Looking for answers…In Joliet
Where is the politicians going with Joliet, January 1st 2008 we are to obey the new law of “No” smoking in public places.
Now isn’t this something else to make businesses abandon Joliet again. When leaving the Windy City for Joliet, Illinois, You see that Joliet has deteriorated under the current and previous politicians of Joliet Illinois.
Joliet has turned into a dying hole on the map, lately Joliet has added old time gas pumps on street corners to add ambiance of Rt 66 to the non-laughable joke of Joliet being brought back to what it once was in the past.
The commercial areas around the train station have become stagnant as well as most businesses have also, most businesses in Joliet that were family owned are now gone to the winds. What have we become the new generation trash man tax payers at work, “The goal should be to find a way to retrain and sustain Joliet and Will County’s work force,” I say “aggressive training initiative to retrain the work force should be a demand made by Joliet residents.” “In Joliet, we have two hotels and they’re not faring well at all especially in the downtown area. Our motels are inadequate, our restaurants are dying, our taverns, our parking lots, the food vendors, and the real estate values have fallen, all of these things are not in good financial health, yet Joliet is trying to look toward a great influx of money, of people, through a very limited medium of riverboat gambling and future homes that may or may-not be built. Riverboat gambling has not met the criteria set forth by Illinois legislators when they sold this idea to the citizens of Joliet Illinois. “It’s illogical to expect casino customers to leave the premises and spend money in nearby stores, restaurants, or bars.” And this hurts local economy and hurts property owners. The economic development we have seen was marginal at best; it has not spurred economic development. It has not created jobs. It has not boosted tourism, and it certainly has not brought new life to Joliet or Will County.
Bring in a gambling venture, and it sucks the dollars out of other areas of discretionary spending just like the employing of illegals in American businesses do also. But what do I know, I guess my eyes lie to me and my hearing must be defective too when it comes to listening to the bullshit the local politicians are spouting daily, we hear the words of encouragement yet we see nothing coming as proof, Joliet is now viewed as a modern-day Slum and the local politicians are its slumlords trying to put a band-aid on the real problems. No one seems to be thinking about good paying jobs or what we can do to attract businesses to the area; I have been to council meetings and been to web sites like www.willcountyced.com and Joliet – Incentives and Grants “Joliet and Will county government leaders are failing because of technology, market share and City and County reach, increasingly complex moving exponentially faster each day.” The dinosaurs we have in office now are falling behind while other areas are growing and leaving us behind. When you have political leaders that can’t even answer there own email how can the same political leaders bring prosperity to Joliet and Will County?
Will County police and States attorney’s office make boo-boo.
inside source states attorney office: transcripts of 6:45 March 07/08/03 Will county Police
A call came in to the Will County Sheriff’s Office at 6:45 pm the anonymous caller spoke with the on duty officer.
Officer: “Yes. What can I do for you?”
an anonymous caller “I’m calling to report my neighbor Virgil Sith…. He’s hiding Marijuana inside his firewood! the caller stated, I Do not know how he puts it inside the logs, but he’s hiding it there and they are in the shed in back of his home.”
The on duty officer reported what he had been told by the caller to his superiors, So today march 9th 2007, the Sheriff’s Deputies and the States attorney descend on Virgil’s home in the 1400 block of Jefferson St in Joliet Illinois. They search the shed out back of Virgil’s home where the firewood was kept, using axes, they busted open every piece of wood in Virgil’s shed, but did not find marijuana. After 3 1/2 hours grilling the suspect Virgil Sith, Not finding no probable cause for arrest, they sneer at Virgil and leave.
Shortly after the Police and the States attorney left, the phone rings at Virgil’s home. The states attorney and one Will county officer was now enforcing a wire tap on Virgil’s home 3 blocks away; the Unknown caller said:
“Unknown caller (whispering)…. Did the Sheriff show up.
Virgil: Yea and they brought the States attorney too?”
Unknown caller: “What did they do”?
Virgil: They came with a warrant and busted up all of my wood in my shed and I don’t know why?”
Unknown caller: “Well I told you I would help you with that job of splitting the wood!” “Happy Birthday, buddy!”
“Note this just a joke and never really happened“.
What are you thinking New Lenox Illinois.
Story in the Herald news
NEW LENOX — The village board Tuesday learned more details about a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter and Menards development along U.S. 30. Some trustees expressed concern about the size of the development, while others welcomed it with open arms.
I view it like this, the super Wal-Mart should be placed on the South end of Gougar Rd this would cause least traffic congestion and due to the new warehouses that are just off Gougar Rd. this would allow for expansion of Gougar and of Laraway Rd, the roadways to and from the Super Wal-Mart could be brought up to weight limits then could handle the over weight traffic of big trucks.
Due to the Wal-Mart warehouse being in Elwood Illinois the truck traffic could be kept to a minimum in downtown New Lenox while the funds generated by the Wal-Mart could go to fixing Rt 53 from Elwood to Laraway Rd and ease the crunch on Elwood, Joliet and New Lenox in the form of tax savings and use of our roadways this also could help repair our failing roadways.
Wal-mart stores spurs other stores to pop up around them and this would also be a great expansion area and give a great buffer zone for which way it can expand and give more control to the city over expansion with out harming property values.
Trustee David Smith stated he feels the project would be “detrimental to the neighborhood” and would encourage drivers to use residential streets to bypass a congested U.S. 30.
New Lenox is a cute little town with a big charm, why tear that apart and make people not want to visit, it is apparent that it is time for New Lenox to grow but exercise some control.
There would be more value to this big box items then meets the eye like Target stores, computer warehouses like Tiger direct if these stores also come in the area they could have products shipped in thru the BNSF rail yard, the products could be brought directly to the new big box stores and not increase any traffic in down town, Then more jobs could be created and then it will benefit all not just some.
The development is projected to create between 450 and 550 full- and part-time jobs in the two anchor stores alone, village and development officials said.
It is slated to produce $1.5 million in sales tax to the village as well as property tax collections as follows: $380,000 a year to the New Lenox grade schools, $200,000 to the high school district, $39,000 to the fire department, $35,000 to the park district and $26,000 to the library.
What New Lenox and the surrounding towns need to do is “think outside the box” what brings prosperity while causing a traffic jam may cause residents to move away, I don’t think that should be the end result.
I say this to the Mayor and trustees of New Lenox use your heads and just quit looking at the quick buck.
will county watcher 