I think Rauner is a jackwagon....a big phony...a billionaire who wears flannel shirts to act like a common man. But I can't stand madigan either...true Chicago crook...in Crook County.
(I don't even know why the above paragraph is there....that's the Seagrams 7 talking, not the 7 up)
I wish we would all take off the partisan cap.
Take care of people, treat them like human beings....but I think consolidating taxing districts and consolidating services would be a great step.
The Metro East has no clout in Illinois....
Alton-Riverbend with WoodRiver, Godfrey and Bethalto --- make it a consolidated entity.
Granite and all points in the corner of MadCo..make it a consolidated entity.
Edwardsville, Glen Carbon...with even Hamel and Worden.......... make it one...
Collinsvile, Maryville......and State Park make it all one....
Troy can fit in there somewhere.
Highland, Marine and some of those towns out east.... Make it all one....
Divide Madison County into six divisions....instead into all these fiefdoms...
Create consolidated school districts...
Think of it this way --- Granite City is the second largest city south of Springfield --- after Bellville....
Still it has little clout, few people have heard of it beyond the St. Louis metro...
But if the cities consolidate....and we form larger cities in the metro east.... suddenly the state would take notice.
Illinois itself has too many levels of Government. The St. Louis area thrives on postage stamp municipalities....where you could have 12 police chiefs along the I-170 corridor where 2-3 would suffice.
With Deeism in effect -- Madison County could have 2-3 super municipalities with 50,000 + poeple including the southwest corner. St. Clair County should do the same. In St. Clair, tax evasion is the issue....hence we have Sauget and Alorton -- outside of East St. Louis...
These multiplications of services mean more supervisors, and more people that live on comfortable supervisor salaries of $75,000 + -- at the end of the day, that's why so many ares in Illinois have an oversaturation of government.
We need to take off our partisan caps. Madigan and Rauner are both Chicago crooks.....pumping money in campaigns across the state. They don't care about you and me...
on April 1, 2017, 10:22 pm, in reply to "