Buy Local Springfield

Local Craigslist still under attack.

2011-05-29T20:19:00.000-05:00

I'm unable to determine who is flagging posts at Craigslist Rants and Raves for Springfield, Illinois, but it's clear that there is no specific reason for flagging many of the posts as they pose no direct threat to anyone's integrity.

The motivation isn't really censorship for offensive posts, but a desperate need to feel important by the person flagging the posts.

Attempts have been made to contact Admin and suggest that a post must be flagged by more than one individual before the post is removed, or that flagged posts must be reviewed as promised and removed manually by administrators, as claimed.

Nobody is home at Craigslist.com to keep the post-flagging psychopaths in check. Craig must be dead or something. I checked out some of the other sites, buy they are mostly bogged down with graphics.

I just found http://springfieldil.backpage.com/ So I'll give that a try for a while. Let's see if they can handle psycho-flaggers.

Penalty-based revenue for Springfield a quandary.

2011-01-26T02:55:00.000-06:00

When you use a parking meter in downtown Springfield, Illinois, you can just let it run out and pay a simple flat-rate fine. If you're one of the many people who work downtown and earn enough to not care about the small inconvenience of a parking ticket, you don't have to care that there is an unknown quantity of customers that could not find a parking space so they could spend their money at downtown businesses. Customers like myself, who long ago gave up on downtown altogether because of the parking situation.

When the idea of raising the parking fine was proposed at City Council, it was immediately tabled: Parking fine plan tabled - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

The idea that raising fines would increase revenue is a quandary because the idea of increased fines may be enough to motivate people to keep feeding the meters, or reduce their time spent parked by planning their activities in advance.

What is known is that it usually takes more than an hour to shop and eat a meal downtown, and that's what the underground parking is for. Unfortunately, those who work downtown use the underground parking garage, so a lot of spaces are full with people who frequently brown bag their lunch.

Another question is this: If someone parks at a meter and leaves their car there all day without feeding the meter, how many tickets do they get in one day? Can you bribe or intimidate a parking enforcement officer? Who is capable of threatening the job of a parking enforcement officer?

If a scofflaw only gets one ticket a day, parking would be cheaper than continuing to feed the meter, and potential customers are blocked out.

If the fines are increased and the resulting behavior is a higher turnover of available parking spaces for customers, the city won't reap the benefits of penalty-based revenue, but the businesses will benefit from more customers. Still, this is less money for the city directly.

Penalty-based revenue was a concept that, if imagined before the end of alcohol prohibition, we would still have alcohol prohibition because the government would reap huge revenues by auctioning off the property seized by those who broke the law. This is precisely why Marijuana will never be legalized.

Based on the penalty-based revenue approach to government funding, the city must find a balance between parking fees and parking fines that will maximize revenue.

The fines should be just enough to keep the scofflaws from changing their behavior and feeding the meter or driving off to let a customer park, yet the city must increase revenues from normal parking fees. Clearly, the numbers side-by-side in this case would render a verdict in favor of fewer new customers downtown if it means more revenue for the city government.

The danger to increasing fines is that it might change the behavior of the scofflaws and result in less revenue, like the smoking ban is resulting in fewer smokers, which in turn is resulting in less revenue from cigarette sales taxes. The smoking ban was a momentary lapse of memory about penalty-based revenue, and could be defined as an example of penalty-based revenue extinction, much like alcohol prohibition, a mistake the government will never make again, especially with Marijuana.

Not much publicity

2010-12-28T18:47:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been really busy with other things lately and nobody seems to really be interested in buying anything locally. It looks like the chamber of commerce welcomes any new business into the community despite the fact that some businesses are actually predatory on local cash and resources.

Businesses aren't willing to raise wages enough for their own employees to afford the products they sell anyway, so the best thing to do is find roommates and double-up or triple-up on expenses such as rent.

On the bright side, a lot of really big houses are being bought up by real estate investors who are turning those big houses into rentals. Too bad for the neighborhood associations, though.

Currently I take home about $850 a month. I have to drive all the way to Jacksonville for work and now gas is up over $3 per gallon. That's crazy! I have to live with family. I can't afford anything on my own, and I know for a fact that most of you can't either. So what do we do?

Well, we can pool our resources and rent one of those fancy McMansions that have become rentals over in Fox Meadow subdivision and have a blast!

Since I work nights and you probably work days, we won't really see each other but there will always be someone home, so there's your security. We will need to get enough of us together so we can afford it though. I'm not going to pay more than 25% of my income on rent, about $220.00 at the very most.

Someone will just have to park in the street because the yard will be out of the question as a parking spot unless someone has some blocks and plywood.

Maybe if our employers paid us enough we could afford mortgages, appliances, cars, clothing and enough groceries to support a family if we wanted to have one of those too.

Stuff about Target and Walmart

2010-09-29T07:57:00.000-05:00

I hear that Target and Walmart heavily funded Proposition 8 in California that defeated legal gay marriage.

Outsourcing 101

2010-09-08T19:32:00.003-05:00

IBM and TXN stocks tank on Earnings reports

2010-07-19T15:40:00.001-05:00

Today IBM and Texas Instruments reported revenue "misses" Both stocks lost at least five percent of their value after the closing bell.

The challenge of sustainability

2010-04-22T07:30:00.001-05:00

Several recent films bolster the position that our culture as it stands is unsustainable, that humans with power don't see beyond the needs of their immediate circle of family and friends. Humans can't see the long-term consequences of their actions. My challenge to the community has been met with silence because there is no such thing as buying local anymore.

The Corporation - http://www.hulu.com/watch/118169/the-corporation - http://www.thecorporation.com/

Food, Inc. - http://www.foodincmovie.com/

Earth Days - http://video.pbs.org/video/1463378089

There is a food expo coming up

2010-03-04T09:53:00.001-06:00

There is a food expo coming up. If nobody wants to tell me about it then you can ignore it. It's probably funnel cakes, cotton candy, and horseshoe sandwiches anyway.

Upcoming Farmers Markets

2010-02-10T13:33:00.002-06:00

Anyone who will be running a farmers market in Springfield, Illinois can send me a link to buylocalspringfield@gmail.com or find me at http://www.myspace.com/buylocalspringfield, or http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=277884477234.

New logo

2010-01-28T17:06:00.003-06:00

I figured I would move away from the Target-looking logo and go with a symbol more universal. How do you like the new logo?

I can't stress enough how important it is to really do the homework before going shopping. I'll keep adding locations to my site as time permits. Thanks for your patients.

Fred

End of Democracy

2010-01-22T07:41:00.001-06:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bell Peppers: The hunt for a better deal gets complicated.

2010-01-12T12:01:00.000-06:00

pepper

Leash law triggers boon for animal surgeons.

2009-12-31T10:22:00.002-06:00

When I was growing up in the early 1970s my dogs ran in a neighborhood pack during the day but they were always close by and nearly always home in time for dinner. They had the freedom to run and most of the time stayed out of trouble if people secured their trash cans.

I don’t recall the dogs being taken to the vet unless they ate something bad or were hit by a car. Many times one of our dogs was captured and put in the pound but he was capable of climbing chain-link fences. He escaped twice.

Today, the frequency of dogs tearing their own knee ligaments has become a growing issue. Many vets will tell you that your dog will need surgery, and many web sites claim that surgery is the only course of action. Surgery can range from $800.00 to $4,000.00 or more, for joint repair surgeries. I know of accounts where no surgery took place and the dog recovered on its own.

One account describes such an experience by Max and his dog named Tigger:
Treating Canine Ligament Injury
http://home.earthlink.net/~tiggerpoz/index.html

Another site claims that surgery is the only solution for a torn cruciate ligament and, if left untreated, will result in the development of arthritis in the joint.

Knee Injuries in Dogs
By Nancy Otten, Animal Health Technologist.
http://www.thewagway.com/Behviour%20Tip%20Sheets/knee_injuries_in_dogs.htm

The increase in such injuries may be directly related to dogs being kept as pets in urban environments where leash laws and confinement for long periods contributes to the weakening of muscles and joints. Nancy Otten states directly that “Poor physical conditioning and obesity increases the chances of knee damage.”

The unintended side-effect of leash laws is the added income for veterinarians. But such are the consequences for choosing to own a dog in a city with a leash-law, especially if you have no large fenced-in yard.

Animal Medical Clinic of Springfield http://www.amcspringfield.com/ recommends a couple of insurance plans if you are planning on getting a dog.

Soapgate - Packaging air for sale in products.

2009-12-17T12:39:00.004-06:00

Are you really saving when you go to a dollar store? Apparently not on Dial Soap. If you look at the price per ounce, you're really losing a penny per ounce of product. It may not seem like much, but it will add up.

What we assume about famous brands is that they are all the same size. It turns out that products are not exactly standard. Some retail stores have so much power over whether or not a product gets good exposure to consumers that the store itself can negotiate an alteration in the manufacturing process of a product to increase the store's profits.

Soapgate is just one example that shows why you should really pay attention to the ounces of a product, the size of the cardboard tube that holds paper towers or toilet paper, whether toilet paper is quilted, whether yogurt is whipped.

Imagine you are the manufacturer of a product. Now imagine how many ways you can possibly include air in your product.

Soon I will be looking into toilet paper. It can be made longer by compression. It can also be made to appear fuller on the role by quilting.

Putting your photos on mugs? - Skip the shipping costs!

2009-12-08T16:22:00.004-06:00

If you’re planning on giving items personalized with photographs this Christmas, you might be tempted by the Internet. You can go to Café Press or Zazzle online to produce personalized items such as mugs or calendars, but where they really get you is the shipping cost.

Another worry is the processing time. Some items take as much as a couple of weeks to process. If you want to use Café Press to get personalized mugs made, you have until December 13th to get your design ready.

Or, you can drive to White Oaks Mall and visit Creative Creations. They’re located at the bottom of the Escalator just outside the Sears entrance. They can put an image on just about anything.

You can visit http://www.cafepress.com or http://www.zazzle.com and compare prices plus shipping costs.

Creative Creations might seem slightly more expensive, but you will save big because you won’t have to pay shipping.