05-22-2010, 09:16 AM
What I have found most revealing about the "State of Waukegan" are the post-speech reactions of a good number of our residents. The mayor lays out in the starkest, clearest terms that the city is teetering on the edge of financial catastrophe and points to conduct of prior administrations that he deems reckless, if not criminal. Yet for some, it's like the speech was never made. The minute the mayor stops talking, these people are once again all worked up about a comparatively small issue like whether liquor should be sold in gas station minimarts. This shortsightedness, this unwillingness to care about or inability to understand the big picture, is to me even more frightening than the financial numbers.