No way to know if the Northwest Herald’s poll on Wednesday is representative or not–or even how many people took part, but the results were not the pro-rapid growth forces in McHenry County would have wanted.
The question was
Should the McHenry County Board move forward with funding for the Randall Road Expansion project?
The answers?
- No – 65%
- Yes – 35%
Note that the question does not talk about improving the intersection of Algonquin and Randall Roads.
Randall Road on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, about noon.
The County Board will hold a Committee of the Whole meeting on Friday morning to consider the issue.
If the County Board decided to spend the RTA Sales Tax on the Sheriff’s Department, instead of widening roads like Randall Road, the property tax burden could be lowered $10.4 million.
65% percent of the county board does not understand that time is money.
Must be nice to live free of the clock.
South Side Gator: I do believe the 65 percent represented the readers of the NWH – NOT the county board.
That said, let’s see if the County Board is beholden to the fact distorting mayor of Algonquin AND Local 150.
The construction of the Longmeadow Parkway bridge and the long term impact of the Hwy 31 relocation has not yet been felt.
I vote to not spend one more dime on the Randall corridor for at least two more years until we can calculate the impact of the lower population in McHenry and the other highway projects.
In addition, stores are being constructed on Hwy. 47 in Huntley which will move traffic from Randall as will the new hospital on Algonquin Rd.
On the south bound lanes; right turn lane for Miller, right turn lane for Algonquin, tweak the light timing on Algonquin/Randall…problem solved.
Yes at rush hour it is a little congested, but it’s not terrible enough to justify spending to save 1-3 minutes.
In the name of “Progress,” the county board “HAS” to spend money to justify its existence.
Isn’t it amazing how well things operate on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays when NO politicians are at work?
The issue is NOT,
The issue is,
Here are some facts:
1) The main cause of backups on Randall is the single left turn lanes at Algonquin Road; this issue is to be addressed.
2) The proponents of this project estimate that after $100 million is spent, the average rush hour driver will save ONE MINUTE.
3) The proposed cost is a multiple of the average cost to add lanes in the urban parts of Illinois — not the average for Illinois as a whole or rural downstate Illinois, for the URBAN parts of Illinois.
4) The cost per trip for each benefited driver would be a multiple of the cost of using the Illinois Tollway.
5) Traffic hasn’t increased on the parts of Randall to be widened in over ten years.
I think most of you here are missing the whole point.
Being that NWH is a commie news rag and their polls are ALL skewed, this is exactly what they intended.
99% of their polls are really stupid.
Who could possibly say yes to this question?
Then we must accept that at least 355 of those polled DID!
Their pollls are moot.
Steve kind of got it straightened out.
I wonder if 35% of those folks would even understand what he said.
The right way to frame poll question is:
Should every taxable property in McHenry County be obligated to pay an amount equal to 1.428% of EAV in order to ________(Randall Road).
Each taxpayers’ amount of payment obligation for a project is derived by dividing project cost by EAV of obligated population.
The polls are not skewed.
It’s not the best Newspaper, but to say that the polls are skewed is ridiculous.
Further, polls serve a purpose by asking the public their opinion.
The way the question is worded skews the answer.
Is the question which includes quantifiable individual cost (1.43% of homeowners’ EAV) going to be answered the same as the currently worded question was answered?
It looks like the question in very straightforward.
It’s not an open needed question.
I don’t agree.
Though, that does not mean they should move forward with the project.
“open ended question”
People who take the trouble to respond to a question respond to its wording.
The sample set is then itself skewed by the phraseology.
But people may respond one way when NOT informed of cost to themselves, personally.
This sounds like a great experiment for the NWH to run.
RE-phrase the poll as in my prior post above, to include personal cost to homeowners of 1.43% of EAV.
I will bet steak dinner the outcome goes above 70% against.
I don’t think the phraseology was confusing.
But maybe they should include comments from the people who resounded to the poll.
**Being that NWH is a commie news rag.**
HAHAHA! *rolls eyes*
“Alabamshake” just remember you can still sell ocean front property in Arizona, to anyone that will listen…lol…
Fighting?
You’re an idiot.
You have no idea what you are talking about (ever!)
Normal people understand the word skewed.
You do NOT.
Susan, thank you for trying, but…You are talking to a moron.
Save your breath.
Cindy, you are the person that said the Government controls the weather.
Like that makes a lot of sense?
One of the wackiest comments ever heard out of someones mouth.
YOURS!
And, for your information I do understand the words skewed.
I haves studied Statistics, Calculous and more.
Remember, I have a degree which a lot more than you can say.
So Cindy, stop trying to sound intelligent when you are not!
Cindy you said: “Being that NWH is a commie news rag” is slander and I hope they go after you next.
My comment:
“I don’t think the phraseology was confusing”
“But maybe they should include comments from the people who responded to the poll”
Cindy go try and take a statistics class, but it’s doubtful you will pass.
And by the way Cindy, calling people names doesn’t make you look good, it makes you look immature.
Grow up!
Truth hurts!
Yes, you are only hurting yourself.
That is the truth.
So, grow up!
How did you find out how many people participated in the poll?
Gas bag gasser left the committee of the whole early today?
Is that true?
So much for representing us gas bag gasser.
What could be so important that you had to leave early.
Another lazy, overpriced county board member sucking down a pension!
fact: roadway expansion spurs job and economic growth.
Take the bait and debate me on this.
Typo , Cal.
It should have read 35%.
Sorry. (I don’t think there are ever that many people in their polls, anyway.)
To South Side Gator:
Your assertion is false because it is incomplete.
Some roads spur jobs and economic growth, but not all.
If that were so, then we should juts build an infinite amount of roads and the economy would grow infinitely.
This particular road will NOT increase traffic, will save an insignificant one or two minutes per rush hour trip, especially when the left turn lane issue at Algonquin Road is fixed, will cost a multiple of what essentially identical projects elsewhere in Illinois cost, and will result in a cost per trip that is a multiple of what the Illinois Tollway charges.
Explain how overpaying for a road that results in marginal value can possibly result in greater economic growth than the cost?
Better to leave the wasted tax dollars in the taxpayers’ pocket for them to spend in a way that maximizes their own utility.
I would recommend Frédéric Bastiat’s
first published in 1848, to you.
lol Steve.
I thought gator was being facetious.
Gator, you are right.
As long as the business transactions are done without kickbacks and bribes we need to drive the economy.
The people that belong to the Local 150 need to make a living just like the rest of us.
However, we don’t want some of their leaders forcing our business owners to unionize, by intimidation, which is exactly what has bee going on for years.
Remove the corruption, and we want our people working but not at the expense of the tax payer.
Let’s take a look at Schaumburg.
No train or river tributary to develop around.
Looked at how they have thrived with roadway expansion.
Proof that if you build it, they will come.
Sure the Elgin O’Hare cost big bucks to build, but they were not so short sighted.
It’s a good thought, and not facetious.
You are correct Gator.
Yeah, gator. Let’s look at Schaumburg.
You want to live in that Hell hole?
Go ahead and move there.
You don’t have a clue what McHenry County was about.
This was our refuge from suburban sprawl.
Anytime anyone complains about the boonies being overdeveloped they compare it to Schaumburg.
Schaumburg is actulally used as a derogatory term for really bad planning.
Gator, you have made three errors.
The first is the assertion that it was roadway expansion that caused Schaumburg to thrive.
You have presented no evidence of causality.
What you have is somewhere between a post hoc fallacy and a non sequitur.
Your second error is to call one anecdote evidence.
If we start playing that tit-for-tat game, then I claim Old Chicago Mall “proves” roads kill growth.
Your third error is to over generalize.
Even if some roads promote growth, which they do, that does not prove ALL road projects promote growth or specifically that THIS road will be a net economic positive.
Every project must be judged on its own merits.
And, on the other side of the ledger, I’ve put forward substantial evidence that
(a) the expansion is not needed;
(b) that the benefit would be minimal at best; and
(c) that the cost is outrageous.
Do you deny any of my claims?
Do you deny that traffic has NOT grown on the section of road they want to expand?
Do you deny that the projected benefit is a savings of a minute or two for each driver during rush hour?
Do you deny that the construction cost is a multiple of the average for urban areas of Illinois?
If you have evidence that disputes my claims, please produce it.
If not, please acknowledge my claims and then explain and provide proof that THIS particular project, despite its flaws, will result in net economic benefit.
I look forward to your explicit response — with data — to ALL the points I’ve made — no cherry picking.
Gator, is correct.
Does the term Golden Corridor mean anything to you?
The industrial parks of Schaumburg, Elk Grove, Addison have benefited tremendously from roadway development.
They are the economic engine that drives the whole region if not the state!
Take away the roads and you don’t have that.
I bet JAFrate is loving the new Rakow improvement until they are stuck in traffic like the rest of us due to shallow short term thinking.
Schaumburg is a Hellhole Cindy?
Any place that supports it’s local business and manufacturers through infrastructure so they can create good stable American jobs is somewhere I want to live.
Stop trying to live in the 1970’s and how McHenry County was and embrace what McHenry County should be.
When public tax-money is taken (in the case of Randall Road that take will be 1.43% of current property value, so a homeowner of a $200,000 home will pay in $2860), there is a presumption of communal benefit in return.
Those who will pay for this project are by-and-large homeowners.
Commercial property owners receive special grants and abatement (tif districts for example).
The insult we homeowners will get, in addition to the injury of contributing +/- $2860 per house, will be that McHenry County tax RATES will climb higher, causing further destruction of the values of our homes.
In America, the average property tax rate is 1.4% of home value.
In Chicago, around 2.3%
In Indiana and California, property tax rates are capped at 1% of homes’ fair market value.
With McHenry County tax rates around 4% (Woodstock property tax rate is 4.6% of home’s value), there are few potential buyers for residential real estate.
(In Woodstock, median income households cannot qualify for conventional mortgages on median value homes due to the extraordinary high tax rate).
Proposing a large spending project without factoring in the black-hole effect of 4% property tax rates is not rational.
Sandy the aggregate show a different picture.
3.5% flat tax without a hefty county tax like they have in Indiana is a steal if you are bank rolling in millions like our Governor.
We need to adopt Indiana’s tax code or the progressive tax found in Wisconsin to restore balance to the state finances.
Gator, is right on the money!
Gator, this is a situation that can be analyzed and philosophized and Cindy and Steve Wilson apparently believe they have the “ABSOLUTE ANSWERS” and they don’t.
Besides, Cindy thinks the Government controls the weather and that people die intentionally to control the population.
She has no credibility.
Correction:
The cost of Randall Road project will exceed 1.43% of EAV (of taxable property in the County).
The cost to the owner of a $200,000 home will be $953, not $2860 (1/3 of 1.43%, or .48%).
(Sorry about missing this math error in prior post).