Close Schools - Buy Furniture
- Less than a year after CPS closed dozens of schools and laid off thousands of employees, it’s getting ready to spend millions on an office move.
CBS 2 [...] reports questions are flying about how the supposedly broke system can afford it.
It’s been a tumultuous year for CPS, filled with protests and anger about the shuttering of schools, teacher cuts and program cutbacks. Imagine the reaction to news that Chicago Public School officials are ready to spend $5 million on new headquarter offices and planning to ask the board to amend an existing $4.5 million contract with Staples, an office supply store.
“I don’t think they can justify it all,” said 2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti
They'd actually have to justify it if Chicago had an elected school board, but that referendum went by the wayside when Rahm had a taxi fare hike, an unenforceable magazine ban and another gun "issue" on the ballot that filled all three spaces. Now we have to rely on a rubber stamp city council to do a job they have proven time and time again incapable of doing for at least 100 years.
Labels: money questions
posted by SCC at 12:05 AM
61 Comments:
Hopefully, people will remember this at election time, but I doubt it.
But SCC, the new digs and furniture is for EDUCATION.
Don't you care about the children??
Why should school upper and mid management have to try to work with offices that could use remodeling and shabby office furniture? Do you think Corporate management works under those conditions? These are professional educators, they deserve the best.
Buying furniture is not a bad thing - IF THEY ARE BUYING IT USED.
There are several big office furniture stores that specialize in refurbishing and reselling used office furniture at maybe 10-20 cents on the dollar in the Chicagoland area.
You can get beautiful modular cubicles to executive office suites at a fraction of the cost.
I did it for my offices. I bought what McDonalds had in their OakBrook headquarters. They had black walnut modular executive office furniture that was great AND refurbished including a fluorescent task light above the desk area.
At the time, I paid $600 for what would have been about $8,000 in retail cost new.
If that is what CPS is going to do - GREAT. Get some "new" reconditioned office furniture to improve their offices.
If they are not going about it this way and actually going out and buying brand new furniture, fire EVERY one of their people on their purchasing staff for not knowing and not going this route to save money for the taxpayers.
New furniture when they are so cash-strapped?
Easy fix - fire a LOT of the "top" administrators and save money on their salaries and pensions. They are too dumb to be earning the type of money they are getting paid.
Thats nice, $5 mil for new office furniture and we can't use the crappers or showers in the 1st district locker room because the floor is two inches deep in piss and shit water for days now. A problem that has been ongoing for years! World class city my ass, try third world shit hole. Me thinks I feel a case of IOD dysentery coming on.
Claiming the old furniture doesn't fit?.
Disconnect is being kind. Arrogance is more accurate.
No keeses for them.
What's wrong with the furniture from 125 S. Clark St? See, when regular people move, they move their furniture with them. Something is fishy here....
SCANDAL ALERT!!!!!
Maybe, CPS should use the $5M to get all their PE teachers certified to teach Driver Education in the high schools. It seems many PE teachers don't have their proper credentials to teach the classrrom portion of Driver Ed. (the other portions are: range, road, and simulators).
5-6 years ago, CPS Sports Administration had a crackdown on non-Driver Ed. certified PE teachers instructing the classroom portion in CPS high schools as part of their regular school day PE block schedules. All students taught by non-certified teachers were made to take the classroom portions over again with a certified teacher.
What's worst is hundreds of CPS PE teachers don't have their mandated Water Safety Certificates (WSIs) which allows them to teach water safety and swimming to CPS students. And, mnay more PE teachers and coaches don't have current 1st Aid/CPR/AED certifications.....
And, CPS wants to increase PE back to a 4-yr. requirement??
Of course the magician rahm presto chango more money, this guy should have his multi milliner Hollywood brother ari make a tv show, with rahm ad the treasure hunter he finds hundreds of millions hidden in secret city accounts. But then rahm has no money for required pension obligations the rahms family and friends thieving tour appearing at a theater near you!
the aldermen see rahm as the great kim jong un leader running n. korea.
however election time is coming.
need a new cps hq. put 'em all in one of the schools they closed.
coming soon to the cps--- massive layoffs and more closures--- teachers will have 70 kids per room--- that is the cost of educating our sanctuarians and welfarians who contribute nothing to the bottom line but know how to stick out that paw and cry for more,more,more....
Someone must have a sweetheart deal with one of the office furniture companies because we just received 20 new chairs in our unit
Good thing our esteemed City Council spends so much time on the really important things like declaring whether or not Mrs O'Leary's cow started the Great Chicago Fire (thanks to Ed Burke!) and whether or not WWII hero Butch O'Hare's father was a mob lawyer. (He worked for Al Capone, thanks again Ed Burke) and whether fois gras should be legal or not. A truly great legislative body.
But really now, something has to happen to spread the money around, someone is making money on that office furniture, you know that. It doesn't just get bought and sold at the store like you or I would do.
After all, there isn't near as much asphalt money flowing around as there used to be, not with Cellinni (King of Asphalt) getting convicted and all.
1. Move out of the Loop to less expensive space, like a city-owned building/school.
2. Use the old furniture.
I would bet that they have a warehouse somewhere that's loaded with usable furniture.
hey hey hey what do you say we has money for anything!!! who said we have a budget crisis!! come on now, theres always stones to be turned .....
Just re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Cps is known for waste and it goes unchecked, there should be someone held accountble but nothing will happen.
Sounds like our FOP new cabinets, new granite counter tops. On the second floor a big ole oak conference table and leather chairs with the FOP logo. Kind of looks like Baracks situation room. I wonder what we paid for this upgrade. If anyone gets a pic please forward to SCC
Our leadership under Mikey and Bill did the same thing at FOP.
Plenty of money for pensions, city trying to put working class in the welfare class .
Reduce alderman from 50 to 20 .
No new parks,schools,libraries until pension is funded.
New furniture , what a slap in the face to teachers.
This is Rahm's philosophy.... to Hell with our financial obligations( pensions etc.) that'll be for someone else to deal with down the road. In the mean time spend, spend spend on whatever strikes your fancy.
It's for the CHILDREN!
But it's for the children !
Some "reporter" needs to look inside the buildings on Pershing Rd formerly occupied by CPS. Rooms loaded from floor to ceiling with unused brand new office furniture.
The furniture will be procured using a minority contractor costing 4 times the full retail value for dated wholesale furnishings that could be leftovers from Polk Bros or Aaronson's, (home of the credit connection).
Old furniture doesn't fit, eh?? Take a fuckin' hack saw to the shit and trim it down then!! Problem solved ya sponge-suckin' shits!!
Maybe they could send some of the leftover chairs to 015. There are about 40 broken ones in the garage, and the same moldy 5 that smell like ass at the desk since the day the place opened.
The City can EASILY find $5 Million to waste on new furniture that is not needed, but NO WAY could that $5 Million ever be considered to pay toward the pension deficit.
Funny...every few weeks the city comes up with more ways to spend millions of dollars on totally unnecessary bullshit (like Maggie Daley Park and an arena for independently-wealthy DePaul University) but NO, NO WAY can the city council and the mayor find even ONE PENNY to go towards our crippled pension fund.
If there was any justice, every single alder-creature and the mayor would be in prison right now, for a sentence of at least 10 years, for their intentional, willful fiscal negligence and betrayal of Chicago's first responders..
Give them folding chairs and card tables.
I work pt for a company in the burbs.
They recently expanded, got all factory reconditioned furniture.
Good as new and half the price!
They should let out another contract to have a company sniff the farts out of the old seats.
Anonymous said...
1. Move out of the Loop to less expensive space, like a city-owned building/school.
2. Use the old furniture.
3/26/2014 09:11:00 AM
Didn't Channel 2 have a report about a year ago about how empty the buildings on Pershing Rd. (which used to house CPS headquarters) are and how millions of $$$ each year is spent to keep the buildings maintained?
Why not go back there, save the rent as the city owns those buildings, and keep the furniture thay have from 125 S. Clark St?
OT /to The Keesing Bandit: glad you are back, was meesing you!
Where is Andy shaw and the BGA? What a fraud that guy is? There is some reporting to be done here, closing schools because of funding! Hey once again the city has money for what it wants not what it needs!
The city and board of Ed own numerous buildings and property yet they have to rent? What kind of b.s. Is this!
Anonymous Anonymous said...
The furniture will be procured using a minority contractor costing 4 times the full retail value for dated wholesale furnishings that could be leftovers from Polk Bros or Aaronson's, (home of the credit connection).
3/26/2014 02:06:00 PM
Hey, Nelson Brothers, Nelson Brothers, Nelson Brothers loves me, and they'll love you too. Good credit, bad credit, no credit.
Here's another scandal of at least should be. The tests CPS claims is needed for IB 7-8th grade acceptance.
The test is fine the issue I'm having is the "tier" process.
A few years ago. CPS was told they couldn't fill schools using race, ethnicity, etc so now they separated the city into geographic tiers. Those tiers are still divided by race, ethnicity, politics, etc but like liberals do, they just rebrand their immoral behavior to make it sound PC.
Here's the rub...a few friends have kids that live less than a block from a HS that has an IB program. Those kids take the exams and score above 800 out of 900 possible points. Because they live in a more affluent tier they needed about 820 to get into program but a kid from the newly reminded impoverished tier needs only 620.
How is that allowable? It's not or at least shouldn't be. Many parents are considering a class action suit to get this process stopped but it'll continue because that is the secular liberal progressive way.
Sorry for rant but since you brought up other deviant behavior by CPS, I figured some may want to know about this program.
just another reason to get residency on the table,pension and pay cuts coming screw this shit hole!
What a MESS this mayor has made of this city...drive past the 50 boarded-up Chicago Public Schools...add that to the mess in so many of the neighborhoods...mess cause of the poor areas, mess cause of the vacant areas, mess cause of the vacant land, mess cause of the Pigs who toss things out on the street with no concern for a clean environment, mess cause of so many boarded-up buildings in general....this is a sick city...Emanuel, where are You? Do you see the mess...you have caused most of it...stop the DePaul Basketball Stadium...put the 70 million into tearing down vacant neighborhoods, then re-sell them....the DePaul Areana will never, ever shore up the South Loop...it sure didn't work around White Sox Park...Go Cubs....too much in one spot and not enough in the rest of the communities. Poor Planning...You need a Committee and listen to them. You are not the end all be all in terms of ideas.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
What's wrong with the furniture from 125 S. Clark St? See, when regular people move, they move their furniture with them. Something is fishy here....
SCANDAL ALERT!!!!!
Maybe, CPS should use the $5M to get all their PE teachers certified to teach Driver Education in the high schools. It seems many PE teachers don't have their proper credentials to teach the classrrom portion of Driver Ed. (the other portions are: range, road, and simulators).
5-6 years ago, CPS Sports Administration had a crackdown on non-Driver Ed. certified PE teachers instructing the classroom portion in CPS high schools as part of their regular school day PE block schedules. All students taught by non-certified teachers were made to take the classroom portions over again with a certified teacher.
What's worst is hundreds of CPS PE teachers don't have their mandated Water Safety Certificates (WSIs) which allows them to teach water safety and swimming to CPS students. And, mnay more PE teachers and coaches don't have current 1st Aid/CPR/AED certifications.....
And, CPS wants to increase PE back to a 4-yr. requirement??
3/26/2014 06:53:00 AM
Scandal alert? Seriously? send them to the Red Cross training certification if they really, really need one.
And four years of p.e would go a long way to getting a few pounds off our ever widening kids, so you get no points for complaining about that one.
Wait till they close fire stations and police stations to buy limos for staff transportation.
The old furniture doesn't fit in the new digs...find new digs that it does fit in.
rahm and the carpetbagger running CPS have no cloths!!
Follow the contract and follow the money. Won't take long to find the connected political connection. This has been going on for years.
"ask the board to amend" Amend is a word I have never used in my 55 years. Could you please amend my 2 weeks vacation time to 27 weeks? No.
Other people's money. No one gives a shit because it's not their money. If it was their money they wouldn't buy a thing.
Yet at CPD we have chairs held together with duct tape...if you can even find a chair.
Scandal alert? Seriously? send them to the Red Cross training certification if they really, really need one.
And four years of p.e would go a long way to getting a few pounds off our ever widening kids, so you get no points for complaining about that one.
3/26/2014 07:58:00 PM
You're missing the point here:
There's a boatload of unqualified CPS PE teachers making an average of $72K/year + $15-$20K in pensions and health benefits with CPS doing little or nothing to enforce they have their proper credentials. W@hy should the students go to school when their teachers get by without the proper credentials?
And, here's the kicker...since PE is a need basis subject area, CPS PE/DE teachers are allowed to live outside Chicago on residency waivers.
Think about these CPS PE teachers when you're working OT, side jobs, or working in a shit neighborhood to earn money to send your kids to a catholic/private school.
Having been in the military and moved dozens of times, let me assure you all of one thing: It is cheaper to move your furniture than it is to replace it. When moving, you discard that which is no longer serviceable and replace it after the move. Just good, common, economical sense.
I'm all for consolidating and moving out of rental property, but this new furniture business is asinine.
CPS Janitors Worry About Jobs After Aramark Hired for Building Maintenance
March 26, 2014
"Chicago Public Schools has entered into a $260 million contract with Aramark to manage building maintenance for more than 500 schools — a step some union janitors fear could lead to the privatization or elimination of 825 custodial jobs.
"Their fears are bolstered by another district move to launch a pilot program that completely outsources the maintenance at 33 schools.
"Aramark...already runs the CPS food service..."
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140326/downtown/cps-janitors-worry-about-jobs-after-aramark-hired-for-building-maintenance
All they need to do is "outsource" the teachers and we're done with that.
Then we can have Aramark police/fire/EMS, etc., and blow the "savings" ten times over on "neighborhood festivals," stupid banners on light poles, etc.
$$$ Ka-ching! $$$ Ka-ching!
Even if they get the additional 5 million, before the furniture is delivered it will be "amended" to about 12 million. Thats the way it works
Why are they downtown , put the cps administrators in one ofthe closed schools on the west side .
If any of the reporters who troll on this site really wanted to find a scam, they'd check and see if the instrucotrs giving tests at the DMV on Elston Ave. and their supervisors had their proper certification requirements for their jobs.....The thing easier than taking the driving test on Elston Ave. is taking the test to drive a train for CTA.
My favorite line from a reporter on the CTA train crash was WGN's Randi Bellasome saying...."Reports are the driver woke up after impact."
Here's a thought for you hard charging ticket writers to think about.
CPS is run by the City. The Board of Ed is appointed by the mayor.
The CPD Parking lots are city owned lots for City Employees.
Start sending a message to CPS that the rest of the City is tired of their stupid shit. Check the lots for expired plates or rear/front. All employee vehicles have to have a City Sticker regardless of Registration....if it isn't a rental car....ticket for no city sticker every day. Hit them hard and we can get that money back into the city budget.
Fuck CPS..
I already ticket their M Plates for illegal parking around 142 S Clark
Why couldn't they just move into one of the now abandoned schools they closed last year?
Growing up in the City, my parents had to pay for my and my siblings Education. We came home for a great lunch our Mom had prepared, watched half of Bozo's Circus and walked back to school for afternoon classes.
Yes, it was a Catholic School and Dad worked long hours to provide this.
Now, CPS people feel entitled, are dog-ass lazy, expect everything for free. Even hot lunches!! And schools don't even teach kids how to WRITE anymore!
Lifetime family friend who is a DePaul Professor says Chicago has the worst grammar school teachers in the nation-and that's believable-look at the kids that are being churned out. 'Safe Passage', metal detectors in schools, school lockdowns, kids bringing guns to school...
Yet we still have a "Bozo's Circus" running-but now with different clowns. Just watch the Ch 2, 5, 7 or 9 'News'.
The rest of the freakin' citizens are buying used or making do, but leave it to these rocket scientists to show the whole world the type of low-bottom, hubris-filled big mouths we have running every facet of Chicago.
Yet another CPS problem at Taft is some kid passing out from 'pot' brownies.
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140328/norwood-park/teen-who-ate-pot-brownie-had-be-hospitalized-police-say
It's a good thing all the security guards are too busy in their little room and at the front desk to walk around to notice 'Vodka Fridays' during 5th and 6th periods in the lunchroom. LMFAO. Some students even walk right in front of adults with their 'vodka water bottles' and talk to them. The only thing missing is there's no ice.
CPS buy used? Are you high?
I know this is a couple years late, but as the budget crisis is headlined once again, I can't help but think back to CPS spending all of that money on new office furniture. I actually sell office furniture, new, used and refurbished. This project could have cost a fraction of what it did. And I am sure a lot of their existing product was in fine condition.
I had gone to my Alderman when the story broke...He actually spoke out against CPS for spending money. I see my children go to school....and the schools don't have new furniture. I donate plenty to the schools just so that they can have what they need.
I would like to know how this project got done without going to bid. Seems wrong to me.
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