Manns Medium

I was presented with this article titled “ How Jared Kushner built a luxury skyscraper using loans meant for job-starved areas By Shawn Boburg for the Washington Post which leaves me with two questions.  The first is why this was not discovered and reported during the campaign and the second is whether this is what even local politicians mean when they say that only they know how government works.  An extension of that question is whether this action has been happening right here in our city of Rockford and other places where federal dollars sent to cities to help with the high unemployment numbers or to benefit the lesser of us were re-routed to serve only those in power or people that they knew in power? The story mentions that “ Jared Kushner and his real estate partners wanted to take advantage of a federal program in 2015 that would save them millions of dollars as they built an opulent, 50-story residential tower in this city’s booming waterfront district, just acro...

Listening to my local news and wondering, out loud, how someone who has millions of dollars to spend could find themselves millions of dollars in the hole just really did not make sense to me.  Especially since the money that they were spending did not totally belong to them.  I had a hard time understanding how someone trusted to represent those who elected them, could ignore their pleas and cries while pretending to hear them at the same time.  After several days of this and many rhetorical questions later, my wife made one solid suggestion.  She suggested that I either stop complaining or run for office and fix the things I saw was wrong.  As I looked into her eyes, saw that she was serious and felt the faith that she had in me to not only care about the suffering but my ability to figure out a way to stop it, I became convinced that she was right.  It didn’t take much longer for me to begin to conceive of ideas and ways to fix these issues as well as j...

It is not often that a single choice can allow a city to effect history.  It is not often that a city can fundamentally change the way all cities are funded.  It is not often that a simple slight change of course could not only alter the way government works but prove an old adage true.  That a rising tide raises all boats and Rockford, IL has an opportunity to make history and forever be remembered as the city that changes the course of human events. It should not come as any surprise to those who are truly paying attention, the  old way of funding government has ran its course.  It was first thought that an idea of funding from the top down was ideal but that soon failed because of the logistics and the true lack of willingness by those at the top.  Some refer to this method as “trickle-down” economics and even though there are still those who think that if we keep trying it, it will work.  There are many that know better. The other option w...

Maybe it’s just me but has anyone else noticed that some cities’ seem larger and more difficult to than the federal government’s?  Has anyone else ever wondered why some cities spend so much money with nothing to show for it that actually betters that city or its citizens as a whole?  Maybe it’s me but before we attempt to advise another city or municipality about what they should be doing, shouldn’t we clean up our city first?  I mean that throwing stones and living in glass houses sort of thing. The reason I bring this up is this morning, I unrolled a copy of the Rockford Register Star, our local paper and saw a headline that says Rockford to go ahead on geopolicing.  The article was about finally placing police departments in three different areas of the city instead on one general location.  It spoke about hiring a consulting firm to come in and show them how it will look, buying up homes and buildings and then halting everything because the money was t...

Can anyone remember how some politicians made it a point to bad-mouth China about how they manipulate their currency and the news media going crazy with stories about how China is taking over this country?  How about those who do not have to try very hard to find a microphone, whining about how slow this economy is growing or those who screamed about how Corporate America is hiding money overseas and sending our jobs over there as well?  Well it appears that Wall Street is not the only ones guilty of selling out this country for tax breaks, oil revenues or other personal considerations according to this article titled “ Mayor, Gorman head to China to raise $25M for Rockford hotel ” by Brian Leaf for the Rockford Register Star, our own mayor is using money from the city to travel to China to sell them a piece of Rockford. The article reports that “ Gary Gorman and Larry Morrissey are Shanghai-bound Wednesday to raise $25 million for Gorman & Company's $67 million plan ...

When it comes to educating our children, there appears to be more excuses than results and even though each individual person may have their own interpretation of why one thing is clear.  The Rockford School District is doing the very same thing, the very same way expecting a completely different result.  Now who says that educators are always the brightest bulbs on the tree? Another school year is about to begin and this same old tired story is resurrected.  Written by Reuben Jones for one of our local TV stations WREX the article titled “ RPS 205 looking at expanding year-round schooling” is reported on yet once again.  The article recalls “in just a few weeks Haskell classrooms will fill with students. Haskell is one of the only schools that are open during the summer. Early education to fifth grade students at Haskell Academy get a six week summer followed by two months of school and then a three week vacation in the fall.  Other RPS 205 students typic...

No one likes to see a young life snuffed out before it even has a chance to grow but many times bad things happens for a good reason and provides us with an opportunity to correct the direction in which we are headed if we would only heed that chance and get the hint. I speak about the recent unnecessary deaths that have occurred in the past few days like the ones I list below;  For our local news 23 WIFR | Rockford, Illinois the title of the article is “ Baby Struck by Vehicle, Driver Leaves the Scene ” and it reports that “Police are searching for the driver who they say hit a 22 month old baby with a car and took off, leaving the child in serious condition.  It happened just before 7:30 pm on Ashland Avenue, which is right next to Andrews Park on Rockford's west side. Investigators were on the scene with an accident reconstructionist and say they are still trying to figure out what happened. Officers say they are now searching for a black Chevy Avalanche with a grey ...

A recent article in our local news about Rockford, IL reports that “Twenty-six Rockford businesses that operate with a liquor license received varying penalties for selling alcohol to minors.  The Illinois Liquor Control Commission Tuesday released the results of a hearing held Sept. 17 at the E.J. Zeke Giorgi Center.”  In this article is speaks of where these businesses were and the fines or penalties imposed whether pending or not.  After reading it, I was glad to hear that there were some enforcement but then another thought occurred to me. The main but missing ingredient to this was parental involvement. Now it should be made clear that you, as a parent, will never be able to protect your children but you can and always should educate them.  Education can come is several different ways, it is not necessarily and only schooling.  Education can come in the form of relaying your wishes of your children never drinking or what to do if they find themselves arou...

Contrary to what some would have people believe, the economy has returned and jobs are popping up all over America.  The issue is people are still feeling less than confident because the unemployment numbers are still high but if one was to take a few minutes and compare the unemployment rate now to what is was before the crash of the economy, they may find themselves surprised by the numbers. Take for example, the job that is being done in Rockford, Illinois by those in the government.  Some time ago, we spoke about how FedEx was about to begin construction for its new facility in this area, then we talked about the construction of two new stores (Aldi’s and Sav-A-Lot) which will soon also start construction here.  Now our local TV station WREX is reporting that “Global aircraft service leader AAR Corporation is opening a new maintenance and repair hangar in Rockford that will create up to 500 new jobs over five years. AAR chose Rockford based on its location, cost ...

So many ask this question but few ever get a straight answer to it.  Most are given the “old tired and true” reasons like lack of sufficient credit or lack of sufficient equity/capital or my favorite, lack of sufficient personal wealth.  Which begs the question, how can any of these be achieved if one cannot get the capital to begin that journey. The real reason that minority and women businesses face a steeper climb up the wealth ladder than others is that program rules are set for those already there or it is designed to keep minority and women owned businesses from ever achieving this status.  I say that because the evidence of such is quite overwhelming, if you look at it honestly. There is a recent story in our local news about a “79 year old former owner, CEO and president of a company called Rockford’s Commercial Mortgage and Finance Company who was just sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on 17 counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of s...

ROCKFORD – 23-year-old Lorenzo Kent Jr. was found guilty of first degree murder in the death of 30-year-old Donmarquis Jackson in Jackson’s driveway of his home in the 1400 block of Nelson Boulevard last May.  Along with some witnesses saying that they overheard Kent threatening to kill Jackson, it was also reported that a major part of the evidence used to convict Kent was a Facebook posting which read something like “My way or the highway, killed in the driveway” posted on Kent’s page after the shooting.  Kent now faces 20 years to life for the choice that he made when he decided to take the actions that he did and because he choose to put it all out on Facebook. Now, for those who still think that Facebook is the best place to air your dirty laundry and make a name for yourself, proof of how much nonsense that makes should be overwhelming clear.  Using Facebook as your personal paparazzi and fan base not only can subject you to those who wish to do you harm knowin...

Rockford’s rich black history began in 1834 when a young 22 year old slave by the name of Lewis Lemon, made the journey from what is now Galena Illinois to what is now Rockford Illinois via the Rock River with his then master Germanicus Kent and a fellow explorer, later turned school teacher/farmer Thatcher Blake. It is also known that approximately 4 plus years later, Lewis Lemon was able to purchases his freedom from Germanicus Kent but that is about as far as it goes.  Very little else is really known about Rockford’s first black founder except the little that can be found about him in some of the old journals and books carefully secured in certain places and of course the fact that he was buried in what is now referred to as Greenwood Cemetery with an inscription on his gravestone that reads “Born slave–Died Free”. Now there are none left to help us discover more about the beginning of this city’s black history regarding this man. Other point of interest that encompasses o...

ROCKFORD, IL To the residents of the west-side of Rockford, nothing was missed more than an elegant restaurant where the atmosphere was welcoming and the food was out of this world.  Well now west-side residents have to worry no more.  Welcome Granny’s Home Cooking Restaurant.  It is located at 3605 Auburn Street and can be reached by phone by calling 815-962-1200.  Their hours of operation are Monday-Saturday 5am – 8pm and Sundays 5am – 3pm.  Trust me when I tell you that the food taste farm fresh for every meal.  There is no such time as wait time between ordering and receiving your meals and the prices will amaze and delight you.  Imagine feeding a family of 4 a full meal including desserts for less than $30.00 in this economy.  The staff is engaged and very enjoyable not to mention treats you with a style of family that only few has ever experienced. I have been there several times and each time I tried a different dish to see if ...

Far be it for me to cast dispersion on anyone, Lord knows I have plenty of skeletons in my closet but when I hear any story about a child not being allowed to mature and grow because of some idiotic lunatic and their supporters, I cannot sit quietly.  This is the case with what has been reported by one of our local television stations WREX (Rockford, IL). The article is quoted as saying “A 40-year-old Rockford man has been found guilty in the beating death of his girlfriend's three-year-old daughter.  Duran Johnson was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder Wednesday. He was also found guilty of concealing a homicide and intimidation. However, he was found not guilty of aggravated battery toward victim Kaitlyn Head's two surviving sisters. He faces a maximum of 100 years in prison.  Head's mother, Melanie Grant, pleaded guilty earlier this year to beating her daughter but claimed Johnson was the one who ultimately killed her.  A forensic pathologist s...

If you are like me, you probably haven’t though much about the current rage of budget cuts.   You typically may not even care or be aware unless you fall into the category of being effected by them.   For many of us, we are so far “behind the eight ball” that anything else bad that happens in our lives is just chalked up to the old adage “oh well”.   Not this time. James Fuller, a reporter for the Daily Herald in Kane County, wrote an article titled “More than 1,000 Kane County DUIs not reported to state” and Brenda Schory, a reporter for the Kane County Chronicle wrote one titled “Thousands of DUI records from Kane County under review”.   Both these article covered how the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office failed to perform its job by transmitting these records to the State so that its records would reflect if requirements to maintain or lose your license had been met.   Needless to mention that hundreds of those who completed every action required to keep th...

Dear Rockford Health Physicians ROCKFORD, IL- After coming to you in hopes that you would be able to help me understand my physical pain and especially with my second trip which manifested itself into such a severe headache that I felt my head was going to explode.   It appeared that many there were much more concerned with whether I had any insurance than what was going on.   They asked the questions but never stood still long enough to receive the answers except for one.   Since you appeared to be just as complexes and stumped as I were as to the cause of my suffering, my insistence for an MRI was honored and to my relief there were no bleeding in the brain or busted vessels.   As with the first visit, you subscribed strong headache medication well outside of my affordability range and sent me on my way.   I left there not feeling satisfied but feeling more like some product on a conveyor belt.   It seemed that you were more concerned with getting us i...

Rockford, IL-Starting yesterday 3/29/2012, the Rockford School District Teacher voted to picket to bring attention to the need for a new contract with the Rockford School District.   There are many on both sides who can clearly explain why this walk-off may be necessary but none seem that convincing.   It did cause me to look deeper to try and understand just who may benefit.   I kept coming back to the kids.   Nothing, it appeared, was of benefit to those who should matter more than anything else.   While those teachers, who walked out, stroll the picket line, the kids are left to their own devices or the hasty implementations of working parents plan for them being home instead of in school.   It also occurred to me that the School District really do not appear to have a valid interest in doing all that they can to keep the teachers in the classroom because they are not risking anything at all. Think about the funds that school districts rece...

For any “wanta-be” mayor of Rockford out there, now may be the time to cast your hat into the ring because the trend now taking lead in our local politics is the firing of Mayor Morrissey.    We may have thought that budget cuts which effects the lives of so many was only being done in other cities and states but today I learned that they are happening here. I awoke to smoke from a small fire within the walls of this home and after checking to make sure that it was something that I could not discover or combat myself, I relied on our fire department.   The 911 operator was with the county but as soon as I explained the situation to her, she immediately put me through to the city.   Minutes later, Engine 3 and Ladder 1 showed up at my address.   They were so very professional that my daughter and my niece began thinking about making fire fighting their career.   I was surprised only by the number of other fire stations that responded and began to question...