Blue flags blooming
June 2nd, 2008This is actually an old picture I took a few years ago at Bluff Spring Fen.
There are said to be two varieties and five native species of blue flag. I believe what’s pictured above–and what grows around here–is Iris virginiana. It has delicate blue and yellow flowers, and grows along rivers and streams. They bloom at this time of the year. You can find them along the Fox River and its tributary creeks.
All irises are blooming now, and a lovely but non-native yellow iris, Iris pseudacorus, can be found in profusion in swampy places such as at John Duerr Forest Preserve in South Elgin.
These irises grow to huge proportions. They were imported from Eurasia and are considered invasive plants.
This blog seems to be eschewing Elgin’s grittier issues - real estate concerns, crime, U-46, empty storefronts, rising unemployment, illegal aliens, and other political, economic and social matters - in favor of mushrooms and flowers. Has it become Candide and retreated to the garden?
Posted June 6th, 2008 at 1:34 pmI AGREE wholeheartedly. Are people afraid to voice their concerns? Great that they want a concert hall — but who is going to pay for it? Why aren’t people standing up to the Council while they spend our money on frivolous items rather than infrastructure and beautification of the city? We are moving west at the end of this month and there’s a part of me that will miss the city, but that other part…
Thanks for bringing that up. Not everything is flowers and butterflies.
Posted June 10th, 2008 at 9:33 amIndividual citizens would have a hard time actually making an impact. Everything is about politics. Take the Chicago mass transportation system, the “L”, for instance. How many people have gotten killed? How many derailments are there? How efficient is the system with respect to other systems worldwide? Does Gov. Blagojevich or Mayor Daley do something about it based upon Chicagoland citizen concern? How about Bush and our dependency on foreign oil/renewable energy? Or Elgin and finishing the Fountain Square condos, River Park Place condos, Water Street Place condos…
Posted June 11th, 2008 at 8:17 pmThank you all for the input. If you were wondering, no I have not made a conscious effort to avoid controversial issues. When I think I have something to add to the discussion and if I have time, I may write about it. I’ve been talking about flowers, mushrooms and random stuff since the beginning of this blog, and I don’t intend to stop because I think they are interesting topics, and the natural and physical environment that we live in is and ought to be a point of local pride.
I never intended for this blog to be purely criticism, because I’m not purely critical of things that are going on in Elgin. I think generally things are going well. No it’s not all “mushrooms and daisies,” but it’s a good idea to keep things in perspective. Life is good and we have more things to be thankful for than things to complain about.
If there are issues that you think deserve to be discussed and which you think I’m ignoring, please feel free to make a post in the forum section of this website. It’s a community forum and all comers and all ideas are welcome.
Posted June 12th, 2008 at 2:17 amI’m not suggesting you curb your enthusiasm for flowers or mushrooms nor should we forget the diminishing natural beauty that still is available to us. However, in the past you were quick to address meatier and more immediate subjects such as Angel Facio, historic preservation or the downtown condo racket. That doesn’t mean that your blog need be “purely criticism.” On the other hand, Elgin desperately needs more informed critical voices on substantial subjects because Sue Olafson, Leo Nelson, the Image Committee, and the U-46 hacks provide all the happy spin we can handle. Case in point… where’s the public discussion and criticism of one of the most remarkable documents in Elgin’s history, last week’s street gang report? Whitewash as it was, the document confirms the presence of a substantial organized crime culture in Elgin. And these aren’t kids playing “Sharks” and “Jets,” folks. Eighty percent of the gang members are adults. The report cites as one of the issues behind Elgin’s gang culture “parental denial,” but what we in fact learn is that the parents themselves are the gangsters. But most importantly the report claims that “People need to accept that gangs are… an inescapable part of life.” Really? Since when? Isn’t it time we started to direct some pretty hard-edged criticism at the political and economic leadership which has brought Elgin to this state? Where’s the accountability? Perhaps people are just plain afraid to raise a critical voice in an environment where even the chief of police forms secret police committees.
It’s things like the gang report that leave me amazed that you can say that in Elgin “generally things are going well.” Compared to what? The Sudan? You’ve long spoken of your desire to initiate something like the “Bilbao affect” while it seems more than obvious that Elgin’s leadership is pursuing the “Tijuana affect.” And even that characterization really insults Tijuana which has a much livelier commercial life than that of Elgin with its empty businesses and weedy parking lots. Mainstream American businesses flock to serve Geneva, Algonquin and South Elgin along Randall Road while Mike Powers and the rest of chumptown Elgin’s leadership have to give substantial pay offs for anyone to come here. Well, not quite everyone… The payday loan offices seem to pop up without any TIFs, and I’m sure the foreclosure business is humming. As Leo Nelson said recently when discussing Elgin’s high unemployment, “it’s the demographics.” Yep, life is good so long as you need Leo’s peon labor or you haven’t been stabbed in the face by one of your students or had your garage tagged by a gangbanging “inescapable part” of Elgin life.
Posted June 18th, 2008 at 9:22 pmIt’s obvious that you care passionately about Elgin, Rick, and I appreciate that. But Elgin is not one step away from Sudan. In fact, just recently Elgin was named the 52nd best place in America to raise a family. In Illinois only two cities beat us in the rankings, and we outranked Chicago. I think that’s quite an achievement for Elgin.
Take a look at that list, and you’ll see that we rank higher than cities like:
- Seattle
- San Francisco
- Portland
- Fort Worth
- Bellevue
- Tampa
- Orlando
And many other cities, almost all of them much better known than Elgin, and many of them very nice cities indeed.
Part of what makes Elgin a great city is the high bar that Elginites set for their community. There was an interesting post over on the LovinElgin blog about Elgin’s reputation.
You can read what I said over there, but basically when we set a high bar for ourselves, it means our dissatisfaction is going to be more evident then in communities where things that are not ideal are just accepted as normal and inescapable, and nobody does anything about it. The incidents of gang violence that occurred I guess last year, were met immediately by mobilized neighborhood groups and vigorous discussion within city hall, which was all covered by the media. The effect was to amplify awareness and make the incidents more visible. In reality, the level of crime in Elgin is still far lower than other cities, and I think it’s still accurate to say that the only city in Illinois safer than Elgin is Naperville.
That doesn’t mean we can be complacent–and I understand what you’re saying about the importance of alternative viewpoints to those of the council, but the point I want to get across is that things are not bad, on balance. There are things to be improved–the things you cited are all important, but there are reasons to celebrate as well.
Posted June 22nd, 2008 at 9:15 pm