This poll was rigged!

I have a confession to make. I am pro-growth. I am for market driven growth limited to and by a community's comprehensive plan. I also believe that DeKalb County is the most planned and prepared county in Illinois for growth and, according to the Chicago Tribune, "The Illinois chapter of the American Planning Association has named DeKalb's [county] 2003 comprehensive plan the best in the state," others agree with me.

My critics will quickly point out that I work for the builders and developers -- and they ain't lying. I do have several builders and developers as clients of eWorldLinx, Inc., of which I am head window washer. I also have several governmental units as clients in my portfolio. If truth be known my propensity to publicly offer my opinion probably universally makes my clients nervous. None have dropped-kicked me for voicing my opinion but that is their option.

I hate impact fees. They promote irresponsible government spending and I offer the fact that governmental units that spend the impact fees now claim that residents of new construction homes in the county, who currently pay an average of more than $5,400 per year in property taxes cost more than they are paying, as proof. The silly but costly formulas used to exact impact fees artificially inflate property values for the purpose of raising the EAV which results in higher property taxes for new and existing residents and I offer your tax bill as proof. Impact fees are the single largest contributor to the scarcity of workforce affordable housing and I offer the skyrocketing median price of new and existing homes as proof. But what I hate most about impact fees is that they promote lying by our government leaders, many of them anyway, who spin such lies as "builders and developers pay impact fees." Get real. At least get honest. What business or user-fee based non-profit organization does not pass its costs on to their customer or service-user?

It makes me want to vomit every time I hear someone address the city councils and local newspapers with, "The only ones who benefit from growth are the builders and developers and besides... I moved here from the suburbs to get away from all that growth!" Thanks for coming and adding to our tax deficit.

When I published the Growth Quiz Poll, I deliberately mimicked Eben Fodor, the "evangelist" of the anti-growth crowd, author of the book, Better not Bigger. For a sample of how he proposes doing a growth survey, click here, and hold your nose if biased polling offends you.

Sometimes, I even amaze myself, and considering my ego that is saying something. The results of my poll overwhelmingly supports my opinion. But hey! At least I did not ask taxpayers to pay for a Made-As-Instructed survey so I could justify another increase.

The results (shown to the right) were taken from 88 unique IP addresses that indicated a local zip code as their location. An IP address is the numerical address of an internet user's service provider.  I eliminated all duplicate IP addresses.

There were two questions that almost received unanimous response. The 7.1% who responded that homes in DeKalb County should be priced for commuters and that if growth is inevitable it should increase our taxes all had IP addresses that began with 131.156'something. That IP address belongs to the IP-bank owned by NIU.

Before I get crossed off the Christmas card list of every NIU employee I'll point out that among all 131.156s most answered with the majority on all of my Growth Poll Quiz questions.

But for the seven who voted for commuter priced homes and increased taxes? Consider your source of income.  It truly does influence your opinion.

I am truly proud of my DeKalb County Online readers. You are smarter than some give you credit for being. I strongly suspect that among my more frequent readers, fan or critic, this confession comes as no surprise at all.

Growth Quiz Poll Results...