As we all try to keep our axles intact while doing the slalom around the potholes in and around the township, I have a few more gripes than the potholes-though some are getting big enough to swallow a car.
Have you noticed that that there are almost no postboxes around anymore? The familiar blue, metal devices which used to be around the township are now pretty much limited to the outsides of post offices and municipal buildings.
I guess that they have become victims of the Internet, as more and more people send their messages electronically rather than through “snail mail”. I guess that this is also the reason that stamp prices are going up, yet again, because fewer people are buying them.
Everyone has noticed that most metropolitan newspapers have gotten physically smaller so as to save newsprint. If they get any smaller, they will be the size of magazines. But then, magazines are getting smaller, too. I guess the good news is that more trees will live to counteract global warming.
Newspaper bulk is almost more limited due to fewer pages, fewer advertisers and fewer reporters to get at the news. I find that problematic as the media, flaws and all, is one of the few ways we have to keep government honest. And, in spite of the smaller size, the price goes up. We are in a tough media cycle, maybe one from which we never return.
Have you noticed how paltry plastic bandages have become? It is not just the brand names, but the generic ones as well. No more cloth, gauze centers but paper-paper that is half the size of a postage stamp. Now, moms and dads, tell me just how many skinned knees these flimsy bandages will cover?
Now I see that United Airlines is going to charge $25 for a second piece of ticketed luggage, as if all the hullabaloo about carry-ons is not enough of a misery. I know that fuel for airplanes is going up; it is for cars, as well. So, charge more for the ticket rather than adding on picky expenses, which just make flying more miserable than it already is.
Would Cook County dare to lay a vehicle sticker upon us at roughly $40 a car? Might Cook County try cutting back on some of its bloat before it comes back to its constituents for more money?
Between the dysfunction of the State of Illinois and Cook County, we experience a two-fer of governmental inefficiency. And speaking of Cook County, it might take a look at its once-beautiful forest preserves and clean up the debris and fallen branches, because they look like a tornado went through them.
Maybe citizens, scouts, volunteers of any kind would consider working with the county to clean up these forests else new growth will be impeded, making our forests more and more mangy. Maybe Cook County can take a lesson from neighboring DuPage County, which keeps their preserves in good shape.
Aren’t you just sick and tired of this ever longer and overblown election season? It would seem that we are always in an election cycle of some kind. This presidential election has added almost a full year to campaigning.
When I think that other countries limit the time that these campaigns take, I wonder why we have to undergo this marathon. It is not only horribly expensive and hard on candidates, it is just way too much for the public to go through as well.
For those in the legislature who thought that it would be great for Illinois to have an earlier primary election date, did it really accomplish all that much benefit? The March date was always one of concern because of potentially bad weather. Now, we can almost be assured bad weather in which to troop out and do our duty.
And on to some items I think you need to know about, even though they are neighborly. Being a fan of nature at Wolf Road Prairie in Westchester, I was most unhappy to hear that there was poaching of prairie animals, there-bow and arrow hunters.
There are legitimate hunting areas for these folks, not the prairie and the Hickory Lane buffer, where there are residences. Likewise, last year, a few gals were apprehended there, digging up prairie plants. This is another area for Cook County to patrol.
