There are times when certain things are better left unsaid. This isn’t one of those times. Before I get into those “certain things” let me remind you of the little legal note at the bottom of this blog. “Opinions expressed are not affiliated with any media outlet and/or business. Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.“ Now that you’ve read that I shall dive into another rant that could probably get me in trouble. But when has that stopped me?

            The problem with Rockford, Illinois is not the small city itself not even necessarily the residents. It’s mainly the people that run the city. I guess it’s hard to complain we're the voters, although I use ‘we’ quite loosely because my guess is that only a small portion of the city’s residents actually vote.  There is so much potential in this city but it’s never going to reach it’s full potential because of way it’s ran. Rockford is incredibly behind on development in so many ways, but that’s not even the point of this blog. I should probably say that not all people or parties are doing a bad job. Just a few in particular. I’m not going to pin-point a specific individual like I intended to do in the first place. However, I will comment on the actions of an alderman in the Rockford area. This alderman was interviewed by Rockford Register Star in 2009 and said “Our city’s future lies in the hands of our youth.” Let’s forward to 2011 and focus on an event in which this alderman signed the permit, which had a fee, for a multiple day event that was put together to raise money for a neighborhood school. A neighborhood school in Rockford. Seems like a kind gesture for a great cause, right? Even though the noise ordinance is 11pm the event was shut down early for both nights. Really?! Ok, I can probably assume there were actually a few noise complaints but then again someone paid for a permit, which the alderman approved, that included the 11pm ruling. The craziest thing is the fact that it wasn’t the closest neighbors complaining, it was people from 10-15 minutes away. Are you kidding me? I know for a fact that someone was filling the Police Department and alderman a load of crap because I have friends that live less than 5 minutes from the location of the event and they could only hear the thump of a kick drum. This alderman, and the Police need to worry about crime and senior citizens damn near crashing into a ticket booth full of people, including children.

            I’m going to make sure I do an address change simply to vote again this alderman, yes I live in their ‘ward’ or whatever the hell it’s called. I don’t care if I have to write in a name on the ballot, this yahoo will not get my vote. Of course I know that one vote might not make a difference. The alderman’s interview with the paper about focusing on youth is complete bull. There were many high school kids that volunteered their time to work and help promote this event that was raising money for their school and yet the alderman could have cared less. He/she only cared about they’re senior citizen voters in their ward. It amazes me how Festa Italiana wasn’t shut down early. I’ve been to that festival many times and I can guarantee the sound system at the event was much larger than ours. It’s a shame when someone positive in the Rockford area is stopped because of an old school alderman. I would LOVE to hear an explanation for the actions that took place. Better yet, the school, the business owners, and every that put in a lot of time and effort deserve a logical explanation. If that actually happens I’m buying a lottery ticket.

Dear Alderman,

            You’re the reason ‘there’s nothing to do in Rockford’. Maybe you should stop living in 1970 and skip ahead to 2011, it’s a fun time. I had no idea you could control the police department as well, kudos. Can you get out of moving violations too? Have you considered the negative effects of your actions? Have you looked at your part of Rockford as a whole and not as… whatever way you see it as. You know, you said the youth of Rockford is our future but here’s the thing, the "youth" are moving out of Rockford. Not necessarily because of you, but also because our school system is a joke, we have the worst roads, there aren’t jobs, and Rockford is run in an ‘old school’ fashion. Please let me know if you would like to meet and discuss. We’ll do lunch.

Sincerely,

            JB Love.