10 Comments - Snidely Whiplash - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 9:06 am: Lynn Sweet has been a messiah groupie for years. I don’t take her work seriously, anymore. - Snidely Whiplash - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 9:08 am: The RoD office isn’t so much a patronage “grab” as a machine attempt to retain the patronage. Gene Moore’s baggage is increasing exponentially, and they want him out before a real reformer grabs the office, and they lose all access to patronage in the office. - wordslinger - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 9:36 am: If Springfield is recession proof, the city powers ought to exercise some of the economic vigor resulting from the state payroll and clean up the East Side. I drove down last Spring to take my kids to the Lincoln Museum and Capitol.I was surprised that the road signs on I-55 directed me to exit well north of the city for “Lincoln and state capital sites”, rather than on South Grand as I used to when I lived by the Capitol 23 years ago. I followed the signs and took the meandering country path to the the Lincoln Museum. When I left town, I took South Grand to 1-55. Now I see why they’re directing the tourists to use the much longer path off the Interstate. The East Side is worse than it was in the 80s. Can’t any of the sharpies in town figure out a way to make a buck cleaning it up? It’s really an embarrassment and a horrible first impression to the visitors from around the county and world who might be attracted to the city by the new museum. By the way, is my old rat trap apartment building still standing at Fifth and South Grand? It was a menace 23 years ago, and I was surprised to see it still standing (albeit bordered up) last year. - Bookworm - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 10:19 am: Much of the east side of Springfield still looks like a tornado hit it, almost 2 years after a tornado DID hit it. Surely more can be done. Wordslinger, don’t know if you have heard about this, but someone who lives along the east side of Fifth Street recently set up a little lighted Nativity scene/grotto in front of his house right next to the street. The city sent him a letter saying it was a nuisance and should be removed because it was too close to the street (which it is), but this guy’s next door neighbor has been allowed to leave tornado debris piled up on his property all this time! The city has also called people on the carpet for having Ron Paul campaign signs that are too big, yet they allow other obvious eyesores to keep festering. Yes, I agree it’s an embarassment, particularly for a city that depends on making a good impression for visitors. On the upside, that ghastly dilapidated motel in Southern View at Sixth and Stevenson has finally been demolished. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 11:54 am: >* Dumbing Down The Electoral College This is an incredibly foolish idea. I saw that article in the Illinois Times, and that geez, ya know someone only has to win the ten states with the most electoral votes to win the presidency. Imagine if only one or two states unanimously vote for one candidate but all the other states vote for the other person. If those two states populations out number all the other states, the country is screwed by one or two states dictating to the rest of the country. This “popular vote” inititive needs to be struck down. - Crimefighter - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 11:56 am: Whoops 11:54am was me. I don’t want the popular vote of the entire country overturning the votes of one state. That’s wrong. - PhilCollins - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 12:32 pm: I read about Sauerberg’s abortion views. Yesterday, I attended the U.S. Senate debate, in Champaign, and Sauerberg didn’t attend. He must be afraid of discussing issues with the only conservative republican candidate, Mike Psak. If Sauerberg is afraid to debate other Republicans, he’d probably be afraid to debate Durbin. Please read Psak’s site, www.psak4ussenate.com. - downhereforyears - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 2:54 pm: Regarding the 14th Congressional District….have you ever seen 2 more undeserving idiots to hold public office in your life. God help us all if either of these two win. - Cassandra - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 3:57 pm: It’s a sad day when a couple of very-well-compensated legislators, however well-intentioned, get praised for finding a way to maintain the CTA as is, in all its patronage-ridden glory, and do it by getting into the pockets of economically stressed middle class voters in an almost-recession. And, as the CTA has been quick to remind us, it’s not over yet. They didn’t waste a day before they started reminding us that they actually need $6.3 billion more. Quick. Will Cross and Hamos rise to the challenge. Probably not. They’ll be looking to raise taxes again. - amy - Monday, Jan 21, 08 @ 4:04 pm: one of the reasons Obama is attacking Bill Clinton is to take away attention from the Rezko story. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.