How many are getting tired of Facebook? Are they trying to obtain your personal accounts?
Are you on Facebook, Senator? If not, why is this a concern for you?
pay attention to the news
I do. I understand the criticisms of Facebook. I have no doubt that I understand those criticisms even better than you do. I read; you don't. What I don't understand is why you're so invested in this.
I went to Facebook because I get news there about Berwyn that I do not get otherwise. I was a late comer to Facebook but it is worth it for me.
For example, on Tuesday, the Berwyn City Council paid out $195,000 on a sexual harassment case involving the deputy police chief Joseph Drury (who is on paid leave of absence). A woman went to the trouble of getting an electronic copy of the complaint and posted it. The allegations were very disturbing.
Also, lots of informative posts about the over tax that happened in District 100. The district miscalculated what the levy should be and people's tax bills were 3 times higher than expected with the new tax rate that was approved in the referendum because the triennial reassessment increased property values in Berwyn by over 20%.
I get information about things like this on Facebook that I do not get any where else. I don't post much on my own Facebook page - I just use it to get info on Berwyn from the various Berwyn groups - Berwyn Cool Kids, South Berwyn Watch, Berwyn Connect and Berwyn Connections.
Each group serves its own purpose and allows me to find out things that I would not normally find out about - so it is worth the trouble (to me, at least) of being on Facebook.
A shame the Suburban Life isn't covering this stuff. They should do better.
I just wish Facebook wouldn't have taken people away from these boards.
Facebook can be good for disseminating information, but lousy at removing the noise and garbage that surrounds that information. Some of that is a function of how Facebook works---anybody can play, and it encourages memes and photos over actual information. And, of course, Facebook has had a hard time keeping bigotry at bay. There's a Facebook group that's run by a former poster here, billyjean. Billyjean was a moronic blowhard who lost every single debate she had on this site with reasonable people---she'd post stuff about how monstrous gay marriage was, Obama birther crap, etc. It was easy to shut that down here, because here you had to focus on information and rational arguments, and she was never in possession of them. But over there, her garbage pile can fester unchallenged because she's amassed a small militia of blowhards who are equally or even more moronic: There are people who post overtly racist memes about Islam and immigrants, and only slightly more subtle misogynist/racist attacks on legislators like Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi. Another former poster here, eno, who lost arguments all the time and would then threaten to sue you as he was losing the argument, routinely posts there about how Democrats are the real racists; he may be the last man in America who has yet to let go of his grievance with Jeremiah Wright. Any person who visits the page would come away with the impression that Berwyn is mostly occupied by bigots who are deeply, deeply terrified of the world.
Senator, if you ever change your mind about Facebook and decide to join up, it should be the first place you go.
Quote from: markberwyn on August 18, 2018, 05:31:31 AM
... There's a Facebook group that's run by a former poster here, billyjean. Billyjean was a moronic blowhard who lost every single debate she had on this site with reasonable people---she'd post stuff about how monstrous gay marriage was, Obama birther crap, etc. It was easy to shut that down here, because here you had to focus on information and rational arguments, and she was never in possession of them. But over there, her garbage pile can fester unchallenged because she's amassed a small militia of blowhards who are equally or even more moronic: ...
I was banned from "Billy Jean's" facebook site (called Berwyn Banter). She didn't like the fact that I challenged her racism. I had had enough, anyway, because she spams her own site with all these stories from Breitbart and The Conservative Treehouse. I got tired for tryingto refute every nutty post that was put there (e.g. George Soros was a Nazi). The last straw was when she posted a picture of mugshots from a crime in Palm Springs California and said "look at their faces".
In the end, she told me she was banning me because I had turned into another MarkBerwyn... lol
Quote from: berwyn senator on August 09, 2018, 02:17:22 PM
How many are getting tired of Facebook? Are they trying to obtain your personal accounts?
Senator, if you want a Facebook site where you can get news about what is going on in Berwyn without being a member of Berwyn, the Berwyn Connect site is a good option. It is a public site so you can read what is going on and the admins keep it clean from nasty discussion - it is more of a news and event site but it is informative.
And, as I said, you can read stuff on the site without having to have a Facebook member ID.
Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/berwynconnect/ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/berwynconnect/)
Quote from: Ted on August 18, 2018, 11:03:41 AM
Quote from: markberwyn on August 18, 2018, 05:31:31 AM
... There's a Facebook group that's run by a former poster here, billyjean. Billyjean was a moronic blowhard who lost every single debate she had on this site with reasonable people---she'd post stuff about how monstrous gay marriage was, Obama birther crap, etc. It was easy to shut that down here, because here you had to focus on information and rational arguments, and she was never in possession of them. But over there, her garbage pile can fester unchallenged because she's amassed a small militia of blowhards who are equally or even more moronic: ...
I was banned from "Billy Jean's" facebook site (called Berwyn Banter). She didn't like the fact that I challenged her racism. I had had enough, anyway, because she spams her own site with all these stories from Breitbart and The Conservative Treehouse. I got tired for tryingto refute every nutty post that was put there (e.g. George Soros was a Nazi). The last straw was when she posted a picture of mugshots from a crime in Palm Springs California and said "look at their faces".
In the end, she told me she was banning me because I had turned into another MarkBerwyn... lol
Ha! She repeatedly beats this drum about how anybody who wants to talk about issues from any perspective is welcome on her page, but of course she can't meet her own standard. Somebody once said, "If your website is full of assholes, it's your fault." Perhaps someday she'll recognize that she's nursed a nest of rats into being.
I pay little attention to Facebook,they are only a group of people bragging of trips, where they are or how much they drank or ate.
Quote from: berwyn senator on September 20, 2018, 02:38:30 PM
I pay little attention to Facebook,they are only a group of people bragging of trips, where they are or how much they drank or ate.
No, Senator, there is more information than that on group sites. South Berwyn Watch has a lot of information about crime in Berwyn and other matters pertinent to Berwyn. Berwyn Cool Kids and Berwyn Connect have a lot of useful news about what is happening in Berwyn.
It is not just people bragging about trips or how much they ate or drank. That may happen on people's personal sites but I have never seen that type of post on the Berwyn group sites.
Quote from: berwyn senator on September 20, 2018, 02:38:30 PM
I pay little attention to Facebook,they are only a group of people bragging of trips, where they are or how much they drank or ate.
For fuck's sake, half your posts on BTF have been about how shitfaced you got around town when you were young and all the places you went to try to get laid; much of the rest was you complaining about how you can't get decent Czech food around town anymore.
I guess when all you have is assholes like markberwyn being critical of everyones posts on Berwyn Talk,I understand why people have left the Forum. Oh! yes there is no place in Berwyn to get good Czech food.Come on you have never grew up in Berwyn or Cicero your just stuck on stupid.
?
Oh, stifle yourself.
People have left this site because they've found better options for information about town. Or they were people who, like you, don't know how to be disagreed with.
Those people were a lot like you: ignorant, yet persuaded that their ignorance made them intelligent. (They have "horse sense" or "street smarts" or some such.)
You preen about the importance of education but nothing you write demonstrates intellectual proficiency above a fifth-grade level.
You say you went to graduate school but show no capacity for the kinds of things that advanced education demands, such as logic, research, or understanding different sides of an argument.
You are benighted about history and even worse about economics and sociology.
Nothing you have posted here suggests that you have read a book to completion, or even an news article.
You complain about most everything people younger than you do, but all you talk about doing in the olden days is getting drunk and endangering lives and shitting on other people like it's something to be proud of.
You say supportive things about bigoted and nativist politicians; when asked to defend that support, you dissemble or disappear. And still, most everything you have to say about the world outside of yourself is soaked in bigotry and contempt.
You bellyache about Facebook and yet your posts are directly influenced by the garbage it has helped disseminate.
If you are so very eager to identify assholes, get a mirror.
Finally pissed you off!!!!!
Quote from: berwyn senator on September 23, 2018, 11:33:24 AM
Finally pissed you off!!!!!
What are the three most persuasive articles you've read about problems with Facebook, senator?
Actually, just one article about Facebook will do.
Actually, any article you've read anywhere, about anything.
If you're not sure what an article is, just PM me, it's cool.
Annnnnnnnd, the senator vanishes. Of course.
One Man Berwyn Talk! Responding to you'r self? Get a job and a life or is living in you'r parents basement and looking for people on BT to fuck with?
All I've done is ask you to provide the title of a book or article you've found edifying, senator. Can you do it?
I'm sorry you found the "give the title of something you read" request such a steep mountain to climb. You claim to be such a great reader!
Your mirror must have broke! Can't insult an idiot!!!
Senator, did you ever find yourself in a bookstore, perhaps because you took a wrong turn somewhere? Did you maybe look around and see a book that made you think, "Huh, that might be something I'd like to read"? Do you recall the title of that book?
Not even asking to hear the title of a book you've read anymore. Just the title of a book you thought you might like to read someday.
Hah! Who knew? BTF lives! A bit dusty, but...
Last I checked it seemed this place was toast. Given today's and recent FB news, places like this
could be looking at a rebirth?
Hi everybody!
Quote from: watcher on September 28, 2018, 02:16:09 PM
Hah! Who knew? BTF lives! A bit dusty, but...
Last I checked it seemed this place was toast. Given today's and recent FB news, places like this
could be looking at a rebirth?
Hi everybody!
Hey Watcher,
What's up? How's life in Forest Park?
Ted
Life in FoPa is still weird. We get to vote on Video Gambling in November. The Pro side says if it gets prohibited many of our bars will
close. The Anti side says it's a horribly regressive way to raise revenue. The vote is NO to continue, YES to prohibit.
Berwyn is used as the poster-child for both.
Quote from: watcher on September 30, 2018, 03:42:46 AM
Life in FoPa is still weird. We get to vote on Video Gambling in November. The Pro side says if it gets prohibited many of our bars will
close. The Anti side says it's a horribly regressive way to raise revenue. The vote is NO to continue, YES to prohibit.
Berwyn is used as the poster-child for both.
What Berwyn bars closed because they couldn't have video gambling?
The Pro side claims that a ban would cause customers to head to Berwyn, N. Riverside or Brookfield with their dining/entertainment dollars.
The Anti side points at Berwyns "Cafes" and "tacky signage" as the unavoidable future unless video gambling is prohibited here.
The P side says look at the revenue being generated for Berwyn.
The A side says look at how much money has to be lost to generate that revenue. 60% of the profits leave town (25% to the state & 35% to the game supplier.)
FoPa had informally voted against allowing VG. In a non-binding referendum, it was voted down 2-1. In a poll sent out with water bills it was also rejected. In 2016 the council voted to allow VG. This prompted a petition drive to bring a binding referendum to the voters to let voters decide. The first two attempts were stymied when three "nuisance" questions were submitted that filled the limit on ballot questions. FoPa's electoral board ruled against the VG VOTE petitions. That set off a court challenge that ended with the IL supreme court ruling that the question must be placed on the ballot. So that's where things are now.
In 5 weeks the voters will speak.
Quote from: watcher on October 01, 2018, 08:05:36 AM
The Pro side claims that a ban would cause customers to head to Berwyn, N. Riverside or Brookfield with their dining/entertainment dollars.
The Anti side points at Berwyns "Cafes" and "tacky signage" as the unavoidable future unless video gambling is prohibited here.
The P side says look at the revenue being generated for Berwyn.
The A side says look at how much money has to be lost to generate that revenue. 60% of the profits leave town (25% to the state & 35% to the game supplier.)
FoPa had informally voted against allowing VG. In a non-binding referendum, it was voted down 2-1. In a poll sent out with water bills it was also rejected. In 2016 the council voted to allow VG. This prompted a petition drive to bring a binding referendum to the voters to let voters decide. The first two attempts were stymied when three "nuisance" questions were submitted that filled the limit on ballot questions. FoPa's electoral board ruled against the VG VOTE petitions. That set off a court challenge that ended with the IL supreme court ruling that the question must be placed on the ballot. So that's where things are now.
In 5 weeks the voters will speak.
I was surprised that they even got enough signatures to get this on the ballot. The Forest Park referendum has been talked about on Berwyn Facebook sites with some people wanting to do the same in Berwyn but it sounded like the bar is set very very high to get a referendum on the ballot to overrule a city council or village council vote.
Quote from: watcher on September 30, 2018, 03:42:46 AM
Life in FoPa is still weird. We get to vote on Video Gambling in November. The Pro side says if it gets prohibited many of our bars will
close. The Anti side says it's a horribly regressive way to raise revenue. The vote is NO to continue, YES to prohibit.
Berwyn is used as the poster-child for both.
There are a lot of people in Berwyn who want to do the same thing - get rid of video gaming.
The biggest issue in Berwyn right now is the massive levy and property tax hike in District 100. Voters voted to increase the tax rate to increase the amount of property taxes collected from $13.3 million to $15.5 million (an increase of $2.2 million).
But the school board levied $19.6 million expecting the tax cap would bring the amount down. However, because it was a year with the triennial reassessment and because the tax cap law had the new rate, the $19.6 million stayed as is and people saw an increase that was 3 times what was expected from the referendum literature.
My own taxes increased from $4900 to $5900, with $600 due to D100. I was expecting the D100 portion to increase by $180, not $600.
Because of the change in the exemptions law and because of the triennieal reassessment, some people have seen their overall taxes doubled and even tripled and a lot of low income families cannot afford the increase.
The board is looking at a debt abatement for next summer for the surplus and doing an underlevy this December to get the tax rate in line with what was stated in the referendum but it doesn't help people now who do not have the money to pay their property taxes.
The other big story is that the Committee to Elect Robert Lovero is being investigated for "irregularities and discrepencies" in its financial reporting to the state. It will be the third investigation in the last 5 years. In 2013, the Illinois Election Board fined the Loveo PAC over $38,000, which is the second largest campaign finance law fine in the history of the state of Illinois - even more than the $25,000 fine against Calvin Giles.
Two-fer...
The bar to bring a binding referendum is certainly too high. Coupled with the three question limit and the low bar for non-binding questions stack the odds against efforts like "Let Forest Park Vote. They actually had to collect the signatures twice because of the bizarre rules and rulings. But, there is now IL supreme court precedence that will make things easier for others, going forward. Berwyn's numbers dwarf ours, but you're three times our size too.
The ol' tax fairy triple whammy. Heh-heh. The assessor says it's not his fault, the taxing bodies point at everything but their own levies, the State says it's a local problem and homeowners curse them all. Pols (or wannabe VIPs like Dan Proft) try to monetize and convert the anger into power while Illinois teeters on the brink. Clearly the buck never stops. It's the Willie Sutton phenomena?
"You don't need to have a solution to admire the problem."