The Way I See It!

Our Past Not Our Future

Posted by Randy Hollenbeck on Nov. 8, 2009

Cudahy, Development, KRM, Metra

You cannot move forward into the past!

While sitting and waiting for a meeting in the hallway of City Hall, there is a blanket with needlepoint.  It displays the Cudahy Depot 1892 train tracks celebrating Cudahy 100 year anniversary 1906-2006.

City Hall, Fire & Police Station 1900’s, Horse & Carriage, Cudahy Packing Co. Circa 1892, Washington School 1895, Packard Ave Circa 1900’s, Cudahy Seals and Cudahy Family Library 2003

Trains!  Trains!  Trains!  That is a battle cry of so many.  They sound so much like the zombies from Night of the Living dead with trains instead of brains!

The Kool-Aid has spilled and is drying up!

What is my angle, betterment of Cudahy! 

Cudahy is not a Phoenix and doesn’t have to be reborn. 

Cudahy is middleclass and we need to remember that is its strong suit!  Its people are assets not liabilities.

We need to concentrate on the good parts like remaining businesses, reducing the amount of multifamily units and convert them to single-family homes that can be owned by the former renters. 

Cudahy needs to find the proper balance of rental properties to homeowners.

But none of our problems will be fixed by trains!  Trains are not the answer, they are our past.  I know some people have a hard time letting go of the past.  (Gasp!)

If the future is train & rail and the left is in charge, why did the auto industry get bailed out?

Some train worshipers feel that America and Cudahy was prospering when trains were the mode of mass transportation, but it will not work in today’s global environment. 

Mayor McCue is selling make-believe when it comes to the KRM turning Cudahy around.  Does Mayor McCue want the KRM just so he can connect to the Metra to visit his family in Naperville?

I was very upset to hear that Mayor McCue tried to get a $20,000 KRM train station plan squeezed in the budget, to be paid for by the Cudahy taxpayers.  Remember just because it is TIF doesn’t mean it is free, it is still on the tax levy!  (Shaking my head in disgust)

Newsflash people, NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE!!!!!

We need to create an environment that will foster business/job growth.  Raising taxes is not the answer to our current economic challenges.

Cudahy taxpayers want government to live within its means and to set spending priorities that reflect their priorities, rather than seek ever increasing amounts of taxpayer funds for programs that serve few if any.

And they wonder why the public have nothing but contempt for our politicians...The mind boggles!

We need the right size government we can afford on a budget,

I really wish government would have to do a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) involved in any project they try to pass in the budget!

How about have some private hotel come forward and build a hotel with restaurant that incorporates a KRM train station in it.  All paid for by the private hotel.

The tax rate is the result of the tax levy required to finance all City spending divided by the total assessed value of the City.

Everyone repeat after me: The (Tax) "Rate" means nothing, the (Tax) “Levy" means everything.

It is not the percent or rates that matters but the levy!  The levy is everything!  We will not fall for the common trick because people are becoming empowered and informed!