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Monthly Archives: February 2011

30 pieces


Why do some non profits see the need to renege on their missions to serve the public by fiscal mismanagement and unfair personnel policies while gladly the accepting accolades and monies that only serve to fuel their poor service to their communities. These rogue agencies have sullied the name of community service and the Grant Programs they administer. Whatever happened to the true public servant? Have they become the very abhorrent object we fought against when pursuing these grants? The Immediate need for reform is greater now than before. In these times of economic hardships, these non profits are crushing their clients under the weight of poor management and mis directed funds. The Governing board members are either unaware or turning a blind eye to these practices while taking their 30 pieces in what ever form it takes.

The Head Start Saga


Most of us are familiar with the “Star Wars” saga. I have observed an activity which parallels the Star Wars story in some part. A Non-Profit in Springfield, IL hired a retired state worker to administer one of its many programs. This person, through some machinations much like those of the Senator from “Naboo,” rose to the position of COO within six months. Once in that position, the real personality emerged in the form of the “Dark Maiden”. This new seemingly omnipotent entity has almost singlehandedly gutted the Head Start Program. This has been accomplished by firing tenured teachers and other seasoned workers. There are also the cases of health issues in the buildings that have caused grievous harm to teachers and children. Unfortunately, the “Union (Freedom Fighters)” does not have a hero to lead them, and the fear of the “Dark Maiden” lays heavily over the Head Start program like a blanket. The underlying problems are as deep and pervasive as gas leaking from a broken line. The costs to run the program have been subverted to legal fees to fight the Union instead of using those same funds to improve the program and services to its clients. To date, over 30 workers have been eliminated with one poor excuse or another while the Non-Profit is still racking up huge legal fees to the detriment of the program. The general public is unaware of the extent of the problem as the “Evil Empire” has taken great pains to contain all information that would illuminate their process. Yet, there are still other forces at work that might at some point expose the true nature of this beast.

Springfield’s Egypt!


The Springfield Urban League has been waging a war against it’s Head Start Employees since June of 2010. The first volley was the “termination” of 200 employees which was explained away as a normal occurrence very year (this is not true). The reality is that each school year the employees of Head Start were “laid off” for the summer, this new tactic was to avoid paying the COBRA payments as required by the Health Care bill. Rather than address this with the employees the League has continued in their usual high handed fashion and done just what as they wanted. The employees organized and voted a Union in to protect their rights as people and the league in true despotic fashion started a foot dragging and terminating campaign to demoralize and gut the Union. To date over 30 employees have been terminated for reasons that are suspect. The League has and is spending thousands of dollars on legal fees to derail the Union’s effort to negotiate a contract. The League was unwilling to spend this kind of money on the Head Start program and upgrading or obtaining better facilities for the program. The League in the fashion of any despot has spent funds (possibly Head Starts) on other programs that did not directly benefit Head Start or its clients. The benefit appears to be localized in the pockets of upper management, et al. There have been health issues that were not addressed for 2 or more years until now and those issues were at last resolved with a wave of a well manicured hand after the effects were felt by the teachers and the children who were in those building daily.

Orphans


In thinking about the number of celebrities who have adopted orphans outside of the United States, I am moved to think what about the orphans in the United States? What is the attraction for importing orphans rather than reduce the number in our own country? Would it not serve this country’s interest by adopting some of the many orphans here? As a matter of practicality folks who are able should be in the forefront to adopt in this country and not outside of it. As I see it there is less fanfare in adopting here than in another country and certainly these adoptions would be of more benefit here. These celebrities generate large amounts of personal money through their work in their medium and other large amounts for causes they believe in yet they take the odd route of adopting outside the country that they reside in. Their help in adopting may not necessarily greatly reduce the orphanage head count but it certainly would assist in helping some of the neediest here at home.

Simple Courtesy


I recently went to my local UPS office to send several packages. The entrance has its customer parking area directly next to the entrance which is about 20 feet to the nearest parking spot. There is a (2way) driveway next to the entrance and clearly marked in yellow- “No parking “, yet many people ignore this plainly marked area and park there while inside. This creates a traffic hazard as a new customer has to go around the “sittees” who are obstructing the outgoing traffic. The signage is very clear and augmented by a standing sign that stands almost in front of the door. This sign clearly states “No Parking”. As the customer parking lot has an adequate number of handicap and regular spaces so there is never an over flow. What does it take for folks to obey the signage and allow the normal flow of traffic? Each of the offenders certainly thinks that they will only be in the office for a “minute” but in reality it takes a minimum of 5 minutes and up to 15 to transact business. This has nothing to do with the workers but the number of people inside (so calculate 5x 5 or more). For those of you have are guilty of this social malfunction please think about the rest of us.

Intelligent Choices


There are no less than 8 candidates seeking the nod to run for the Mayoral office of Springfield, IL. The field being as crowded as this leads to confusion and the result will concluded by the election of a name as opposed to a person who will possibly be the best fit.
Our political system has become more of a money race than an election campaign with the focus being on the candidates themselves. Some candidates are well known and some are not but being well known does not necessarily translate into the ability to govern a city. What is required to govern is integrity, using the talent of existing city managers and adding some fresh eyes to the existing problems. This office should not be about power (but it is) but about public service and fiscal responsibility. We will hear self serving kudos from and about all of the candidates but we will not know the truth until that person is in office and only then after at least a year into the term. The idea now is to decide if you want to try something new or go with the old. We must remember that we voted them in and we can vote them out!

Districts Already Exist!


As a voter I am ever impressed by the issues lawmakers face daily but at the same time I see that due to political wrangling they get less and less done. One of the latest issues is the consolidation of school districts (or elimination of some). Why not make each county a school district? The counties have some power over the spending of educational funds so why not make the entire county one (1) district? There will be some discussion as to the identity loss of individual schools and their teams but the only change to be made is the method the schools are funded. There is no reason for individual schools to change anything they are now doing except possibly doing it with less funding. The legislature will spend countless hours debating this and attempting to appease voting blocs and their parties but in the end miss the simplest solution.

The Long List and Short Opportunity


With the number of candidates jockeying for the opportunity to run for Mayor of Springfield, it will be difficult for the voters to make a decision. To that end I propose we select some one who will just do the job! Several of the candidates have municipal, business and insider experience but we have in the past elected people who had the same experience with moderate to poor results. Why not try someone who had the least amount of experience? The result may not be ideal but perhaps we will get a Genuine effort in managing the city and it’s many factions. The job will be tough and many liberal minded (and some not so) folks will tout inexperience, lack of political cache but just maybe that is just what we need. The “good ole boy” way of doing things has gotten us in a hole that is too deep to pull out of soon so why not try someone out of the main stream. There are at least 2 runners who qualify but name recognition is everything and neither has a huge following. In summary the name brands are not necessary what we need.

Under the Influence of the “Dark Maiden”


The Springfield Urban League has fallen on hard times.The Head Start program (administered by the League) has and continues to suffer while the program flounders under the leadership of the “Dark Maiden”, the legally organized Union employees are being indiscriminately terminated under dubious circumstances. The leadership of the Urban League is continuing to allow the under serving of the community through the mismanagement of the Head Start program. The Head Start workers who have served for years in assuring that the children in this program are afforded the best service, safe class conditions and personal safety are being eliminated for speaking out against injustice and mismanagement. It appears that the one thread in these firings and poor management is the “Dark Maiden”. If one does not kow tow at the feet of the “maiden” then your days are numbered even if your record of service is exemplary. There are workers who have been retained even though their backgrounds would negate their employment anywhere else. This creates an aura of apprehension and uncertainty while allowing the services to spiral downward into a deeper hole. Recently the remediation of mold in several buildings has been down played because of the administrations desire forestall any investigations into their poor management of the facilities. What we have is a pattern of behavior that is ruining a normally exemplary program

The Paucity of leadership


All of the posturing and sound bites are not enough to cover up the inadequacies of our legislators. The Federal, State and local leaders have all fallen into the self serving hole of ego. In listening to all side of the debates on taxes, cuts, borrowing it is clear to me that the system is broken. The lawmakers and enforcers are all human and subject to the inadequacies of being human. What is required is the input of the voters after receiving the CORRECT information about what government is doing and plans to do. The leaders(?) have taken the position that the voter and receivers of services would not understand the complexity of governing and lawmaking, while this fallacy has prevailed for years the Leaders have made a mess of the system leaving us in a budget hole that is unfillable in the lifetime of many of us. Some of the tough decisions to be made are more (again) on the backs of the people with no sacrifice from the leaders. Even if reducing their pay, pensions and office perks are a mere drop in the bucket, that action alone would be a boost in the support of the voters for some changes required to move us forward. Since that there appears to be no term limits set for these elected officials it becomes the duty of the voters to set these limits by voting the old timers out.