...what does that say for vague statements?
Ed Schock made a couple of vague statements at our forum.
One was that the $700,000 investment in the failed Bandits softball field paid for itself in tax revenue from local hotels and restaurants.
I would really like to see his figures to back that up.
The second statement was regarding sustainability. Is it REALLY paying its own way? Show me the data. I agree that some portions of the agenda pay for themselves through savings, but there is all sorts of baggage that does not. Show us the numbers, gentlemen. And show us those numbers in the context of the entire bill for the green agenda.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Immigration Screening Numbers
Ed Schock came up with a number of 300 illegal aliens detected in Elgin and 20 deported.
Dave Kaptain came up with yet another number.
I guess we need to know the time frame here. I feel reasonably confident that 340 illegals were detected between March 1, 2008 and April 30, 2009.
Why? Because EPD provided me a list every month during that time period and I compiled it. The list had sufficient detail (Name, DOB, case#, FBI#, ICE response...) to lead me to believe it was legitimate. And Microsoft Excel adds reasonably well.
I can only guess that Ed's 300 was for the year 2010. That would be believable.
But even Schock's number changes. In October, 90% were not illegal. In March the number is now 95%.
Neither candidate had an answer about their response to the data. I can't get any more direct than to ask, "What ACTION did you take upon reviewing this data?"
In my mind, a responsible city council would have called the police chief into an open meeting and explain that the public safety is at stake, then develop a plan...sort of like the flurry of activity surrounding the green agenda.
They did nothing. Womack continued to dig in her heels and the mayor and city council refused to discuss the issue in council meetings.
Dave Kaptain came up with yet another number.
I guess we need to know the time frame here. I feel reasonably confident that 340 illegals were detected between March 1, 2008 and April 30, 2009.
Why? Because EPD provided me a list every month during that time period and I compiled it. The list had sufficient detail (Name, DOB, case#, FBI#, ICE response...) to lead me to believe it was legitimate. And Microsoft Excel adds reasonably well.
I can only guess that Ed's 300 was for the year 2010. That would be believable.
But even Schock's number changes. In October, 90% were not illegal. In March the number is now 95%.
Neither candidate had an answer about their response to the data. I can't get any more direct than to ask, "What ACTION did you take upon reviewing this data?"
In my mind, a responsible city council would have called the police chief into an open meeting and explain that the public safety is at stake, then develop a plan...sort of like the flurry of activity surrounding the green agenda.
They did nothing. Womack continued to dig in her heels and the mayor and city council refused to discuss the issue in council meetings.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Elgin's "Successful" Downtown
If you will recall, I asked the question about the wisdom of dumping another $8 million into the River Walk after the lack of success with streetscaping schemes over the years, Festival Park, the condos, Prairie Rock, Walton Islands, the Overlook, the library...
Why throw good money after bad?
Schock's answer shocked me. He said these projects have been successful because property values in the downtown district have gone UP.
So I took a little drive and snapped some photos of downtown TODAY. I've got to admit, it looked worse than I thought it would. I didn't have any trouble parking, that's for sure!
The Tower Building has space for rent. That's no surprise.
I got a chuckle out of this one. It was the old Bandits office.
Mad Maggie's is indeed CLOSED.
This building used to be owned by Rep. Keith Farnham. Don't know now.
Quiznos, now closed.
These photos were all taken on Douglas, Grove, Fulton and Spring Streets.
And the mayor calls this a success? Clearly he's missing the point about downtown, the blight and the failure of throwing government money at it.
Why throw good money after bad?
Schock's answer shocked me. He said these projects have been successful because property values in the downtown district have gone UP.
So I took a little drive and snapped some photos of downtown TODAY. I've got to admit, it looked worse than I thought it would. I didn't have any trouble parking, that's for sure!
The Tower Building has space for rent. That's no surprise.
I got a chuckle out of this one. It was the old Bandits office.
Mad Maggie's is indeed CLOSED.
This building used to be owned by Rep. Keith Farnham. Don't know now.
Quiznos, now closed.
These photos were all taken on Douglas, Grove, Fulton and Spring Streets.And the mayor calls this a success? Clearly he's missing the point about downtown, the blight and the failure of throwing government money at it.
Making a point stick
At the AFLA forum on Wednesday I tried (using a photo of my grandchildren) to impress upon Mayor Schock and Councilman Kaptain the notion that grants are NOT free money.
Illinois is broke and so is the nation. We are printing money backed by nothing but debt to the likes of China.
The objective is to leave something to your grandchildren, not leave them with a debt to pay for our reckless spending.
My point was that grabbing some pork for Elgin instead of Rockford is a fool's game when we are paying for it with interest.
But both of them rambled on, spouting the revenue source as this grant or that. There was no acknowledgment that grants are not free money at all.
So I got to thinking that neither candidate has any bangs. Maybe these concepts are sailing over the top. Here's a visor that just might trap a few of these ideas so they fall down right before their eyes.
Illinois is broke and so is the nation. We are printing money backed by nothing but debt to the likes of China.
The objective is to leave something to your grandchildren, not leave them with a debt to pay for our reckless spending.
My point was that grabbing some pork for Elgin instead of Rockford is a fool's game when we are paying for it with interest.
But both of them rambled on, spouting the revenue source as this grant or that. There was no acknowledgment that grants are not free money at all.
So I got to thinking that neither candidate has any bangs. Maybe these concepts are sailing over the top. Here's a visor that just might trap a few of these ideas so they fall down right before their eyes.
Did I hear him right?
At the March 16th forum, I thought I heard Ed Schock say that the white population in Elgin GREW by 9%.
And that the growth is due to higher fertility among Latinos.
It appears to me that the census comparison would indicate that the white only population DROPPED in both percentage and actual numbers.
...and that the ADULTS grew faster than the under 18 group.
Just another example of playing fast-and-loose with the data at the forums.
And that the growth is due to higher fertility among Latinos.
It appears to me that the census comparison would indicate that the white only population DROPPED in both percentage and actual numbers....and that the ADULTS grew faster than the under 18 group.
Just another example of playing fast-and-loose with the data at the forums.
Toughest town around
Mayor Schock told us at the recent forum that Elgin is doing everything legally possible to curb the presence of illegal aliens in town. He challenged us to name any town that is doing MORE.
Well, let’s give you a little chronology on immigration enforcement in Elgin.
May 2006
Here’s where the enforcement strategy comes in. On May 10, 2006 I received an E-mail response from Lt. Cecil Smith of the Elgin Police. My question was regarding the immigration status of people booked at the jail. Lt. Smith replied, “We do not determine the legal or illegal status of any person being processed. Therefore to asnwer (sic) your question”what do you do next?”. The processing/booking of the person would continue. They would be charge (sic) with the appropriate offense and he/she is either allowed to post bail and released or taken to bond call before a judge. We do not handle immigration issues.”
June 2006
On June 14, 2006 I spoke at the Elgin city council meeting and presented each council member with a binder of data and a list of recommendations to improve our cooperation with federal agencies regarding illegal alien enforcement. My recommendations included:
- Fraudulent document training
- Enforcement of Fraudulent ID laws
- Instructions about the Mexican Drivers License
- Use of the ICE database to screen people booked
- Notification of ICE when an illegal alien is in the city lock up
- Assisting ICE with transport of illegal aliens to ICE facilities
- Becoming a 287g agency.
My request was ignored, so I came back and spoke again…and again…and again…
July 2006
On July 26, 2006 Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack presented her recommendation to the city council: Do nothing beyond what is already being done. She said they had a good working relationship with ICE and saw no need to do more.
The council members did not engage her in discussion, but simply accepted the report.
I continued to speak at council meetings for several weeks in a row.
(Note: In June of 2006 Elgin could have applied for a 287g partnership. The waiting list was short and they were processing applications around the country. The waiting list later grew to hundreds of police departments requesting 287g training.)
January 2008 (A YEAR AND A HALF LATER)
The city issues its “Four Initiatives” press release. Item #1 was applying for ICE ACCESS.
ICE ACCESS isn’t really a program per se. It is more like a menu of services. It is a list of the various programs available from the federal government that may be of use to a local law enforcement agency.
ICE ACCESS was nothing more than a request to sit down with ICE, look at the programs together and sign an agreement for one or more of those programs.
We waited. Nothing happened.
January 2009 (Another YEAR gone by)
I made a Freedom of Information request to the city on January 26, 2009 in an attempt to determine what efforts had been made on ICE ACCESS and what results had been achieved. On February 2, 2009 the city attorney’s office responded that they had made a handful of phone calls and requests for an ICE ACCESS meeting. But no meeting was ever held.
February 2010 (Yet another YEAR gone by)
Police Chief Lisa Womack continues to hold to her position that the city and the police department are doing all that they can.
On February 24, 2010 Womack is talking on a conference call with other police chiefs regarding immigration enforcement. Here’s what the Daily Herald reported:
"If there was a local solution to this issue, and this goes back to my Texas roots, the border states would have already figured it out," said Womack, who was police chief in Sugarland, Texas, before coming to Elgin in 2005. "In my opinion, there is not a local solution."
…and "Immigration law and enforcement is a federal law enforcement matter ... We have no one voice on this issue and it has been polarizing at times for this community."
source: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20100226/news/302269953/#ixzz1GxoBEPWi
April 2010
Lisa Womack is released from her duties as Elgin Police Chief
Do you see any leadership or aggressive pursuit of federal help on the part of Mayor Ed Schock? From June 2006 to April of 2010, the only success story on immigration enforcement in Elgin is the 100% screening that AFLA called for.
And the screening is a disappointment because they never DID ANYTHING with the data. Here they had specific detail they could have used to put pressure on Springfield and Washington, and all they did was sit on it.
When Jeff Swoboda takes over as chief of police things begin to happen. Here’s a couple of articles on the subject.
April 29, 2010, on the heels of an ICE sweep:
Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said the sweep was a good example of how his department is working with ICE.
"The Elgin Police Department will work with any federal agency that will help us in ridding the city of gang members and reducing crime," he said.
(Daily Herald)
On October 26, 2010 the Daily Herald ran this story:
Elgin has a new means to root out gang members, but the city's police chief warns it's not a cure-all by any means.
The department has assigned a detective to be a member of the Public Safety/Gang Unit task force the operates under the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office, or ICE.
“We're the first local agency to have an officer in the unit. It's another tool in our toolbox,” said Police Chief Jeff Swoboda. “
Their No. 1 charge is going after gang members.”
Swoboda also said the department also has an officer that works with ICE's Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, which investigates stolen social security numbers and fake cards.
Remember when I went to the city council in June of 2006 asking for more involvement in the fraudulent ID problem? Well, we finally get something FOUR YEARS LATER!
And then on January 24, 2011 the Herald reported:
A two-day initiative dubbed “Operation Clean Sweep” allowed Elgin police officers to make 87 warrant arrests in cooperation with almost 20 federal, state, county and local agencies. The effort was one of the largest the city has ever initiated and one the Elgin Police Department is calling a tremendous success.
About 250 law enforcement personnel worked Friday and about 150 worked Saturday in a targeted sweep to reconcile outstanding warrants. Out of the 4,200 total warrants, Elgin chose to go after 225 people, apprehending about 40 percent of them.
In conclusion, it appears to me that after two years of fighting us on immigration enforcement, Ed Schock should not step out in front of Chief Swoboda’s parade and call it his own leadership. That’s just not right.
Pass the Dramamine
At the forum Wednesday night (March 16, 2011), Ed Schock was spinning us around pretty good. I had hoped that Dave Kaptain would seize the moment, but he didn't. I had hoped the newspaper reporters would do a little fact-checking, but they didn't.
So, we're going to try to set the record straight.
When questioned about the lack of success in the downtown area renovation projects, Mayor Schock claimed that the public money spent there WAS productive. "Property values are up," he said.
And I wondered how he could say that. Restaurants have closed, condos are empty, office space is vacant...even the cowboy hat store/Mexican bus depot has closed.
Then I figured out where he's getting his numbers. It dawned on me that he was reading the tax bills.
He should know better than to do that. We showed the Kimball Street row house listed at $120,000, down from $400,000 per unit during the initial offering. Most of those units were never sold. But if you looked at the tax bills, you'd think things were just fine.
Here's an example of what I mean. 692 Summit Street.
Here's a chart of the taxes paid on the home:
Everything looks prosperous and successful, right?
And here's what the tax man says the house is worth (Assessed Value x 3):
Wow! This home is worth 33% more than it was six years ago, according to the tax rolls.
But the REALITY is that the home is worth far less. And here's a chart showing the estimated market value of the home:
But it gets WORSE. Here's the ACTUAL home value according to the real estate transactions and past offering prices:
The REALITY is that the home won't even sell for $59,900 and yet the property value on the book at Kane County shows the home worth $182,541.
So, here's the charitable view of what he told us about downtown Elgin: Ed Schock is living in a bureaucrat's world of tax assessment, oblivious to the reality of vacancies and distressed properties.
And here's a less charitable view of what he said: He's spinning the truth at the forums.
More to come on other topics he told us about.
So, we're going to try to set the record straight.
When questioned about the lack of success in the downtown area renovation projects, Mayor Schock claimed that the public money spent there WAS productive. "Property values are up," he said.
And I wondered how he could say that. Restaurants have closed, condos are empty, office space is vacant...even the cowboy hat store/Mexican bus depot has closed.
Then I figured out where he's getting his numbers. It dawned on me that he was reading the tax bills.
He should know better than to do that. We showed the Kimball Street row house listed at $120,000, down from $400,000 per unit during the initial offering. Most of those units were never sold. But if you looked at the tax bills, you'd think things were just fine.
Here's an example of what I mean. 692 Summit Street.
Here's a chart of the taxes paid on the home:
Everything looks prosperous and successful, right?And here's what the tax man says the house is worth (Assessed Value x 3):
Wow! This home is worth 33% more than it was six years ago, according to the tax rolls.But the REALITY is that the home is worth far less. And here's a chart showing the estimated market value of the home:
But it gets WORSE. Here's the ACTUAL home value according to the real estate transactions and past offering prices:
The REALITY is that the home won't even sell for $59,900 and yet the property value on the book at Kane County shows the home worth $182,541.
So, here's the charitable view of what he told us about downtown Elgin: Ed Schock is living in a bureaucrat's world of tax assessment, oblivious to the reality of vacancies and distressed properties.
And here's a less charitable view of what he said: He's spinning the truth at the forums.
More to come on other topics he told us about.
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