I often write and/or talk here about the town I live in. Cause well I think it highlights what is still possible in America. A town of 8,600 folks. A town that is pretty darn Republican. But as I heard our City Manager say a few months ago in a meeting, "people like nice things, nice things cost money."
In 2008, and I live in Illinois, we voted 57% for McCain. In the SAME election we voted 63% to raise our property taxes to build a new $60M high school. It just opened and it is like something out of the future. Stunning. A few years before that we voted another time to raise taxes on businesses, to build, I kid you not more parks and a food pantry. It is hard to walk in any direction more than a few block and not encounter a park.
Well we just got a grant from the Federal government a few months ago. $750,000. What my town is doing with that money will blow your mind.
We're building a fiber optic network. As we speak there are folks working on it. Jobs. The fiber is being run around the entire city in a circle then down through the center of the city. Initially only the schools, library, post office, and government buildings will be connected. But as part of that $750,000 there is a feasibility study that will ask the question, should we wire the entire city?
I am sure it will come back saying yes, yes, yes.
This is the view outside my front door.
Three blocks from where I live fiber is being laid down. I know in a few months I might have it running into my house.
So what does that mean? In the last year my town has created 287 jobs. Boeing opened up a plant. Monsanto, and I am not a fan of the company, tripled the number of people here. They all say the same thing when asked why. Our schools are some of the best in the country and we keep investing in infrastructure.