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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Apr 18, 2014 5:42:03 GMT -6
Kyle, you better hold onto that job in Ottawa. What would you do if you lost that job? You have proved that you can't run a business, and going back to your old trade repairing movie projectors is not an option. Projector repair men are akin to buggy whip makers; there is not much of a market anymore. Do you even know what you are talking about? Trust me, I'm not worried about that job at all. Do you really think there are no more movie projectors, or are they just changing from one format to another? All it took for me was a little bit of additional training; I'm certified to install and service digital cinema equipment. There's actually quite a bit of activity for technical people in theatres these days and it's kind of nice not working with a bunch of greasy machines and tens of thousands of feet of dirty film. The studios save about a half a million per release by not making film, but they push the costs of the conversion on to theatres. They reimbursed the big chains for part of the expense, but not now that the independents that can't afford it are left. It is sad to hear about some of the generations old family businesses in small towns that are being forced out of the industry. Like this article says, there are a lot of theatres changing hands. Wall Street Journal Article
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Post by job on Apr 18, 2014 6:13:10 GMT -6
You left out the best part of my post you quoted above.
"Face it Kyle, this is as good as it gets: living above a jumped-up flea market and below a bunch of chickens. I hope you stick around. Every small town needs a character or two. In the fullness of time, you may make up to the level of Jay Nelson and Hoggy Greenwood."
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Apr 18, 2014 6:51:23 GMT -6
You left out the best part of my post you quoted above. "Face it Kyle, this is as good as it gets: living above a jumped-up flea market and below a bunch of chickens. I hope you stick around. Every small town needs a character or two. In the fullness of time, you may make up to the level of Jay Nelson and Hoggy Greenwood." Why, what is it that you want to talk about? Large brown healthy eggs? The other benefits of having a few laying hens and their lack of negative impacts? Streator's very low per capita retail sales figures that indicate that our community has a hard time supporting new merchandise establishments. How many new merchandise stores have closed over the past few years? The fact that my son's jumped up flea market continues to be here despite my detractors' calls for boycotts? Do you think people will remember me for having a few harmless laying hens for my family to enjoy delicious, healthy eggs and having a son with an award winning consignment shop? That would be fine with me. Maybe people will remember me for opening two long time vacant buildings during Streator's decline, my colorful paint job that some say puts a smile on our downtown, wanting to open another business, but getting turned away with an illegal requirement, or standing up to our City to ask for better for our community. I doubt that many will even remember me. I am happy that I provide some character to our community though.
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Post by job on Apr 18, 2014 8:19:59 GMT -6
Just remember Kyle; this is as good as it gets.
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Post by job on Apr 18, 2014 8:44:31 GMT -6
Job, you left out 'Sister Connie' from the list of colorful characters. She too lived downtown in a building. She too marched to her own beat. She too had a vision of what was right, but I don't think she tried to force those views on others. Even Mayberry had Gomer and Goober, Floyd the Barber, Otis the drunk, Barney Fife, The Darlings, and of course Ernest T. Bass. You are right, every town needs some characters, it adds to the flavor. I couldn't remember her name. I also missed Charlie Finland. I wished Kyle were more like Wah, another Streator fixture in days of yore.
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Post by Anonymous on Apr 18, 2014 9:09:01 GMT -6
Job, you left out 'Sister Connie' from the list of colorful characters. She too lived downtown in a building. She too marched to her own beat. She too had a vision of what was right, but I don't think she tried to force those views on others. When I lived in Chicago Sister Connie traveled to my place of employment with a big scrapbook of clippings from The Times-Press of articles about the mayor and the city and tried to report them for corruption. I remember that day so well. I waited on her. She had no idea that I was from the town she was calling corrupt. I passed her onto someone who listened to her complaints and read her documentation. It was evident to them she was not a well woman.
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Post by job on Apr 18, 2014 13:43:00 GMT -6
Job, you left out 'Sister Connie' from the list of colorful characters. She too lived downtown in a building. She too marched to her own beat. She too had a vision of what was right, but I don't think she tried to force those views on others. When I lived in Chicago Sister Connie traveled to my place of employment with a big scrapbook of clippings from The Times-Press of articles about the mayor and the city and tried to report them for corruption. I remember that day so well. I waited on her. She had no idea that I was from the town she was calling corrupt. I passed her onto someone who listened to her complaints and read her documentation. It was evident to them she was not a well woman. A definite linkage with Kyle. Too bad they never met; they might have been friends or at least kindred spirits.
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Apr 19, 2014 7:48:47 GMT -6
Just remember Kyle; this is as good as it gets. Wow, you seem very pessimistic. Do you really think that this is the best Streator can be? Some people say that I am negative, but I can see that Streator could be so much more. Our City leaders seem to have been sharing you negative attitude. I have seen our City run with an attitude that there is not a chance that we will progress, therefor no sense in trying much and that the best that can be done is to reduce services and raise taxes to compensate for our loss of business, population and property values. I don't think that our Mayor should have to try to justify the bar violence numbers by saying that he wishes that we had more officers on the street, but that we just can't afford it. That doesn't make many people feel safe to come walk our streets in my opinion. Did the Mayor mention any solutions in that article or does he think that this is the best Streator can be too? I don't think that tax payers should have to keep paying for the demolition of houses and other buildings. Did you talk about walking in neighborhoods to avoid discussion of how much downtown has changed? Are the neighborhoods really the same with so many vacant houses and ones tax payers paid to tear down? Maybe we should start doing things differently to make Streator a place that more people want to be, so that you and others could walk and admire our community's history even more. I am more optimistic that Streator can change for the better, but people that think that the way we have been doing things and the direction we have been heading is good stand in the way. JMIO
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Post by job on Apr 19, 2014 7:54:36 GMT -6
Just remember Kyle; this is as good as it gets. Wow, you seem very pessimistic. Do you really think that this is the best Streator can be? Some people say that I am negative, but I can see that Streator could be so much more. Our City leaders seem to have been sharing you negative attitude. I have seen our City run with an attitude that there is not a chance that we will progress, therefor no sense in trying much and that the best that can be done is to reduce services and raise taxes to compensate for our loss of business, population and property values. I don't think that our Mayor should have to try to justify the bar violence numbers by saying that he wishes that we had more officers on the street, but that we just can't afford it. That doesn't make many people feel safe to come walk our streets in my opinion. Did the Mayor mention any solutions in that article or does he think that this is the best Streator can be too? I don't think that tax payers should have to keep paying for the demolition of houses and other buildings. Did you talk about walking in neighborhoods to avoid discussion of how much downtown has changed? Are the neighborhoods really the same with so many vacant houses and ones tax payers paid to tear down? Maybe we should start doing things differently to make Streator a place that more people want to be, so that you and others could walk and admire our community's history even more. I am more optimistic that Streator can change for the better, but people that think that the way we have been doing things and the direction we have been heading is good stand in the way. JMIO When I said "this is as good as it gets," I was referring to you Kyle, not Streator. I was referring to your late tax payments, your limited career options and your "home:"("living above a jumped-up flea market and below a bunch of chickens")
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Apr 19, 2014 8:56:01 GMT -6
Wow, you seem very pessimistic. Do you really think that this is the best Streator can be? Some people say that I am negative, but I can see that Streator could be so much more. Our City leaders seem to have been sharing you negative attitude. I have seen our City run with an attitude that there is not a chance that we will progress, therefor no sense in trying much and that the best that can be done is to reduce services and raise taxes to compensate for our loss of business, population and property values. I don't think that our Mayor should have to try to justify the bar violence numbers by saying that he wishes that we had more officers on the street, but that we just can't afford it. That doesn't make many people feel safe to come walk our streets in my opinion. Did the Mayor mention any solutions in that article or does he think that this is the best Streator can be too? I don't think that tax payers should have to keep paying for the demolition of houses and other buildings. Did you talk about walking in neighborhoods to avoid discussion of how much downtown has changed? Are the neighborhoods really the same with so many vacant houses and ones tax payers paid to tear down? Maybe we should start doing things differently to make Streator a place that more people want to be, so that you and others could walk and admire our community's history even more. I am more optimistic that Streator can change for the better, but people that think that the way we have been doing things and the direction we have been heading is good stand in the way. JMIO When I said "this is as good as it gets," I was referring to you Kyle, not Streator. I was referring to your late tax payments, your limited career options and your "home:"("living above a jumped-up flea market and below a bunch of chickens") Are you really that worried that much about my career options? I'm not. I'll be able to pay my taxes early this year, can I pay them before I get a bill? It seems that the cost of new digital projection equipment is really dropping now. With many theatres changing hands as the Wall street Journal article pointed out, equipment is being pulled out, newer models put in, a lot of buying, selling, and installations going on. Don't worry, my career is just fine. Yes, it is a shame that the economics of Streator have declined so far that the sales of used merchandise is so much safer of a retail business model than new merchandise. At least it is an open business. Are you jealous of my hens? I could give you a dozen of the great tasting big healthy eggs to see what you are missing out on. Maybe you can help me convince our City leaders that every resident should be able to enjoy the benefits as well. My hens seem to be becoming famous, they were talked about on the radio yesterday.
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Post by dumdave on Apr 19, 2014 12:36:47 GMT -6
I enjoy Kyle's paint job on his building. It looks like someone gave downtown a flower high in the air. I have read in the paper about his chickens and I think it is neat to be able to have fresh eggs. I yes. I am still on board w/ the aquaphonics idea. -DD
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Post by ~MnM~ on Apr 19, 2014 20:55:30 GMT -6
Ok, let me get this straight...for one Canale Realestate is now done being in business...BUT they have JANKO from Peru the agent selling this business building, seriously ?? I just ran into Don a few weeks ago and he told me about the new people who finally purchased an abondoned house in our block...he didn't mention the fact they were done though there, regarding business.............. SOOOOOOOOOOOO................ they get JANKO to sell this property?? JANKO owned the Thrif-T-Mart building........ he is another Fieldman................. GREAT ..................... M
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Apr 19, 2014 22:33:02 GMT -6
Hi M,
If you drive by their office there is a Washington Square sign in the window with Don's name on it. I had heard that they were working out of Katie's office.
I think it is a shame though that so very little real estate sells here that we can not even support a local office. I hope that I am proven wrong and another one opens up, but I think Streator is just a very slow and declining market. I keep hearing of more good people leaving.
I hope we can start heading in a different direction soon.
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Post by dog on Apr 20, 2014 7:44:34 GMT -6
Hi M, If you drive by their office there is a Washington Square sign in the window with Don's name on it. I had heard that they were working out of Katie's office. I think it is a shame though that so very little real estate sells here that we can not even support a local office. I hope that I am proven wrong and another one opens up, but I think Streator is just a very slow and declining market. I keep hearing of more good people leaving. I hope we can start heading in a different direction soon. Is this all your opinion, Kyle? Do you have a source to verify this information? I would love to go to a site that lists number of properties by neighboring cities, median prices, days on the market, number or properties sold etc. You got a link to a site like that? You keep saying that people are moving out of town and you make it sound like it is an occurrance that is unique to Streator. If you look at US Census data, it shows that as a whole, LaSalle County has lost 1.5% , Streator -1.1%,Ottawa -1%, Peru -1%. Dixon-2.1%. We really are somewhere around average with other towns in the area. These numbers aren't broken down by deaths,births,residents moving out or moving in. I can say from my business experience that I have lost more clients thru them passing away, than I lost from them moving away. I can also say that in my experience, I have gained more clients by them moving to town, than I have lost by them moving out of town.
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Post by ohhenry on Apr 21, 2014 13:23:12 GMT -6
We have some great customers. We just had a nice couple from out of town stop in and introduce themselves. We had a nice conversation and seems they are actually wanting to move TO Streator once they tie up some loose ends. We have a lot of challenges, just like nearly everyplace else. Kyle, what town doesn't have drinking, or fighting, or maybe even cops that are perhaps sometimes lenient and not 'Gestapo'? Does your Utopia feature Gestapo Cops and Marshall Law? Where does it exist on the map? There is no Utopia, is there? Sometimes you just have to accentuate the positive and accept some of the negative. Streator, despite a few warts....is well....Beautiful.....in it's own way. That's great! Kyle - people actually want to move to Streator - maybe you should put your building up for sale - now is the time to move on
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