What Part of "Broke" Don't You Understand?
- An ambitious $177 million proposal to overhaul the lakefront from Olive Park to North Avenue Beach includes creating a new offshore island, straightening the S-curve and burying part of Lake Shore Drive underground.
The plan, presented at a community meeting in Streeterville earlier this week by architecture firmVOA Associates, also calls for expanding beaches at Ohio and Oak streets and adding 60 acres of parkland to the lakefront.
Maybe if the FOP asked for a brand new ten-story building, a 500-car parking garage, a small stadium and a double-decked Washington Blvd., Rahm would approve it and the FOP could skim the $600 million off the construction contracts via short pours and ghost loads of asphalt to pay for our pensions.
Labels: money questions
posted by SCC at 12:02 AM
54 Comments:
Honestly were are the issues about our contract. We as FOP members need answers. Maybe we should march again. Maybe if the new members actually wrote about the contract in out fop newsletter instead of patting themselves on the back. This isn't looking good at all ladies and gentleman. No news is not good news for this topic. Why aren't we being told update information about our contract. Did Angelo get our retro? Did he get anything ? Hello ?
"...Maybe if the FOP asked for a brand new ten-story building, a 500-car parking garage, a small stadium and a double-decked Washington Blvd., Rahm would approve it and the FOP could skim the $600 million off the construction contracts via short pours and ghost loads of asphalt to pay for our pensions. ..."
Don't forget a state of the art combat and sports shooting range, one we can go to for our HR-218 CARDS.
Just A Citizen Says:
Is the Island going to be called Alcatraz? Just a thought.....
ahahahaha, this is how it starts. 177 million. Not a "huge" tab to do ALL that work. Let me tell you.... burying part of lake shore drive, creating a new island in the lake and doing all those upgrades and work will cost a hell of a lot more than 177 million dollars. Thats a page right out of shortshanks book. tell the people it will cost a lower amount then after years of construction the bill isnt 177 million but closer to 500 or 600 million dollars. 177 million wont even get LSD buried into a tunnel.. No way. more city math and shell games.
Rahm is a politician. Politicians are remembered for building monuments of one kind or another. They are not remembered for fixing a bridge or paying a pension.
"...straightening the S-curve.."
Some of us have been here more than a few minutes...
AGAIN?
This is the type of thing that wood drive Ron Swanson NUTZ!
Didn't Rahm just announce a $62 million dollar Wells-Wentworth connector project? Speaking not as someone fearful that he will be eating catfood in his retirement years but just as an average joe citizen, I do not want my property taxes spent on another dumb fucking "improvement" project until all our debts are paid and the city's budget is balanced! Rahm, you are an egotistical little prick and with a little luck you will stick it in the ass of one to many people before the next election and we will then ram it in yours and break it off!
I want to hear him justify fucking with the pensions after all this.
How about we just ask for some new mechanics at the areas. My goodness. They are the biggest bunch of worthless people around. Parking lot overloaded with cars. They have no pool cars. Takes weeks to months to get a car back. Everyone always heard they work slow to keep job security. Well take a look at area South. Pretty sure a high school mechanics class could put cars together better than that bunch down there.
Not broke yet. The tax payers have not been squeezed for their last pennies yet. Like Obamacare, there are probably unknown and hidden taxes that have not even been taxed yet to raise money, but they can and will be taxed.
The Raccoon must feed the connected contractors to get those campaign donations. A portion of those hefty contracts come back to our greedy crooked politicians.
Even a person with minimal construction knowledge will tell you that lofty a project needs the word "billions" attached to it. That is before they start stealing.
Misdirection is the word of the day for this nine fingered hobgoblin.
How much did they say the Bean was going to cost? How much did it cost in the end. Just sayin...
That is a genius idea SCC.
The mechanics work slow because the City doesn't pay its bills in a timely manner and as a result the service garages don't have the parts or equipment they need. They can't just pick up the phone and order you a new condenser or whatever part you may need. Also the range of vehicles the Dept is using requires that multiple parts be stocked increasing costs, etc.
Its bad management all the way around but not the fault of the mechanics as a general rule.
why cant ALL politicians just be shot?? or hung??
This city couldnt pave an alley for only 177 million. What a joke.
It would be interesting to see if the EPA will approve such a request. Altering the native shoreline of our source of drinking water could upset the balance of organisms in lake superior or huron. They have sued farmers for less.
Yet Rahm refused to spend one on a preventative measure that would have saved 10s of thousands of ash trees in the city from the emerald ash borer, and the city millions in removal cost.
I don't think they even have high school mechanic's classes anymore. Maybe CVS still does but most if the "skilled trade" programs have seem to have gone by the wayside.
How does the general public not see this BS or the media call him on it...he cries broke over pensions but is spending 100's of millions a week on his projects...the pensions could be fully funded with all the money he's throwing around....
"Don't forget a state of the art combat and sports shooting range, one we can go to for our HR-218 CARDS."
5/15/2014 12:19:00 AM
Ha. Remember the last try? Not even allowed out in Steel Mill Wasteland, where the rib dogs roam. Sorry, there is a bird nesting there.
Everyone else just bangs away up and down the street as the mood strikes them...
"...this is how it starts. 177 million. Not a "huge" tab to do ALL that work. Let me tell you.... burying part of lake shore drive, creating a new island in the lake and doing all those upgrades and work will cost a hell of a lot more than 177 million dollars. Thats a page right out of shortshanks book. tell the people it will cost a lower amount then after years of construction the bill isnt 177 million but closer to 500 or 600 million dollars. 177 million wont even get LSD buried into a tunnel.. No way. more city math and shell games."
5/15/2014 12:23:00 AM
The Olympics Of Cost Overruns. Sounds like a few billion to me.
Crazy man wants to build islands.
So many other things the city needs...
This is like the "$100 million" Obama library. That is just bait to get it here. Actual cost will be $500 million or more. Just this second on Fox 32 -- a developer wants to give the city 30-40 acres of --yes, that old steel mill land -- to build this, and is trying to hook in the Star Wars Museum there too, which should probably go in Hollywood, where the tourists who like that stuff go anyway. Who the hell is going to travel out there...this is like Brasilia, the new capital Brazil built itself in the middle of the jungle, where no one was.
Poor Myanmar (Burma) got the disease too now, and has built its own monumental Brasilia with a 16-lane highway leading to it. Talk about corruption...
Going to make quite a picture with one homemade oxcart going up the road, some poor guy with vegetables to sell...
Why don't we pour solid concrete copies of the Great Pyramids? Talk about cubic feet. $$$$$$$.
Stalinist gigantism. Megalomania.
Dare one say "psychopathy?"
"What differentiates a sociopath who lives off the labors of others from one who occasionally robs convenience stores, or from one who is a contemporary robber baron...is nothing more than social status, drive, intellect, blood lust..."
Talk about s__t and look what come slidin in -- hi, Rahm!
http://www.cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/psychopath.htm
OK, no problem, whatever, just as long as they complete that monument to the benevolent mother saint goddess of Chicago, Maggie Daley. Oh I will be so proud to have that in my city. Another $55 million well spent. Too bad they couldn't rename a school after her. a school that was going to be built anyway, you know, to save some money.
I will never go there unless I have a sudden urge to take a dump.
Rahm has his priorities. Police are not one of them.
No keeses for him.
INFLATION **BAM**
2013 vs 2014
Beef and veal up 11%
Uncooked Beef roast up 12.7%
Pork up 9.4%
Bacon up 9.1%
Pork chops up 11.3%
Other pork incl. roast up 13.5%
Eggs, frickin Eggs up 9.3%
OMG Citrus fruits UP 21.3% !!
Oranges up 18.9% !!
ENERGY prices.
Natural Gas UP 11.2%
Electricy up 4.3%
AND LET'S NOT FORGET THAT THE ILLINOIS ELECRT. SMART METER PRGM THAT IS GOING TO ALLOW IL. TAXPAYERS TO SAVE. (HAHAHA) THE PRICE INCREASES FOR THAT GO INTO EFFECT THIS MONTH!.
Think about the effects of this when they "fix" the cost of living increases for wages and pensions.
From the latest BLS CPI report.
Refer to pages 10 and 11 in this pdf
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf
The 40% Rule
If you were going to try and understand why revolts happen, but wanted to limit yourself to a single variable, you’ll be hard-pressed to find something better than the price of food.
There's quite a bit of research to support the idea that people who spend above a certain percent of their income on food are more likely to protest, riot, or otherwise become restive. That number seems to have a minimum threshold of 40% of income to food costs, give or take:
Since the beginning of 2014, riots have occurred in countries including Thailand and Venezuela. Although they’re different cultures on different continents, these mass protests movements may all have one commonality; increasing food prices may have contributed to their occurrence. The cost of food has been steadily increasing in both Thailand and Venezuela; last month demonstrators in Caracas took to the streets marching with empty pots to protest food shortages. According to Dr. Yaneer Bar-Yam and fellow researchers at the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), events such as these may be anticipated by a mathematical model that examines rising food costs.
The events of 2014 aren’t without precedent; the price of food has provoked (and placated) throughout history, beginning in Imperial Rome when Augustus introduced grain subsidies. In recent years, the Middle East has been particularly affected by the cost of grain. Centuries after Egypt developed bread as we recognize it, the nation experienced a bread intifada – the country rioted for two days in January 1977 following Anwar Sadat’s decision to drastically decrease food subsidies. More recently, under the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the price of grain rose 30 percent between 2010 and 2011. Then, on January 25, 2011 a new revolution began in Egypt.
read more: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-14/rising-resource-costs-escalate-odds-global-unrest
Rahm was happy to be with his daughter at the Blackhawks game? (mayor wearing rags)
All I saw was Rahm sitting alone where was she sitting?
..and the nation is broke too however that hasn't stopped Obama from sending billions of dollars to Ukraine.
Put it on the taxpayers tab, the taxes will follow and the political apparatus will play the victims shouting the debt, the debt.
If the constitution (both state and national) are considered just contracts, then contracts can and will be voided in bankruptcy.
Check on Detroit if you doubt what's about to come down.
Meanwhile Joe Bidens son gets an executive position with w Ukraine natural gas company and Washington says it's not an ethics issue. WHAT A SURPRISE FROM AN ILLINOIS POLITICIAN.
As a broke taxpayer, I'm not surprised, and neither should you. As I've said before, if you are a CPD officer you need to be socking away money in an IRA. If I were in your shoes, I'd start thinking that the city and state will screw you and leave you with a fraction of the money you're owed.
I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying that these assholes will never spend money they could spend on shoring up pensions before they spend it on everything else under the sun. I'd invest my OT in a retirement plan because I have zero faith in these clowns to fix what's broken before you retire.
Y'all ain't seen shit yet.
Election is coming up and this is your politicians on their best behavior.
What do you think things will be like AFTER you re-elect these people?
The State is already playing games passing a budget that depends on the temporary State income tax increase to be extended. Oh we'll pass the budget now and wait for the vote to increase or extend the income tax increase AFTER we all get re-elected.
As that will give the taxpayers with short memories plenty of time, until the next election, to forget how they are getting bent over the table.
Don't forget a state of the art combat and sports shooting range, one we can go to for our HR-218 CARDS.
5/15/2014 12:19:00 AM
Oh, no; never. All those scary guns in one place? Never, ever.
Sounds great! then you can sell it and all the museums to pay for the pensions.
As a boater, I really like the idea of the island they had depicted in the photo. Add some boat docks, a bar and restaurant, warm weather, skinny chicks in skimpy bikinis...why it would be just like Blarney Island on Lake Michigan.
BUT WE CAN'T AFFORD IT.
I have to live within my means. You have to live within your means. Why the fuck is this such a foreign concept to politicans?
The city is only broke when it comes to paying it's financial obligations. The city is NEVER broke when it comes to the pet projects of a greedy mayor!
If my memory serves me correctly, the FOP went to the courts in the early/mid 90's and the city was ordered to pay-up their portion of the pension obligations.
With that and the more recent "ARC" ruling, why don't the union go back to the court and seek an INJUNCTION stopping this "spending like a s drunken sailor on shore leave" mayor until all pension payments are paid! HELLLLOOOO, FOP???
I like your thinking SCC.
Tell Rahm the $600 million renovation is "for the children" and he'd be all for it.
Rahm was happy to be with his daughter at the Blackhawks game? (mayor wearing rags)
All I saw was Rahm sitting alone where was she sitting?
Would you want to be anywhere near that slimy asshole??
I wonder who "paid" for those very nice, very expensive seats.
Dont worry the SGT'S that represent us on the contract will do a fine job!
Im having trouble grasping how 3 sergeants can have a title in the FOP and one is even on the contract team!
Dean feel free to chime in the Detective you made a deal with has to go! or he can pass up the white shirt promotion.
yet i receive notices about gun cleaning day...
he city is not broke by any means.
The city has held the line on their share of the property taxes. If the city needs money, they can increase property taxes. That hasnt been happening because Daley was always against it and thought it would chase voters away. He believed in passing expenses down the line and look where that got us.
Saw the State Street Mall go in, saw it come back out again after the car ban wrecked business. Stood there watching a steel claw tearing out the old streetcar rails -- they were still under all that -- as the elaborate paving-block job came back up to get shoveled into one "hired truck" after another...
Now Mayor ADHD wants to "mall" again, this time over on North Michigan Avenue, make "peoplespaces" out of it with French clowns tottering around on fifty-foot stilts -- while injecting the population of Roseland into the mix via a zillion-dollar rail extension.
"Easily distracted by irrelevant stimuli and frequently interrupting ongoing tasks to attend to trivial noises or events that are usually ignored by others..."
Plastic grocery bags! Ride-sharing! Pedicabs!
This, while "empty cartridges and blood line the gutters of the streets." (Marshall Tucker Band, Fire On The Mountain.)
Had a member from AFL-CIO come to my house to try to get me to sign petition for raising min wage. After saying "absolutely not" he walked away laughing.
I tried to explain to him that with increased wages comes a decreased workforce, but hey...he at least is out working
This is absolutely disgusting! The media should be screaming! Why is this necessary??????? What the fuck! This is the problem with Illinois politicians.
Super Dean isn't going to say anything to upset the deal he has cut with Mayor Emanuel...If it comes down to it,he will make some bloviating speech to bullshit and buy some time.Actions speak louder then words. Just watch and see what happens.
If my memory serves me correctly, the FOP went to the courts in the early/mid 90's and the city was ordered to pay-up their portion of the pension obligations.
With that and the more recent "ARC" ruling, why don't the union go back to the court and seek an INJUNCTION stopping this "spending like a s drunken sailor on shore leave" mayor until all pension payments are paid! HELLLLOOOO, FOP??? Why? Because the union sits across from the city at the table lying to each other about what they're going to do. The City promises things they have no intentions of honoring and the union refills their coffers with dues money. Democracy at work. Why we are a republic and not a democracy. Theives stealing from crooks and then paying them off with union dues
Take it easy, Rahm is a friend to the police, trust me.
Raccoon Eyes will drain all of the city TIF accounts before next year so he can prevent those $millions being moved into city pension funds. He has been spending $millions like a drunken sailor this last year. $60million for an unneeded road from downtown to Chinatown. $60million for a new unneeded high school so he can name it after his pal Obama. Another $55million for a new unneeded DePaul sports arena and hotel west of McCormick Place. And now he comes up with a plan for $175million to enlarge Oak Street beach and put the outer drive under the street in a tunnel. The politicians have to feed the greedy connected contractors so they keep those large campaign contributions coming. And we get to pay the bill.
BRILLIANT !!!
"I have to live within my means. You have to live within your means. Why the fuck is this such a foreign concept to politicans?"
5/15/2014 02:03:00 PM
Becasue they operate on an unlimited supply of money extracted from others, and on money drawn from thin air -- like TIF funds, loans granted on the phantom collateral of "increased real estate tax revenue once the project is done."
Like when you elaborately "streetscape" a stretch and the empty stores just stay empty, generating zilch. Fees and taxes go up again to compensate, and the loan payments will be "refinanced," "scooped and tossed" far enough into the future not to affect someone's reelection.
The city has held the line on their share of the property taxes. If the city needs money, they can increase property taxes....
because they know the city workers are stuck here and they will squeeze every bit of blood out of us they can...we'll give you a 2 % raise...but we're raising taxes 3%...
"Panem et circenses"
Dont worry the SGT'S that represent us on the contract will do a fine job!
Im having trouble grasping how 3 sergeants can have a title in the FOP and one is even on the contract team!
Dean feel free to chime in the Detective you made a deal with has to go! or he can pass up the white shirt promotion.
yet i receive notices about gun cleaning day
Maybe we should have the CFD negotiate our contract . They settled theirs and its probably better than we are going to get,plus retro pay.
The city has held the line on their share of the property taxes. If the city needs money, they can increase property taxes....
because they know the city workers are stuck here and they will squeeze every bit of blood out of us they can...we'll give you a 2 % raise...but we're raising taxes 3%...
Daley would never raise the citys portion of the property tax and neither will Rahm. It causes too much attention and a voter outcry and backlash.
The new gimmick is increased fees, not taxes. Check your water bill, city stickers,ticket fees, red light and speed cameras, to mention a few.
"we'll give you a 2 % raise...but we're raising taxes 3%."
That's how it is for working folks in the private sector. Been that way for many years now.
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