Thompson-Kelly goes from worst to best week ever

Indeed, it's a sad day when the likes of Ann Thompson can outshoot the old clout-master Lenny Jacobson in a showdown. Truly, Lenny is losing his Kung Fu grip if he lost this one.

The Southgate/Church School votes appeared to be tipped in Jacobson's favor after an unflattering story about Thompson's cash advance from a park district credit card at a casino surfaced last week. Lucky for her, few read the weekly that chronicled the would-be scandal, but I'm sure she had to tolerate a little friendly ribbing from her counterparts that read the rag solely out of vanity. Thompson apparently declined to comment for the article unless the Times would snitch on their source. They wouldn't, but the timing almost suggests who may have been behind the tip.

No one is more surprised than me that Jacobson has deviated from his usual pro-union position to oppose the Village of Southgate development, even though it means "hundreds" of short-term union jobs. As I mentioned months ago, his support may have been assured if Landwhite had offered to include a bar in its plans for the apartments to secure Lenny's beverage-association consent. Ah well, they didn't need him anyway; not when they had the rest of the city's wards breathing a sigh of relief that the low-income, soon-to-be slum wouldn't be in their backyards.

For once, though, Lenny actually had some legitimate arguments. The site, nestled on the edge of town right next to the bypass and 11th Street, is best suited for truck stops and tractor pulls. It's not a quiet place you or I would want to live the good life. And despite the claim rents will range from about $600-$900, let's face it, it's just gonna wind up being a place to raise welfare babies, and we've already got no shortage of 'hoods like that. It's just gonna make those existing places even worse.

The major selling point: The city won't have to directly subsidize either development. That's right, Landwhite will put up $800,000 of its own money, while the remaining $24,000,000 will be spread out among the entire nation's taxpayers, not just Rockford's; federal money well spent to buy more blight so that Larry can justify more TIF districts. Maybe he'll decide the existing TIF will become so blighted that he'll have to declare another one on top of it. Two pots on the same burner to steal from! Fucking brilliant. I've gotta take tea with this guy.

As for the Church School shithole, there's not a single old person who deserves to spend the rest of their days in that neighborhood, even if it has the occasional police presence of an overworked cop taking a breather to fill out a report there. The building should just be razed.

Thompson just got the only bone the administration is gonna throw her for a long time, and she should have picked a better battle. Well played, Mr. Mayor. While she was at it, she is also likely to have pissed off Scott Christiansen's right-hand-token-black-man, Earl Dotson, Jr., whose dad lost Church School to the city after she turned her back on him so that a few white men could make a buck instead. Tsk, tsk, Annie.

Now her favors are used up, so she will have no leverage if the city decides to take MFT bucks from her ward. If that happens, you can thank Aunt Thom-pson for fucking up (downscaling) the long-awaited West State Street upgrades. Or, since the city has a habit of moving the public's money wherever it wants, perhaps the Morgan Street Bridge will suffer instead. That is, until a full school bus, or fire truck with only three fire fighters, fails to traverse it without falling through.

Slumlord: Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours

LandWhite Developers, a New York firm specializing in "low-income housing" and opportunism, wants to help Rockford. No, really. Rockford attorney Ian Linnabary said so. It must be true.

LandWhite is dead-set on rejuvenating the city by welcoming 158 poor individuals and families to the Village at Southgate, which would be sited at 11th Street and Sandy Hollow. Unfortunately for the developers, neither city staff nor the ZBA think it's a good idea, and it's in direct conflict with Rockford's long-range plan. The city feels the area is better suited for commercial and industrial tenants, but the plot thickens as a pair of aldermen who've comfortably been in office too long are holding the wooden spoon and tending the spice rack.

After a poor diagnosis for the project was corroborated by city staff and the ZBA, the request made its way to a city council committee, but no vote was taken because Ann Thompson-Kelly and Lenny Jacobson were curiously absent from City Hall Monday night.

The apartment complex, destined to become a rapidly-depreciating slum, happens to be in Lenny Jacobson's ward. Regardless of what his constituents, who'd be neighbors of the complex, have to say about it, Lenny always puts unions first. I mean, how else do you think the guy remains in office? If that's not enough incentive for Lenny to back the plan, maybe LeonardWhite could propose putting a bar in the complex to seal the deal. Time to retire from politics, Lenny. I'm getting a hard-on for your bullshit. This is your opportunity to bow out gracefully before I release the Rottweilers with orders to go for the balls.

Ann Thompson-Kelly seems to have an interest as well. LandWhite has been chomping at the bit for months to "redevelop" the former Church School in her ward. They want to turn it into a 44-unit home for old folks. I wonder if Thompson still dips her toes in the concrete business, as was the case with her company being awarded a sweetheart sub-contract for the new justice center (courtesy of Sjostrom & Sons).

The other option for Church School is demolition of a building that holds many fond memories for lifelong residents in the area, despite falling into disrepair. Last year, the city wrestled away the dilapidated building from a minority group that dreamed of turning the building into a community center. Annie turned on them and backed the foreclosure when LandWHITE offered an alternative which would allow the company to acquire the property for next to nothing. Black voters in the 7th Ward should remember this when she's running for re-election. Despite all her lip service to remain in the good graces of the African-American community, let's just call her Aunt Thom-pson.

The 7th Ward needs the kind of representation the 5th Ward is getting from the likes of council freshman Venita Hervey, who truly has her finger on the pulse of the best interest of the black community in Rockford. Hervey impresses me, and local government needs more folks like her, even if she is a lawyer.
Back to the Village at Southgate. LandWhite is only offering $800,000 of its own money, while trying to cash in on $16,800,000 of taxpayer risk. Take a look at those two figures again to make sure you read them correctly.

The Register Star reported:

"The city should deviate from its land-use plan for a number of reasons, Linnabary said, including the project’s merit and the developer’s potential involvement in another project of great importance to the city.

“This developer is willing to work with the city on the redevelopment of Church School," Linnabary said. 'The developer will be making no money on it, but they can make a profit in the residential project. They’re willing to do Church School if they can get Southgate.”

Hmmm. So, LandWhite is only willing to be a do-gooder if the city breaks the rules for them to build an apartment complex that nobody wants or needs? Meanwhile, they say they won't turn a profit on the Church School project, which they say they'll only redevelop if Southgate is approved. In other words, they're gonna make such a huge profit on Southgate that they'll buy votes in other wards in order to get the 10 votes they need for approval.

Fuck these out-of-towners in both ears and any other readily-apparent orifices. They only want to collect state-guaranteed rent on projects that would shrivel their dick like a stack of dimes without taxpayer subsidization.

Lenny must go. Annie must go. And LandWhite, most assuredly, needs to take a hike. If a better offer doesn't come along, demolition would still be an improvement.

Watch closely May 10. Prepare your scorecards. I suspect the vote will be very much along party lines. That's why Democrats held it out May 3 in absence of Lenny and Annie. It needs their votes to have a chance at passing. The question is, which Republicans can be bought behind the scenes before then?