Daily Archives: November 12, 2007

State of Illinois

Should fear keep us from having a Con-Con?

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Bring up the question of whether Illinois residents should call for a Constitutional Convention and you’re likely to get a response like this one from local blogger Brad Carter. Whenever I’ve brought the subject up on my blog, that has inevitably been the “conventional” wisdom (ha ha) from commentators.

But today in the State Journal-Register is an op-ed piece in favor of a “Con Con,” as it’s called for short. Of course, it’s written by a Chicago Democrat, which is sure to be brought up by critics as a reason to be wary. Nevertheless, I thought he made an interesting argument:

Critics from both the left and the right say that holding such a convention will open a “Pandora’s Box.” In fact, there is no doubt that various front groups will be created and funded by the very special interests that want to preserve the status quo, which has led us to our present morass.

The purpose of these groups will be to coax voters into accepting our current dysfunctional government by convincing them that they should fear the unknown outcomes of a Con-Con. I submit that the majority of Illinoisans doubt that things could get much worse.

He goes on to explain the safeguards that are in place — most notably that the final result has to be approved by the voters — and concludes by saying we shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to improve things because of fear:

We have no way of knowing what the process will bring, but fear of the unknown is no reason to shy away from debate. Doing so simply signifies an acceptance of the current system.

Indeed, there was no small amount of risk when the founding fathers decided to break ties with England. Think about the daunting task of forging a new nation from scratch. We face nothing quite so challenging here in Illinois (this would be a peaceful revising of the constitution, not a call to arms after all), yet we seem to have lost our courage even in this.

It isn’t easy reforming government, nor should we expect it to be. Yes, a Con Con would be a risk, and yes it would be a fight to improve things, and yes we might even lose some things we like about the current constitution. But is the status quo really a better option? Should we allow fear to keep us from fighting for something better for Illinois?

City of Peoria

The Bell doesn’t even say goodbye

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I have a gift certificate to The Bell, a local men’s clothing store. But I can’t use it, because The Bell is no longer a local men’s clothing store. It’s no longer any store at all.

Paul Gordon reported Sunday that The Bell closed on August 31 — without telling anyone they were going to close.

I used to get postcards from The Bell telling me of their sales, and I’ve been meaning to get over there to buy some new shirts and use up my gift certificate. It would have been nice if I had gotten a postcard saying they were going out of business.

According to the article, the closing was due to changing clothing styles (no one dresses up anymore). That’s certainly plausible. But I can’t help but wonder if changing locations (they went from a highly visible location across the street from Sheridan Village to a more or less invisible corner near Godfather’s pizza) and a decline in good customer service didn’t take its toll as well. As for the latter issue, I’ll give you a personal example.

I went in a few month ago to buy a hat. The size I needed was a special order, which was fine. I asked if I needed to make partial or full payment for the special order, and was told no, I could pay for it when it came in. One month went by… two months…. Finally, I called to ask the status of the special order. I was told that it couldn’t be ordered unless it was prepaid. This was the same guy who had previously told me I didn’t have to pay for it in advance. I guess he really, really didn’t want to sell me that hat. I’ve never quite figured out that one.

So it didn’t surprise me when I saw that they had closed. I just thought they might have told their customers it was coming. It would have been nice to visit the store one more time, maybe get some good sale prices on shirts, and indulge in a little nostalgia of this store that had been in Peoria over 100 years. My grandfather even shopped there.

Instead, I’m left with a worthless gift certificate and a bad memory of poor service. What a shame.

UPDATE: Perhaps this is the reason they didn’t have a going-out-of-business sale:

The Bell Clothing & Shoe House Inc., 5329 N. Sherwood Ave., Peoria; liabilities $261,700; assets $23,608.

David B. Frankel, 5329 N. Sherwood Ave., Peoria; assistant manager, Walgreen’s; liabilities $386,468; assets $216,925.

Gordon’s article didn’t mention the bankruptcy. A sad end to a long-standing Peoria business.