Mr. Smith's comments were presented to Rockford City Council on December 5th, 2005.
Hello, my name is Darius Smith. I am a member of Deliverance Crusaders Church. I am also employed by Deliverance Crusaders Church which is located at 2728 West State Street, Rockford, Il 61102. This is my opinion on how I see home rule to be a positive influence in the community I serve and work in.
Tonight, I would like to tell you a few things about Deliverance Crusaders Church.
Deliverance Crusaders Church, founded by Pastor Arnell and Jim Ella Smith in 1972, has spawned several ministries including Beloit and Racine, Wisconsin, Alabama, Mississippi, Indiana, and Oklahoma. In Rockford, we have three ministries; House of Refuge Church (Pastor Mark Williams), Washington Park Christian Church (Pastors Jesse and Mary Allen), and Street Corner Deliverance Church (the late Pastor Charles Shores/Pastor Jewell Shores), all having started within our ministry. Our mission statement is to win souls and transform lives. This includes a strong desire to combat poverty, urban blight and social problems such as crime, unemployment, single-parent families, gang violence, and drug/alcohol use. This is accomplished by spreading the Word of God, teaching, counseling, mentoring and instructing men and women to become model citizens within the community and to lead by example.
I believe that Home Rule can make a very big impact that involves the most neglected area in the City of Rockford. Home Rule will help close the many drug houses located in west Rockford. I believe our community is sending mixed messages by allowing land lords to allow drug dealers to live and sell drugs from the property they own. This is saying it's ok!
HR will allow Rockford to pass an ordinance prohibiting owners of vacant structures from allowing such properties to remain vacant and boarded up for extended periods of time.
With HR will come the ability for building code hearing officers to issue harsher fines and require code violators' attendance at Crime Free Multi housing programs put on by the RCPD Community Services Unit.
Because as members of this City's Police Department can tell you — and probably none better than Sgt. Michael Booker & the CSU — with boarded up, abandoned property comes crime.
No one in Springfield can understand what it's like to live in a neighborhood populated with such property. No one better than members of the City's neighborhood associations and the aldermen who represent them.
Look what’s happened since Rockford has been a non-home rule community: building a $128 million dollar jail with a 1 cent tax increase, Rockford School District 205: 58 cent tax increase to address deficit; City of Rockford passed an ordinance for truancy. Can Home Rule really be that bad for our community?