Daley Destruction Continues

Not content with destroying the convention business, Shortshanks moved to cripple another economic engine in the Chicago area by making it harder to do business here:

• The Daley administration on Wednesday defended its decision to sharply increase landing and rental fees at O’Hare Airport, but said there’s wiggle room to appease airlines now refusing to finance the city’s massive runway expansion project.

  Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino flatly denied that the 38 percent increase in landing fees and 17 percent hike in rental rates were primarily being used to fund pre-payment of debt not scheduled to mature until after 2030.

• However the controversy came to a head, Andolino stressed that there’s room to maneuver if the airlines are willing to re-start talks aimed at bankrolling Phase 2 of the O’Hare expansion project.

Sounds like the airlines may have drawn a line in the sand. What if the airlines drop 25 or even 50 flights into and out of O'Hare on a daily basis and instead go to Denver, Atlanta, Dallas or Kansas City hubs? Daley's runway project is already a year or two behind schedule and billions over budget and it's only in Phase I of four phases. O'Hare is about the region's largest employer - Daley can't afford any missteps there.

Alert Wedster and Brust

Good news for those who (A) violate Federal law and FAA regulations by bringing armed and unauthorized people onto an airfield, (B) commit rule 14 violations lying about it, and (C) co-opt superior officers by gifting them with free tickets obtained under the guise of "look what I got for you boss!"

• Elton John and Billy Joel and the Dave Matthews Band will headline three more concerts this summer at Wrigley, thanks to an "exception" to the night-game ordinance that Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) plans to introduce at Wednesday's City Council meeting.

  Elton John and Billy Joel will reprise last year's wildly popular concerts on July 7 — a Wednesday night.

Maybe this year, J-Fed can drive?

Who Put a Nickel in Burke?

Ed, you're obviously a borderline moron and it's a miracle you aren't in jail for all sorts of ethical "lapses" and crooked dealings. Stop proving it every day:

• Chicago restaurants, stores and cafeterias would be prohibited from using Styrofoam and other “polystyrene foam” products that clog landfills, under a crackdown proposed Wednesday by the City Council’s most influential alderman.

  Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) drafted the ban after learning that Chicago Public Schools use and throw away 35 million Styrofoam lunch trays each year.

  If the City Council approves the ban, violators would face fines ranging of up to $300 for the first offense to $500 for subsequent violations. City Hall would be free to grant exemptions, only if there is “no alternative that is both affordable and compostable.”

First up, there is no "landfill shortage." This is another fantasy brought to you by the same people who started the "global warming" debacle that has been completely debunked in the past three or four months. It's been funny as hell seeing every scientist, UN talking head and Al Gore stumbling over themselves attempting to explain why their entire premise of spending trillions of dollars is based on lies.

Second, we'd rather the CPS kept using and disposing of Styrofoam instead of wasting millions of gallons of water and detergents washing so-called "reusable" items like plastic trays or "bio-degradable" technologies. The alleged "green" movement does more harm than good in these cases. Do you notice how cereal prices have shot up in the past year or two? That's because more and more grain is diverted to fuel and "green" bio products. Guess who suffers the most? The poor, especially recipients of US farm aid overseas.

And third, that phrase "City Hall would be free to grant exemptions" just screams for bribes or political donations or worse. The City Council keeps sticking his nose into foie gras, trans-fat, and lord knows what else without actually spending time on governing and solving money problems that are dooming this city to irrelevance.

Funny Campaign Literature

Although the election has come and gone, signs remain everywhere. We thought there was a law about picking up your electioneering garbage after the votes were tallied? In any event, if you're lucky enough to find a few of these under the recent snowfall, you might be able to have some fun with them:


You have to love Cook County politicians - not only do they play down and dirty like no one's business, they let you play, too by designing a piece of literature you can use to try to get out of parking tickets. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed these photos.

Earthquake!

A 4.3-magnitude earthquake hit the area this morning.

Thousands dead. City in ruins.

Oh. Wait. That's the normal state of affairs around here.

Never mind.

UPDATE: Quake downgraded to a 3.8

The "thousands dead" were actually a satellite shot of Burr Oaks Cemetery.

The "city in ruins" is Shortshanks' legacy of infrastructure neglect and chronic mismanagement.

School Assessment

A very cold, hard and pointed assessment of CPS by one of their own. An assessment so at odds with the one presented to the media that the author has to use a pseudonym lest they be fired:

• It has been stated that the Turn-Around Team at Fenger High School already judges itself a success. On October 30th at Orr High School, Mayor Daley himself insisted, “Fenger has a very good principal and it’s a very good school” just a month after Derrion Albert’s murder and even while Fenger has been mired in violence, corruption and mismanagement.

  But our administration and city leadership judge it as a success because it has achieved compliance from its staff members. Not one of us has spoken out in the midst of the chaos and tragedy that have occurred and, so it is said, there is a feeling of victory over Fenger. No one has spoken: not upon the death of a student, which reached the public with full force, or upon the small deaths that are experienced daily within our silent walls.

Read the whole thing. The only thing that matters is the image presented to the media. Results don't matter, never have, never will. What matters is the face of "reform," like so much shallowness in Chicago politics.

Theft of Mink

If you can't trust the folks at a party for a pawnbroker-turned-lieutenant governor candidate, who can you trust?

• The Sun-Times is reporting pawn shop owner Scott Lee Cohen's election-night party at the Palmer House Hilton had some unexpected guests -- Chicago Police -- who arrived within an hour after Cohen gave his victory speech in the Democratic lieutenant governor's race. Police weren't responding to anything involving steroids or a domestic dispute -- topics that led to Cohen withdrawing Sunday night as Gov. Quinn's running mate.
  
  Instead, police came because of a missing full-length woman's mink coat valued at an estimated $5,000.
  
  When Cohen aides "saw I was calling police, they asked me, 'Please don't do that. It's going to cause negative press,'" said Cecili Tomlin, a Cook County medical examiner's autopsy technician who was at the party with a friend.

An autopsy technician in a $5,000 coat? Whatever. Cohen's 15 minutes seems to be up now and Madigan is taking names for the #2 spot on the ticket. SCC is running a distant 12th seeing as how we are registered Independent.

Unusual Military Callup

We have family who served or are serving in the military. We have friends and co-workers who have or are in the line of fire at this moment. We are vaguely familiar with a number of career tracks within the military. But the career of Shortshanks' son puzzles us:

• Mayor Richard Daley said Tuesday that his son, Patrick, has been called back to active duty in the Army.

  "My son had a responsibility to serve four years in the military," Daley said. "He's been redeployed, and so he will serve his country just like every other son and daughter of this country who does the same thing."

  Patrick Daley was living in Moscow when he got word of his recent redeployment, said the mayor...

He comes, he goes, he leaves school, he serves, he leaves the country, he gets recalled, it's all very odd.

What is Shortshanks Up To?

This guy has never done anything unless there's something in it for him. What's the angle here?

• Mayor Richard Daley today proposed expanding the powers of the city's inspector general to include investigating aldermen -- an idea long opposed by City Council -- as well as taking away the hiring oversight duties currently held by the mayor's compliance office.

  The proposed ordinance, which Daley will introduce at Wednesday's council meeting, would be a dramatic shift in the power struggle between City Hall watchdogs.

  The move was endorsed by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, who while appointed by the mayor is considered more independent than the Daley administration's Office of Compliance.

We can't see the City Council going along with this quietly. Already there are noises being made about "influence" and other nonsense:

• Ald. Bernard Stone, 50th, said he opposes Daley's plan to give the inspector general the ability to investigate council. [...]

  “If (Daley) wants to have (the inspector general) oversee hiring, that’s the executive branch and that’s OK with me,” Stone added. “The executive branch should not be able to oversee the legislative branch, because the executive branch can use it to blackmail the legislative branch. That’s the same thing J. Edgar Hoover did to Congress.”

Stone is scared the mayor might use the Inspector General's office to press aldercreatures to vote a certain way. Stone, who's voting record is approximately 99.99999999999% in line with what Daley wants anyway, doesn't seem to realize Shortshanks always gets his way by controlling the money, i.e. TIFs, crooked contracts, shady land deals, etc. It's called "the Chicago Way" and Stone has been benefiting from it for decades now.

Panhandler Arrested Again

One-hundred-seventy-nine times and holding:

• A man who has been arrested almost 180 times — and whose presence on the CTA's Green Line has instilled fear among riders whom he aggressively panhandles — has been arrested again.
  
  Clarence Ervin, 52, of the 900 block of North Waller Avenue in Chicago, was arrested Saturday in Oak Park and charged with battery, criminal trespass and obstructing identification — all misdemeanors — stemming from two recent incidents, according to Oak Park police Cmdr. Len Jorgensen.
  
  Ervin, whose numerous run-ins with the law were chronicled by the Tribune last week, was being held on $17,500 bail after a hearing at the Cook County courthouse in Maywood on the latest charges.

An amazing job by the Cook County courts and ASA's keeping repeat offenders behind bars where they can't harm citizens.

Bad Timing

Snow and bus service cuts? You can almost see the voter anger piling up like drifts in a blizzard:

• Bus and train riders who encountered the CTA at far less than its best on the first weekday of major service cuts should prepare themselves to slog through snow during Tuesday's commute.
  
  The CTA implemented a winter action plan Monday to ensure that bus motors start in the morning and that the fleet — downsized by almost 290 buses because of the service cuts — can get out of garages and storage yards and onto streets.

Only one of Tom's can save Shortshanks now - Tommy Skilling or Tommy Byrne. Who will it be?

Openness? Hahahaha!

Once again, J-Fed's minions make him look out-of-touch, foolish and nothing more than a tool to be wielded by Shortshanks and his people. On 22 January, J-Fed posts a PAX 501 stating the following:

• Over the past two years, I have worked hard to ensure that specialized assignments and opportunities are made available to all of our members and that they are filled with the most qualified and deserving applicants, based on open, fair and objective processes.
  
  Few things are as damaging to morale and operational effectiveness as an environment where officers feel that their performance, work history and attitude are less important than who they know.

Fast forward to the Daily Bulletin dated 28 January (a summary):

• Basic Police Officer Leadership Course - The Chicago Police Department is proud to announce the creation of the Superintendent's Center for Leadership Development (CDL).
• Applications can be found online at e-Learning;
• Complete the essay questions;
• Submit the application, essays, resume, a statement from your doctor relating the Officer is able to perform physically demanding exercises to the Officers District Commander;
• The District Commander should review the package, and if approved, forward the package to: Chicago Police Training Academy, Attn Superintendents Leadership Academy.

And the punchline?

• Officers must have their packages forwarded to the Academy no later than 1 Feb 10, 0800 hours.

So they announce this big deal "leadership" class, one of those classes that in the past were only whispered around to certain special people. People related to other special people. People with clout.

And they post it in the Bulletin one single day, a Thursday. Let's see...posted on Thursday, exempts all work 3rd watch on Friday, front offices are closed Saturday and Sunday, application due in Monday morning with a doctor's clearance. We can't even get in to see our doctor next week and now we need a note in 3 days?

Anyone want to bet who got applications in on time? People who knew about it in advance...again? What did that PAX 501 say?

• Over the past two years, I have worked hard to ensure that specialized assignments and opportunities are made available to all of our members and that they are filled with the most qualified and deserving applicants, based on open, fair and objective processes.
  
  Few things are as damaging to morale and operational effectiveness as an environment where officers feel that their performance, work history and attitude are less important than who they know.

But don't worry boys and girls! The Daily Bulletin on 04 February canceled the class until further notice, so it'll be fair next time. Trust J-Fed - it's not like he (or his people) would lie to you.

Borat Uses GPS

This is just too silly for words:

• Commander in 017 ordered all cars on first watch not to take their 30 in a hole. He wants them out in the street where there is no cover or shielding. He uses the departments gps software conveniently located on his blackberry to find you from his bed and sends out a Sgt. to threaten you if you don't move. God save BORAT!

We didn't believe this at first. It is micromanaging to the extreme. Plus, we recall all the brass telling anyone and everyone that GPS was here to protect cops. It was to be utilized for our safety. It would be used to send help in the event that we couldn't get to a radio. It would never ever be used simply to fuck over a copper.

Enter Commander Borat. Member of the Blago Defense League, reportedly present when the feds served the arrest warrant on the former governor. We've confirmed via HQ sources that he had the GPS software installed on his Blackberry, that he tracks his cars at all hours, and he calls sergeants eight and nine times a night to chase down cars.

This isn't just a micro-manager, it's the sign of a sick mind. It's also typical of the Department brass saying one thing while they lubricate a fist to do another. And this, along with so many other insane moves by J-Fed, is exactly why we still haven't hit bottom yet.

Cohen to Quit

Once again, Illinois democrats thwarting the will of the people:

• A tearful Scott Lee Cohen, the pawnbroker who won the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination, only to have his scandalized past surface and threaten the ticket, said Sunday he would step aside, giving Democratic party leaders a chance to pick his replacement.

  “For the good of the people of State of Illinois and the Democratic party, I will resign,” Cohen said at the Hop Haus, a bar and restaurant at 7545 N. Clark during the Super Bowl. The choked up Cohen, a political neophyte who poured $2 million into his campaign, was flanked by his fiancee, Karen Reisman and two of his sons, Zachery, 17, and Jacob, 11.

  “It is my hope and I pray with all heart, that I didn’t hurt the people that I love so much,” Cohen said. “All I every wanted to do was to run for office and to help the people, not cause chaos.”

We guess Madigan told him he wasn't getting a penny from the national or state election funds. So that's about $2 million Cohen will never see again. Now, as head of the Illinois democratic party, Madigan gets to hand pick Quinn's running mate. How nice that he can circumvent elections on a whim and a threat. Cohen won, fair and square, despite his baggage and with the media lying down on the job - does anyone think his troubles wouldn't have been front page news for months on end if he had been a republican?

Hopefully, this is as bad a misstep as leaving him on the ticket.

Statistical Scandal

New York City:

• More than a hundred retired New York Police Department captains and higher-ranking officers said in a survey that the intense pressure to produce annual crime reductions led some supervisors and precinct commanders to manipulate crime statistics, according to two criminologists studying the department.

  The retired members of the force reported that they were aware over the years of instances of “ethically inappropriate” changes to complaints of crimes in the seven categories measured by the department’s signature CompStat program, according to a summary of the results of the survey and interviews with the researchers who conducted it.

Since this Department has "borrowed" or outright stolen just about every policing idea to come out of the Big Apple...nah, that couldn't happen here. Could it?

Eeek! Snow!!!

Byrne better keep the streets free and clear of snow over the next day or two. All Shortshanks doesn't need at this moment is a Bilandic flashback:

• A winter storm watch has been issued for late Monday when up to 10 inches of snow are expected to begin blanketing the area, officials from the National Weather Service said today.

  The snow may cover the area over a 24-hour period beginning late Monday, according to the National Weather Service Web site.

  Officials said a strong surface low is expected to develop over the Mississippi Valley Monday and make its way into Kentucky by Tuesday and then into Ohio by Wednesday. The low is expected to drop a band of snow over north central Illinois on Tuesday.

Seems like a bunch of senseless panic setting in again. This is still Chicago and it's still February. We get snow. Sometimes we get lots. It's not like we're going to have to pick out a few lieutenants and sergeants to eat if it gets deep.

Daley Supports Cohen

Or at least, he isn't among the pack of wolves howling for his hide:

• Mayor Richard Daley today declined to join the growing chorus of Democratic leadership calling on embattled lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen to withdraw, saying voters elected him.

  "People vote in elections. Everybody knew he was a pawnbroker," Daley said. "You knew. The media knew. Everybody knew that, right?"

  Several top Democrats have called on Cohen to step down after revelations that he has been accused of abusing women, failing to pay child support and spending lavishly on extramarital affairs. In Sunday's editions, the Tribune looks at Cohen's tax troubles and other issues.

Since the mayor presides over a political cabal of assorted thieves, philanderers, pillagers, gang bangers and thugs, he'd look quite the fool calling on Cohen to step down. It might look even more hypocritical if Shortshanks ends up doing a stint in prison himself.

Speaking of Furlough Days

Here's a nifty little site that shows which aldercreatures took furlough days, how many, and who didn't take any at all. A sample:

• F. OLIVO (13th) - ZERO furlough days
• J. THOMPSON (16th) - ZERO furlough days
• B. REILLY (42nd) - ZERO furlough days

How many days are other city workers taking?

There are also a few comments that claim the aldercreatures who do take furlough days are only being charged 1/365th of their pay for those days and everyone else is being charged something along the lines of 1/260th. Does anyone have that link? It's supposed to be an out-of-town paper, maybe the New York Times making the claim.

Regardless, it's nice to see our elected officials sharing the pain...not.

UPDATE: Greatest Readers in the World!

Here's the link to the article we reference. It's just as suspected:

• But even the elected leaders taking furlough days are not feeling the pain of the recession as deeply as rank-and-file workers. That is because the Daley administration gives aldermen a break by deducting their furlough days from a 365-day schedule. Clout pays off again.

  Here is how the math works: If, for example, you are a snowplow driver, tree trimmer, secretary or other typical city worker, you have 261 work days a year. So each furlough day translates into a deduction of 1/261st from your yearly wages. Twenty-four unpaid days works out to a 9.2 percent pay cut.

  The mayor, the clerk, the treasurer and Council members, however, give up 1/365th of their annual salary for each furlough day. So an elected official would be subject to only a 6.6 percent salary cut.

Nice job, if you can get it.

Hoffman For Mayor

Anything that makes Shortshanks react like this is a good thing:

• On more than one occasion during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, voters told David Hoffman he was running for the "wrong office" -- the "right" one being mayor of Chicago.

• Mayor Daley, who has not yet decided whether to seek a seventh term, sounded a bit defensive when asked whether he was impressed with Hoffman's maiden political voyage. The former inspector general earned the nickname "Abby Hoffman" for the bombs he threw at the mayor's office.

  "Everybody worked hard. ... Everybody did a good job. ... I don't know why you pick one person. Why is that? I know. You're friends with him," Daley told a reporter.

  Asked whether he's concerned about Hoffman running for mayor, Daley said, "I don't know. I don't know why you're asking about him. Boy, you're really good friends with him."

  The mayor's comments unmasked a sore point in the Daley camp: that Hoffman used the power Daley gave him to embarrass the mayor, "create a platform to run for office out of City Hall" and become a media darling.

We've had a bunch of comments deriding Hoffman as "not the answer" to Chicago's problems. Let's face some facts:

• Whoever comes after Daley is coming into a mess;
• There is no republican savior - it just ain't happening;
• Once the Machine cycle is broken, it becomes easier to disrupt the political order in future elections.

If the resistance coalesces behind Hoffman and vaults him into office and he bumbles around for four years, is Chicago really worse off than where it's headed now? And if Hoffman gets in and the aldercreatures are working to protect themselves and their slices of the pie, they aren't actively screwing you and us and everyone else - their immobilized temporarily, which in turn could provide Hoffman with the opportunity to actually do some good. And when they're up for reelection, maybe 10 or 20 of them go looking for new jobs and maybe Chicago is spared.

Why not Hoffman?

Park Ridge Problems?

This would seem to be something that happens in less affluent departments, not Park Ridge:

• Investigators from the Cook County state's attorney's office, assisted by the FBI, seized arrest reports, incident reports, payroll records, computer records and some personnel files from the Park Ridge Police Department, a police spokesman from the northwest suburb confirmed today.

  Park Ridge police say they're cooperating fully in the investigation, but are in the dark about its exact nature.

Oh wait, it's Anita Alvarez again, attempting to live up to her campaign promises of jailing police officers.