Clear your sidewalks!

There is a sidewalk under here.

Hi all, today I'm writing this with some rage a'flairing. Many of my readers are also facebook friends of mine so you may have seen me frustration about the lack of shoveling laws in Palatine, IL.


Basically I'm outraged with my government today. I've never once in my life thrown out the "I pay taxes!" line to anyone but honestly I'm so concerned that I threw it out there yesterday. What exactly do I pay over 10% in sales tax for? And why is nearly $500 taken out of my paycheck twice a month? My wages aren't being garnished for any reason so you can rule that reason out, so it's all for taxes.


The unsung song of the Democrat is "Don't Complain About Taxes". I don't, I understand that we need taxes to pay for schools, roads, in the winter we have snow plows that clear the snow from the streets. So can someone please explain to me why the sidewalk owned by Cook County right outside from my apartment isn't cleared on a semi-regular basis?


Yesterday I spent nearly 15 minutes on the phone with a representative from the Village of Palatine. I explained to him that I walk home from the train on a regular basis. I don't have a car. My only option besides walking is waiting for my fiance who often can't come pick me up until nearly an hour and a half after the train drops me off. I only live 1.5 miles from my apartment. I'm in good shape and I can walk that far in about 30 minutes. It shouldn't be THIS complicated to walk home. Over 50% of the sidewalks that I walk on going home are not just dusted in snow, they are packed in snow from the footprints of countless other taxpayers who have to blaze their own trail in order to do the same thing that I do. Get from point A to B.


Now I suppose I could go buy a car, or I could take taxi's home... but both of those are options that I'm not comfortable with at this time. Mostly it's a cost issue. As much as I would love a new car, I can't afford the $300/month car payment, insurance, plus parking at the train station (which is $40/month). I don't apologize for not having a car, in fact, I embrace it. I count on that 1.5 mile walk as part of my daily exercise routine. I think that people are getting too attached to using cars and I feel free knowing that I'm not tied down to a car payment.


A taxi ride home typically runs $6-8 each way. I go by Ben Franklin's addage that a penny saved is a penny earned and I think about how I'm saving that $6-8 bucks each time I walk home instead of taking the easy way out by grabbing a cab. Plus I'm being green.


There is nothing wrong with my choice to walk.


Why can't Cook County clean my road? I explained to the Village of Palatine rep yesterday that my only other choice when the snow gets higher will be to walk on the street. This was the case last year. The street I walk on is 4 lanes. 2 lanes in each direction. There is no shoulder. He explained to me that they DO clear sidewalks, but only if they're en route to a school. He explained to me that a street that is over a mile away from me is cleared and if I just have a way to get to there I'll have a cleared sidewalk. Please explain this logic because walking a mile to get to a cleared sidewalk is lost on me.


I also explained to this rep that in Iowa there is a law that you must remove your snow within 24 hour of it falling. He acted so shocked that a state could actually enforce such laws. Iowa isn't a pedestrian state, Illinois, if any midwest state, is a pedestrian state. I still live in Cook County, the same as the great city of Chicago.


Of course I'm positive that the money that could be used towards cleaning my sidewalk is going in the pockets of the politicians. I can't prove any of this, I'm just leaning on the fact that Illinois is known for it's corrupt government. The fact that I pay one of the highest sales taxes in the nation and I bleed money from my paycheck and I can't have a clean walkway.


On my walk home yesterday, when I wasn't shouting obsenities (I really did), and trying not to slip (I nearly did), I reconsidered my membership of the Democratic party. Something I never thought I would do. I was always of the assumption that I don't care that I pay taxes because they are for the benefit of the people. Well I'm an American, I pay taxes, but I have to walk home through an arctic tundra in order to get home. My core beliefs remain the same so I don't know if I'll become a "red" any time soon, but lets just say I see their side more clearly at this moment.


The government of Illinois/Cook County/The Village of Palatine are not on my side. You really do put the "annoy" in Illinois.