(photo - Chicago Street bridge on a summer night.)

There’s a story today the DH  about the Grand Victoria teaming up with Elgin and possibly putting up a new entertainment venue, which is probably the best idea I’ve heard, in a long, long time.  Very Unlike Ed Shock’s Auto-mall……I truly think that if we built it, we could make the rest fall into place.  Right now there’s ONE business benefiting from that clusterf*ck on Randall at the Tollway while doing nothing for the City or the rest of us.  It was a GREAT DEAL for HIM!!  Build an auto-mall….and never so much as inquire with auto manufacturers as to the feasibility of putting dealerships there.  That…..to me, was the dumbest move this city has done yet.  This however, is opportunity POUNDING on the city-hall doors.   They should drop what they’re doing and listen.

By 2020, Elgin could be the place to be.  Here’s my ideas of what I think is possible in this city.  (yeah….I have a vivid imagination, but I hate the direction this city is currently headed!  Let me babble for a minute.)

A major Hotel (maybe…a Boutique Hotel ala Hotel Monaco, Palamar etc..).  Many small cafe type businesses along Grove Street that would be an attraction to not only the residents of Elgin, but also it’s visitors.  A Trolly or 2 running from 8am to 11pm (midnight on the weekends) at night that do a route servicing Grove St., Chicago and Spring Streets (including both parking decks) and then to the Grand Victoria.  1 central Valet Parking service maybe set at Grove and DuPage Ct.  People could drop their cars to be parked (in one of the parking garages), and then walk the cafe’s, stores or if it’s nice out…..walk to the boat.  (if they didn’t feel like walking back, they’d have the trolly to use too).  It’s all about convenience.

A small, but acoustically perfect Music venue known in the music business as the “hot spot”.  Everyone loves an up-close and personal concert by a rock band or their favorite performer.  Imagine walking through town, you happen to walk into a cafe that has a crowd of people sitting around a piano, and the person playing it,  plays flawlessly.  A little closer and you notice that it is Eddie Van Halen sitting there….playing a piano?   No wonder there’s a crowd around him!  This is something you’ve never heard before nor….will likely not again, so you stick around and have a few drinks, maybe a snack.  (musicians including Eddie Van Halen, have been known to do this in the past.)

These kinds of things aren’t so much a normal here as much as a possibility because we’re known for something now in Elgin.   We’re the new Midwest Music Scene.

I picture something like a Flat Top Grill and an Americana Cafe’ lighting up Grove Street with Neon signs.  Horse drawn trollies and maybe a few muscle cars in the windows along the streets more reminiscent of better times.   Quaint….but high-tech at the same time.  Maybe transplant Clearwater from Dundee, to here as one more very small venue.  Oh yeah…..and we have a kick-ass Casino here!   Just sayin…….

Now back to reality.

There needs to be a “pecking order”  for any of this to take place and even try to become a reality and I know some will be screaming.

Stop the non-English advertising in Elgin! It discriminates against Americans!

1.  We really need to do something about the drunks/homeless in this city.  They probably make up of 50% or more of our city’s Fire Department’s ambulance calls.  There has to be a cheaper way to deal with them.  Not only are they an embarrassment to the city, they use resources (Fire Dept. and hospital beds!) that could be used for people who really need it.

Get some of that Homeland Security money to help curb crime! Or did Cook County waste it all already?

2. More pressure on gang-bangers.  Our police department pretty much knows, at any given time, who’s in (or affiliated) with a gang, and who associates with them.  Publish their names and addresses.  Quit f’ing around with these people.   Yes…they are as bad, or worse than Sex Offenders so TREAT EM THAT WAY!  If you’re a banger in an Elgin High School….get the F*CK outta here and out of our high schools. Kids are their to learn.  Not to worry about intimidation by them.

3.  Call on the State and Feds to assist with this transformation.  There’s no reason our local Representatives (Noland, Farnham and Hultgren)  shouldn’t push this idea to it’s limits. (well….I can think of one but I won’t go into that right now).

4. Also, how about an ordinance in the city that states “All billboard ads and business signs must be in English”.  No more discrimination in advertising!  Every McDonalds, Comcast, Sherman Hospital, Al Piemonte Chevy sign I see in another language, tells me, THEY DON’T WANT MY BUSINESS!  You want a billboard or sign for your business in Elgin.  Put it in English.  I (and a lot of other people) are tired of it looking like we live in a foreign country and I see this as a one of the bigger problems here.

For the last three years, all I could think about was getting out of this city.  As much as it pains me to say this, I would stick around and see this through if I thought Elgin was on the right track.   It behooves us all, to get involved.   You can sit around and hope for it to get better on its own, or you can try and do something to make it better.  There’s a big difference.

There’s a lot to do.  Some of it easy, some not so.  I remember an Elgin that had great places to shop and eat!  I remember Polk Brothers downtown,  Lazara’s Pizza that easily would take the “best pizza in the Fox Valley” today.  There was parking, and more importantly, people roaming the streets.  We used to ride our motorcycles out here from Franklin Park ( south east of O’Hare ) because it was a nice ride, and had cool places.  That..was Elgin, and we can, get that back again.

Oh yeah….one last thing.  Fix the light on the flag on Walton Island.  If you need bulbs….I’ll donate some.

The City of Elgin announced yesterday (although I just saw it today), that they’re seeking information about outsourcing some ambulance and paramedic jobs.  Mike Danahey from the Courier News wrote a good assessment of the situation, from what I replied with a personal experience I had (albeit, 10 years ago).  I was asked to share this on Elginet.