnee, Round Lake Beach, Waukegan and North Chicago --- as mothers dragged their kids from school to get the shots. Already, two people have died in the county from H1N1 and they weren't kids.
One was a 72-year-old man, the other a 41-year-old woman. Both were from Gurnee, which apparently is ground zero in the Year of H1N1. Perhaps its swine flu revenge for Gurnee stealing Waukegan's car dealers, eh?
Of course, in following Centers for Disease Control guidelines, these initial flu clinics were only for people in high-risk groups, including pregnant women; those 6 months to 24 years of age; health care and emergency medical services employees; and people 25 to 64 years of age with underlying medical conditions, such as asthma or diabetes.
And, The Hound wants to know, which lobbyists from the pork producing states changed the name from swine flu to H1N1. Swine flu sounded more benign. H1N1 sounds like it should be a monicker for an android in a program on the Sci-Fi Channel.
As for panic time. It's only the first quarter, folks. Lots of time left for a hail Mary or two. Or maybe those promised 100,000 vaccine doses.
Those Democratic lawmakers in Springfield sure have some nerve. After rejecting the chance for voters to boot former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the curb last year, they now vote to put a gubernatorial recall measure on next year's ballot. And, like most of their backbones, this offering for voters surely is weak.
State Sens. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, who also doubles as Lake County Democratic chairman and is an announced candidate for lieutenant governor, and Michael Bond, D-Grayslake, decided to join the rest of their colleagues this time around and let us nobodies vote to get rid of a sitting governor. Except, if voters approve it, the law specifies that 30 members of the General Assembly must support the recall measure and then supporters would have to get at least 15 percent of the total votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election.
And the kicker: It's only governor we can try to recall. Not, for instance state senators. Like most of what has been accomplished in Springfield this year, this is a nothing bill. Voters wold be wise to reject this bone tossed to us and make sure the candidates we elect next year won't be afraid to put the people's business before their political backsides.
The Hound has returned from an extended stay in Denmark after the International Olympic Commitee dashed the hopes of Chicago Mayor Daley, talk show maven Oprah Winfrey, President Obama and the twin villages of Old Mill Creek and Wadsworth. If you have never been to Denmark, The Hound recommends it. It's sort of like Wisconsin, but without Packers fans.
Old Mill Creek would have been the site of the equestrian events during the 2016 Summer Games, although Wadsworth would have been the beneficiary of some of the spillover and certainly Gurnee and Waukegan, with their hotel spaces. Instead, they'll be doing dressage and jumping fences in Rio.
The Hound has never been to Rio de Janeiro, but knows someone who once traveled there for Carnivale. On the Ipanema Beach, he was accosted and was the victim of a female pickpocket. Or at least that was his story and he's stuck to it ever since.
The Hound was a full-blown Olympics supporter, and will be boycotting next year's Winter Games in Vancouver. The Hound also is considering boycotting NBC, but why bother? Most viewer already are.
As for the reason Chicago and the United States lost the 2016 bid it is simple: Rio is in South America, a continent which has never hosted an Olympics, and the rest of the world hates us. Despite the rock star status of President Obama, he couldn't close the deal because, outside of our culture and money, the U.S. is disliked by nearly everyone around the world --- except the Saudis. And they did so before George Bush made it worse with the invasion of Iraq.
Will there be a 2020 U.S. Olympic bid? Not from Chicago, The Hound predicts.
This Hound went to the liquor emporium on Labor Day to pick up a six-pack to take to a Labor Day barbecue. What a shock! The premium brew manufactured on an island in Chicago was $8.99. Yikes! At that price, The Hound is thinking low-end brewski.
Unlike most of you, this Hound did not stock up before the big Sept. 1 price increases on liquor, wine, beer, candy, pop and toothpaste. The state increased the tax on candy 525 percent! If this was beer, we'd be in the street and at the barricades.
When are we going to learn about Illinois government, and not in poly sci class? The local lawmakers to the county to the state keep on taxing and spending, taxing and spending. It's enough to make one want to move to Wisconsin. Wait, much of our industry already has!
Like a Roman emperor, Waukegan Mayor Robert Sabonjian is offering the city's citizens bread and circuses to perhaps keep their minds busy with extracurricular activities. This at a time when the city's finances appear to be on shaky ground, to say the least. Not that a deficit budget and high-interest loans are any of his doing. He's cleaning up those messes.
Sabonjian suggested this week some sort of motorsports event --- a road race or circuit --- on city streets next year. Folks in his administration are meeting with folks who apparently can make this happen. Except for a few things, Mayor Bob has a sound plan.
Those few things happen to be what this economy has done to auto racing in the U.S., whether it be NASCAR, IndyCar or Grand Prix events. They're hurting, to say the least. Sponsor money has dried up, along with the evaporation of racing venues.
The Milwaukee Mile, aka the Rex Mays Classic, usually held at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in West Allis the weekend after the Indy 500, has been off the map for several years. The Detroit Grand Prix is DOA. The Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet hosted a NASCAR event earlier this summer and will do an IndyCar event later this month. To fill the stands for this race, promoters made sure race fans bought a package ticket to go with the NASCAR race.
It's a tough market out there for racing events and it also should be noted the schedules for race dates for major events certainly already have been set for 2010. Which Waukegan residents should be grateful.
Putting together a race which could draw thousands for a weekend, the logistics involved and closing city streets needs a bit more planning than a year, The Hound believes. This isn't Scoopin' Genesee, after all.
The Hound understands Mayor Bob's need for speed, but there's more important races to run at the present.
It would appear the Zion City Council has gotten themselves in a bit of a bind by rejecting a special-use permit for the Dungeon of Doom, a creepy haunted house set to open next month in the old Warwick Building of Deborah Avenue. It certainly would be a better tale if the building was once the Warlock Building, don't you think?
But such naming would never happen in Zion because the Warwick Building dates back to Alexander Dowie and the founding of Zion City, if The Hound recalls what the geezers were talking about the other day. One question for the good burghers of Zion, though: Why did you reject something you originally sought to lure into the city? Yes, before the city's religious leaders caught wind of the black magic being brought to Zion, the planning and zoning commission endorsed the Dungeon of Doom with a 5-to-1 vote. It was a conditional vote, meaning that officials would see how things went this fall and the promoters would have to come back next year for permanent approval.
Forsooth, the city's economic development commisson actually pursued the developers to bring the fright house to Zion, which may leave a gap in the City Council's rejection of the Dungeon of Doom. If the economic development commission was pursuing bringing this attraction into Zion to inject some zombie-like life into the Warwick Building, then The Hound would only conjure the mayor and members of the City Council had an inkling what was going on. Especially since the application was filed in April. Nobody raised red flags about demonic goings on back then.
Mayor Lane Harrison saying he was urging rejection of the special permit because of traffic and neighborhood concerns in a neighborhood once surrounded by traffic generated from the Warwick Building and the nearby nuclear plant rings hollow to The Hound. A good lawyer might have a nice argument that a contract had been entered into with the economic development folks reaching out to the dungeon's promoters. Then again, who knows?
One thing The Hound knows: If Six Flags was in Zion, there wouldn't be a Fright Fest this year --- or in eternity. Hope The Fielders don't have a bat night next year. Bats could be equated to Dracula and you know what could happen then: Boo!
Watching Waukegan pols squirm since Mayor Robert Sabonjian discovered the city is $6.5 million in the hole reminds The Hound of something Will Rogers once said: "I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." Unless you're a Waukegan taxpayer, this is funny.
The rate Sabonjian's going, when he finishes his four-year term, the city may be in the red by about $150 million. That is if you want to blame the freshman mayor for the fiscal fix the city is in, but he just came into office. Then again, there's plenty of blame to go around.
LIke who else knew tax revenues were sliding? Where was the City Council watchdogs, especially 6th Ward Ald. Larry TenPas, known as somewhat of a municipal financial whiz? Asleep?
Or, was it planned that way to keep a low financial profile before the spring election? And, how would former Mayor Richard Hyde address this startling turn of events?
Even Sabonjian, appearing at a function featuring mayors from other communities right after his victorious election, said he would be "instituting a system for 'strong fiscal management' by addressing debt, keeping costs down and calling in unions to review contracts." Perhaps by then he had gotten a glimpse at the books.
Or maybe, he, too, knew of the financial straights before the April election. Considering the city has seen tax revenues drop seven straight months. That would be even well before the February primary.
Regardless, it appears the elected city folks have pared that $6.5 million deficit down to a mere $3 million and 1st Ward Ald. Sam Cunningham is calling for a tax increase to avoid layoffs of police and fire. The Hound has a feeling taxpayers can think of some pols who need to be laid off.
While human service professionals gear up to protect their jobs in the realm of the tentative Illinois budget, businesses aren't taking plans to increase taxes lying down. Take the American Beverage Institute which is lobbying to stop the increase in liquor taxes in order to stem the tide of red ink overtaking state government.
The Legislature has decided to add nearly three cents in additional taxes to the price of a six-pack of beer, 13 cents on a of bottle wine and 80 cents on a fifth of the hard stuff. The liquor tax hike, lobbyists say, would put a strain on distillers and sellers, while putting an additional 4,500 people on the state's unemployment rolls. That's on top of the nearly 20,000 jobs the hospitality industry says it's lost because of the recession.
Let's see, tax booze or tax constituents. If you were a lawmaker, how would you vote? Duh! Especially since the tax hike is estimated to generate nearly $115 million annually.
But here's the argument the liquor industry is really hammering as the still tax awaits Gov. Pat Quinn's signature: Raising the price of a drink hurts low-income taxpayers the hardest. They say one-third of the booze in the state is consumed by Illinoisans with incomes under $50,000 a year. Guess the rich are different than you and The Hound, after all.
There's only one answer to creeping alcohol taxes: The advent of backyard stills and the proliferation of moonshine sales across Illinois. Pass the corn licker, Snuffy!
Like Bob Seger, who celebrated a birthday this month, state Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, is a gamblin' and ramblin' man, tumbling the dice one more time to get a casino in Lake County. This time, his target is Park City. Is he serious?
Park City home to a gambling den? Will city fathers bring back those late night tavern hours? Wait, Park City only has one bar, the Park Lounge. That would be a real draw for area gamblers --- not!
What's behind Sen. Link's latest scheme? He has the backing of Senate President Jon Cullerton, D-Chicago, and we all know Chicago lawmakers don't do anything unless they have the blessing of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Link's latest plan is to expand the number of state gaming licenses to include Park City, Chicago and Rockford.
He apparently has given up on Waukegan. Is this punishment for Waukegan voters electing rogue Democrat Robert Sabonjian the city's new mayor? Sabonjian the Younger doesn't seem too concerned about this snub, maintaining he has other plans (such as?) to raise millions of gambling revenue which under Link's scheme would go to Park City --- if a license is granted.
Link may have a good idea here. Park City gets the revenue, but the bulk of jobs would go to Waukeganites, undoubtedly. Park City's labor pool is, shall we say, slightly lacking.
But beyond that, where is there room for a casino is Park CIty? Waukegan offered up 32 acres at Fountain Square. The only locale for that in Park CIty would be the former Waukegan Speedway property at Washington Street and Teske Boulevard.
Wouldn't that make for a lovely gaming site, surrounded as it is with tire stores, a state salt dome, and a few junkyards, not to mention trailer parks --- oops, mobile home vistas. Besides, exactly what's underneath that land which serves as an entryway into Waukegan.
What's Link thinking? Perhaps he isn't considering he and his Democratic troops couldn't get Dick Hyde re-elected Waukegan's mayor. Link is vulnerable and a strong Democratic primary challenge the next time around could bring down this one-time powerful pol. Unless, of course, he gambles he can bring a casino to little old Park City. Ka-ching!
