My colleague here at BocaJump.com, Mr. Bailey, wrote a column this week on the good that the Grand Victoria Riverboat has been for us since it arrived here in 1994—and that was not a certainty at the time. After all, a casino does not seem a likely candidate to create a renaissance for a community that was in truly it’s most ghostly demeanor ever in the early ‘90s. That a silly boat would replace where the clock tower that once lorded over that corner or would somehow resuscitate our abandoned downtown, seemed sort of wispy pipe dream. And casinos could bring prostitution, crime and perhaps a seedy-side of life to an already struggling community. Passed in 1990, the state legislation that created the casino, was intended to help river towns by providing jobs and economic development. This was why they were silly boats straddling the water. It was mostly successful as a reconstruction project, at least on the hard-timed Fox River Valley, and the Grand Victoria became the most successful of all these enterprises. At its zenith, the city’s share of casino revenue stood at $25 million in 2007 and reached $26.8 million in 2008. It’s declined steadily since then,… Full Story

Smoking or non-smoking? That used to be the question in both restaurants and even on an airplane. Now this once affordable luxury (and the cigarette itself is mostly a relatively recent invention of the twentieth century) has lost its social graces. It has been taxed like a demon, and smokers are banned to the alleys. An interesting article in the new Atlantic magazine, by Ian Bogort, is speculating that the century we are now in may soon become a phobia for the cellphone and smartphone intensity we are currently involved in. We may make it the cigarette of our own times. We have seen both harm and tragedy by texting while driving. I have seen restaurants that post signs that we will be willing to serve you as soon as you finish your call. I have personally seen a young woman on the dance floor in a tango with her smartphone. I certainly have entered crowded rooms where once conviviality and conversation has been overtaken by dozens of folks just texting, scrolling or phoning away—although the later is discouraged by the pointless and mindless music is permeating most of those rooms these days. In fact the cellphoners are joining the… Full Story