The Entitled

Talk about people who have lost touch with what their part-time job is supposed to entail:

• Aldermen on Wednesday continued to press for further explanation of an ethics rule that would curtail their ability to get their hands on sought-after sports tickets, calling on City Hall's watchdog to clarify when exactly standards that were established in response to a playoff ticket offer from the Cubs would apply.
  
  City Inspector General Joseph Ferguson urged aldermen to consider the public perception of them accepting face value playoff tickets from the Cubs.
  
  But Ferguson declined to lend his interpretation to a recent Board of Ethics ruling that said aldermen cannot take tickets offered by the Cubs to World Series games at Wrigley Field unless they perform a ceremonial duty at the game. The ruling says taking tickets could violate a ban on elected officials accepting gifts worth more than $50.

If they want to purchase season tickets that would give them first shot at playoff games, hooray for them.

If they want to enter the Ticketmaster lottery or however the Cubs sell single playoff game tickets, have at it.

But getting to the front of the line, no matter how shitty the ticket, that in and of itself is worth way more than $50, and therefore a violation of the City Ethics rules.

Have you seen what the Wrigleyville bars are doing?

• A number of Wrigleyville bars are looking to take advantage of the expected crowds by offering food and drink packages that run several hundred dollars each, as well as implementing cover charges that also run more than $100.
  
  Casey Moran’s, across Clark Street from Wrigley Field, is charging $250 for an appetizer, dinner entree and drinks from 7 p.m. until 10:45 p.m., according to Kim Smith, the bar’s office manager.
  
  The food and drink package, though, does not include a table to sit at. A four-person table runs an additional $500. A group of four who wanted to eat, drink and be guaranteed a place to sit would split the $1,500 bill four ways.
  
  Those not interested in the food and drink packages still must pay $100 to get in the door, and that cover charge is expected to go up as the weekend nears, Smith said.

Hooray for capitalism and all that - if you can get a bunch of well-heeled drunks and bandwagon jumpers to shell out $100 to walk in the door and $500 to sit at a table, more power to you. But this phenomenon is worth way more than $50.

Perhaps it's time to roll out those petitions to reduce the number of aldercreatures to under 50 again. Under 25 in an ideal situation.