Mayor McDermott No Longer On WJOB?

Look. I'm not all that credible, but I do read the newspapers on-line everyday when I can, or catch up when I can't.

I can tell you this much: Hammond will stay stagnant. The state will stay stagnant. Why?

Because if you look at Will County, once known and still is, by the way, as a "farming community" and never looked at their town as being anything but, has thrived. Businesses have relocated in those areas because the higher-income moved there. They were initially attracted to a small village, with out-dated buildings, and built upon it. The housing boom was in effect their back a few years ago.

Despite the recession, the mayor (from what I read in his newsletters monthly) is more open to the residents about where the money is going, what their ambitions are, i.e., remodeling/updating the old portion of Manhattan, etc.

Can you believe with the rising population, the office of the police department is no bigger than Andy and Barney Fife's one portrayed on the old episodes? But the point is, they didn't rush in and cash in on the development. They realize they have an old part a and a "new" part. Going along Naperville and Bolingbrook, you see so many business parks...you see it along I-80 west going anywhere west of past the exit of Orland.

Which brings up another point for discussion: Orland is going to hell.

The bottom line is that Hammond - unless it does what the mayor of Manhattan did, go out and seek businesses to relocate along the rail lines, which is to Hammond's advantage, tear down the old 1902 buildings, even if it leaves the city naked for awhile, nothing is going to get done. You can't build on top of what has been here since 1902.

Indiana has so much land that business parks could be bustling. All they have to do is get off their lazy behinds and entice them. Otherwise, CB doesn't make a damn bit of difference and never will except for those already here. Face it, those kids have no reason to stay in Hammond.

They can't, even with the reputation of drawing the medical field here, say that they succeeded in that field. My best friend had to chose, along with her family that live in Hammond, Hobart, Crown Point, Schererville, where to stick their grandmother. They were told that Indiana sucks when it comes to healthcare. They put their grandmother who was dying, in Carol Stream, near another relative's.

I was led to believe that Indiana offered the best when it came to medical. Screw that...they don't, according to many people I've talked to.

If you want to grow Hammond, you have to "grow" the state, and I mean, get real with the govenor...tell him to start letting go of his "rainy day" funds, cuz, it's certainly, "RAINING".

As it stands, nothing will change. Never did, never will, since the early '70s. There is nothing here for my own kids to suck up to stay here, unless they want to just own a cheap home and stay stuck.

My daughter left Il long ago. What she's got now, could never be offered to her in Hammond. Her field doesn't exist here. Say I put her through college here, free, and she didn't stay. Can I blame her?

I just wish people in Hammond would realize there is NOTHING to offer a college graduate once they graduate. If you were they, would you stay? I couldn't afford to live on the less than the nation-wide minimum wage of slave-days as it is here.

I'm ashamed that our fire fighters and our civil servants make in 2008/09 what I made in 1985, because I then was on top of the desk-top era. I can't imagine being able to live on such a low minimum wage for the type of work they do, compared to what others in their position make in other communities. I think it's a crying shame. To ask our youth to stay here and pay that price because they got a partial "free ride" that really is something they don't need to count on...is silly. I put myself through several semesters tuition fee, based on my income. I only had to pay for the books, and got reimbursed for classes that didn't take up the whole tuition. To be spent, or re-applied toward future classes.

So, the CB thing is really a silly thing. I once was for it...but after putting myself, my daughter, son through college with Pell grants, etc., and just paying for books, and in fact getting refunds to apply to future classes, something doesn't sound so enticing about CB. Unless things are different in Hammond, which I doubt, because it's a PELL grant, based on income, you basically are enrolled in a Federal program that allows you to continue college, practically fee-free. So, I don't buy the CB program anymore. Well, the idea behind it.

People need to plan ahead, visit a college, find out what the options are, income limit and maybe you'll find out you don't need a city to help you there. The Federal gov't has funds, grants, scholarships, hell, write the American Legion, they'll pitch in $500.00. Tap all your sources. I've been through this with friends, relatives, and my own kids.

CB is worthless to those who know how to apply for those benefits already available, based on income, with no requirements to live in any particular place, other than where you reside.

Business will not relocate here, the type that make a difference, unless you offer business "PARKS". meaning vast acres of land, free from traffic, next to railroads, depending on the businesses, and one thing I really want to blow steam off on:

Gary... crying a river when they if they used their freaking brains..have damn gold mind sitting with that empty airport. They are too inelgible for brains to figure out how to attract cargo there...and that's all it's good for.

Rather, they are so busy celebrating a black President in office that represents half of us; black and white.

You know, when I get worked up...I rattle!

Mailman wrote:

FFScott wrote:

Im glad the mayor is back on WJOB. His show is informative.

Need a tissue Scottie?

I would have to check on Free's thread to verify that and get the real tears. NOT!

The mayor was on again this morning after Visclosky not the governor. He explained why the RDA would not be able to move money from
Wolf Lake to the Little Cal. It wasnt something he had any control over. He admitted to saying things he sometimes shouldnt. but still would like the governor to come up with a way to pay for the Little Cal river levees.

FFScott wrote:

The mayor was on again this morning after Visclosky not the governor. He explained why the RDA would not be able to move money from
Wolf Lake to the Little Cal. It wasnt something he had any control over. He admitted to saying things he sometimes shouldnt. but still would like the governor to come up with a way to pay for the Little Cal river levees.

What was the explanation as to why the RDA WOULD NOT be able to move money from Wolf Lake to save a bunch of houses and the flooding on the expressway via, the levee. I swear in my lifetime, I can't figure out these politicians. Where are the priorities when it comes to fixing life-threatenng episodes, vs building a la-la-land? I just don't understand this.

Is this politics at its best? What is the reason, FFScott? Non given? AS USUAL?????

So when does a park get priority over houses being flooded, along with the Borhman Expressway, threatening lives and their futures? :titanic: please explain...

The city did approach the RDA about funding the levee but evidently the Governor wont allow it. That is why the money being appropriated to the little cal commission by the state is actually going to pay the RDA for a loan payment that the RDA gave last year. I dont know you figure it out...I give up!

for those that apparently havent read the papers in the last 2 years. here is the timeline...again!

in 2007 the rda was approached by the little cal basin commission for a 7 million dollar grant, to help fund the project. the rda said sure, we would love to help you build your levee. but the governor said wait a minute! this project has nothing to do with region transportation. and it has nothing to do with the marquette greenway project. and that is what i created the rda to do. so "hell no!, the governor said. you arent going to pay for the levee".

well the rda gang new the gov was wrong. even his own appointments said this project was going to prevent flooding on the borman...and on all those connecting streets from lake ridge to north county. and besides all that it would also promote economic development in the region.

so the rda came up with a plan...to advance a 7 million dollar loan to the basin commission. at that time...the whole project only needed about 10 million to be completed.

once again...the governor stepped in and said "now dammit, i told you boys once....NO FREAKEN way do i want you to help build that levee"! mind you this was literally 2 weeks before the flood of the century occurred last year.

then. the flood happenned. suddenly the gov proclaimed that this levee project must be funded, "in any way i can find, but first we have to figure out why those basin commission boys are so damned incompetent, that they cant find the money to finish the project!"

and then a few weeks later, as pressure mounted, the gov said "ok, maybe that loan aint that bad of an idea after all" but as pressure subsided again that was all put off, and the gov said that the rda needed to wait for an audit to determine if the little cal folks were stealing or not, before it could forward them any money at all.

then, in january. the audit happenned and the basin commission was in the clear. turns out the reason the levee hasnt been built yet, isn't because the commission did anything wrong, its because the state has for 20 some years now, renegged on the promised funding for the project. all of the fed money is still there in the bank waiting to be used, only the state matching funds are needed to complete the project.

the gov and the rda then announced that 1.5 million of the previously agreed 7 million dollar loan...could be paid to the basin commission.

then...in the budget the gov submitted to the state last week...he authorized 1.5 million to go to the levee project...which...for you math majors out there...is just enough to pay back the 1.5 million portion of the loan the rda just gave them.

and thats why the mayor (and i) are so pissed at the gov...and that is why the rda isnt funding the levee project.

Well, heck, now it makes sense in my "layman" terms. Now it really does make sense. Why don't you write that in an editorial, Steve, um, really?

Now what you just wrote explains and makes sense. I just couldn't put my finger on exactly why the gov would disregard this urgent need in our area, which in fact, holds up progress.

This explains why he has that whatever it was, billions on hold. Why though, is he so reluctant in releasting a part to get the levee done? I just can't comprehend that a govenor can't comprhend the need for this money. Though you explained it, I still can't understand why he is holding onto this money. He can't take it to the grave...it actually doesn't belong to him. A good portion had to have come from us or the casinos...peoples' lives are at stake here...I know you explained it, but still, is the gov getting alzhiemers? This all seems so surreal...unbelievable.

What part does he not understand? Or, does he just take it for granted houses flood, the expressway floods, the problem existed for 20 years, and what's another "twenty?" Good gracious!

personally. i think the gov is going to try to use the levy project as an excuse to go after a higher proportion of casino revenue for the state.

congressman pete, did an excellent job of explaining all of this at a forum last night. i believe the times has a good story on it in its saturday edition.

If that was the case he should have started before there was only two miles left to build. I dont think it will be good for him to continue to act as if he has no means to provide the federal match.