City of Joliet

Closed stores, closed factories, closed prisons, affordable housing.

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I just thought that I would take a moment, to show all of you a little information about the City of Joliet where I have lived since 1995.

Joliet is one of those old "rust belt" cities that was destroyed by the economic policies of the Reagan administration. Unlike many other similar towns that have come back from the ashes, Joliet just never has.

Our mayor is an ex cop, with all of the foresight, creativity and imagination that police are famous for. The city council has been in power forever, and since some of them own slums and run down dilapidated buildings, nothing is done to improve the character of our town.

Sure, we have fallen for the same scams as other "rust belt" cities. A casino or two , a NASCAR track, a pretend minor league ball park. These same edifices can be seen in downtrodden towns all over the Midwest.

Our city council has also helped shift the property tax burden to our homeowners by giving away huge breaks to companies building big warehouses that employ nothing but a few low wage fork lift drivers and the like. Why are we subsidizing half price deals on property taxes for "Dollar Tree" and their ilk, when they give us nothing but more truck traffic?

Until the voters here change our city government in a sweeping replacement of almost all the council and our mayor, then you and I can expect the same.

At least we really do have affordable housing.