HB0466 on limiting Charter Schools

State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) makes the case for the exact opposite of what she wants HB0466 to do. From yesterday's Trib.

The rise in applications to charter schools "is a sad commentary on our existing public schools," said State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago), who has filed legislation to stop the proliferation of charter schools.

If parents are turning away from the traditional public schools in their neighborhoods, she said, teachers and administrators should figure out why and fix the problems.

"Instead of opening charter schools, we need to go in there and see what the hell is going on in our schools," Davis said.

Best way to get people out there asking what's going on, is to open more of them.

via Collin Hitt at Spontaneous Solutions.

Besides Rep Davis just seems she's making it harder for parents to find out what's going on anyways with HB1890.

Amends the Open Meetings Act and the School Code. Provides that the term "public body" under the Open Meetings Act does not include a teacher peer assistance board or peer evaluation governing board established by a school district and the exclusive representative of its teachers under the Chicago School District Article of the School Code or a professional personnel leadership committee organized under the Chicago School District Article of the School Code.

xp Praire State Blue

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Fighting Tony Peraica

Peraica posts over at Illinois Review,

We had an historic opportunity to not only clean up Cook County government, but also to deliver a severe blow to the corrupt Chicago Democratic machine. Instead, certain commissioners (including the current Cook County Republican Chairwoman) thought it more important to be in good standing with President Todd Stroger and John Daley than to do what is right for Cook County taxpayers and residents.

What good's a GOP that caves in for Todd Stroger's budget. No one speaks out except Peraica here and instead expect Fitzgerald to do the heavy lifting.

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Knox County - In the spotlight for all the wrong reasons

In a story that has been developing for almost a week now, the Knox County State’s Attorney’s office has been mired in controversy. In a story first broke in the Peoria Journal Star last weekend, State’s Attorney John Pepmeyer has spent the last week both defending his office and decisions, and trying to explain possible motives behind the entire issue.

It first started with anonymous allegations that Pepmeyer would be accused of sexual harassment. According to the initial article, the State Police were being brought in to investigate the matter.

In Saturday's edition of the Peoria Journal Star, unnamed sources said Pepmeyer is accused of sexual harassment and the Illinois State Police - as well as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 - are investigating the accusations.

By Sunday, Pepmeyer had already issued a denial. Pepmeyer attributes much of the problem to political revenge sought against him. Pepmeyer was apparently investigating employee-prisoner fraternization in the sheriff’s office. The alleged employee was later hired into the state’s attorney’s office.

Pepmeyer said he was investigating allegations that a county employee had engaged in sexual improprieties with a federal prisoner about two years ago.

As the story made it to Monday, things looked better for Pepmeyer as he was able to gain support from the Knox County Board. Though the tide was starting to run in a different area as the AFSCME union started to hold their tongue about the issue. Initially, they had denied any grievances against Pepmeyer, but by Monday were much more tight lipped.

Spokespeople for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 Randy Lynch and Judy Johnson, which represent county union members, also said Saturday that no grievance had been filed against Pepmeyer and no investigation was going on.

But this morning Lynch refused to comment on whether a complaint had been filed against Pepmeyer.

"What the union does internally is confidential," Lynch said. "It is confidential to the people involved on our side."

On Wednesday, things started to get very interesting. There were indeed grievances filed, and it was also noted that 3 assistant State’s Attorney’s had not been into work all week. According to reports, there were initially 2 grievances filed and Pepmeyer has 10 days to respond to them. It has not yet been made known exactly what was filed as both sides have been quiet.

According to Tuesday's release, the matter will be handled internally between the union and the state's attorney due to the "sensitivity of the issues."

"If I had (gotten a grievance) I couldn't comment on it. I'm prohibited from commenting on any such topic, if there is such a thing," Pepmeyer said. "It's right in the grievance procedure that there is to be nothing but confidentiality attached to any grievance."

Additionally the 3 assistants were reported to have not been in all week.

Mike Kraycinovich, Dean Stone and Tracy Jones are absent this week. State's Attorney John Pepmeyer declined to disclose the reasons for their absences.

On Thursday the story morphed even more. Not only were the 3 assistants fired, but 2 more grievances were filed. According to reports, the assistants were fired for:

“acts of insubordination, failure to follow direct orders and failure to follow directives,”

Pepmeyer released this information in a press release that went out to local media outlets. In reports from AFSCME, they confirmed that the additional grievances were sent. Pepmeyer has 10 days to respond to these claims.

In a late developments last night, local media reports stated that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has been called in to help sort things out. This was a result of two of the fired assistants requesting action from the state. Pepmeyer himself has requested that a special investigator be appointed to the office, but that request was overruled in favor of Madigan’s involvement.

During a special hearing Thursday afternoon, Judge Edward Danner of the 9th Circuit Court in Knox County appointed the office of Illinois' Attorney General Lisa Madigan to join the Illinois State Police in investigating Knox County State's Attorney John Pepmeyer.

It will be interesting to follow this story a it develops. I hate to get ahead of myself, but it looks like some issues that have long been looked over because of people and politics are rearing their ugly heads. Everyone has their skeletons; it seems a few have fallen out of the proverbial closet.

To follow any minor updates or to comment on speculation, please visit thepoliticalwasteland.com. Additionally, I have a live chat page set up for discussion.

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More on CPD

The Trib on Emmanuel Lopez's shooting: sixteen times in the back.

Something's wrong.

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HDO's Sanchez Indicted

The day after charges against Republican Nick Hurtgen were dismissed, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald unleashed an indictment against HDO's Alfred Sanchez.

Note "uncharged co-schemers Individual A (who was the overall leader of HDO)"
and others are mentioned.

The following press release was received from the U.S. Attorney's Office and seems important enough to run in full:

RETIRED STREETS AND SANITATION COMMISSIONER SANCHEZ AND SECOND CITY EMPLOYEE INDICTED ON HIRING FRAUD CHARGES

CHICAGO – A retired commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation and a Chicago police officer who has held various city jobs, both of whom were high-level leaders of the Hispanic Democratic Organization (HDO), a citywide political campaign organization, were indicted today on federal charges in connection with the ongoing investigation of city hiring and promotion fraud.

The retired commissioner, Alfred Sanchez, a principal organizer for HDO, was charged with engaging in a systematic fraud scheme to provide city jobs, promotions and other employment benefits to induce and reward political campaign work.

The second defendant, Aaron Delvalle, who assisted Sanchez in coordinating HDO activities and who received immunity from prosecution relating to this investigation, was charged with perjury for allegedly lying to the federal grand jury about his HDO activities.

Sanchez, 59, of Chicago, was charged with nine counts of mail fraud, and Delvalle, 34, of Chicago, was charged with one count of perjury in a 10-count indictment returned today by a federal grand jury. Both defendants will be arraigned at a later date in U.S. District Court.

The charges were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, together with Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; James Vanderberg, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in Chicago; and Kenneth T. Laag, Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago.

The investigation of fraudulent city hiring and promotion practices stems from the federal investigation of corruption in the city’s Hired Truck Program.

Four previous defendants, including Robert Sorich, who was a high-ranking official in the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA), were sentenced last year after being convicted of rigging city hiring and promotion practices to reward political campaign work.

Sanchez and Delvalle are the 47th and 48th defendants, including more than 20 current or former city employees, who have been charged since January 2004. Forty-four defendants have been convicted, one is deceased, and the remainder are pending.

Sanchez was commissioner of Streets and Sanitation from June 1999 until he retired in June 2005, and was deputy commissioner from 1995 to 1999.

The department has about 4,000 workers and is responsible for garbage collection, snow removal, street sweeping, rodent abatement, street lamp maintenance, graffiti removal, and tree trimming and planting.

Before joining Streets and Sanitation, Sanchez worked in the city’s Health Department and was the First Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Information and Inquiry (I&I), where he performed certain personnel duties in both of those departments.

Delvalle has been a city employee since April 1997, working at various times in I&I, Streets and Sanitation and the Chicago Police Department.

According to the indictment, Sanchez served as a principal organizer for HDO, which was formed in the early 1990s and had many city employees among its hundreds of individual participants who were active in political campaigns and voter outreach activities, and HDO was divided into geographic divisions.

Sanchez was head of HDO Southeast, which had as many as 500 individual participants who performed political work on behalf of HDO-selected candidates during its peak years. Beginning in 1999, Delvalle assisted Sanchez in coordinating HDO Southeast activities.

Generally, specific political directives were disseminated through a hierarchical system in HDO Southeast, with Sanchez, typically through Delvalle, informing approximately six to eight “Political Coordinators,” each of whom directed certain individual participants, as to the particular political assignments.

Sanchez alone was charged with engaging in a fraud scheme beginning no later than 1994 through early 2005.

As part of the alleged scheme, Sanchez and uncharged co-schemers Individual A ( who was the overall leader of HDO), Robert Sorich, Jack Drumgould, Delvalle, Patrick Slattery, Roberto Medina and various other city employees and officials, engaged in the following conduct:

• while he was employed at I&I and Streets and Sanitation, Sanchez and certain co-schemers engaged in a systematic effort to provide public financial benefits, in the form of city jobs, promotions, and other employment benefits, in order to induce and reward campaign work to benefit HDO and other private political organizations;
• Sanchez and other co-schemers corrupted the city’s personnel process by awarding city job-related benefits in non-policymaking positions to applicants selected by Sanchez and IGA officials by: falsifying and causing the falsification of ratings forms; signing and causing the signing of fraudulent Shakman certifications; and otherwise granting preferential treatment;
• in the case of “mass” hiring sequences, Sanchez negotiated a certain portion of the total available positions with IGA officials in order to award the positions to individuals selected by Sanchez on the basis of their work on behalf of HDO. Applying political and other considerations, IGA selected the remainder of the candidates for the particular hiring sequence; and
• the individual HDO Southeast participants who received job-related benefits included individuals who provided Sanchez with various personal services and things of value, including home repair work, snow removal, lawn care and yard work.

The indictment alleges that Delvalle, acting on Sanchez’s behalf, informed individual HDO Southeast participants, including Political Coordinators, that requests for city job benefits be made through the individual’s Political Coordinator. Such requests included requests for a) entry-level city jobs; b) promotions to other city positions; c) increased overtime opportunities; d) transfers to more desirable work locations; e) pay increases and f) other job benefits for themselves, family members and other favored individuals. In submitting requests to Sanchez and Delvalle, Political Coordinators often provided specific information regarding the HDO participant’s level of political involvement.

The co-schemers allegedly tracked and maintained records relating to city job-related requests on behalf of HDO participants, and officials of HDO North and HDO South also submitted requests for city employment benefits at Streets and Sanitation to IGA officials and Sanchez on behalf of other HDO volunteers.

When he was an I&I official, Sanchez allegedly caused false and fraudulent ratings forms to be signed in order to favor his selections in the award of city job-related benefits. Sanchez and Medina, while at I&I, signed false and fraudulent Shakman certifications, attesting that political considerations played no role in I&I’s hiring sequences, when in fact, they knew that certain hiring decisions were based, in substantial part, on the applicant’s political participation.

At Streets and Sanitation, Sanchez and Drumgould allegedly caused certain individual HDO Southeast participants to become eligible to be interviewed for certain hiring sequences, even on occasions when the positions were closed to applications from the general public, and receipt of applications was not permitted under City hiring guidelines.

Sanchez allegedly directed Drumgould to take action on behalf of his selections in order to award city job-related benefits to those individuals, including awards relating to the following “mass” hiring and individual hiring sequences: 2004 General Foreman of Lineman, 2004 Career Service Laborer, 2004 Career Service Motor Truck Driver (MTD), 2003 Seasonal Laborer, 2002 Career Service MTD, 2002 Seasonal MTD and 2002 Lamp Maintenance Man.

As part of the alleged scheme, Sanchez also opposed the implementation of a lottery process for certain entry-level mass hiring sequences in order to retain his ability to influence the award of city job-related benefits to his selections.

According to the perjury count against Delvalle, on February 6, 2007 he was issued a letter of immunity, requiring his “complete, accurate and truthful” testimony before the grand jury.

The letter explicitly informed Delvalle that if the United States Attorney’s Office determined that he had violated any provision, or failed to give accurate and truthful information and testimony, then his statements could be used against him in a prosecution for perjury or false statements or other criminal proceedings. Delvalle, who was represented by an attorney, signed the immunity letter and acknowledged its terms, testified before the grand jury on February 8, 2007.

The indictment alleges that on February 8, 2007, Delvalle testified, among other things, as follows:

Q: And so whether it was termination issues or vacation issues or overtime or raises or promotions, I mean, you had no role in that part of [Streets and Sanitation], correct?

A: Correct.

Q: And you had no unofficial role either, correct?

A: Correct.

Q: And the entirety of your involvement as it related to coordinators or for that matter any individual people was getting names of people to check whether or not they made a lottery list?

A: Correct.

* * * *

Q: Other than the lottery list matters that we’ve discussed, okay, you have never made any attempt through official channels or unofficial channels to assist individuals with job-related benefits at Streets & Sanitation?

A: No, sir.

The indictment alleges that Delvalle’s testimony was false in that, he knew that:

• he participated in a process whereby HDO Southeast Political Coordinators, including HDO Southeast Political Coordinator A, submitted names of HDO participants to Delvalle and others in order to request and obtain job-related benefits on behalf of HDO participants;
• the process of job-related requests was not limited to Delvalle making inquiries concerning “lottery lists,” but in fact included efforts to coordinate and facilitate requests made by individual HDO Southeast participants, for jobs, promotions and transfers in city employment; and
• Grand Jury Exhibit Delvalle 2 was not a document limited to inquiries concerning lottery lists.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Manish Shah, Patrick Collins, Julie Ruder, Barry Miller and Philip Guentert.

If convicted, eight of the nine mail fraud counts against Sanchez carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while a single count carries a maximum term of five years in prison. If convicted of perjury, Delvalle faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The Court, however, would determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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150 greatest places in Illinois

While not a political post, this may be interesting to some. The American Institute of Architects is honoring their 150th anniversary by selecting what they believe to be the 150 greatest places in Illinois.

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Chicago Cops

There was a time when progressives would have been out in the street the next day protesting this.

Those days seem gone.

What's it take for people to figure out there's a pattern of abuse in the CPD. I'm supposed to fear the Patriot Act instead?

xp Prairie State Blue and Bill Baar's West Side

Update: Sun Times: Did 2nd cop try to silence bartender?

Grand jury considering obstruction charge against officer who allegedly helped Abbate threaten, try to bribe woman

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GRT gets headlines while Madigan plays with HB750

Phil Kadner at the Daily Southtown has the scoop that I haven't seen anywhere else.

The Illinois House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations -- Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to hold a public hearing today on House Bill 750.

This is a measure that would change the way public schools are funded by increasing the state income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent....

Lots of good stuff in his column. Last year Speaker Madigan didn't let this tax increase go anywhere even after a Senate committee approved it. Now he's apparently allowing a House committee vote on it, which should raise more than a few eyebrows. Blago's gross receipts tax and new 3% payroll tax are horrible, but HB750/SB750 is also bad.

Not that I think they are smart enough to pull it off, but it almost looks like Madigan and Blagojevich are working together to make sure some form of tax increase is passed this year. Blago proposing the awful gross receipts tax sure does make HB750/SB750 look a lot better in comparison and sets HB750/SB750 up to be a compromise. Watch your wallets and call your Reps.

If it's voted on in committee today I'm going to be very curious to see how Republican Reps. Eddy and Prtichard vote, both of whom have not ruled out support of an income tax increase.

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Articles on the Illinois Black Legislative Caucus about job creation and economic development

They have been in the news a lot in the past few days. If you have been checking out my del.icio.us links, I've had a few articles about them. So what is up, you may ask?

Well from WBBM-AM, James Meeks co- chairman of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus talked about how blacks need to be better served in the job market.

Money is flowing in for economic development; it's just not going to the right places: That's the conclusion of a study by a Washington-based watchdog, and it's the basis for hearings by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.

The caucus co-chairman is State Senator James Meeks of Chicago.

"I think there has to be somebody who is a point person, and there must be a plan that is in place to attract economic development to areas where we have the highest unemployment. And I think the governor, as the head official of the state of Illinois, it is his responsibility to make sure that these individuals also are taken care of."

A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity says the state is working to help the unemployed, and he calls the study "flawed."

From the Sun-Times talking about basically the same thing. This time saying that the state of Illinois' economic subsidies are going to those place where they're needed the least...

"There's a disconnect between the work that the department is doing and the finances in under-served communities," said Sen. James Meeks, joint chairman of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.

"Why is it in every year there is no improvement in the job rate in certain areas? If it's true that the state is focused on those areas, we ought to see some changes. We never do," Meeks said.

A report looking at $1.2 billion in subsidies provided by the state from 1990 to 2004 found Chicago received only about 15 percent of the subsidies, though it's home to 38 percent of the region's population.

The report, released in January by Washington D.C.-based watchdog Good Jobs First, also found relatively few subsidy deals going to Chicago communities that are predominantly African-American.

Roughly $198 million in subsidies went to the Northwest corridor around O'Hare Airport, an area that was already an attractive place for companies to relocate, the report noted. That was more than the $177 million received in all of Chicago.

DuPage County, with about 11 percent of the state's population, got 18 percent of the subsidy dollars, and Will County, with less than 5 percent of the state's population, got over 11 percent.

The report concluded, "subsidies are going to the places that need them the least, while the struggling areas of Chicago and its inner-ring suburbs are getting less than their fair share."

Meeks said caucus constituents point to jobs as their No. 1 concern. He said he will likely sponsor jobs-funding legislation with a specific dollar amount that targets the neediest areas by zip codes.

"We keep voting for, and our governor keeps coming out with, initiatives dealing with health care, KidCare, universal health insurance," Meeks said. "We're not against any of those things. But if I have a decent job, I can get my own health insurance. What our community needs is jobs.

Well jobs are important issues for sure. Now Rev. Meeks is talking and while I could say no one should have to ask Gov. Blagojevich for anything, he should take a leadership role in this. The question is will he? For right now I may not see that.

Here's one last story...

The head of the state commerce department spotlighted the state's 4.6 percent unemployment rate at a hearing here Monday, but black state lawmakers were more focused on the 20 to 33 percent rates found in some largely black Chicago neighborhoods.

The hearing was called by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to look for means to ensure economic development and work force development dollars are going to communities that need them the most and that they are providing pathways to good-paying jobs.

In addressing the group, Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Director Jack Lavin noted since January 2004 the state has added more than 166,000 jobs, more than any other state in the Midwest. He also pointed to programs including the state's critical skills shortage program, which focuses on ensuring workers are trained for jobs for which there is high demand; the challenge grant program, which has provided funds to 446 businesses in the state -- 180 of them in the Chicago metropolitan area and 30 percent of which went to African-American-owned businesses.

He said federal rules dictate how federal work force investment funds are distributed statewide and noted local work force investment boards oversee how those funds are allocated, although the state plays a monitoring role.

Chicago Urban League Policy and Research Director David E. Thigpen told legislators that as unemployment rates across the state have fallen, they refuse to budge in many African-American communities, where the unemployment rate for blacks averages about 12 percent, more than double that of whites, and ranges between 18 and 33 percent in communities including Austin, Robbins, North Lawndale and Washington Park.

He noted graduation rates, which in some communities lag the state average by 30 points, "are sending a steady stream of young people out in the communities with low skills and extremely bleak employment prospects."

Some 39 percent of the eligible population of African Americans in the state have, for one reason or another, given up looking for work, he noted.

It just ran into another issue that deserves attention. Not just economic development but education. Giving those people better skills to get better jobs. This is something worth working on.

Crossposted @ It's My Mind.

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Nipping it in the Bud

I read this Atlantic article several weeks ago, and just stumbled upon it again. It discusses a political philanthropy project that the article describes as “stopping the Rick Santorums of tomorrow before they get started.”

[Iowa state Rep.] Carroll was among the dozens of targets of a group of rich gay philanthropists who quietly joined forces last year, under the leadership of a reclusive Colorado technology mogul, to counter the tide of antigay politics in America that has generated, among other things, a succession of state ballot initiatives banning gay marriage.

The new project is the brainchild of former Colorado software mogul, Tim Gill. Gill is a long-time “quiet” gay activist and a member of Forbes 400 list of world’s wealthiest people.

Selling his company, Gill is now completely dedicated to philanthropy. His political donations have risen steadily over the years. Get this: in 2004 he personally donated almost $15 million to state and local races. His final 2006 numbers appeared to be even higher. Wow.

Two new tactics stand out with Gill’s approach: (1) a focus on state and local elections instead of national battles, and (2) stealth, without fanfare, media, or excessively large, “flashing sign” donations.

This makes a lot of sense, and I’m surprised I haven’t heard of anything like it before. Gill has clearly put a lot of thought into his ferocious political project, and his long-term plans have the potential to bring about real results. The strategy:

Trimpa cited the example of Barack Obama: an attractive candidate, solid on gay rights, and viscerally exciting to donors. It feels good to write him a check. An analysis of Obama’s 2004 Senate race, which he won by nearly fifty points, had determined that gays contributed more than $500,000. “The temptation is always to swoon for the popular candidate,” Trimpa told me, “but a fraction of that money, directed at the right state and local races, could have flipped a few chambers. ‘Just because he’s cute’ isn’t a strategy.”

Common sense activity like this will undoubtedly prove more effective than bulky national meanderings from other gay-rights groups, most dubiously, the Human Rights Campaign.

Needless to say, I like this development. A lot.

I have been incredibly disappointed with the social conservative focus on anti-gay marriage initiatives. Misguided, unnecessary, disgraceful. A political cheap shot. A distortion of true conservatism. It needs to end. It will soon. Thank the Lord. Oy.

Sorry for the digression…

What are your thoughts on the potential success of this strategy?

How would it play in Illinois?

The state of the GOP has been a hot topic here recently, could something like this bump off a few of the extreme righties and help push the party back to historic conservatism?

Is this a lost cause, and I’m just an uninformed rookie?

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Too funny to not point out.

The South Side Chicago Board Of Tourism:

In more primitive areas of Chicago, parking spaces are provided on an ad-hoc basis by plucky local entrepreneurs. Perhaps unbelievably, this somewhat charming if irritating practice persists to this day.

Southside neighborhoods are often populated with young children—even babies. Families, as they are called on the Southside, are in abundance and can be found at local parks, eateries, and other common gathering places, like U.S. Cellular® Field for instance.

Regional anomalies, such as having a winning baseball team, have lead to a perception that the Southside is much further away than it actually is.

It's actually a White Sox ad campaign - one which I hope they will continue during the Cubs losing season this year.

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Pulling a Fioretti

[Cross-posted at Chicago Carless.]

As several long-time Chicago aldermen stand to lose their council seats in the city's April 17 run-off election, one challenger bears additional scrutiny, and not just for his coiff. Last summer, when Bob Fioretti's campaign to unseat Chicago's controversial Ward 2 alderman Madeline Haithcock was just getting off the ground, the Ward 2 pretender was making the rounds of downtown nonprofits to drum up support. Now, anyone looking at (or talking to) Bob Fioretti might get the idea that he's possibly a bit, well, flighty of mind. Lord knows, his (is it or isn't it) hair decision doesn't help his case much.

Neither, in the eyes of me and my colleagues, did his mistaking one downtown highrise for another one day early last August. Apparently not one to be stopped by a little thing like an incorrect address, Fioretti burst like gangbusters into the 16th floor conference room where my confreres were feteing me on my (don't you mind which number) birthday.

The look of befuddlement on his face was priceless. But he didn't miss more than a beat. Regaining composure but realizing he was, obviously, in the wrong place, he strode into the room, looked at our festively set table, and said in all seriousness, "I'm Bob Fioretti and I'm running for Alderman of the second Ward, can I have some of your birthday cake?"

And from that moment on, every one of my colleagues began referring to doing something so absent-minded as to be asinine as "pulling a Fioretti".

I hope that Fioretti's style (and ability to decipher an address plaque) have improved since last year. Because if he wins the South Loop's Ward 2 from Haithcock in the upcoming aldermanic run-off election on April 17, he'll be helming one of the most contentious Wards in the city. And the problems there all revolve around location, location, location.

Ward 2, an odd mish-mish of South Loop and near southwest side addresses, is perhaps the city's hottest current development market for residential condos, most of them in the form of River North-esque condo towers. And just like in River North, NIMBYism runs high on the south end of downtown, too. As one condo tower after another has gone up on Haithcock's watch, residents have hemmed and hawed about losing light, and views, and other totally unguaranteed amenities of urban living.

Until recently, the most vocal anti-development group was the condo association at Folio Square, a small condo loft-conversion near the corner of Polk and Clark. They unsuccessfully demanded that Terrapin Properties' planned adjacent Burnham Pointe development be moved up the block in order to make sure they kept their stunning views of Blackie's Bar across Clark Street.

Even Haithcock, widely criticized (like Ward 42's soon to be former alderman Burt Natarus) for taking her marching orders from local developers (see these pointed Ward 2 threads in YoChicago and Skyscraper City), apologized at length on her now curiously off-line aldermanic website that there was nothing legally she could do to help. The few remaining wags at Folio Square finally shut up as Terrapin broke ground on the corner last December--and, boy, I bet they were miffed when the construction caused the closure of the surrounding sidewalks.

Their current silence is golden--downtown needs all the development it can get before the historic current housing cycle busts, only an idiot buys a high-rise condo next to an empty lot and expects to keep their views forever, and most importantly, Folio Square had more of a say about development than most downtowners usually ever get (hence the 42nd Ward's happy ouster of Natarus by the avowedly resident-friendly Brendan Reilly). And for fullest disclosure, I'm especially glad Folio Square shut up, since my partner, Devyn, will be living in the new building.

But these kinds of squabbles over the correct balance between the need to keep Ward 2 livable and the need for new development will only continue, and pretty soon it may even be residents fighting residents. Try putting this on your Ward 2 radar screens: calls from newly arriving residents in the condo towers going up on Clark between Polk and Roosevelt for the old-guard residents of the Dearborn Park super-block to take down their literal brick walls and finally open up their jealously guarded east-west cross streets. Mark my words, the battle is coming, and it won't be pretty.

Whoever comes out ahead on April 17 had better pull a page from the Brendan Reilly strategy book and start talking about building bridges between residents and developers and including residents in the development review process if they ever expect to be seen as a legitimate authority in the Ward.

Haithcock failed miserably in that regard. Given the ongoing development pressure in the South Loop, downtown deserves a lot better. And if Haithcock goes down, her successor, Fioretti, will need to work hard to convince Ward residents that he's really on their side. For his sake, I hope they find him more persuasive than I did.

Because last August I told Bob Fioretti to go find his own birthday cake.

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