The good, the bad, the ugly -- Elgin style
One of my favorite actors and directors of all time is Clint Eastwood.
He's one cool dude, plus he played one of my favorite movie characters, Inspector Harry Callahan, aka "Dirty Harry."
So how does this relate to Elgin?
It's just a little intro for this Harry's version of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" - Elgin style.
The Good: The city's Veteran's Memorial Park Dedication service on Tuesday. Hundreds of people came out in a pretty cold day for the dedication of a classy, tasteful memorial. Speeches were eloquent, local veterans participated by raising several flags and the city treated some 300 veterans and their families to lunch.
The Bad: It took a long time for the $750,000 project to come to fruition and some veterans, such as Art Richoz, didn't live to see it happen.
The Ugly: Like many events for veterans, there was a rifle salute. There's been way too many real bullets fired in Elgin recently.
The Good: Instead of risking long-term budget deficits, the city worked to cut more than $5 million in expenses. If people want government to function more like a business, well, here you go.
The Bad: The cost cutting resulted in 16 employees being laid off and overall, 54 positions will be eliminated through layoffs, attrition, not filling vacancies and reassignments. Some pretty good people that myself and other writers at the Daily Herald have worked with in the past were let go.
The Ugly: City officials are reviewing fees charged to developers and residents alike. No decisions have been made, but it could cost you more for recreation programs or a building permit for that new deck next year.
The Good: The city's Public Works crews have been busy setting up holiday decorations around downtown and on street lights. Getting this done now hopefully will ensure all hands are on deck for the tail end of leaf pickup, which people complained about last year.
The Bad: If the city is trying to save money, why are these decorations lit up now? Why not wait until the day after Thanksgiving?
The Ugly: As of midweek, street lights on the Kimball Street bridge and near the parking lot north of the Hemmens were adorned with holiday decorations on one side. But the other side still displayed Elgin fireworks banners that said "summer." The winter banners are on order and should come in next week, but who didn't think ahead to at least take the summer banners down when the Christmas decorations were going up?
The Good: The city is thinking about banning single bottle and large can sales of beer and harder liquors. Their rationale is that a lot of drunks buy one large beverage at a time. This move will deter them from drinking from a bagged bottle, later littering and breaking other laws.
The Bad: I'm sure the brave people taking anonymous pot shots on the Daily Herald message boards will have a field day with this one.
The Ugly: You can still say "beer me," right?