respublica

This is most certainly not true

What is the best bakery in Illinois? According to Mashed, it is Lost Larson located in Chicago. Of course it would be located in Chicago, most food experts rarely venture much beyond that area. But I beg to differ.

Kruta Bakery in Collinsville is right up at the top when it comes to bakeries. Mashed foodies have probably never gotten further south in Illinois than Homewood. This sort of thing happens a lot when it comes to "best of" anything in Illinois.

We know better down here.

And in the same vein, a ranking of the best places to live in Illinois by niche.com, were all in the Chicago area. I mean seriously folks, do these Illinois surveyors ever get out of Chicagoland? And, the top Illinois cities in which to live are all suburbs. Shocker. Part of my growing up years were spent on the southside of Chicago, the Roseland neighborhood, the the second half in the west suburb of Villa Park. I loved those places but that is not all there is to Illinois. And...

The city ranked the top best is a place I have never heard of: Bannockburn! Sounds more like it should be in Scotland and must be a fairly new suburb comparatively.

Here is the list

1. Bannockburn
2. Long Grove
3. Clarendon Hills
4. Naperville
5. Inverness
6. Hinsdale
7. Buffalo Grove
8. Western Springs
9. Kildeer
10. Evanston

 

Kahoks to DC

Last week one of the Collinsville High School classes took a tour of Washington DC. What was fun for me was our daughter Katie who works for the senate, gave them a bit of a tour.

NO is an important word tomorrow (Updated)

Home rule stays in place in Collinsville after yesterday's election rejected those who wanted it gone. 5,442-2,106   This is a huge relief.

I've been mentally obsessing over tomorrow's elections, most specifically the item dealing with Home Rule. The question for voters will be a yes or no question-Should Collinsville cease being a home rule unit.

The city has done very well with Home Rule so why is there an entity which got this on the ballot and who is pushing ending it. It seems is a couple of realtor associations which want this gone and got it on the ballot. So I ask, "what benefit is losing home rule to realtors?" There must be more money for them and probably a lessening of property up keep ordinances. Without Home Rule, Collinsville will be more subject the state of Illinois and frankly, who wants this? Realtor groups must believe they can more easily lobby the state to get what most benefits them.

When we drive around town and see signs which read: Vote Yes to end Home Rule, they are often in front of rental property and vacant lots. This tells me a lot about who is behind this.

It frustrates me to even think of how things will change if we lost Home Rule after tomorrow. The city will lose the sales tax which has funded its public works, fire and police. Public works has the responsibility to run the streets department, water department and sewer plant. All of these have been excellent and kept this town running well and looking good.  Losing this money will mean these departments will have to be funded through property taxes which also means our property taxes will rise.

Why would anyone be in favor of this? I can't get my head around subjecting ourselves to what realtor associations want or more state of Illinois interference. And here's the thing. No local voter should go for this. Back to the question. Who benefits if Home Rule is defeated? Not the people of Collinsville.

If after tomorrow we lose Home rule, anyone who voted in favor of this better not be up at city hall complaining about a rise in their real estate tax.

Vote NO to keep Home Rule. The ballot is a weird negative, voting no means keeping Home Rule. Vote Yes if you want to put more money in the pockets of Realtors.

 

Taking care of our streets

The city of Collinsville's public works department does a fantastic job of keeping up with streets, storm drains, water/sewer, just about everything. Today they are doing our street, cleaning, oiling and probably chipping. This gets messy, but in the end fixes small holes and makes our block look nice. The first truck down this morning vacuumed and the second just now washed the road. This will be followed by two more during the course of the day.

We are very fortunate here to be in a city in which everything works well and looks good.

 

 

Storm Drain

Last week this area had a ton of rain, inches and inches of rain. All over the St. Louis area roads were flooded and homes and businesses took on water. It was a huge mess. The local news was all about the water issues in many parts of the area, but one place we didn't hear much about roads flooding was here in Collinsville. I got to wondering just why this was, very little flooding. And then as I looked out the front door I remembered the city spending a lot of time putting in new and larger storm drains beginning in around 2014. Before that big storms would cover streets in certain areas and the city decided to get to work on drain plans.

I remember over the years that our neighbors who lived in the first couple of houses on the street would get basement water with almost every rain. I spent a lot of time helping shop vac up much of it. The small storm drains back then could not hold the water which spilled out and ponded a large area. As I watched the huge rain last week I noticed the street was not ponding, the water was going down the drains perfectly and I'd guess this was the same over most of the city.

I gave kudos to the city for deciding to do this back in those years. Here are two photos I took back in 2014 when this work began. Dale and I took our dog for an after dinner walk and looked over all the new concrete drain work waiting to be put in on Vandalia.

Our street got a new, larger drain and the street department guys are very diligent about keeping it clear of leaves and debris.

Here is a look back at 2014, the beginning.

The jokes rang so true

The best April Fools Day jokes are those which seem credible. The shout of "April Fool!" after we've believed in whatever the situation was, often has us disappointed or relieved to know it was not true.

This April 1 in Collinsville had 3 really really believable things turn out to be a joke and had us saying "oh nuts" this would have been so cool if true.

The first was a supposed plan to have a hot air balloon created like our Catsup Bottle water tower. There were even pictures of the catsup bottle balloon floating in the air with the news it would be entered in St. Louis' Great Forest Park Balloon Race in September. This was entirely believable and just about everyone who read this was thrilled. Then came "April Fool". I still think some sponsor could arrange to make a balloon out of this landmark.

Then there was the news that the former site of the long gone Burger King was going to be a Chik-A-Filet complete with photo of the company's sign out front with the words: Coming Soon. This was very disappointing so many here really really want a Chick-A-Filet.

Lastly, at least from what I saw was the news that Belt Line Road, a major east west roadway in Collinsville was finally going to be repaved and maybe even widened. It needs it so badly but again, it was April Fool!

Very clever people but oh, these things would have been so great if true.

Kahok Strong

One of the most impressive programs at Collinsville High School is Kahok Strong.  KAHOKstrong is a student-based organization that was created to assist students, staff, and families in the Collinsville Community Unit School District #10 community during times of tragedy or need.

It just an amazing effort going on by students and staff. Money goes for student scholarships and each year, KAHOKstrong purchases Christmas gifts for Unit 10 families students/families who are in need to help provide their children with gifts to open on Christmas day.  Throughout the school year, KAHOKstrong is the first group in the CUSD 10 community to reach out to families who experience catastrophic events or need.  KAHOKstrong uses their resources and takes the lead in soliciting funds to assist these families.  Funds designated to these families are passed totally and directly to them.  

Recently the Festival of Trees organizers gave this group 16,000 plus dollars to aid in the work they do. This is an effort which gets the whole school involved and just amazes me.

City Slogans

I found this rather fascinating this morning as I read about a city contest Glen Carbon has been running. Back in November city officials started a contest in order to "define the village and provide a statement that embodies who the village is, its residents and its businesses." The mayor and trustees then narrowed the entries down to 8 and will soon be choosing one. The above link has the finalists.

This got me to thinking about Collinsville, does the city have a slogan or some sort? There was Discover Collinsville which if I remember correctly was related to the Chamber of Commerce. Home of the Kahoks was used in some areas. Officially I haven't found a slogan which is used in all levels. But...

I found this city video from 2018 which initiated Collinsville-Gateway to the East.

I actually like this and its the first I've seen or heard of it. I'm going looking for anything official with this slogan on it. The video is worth watching.

Risky places

One of the first things I read this morning was an article on the top ten riskiest places to be during the latest Covid outbreak. Which means places that make the spread much easier. Most include places where lots of people are together indoors.

So a later article from the Edwardsville Intelligencer had me dumbfounded and wondering about all the mixed messages we get from the news. This headline read: "Fishing Catches on for Thousands in Collinsville." This past weekend a fishing show was held at the Gateway Center and that brought in the thousands. The story made this seem like a good thing, fishing is now really popular and those who attended were thrilled.

Frankly, even though I am no expert on contagion, this seems way over the top for safety. I am aware of how many of us are now pretty tired of restrictions and warnings, but the number of rising cases should give us pause.

Traffic jam

Who knew a kick boxing tournament would draw such a huge crowd? Well, I now know this to be true after coming home from church and finding cars parked on both sides of the street from one end to the other. And, the entire American Legion parking lot was full to the brim. After I'd pulled into our driveway I realized that if I had go out again, it would be a tight squeeze getting onto the street.

I know nothing about kick boxing, but it sure must have its adherents. Some of our other neighbors are really hemmed in, though, should they need to get out. And, I wonder, where is the Legion putting all these people.