I would be remiss if I didn’t express my appreciation about an edited version of the “Open Letter to Kris Povlsen” appearing yesterday in the Perspective section of the Star. That same letter plus three previous LTTEs critical of the Business Center project were ignored by the Daily Chronicle. After this frustrating and disillusioning shutout,…

Mr. Povlsen: At last Monday’s City Council meeting, when the Council voted to approve tax abatements and fee waivers for the newest 3M project in town (“Project Oak”), you commented that some people misperceive such incentives as corporate welfare, whereas you would encourage us to think of these incentives as investments in our future. Mr.…

One of the reasons I began blogging here is that the Chronicle suddenly began suppressing my letters-to-the-editor and I was looking for other outlets for my views. Any criticism of the DCEDC and its executive director, Roger Hopkins, seems to be off-limits. However, I cannot omit my opinions on his involvement in warehouse mania because…

Well, we knew from the volume of articles we’ve found that logistics is in full boom here, but now we’ve found the numbers: logistics is experiencing 12-15% growth that will continue over the next few years. Most of this growth comes from 3PLs, which stands for “third-party logistics,” a newer trend where the developer builds…

Here is a copy of the letter I sent to City Council members today. It references my Monday speech at the public hearing (see below) but also discusses a new area of concern. Dear Aldermen & Mayor, Last Monday at the City Council public hearing, I urged you not to “put all our tax eggs…

The following is a copy of the speech I made at the City Council at the public hearing Monday night. I’m including it because it summarizes my views & because my next entry will make more sense if you see the speech first. Good evening. Thank you for hearing me tonight. I live in the…

The hosts were gracious, the company good. If Mr. Keating were trying to sell me a car–or a nice little office park–he might have made the sale. I understand a whole lot better the rationale for embracing another warehouse–not that I buy it, only that I understand now what they (Keating, Hopkins et al) are…

Today Gerard Keating took us for a road trip. A group of the alderman, the Mayor, a couple of folks from the city staff, some of the press and a few of the citizens of the area were all invited to see various developments in the Aurora, Naperville and Warrenville areas. In some respects, it was eye opening.

[Author of this, City Barbs’ first post, is Joe Croft. A glitch in moving the website a few years ago put Lynn’s name on everything.] Hi Yall, Don’t mind the southern accent, I’m a yankee who lived in Texas for too many years. To start, let me explain the purpose of this blog. I will…