Voting with our feet

GOOD BYE AND GOOD LUCK

As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and wish all of you well.  

I am a lifelong son of the Land of Lincoln and proud of it.  After 68 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart.  BUT enough is enough!  

The leaders of Morton Grove, Cook county and Illinois refuse to see we can’t continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here.  Compared to the rest of the country we have lost 1/4rd of our population.  Don’t blame the weather, blame the political climate.

Since the last election Morton Grove has gone on a spending spree that would put a drunken sailor to shame. After the previous 4 years of austerity which left us with a lean and efficient village government and a small surplus "rainy day" fund, we have once again found ourselves with a bloated bureaucracy, an overabundance of useless, (or at least questionable), consultants and giveaway programs with questionable goals.

The promised and much touted "white tablecloth" restaurants have failed to materialize and we are given gambling joints like Betty's Bistro and a new biker bar on Dempster street. Is this the atmosphere conducive to raising a family?

With all the extra spending by this administration there are no longer funds to repair streets this summer. There is no plan in place to replace antiquated infrastructure or worn out vehicles and tools, (but we can find dollars for facade signs). The elephant in the room is the looming police and fire pension crisis. Instead of trying to find a viable solution, the village has hired a politically connected lobbyist to try to squeeze dollars out of a state government that is bankrupt. Genius thinking there!

It is said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. In the case of Morton Grove, the mayor prattles empty and meaningless platitudes while the villages circles the bowl of the porcelain fixture.

Illinois credit rating is so bad we pay higher interest rates than junk bonds!   

Illinois is ranked 50th for fiscal policy; 47th in job creation; 1st in unfunded pension liabilities; 2nd largest budget deficit; 1st in failing schools; 1st in bonded indebtedness; highest sales tax in the nation; most judges indicted (Operations Greylord and Gambat); and 5 of our last 9 elected governors have been indicted.  That is more than the other 49 states added together!  Then add 32 Chicago Aldermen and (according to the Chicago Tribune) over 1000 state and municipal employees indicted.  The corruption tax is a real cost of doing business.  We are the butt of jokes for stand up comics.

Cook County is the most corrupt big county in the most corrupt state in America.  I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks.  A day rarely passes without an article about the corruption and incompetence.  Our Cook County CORPORATE property tax system is intentionally corrupt.  The Democrat State Chairman who is also the Speaker of the Illinois House and the most senior alderman in Chicago each make well over a million dollars a year
putting the fix in for their client’s tax assessments.

We are moving to Missouri.  Southern states are supportive of job producers, tax payers and folks who offer opportunities to their residents.  Illinois shakes them down for every penny that can be extorted from them.

In The Ozarks of southwestern Missouri (near Branson) we bought a gracious home on almost 3/4 of an acre.  It is less than 20 years old, has cost us around 40% of what our home in Morton Grove just sold for and the property taxes are 1/6th of what they are here.  Cook County’s property tax system is a disaster. The system is unfair and incompetent.

Our Morton Grove home value is down 40%, our property taxes are up 20% and our local schools want still another referendum on the ballot to increase taxes over 20% in one year.

I could go on, but enough is enough.  I feel as if we are standing on the deck of the Lusitania and I can see the torpedoes right in front of us.  I will miss our friends a great deal.  I have called Illinois home for essentially my entire life.  But it is time to go where there is honest, competent and cost effective government.  We have chosen to vote with our feet and our wallets.  My best to all of you and Good luck!