Thursday, April 12, 2012

Busy Day for Rahm

And it looks like it all went his way. First up, money from the Taste:
  • Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to charge Taste of Chicago attendees for premium seating to see musical acts in Grant Park and for the chance to eat special meals prepared by prominent Chicago chefs cleared a City Council committee today.

    Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Michelle Boone told aldermen the hope is that the revenue will help Taste break even after three years in the red. Under the plan, the city would sell seats at the Petrillo Bandshell for $25 each night and charge $40 for three-course meals...

And speed cameras:

  • Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to use speed cameras to issue tickets cleared a City Council committee today.

    The 7-3 vote came after criticism from aldermen led the mayor to offer up a revised ordinance governing the use of speed cameras in Chicago.

    Instead of $50 fines for driving six to 10 mph above the speed limit near schools and parks, a $35 fine would be assessed under the revision, which also will include other tweaks, said Ald. Margaret Laurino, 39th, chairman of the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee.

And new efforts to shut down problem liquor stores:

  • With Chicago’s murder rate up 60 percent over last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday launched a coordinated crackdown aimed at shutting down liquor and convenience stores that serve as magnets for crime.

    “These locations often harbor drug dealers and street gang members and become a cancer on the community,” the mayor told the first graduating class of police recruits since he took office.

And circling back to the second story - the speed cameras. Here's some interesting stats that came out today:

  • The Sun Times reported that city crews have installed 10,000 speed humps in streets and alleys since 2005. Many of them are near schools and parks.

    Crews have also put in 400 traffic circles, 450 cul-de-sacs and 250 "bump out" curbs.

All those "traffic calming" devices built at a cost of how many millions? And now cameras are going to solve everything? And Rahm has his mouthpieces up at the microphones saying how it's all "for the children" and "no one is counting any money generated."

Bullshit. Speed humps, traffic circles, cul-de-sacs and bump outs don't generate money. Cameras will. And anyone believing Rahm's crap really ought to have their head examined.

Labels:

41 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now I know where Blagovich got that idea selling premium seats..

4/12/2012 12:23:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it's for the children.

4/12/2012 12:28:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The speed humps will be located in neighborhoods where the vehicle owners won't pay the tickets and the cameras will be located in neighborhoods where the vehicle owners will pay the tickets.

Save the Children!

4/12/2012 12:47:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can we get a list of the seven stooges who voted yes to this camera bullshit. Read the IVC, I hope a massive class action suit is filed against this city for ticketing people in a school zone when it really isn't school zone.

4/12/2012 02:33:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

its pretty stupid really. driving in this city is like going off roading with all the bumps etc. lets make roads that are difficult to drive on there's a brilliant idea.

4/12/2012 02:53:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't know how to get the results of exactly WHO voted for the speed cameras, but these are the Aldermen assigned to the committee and I believe the vote was 7-3 FOR the raccoon.


Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety

The Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety has jurisdiction over all orders, ordinances, resolutions and matters relating to regulating vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic, on or off street parking, public safety, highways, grade separations, protected bicycle lanes, Chicago bicycle and pedestrian plans and studies, Chicago metropolitan area traffic studies and highways development, and matters generally affecting the Bureau of Street Traffic and the Bureau of Parking, the Police Traffic Bureau, and public and private organizations dealing with traffic and bicycle and pedestrian safety.

Chairman:

Laurino

Vice-Chairman:

Graham

Members:

Burns, Sawyer, Harris, Balcer, Quinn, Brookins, Munoz, Ervin, Mell, Colon, Mitts, Cappleman, Silverstein

4/12/2012 03:16:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The mere sight or sound of Rahm Emanuel makes me want to puke.

Remember when he came to town and just casually mentioned that if a certain job ever opened up, say ummm, the Mayor of Chicago, that he, Rahm Emanuel would be proud to run for that office and would like to tackle that special challenge.

At the time I figured the fix must be in and as we now know, that was correct, the fix was in.

Daley knew at the time that he wasn't going to run again and Rahm was getting all lined up to take the reigns of power over in Chicago.

There isn't a goddamned thing that is not rigged here. Does anyone think that something as important as Mayor of Chicago would be left up to the citizens in a, gasp, fair election?

Never happen, not here. We get whoever the Regular Democratic Evil Cabal want us to have and that is that. The elections in Iraq and Afghanistan are much more fair by comparison.

Screw this miserable corrupt city.

4/12/2012 04:41:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In the end city council will vote 50 to 0. They vote the way the mayor wants on any hair brained idea. I wouldn't recommend any alderman for reelection. This city is just a cesspool of decae.

4/12/2012 06:08:00 AM  
Anonymous Sgt. Saunders said...

Who is the nitwit female Police hater that somehow managed to blame the CPD Pension Fund for this? I almost fell off my chair when I heard her utter that stupidity on the Channel Nine News. I've got news for you little girl. None of this money will be going to the Chicago Police Pension Fund. None. At no time has the Mayor said that. Do a little research before you open your cock holster. Part of the reason for the Pension Fund shortfall is because the City has failed to properly fund the Pension Fund.

4/12/2012 06:35:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's right, close the liquor stores. That will solve the murder problem. We don't need more police or better equipment or better leaders. We don't need parents in certain communities to take responsibility for their children, to make sure they are not running the street and that they are in school and acting like responsible human beings. We don't need to allow people to arm themselves (like EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY) so that they can protect themselves in a responsible manner.

We just need to close some liquor stores. Yea, that's the ticket.

4/12/2012 06:56:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Charge $1000.00 to get in, I'm not going.

4/12/2012 07:38:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

speed cameras and still 50 aldermen-let the revolution begin

4/12/2012 07:43:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Most folks attending the Fest can hardly afford to pay for the regular small portions of over priced food right now. Pay for premium seating for 4th rate entertainment? Yes I want to pay $40 bucks to hear Unkle Bennie and the Alamaba Castaways. Give me a fucking break!!!

4/12/2012 07:48:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Any way you look at it we are all going to get fucked with the Racoon's Speed Camera tickets. Around any school, except for main streets, there are speed bumps all up and down side streets. Even in the alleys behind the schools. Why did it take until the day of the committee vote for this little story to come out? The media buried the story of course. Please note that in this ordinance the City Coucil will have NO VETO power over how many cameras will be deployed or how many. Gee I know we can trust the Racoon and his pool boy Kaplan to be honest and up front with us. By the way did any of our illustrious Aldercreatures find out just how many students have been killed or injured in the proposed camera areas since the Racoon came into power? Huh? None?

4/12/2012 07:55:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't need speed bumps or speed cameras in all of our war zone ghetto districts. There are so many dead bodies littering the streets you have to slow down to drive around or over them. See there is an upside to all the carnage.

4/12/2012 07:57:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rahm is evil

4/12/2012 08:45:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The cameras are a money grab. But unlike taxes and fees you never have to pay for a camera ticket. As long as you don't speed. So quit whining and cryin bitching and drive the speed limit. Traffic laws are not obeyed nor enforced mostly because the police are too busy to. So drive how you are supposed to and you will never have to do with a speed camera ticket.

4/12/2012 10:01:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

he better get rid of all those speed bumps so that he can catch some speeders.

4/12/2012 10:16:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Under the plan, the city would sell seats at the Petrillo Bandshell for $25 each night and charge $40 for three-course meals..."

...while professional asshole Andy Thayer demanded -- and got -- use of the Petrillo Bandshell for FREE, WITHOUT ANY INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS.

He accepted this "grudgingly," to use his exact words.

"Occupy" can rent office space when it wants to, but simply doesn't feel like paying other bills.

Screw you, Rahm.

Stay away. Let these expensive "festivals" die. You can get a sandwich anywhere. Don't pay out to the city and take up the slack for these parasites.

4/12/2012 12:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Crews have put in...250 "bump out" curbs."

These are catching on everywhere. Ideal for bicyclists; either it forces you to swing out more into the traffic lane, or you miss it in the dark, hit the curb, and split your head open on some stupid concrete planter or something.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

4/12/2012 12:11:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

While driving west down Chicago Ave today, and using the 1/8 of a mile distance from a park or a school, I realized that from about Ogden to Califonia a driver is going to be within the enforcement area and might not even know it.

All along that corridor to the north or south are parks and schools just a couple of blocks in either direction. Some of the parks are just a half city lot big, but they are there.

I wondered if that meant the speed limit will be 20 mph along that and other major arterial streets within the "bubble" of enforcement during "school hours" or the regular 35 mph limit. (I also wondered how many drivers even know those parks and schools exist.)

So I asked two aldermen. One who has voiced concerns answered within minutes. The other, I don't expect to hear from. Here is the answer from the one who did:

"I don't know that we have the full answer to that question, yet. It definitely needs to be posted wherever the speed is reduced and cameras in place. The committee established with this ordinance is going to consult with the Alderman, but the control is still going to be in CDOT's hands."

He also said that they will have to post both "Photo Enforced" and "School Speed Zone" signs in order to give tickets. He doesn't think the speeds would change along arterials, but couldn't be definitive as the Mayor doesn't want the aldermen to have any say about where the new cameras go up.


Watch for side streets to be congested after the first wave of tickets. For example, in 013, people avoiding cameras on Chicago Ave will take Superior or Iowa. People avoiding cameras on Grand will take Ohio or Hubbard. People heading north or south on Western will take Campbell or Oakley

When that happens, kids really will be hit by cars...but it's "all about the children," right Tiny Dancer?

4/12/2012 12:53:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's every day now.

TODAY'S expensive, unnecessary civic works project from Emanuel -- Chicago River to be "sanitized" and restaurants and boathouses built, family destination for fun, etc. More millions p___ed away in the middle of a depression.

How many times with this now?

Everything old is new again.

I've got it! How about a Second State Street Mall?

I saw the thing put in, I saw it torn out 20 years later. Time to get moving again.

Oh -- ever seen a towboat threading a tow of sand barges under those bridges? Thing has the engine from a diesel locomotive in it. VERY serious prop wash in that shallow river. Can't stop, either, guy has to be mentally lined up three bridges ahead.

Let's go dip around in a little plastic raft...

4/12/2012 01:25:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Rahm has his mouthpieces up at the microphones saying how it's all "for the children" and "no one is counting any money generated."

OH, RIGHT.

It's all just a big accident. If they happen to find any stray dollars laying around, they'll very carefully pick them up and put a rubber band around them and give them to charity.

COME on.

4/12/2012 01:31:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

...and as the mayor and the governor shut down mental health facilities expect to see more of this from the "savings"

-----------------

....

Around 1:12 a.m., someone, presumably an employee, dialed 911 from the Boystown, Lakeview neighborhood Walgreens at 3201 North Broadway, near Broadway and Belmont.

According to police dispatch, a 52-year-old man was bleeding from the head.

Investigators said the victim was attacked by 4 to 17 offenders.

One attacker was described as 8-feet-tall… a second offender was said to be a 6-foot-tall 80 to 89-year-old man driving a black Dodge Magnum.

Furthermore, the victim claims he was beaten on the 7900 block of South Vincennes, said police.

Authorities said, according to the victim, the muggers stole $48.

Ambulance 6 transported the patient to St. Joseph’s Hospital in unknown condition.

OPINION: Because of their disorganized thoughts, victims with severe psychiatric issues have a difficult time explaining traumatic events. Although Chicago News Report has no idea if this victim has mental health issues, it sounds like he is having a hard time separating fact from fiction.

We believe someone attacked him and robbed him, but the victim lacks the mental capacity to explain what happened.

http://www.chicagonewsreport.com/2012/04/injured-man-with-bizarre-story-seeks.html

4/12/2012 01:50:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

FROM THE SANCTUARY CITY NATO SHOWCASE.

Just in..

VIDEO: Girls fight over man's 'oral sex kills' in West Woodlawn (WARNING: Offensive language)


Yeah, show the dignitaries what the Sanctuary city has to offer.

Right here we have two women fighting over a homeless man's oral sex!

How about that for a world class city! Stay classy Chicago.

4/12/2012 01:58:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

...Meanwhile in the every so classy Lincoln Sq. the shooting victims from the other night "didn't see nothing, didn't know nothing" and now refuse to ID or co-operate with the investigation.

Nineteen-paul

Lincoln Sq. Shots fired.

Can't blame them really. They will not receive 24/7 body guard protection like some of the aldermen or the x-mayor.

The streets belong to the gangs and the political apparatus is busy creating new cash generating marketing schemes to monetize the right to bear arms -- preventing personal protection with the ban of conceal carry, gun title programs and other obstacles.

4/12/2012 02:08:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And all of those "traffic calming devices" severely impede us from getting to in progress calls (backing each other up) quickly.

4/12/2012 04:20:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fuckin' shit at the Taste could be free and I STILL wouldn't set foot in that crap!!!! Last time I went was the first year in '85. Never been back to all the smelly drunks, fat ass people and drunks. Ain't gonna spend a fuckin' DIME for this little egotistical shit.

Yeah, screw the business owners for shit that goes on out on the sidewalks. I'd close my business and take it elsewhere!!!

4/12/2012 04:47:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Crime is "trending downwards" even out in Romeoville now.

In the daytime.

Police: Home invaders duct-tape and hit woman, 99

1:07 p.m. CDT, April 12, 2012

"Three men forced their way into a home in Romeoville, bound a 99-year-old woman with duct tape and then hit her while demanding money, police say.

"The robbers also bound a 62-year-old man before taking cash from the home in the 700 block of Washington Street Wednesday afternoon..."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-police-robbers-ducttaped-mouths-of-man-and-woman-99-in-home-invasion-20120412,0,1211808.story

Thank you, Mayor Daley, for kicking over the projects and scattering the contents for fifty miles around.

Sort of a going-away present for everyone.

Hell, someone here said they're showing up with their vouchers in Iowa.

4/12/2012 05:20:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"And all of those "traffic calming devices" severely impede us from getting to in progress calls (backing each other up) quickly."

--4/12/2012 04:20:00 PM

You could learn to drive 80 MPH on the sidewalks like everyone else does, except they've got those full of trees and planters and s__t too.

4/12/2012 05:22:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"OPINION: Because of their disorganized thoughts, victims with severe psychiatric issues have a difficult time explaining traumatic events. Although Chicago News Report has no idea if this victim has mental health issues, it sounds like he is having a hard time separating fact from fiction."

http://www.chicagonewsreport.com/2012/04/injured-man-with-bizarre-story-seeks.html

--4/12/2012 01:50:00 PM

It's OK, guy. I mean, this city really does look like that now -- eight-foot-tall assailants and stuff.

Put the description out and let's roll with it.

"...the victim claims he was beaten on the 7900 block of South Vincennes..."

What IS it about 79th Street?

4/12/2012 05:37:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Watch for side streets to be congested after the first wave of tickets. For example, in 013, people avoiding cameras on Chicago Ave will take Superior or Iowa. People avoiding cameras on Grand will take Ohio or Hubbard. People heading north or south on Western will take Campbell or Oakley...

"When that happens, kids really will be hit by cars...but it's "all about the children," right Tiny Dancer?"

--4/12/2012 12:53:00 PM

Yeah, they get going like rockets between the parked cars on each side of a narrow neighborhood street -- we should see more roundabouts getting driven right over, kids playing games getting flattened.

Bumps, bumps, that's the answer, more bumps until you see double and lose your lunch, until you dislocate your vertebrae whacking your skull on the headliner...

4/12/2012 05:42:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

4/12/2012 07:55:00 AM

And you know why he is really doing this?

Because movers are down.

No one is writing speeding tickets in this city because morale sucks.

4/12/2012 05:48:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sgt. Saunders said...
Who is the nitwit female Police hater that somehow managed to blame the CPD Pension Fund for this? I almost fell off my chair when I heard her utter that stupidity on the Channel Nine News. I've got news for you little girl. None of this money will be going to the Chicago Police Pension Fund. None. At no time has the Mayor said that. Do a little research before you open your cock holster. Part of the reason for the Pension Fund shortfall is because the City has failed to properly fund the Pension Fund.

4/12/2012 06:35:00 AM

-
PART of the reason? If the City properly funded their portion of the fund contribution, there would be more than TWICE the amount of money available to invest and produce income for the fund.

Their failure, no - REFUSAL, to make their legally required contribution is what's killing us.

4/12/2012 06:40:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The cameras are a money grab. But unlike taxes and fees you never have to pay for a camera ticket. As long as you don't speed. So quit whining and cryin bitching and drive the speed limit. Traffic laws are not obeyed nor enforced mostly because the police are too busy to. So drive how you are supposed to and you will never have to do with a speed camera ticket.

4/12/2012 10:01:00 AM
--
You are certifiably insane.
The speed limit will be 20mph around schools and parks, which is nearly two-thirds of our city.

TRY driving 20mph and see how well you're going to do 'just staying under the speed limit'. Lunatic.

4/12/2012 06:43:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do not attend.take your money elsewhere.

4/12/2012 08:01:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So basically the millions spent on traffic calming devices was money down the toilet. Taxpayers were screwed. I don't remember, did they come up with statistics citing how speed humps would save the children when they were proposed I mean rammed down the peoples throats?

4/12/2012 10:52:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My condolences to the new recruits. If your smart get a few years under your belt, get through the probationary period and go somewhere else. Working in this Police Dept., sucks. The pay is substandard, you got to live in the sewer you work in. It might not matter now, but just imagine having kids going into the Chicago Public schools. It's expensive as hell to live in this shithole city. The management in this police dept sucks. Go north, lots of good suburbs with great pay, no residency requirement, better equipment. Or better yet get a degree and go FED, DEA, FBI, ATF, ICE. CPD sucks

4/12/2012 11:13:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just a City Worker said:

And you know why he is really doing this?

Because movers are down.

No one is writing speeding tickets in this city because morale sucks.

4/12/2012 05:48:00 PM
=
You're a tad clueless. We rarely wrote speeders, anyway. That requires calibrated radar, or pacing the speeding car. It's not something we EVER did much of.

And now, with red light cameras everywhere, we don't do those, either.

4/12/2012 11:41:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Under the plan, the city would sell seats at the Petrillo Bandshell for $25 each night and charge $40 for three-course meals...

**********************************

They're even gonna throw in "All the special Kool-Aid" you can drink !!!!

4/13/2012 05:32:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
That's right, close the liquor stores. That will solve the murder problem. We don't need more police or better equipment or better leaders. We don't need parents in certain communities to take responsibility for their children, to make sure they are not running the street and that they are in school and acting like responsible human beings. We don't need to allow people to arm themselves (like EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY) so that they can protect themselves in a responsible manner.

We just need to close some liquor stores. Yea, that's the ticket.

4/12/2012 06:56:00 AM


fair enough... been buying booze not from 'here' in quite some time...

4/13/2012 11:14:00 PM  

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