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.
Waukegan Mayor Robert Sabonjian has the pedal to the metal working on getting some sort of motorsports road race to his city next year or more likely in 2011. The Hound hears all those Waukeganites backing the mayor: "Go, speed racer, go!"
Sabonjian and city minions appear farther along the trail than most originally thought. They have a map of the 1.9-mile course which uses the Amstutz Expressway (or is that the Bobby Thompson Expressway which state Rep. Eddie Washington, D-Waukegan, unilaterally christened two years ago?) and downtown streets. Anybody check with the County of Lake, which has a pretty large presence in Waukegan's downtown for their input? They've also had preliminary talks with race organizers and they have a steering committee, Waukegan Grand Prix LLC.
What they don't have is money. Estimates run between $12 to $15 million for the initial rally; about a $9 million ante every year after. The bet is the seed money will generate millions more. Other cities have done it and been successful. It is within the realm of possibility for Waukegan.
So far, the city's populace has been eerily silent on the topic. Perhaps they're stunned or they haven't caught up to speed on what the impact could be on the city both in quality of life issues and financial gain or loss. Or they are a silent majority, riding in the back seat with the new mayor on this issue.
The Hound like's Sabonjian's attitude about landing any sort of road race: "We can be world class, but we have to do it right." So for right now, it's full speed ahead!
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!
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has made the Land of Lincoln's highways extremely safer this week by signing into law two bills. One bans texting while driving, the other bans using a cell phone while driving in a construction zone or school zone. Do we have enough cops, judges or jail space to accomodate all these criminals? The Hound doesn't think so.
Matter of fact, The Hound is LOL that the governor thinks a swipe of the pen will change what has become common place not only here but the rest of the nation. It's obvious police will tag on the no texting or no cell phone use charge if a person is involved in an accident, but seldom do people not wearing seat belts get ticketed. So how are they going to track down these miscreants?
The Hound agrees that texting while driving is dangerous. So is reading, watching videos, reading a GPS, painting one's nails when behind the wheel. Those that do it just make the term "weakened gene pool" the more relevant. Unfortunately, when they are involved in wrecks caused by texting or talking on the cell, they hurt others. One driving study maintains mobile phone distractions can increase the risk of crashes 23 times.
Fourteen other states have partial or complete bans on text messaging and cell phone usage while driving. The frequency of arrests is underwhelming. Chicago has had a law banning the use of cell phones while driving. That has worked quite well --- not. Poor cops, they get stuck with everyone of society's dirty details.
The Hound hopes Gov. Quinn isn't using these bills as the linchpin of his campaign to get elected governor next year. Not exactly stuff legacies are made.
Once, we were known as the Land of Lincoln. After the Illini loss to the mid-major Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in Thursday night's NCAA early exit, we are a land of losers. The Cubs haven't won a World Series in over a century; the Bears look confused and training camp doesn't open for several months. The Bulls and Blackhawks --- put a fork in them for post-season sizzle.
Plus, we'll soon be paying more in taxes and license fees. Which is why The Hound is starting a petition drive to have the top tier of counties --- our own Lake, along with McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson and Jo Daviess --- pull up stakes and head north to Wisconsin.
Let's face it, once corporations see what they'll pay in taxes under Gov. Pat Quinn's tax hike proposal, all the jobs will be in Kenosha County anyway. We might as well emigrate north legally, before the exodus begins. Besides, before Illinois became a state, we were part of the Wisconsin territory, which went as far south as the lower end of Lake Michigan.
Certainly this is a drastic step for those of us who consider ourselves flatlanders, but we have no choice. At least the Packers have at least won a few Super Bowls since 1986. It is time to escape the State of Taxation and head to greener and cheesier pastures.
Write or call your legislators and ask them to begin the process of leaving Illinois. Only Winnebago County would have to change its name (Rockford County?). There is no Lake County in Wisconsin, nor the others.
The Hound believes Wisconsinites would welcome us with open arms. After all, Illinois green has made Wisconsin green for decades. It's time for reciprocation. Saddle up!
The Illinois Gaming Board rejected Waukegan's bid to put a casino at Fountain Square because of Illinois wheeler-dealer William Cellini. So who were the city officials that vetted this process and went along with the gambling consortium behind the bid? Is this a Democrat thing when it comes to failing to find out things in people's past --- like a treasury secretary nominee who couldn't figure his own taxes?
Cellini is well known in the state capital as a well-connected businessman who has done deals with Democratic and Republican administrations throughout the years from his Springfield base. He now stands indicted on federal charges of helping to shakedown a firm seeking state business for campaign contributions to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the old "pay to play" politics so prevalent in Illinois.
According to Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffee, Cellini and his family could have made deep six-figures if Waukegan had been awarded the casino. This is an odd finding since a member of the Waukegan group seeking the license contended Cellini had sold his stake in the consortium in 2007. Apparently, according to Jaffe, an associate of Cellini purchased the wheeler-dealer's investment for $32,450 and had to pay Cellini the balance of prior costs in the Waukegan project.
That's how things are done in Illinois and now we find out that's also the way it's done in Waukegan, which lost out to the lower casino bid offered by Des Plaines. If the city folks had done their homework, perhaps Waukegan's lakefront dreams could have been realized some time before the end of the 21st century.
As it is now, it appears to be another power broker gambit by an indicted political player.
You know it's a slow news day when the Zogby Poll is looking forward to New Year's Day. Whoa, that's a week down the road. But the topic of the poll is who will you be kissing as the digital clock slides into '09. According to Zogby,
"more people will kiss their pet at midnight than will kiss a friend." You can't make this stuff up, folks.
The poll also finds that women are 4.5 times as likely to spend New Year's Eve with a pet than men are. That's because men will be out looking for those women who are staying home drinking Cold Duck with their pet.
And, the topper: Democrats are more likely than Republicans to spend New Year's Eve with a pet. That's because Democrats don't have any money to spend. They've been laid off. Their pets won't be judgmental because the laid-off Democrats don't have jobs going into the new year.
And to prove it really is a slow news day, the Zogbv poll also asked folks who they'd like to spend New Year's Eve with, Sarah Palin or Tina Fey. Thirty-nine percent said they would spend it with Palin; 39 percent with Fey. The Hound also hears the Sarah Palin calendar is No. 1 on the Amazon.com list for calendars. President-elect Obama's calendar is No. 8.
Does The Hound detect some gag Christmas stocking stuffers were purchased at the Alaska governor's expense. You, betcha!
Well, actually The Hound does call this bit of frigid air the first day of winter cold, very cold. Arctic, bitter, bone-chilling, you supply the adjective. At Waukegan Regional Airport the low was -7; the high -3. The high last year Dec. 21 at the airport was 50; the low 36. That's not cold.
At 3 p.m., two of us compared our in-car thermometers at a local watering hole just before the Vikings/Falcons game got interesting. One said -3; the other -4. They were parked next to each other. Go figure.
The Hound doesn't mind the cold weather, but not this early. Not in December. January, OK. You can't even spread salt when it's below zero; doesn't work. And, man, that wind howling through The Hound's dog house caused a mean headache. Or perhaps it was the Black Haus schnapps, something every should imbibe during a cold spell. Brrr!
Remember, though this is only December. The really cold stuff is still in store.
We've certainly become a group of nervous Nellies. From the warnings dished out from Wednesday to Thursday and today, you'd think the sky was falling rather than a winter snowstorm. The Hound was never mollycoddled which meant even during blizzards accompanied with what seemed to be mile-high snowdrifts, it meant loping nearly a mile to school, uphill both ways.
Schools across Lake County began canceling classes Thursday morning in preparation for a doomsday scenario snowfall. Lighten up, folks. Winter doesn't begin until Sunday. That in itself is something to worry about.
But what if those weather prognosticators are wrong? And so if they're right? It's snow, not nuclear fallout.
One forecast The Hound saw predicted up to 14 inches for Lake County. Sounds like a snownormous weekend of sledding.
Until then, drive slow, hope your local public works department hasn't run out of salt yet and break out the sleds, snowshoes or cross-country skiis. You can't stop it, so just let it snow and ponder the wonder of a white Christmas this holiday.
.
The Hound likes to gnaw on a turkey leg on Turkey Day. There's turkeys and then there's real turkeys and we're not talking about those folks in the country of Turkey. We're talking folks like Sen. Dick Durbin, who some Illinoisans would like to carve up today.
That's because the Illinois Democrat, who just cakewalked into another six-year term, has decided he's thinking about maybe asking President Bush to grant clemency to former Gov. George Ryan, the Republican who's eating pressed turkey today at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. Maybe Durbin was floating a trial balloon, but The Hound surmises it's turned into a lead Zeppelin --- and we're not talking about the band.
For Durbin's musing about giving Ryan a get-out-jail-free card, he's a turkey.
But then so is President-elect Barack Obama. He's plucking those ex-Clintonites from a government in exile faster than feathers get plucked on turkeys. This is change? If The Hound knew Obama was going to pack his cabinet with former Clintonians, what was wrong with Hillary in the first place?
With the election over, the media are being turkeys over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She was filmed being interviewed at a turkey processing facility which everyone jumped on. Was it Wattlegate or what? How do you think turkeys get to the Thanksgiving table. They walk there?
Another big turkey is Gov. Rod Blagojevich. What's this plan for carpooling lanes on the tollways? How are you going to police it, Gov. Turkey. With a gobble here and a gobble there? Can 2010 come too soon for this turkey?
