LaSalle Insider

Well here we are just hours away from the opening of “Celebrate LaSalle” and I continue to see many of our city staff working to get everything ready for this evening. You probably have seen the ad in the paper on wednesday outlining the events and times for the weekend so I won’t reprint that info here.  After all we taxpayers have already spent $3,ooo to get the word out in print and radio.. I did notice that the city of Spring Valley is also having a weekend celebration from the 4th till the 6th in the downtown area.  I know this because I saw the ad in the paper… but it appears their business association paid for it.  No giant picture of the mayor Banks welcoming you in.

Make no mistake this event is all Mayor Grove’s.  The Council, if it wanted to, cannot take any ownership in it whether its a huge success or massive failure.  We were told after the fact  when  it would happen and what it would cost.  For the sake of the taxpayer I wish it well so we can recoup as much money as possible to put back in the general fund.

One question I have is the suggestion that its geared this year around the “family” and “family fun”.  Now I enjoy a cold beer as much as the next guy but the first item everyday in the ad is the hours for the “beer garden”.

Is the idea that the kids can enjoy face painting and watermelon contests while mom and or dad spend their time at the beer tent?  When its time to go will mom or dad be okay to drive?   After all on saturday the schedule calls for the beer to start flowing at noon and end at 11 that night. Meanwhile family fun is going on all afternoon right next to it…

This leads me to a new source of revenue for our city…..why not have beer sales during little league and minor league games during the season?  After all mom and dad would enjoy a couple of cold ones during the hot evenings while junior is flailing away at another pitch outside the strike zone.

Let’s not forget the girl’s games either…we can setup shop at St Mary’s field as well.  Instead of softball players in the adult league having a beer or two by their cars after their games why not make it mandatory they have to drink at our  city Pub in the Park?

Hey, family fun is family fun…if the city makes a little revenue to help reduce taxes whats the harm?

What do you think?

As many of you know ASCAP  requested we send them a license fee of $305.00 for public use of recorded music.  Although I tried to convince our city of what a scam this was 7 out of 8 aldermen voted to pay them.  The check was sent.  Since then I did some research around other cities in Illinois and I cannot find one that has paid this fee when requested.  I contacted Peru, Oglesby,Spring Valley and none have remitted any money to ASCAP.  I even called DeKalb, a much larger city , and was informed by their City Clerk that their stance is that it’s unenforceable.

In tough economic times organizations have to continue to find new ways for revenue creation.  It seems this is ASCAP’s  latest scam.  Send off requests for fees based on their idea of what should be paid by cities of different populations.  Set the fee low enough that many cities will pay instead of  spending legal costs to research it.  It seems common sense and public officials don’t go hand in hand….but when has it?   After all it’s not their money…..but I don’t want to paint with a broad brush…I can’t find another city but us who fell for this….beam me up Scotty!