While taking a stroll down Genesee Street this afternoon, take a look at what I saw...no, WHO I saw, landscaping Benny Park. What the hell is this? Why in the world would the City of Waukegan lay off all of those Public Works employees, then hire a PRIVATE landscaping company to do the same job?!
This makes me furious! There is absolutley no way the city of Waukegan can be saving money by hiring an outside outfit.
There must be some kind of nepotism going on. Someone within City Hall must have a relationship with this company to have the AUDACITY to hire an outside company.
I think I'll send these photos to the News Sun and hope for answers from City Hall.
The City of Waukegan Public Works have planted & maintained the spring/summer flowers as well as the Winter planter decos for at least the last several years. I am certain of this. They have also maintained Benny Park.
This is a disgrace and a slap in the face of Waukegan workers.
I dread being the first one to tell you this, oh dear city employee, The private sector employees have all lost their jobs and the tax base is shrinking by the day. Your livelyhood depends on a vibrant private sector who pays the taxes that cover your wages and benefits. When we get laid off so do you. Because the upper tier of government workers are more important than you are, even though they are the cause of this economical dilemma, they will circle their wagons and protect their birthright. So, wise up, like some of us have, and join a local 9-12 organization and pitch in to help dig ourselves out of the deep hole that we now find ourselves in. The Economic Director is drawing almost 150K a year. I'm sure you appreciate all that this person has contributed to the betterment of our community these last several years. Why does everybody whine about the dreary situation facing this community and continue to reelect the same dreary people, election after election? All I can tell you is this: The bigger government grows, the more money they need to fund their operation, and we(the private sector employees) will have less money to bring home.
ClassicalLib17 Wrote:I dread being the first one to tell you this, oh dear city employee, The private sector employees have all lost their jobs and the tax base is shrinking by the day. Your livelyhood depends on a vibrant private sector who pays the taxes that cover your wages and benefits. When we get laid off so do you. Because the upper tier of government workers are more important than you are, even though they are the cause of this economical dilemma, they will circle their wagons and protect their birthright. So, wise up, like some of us have, and join a local 9-12 organization and pitch in to help dig ourselves out of the deep hole that we now find ourselves in. The Economic Director is drawing almost 150K a year. I'm sure you appreciate all that this person has contributed to the betterment of our community these last several years. Why does everybody whine about the dreary situation facing this community and continue to reelect the same dreary people, election after election? All I can tell you is this: The bigger government grows, the more money they need to fund their operation, and we(the private sector employees) will have less money to bring home.
So what is the M O of this local "9-12 organization" "to help dig ourselves out of the deep hole that we now find ourselve in"?
Is the M O totally nonviolent and fully law-abiding ???
I ask this question because you invite us to "join" such a "9-12 organization", and I really want to know. For I would NEVER join any organization that would either overtly or subtly advocate violence or work outside the law seek to redress perceived grievances.
You would have to attend a meeting and judge for yourself. You might even find you know some of the members. Let's face the facts, both political parties have been on an extended spending binge that has no end in sight. And I will say, with 100% certainty, no matter what party is in control of congress, if the earmarks and wasteful spending don't stop you will see our members and other chapters engaging in peaceful protest at congressional district offices and townhall meetings wherever necessary. This action will especially apply to the Progressive Republicans out there. Our M O consists of educating our members on the issues and Federal Constitutional limits that our founding fathers crafted more than 220 years ago. Personally, I think our members are the opposite of what you would find at your typical political organization, especially since there are no jobs to hand out to political hacks, relatives, and favorites. We become members because we want to become involved in the political process in a meaningful way. We want our message and votes to count. Our membership consists of people you would come in contact with on a daily basis. Peace, my friend. P.S. Our coffee and sweets are always worth coming out for, and bring a non-perishable food item for the local food pantry. I hope you will consider attending a meeting.
ClassicalLib17 Wrote:You would have to attend a meeting and judge for yourself. You might even find you know some of the members. Let's face the facts, both political parties have been on an extended spending binge that has no end in sight. And I will say, with 100% certainty, no matter what party is in control of congress, if the earmarks and wasteful spending don't stop you will see our members and other chapters engaging in peaceful protest at congressional district offices and townhall meetings wherever necessary. This action will especially apply to the Progressive Republicans out there. Our M O consists of educating our members on the issues and Federal Constitutional limits that our founding fathers crafted more than 220 years ago. Personally, I think our members are the opposite of what you would find at your typical political organization, especially since there are no jobs to hand out to political hacks, relatives, and favorites. We become members because we want to become involved in the political process in a meaningful way. We want our message and votes to count. Our membership consists of people you would come in contact with on a daily basis. Peace, my friend. P.S. Our coffee and sweets are always worth coming out for, and bring a non-perishable food item for the local food pantry. I hope you will consider attending a meeting.
Thank you for explaining the 9-12 organization to which you belong much better. I like the peaceful protest action, that is totally appropriate in our democracy.
And I do thank you for the invite. I may just take you up on your invite to learn more about this perspective.
WT, You just may find you have a new outlet in which to apply your skills, far removed from the unpleasantries and manipulations of typical local political organizations. Thank you
The City of Waukegan Public Works have planted & maintained the spring/summer flowers as well as the Winter planter decos for at least the last several years. I am certain of this. They have also maintained Benny Park.
This is a disgrace and a slap in the face of Waukegan workers.
According to city council minutes there has been outside contractors for flower planting and maintenance in, at least 2002, 2005 and 2006. The newer minutes are not archived and thus are not searchable. If I have time later I'll manually search through them to find more recent evidence.
January 22, 2002 city council minutes:
AWARD THE BID FOR FLOWER PLANTING TO G&S SERVICES APPROVED 12. Motion by Alderman Hyde, seconded by Alderman Cunningham to award the Bid for the 2002 Flower Planting Contract to the low bid of G & S Services in Beach Park, Illinois in an amount not to exceed $38,400.00.
This from April 4, 2005 city council minutes:
TO AWARD THE BID FOR THE ANNUAL FLOWER CONTRACT TO MILIEU DESIGN APPROVED 20. Motion by Alderman Cunningham, seconded by Alderman TenPas to award the bid for the Annual Flower Contract to Milieu Design not to exceed $8,995.00. ROLL CALL: AYES: Aldermen Newsome, TenPas, Needham, Larsen, Rivera, Cunningham, Balen, Moisio & Figueroa NAYS: None ABSENT: None MOTION PASSED
This is from the April 17, 2006 city council minutes:
TO AWARD THE BID FOR THE CONTRACT 2006-04-FLOWER PLANTING PROGRAM
26.� Motion by Alderman TenPas, seconded by Alderman Rivera to award the bid for Contract 2006-04-Flower Planting Program to the low qualified bidder Landscaping of McHenry, Illinois in an amount not to exceed $6,680.00, as presented.
ROLL CALL:� AYES:� Aldermen Balen, Moisio, Figueroa, Newsome, TenPas, Needham, Larsen, Rivera & Cunningham
Joining a 9-12 group is not the answer to a failed system that is not designed to sustain itself. Our current system is destined to fail at some point in the future and there is nothing anyone or anything can do about it. It is inherent in the system. A monetary based capitalistic system is very dependant on continual exploitation of labor. When jobs are lost because of tecnological obsolesence via the increased use of automation and robots, this process is eroded and no longer viable. To try to address this problem without considering the root causes of the problem, such as this 9-12 group purports, is only akin to treating the symptoms and is destined to fail. Some day in the future, in order to truly advance our society, and that has to be on a global level for all of humankind, it will be necessary to abandon the old and move on to a more viable, sane and sustaining system. That is to say nothing about how prone to corruption the current system is. There are terrible aspects of our current system that permeate and taint all of humankind and we seem to not want to notice. One day we will have to lay capitalism to rest, but the death of capitalism does not mean a turn to socialism for socialism will have to die also. There are better ways to live for all of us. We are almost at the point of technological advancement that will allow us to adopt entirely new ways. We will get there if we don't annihilate each other first.
