sucess at my former employer

--While I have left East Moline, I still keep tabs on some of the projects I was working on. We submitted several appropriations requests to congress, and one was successful. Here is the article:

(PS: I worked hard on this and several other appropriations requests, including meeting with the Senators' staff on a regular basis, so I am absolutely taking partial credit for this one.)

E.M. in line to get $250K grant for downtown
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By Bill Mayeroff

Cheri Bustos could think of a few ways to improve downtown East Moline with $250,000."We've got to make sure it looks good," said Ald. Bustos, whose 4th Ward contains the downtown area. Ald. Bustos added she also would like to use the money to do something with the former Strand Theater at 1008 15th Ave. "That marquee's getting to be an eyesore."

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced Thursday that East Moline is in line for a $250,000 grant for downtown redevelopment. According to a news release from Sen. Durbin's office, the grant is part of a $57,631,404 appropriations bill passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee. In order for East Moline to get the grant, the bill still must be passed by the full Senate and House of Representatives, although that's unlikely to happen before November's election.

East Moline, Kankakee and Chicago are the only three cities to receive the federal money for economic development efforts, according to the release.Scott Feldt, who became East Moline's economic development director June 30, said he's not sure what would be done with the money if the city gets it. But he knows it will be helpful."Any time you can have an infusion of cash to help revitalize the downtown, it's a good thing," Mr. Feldt said Friday, adding that a committee run by Ald. Bustos to revitalize downtown will likely make a lot of the decisions about spending the money."I'm just going to try to help implement what the downtown revitalization committee wants," he said.

Without Ald. Bustos, the city likely would not be in line for the money, Mr. Feldt said."Ald. Bustos was instrumental in getting this done," he said. "She deserves the credit for all that."A spokeswoman for Sen. Durbin did not return phone calls asking why he chose to appropriate the money for East Moline. But Mayor John Thodos has an idea."Sen. Durbin has close ties to East Moline," Mayor Thodos said Friday.

Sen. Durbin has worked in the past to get money for other projects in East Moline, he said.Ald. Bustos said she's known Sen. Durbin a long time and has talked with him about downtown East Moline even before she took office in May 2007."We've talked with Sen. Durbin and his staff over the course of the last year," she said. "He knows exactly what our challenges are. I'm so appreciative to Sen. Durbin. My hope is that this will be the start of something great."

Although he knows of Ald. Bustos' work with Sen. Durbin, Mayor Thodos said he still was surprised to learn East Moline was up for the grant."Any time I get any grant from any level above my pay grade, I'm surprised," he said.

Fantasy Metros

Well, it seems there are other nuts out there like me, who think transit systems are incomplete, and proceed to 'complete' them. Never mind cost and politics; this is dreaming big after all. I plan to do a couple of these myself, but in the meantime, enjoy these:

Indianapolis

Chicago 2055

DC (one version)

LA, looking very much like the London Metro

DC photos

In DC for a conference, and to hang with Kathi, her sister, and her sister's significant other (gushyboo). Some photos from today:



Victorian buildings in chinatown (which of course you would expect to find a Fuddruckers!)

Steven Colbert, whose portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian (one sign of the apocalypse). To their credit, they did hang it next to the bathrooms, as far out of the way as humanly possible and still be in the museum.

St. Patrick's Church, Washington. Built in 1792.

Shriners's hall.

Russian Embassy. Closed when I was there; They were probably all at the military parade in Moscow.

Bald Eagles (and some other birds)

Went out to shoot bald eagles today.
I got a few halfway decent shots, but the camera doesn't have a great telephoto lens, so they only came out so well. It's a borrowed camera (I don't have a digital yet), and when I get my own I aim to rectify this situation. That having been said, here you go:
















1) Eagle and Gull 2) Eagles and other birds

1) Eagle and hawk 2) Eagle on an ice flow

Eagle fighting with a hawk for a fish

Eagle in flight

Observations from the world of wedding planning

I have always expected to be involved with the planning of my own wedding. Hell, I'll move high rises 10 feet to the left to make the city a better place, so how hard can a wedding be?.....

... Yeah, right. All the time I (or Kathi, or both) think 'hell, let's just elope.' The array of decisions, and parties who have an input into those decisions, is astounding. In a previous job I planned an annual fundraiser (12 months of planning, 100+ volunteers, 1000+ attendees, and well over $100,000 raised), so I have some idea of planning large events, but the great monkey in the works for weddings is family; both families in fact. Now don't get me wrong; I love my parents, and Kathi's family is great, but they all want input into the wedding (which often translates as 'you want to do it this [our] way'). And of course, being family, to say no invites the dreaded 'I'm your [insert relative here]; don't I matter? *sniff*'. Sometimes eloping looks really appealing (and since my boss is the Mayor, and therefore a JP in effect, he can do it. 5 minutes at the start of Council and then we're done. Of course I still have to sit through council [it's my job], but at least that day I could wear a tux.)

*sigh*; what keeps me sane is looking at Kathi: at the end of the day we'll be married, and together permanently, so all the family stuff I can deal with. And we're awful close to having the date and place nailed down, which will make the rest of the process a lot clearer (can't pick a hotel, or a limo, or a caterer, etc., without knowing which city and date the wedding will be). No, I'm not telling where; not till it's signed and sealed (hey! you wanna spoiler??? The ship sinks; soylent green is made of people; Cloverfield is a giant monster, and Spock dies).

--An interesting observation from the guy's side of things: wedding planning is not quite as bridalcentric as I was expecting. Oh sure, it does lean in that direction, but by and large the vendors/websites/etc. have recognized that grooms are people too. In fact, the only time I get snarky to a vendor was when a reception venue had no pictures of the outside of their building. I'm a city planner by training, remember?? This is a HUGE red flag for me; what's wrong with the outside that they won't show it (or talk about it, as I found out)? Well, having been outside their building I know the answer: most of the store fronts are vacant, and the sidewalk looks like it survived the Dresden firebombing. Score one for city planning radar!!

But in general, other than being a bit pushy (but not quite so bad as Best Buy salestaff), the wedding industry has generally treated me well. I'm still ready to turn on snark mode, but I'm equally ready to not need it, and actually get the beast planned. We'll see at any rate.

That's all folks; off to bed.

Random stuff

'Tis been a while, and thus I thought to post again.
Happy holidays all; I hope they went well. I spent mine with Kathi (well, duuh), and her parents up in long island ("lawn geyeland"), with a 3 day stint up at their cabin in the catskills (really, and no, I didn't see Jackie Mason) doing wedding planning and making googly eyes at each other (with time out for creek stomping, which you'd think would not work so well in December. When it's 50 degrees out and the sky is BLUE!!!, you'd be wrong). Just an amazing week. The catskills are real mountains; not the rockies certainly, but for a midwestern boy they'll do just fine. At one point we took a side trip to Kingston, founded in 1688 (yes, as in 318 years ago), and some of the original stone houses are still standing (despite the British's best efforts to the contrary). Met Kathi's extended family, and survived, and they all like me. the karma wheel must be going round my (our) way.



So it's back to work, and grimy snow, and cold weather, and no ocean, and no waves, and a brown river, and so on. I'd be upset, but honestly things are going pretty well, so I'll be content with my lot.



BTW: driving around NYC makes driving around chicago look like a picnic. The whole islands and bridges thing, plus Robert Moses' penchant for curving parkways, makes the experience akin to a pinball game, and you're the pinball. Trust me; if you can avoid driving, take the train. (unless you're doing the scenic route; then by all means wander about.)



OK, now for some photos:














West Shokan Reservoir (provides the drinking water for NYC: the cabin is about 10 miles away)






Downtown Kingston






Old State House; 1676








Hoffman House, also circa 1676







Kime Avenue House;
This house is 3 blocks from Kathi's parents. I don't know how many lights and decorations there are on and around the house; to say there are 10's of thousands is an understatement. There are a handful of houses in the neighborhood who all do this, and in any other city they would be the star. Compared to this house they don't even measure up. To their credit, the owners take donations for the local children's hospital; according to the papers the annual donation is well over $20,000. The Southern State Parkway runs behind this house, so you can quite literally see it from the highway.

(more photos to follow when they are uploaded)
(and yes, these are not my photos, as evidenced by the fact that the trees aren't green in december)

brian and alex's wedding

Brian and Alex are two good friends of mine who got married this weekend:



(I'm on the right; Alex(andra) is obviously the one in the dress).