I'm traveling to Rogers City today in the rental/loaner. I want to get to RC in time for the School Board meeting.
So expect new posts tomorrow.
The Year of Living Civically |
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The Outback is at the dealer's. Probably be in the shop for a couple of weeks. Wow!
I'm traveling to Rogers City today in the rental/loaner. I want to get to RC in time for the School Board meeting. So expect new posts tomorrow. I hope to have a full report on the meetings I attended Thursday. But I have to take care of my car. A bit of an odd accident when the brakes did not engage. I'm okay and the only other objects involved in the scenario were some bushes and a fence. By Sunday I should be back on schedule here.
Two things I hate about Chicago is the waste and lying perpetrated by all levels of government officials and their lackeys. So I knew attending the opening charrette/charade in the Chicago Housing Authority's (CHA) design process for the historic Lathrop Homes was going to be painful for me. I am not a neutral observer on this one. For the past twenty years I have been on the board of a social service agency serving the youth at the Lathrop Homes. The Lathrop Homes already meet the criteria of the CHA's "Transformation". These low rise buildings should be renovated not demolished. Well, I got to the meeting place, New Life Community Church, before the scheduled start time of 6:00 p.m. and picked up the button in the photo. But the dog and pony show by the development team did not start on time and I had another place to be at 7:00 p.m. so I left the church at 6:30. I returned to the church around 8:00. The presentation was over but the debriefing session by the Lathrop Leadership Team was still going on. The develpment team sure has a lot of money to spend on PR materials. I heard the developers showed a condescending video about the community. I hope it gets posted on their website so I can watch it. This year the City Council creates the new political map for Chicago. I predict this will be a stormy process. Based on the 2010 census the drop in the African American population and the rise in the Hispanic population three "Black" wards should disappear and three Hispanic wards should be created. But the representatives of the Asian community want an Asian ward. And the Poles don't want their ward cut up.
I picked up the demographic maps and the City Council resolution creating the public hearings so I could get ready for the public hearing on Thursday at City Hall. The most interesting thing I learned came from Alderman Richard Mell's statement that if forty-one alderman can not agree on a map then any ten alderman can create a map and put it to a vote by the voters of Chicago. I spent part of the morning posting new bright orange "No Hunting" signs on the wooded property I acquired from my father's estate. I was dressed in an oversized orange hoodie that either made me very safe or a very large target. The property is a glorious place a slice of heaven. With a large pond and a river/stream running through it. My plan for the property is to create a retreat center for artists and activists.
Monday is the beginning of the rifle deer hunting season. This is THE hunting season. I would think by now the deer are pretty freaked out since there has already been a bow-hunting season and a muzzle-loading season. No one will be hunting on my 50 acres and I imagine there may be deer who "know" that the property is a safe haven. The DNR just lifted the ban in Presque Isle County that prohibited baiting for deer. This is practice of putting out carrots, corn, apples, sugar beets or other treats to attract deer to a particular hunting site. Under the new rules a hunter can only put out two gallons of bait over a 100 square foot area per day. But if the deer don't eat the bait all the bait when it first distributed on subsequent days a hunter can only add bait to maintain the two gallons per 100 square feet density rule. The ban and rules were/are in effect to stem/prevent bovine TB in the deer herd. The schools in the area are closed on Monday and Tuesday for opening day. If you are hunting for something else to do this weekend I would suggest seeing "A Dolphin's Tale". Inspirational and heart-warming. Thanks for the photo Creative Commons! I received an email today from my friend that I have known the longest and have stayed in contact with since nursery school. She sent me this chain email about holiday shopping and I think it could help out the economy and have a nice ripple effect. If you like the sentiments please follow the advice in the email and pass the text along to your friends and associates. The holidays 2011 -- Birth of a New Tradition As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods --merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Because there is! It's time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper? (Even most Hallmark products are made in China.) Everyone -- yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificate from your local American hair salon or barber? Gym membership? It's appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement. Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a book of gift certificates. Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plonking down the big bucks on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course. There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants -- all offering gift certificates. And, if your intended isn't the fancy eatery sort, what about a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this isn't about big National chains -- this is about supporting your home town Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open. How many people couldn't use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy? Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day. My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is struggling to get his repair business up and running. OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery and beautiful wooden boxes. Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at your hometown theatre. Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands. Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of light, about fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip. The holidays are now about caring about US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine. Forward this to everyone on your mailing list -- post it to discussion groups -- throw up a post on Craigslist in the Rants and Raves section in your city -- send it to the editor of your local paper and radio stations, and TV news departments. Put it on Facebook, Twitter. This is a revolution of caring about each other, and isn't that what the holidays i about? I heard the election results this morning from Beach Hall, the Mayor of Rogers City at a 7:30 a.m. meeting of the Downtown Development Authority. The voter turnout was low. Here are the numbers. Three people were running to fill two seats. Tom Sobeck and Gary Nowak were re-elected to seats on the City of Rogers City Council. Sobeck received 245 votes, while Nowak had 186. Challenger William Stypick received 172. Dana LaBar ran unopposed for the seat he had been appointed to fill and received 255 votes. Mayor Beach Hall ran unopposed and received 257 votes. I attended three civic events today: the Downtown Development Authority meeting, the noon lunch meeting of the local Zonta chapter and the Presque Isle Library Board meeting at 3:00 p.m.. I am being bumped off the computer because the library is closing and so I will have to sign off but will comment on the proceedings in my next posts. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
My computer is not working and the librarywwith its public access computers closes at 5:30 p.m. today so I'm going to be very brief.
I spoke to the City Manager today and I think I will stop by the County Clerk's office where the tabulation of the vote will take place. Only the challenger for one of the city council seats seems to have any lawn signs up. And I only saw one ad for one of the incumbents in the weekly local newspaper. Very low key. My hope for this community like all communities is that in the next cycle of elections no seat is uncontested. All incumbents should have challengers and every open seat should draw a field of at least two candidates. Democracy deserves conversations between would be office holders. Photo: Creative Commons. Looks like Lake Huron. I arrived in Rogers City on Friday evening just in time to make the curtain of the Rogers City Community Theatre production of "Arsenic and Old Lace". Once again the local actors did a great job. And the set designer and decorator did a remarkable job creating a three-story set in a one-and-a-half- story stage. Rogers City on the coast of Lake Huron faces north. Believe it or not, one can watch the sun rise and set on Lake Huron at Rogers City. The city of 3,000 people is about 65 miles south of Mackinaw City and 35 north of Alpena. Saturday I attended the Rogers City Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner at which Harry S. Whitely, just about 92 and the former owner and publisher of the local newspaper, The Presque Isle Advance founded in 1879 received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Harry was roasted and toasted for four hours. Some of the roasting was rather racy and I wonder if the local cable provider will be able to put the show on the public access channel. But in his response/rebuttal to all the good-natured razzing he provided his insight into how he has stayed so vital and lasted so long. "Being involved!" He urged the crowd to volunteer with any and all sorts of groups. Sunday I participated in the brainstorming session for the 2012 Presque Isle County Fair. Throughout the year I plan to include updates on the process of planning and staging the 111th annual county fair. Walking eastbound on Jackson Boulevard after the board meeting at the City Colleges of Chicago I saw the plaque featured in the photo. It marks the site of the old Grand Pacific Hotel where the General Time Convention of 1883 met and "adopted the current Standard Time System in the United States. The convention was called by the railroad industry to develop a better and more uniform time system to govern railroad operations. Previously, time had been determined by the position of the sun with high noon as the only existing standard of exact local time. More thatn 100 different local times resulted from this method." The Standard Time System set up the four time zones all railroad clocks in each zone were synchronized to strike the hour simultaneously. The system was inaugurated on November 18, 1883. On that Sunday the Alleghany Observatory at the University of Pittsburgh telegraphed when it was exactly noon at the 90th meridian. Railroad clocks across the nation were then all reset on the hour according to the time zone thy were in. The Federal Government adopted the system immediately but Congress did not enact the Standard Time Act until March 19, 1918. |
AuthorRachel Goodstein Archives
September 2020
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