Anyone versed in the basics of economics knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch – unless you are shopping for a hotel to host your association’s next convention and you are plied with free tastings of dinner menus for your approval. The rest of us have to pay one way or […]
James Krohe Jr.
Posted inOpinion
Armory 2.0
How nice to see construction cranes instead of wrecking balls around the Illinois State Armory. Having kvetched for years about its neglect by the owners, I feel obligated to say a few words in praise of the project that is restoring it to health. As alert citizens know from these pages, the Armory, now in […]
Posted inJames Krohe Jr.
Pick of the litter
“Company’s coming!” Caseworker, health inspector, church lady – whoever is coming, it means get the pizza boxes off the coffee table and pick up your dirty socks. For the City of Springfield, the company is out-of-town visitors. Mayor Misty Buscher says that 2026 might be a record-breaking tourism year for Springfield thanks to celebrants of […]
Posted inBooks
A life well written
It is a rare male who, having achieved some success of the usual sort, can resist the conclusion that it must be because he is very intelligent or very virtuous. And being public-spirited, such a man is eager to make his wisdom available to family and friends. He thus develops a reputation as a dull […]
Posted inJames Krohe Jr.
A real planner this time
The city of Springfield has hired its own city planner, a real one this time. Her name is Suraksha Bhandari. She studied at the University of Utah after life in Nepal but she might find Springfield’s city hall no less strange a place than Mormon Salt Lake. She brings to the job degrees in architecture […]
Posted inJames Krohe Jr.
America’s Parkopolis
The Scots poet Robert Burns famously said (I’m using the version in English) “Oh, would some power gift us / To see ourselves as others see us!” For me, that power turned out to be YouTube. I am a latecomer to the video blog posts of transportation planning and engineering consultant Ray Delahanty, known professionally as […]
Posted inJames Krohe Jr.
Dumb. Outmoded. Unusable.
When people who live in the rest of Illinois complain about being fleeced by the sharpers in Springfield, they usually refer to state legislators, but the locals used to be pretty good at it too. Drop by the Levee district a century ago and you were likely to leave a poorer but wiser man, having […]
Posted inOpinion
Power grab
Cyrus the Great of Persia was a king who lived in the fifth century before Christ. An able general, Cyrus used both force and diplomacy to bring under his sway now-forgotten kingdoms such as the Median Empire, Lydia, even, eventually Babylonia. The territory of southwest Sangamon County is seldom compared to ancient Babylonia, except maybe by […]
Posted inOpinion
Illinois’ George Washington
Every December, Illinoisans celebrate the commonwealth’s admission to the Union as the 21st state in 1818. Well, some do. Actually, hardly any do. Most Illinoisans seem reconciled to their membership in the commonwealth but seldom proud of it; a not insignificant number of downstaters hereabouts daydream about secession that might free them of that yoke […]
Posted inOpinion
Scarecrows in the cornfields
Often, when driving on I-55 to and from Chicago, I while away the hours with word games. (How many words mean “dull”?) Until I reach McLean County, that is, when the towers of the Twin Groves Wind Farm come into view. Even though they’ve stood there for years – the farm was built way back […]
Posted inOpinion
Springfield’s city plan at 100
Rampant and haphazard growth after the Civil War left Springfield dirty, dangerous, unhealthful and inconvenient. The race riots in 1908 left the city’s worthy citizens with what we might call a reputational problem, so progressive-minded locals undertook a municipal housecleaning. The 1911 commission reform promised to fix politics. The election that same year of Willis […]
Posted inOpinion
The devil’s trumpets
In the Christian Book of Revelation we read that angels will sound seven trumpets to signal the apocalyptic events that will lead to a new kingdom of Heaven. I heard such a trumpet on my first night in my new apartment and it wasn’t announcing hail or blood or a mountain thrown into the sea. It […]
