Soon the DeKalb city council will be deciding what steps to take, if any, in response to recommendations made by the Safe/Quality Housing Task Force and by its own staff. They include proposals for a “disorderly house” ordinance, issuance of Crime Free Lease addenda, and regulations for the registration, licensing and inspection of rental properties.…
Mt. Vernon Group Presents Petition to Revoke Home Rule
Illinois communities automatically receive Home Rule powers when their populations reach 25,000. Mt. Vernon is not one of them because it’s too small (about Sycamore-sized). The city’s residents had to vote for Home Rule, and they reportedly did it in order to finance a sewer project in the 80s. So what’s the problem? According to…
Updated Year-Over-Year Revenue Tracking
I’ve re-visited previously published revenue tables in an ongoing effort to monitor DeKalb’s financial recovery. Are we yet on solid financial ground? Make the jump to see what you think. (FYI this is a long one, folks.)
Latest City of DeKalb Employee Wages
…have been published at DeKalb County Online.
Joint Meeting of City Council & Housing Task Force
The meeting is Tuesday, June 26, 6 p.m. in DeKalb council chambers. The joint meeting is a signal that the work of the Safe/Quality Housing Task Force is almost done and that proposals will come up for votes at council soon. The city’s agenda does not list specific items, so I got mine from the…
Reaction to the New Planters
[Update 6/21: Here’s another reaction to the new planters. The person who took this photo says at least four of the planters had been toppled as of Wednesday.] There’s already been a lot of discussion about the new City of DeKalb/NIU ashtrays urinals planters at the City Barbs Facebook Page. I don’t want to duplicate…
“Job Training”
Yes, TIFs can be used for job training, according to the City of Chicago’s new movie. The “Chicago Reader’s” Ben Joravsky critiques the City of Chicago’s “movie” on YouTube, entitled “What’s a TIF?” Enjoy all the fun here: The mayor makes a TIF movie. The Oscar goes to the guy at 35 seconds, “nobody knows…
Farmers & Traders State Bank in Shabbona Has Closed
[Updated with Deposit Insurance Fund info @ 1:40 p.m.] …and one of its former officers is a DeKalb County official. From an FDIC release yesterday: Farmers and Traders State Bank, Shabbona, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To…
About Skipping Pension Payments…
Turns out, you can’t just blame state legislators for skipping pension payments: * I asked the Senate Republicans for the list of proponents and opponents of the bill which allowed the state to skip pension payments. Here it is… SB 27 Proponnents [sic]: Rich Frankenfeld, IEA “testimony if necessary” Derek Blaida, CPS Steve Preckwinkle, IFT…
Zorn on Holiday Pay for City Workers Who Don’t Work Holidays
Eric Zorn poses a question on this Sun-Times story in his blog: The Sun-Times story on the rocky negotiations between the city and the firefighters union notes that one area of contention is Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal that only firefighters who work on holidays be awarded holiday pay: Former union president Bill Kugelman (said)…“ Holiday…