Sick

Peoria Housing Authority: The Real Issue

I'm not proud to admit it. But there have been times in my adult life when my wife and I chose to visit a cash advance store. Not to gamble or buy drugs or pay for new anythings. Usually, just to make ends meet during a cash-flow crisis.

Why do I feel a stigma? Because I was stupid enough to chose a lender that charged me 50 or 60 cents on the dollar for a quick financial fix. Truth is, I could have sold something. Or I could have borrowed the cash from someone who cares about our family. (Believe it or not, they are out there.) They would have lent us the money in a second -- and probably without asking us to pay it back. Alas, pride was involved. So we sucked it up, signed the papers...and paid for it for some time out of our newly married wazoos. You see, cash advances are like bad credit card deals -- they're deep financial holes that only get deeper the more you try to dig yourself out.

Which brings me to the so-called Peoria Housing Authority (PHA) lending scandal Bill Dennis is raving about.

Says this article by PJStar reporter, Elaine Hopkins:

"Being a first-time buyer, I did not know a whole lot. I trusted them," Alexander said of the PHA.

Alexander said he did not even know he signed documents for two mortgage loans instead of one on his $65,000 home.

He now pays a total of $638 monthly on the two mortgages, an amount that includes taxes and insurance, he said. PHA pays a $63 monthly subsidy toward his mortgages, he said.

At the real estate closing, he was handed many documents and signed them, he said. A PHA employee at the closing never spoke up, he said.

This smells, alright. But what's stinking up the place is the acrid stench of entitlements. (As well as Hopkins overuse of the phrase "he said". But I'll save that for another time.)

To summarize: this guy relied on the government to help him get his home. He then depended on them to read and understand his paperwork for him, and he didn't even take the time to figure out he was getting TWO freaking loans in the process! All of that, and PHA is still paying 10% of the guys monthly payment.

Methinks nobody held a gun to any of these people's heads. They wanted homes badly enough to take on not-so-favorable lending terms -- probably the only kind of loans they could get with poor credit, low incomes, etc. But why didn't they even bother to look through their own paperwork. WHY? Because we've been trained by our society that we do not have to take care of our own affairs. We have the government to do it for us! They feed us, clothe us, insure us, treat our wounds and sicknesses and especially protect us from the big bad corporations that are always trying to exploit us. And when the government doesn't do any of those things? It's Katie bar the door.

Truth is, if you want something badly enough, you pay more for it. I've seen little old ladies cash in their state checks at the river boat. The just HAD to have their nickel slots. These people just HAD to have homes. I just HAD to have instant cash -- and we all damned the consequences. Our choice. Our consequences. But to claim ignorance?

You have to sign an inch-high stack of documents to buy a home, telling you exactly how much you have to pay, when, and what it's really going to cost you in the end.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not advocating the behavior of these businesses. These loans feel like a slimy way to make a buck to me...just like the slots and the cash stores. But making these buyers seem like naifs and victims is ridiculous.

If there is one rule of life in this country, it's Buyer Beware.

But maybe there's a greater problem in this case. The buyer didn't actually realize he was a buyer. Maybe he thought this was another hand-out; that he was receiving another gift (that was his RIGHT!) from yet another social service agency. Maybe he is a victim. Not of predatory lending, though. But rather he is a victim of a government struggling to find itself through the haze of Multiple Personality Disorder -- trying to decide if it is, in fact, based on the tenets of democracy and the free market...or based only on the tenets of a watered-down socialism...as if France is such a success.

I say we keep the system we've got, thanks. But with me ultimately responsible for my own financial decisions..and Mr. Alexander responsible for his.

What's Wrong With Peoria?

Two things.

It's not the political or business leadership. This town has a lot of smart, dedicated people who are (mostly) working together to make the area better for all. In fact, I'd say things are running pretty smoothly. At least more than in past years.

It's not Dunlap or Morton, either. White flight to the burbs (and I'll say brown-flight, as well) is never a problem for urban areas. But it is a symptom of a problem. And while treating symptoms might feel good in the short term (think scratching poison ivy), in the long term it does nothing to improve the situation, and it usually worsens your overall condition.

Which leads me to problem number one:

1. District 150 In the last week alone, I've learned of two more families that are leaving our older neighborhoods for the refuges that are (supposedly) Dunlap and Morton -- all because of fears about the state of District 150. Not only is the situation in our schools unfavorable...their very efforts to improve are perceived as horrible for the city because of the district inability to properly and effectively communicate what in the crap is going on inside their heads. They need to work harder and smarter to communicate with their neighbors, with councilpeople, with teachers, students and their families, with the unions, with the press...with everyone! Surely good things are happening, right? Who knows? Not us. Therefore, the families will keep fleeing, the schools will keep emptying, and the bloggers will keep typing.
   
   
2. Crime, Crime, Crime. Maybe it's because I watched American Idol tonight, but I can clearly hear Randy saying, "Yo, dog! It's getting hot out there!" And he would be right...if he's talking about the streets of central and south Peoria. Scary even.

We have so many wonderful and amazing things going for us as a community. It's a freaking shame these are the issues on our hearts and minds, though. Or at least on mine.

I'm depressed now.

I'm going to bed.

By the way...where are you, Polly?

Search Engine Success!!!

Wow. I'm humbled.

I just discovered this blog is #1 on Google when searching for the phrase: "wet willy with cume."

I'm guessing the person that performed that search earlier today did NOT, in fact, find what they were hoping to find on this site.

My hope, dear reader, is you will have better luck.

I'll Hold The Nails...

I guess Madonna feels her conversion to Kabbalah isn't working as hard as she would like to keep her face in the news.

So she's on tour now, posing her ridiculous self on a cross made of glass.

Says this article:

"...she donned a crown of thorns and suspended herself from a giant mirrored cross to deliver the ballad 'Live to Tell.' Video screens showed images of third-world poverty and reeled off grim statistics.

"...another video montage juxtaposed images of Bush, members of his administration and British Prime Minister Tony Blair with footage of Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. Midway through the new song 'I Love New York,' she deviated from the script and made a crude reference to Bush and oral sex."

That Madonna. She's once, twice, three times a lady, alright.

Clever use of the cross, too. Way to capitalize on someone else's believe system. Methinks it's a shame it's not the real thing. Nothing says shut up and mind your own religion like a couple of nine-inch spikes through the wrists.

If only Kabbalah had a few universally recognizable symbols to exploit.

Tri-County Planning Commission

Have you ever looked at these yahoo's website?

They have three miss-spelled words in their navigation alone.

In fact, I didn't find many pages without at least one error.

Now, I'm no stickler for such things. Honest, I'm not. But if you're a governmental organization (even a quasi-governmental organization), shouldn't your website -- your most important communications vehicle -- at least be good enough to earn a "C" in any eighth-grade English class?

I'm all for what you guys are doing. Just hoping you might make us all look a little more...well, literate in the process.

The Saga of Little Howie

My legs are crossed. I'm grimacing. I may never be the same again.

Bobbitt and Buttafuoco, it would seem, had it easy compared to this guy.

Remember

Remember the bumper stickers after 9/11.

"We won't forget."

In spite of all those promises, I think maybe we have. The emotions. The anger, fear and sorrow, all mingled together in a of national cocktail of rage.

I'll be honest, I forgot those feelings. It's just part of life...the moving on...the healing. But the memories of that day are memories we should keep fresh and alive. We have to remember.

The link below helps. And I sincerely hope it's been done as well as the preview appears.

Please take a moment and remember.

Delusions Are A Beautiful Thing

When I was in college, I took a philosophy class that was, by and large, absolutely worthless. One of the concepts we discussed, though, sticks with me today: would you rather be a pig (read: ignorant) and be satisfied in the muck of your life -- or would you rather be a Socrates (read: informed and cognizant) and be dissatisfied because you know all that is possible in life...yet most of which you will never achieve (read: 60 gig iPOD).

Well, it's a complicated premise and I certainly have no intention of addressing it in this post...except to say this article from Reuters brought the concept to my mind. Here's the headline:
"Laura Bush doesn't believe bad polls"
Me thinks Mrs. Bush possibly has her head in one.

People ARE dissatisfied with the state of the nation -- and they don't have to be a Socrates or a pig to feel that way.

I can't tell you how disappointed I personally am in the way the administration has been handling things. I was a big supporter. And I still want to like the guy. Honest, I do. It just seems he and his advisors have their heads in a hole, as well...but this one ain't in the sand.

Good move on appointing Snow, though. First good move I've seen in a long, long time. Most of the problems seem to stem from lousy communications. People don't understand what in the crud they're thinking on Pennsylvania Avenue these days.

So best of luck to Snow. And best of luck to Laura. She's going to need it to get the sand out of her hair.

Seperated @ Birth: Episode IX

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All together, now:

"Ebony and Ivory, live together in perfect harmony..."

An Idol Appearance

Talk about infommercials.

According to Variety magazine,

Shakira's appearance on [American Idol] in late March boosted sales of her latest album "Oral Fixation, Vol. 2" from about 5,000 copies a week to 81,000 copies the week of her performance. The disc's cume is now beyond 834,000 units.

When Queen recently performed, sales of the band's new album "Cold Stone Classics," leapt from 14,000 units the week before the show to 62,000 units a week later.

Think wizened industry pros like Manilow and Stevie Wonder are appearing on the show to offer an encouraging word - or maybe to be a source of inspiration to struggling singers who are trying to make a go of their careers.

Heck no.

They're only there because they're clinging to the music industry's latest lifeline -- TV. The so-called struggling kids of American Idol are helping the veterans sell more than they have in years (decades for some of them).

It's become a very weird media world.