WTF??? Banning ice cream trucks???

I would certainly call this a very busybody move. Aren't there more important issues to tackle than an ice cream truck. At least they can prove was small plastic baggies can be used for, but this is the floppiest reasons for banning ice cream trucks. From the Chicago Reader blog, The Food Chain:

Lane's explanation? Suspected ne'er-do-wells. She related a story of one dodgy truck. "The truck arrived down the block and its playing the regular ice cream music," she told me. "The kids left the truck and he left the end of the block, and it was like a cul-de-sac where you have to come back around and come back up the same block. And when he got down there he started playing a different tune of music. And I'm sitting down there but I'm writing this. And so then there were guys--people coming out of homes that were going to the truck coming back with something. You see them exchange something at the window of the truck but they didn't have any ice cream. So I assumed that they were dealing drugs. I'm not saying every truck is doing that but I prefer them not to be in the 18th Ward. That way we're sure that they are not."

Because she thought they were dealing drugs? You know shouldn't you prove something before you just plain take action like it's really happening.

SILLY!!!

Crossposted on the brand new Gaper's Block blog Mechanics.

Read more...

Chicago To Eliminate Mini Drug Bags

Remember this headline, "Ban on tiny plastic bags sandbagged"?

Well the Chicago City Council's Health Committee has followed thru on it...

Aldermen have given preliminary approval to an ordinance that would ban the sale or possession of tiny plastic bags often used by drug dealers.
...
The bags are two-inch, sealable, plastic and stamped with little logos, like hearts, spiders or superhero symbols. And 2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti says, in his area, they’re used to hold crack cocaine and heroin. Many are decorated with little logos that police say identify the kind of drugs contained within.

Hmmm, shouldn't the city council find ways to maximize revenue since the Mayor is talking about a partial city government shutdown or laying off workers?

Hat-tip Uptown Update!

Read more...

Chicago aldermen: Who's got what

With a hat-tip to Newsalert. The Sun-Times lists the campaign fund totals of all Chicago aldermen. Ranging from between $8 Million to $0. The man on top is Ald. Ed Burke of the 14th.

Last year when I covered the municipal elections on my own blog, I noted in this post at that time...

Why does Burke have over $6.5 million in his campaign fund when he doesn't even have an opponent?

Ultimately he did have an opponent whom he failed to keep off the ballot and that election turned into what might referred to in wrestling as a "sqaush" match. That race was incredibly one sided.

Still I have to wonder why should an alderman have $8 million in their campaign fund? I suppose for a local office even in a city the size of Chicago to be able to either win or hold a seat shouldn't require that much money, unless we go back to that post at Newsalert...

Very interesting.With $8 million that substantially more money than Mayor Daley's got. Alderman Burke has never had a real campaign opponent. Why would so many connected individuals contribute money to a single Alderman? Here is the proof that Ed Burke is the real boss of The Chicago Democratic Machine. He slates the judges and controls Chicago's tax code. Burke passes out the money and it appears many people want to give him some money.

So all that money has little to do with his position as an alderman. Perhaps it might be his role as the chair of the city council finance committee? Perhaps it might be related to his role as a Democratic committeeman?

Read more...

The Decline of Chicago: The City that Doesn't Work

Steve Bartin from this local blog known as Newsalert offers his two cents on the state of the city of Chicago in this online column. Something that's worth a pull from this column among other things I'd like to excerpt...

Recently, Crain’s Chicago Business reported on Chicago winning an award from Fast Company magazine. “Chicago stood out in our reporting for its creativity and vitality,” Editor and Managing Director Bob Safian said at a press conference here. “Chicago offers something distinctive.”

Fast Company Magazine is representative of much of the media: not much on hard facts about Chicago. The Windy City has distinctions but not positive ones. Chicago’s retail sales tax is the highest in the nation at 10.25 percent. Unions, high taxes, and political corruption have made Chicago one of the leaders in big city decline.

One of the great modern myths of big city America is that Chicago is some sort of successful town and a role model for others. By any traditional performance standards Chicago has failed. Like many old, big industrial cities, Chicago peaked in the 1950 Census with a population of 3,620,962. In the 1950s over two percent of the entire U.S. population lived within Chicago city limits. Over a half century later, while America’s population doubled, Chicago’s population declined. The 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990 Census numbers showed Chicago losing population.

Mayor Daley and Chicago residents were quite excited about the 2000 Census showing Chicago gaining over 112,000 people (a growth rate at half the national average for the 1990s). It appears the 1990s were an anomaly for Chicago. Since the year 2000, according to Census estimates, Chicago again continued its population decline with a loss of 63,000 from 2000 to 2006 leaving a total of 2,833,321.

....

Though 2000 was a somewhat positive year, that year’s Census numbers mask some rather disturbing trends. The white flight out of Chicago continued with 150,000 non- Hispanic white people leaving Chicago from 1990 to 2,000. African-Americans, for the first time, began leaving Chicago with a net loss of 5,000. The population gain in Chicago during the 1990s was due to Hispanics.

Here's another problem highlighted...

What is even more pronounced is the lack of white children in the public school system. The entire Chicago Public School is only 9 percent white . Not a single public school has a population that is majority white. Not one.

Recently, the stubborn facts of Chicago’s population decline made news. As CBS TV Chicago reported in January of 2008:

Half-empty schools are ‘unacceptable’ because they don't serve their students or the communities they're supposed to anchor, Mayor Richard M. Daley said Thursday, setting the stage for the biggest wave of school closings in decades.

Officials contend 147 of 417 neighborhood elementary schools are from half to more than two-thirds empty because enrollment has declined by 41,000 students in the last seven years. A tentative CPS plan calls for up to 50 under-used schools to close, consolidate with other schools or phase out over the next five years.

Most of the underused schools are on the South and West Sides, often where the student population is largely African-American, and in lakefront neighborhoods that include Lincoln Park, Lake View, Uptown and North Center.”

The situation isn’t any better in Chicago’s Catholic School System. The Chicago Tribune reported on February 27, 2007:

Nicholas Wolsonovich, superintendent of schools for the archdiocese, called the exodus from Chicago's Catholic schools ‘mind-boggling.’ In 1964, he said, some 500 schools were spread across the diocese, with about 366,000 students. Now, the system has 257 schools and fewer than 100,000 students. Over the last decade statewide, the number of Catholic schools has dropped from 592 in 1997 to 510 this year, according to figures released at the conference.

Chicago’s political elite love to give speeches about the importance of public education, but not for their children. Mayor Daley sent his children to private schools. Deborah Lynch, the former head of the Chicago Teacher’s Union, sent her kids to private schools. America’s newest political superstar, Barack Obama, sends his kids to private schools. With the exodus of the rich from Chicago’s public schools, 69 percent of the children in the Chicago Public School system are poor.

The horrible public schools, high taxes, and crime have driven families out of Chicago. The city’s job base cannot compete with anti-union places like Houston and Phoenix.

Let's talk a little about business in Chicago. Chicago and Cook County already has the highest sales tax in the nation but what might be the after effects of that and other taxes on businesses here...

Chicago’s high tax life style has driven businesses and jobs to the suburbs. Chicago is one ofthe only towns in America with an employee head tax on employment. Companies with over 50 employees must pay $4 a month per employee to the city. Most of the major corporate headquarters in the Chicago area are located in Chicago’s suburbs. Motorola, Walgreens, All State, Kraft, Anixter, Illinois Tool Works, McDonald’s, Alberta-Culver, and Abbott Labs all have their corporate headquarters outside city limits.

Recently, Chicago got its first Wal-Mart. In most places in America, politicians allow consumers to decide whether a business should fail or succeed. In Chicago, with the power of the unions, Chicago’s city council has made it difficult for Wal-Mart to open up any more stores. Chicago’s poor are relegated to paying higher retail prices and have less access to entry-level jobs. The adjacent suburb of Niles has the unusual distinction of being the only town in America (with less than 45,000 people) with two Wal-Marts. One of the Niles Wal-Marts is located right across the street from Chicago.

The largest employer in the city of Chicago is the Federal government. Followed by the City of Chicago public School system. Other major employers are the city of Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority, the Cook County government, and the Chicago Park District. These thousands of government workers provide the backbone of the coalition for higher taxes, generous pensions and “political stability”.

Chicago’s political system is inefficient and costly. There are no term limits in Chicago. The Democratic Party has controlled the Mayor’s office since 1931(a big city record). There’s no opposition: Democrat’s control 49 out of 50 seats on the city council. Corruption is everywhere. Barely a month can go by without a major scandal. The FBI has the largest public corruption squad in the United States located in Chicago . Chicago voters don’t seem to care. Those who care about high taxes, good public schools, and low crime are a small minority in Chicago.

I just post this here because there are some things to consider here. Does anyone think the City of Chicago is in trouble? Does anyone think there might need to be some changes made in how the city is able to attract and retain businesses here?

This column concludes that low-tax and low-regulation Houston, Texas will over take Chicago in 15 years. Does anyone think that will happen?

Cross-posted at The Sixth Ward.

Read more...

Ex-alderman, ex-con, ex-Dem, Jones seeks political comeback

I saw this somewhere, perhaps some Republican communique decrying this as another Republican problem. I don't know what say you out there. From Crain's today...

ormer Alderman Virgil Jones’ latest attempt to reclaim public office after serving time in prison lasted about two weeks.

Mr. Jones, a former police officer who served as alderman for the city’s 15th Ward from 1991 until he was convicted of extortion and tax charges in 1999, had attempted to fill the vacancy on the ballot for state representative in the 32nd District.

He had even switched parties, from Democrat to Republican.

State law does not prohibit convicted felons from seeking office — unlike municipal law, which prevented Mr. Jones from reclaiming his aldermanic seat, a move he attempted last year. He was rebuffed by the city Board of Elections, and when he took his case to the Illinois Supreme Court, the judges sided with the board.

Mr. Jones said Thursday he will withdraw his nomination to run on the 32nd District Republican ballot after conferring with the leaders of the Cook County and city Republican parties. His nomination application was filed 10 days ago with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

“It’s what is best for the party,” Mr. Jones said. “There will be another time (to run for office).”

Though he was a member of the Democratic Party for years, Mr. Jones said his switch to the Republican Party represents his true political ideology.

“When I was a younger man, I was a member of the Young Republicans,” he said. “In the city of Chicago, you can only get elected (if you’re a Democrat).”

that last statement sounds like a cop out. Even worse I don't know if I'd touch the guy for his criminal history. Hmmm, here's what Crain's had to say about that...

Mr. Jones spent three years in prison after being convicted of extortion in the 1990s’ FBI investigation dubbed Operation Silver Shovel, which exposed political corruption. The probe ended with 18 convictions, six of them sitting or former aldermen.

Mr. Jones maintains his innocence. “I didn’t take any money. That was a lie,” he said.

He’s also preparing to file an appeal to have his conviction overturned. “I want to serve the people. I know what the people need.”

Read more...

Aldermen lash out at $75,000 for Stone

From today's Sun-Times...

Chicago aldermen ridiculed and condemned a federal hiring monitor on Friday for awarding $75,000 to the son of the City Council's elder statesman as compensation for a 2003 aldermanic election that was stacked against him.

Federal monitor Noelle Brennan believed Stone's claim that he didn't stand a chance against then-Ald. Ted Matlak (32nd) because Matlak had the support of a political army of city workers commanded on city time by now-convicted former First Deputy Water Commissioner Donald Tomczak.

Veteran aldermen begged to differ. They argued that Stone "never stood a chance, period" because he was a lousy candidate.

By giving Stone $75,000, Brennan deprived more worthy applicants of more substantial settlements, the aldermen said. "We've got potholes to fix. We spend $20 million on snow removal, and the federal monitor decides in her infinite wisdom to give somebody $75,000 because they lost an election? Can I sign up for that program?" said Ald. Tom Allen (38th).

Has Jay Stone ever worked for the city? Should he get a settlement from the city only because he had to face a ward political machine mostly manned by city workers? And why aren't the aldermen trying to go after the corruption that is a cause & effect of rigging city hiring?

I haven't read that Mr. Stone ever worked for the city. Stone surely should not have gotten a settlement for only being a political candidate facing a political machine of city workers. Hopefully someone can provide an answer for the third question I posed, because the best I can do is that the aldermen on Chicago's city council aren't willing to tackle this issue.

Many of the aldermen are correct in opposing this. Indeed a lot of Aldermen are correct that this money could go towards providing services to Chicago residents. Still if the city is tired of these payouts, I wish they could address the underlying causes.

Read more...

Second Chicago Wal-Mart May Never Come

From Channel 2...

It looks like the city of Chicago might not get a second Wal-Mart store after all.

The Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday that the City of Chicago has rejected a request by the world's largest retailer to build another store in the South Side's Chatham neighborhood.

For the project to move forward, Wal-Mart will need to get a law changed by the City Council. Under the current zoning for the Chatham Market shopping center at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue, the city must approve any tenant leasing more than 100,000 square feet, the Tribune said.

Wal-Mart officials say they are still hopeful they can work out a solution with the city.

The first Wal-Mart in the city limits opened in September 2006 at North and Kilpatrick avenues on the city's West Side. That followed a spectacular political battle that began when the City Council passed an ordinance that would have required "big box" stores to pay workers at least $10 an hour plus $3 in fringe benefits.

The rules would only have applied to companies with more than $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet.

I literally hate to open up another argument where people talk about whether or not there should be a mandated living wage. Two years ago I'd argue for the benefit of bringing job to struggling city neighborhoods. I still feel that way and I definitely won't join an argument in favor of a "living wage" with the belief that empolyers should pay a wage they deem fit.

At the same time there are those who don't care for Wal-Mart for fairly valid reasons as I've seen in this vid. This is not an Illinois focused video, but there are reasons to not like Wal-Mart other than because unions don't like them or whatever other contrived reason that can be had...

Still Chatham is a good neighborhood to have a Wal-Mart. There aren't many mom-and-pop stores that might run out of business. This should be a super-center where groceries should be sold so Jewel/Osco on 87th Street and the Chatham Food Center on 79th Street might have a run for their money.

Addition: A rare comment is posted at one of my other blogs, The Sixth Ward, where this post is cross-posted and asks some good questions.

Did you know some Chatham residents take pride in the fact that our community has the most black owned businesses in Chicago? ("mom & pop stores") And, did you know Chatham Food Mart is the only black owned grocery store in Illinois? So, do you still think Chatham is a good neighborhood to have a Wal-Mart?

Well Chatham is certainly a place well known for black-owned businesses. I'm certainly aware that Chatham Food Center (I apologize for not getting the name right) is the only black-owned grocery store in the state. Now as for Chatham being good for a Wal-Mart, well I could say it's good enough for a Target so it's certainly good enough for a Wal-Mart. That being said I wish I had an answer as to whether or not a Wal-Mart might automatically harm the Chatham neighborhood and those businesses already contain within. I would like to think even with a Wal-Mart they would still survive. I'm not convinced that keeping Wal-Mart out of the neighborhood is the answer.

Read more...

Ban on tiny plastic bags sandbagged

Remember this story. Chicago's city council actually grew a pair moved to "sandbag" this bill. In other words they killed it or at least it won't come to vote in front of the full city council. So let's see which Alderman saw this potential ordinance as frivolous. From today's Sun-Times...

Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) said Thursday she joined her colleague, Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), in sandbagging the plastic bag ban at this week's City Council meeting because it would "criminalize legal conduct."

"Their position is there's no use to any of these bags other than for illegal purposes. But Ald. Shiller brought to their attention that people who do bead work buy beads in small bags. I mentioned that a lot of young girls have these intricate braids and that those beads also come in plastic bags," Lyle said.

"I've seen these little, bitty, tiny plastic bags. You know they're selling crack cocaine in it. But we've got enough laws we can't enforce. We don't want to make any more or criminalize legal conduct."

Shiller could not be reached for comment.

Ald. Ed Smith (28th), Health Committee chairman, said he held the matter in committee because some of his colleagues have reservations and want another hearing to air those concerns.

"Drugs are handled and passed along in other [containers], rather than just a particular bag, and they had some concerns about that," Smith said.

Asked if he still supported the ban, Smith said, "Oh, sure. I do. Any measure -- whether it's minuscule or whatever -- that can make a dent on the drug activity, we need to do it because it is killing this country. Not only the young people."

Well OK, Ald. Smith is not one who thinks this ordinance is frivolous so he's in that camp. He thinks banning these little baggies would help make a dent in drug activitiy. I wish he could come up with more constructive ideas than banning something.

Originally posted at It's My Mind!

Read more...

Chicago Democratic Machine: A History of Corruption

A post from The Astute Bloggers. A history from the time of Mayor Anton J. Cermak to Mayor Richard. J Daley and his son to even Sen. Barack Obama who's running for President.Even an appearance by Tony Resko. Hat-tip Newsalert.

Read more...

Peraica interested in investigating Ald. Ed. Burke

OK I'll give Tony Peraica a rest here for a while. I already posted a story about him on Friday. Here's a brief item brought to us courtesy of Newsalert. I'm sure this could be seen as grandstanding.

Read more...

The Bench: The Rape of Lawndale

Find this video and thousands of others at vSocial!

Another major Roger's Park blog, The Bench takes aim at eminent domain but this time he takes a look at Lawndale on Chicago's west side. I should warn you not to watch if you don't like the message in this video.

Other posts about eminent domain in Lawndale
Eminent domain protest at Daley's office
South North Lawndale! eminent domain struggle continues

Read more...

County Insider John Daley Threatens Tony Peraica

Apparently Tony Peraica has a blip.tv account. And he uploaded the story about his Cook County Board meeting. I don't know when this story aired on CBS2Chicago, but it was a really interesting soundbite between Tony Peraica and his colleague John Daley. Daley in addition to being a Cook County Commissioner is also the 11th Ward Committeeman. So Peraica probably shouldn't take this too lightly. Although I have to admit if this was anywhere else in the nation Peraica could win it based off of this soundbite alone.

Read more...

Mayor Daley, Personal Buffer, Illegal Activities

I saw this on Newsalert tonight. From a book by disgraced city clerk James Laski. Here's a brief excerpt from Michael Sneed...

• • Daley schmooze: In his book, Laski claims Daley invited him into his private City Hall conference room and asked if he'd heard "from anybody down the street." -- Hizzoner's reference to the feds -- during a probe of alleged time-sheet fraud at City Hall.

• • The upshot: When Laski said, "No!" Daley offered to give him some advice.

• • Quoth Laski: "He spoke quietly as if we were being bugged. He told me, in a very serious tone of voice, that, in order to survive in this business, I had to have a buffer.

"At that point, he reminded me of Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, when he warned me that everyone would be trying to get me, especially the press.

"He basically told me that I needed someone to protect me, and that where the buck would stop, everything would end there with that person.

"In my opinion, Daley was forever surrounding himself with his own personal buffers.

"Even today, I still hear the Mayor, over and over, pleading ignorance about the latest Chicago political scandal.

"I was in government service for about twenty-seven years, sixteen of those as an elected official, and, in my opinion, the mayor knows everything that goes on in City Hall."

Check out these websites from Sneed's column with regards to Laski's book.

From the publisher, Author House. And Laski's website, My Fall From Grace. The book itself is titled, My Fall from Grace: City Hall to Prison Walls.

Read more...

'Obama Country' ad is nothing more than an "idiot" card

My “idiot” card arrived in my mail Wednesday.

Now I can breathe a sigh of relief, as I finally know how I am supposed to vote come Tuesday’s primary elections. At least that’s how the Cook County Democratic Party wants me to react now that I have received their mailing telling me how to cast my ballot.

I received a campaign mailing telling me the party’s slate of candidates running for countywide offices here in the Land of Cook.

So now I realize that Joseph Berrios is a quality public official who deserves to have yet another term on the Cook County Board of Review, the panel that oversees tax appeals. I’m sure the fact that Berrios is also chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party had nothing to do with his endorsement for re-election to his government post.

Such cards are not new. The “Chicago machine” has used palm cards for decades. They are meant to be disposable and small (tiny enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand), and to provide a “friendly reminder” of which candidates have the official support of the party leadership.

They get the nickname of “idiot” cards because they allegedly are meant for people who are so absentminded/stupid that they need a blunt reminder of who the organization wants to get support – and more importantly, who it does NOT want to see anymore after Election Day.

But this palm card differs from past examples because of its quality; four pages printed on a full-color, quality posterboard stock. At first glance, it looks like a little book, at the very least a campaign brochure.

It also is larger than the traditional palm card – each page measures 6 x 9.25 inches. The only way I can fit it in the “palm” of my hand is if I hold it with my old baseball glove (a Bud Harrelson model, for those who are curious).

The card also is put together in a more sophisticated manner than usual palm cards, which typically are nothing more than a list of names.

Its cover promotes Barack Obama’s presidential campaign with a silhouette of the United States and the state of Illinois highlighted as “Obama Country.” At first glance, I thought I had received a brochure from the Obama campaign.

When I opened it up and saw pictures and quotes from Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., I thought that maybe I had received a Durbin campaign brochure urging support for Obama based on the concept of party unity. But upon further inspection, it became obvious that it was just a glossy idiot card.

The card contains a “sample ballot” listing all the slated candidates in Cook County, along with the small-print legalese informing me that I can take the card into the voting booth with me when I make my visit Tuesday to the neighborhood Lutheran church (which in my neighborhood doubles as an Election Day polling place).

After scouring all four pages, I found the very tiny typeface telling me the card was, “Paid for by the Cook County Democratic Party.”

A part of me feels like I’m handling sleaze, since the party obviously spent quite a bit of money on printing up these idiot cards. One does not get this quality of paper and so much full color (including color photographs of every judicial candidate the Cook County Democratic Party wants to see retained) without spending some serious cash.

I also feel simple-minded after reading the portion telling me that Democrats stand for “good schools,” “safe neighborhoods,” “quality healthcare” and “clean environment.” Does anyone seriously oppose such vague pronouncements? I have never heard of any campaign – GOP or Dem – that said publicly it favors bad schools and wants rotten healthcare.

There must have been something more worthwhile that the money could have been spent on. A voter registration effort to get people to actually vote would have been a morally superior cause, even though I realize that political professionals actually do not want higher voter turnout unless they could be assured that ALL of the additional votes would be for their candidate.

Will anybody actually take this card with them into the polling place? I know in past years I have seen people take various voter aids into the voting booth when they mark up their ballot. Usually, it is a newspaper advertisement put together by some activist group that wants to get candidates elected who are sympathetic to their cause.

I have always wondered just why such ads and cards do not constitute electioneering. After all, there are limits on how close campaign workers can come to a polling place before their activity is officially considered illegal influence of a voter.

Back in 1988 when I was a general assignment reporter for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago, I had a police officer watching me like a hawk on Election Day. I had been assigned to talk to people as they got ready to vote, in hopes of doing some icky-sweet feature about the experience of casting a ballot in Chicago. The cop was trying to make sure that I was not telling people inside the polling place who to vote for.

I suppose the idea that one voluntarily chooses which idiot cards (if any) to take with them into a voting booth is what makes it legal. But if I were feeling malicious, I could try to influence others inside the polling place by making sure they saw the card with its “Stay True Blue” logo in my possession.

There’s only one “flaw” to this version of an idiot card. It does not tell me for whom to vote for Cook County state’s attorney. That’s because the party itself did not slate any candidate to replace retiring prosecutor Dick Devine.

Hence, the primary for that office is a free-for-all. Six candidates, each of whom have legitimate credentials on paper for the post are fighting each other for the right to challenge the Republican nominee come the Nov. 4 general election.

So for the position of state’s attorney, the publishers of the idiot card have let me down. I’m actually going to have to make up my own mind.

It’s a good thing my mail also included a full-color, glossy campaign card from state’s attorney hopeful Howard Brookins, telling me that he’s an ace (as in a deck of playing cards), compared to opponents Larry Suffredin, Tom Allen and Bob Milan who are merely kings, and future GOP candidate Tony Peraica, who is a joker and, “a right-wing zealot.”

Seeing that kind of silly campaign trash almost sways me to cast my ballot for one of the candidates he didn’t mention – Anita Alvarez, who is a deputy to departing prosecutor Devine.

Now I’m sure that some of the candidates named on the idiot card are qualified officials. I may even vote for some of them.

But I think I’m going to leave the cards at home come Tuesday. I’ll follow the Cook County Democratic Party’s lead for state’s attorney and apply it to the entire ballot.

When I walk into the voting booth (these days, it’s little more than a computer touch screen with next to nothing to provide a sense of privacy), I’ll just have to think for myself.

-30-

Originally posted at www.ChicagoArgus.blogspot.com

Read more...

Chicago May Be ready for Reform

I found this post from Crimefiles first over at Second City Cop. I could almost wonder how Crimefiles was able to get this scoop that I thought I would only find in the major newspapers. I wonder how Mr. Paul Huebels got any piece of this story of a power couple he refers to as "the King and Queen of Chicago...

A new investigation is expected to be launched into the criminal activities of Chicago Alderman Edward M. Burke and his wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice, Anne M. Burke. The Burkes are accused of fixing murder cases and at least one high profile child molestation case.

There are some serious issues involving statutes of limitations that won’t affect State Bar and judicial conduct matters. There are plenty of matters recent enough to bring indictments.

Payoffs in the form of contracts awarded for Chicago’s legal work, Chicago Mob ties, new ghost pay-rolling allegations, along with fixing a court appeal to help the Emerald Gambling Casino regain their revoked license will all be under a new government microscope.

So what does everyone think. Is there any truth to this? Any reason to doubt this?

If this is true I look forward to finding out more soon!

Read more...

On the settlement with Chicago Police Torture victims

The State of..., one of my favorite blogs discusses the news that Chicago's city council settled with the victims of torture by Lt. Jon Burge. Says that Chicago's voters have short memories and that if Mayor Richard Daley (who was State's Attorney in the time period of the torture allegations) could win re-election in a landslide today!

Read more...

A plant?

This was originally posted at It's My Mind on December 21st, 2007.

You know it's been in the news within the past month or so that Sen. Hillary Clinton has been planting friendly people in crowds during debates and such to help solidify her support. Well Todd Stroger seems to have picked up on that strategy and it doesn't seem to help him look any better. He can do sit down interviews but the least he can do is not have someone talk up his unpopular tax increases...

Stroger has been under siege for nearly three months for having proposed a highly unpopular 2-percentage-point hike in the county sales tax.

After taking a few calls from unhappy taxpayers, Williams said he had time for one more caller.

On came "Jonathan from Chicago."

Jonathan talked intelligently about the county’s budget mess last year and then went on to defend the tax hike and cite a national study comparing cities across the nation.

"The last 15 areas that raised their sales tax saw actually no less than 25 percent growth in the year after they did it," Jonathan said. "A lot of this is just gloom and doom, the world’s going to fall in. But when you look at what’s actually happened, the world’s never fallen in."

The random caller, of course, wasn’t so random. It was Stroger’s $100,000-a-year communications director, Andre Garner.

Confronted later, Garner declined to comment but said, "Well, you guys won’t put this stuff in the newspaper," referring to his on-air comments.

This article courtesy of Clout Street.

Here's an update to this story from the Sun-Times.

Andre Garner, Stroger's $100,000-a-year director of media affairs, slightly disguised his voice and posed as "Jonathan from Chicago" while calling in Thursday to the John Williams show on WGN radio, where Stroger was being interviewed.

Garner, who is responsible for shaping Stroger's "message" and media "strategy," also lied on the air by saying his wife works for county government. He then rattled off intricate details of county government budgeting before defending Stroger's push to increase the sales tax.

A reeling Garner apologized on Williams' show Friday for what he said was "a terrible lapse in judgment" that puts yet another dent in Stroger's credibility and desire to be taken seriously.

Garner did not return a call but instead issued a written statement saying the radio station call was something "I regret and will never repeat."

Garner and those close to Stroger said Stroger had no role in staging Garner's call and didn't know about it ahead of time. It wasn't clear if Stroger recognized Garner's voice, but listeners picked it up quickly.

Garner, who was hired in April and previously worked in the mayor's office and for the Chicago Housing Authority, said his call came spontaneously, rooted in "frustration" that certain budget information "hasn't been told in the mainstream media," and said he hoped his move "hasn't impugned the president's character."

While I think the County Board President is in over his head in this position, I'm also starting to think some of the people around him are killing him. Perhaps he needs a new county board floor leader and he may need another director of media affairs. Would that help him probably not, but I wonder if doing this could make him look better. That is he has control of his office. Who knows?

Read more...

Harold Washington twenty years later

For many Chicagoans, the "Where were you when..." question, such as the John F. Kennedy assassination, is one asked about the November 25, 1987 death of Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor.

I had a day off from my job at the time at the Bismarck Hotel where many politicians would meet for lunch, so I watched the television coverage--the soap operas were preempted by the news that the mayor had collapsed in his city hall office.

I met the mayor twice, and found him to be the probably one of the warmest and most charming men I've ever encountered. The second time was a month before his death. Although he was clearly terribly overweight, he didn't seem anywhere near death as he asked me and my girlfriend all kinds of questions while he patiently waited for his dinner at a Chicago Loop restaurant. Here was a man, I though, who was genuinely interested in others.

I asked how come he almost never dined at the Bismarck, which was located a half-block from city hall, he replied, "Soon, John...soon."

But I was not a supporter of his. I didn't live in Chicago in 1983 when Washington pulled off an upset win over the incumbent, Jane Byrne, and current mayor Richard M. Daley. Four years later, I voted for Jane Byrne in the Democratic Primary and Ed Vrdolyak--who's currently under indictment on fraud and bribery charges--in the general election. I'm not particularly proud of those votes, but I just couldn't knock the chad off for Harold.

Even in my twenties, I had an antipathy about "movement" politics, viewing them as high on ideals, but low on common sense. Although a product of Chicago machine politics, by the 1970s, Washington presented himself to voters as a reformer.

Several mayoral appointments Washington made were very troubling. His longtime friend Clarence McClain, who was a top campaign aide in Washington's 1983, as well as his almost-forgotten 1977 run for mayor--lived in Harold's Hyde Park apartment building.

The media uncovered an old pimping conviction of McClain's, and Washington had to let him go from his position as director of intergovernmental affairs. McClain wasn't very far removed from power--becoming a consultant. After Washington's death, McClain went to prison for accepting bribes to ensure a New York firm would be awarded a lucrative collections contract.

Mayor Washington promoted Robinson to chairman of the CHA. By 1987, Robinson's inept stewardship forced the federal government to begin the process of placing the housing authority in receivership--a compromise betweed Department of Housing and Urban Development avoided the indignity for Chicago.

Then there is Robert Mier. Washington chose the academic as his director of economic development. Mier was the wrong man for the job, but let's not be too hard on him. Washington's successor, Eugene Sawyer, kept him in place. Chicago's days as an industrial behemoth were over by the time Washington became mayor--when factories closed, for example Wisconsin Steel in 1980--business sages knew at the time that they would never reopen.

But not Mier. Smaller industrial sites, especially in neighborhoods, to use a new word at that time, that were "gentrifying," were viewed as attractive sites for upscale housing and retail developments. But Mier wanted to keep these areas in an abandoned state, so when the Chicago economy improved, new captains of industry could swoop in, open the gates, and put Chicagoans back to work.

It didn't happen that way because it couldn't happen that way. Mier was reading from a 19th century playbook--and the new Chicago, as well as the new America--was one where information and ideas were the prime commodity.

Drive around Chicago today, particularly in former industrial zones such as Ravenswood and Elston Avenues, and you'll see how wrong Mier was.

Mier was shipped back to academia by Sawyer's successor, current Mayor Richard M. Daley, shortly after being sworn in as mayor.

On the positive side of Washington's four and a half years as mayor, after his election African-Americans could finally believe that Chicago was their city too. Spending for city services became more equitable--minority neighborhoods weren't at the end of the line.

The mayor made some bad appointments, but he also jettisoned two men who had it coming.

Washington forced city sewer commissioner out of his job, which led to his end of his reign as Chicago's last "Plantation Ward Boss." Quiqley was committeeman of West Side 27th Ward, one that had few white residents other than a gaggle of Quigley's sewer cronies--almost everyone else living there was African-American.

Another powerful ward committeeman, Ed Kelly of the 47th Ward, was maneuvered out of his job as chairman of the Chicago Park District by Washington. Discrepancies between spending in parks in white neighborhoods and minority areas were glaringly obvious to even casual observers. Tiny Welles Park, within walking distance of Kelly's North Side home, was a jewel among Chicago parks. It's still pretty nice.

Washington had to face a hostile City Council for his first three years as mayor, dubbed the "Vrdolyak 29." For eighteen months, Harold could finally rule as an effective mayor. Even so, for a while, rather than being a rubber-stamp body that it is now--and it was that way before he became mayor--the council worked as a legislative body. An unintentional reform, but a reform all the same.

To comment on this post, or to vote in the Pajamas Media presidential straw poll, please click here.

Read more...

This American Life: Remembering Harold Washington

The 13th Floor Blog at Governing.com discusses a program that aired November 9th of last week on NPR . It was called This American Life and this episode was about the first black Mayor of Chicago, the late Harold Washington. This program actually aired back on November 21, 1997.

Wow, it'll be a decade next Wednesday that this program aired. Also it'll be 20 years since his death on November 25, 1987. Mayor Washington was re-elected earlier that year and was only 7 months into his second term as mayor. He had been Mayor of Chicago since 1983 and that election will be covered in this program.

I heard this program a while back and I'm so glad that I can hear this once again. And an addition that they talk about the presidential candidacy of US Senator Barack Obama. A famous black lawyer and judge, Eugene Pincham, mentioned that Dr. Martin Luther King was not a well liked man when he was alive but when he was murdered and couldn't lead anyone anymore, he got a holiday. Then Pincham says that Mayor Washington on the other hand is not going to get those same accolades because Washington is likely to inspire people from beyond the grave.

Roughly 25 years have passed since Harold Washington was elected Mayor of Chicago and the question could be begged that this program seemed to address in 1997 & 2007. Would a black candidate have a fair chance to be elected Mayor today? Would that candidate have suffered the same resistance that Harold Washington had in 1983?

The pic at the top is of a Harold Washington memorial courtesy of YoChicago's Chatham neighborhood Flickr set. This memorial sitting on South Vernon Avenue was sponsored by the people of Vernon Avenue, from 83rd to 87th Streets. To YoChicago, it was more memorable of a tribute to Mayor Washington than the library named for him in downtown Chicago.

Read more...

Uptown Update: Your Monday Chuckle

A post from the Uptown Update gives one addage to democracy in the City of Chicago. The addage being that the dead vote in Chicago.

This apparently is a precinct map of the 46th Ward where the 2nd and 27th precincts according to Uptown Update are cemetaries Graceland and St. Boniface. I think someone might need to redraw their precinct maps.

Read more...