NewGeography.com blogs

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's arrest, impeachment and removal from office assured his place as another famous name in our state’s corruption hall of disrepute. But it turns out the selling of President Obama’s Senate Seat was only a minor part of Blagojevich’s misdoings – and some of this could have greater national political fall-out than is commonly imagined.

As the Justice Department looks at Blagojevich’s machinations, the scope is likely to widen. Operation Board Games, the formal name of Justice Department's investigation of Blagojevich, is about more than just Blago’s seat-selling or about Democratic Party political fundraiser Tony Rezko shaking down individuals for campaign contributions.

Perhaps the most fertile ground for the investigation centers on the awarding of a gambling license in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, as The Chicago Tribune reported in 2005. Because of the negative attention drawn to placing a casino located in the Chicago Mob-linked suburb of Rosemont, Blagojevich needed to make the situation look more respectable.

So who was brought in to try and make Rosemont look acceptable? None other than Eric Holder, the current newly installed Attorney General. Rosemont didn't get the casino because of pressure applied by former FBI agent Jim Wagner on the Illinois Gaming board. Wagner is the guy who publicly raised the question of Eric Holder's connection with Blagojevich.

And there’s more to come:

A day before his arrest, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was hit with a sweeping federal subpoena seeking eight years of calendars, correspondence, e-mails, logs, notes and other records involving everyone from his wife to Chicago Tribune owner Sam Zell

The "everyone" includes Valerie Jarrett and David Axerod, individuals who are very close to President Obama.Tony Rezko appears to be a link between Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama. All of this could get pretty messy before it’s all done.

The second part in the series on East St. Louis gives views of downtown today, shows how its history can be seen in the city, and explains why the city could still be a good place for new development.

Part I discusses the origins and development of East St. Louis as an industrial city.

Part III will explore ideas put forward for (re)development of the city, including cultural tourism based on the city's African American heritage and use of vacant land for farming to create a local food source for the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Michael R. Allen is the Assistant Director at Landmarks Association of St. Louis. He edits the blog Ecology of Absence, "a voice for historic preservation and a chronicle of architectural change in St. Louis, Missouri and its region".

Alex Lotz is an undergraduate film student in his final year at Chapman University.

Democratic lawmakers from California recently took a break in the midst of “intense state budget negotiations” to travel up to a wine-country lodge complete with gourmet food, rooms, and cocktails with a trio of interests footing the $14,000 bill.

At the time of the retreat, the Consumer Attorneys of California (who, along with labor unions, had been pushing to roll back some labor rules) the California Professional Firefighters (seeking to protect funding for fire safety programs) and the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council (lobbying for greater roles for private contractors in state construction) all had strong interest in the proceedings.

The getaway came a day after Gov. Schwarzenegger declared a state of fiscal emergency and ordered the Legislature to discuss a series of proposals to plug a projected $42-bilion budget gap.

For the most part, each group had its interests protected in the budget package passed in February – though each group denied the retreat had anything to do with the budget.

Such extravagance gifted to lawmakers is not uncommon; groups with business before the state commonly bankroll such outings. Dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse with a $144 price tag, tickets to Disneyland, and $13,211 trip to Egypt, Jordan, and Israel, among many others, were revealed last week in documents filed by lawmakers.

Indecent lobbying goes down best with a vintage cabernet.

Over the past year, transit ridership has risen and that is a good thing. At the same time, driving has declined, due to both higher gasoline prices and the economic downturn. Some analysts have implied that people are giving up driving and using transit instead. An analysis of just released transit and urban roadway usage indicates no such thing. During the fourth quarter, the transit increase from a year earlier represented just 0.7 percent of the driving decline. This is even lower than the 2 to 3 percent figures registered in the first through third quarters. Of course, the principal reason why people do not substitute transit for driving is that it is not available for the overwhelming majority of urban trips.

The latest data is available at: http://www.demographia.com/ut-hwytr2008f.pdf.

A reader forwarded along this video of a bustling recent weekend at La Gran Plaza, a shopping center serving the Latino market in Fort Worth, TX. Just a few years ago, La Gran Plaza was a failing conventional shopping center before developers purchased it and completely redesigned and repurposed the mall to cater to Latinos. Partly because it serves a more insular, cash based clientele and largely because of brilliant design and programming choices, this mall seems to be thriving during a very tough period for retailers.