Surprise! Money Wasted
This is ridiculous and rife with the potential to cost firefighters their lives:
- The city has spent nearly $23 million on a new digital communications system that still doesn’t work after more than five years — a shortcoming back in the spotlight following a federal report that criticizes the Chicago Fire Department for not having enough radios during a December fire that killed two firefighters.
Yet as costs mount and test after test fails, there is still no firm timeline on when the system will be up and running.
“Sometime in 2012,” said Roderick Drew, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, when asked Friday how soon the 3,000 new radios would come online.
Ten years since 9/11 and we still can't talk to firefighters in the event of a disaster. Firefighters can't even talk to each other in many cases in the same building for pete's sake.
Labels: fire fighters
posted by SCC at 12:05 AM
64 Comments:
DoD has a system up and running in Alaska where ALL Fire, Police, Govt Agencies, Military, Emergency Responders, etc can talk to each other by pushing ONE BUTTON on their radios. Every First Responder and Emergency Service radio has the button and it works just fine and has for the last few years.
We don't have time for that -- It's campaign contribution party time!!!!
Time to hit the road and hit-up all the corporations for campaign donations for all the political favors that have been granted. Got to keep the circle-jerk of cash going.
And after that it's time due for the holidays and maybe a trip of two overseas on a "free trade" mission to create those so-called much needed jobs..
Heh..ten years!
Just like you have to follow the "money" in Chicago you must follow the "contract". Somebody has a huge contract that is not going to be cancled. Connected politicians and their ilk could care less about fire fighters safety. And you can take that to the bank!
okay, start here... ...who set up the bid, approved the contract and made the payments/cashed the checks?
Let's see...was either HUBERMAN or OROZCO running the OEMC show back then? Hmm....
While it doesn't seem communication can preclude flashover or roof collapse, it IS unconscionable that the FEDERALLY mandated ability for all first responders to commincate on a common channel or venue has yet to be implemented.
Typical, though; give a municipality ten years to comply and they'll insist they need ten years and eleven months. They should have given a limit of two years. We'd be able to talk to each other by NOW, I think.
But we are not people, SCC. We're just numbers. And photo ops - but only at our funerals.
"Firefighters can't even talk to each other in many cases in the same building for pete's sake."
The hack Fire Chief Hoff would beg to differ. What a phony 3 dollar bill turned out to be.
Funny how I have a radio that connects to all the city fire departments and suburb police departments and State Police. All thanks to a PO in 011. Maybe the city needs to contact this kid and have him work on the issue. Oh, wait he's not a family connected crook.......that's right, only family contracts are good. That's why are shit doesn't work cause we have a bunch of dumb asses working on them.
OT
Spoke with a PO that was at the Valadez trial on Friday. Apparently a juror or jurors raised a concern that associates of the defendant were staring them down while stuck in traffic. According to the PO the judge asked the lead defense attorney if the attorney could "control those people." The defense attorney said he would try. I was not there today, but this is a major concern if true. You can bet the media won't pick up on this.
Concerned PO who was in the courtroom Tuesday and Thursday.
i love how all you guys bitch about FOP but i see the same 45 or 50 old timers at the meetings and guess what: nobody says anything bad to mike shields. so if you got a beef w fop, great! come to the meeting and stand at the podium and put it on him. man up. real easy. maybe, just maybe, your problem could get resolved.
OT- IRS audit in it's infancy of all pay/overtime of all POs (past & present) assigned to Daleys chauffeur/Man Servant detail. So which disgruntled former Sworn Gopher spilled the beans about the cash incentives while simultaneously checking the Time box? "Dead Presidents" Xmas bonuses (some cleverly delivered in/disguised as high-end cigars in those metal tubes) that'd make Enron executives blush is how my neighbor assigned to the IRS's Forensic Auditing offices phrases it. This done at Rahm's request supposedly, even though I can't see why. Stay tuned, more info as it becomes available.
Huberman deal I bet.
There still better then those new radios we've gotten with the 10' wires...what a piece a shit those things are,anything to save money for the city, they can care less bout our safety!
It takes time to get all that graft,corruption and mismanagement out of the way.
Was it the Vanecko radio company? A start up company funded by our pension money??
Daley's legacy will not be any of the good things he did while in office. He will be remembered for his corruption and how it crippled the city of chicago for years after his reign.
259 am, probably TRUE. I.R.S. reps paid a cpl visits to Finance Div - payroll over the past cpl weeks. Took files, zip drives, made a shit ton of copies. Now that I think of it, it is to early in the year for the usual overtime audit witch hunt. Wow, my stomach sank just typing this...
One of the Primry Lessons of 9/11 was that there was a breakdown in communications that contributed to the deaths of hundreds of firefighters. The Billions of dollars, and I said Billions not millions spent by Homeland Security was supposed to correct that problm throughout the country. So, where and how was the money spent in Chicago? Now Masters and Hamilton (RayRay) are in charge at the County; will they order an investigation or continue the cover-up? Remember, Masters and Huberman were buddies when they worked in the Mayor's Office, and Huberman the Boy Wonder had a major influence in all communication contracts when he left the police department. Maybe it's time for the feds to step in. Those dead firefighters clearly should have had better equipment; since our tax dollars paid for better equipment, that was one of the reasons for Homeland Security.
Two soup cans with string will suffice as far as politicians are concerned.
How about a detailed accounting of where the $23 million went???
Hey Drew used to be the CPD mouth piece. What happened? Inquiring minds want to know!
One word: Motorola. Scam after scam and the city just keeps coming back for more. See who is spinsiring the city's expenses for the big police chiefs meeting in Chicago next month? Motorola. And for a radio system that's not needed. Digital has nothing to do with interoperability.
It was Huberman that signed of on $10 mil Motorola phony parts requisition and OEMC never received any equipment from Motorola. OEMC went thru a few upgraded consoles too over the years, I wonder if any new digital equipment is now obsolete?
The FCC went to digital tv signal (remember that, OB extended deadline 2 more years) to free up police, fire and emergency responders radio frequencies.
The Fire Dept as of a couple yeas ago were installing new antennas citywide to receive the new Fed mandated digital signals, anyone know about this?
So with all the corruption at OEMC and the Daley appointed hacks that couldn't manage a corner lemonade stand, does the public reply believe that we are ready for an actual emergency?
Your tax dollars, plus the $3.00 9-1-1 phone surcharge financed a lot for Daley and Friends. And it will probably go up soon to pay for the real upgraded system.
1:56am.....better check your radio. It is not possible to pick up CFD and CPD on the same radio. One is VHF and one is UHF unless u have a million dolladpr infra links system attached. The CFD medical channels are on our wave length and can pe programmed to our radios (UHF) but not fire fighters. That is why there is no interoperability. To much money that the higher up will not spend at first responder expense.
RIP to all chicago's police and fire killed in the line of duty,they are the true public servants not politicians.
025 3rd watch said...
There still better then those new radios we've gotten with the 10' wires...what a piece a shit those things are,anything to save money for the city, they can care less bout our safety!
Thank the police captain in charge of counting radios for the F--ked up cords.
Rahm Why is there a full duty police captain counting radios at OEMC ?
Come out to the airport. The system there has had millions poured into it, and it still does not function properly. Also, the radios are so old many can not be fixed anymore. I have no idea where all the federal grant money went.
You can be screaming for help, and no one can hear you. Great way to protect a huge target.
That is like as soon as computers in cars were set up the company was GONE! the payoffs were done!
Anonymous Anonymous said...
OT- IRS audit in it's infancy of all pay/overtime of all POs (past & present) assigned to Daleys chauffeur/Man Servant detail. So which disgruntled former Sworn Gopher spilled the beans about the cash incentives while simultaneously checking the Time box? "Dead Presidents" Xmas bonuses (some cleverly delivered in/disguised as high-end cigars in those metal tubes) that'd make Enron executives blush is how my neighbor assigned to the IRS's Forensic Auditing offices phrases it. This done at Rahm's request supposedly, even though I can't see why. Stay tuned, more info as it becomes available.
9/24/2011 02:59:00 AM
Yea ok bet also you see "many exempt changes the 16th lol"
Tin cans and a lot of string might help
This entire contract has been suspect from day one. The folks involved in this contract should be in jail but that won't happen. They just shuffle these thieves from one high paying city job to another. Where is the city Inspector General on this one? Where are the Feds?
A few years ago this entire radio scandal was in the news for a while then it all went quiet. If Rahm is the mayor he brags he is then why isn't he out finding out the facts. Firemen deserve all the protection available. Maybe the mayor is too busy screwing teachers , building useless parks we don't need, and handing out another contract for bikes. The Chicago Way.
(OT) My family is CPD and CFD love to read this site very informative thank you! As for me this topic of money wasted strikes home. The city is looking at ways to privatize anything and everything to take away city workers jobs. I work at Midway airport as a laborer and have seen some incredibly stupid things done but this 1 takes the cake! we ordered 2 new police spec chevy impalas, awhile ago and put on all the required police equipment stripes,radios,light bars etc! Total cost per car was in excess of $10,000 with the required radios. Now the assistant commissioner and her friend "bob" a boss in the building get there take home cars taken away,following rahm's directive ( they never needed take home cars anyway), so what happens? you ready?
The 2 impala's which were kept in very good condition were used for when a detail was needed,or for example when a soldier or police officers family needed transport after a tragic event. the assistant commissioner is outraged they took her and her friends cars, so what does she do? She orders the fleet guys to remove the police markings,and sends 2 beautiful cars out to maaco to repainted Black! Both cars come back looking like shit,paint has grit and hairs in the paint job. Then they want the light bars on top changed to yellow bulbs for her and friends use. Now the light bars are about $2,800.00 each and have to be replaced as bulbs are not interchangeable. If the cars were not needed why was this stupid idiotic thing done?
It gets better so the commissioner who makes well over 6 figures has to buy a vehicle she buys 1 but ready she has had it over 2 months still no plates and NO CITY STICKER! While i know i screwed up my license plate lapsed 1 day and i was issued a $60.00,ticket and i walked up on the officer writing it and asked for a break his reply "sorry ordered to by the commissioner!" Do as i say not as i do apparently!
Lets hope rahm makes some needed "changes" with this person soon!
OT--
Did everyone see the dramatic Obama speech about "bringing America back," where he used a huge old bridge as a backdrop to illustrate "how we need to create jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure?"
Oh, the son-of-a-bitch is creating jobs, alright -- FOR THE CHINESE.
"Are American Infrastructure Jobs Being Shipped To China?"
http://abcnews.go.com/US/bringing_america_back/american-infrastructure-jobs-shipped-china/story?id=14592567
"California Turns To China For New Bay Bridge"
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/16/140515737/california-turns-to-china-for-new-bay-bridge
"Cincinnati Bridge Typical Of Obama's Phony 'American Jobs' Bill"
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46377
Firemen need better radios? This is nothing.
Wait 'til Obama takes GPS down in return for campaign contributions.
LightSquared: Obama's Dangerous Broadband Boondoggle
by Michelle Malkin
09/21/2011
"If you thought the half-billion-dollar, stimulus-funded Solyndra solar company bust was a taxpayer nightmare, just wait. If you thought the botched Fast and Furious border gun-smuggling surveillance operation was a national security nightmare, hold on. Right on the heels of those two blood-boilers comes yet another alleged pay-for-play racket from the most ethical administration ever.
"Welcome to LightSquared. It's a toxic mix of venture socialism (to borrow GOP Sen. Jim DeMint's apt phrase), campaign finance influence-peddling and perilous corner-cutting all rolled into one.
"The company is building "a state-of-the-art open wireless broadband network." Competition in the industry is a good thing, of course. But military, government and civilian aviation experts have long objected to LightSquared's potential to interfere with the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network. As the government's own Positioning, Navigation and Timing agency explained:
"The GPS community is concerned because testing has shown that LightSquared's ground-based transmissions overpower the relatively weak GPS signal from space. Although LightSquared will operate in its own radio band, that band is so close to the GPS signals that most GPS devices pick up the stronger LightSquared signal and become overloaded or jammed."
"Two high-ranking witnesses -- Air Force Space Command four-star Gen. William Shelton and National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Director Anthony Russo -- have now blown the whistle on how the White House pressured them to alter their congressional testimony and play down concerns about LightSquared's threat to military communications. According to Eli Lake of The Daily Beast, both officials were urged to express confidence in the company and endorse its promise to address any technical concerns "within 90 days."
"Gen. Shelton had noted earlier this year: "Within three to five miles on the ground and within 12 miles in the air, GPS is jammed by (LightSquared's) towers. ... If we allow that system to be fielded and it does indeed jam GPS, think about the impact. We're hopeful we can find a solution, but physics being physics, we don't see a solution right now."
"Despite industry-wide protests, the firm somehow received fast-track approval for a special FCC waiver that grants LightSquared the right to use wireless spectrum to build out a national 4G wireless network on the cheap. Ken Boehm, of the conservative watchdog National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) in Washington, D.C., summed up the deal earlier this year: "LightSquared will get the spectrum for a song, while its competitors (e.g., AT&T and Verizon) have to spend billions..."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46338
What do you expect when the only " expertise " of the involved company(s) is being connected?
23 million fucking dollars and the shit still won't work!
Yo' Rahm! I've got some North Korean surplus that I'm willing to sell at only 3000% markup, wadda' say?
Have you noticed there seems to be lots of problems with our PDT's and station computers lately? Such a high quality system.
Just another day in Clown-Town. [Crookago]
“Sometime in 2012,” said Roderick Drew, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, when asked Friday how soon the 3,000 new radios would come online."
Yeah, after they fix the emergency telephones they tore out of the parking garages, and get the city-wide warning loudspeaker system working -- again? Did it ever work in the first place?
Private industry needs 3,000 of something, they click on the picture and it shows up Next Day Air -- maybe even Same Day Rocket if you do it first thing in the morning...
>sigh<
"There still better then those new radios we've gotten with the 10' wires...what a piece a shit those things are,anything to save money for the city, they can care less bout our safety!"
--9/24/2011 03:05:00 AM
You are supposed to tie the wire to the bumper and tow the radio along behind the car...better reception that way.
*
Ten years since 9/11 and we still can't talk to firefighters in the event of a disaster. Firefighters can't even talk to each other in many cases in the same building for pete's sake.
They don't even have enough radios to supply one per personnel!
Anonymous said...
Let's see...was either HUBERMAN or OROZCO running the OEMC show back then? Hmm....
9/24/2011 12:57:00 AM
===================================
Neither of them were in charge at that time. Huberman was in charge in 2004, but left in 2005 to become Daley's Chief of Staff in 2005 and stayed there until 2007.
In March of 2006 is when Orozco became the Commissioner of the CFD which he held until July of 2008.
I want to say it was a Hispanic guy that was running the show in between the 2 of them. He gave out quite a few "no bid contracts" to Motorola during his time. I want to say it was Tony Ruiz.
What? Another public procurement that is years late and over budget and still doesn't work?
This is Chicago, everything like that here is a monster cluster fuck. Is someone new in town who doesn't know how it works? I see police officers who have shelled out their own dough to have a dependable police radio and then the supervisors threaten them with having unauthorized radios. The 11th century taliban operate more efficiently than this.
7:54 AM
Re: Roderick Drew
J-Fled got rid of CPD PIO Drew after after he fumbled with the media about the cowardice complaint by Sgt. Northen.
OT- IRS audit in it's infancy of all pay/overtime of all POs (past & present) assigned to Daleys chauffeur/Man Servant detail. So which disgruntled former Sworn Gopher spilled the beans about the cash incentives while simultaneously checking the Time box? "Dead Presidents" Xmas bonuses (some cleverly delivered in/disguised as high-end cigars in those metal tubes) that'd make Enron executives blush is how my neighbor assigned to the IRS's Forensic Auditing offices phrases it. This done at Rahm's request supposedly, even though I can't see why. Stay tuned, more info as it becomes available.
9/24/2011 02:59:00 AM
You just couldn't wait to come here and front your friend, right? So, now, when HE's investigated for leaking info, he can thank you. Couldn't you just have posted the info without ratting out the source?
Tony Ruiz worked under Hubermann. They guy you're thinking about was Andrew Vasquez. He is hiding at the State. But it was Hubermann who gave out the illegal motorola contract!
bring on the G8! after the disaster this place will REFORM.
brace you kjnow it is going to go to shit do nothing keep yourself safe let the CLOUTED go down
Money wa$ted where are the intel updates from Mikey "No qualifications" Meahler??? Isn't that a waste of $$$. Dont we have NATO coming. We're just 7 months out and not a word. Does it surprise considering there are no officer safety alerts from this BS clouted unit. ever
why are there units with less than 20 POs commanded by a Gold Star like Intel? what a drain on the Pension; Beside this guy is working on his masters degree in Terorism on company time. shouldn't he have a GPS tracker on his car like POs on the street. What's he doing on his company computer
Funny how I work in a small town sheriff's office in the middle of nowhere and can talk to any agency within the state I need to from the radio in my patrol car. I don't see what the big deal in Chicago is, I know radio guys back home (Chicago) who know how to program these radios to work for everyone, but like someone already said, they're not properly connected to make it work.
I miss Chicago, but I don't think I can ever go back after seeing how an agency SHOULD work, sure we have politics, but nothing like the shit back home. Bless all of you for sticking it out.
Hey, this isn't that hard to figure out, go to Radio Shack and get some small portable 2 way radios.
I've been waiting for 28 years for the City to get their act together. I retire in a year, things are now more fucked up than ever. I don't give the slightest shit about anything except going home safely, backing up my partners and getting that damn pension. Screw the rest of it.
To 08:40 - there are commercial multi-band, multi-mode radios available (see Harris, for one), and many multi-band ham radios can be modified to xmit on public safety bands (I have a Yaesu that works just fine on both VHF and UHF).
Masters Masters Masters and Ray Ray are going to set this right. After another taxpayer funded trip to Israel and some training by Barbie's Ladies' Tactical Hair and Nail Association they will have this stupid radio thing all figured out. You wait and see!
Anonymous Anonymous said...
(OT) My family is CPD and CFD love to read this site very informative thank you! As for me this topic of money wasted strikes home. The city is looking at ways to privatize anything and everything to take away city workers jobs. I work at Midway airport as a laborer and have seen some incredibly stupid things done but this 1 takes the cake! we ordered 2 new police spec chevy impalas, awhile ago and put on all the required police equipment stripes,radios,light bars etc! Total cost per car was in excess of $10,000 with the required radios. Now the assistant commissioner and her friend "bob" a boss in the building get there take home cars taken away,following rahm's directive ( they never needed take home cars anyway), so what happens? you ready?
The 2 impala's which were kept in very good condition were used for when a detail was needed,or for example when a soldier or police officers family needed transport after a tragic event. the assistant commissioner is outraged they took her and her friends cars, so what does she do? She orders the fleet guys to remove the police markings,and sends 2 beautiful cars out to maaco to repainted Black! Both cars come back looking like shit,paint has grit and hairs in the paint job. Then they want the light bars on top changed to yellow bulbs for her and friends use. Now the light bars are about $2,800.00 each and have to be replaced as bulbs are not interchangeable. If the cars were not needed why was this stupid idiotic thing done?
It gets better so the commissioner who makes well over 6 figures has to buy a vehicle she buys 1 but ready she has had it over 2 months still no plates and NO CITY STICKER! While i know i screwed up my license plate lapsed 1 day and i was issued a $60.00,ticket and i walked up on the officer writing it and asked for a break his reply "sorry ordered to by the commissioner!" Do as i say not as i do apparently!
Lets hope rahm makes some needed "changes" with this person soon!
9/24/2011 12:02:00 PM
This is true, crazy, idiotic but true! To let you know we are looking into this, there was also a purchase of new Toyota Highlanders and other equipment that is being monitored, the budget office is watching! the general view is the commissioner there that did this was advised by her goofy friend who does nothing more there than purchase vehicles,seems the Lieutenant there is also upset and more like an estrogen vs. estrogen cat fight! From sources there in the commissioners office she was mad because the police C.O. got to keep her city car!
Put it in perspective: An emergency happens who do you need on scene an administrator, or a police boss? You know the answer, but ruining 2 vehicles that way should be grounds for termination, don't worry the mayor is not happy with this watch and observe next chess move!
Stop this radio doom and gloom...we are upgrading to a motorola digital starcom 22 system that was traded in by the taliban when they upgraded last year. Problem solved!
Tony Ruiz worked under Hubermann. They guy you're thinking about was Andrew Vasquez. He is hiding at the State. But it was Hubermann who gave out the illegal motorola contract!
9/24/2011 09:23:00 PM
Huberman's ex? Googled him. Now hiding at FEMA.
To the guys ad MDW.
Send a unsigned note to the US Attorney. Those cars were paid for with Federal Funds.
Rumor has it, thay have started a investigation on the missing CPD funding at ORD.
Here's the answer to the communications problem right here.
With these high tech babies coppers can communicate with fire and fire can communicate with police -- it's open architecture means you can communicate with anyone you want!
all the car nonsense we could sure use these on the streets the person responsible at midway should be questioned for this bone head move and if true should be replaced.
"It was Huberman that signed off on $10 mil Motorola phony parts requisition and OEMC never received any equipment from Motorola."
--9/24/2011 08:12:00 AM
$10 million theft from taxpayers, major City of Chicago scandal.
Uh...any reporters left out there?
(sound of crickets, wind in trees)
All city depts, are run like this with retards in charge almost exclusivly. City Depts, used to be a mix of stupid clout guys, normal clout guys, and some very smart unclouted guys (for when things HAD to get done right).
On another front, why does Brian Murphy, an administrator, need a take home car? Going to respond to a homeland security disaster?
Who is the radio contractor?
I can guess, they are on of the largest in Chicago and I had dealings with them in the early 90s. After they completed a contract - incorrectly - we made them re-program every radio over again - at their cost.
They did it because we refused to pay if they would not do it.
Again, who's the contractor who is supposed to be providing the working radios?
$$$ Money crunching and we have Intel Unit 191 off on weekends and holidays with massive overtime and they dont even work all 3 shifts??? WTF Terrorist G8/NATO WTF Meahler has got to go
I carried a keypad programmable dual-band radio almost TWENTY years ago in the burbs that could communicate with just about ANY radio frequency there is! If it wasn't for our first responders safety being affected by this, I would just laugh it off as just another SHITcago fiasco!
As for who's responsible? It started with the illegal contracts (kickbacks?) with Motorola under Luberman and his second in command "JA" the greek at OEMC. "JA" got fired over it. Luberman got promoted! lol
And now the whole program has been under the control of a FULL DUTY CPD CAPTAIN (M.R.) at OEMC under Lewin. Why are hell all these CPD personnel assigned to OEMC in the first place? HMMMM......
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