The Cottage at Fifty

From 2011 0703 Big Lake

Fifty years ago this summer, my uncle Floyd Steger bought an old cottage on Big Lake in Shawano County, Wisconsin. The cottage became the site for many family vacations. Floyd passed away in 1990, but the tradition he started in 1961 continues. This year, over the Fourth of July weekend, 41 members of the family gathered there for a family reunion. These photos show how the cottage continues to play an important part in our family's history.

Laura Maczka, Uniter

Richardson Mayor Pro Tem Laura Maczka is already proving herself to be the best of Richardson's new City Council members at healing the divide in Richardson politics. She has drawn praise from backers of the defeated slate of candidates for attending a local tea party meeting and listening to their intense questions. In a City Council work session devoted to drawing up Goals for the 2011-2013 term, she spoke up for being proactive, not just reactive, about improving fiscal transparency and for supporting small business, both issues important to the campaigns of losing candidates. It's far from certain Maczka will be able to win over the hard-core anti-government faction in Richardson, but she's taking the right steps.

Honorable mention to Steve Mitchell, who also attended the tea party meeting and, in the work session, first expressed the desire to emphasize the goal of continuing to improve fiscal transparency.

P.S. The July 11 and July 18 work sessions are great examples of how writing vision/mission/goal statements by committee results in verbosity.

P.P.S. Advice to city council: When reviewing the near-term action items colored "done," it's embarrassing when no one can remember exactly *what* was done.

Chicago, Still Standing

From 2011 0701 Chicago

Chicago is one of the great cities of the world. How great is it, you ask? Well, great enough to tempt me to maybe plan to see the movie Transformers. Trust me, that's saying something. You see, I saw a trailer for the movie and recognized Chicago as the setting. Or perhaps I should say I recognized Chicago as the CGI city being destroyed by the Transformers. Suddenly, my less than zero interest in seeing Transformers was shifted into slightly positive territory. That's how great Chicago is. Not that I want to see Transformers. I want to see Chicago. Anyway, as you can tell from these photos, Chicago is still standing even after that bomb of a movie did its best (or worst, depending on your perspective).

My Wishes for Richardson's Budget and Goals

The May election for city council is history. Now, it's summer. It's hot. It's vacation time. Do we have to start paying attention to city government again already? I'm afraid so. The July after an election is the most critical month for Richardson's city council for the next two years. It's when the new council sets its goals for its two-year term. It's when the annual budget process begins. It's when the script for the rest of the year, the rest of the two-year council term, is written. The rest pretty much plays out as written in these dog days of summer.

After the jump, my wish list.

Quad Cities Quiz

From 2011 0630 Quad Cities

Fifty points if you can name the four cities on the upper Mississippi known as the Quad Cities without reading beyond the end of this sentence. Time's up. Davenport, Iowa, and Moline, Illinois, are the easy ones. Maybe so, too, is Rock Island, Illinois. It's the fourth one that's usually the stumper. How many people can come up with Bettendorf, Iowa? I would have also given credit for East Moline, Illinois, which Wikipedia lists as the "fifth" of the "quad" cities. Wikipedia also reveals that the area was known as the "Tri-Cities" until East Moline grew in the 1930s and became the first "fourth" city in the Quad Cities. Confusing, isn't it?

It all makes for some confusing street names, too. Going east-west, they are called avenues. Going north-south, they are called streets. And when you cross the border between Moline and Rock Island, the number system changes. So, 12th Avenue becomes 30th Avenue and one block east of 54th Street is 2nd Street. Luckily for the wayward tourist, the Mississippi River, already broad and impressive this far north, dominates all, so it's not too difficult to navigate your way around. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the discovery of the Village of East Davenport, Iowa, nestled between Davenport and Bettendorf. It just might have the most scenic block in all four five six towns.

For more photos, look here.