Sunday, January 29, 2012

G8 and NATO: 41st Ward Reaction

Do you have an opinion about the summits?  Wondering who is going to pay for them?  Will the anticipated violence effect the neighborhoods?  Do you plan to leave town that weekend?  If you work downtown, will you go to work during the summits?

Here's a CNC article found in today's NYT.

Chicago Seeks Visibility, Not Trouble
    Careful planning always precedes summit meetings like those scheduled for May in Chicago for the Group of 8 economic powers and the NATO military alliance. But events rarely unfold as planned.

    Host cities were tarnished after at least five recent G-8 summit conferences. The 2010 meeting, outside Toronto, gave rise to claims that the government official who organized the event had improperly directed construction projects to his electoral district.

    When Italian officials held the 2009 meeting in L’Aquila, they were criticized for hosting the event so soon after an earthquake had devastated the region.
    In 2008, Japanese officials wanted to showcase the host hotel in Hokkaido, only to be told such lavish accommodations were inappropriate while negotiating aid to Africa.

    The 2005 meeting, in Gleneagles, Scotland, was upstaged when terrorists set off a bomb in London, apparently to protest the meeting. In Genoa, Italy, in 2001, a protester was shot and killed during an antiglobalization riot.

    Chicago officials have said they expect to keep protesters and security threats well in hand. Last week, they sought to turn attention to the reasons the city campaigned to host the joint meetings: the potential for an economic boost and the opportunity to increase the city’s worldwide visibility and its long-term economic vitality.
    Two successful summit meetings during a weeklong stretch in mid-May could spur increased tourism and convention business, boosters said. The visibility and development efforts surrounding the meetings may help attract new corporate headquarters.

    “If you want to be a global city, you’ve got to act like a global city,” said Lori Healey, a former chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley and a top official in the city’s unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Olympics, who is heading the planning effort for the G-8 and NATO meetings.
    The city is laying specific and coordinated plans, according to a source involved in the effort. Officials from the city and World Business Chicago hope to brief economic and trade ministers and others traveling with their heads of state about Chicago’s development strategy. They plan a tour of industrial corridors and technology centers and also plan to brief officials on case studies of multinational corporations that have moved their operations to Chicago.

    Deputy Mayor Mark Angelson said the city was trying to do more than just improve its image abroad. “In terms of long-term impact of the summits, we are enticing overseas companies to come here and set up their North American headquarters or headquarters of the Americas,” Mr. Angelson said.
    World Business Chicago, a public-private development agency controlled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has recruited business, civic and labor leaders to complete the city’s economic-development agenda in time to present it to visiting dignitaries.

    Longer-range efforts are also under way. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, which plans a series of public forums before the conferences, has also formed a high-powered study group — headed by Michael Moskow, a senior fellow at the Council and the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and William A. Osborn, the former chairman of Northern Trust — seeking to identify strategies for increasing foreign companies’ investment in the Chicago area.

    Such efforts are focused on long-term results, using the conferences as a starting point. “The value of summits like these is not transactional. The summits are a piece of a strategy,” said Michael Sacks, who is vice chairman of World Business Chicago and a board member of The Chicago News Cooperative.
    In the short term, the Chicago Convention and Visitors’ Bureau is seeking to increase the number of foreign visitors by nearly 45 percent over the next two years. Foreign visitors spend far more than domestic travelers do, but only about 4 percent of such visitors come to Chicago, placing it only 10th among United States cities. If the city achieves its goals, it could boost annual receipts from foreign tourists to $6.5 billion, a significant hike from current receipts of about $4.5 billion a year.
    The city has its work cut out. Ms. Healy recalled how officials circling the globe during the 2016 Olympic bidding were startled to learn how little was known about Chicago by business and political leaders around the world. Corporate-relocation executives said ignorance about the city was common among corporate executives both in the United States and abroad.

    “They have an idea of Chicago that is 20 or 30 years out of date,” said Ed McCallum, senior principal of the Greenville, S.C. relocation advisory firm McCallum Sweeney Consulting.
    Summit organizers have declined to offer detailed estimates of the economic impact or the cost to the city of the meetings. They expressed dismay last week when Gerald J. Roper, the longtime head of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, told The Chicago Sun-Times that downtown businesses should post security outside their buildings during summit sessions, allow employees to work from home and even prepare evacuation plans in case of trouble. Indeed, disruptions to businesses — whether from out-of-control protests or from the virtual lockdown that can take place when many world leaders convene — are among the generally underplayed side effects of summits.

    The most definitive cost-benefit estimates to date come from a study ordered by the Scottish government to measure the impact of the G-8 meeting at Gleneagles in 2005. Researchers determined that while businesses received $93 million in government payments and $35 million from summit-conference-related events, disruptions caused by the event cost retailers $11 million in tourism spending and $13 million in lost sales. The bottom line was that the meeting generated a net $112 million in immediate economic activity, researchers found.

    Jamil Satchu, a vice president at L. E. K. Consulting, who vetted the cost and revenue assumptions put forward by Chicago 2016 and is an expert on the impact of mega-events, said it was a mistake to focus too much attention on short-term measures.

    “The trickle-down effect of the summits will be relatively confined,” Mr. Satchu said. “Ultimately, the benefits are going to be very much business-community-focused. That’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
    dgreising@chicagonewscoop.org

    Wednesday, January 25, 2012


    Great Job, 16th District

    Three captured after home invasion in Norwood Park


    Charges are pending against three men captured by police after an aggressive home invasion in the Northwest Side Norwood Park neighborhood Monday evening.

    The incident, which appeared to be random, happened about 7:30 p.m. in the 5800 block of North Oconto, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.
    Two men began pounding on the front door of the home and ringing the doorbell repeatedly. A woman in the home immediately called 911. But at the same time, the two men began to fiercely knock on the door, Mirabelli said.

    Meanwhile, another man kicked in the back door, Mirabelli said.
    A man in the home tried to keep the third robber from getting in by pushing the back door, but the robber was able to break free and made his way inside the home. Once inside, he threatened the woman. That home invader was the only one to make it inside, police said.
    Officers were called to the scene and two of the home invaders were found by beat officers near the Harlem Blue Line station. The third jumped the tracks onto the Kennedy Expressway, Mirabelli said. That man was caught by tactical officers near Foster and Harlem.

    The three men were identified by the victims. Home invasion charges were pending as of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.
    The couple — a man in his early 60s and a woman in her mid-50s — were not injured.

    Saturday, January 21, 2012

    Remap uglier than a knife fight

    Ugly, is right...  We need to use that knife and cut the city council in half to have just 25 wards based on population.  Enough of this political nonsense.

    Remap uglier than a knife fight
    CAROL MARIN cmarin@suntimes.com

    Updated: January 21, 2012 12:52AM

    ‘The giant screw came out of the sky and got me,” said 36th Ward Ald. Nicholas Sposato on Friday morning from his City Hall Office.

    Sposato lost 80 percent of his existing ward on Thursday in the new remap. His newly configured ward looks like a tipped-over goal post. Worse, his home on the Northwest Side now sits on an island in the Galewood community where he grew up. Almost every other block surrounding his house belongs to somebody else’s ward.
    How did this happen to the 53-year-old former firefighter and freshman alderman?
    “Maybe ’cause I’m outspoken. Or independent. Or beat the Machine,” he suggested.
    Every decade, as the census changes, government redraws its districts.
    This is never clean, neat, logical or, oftentimes, particularly fair.
    Take a look at the newly created map of Chicago’s 50 wards and that couldn’t be more apparent.

    While it is more than right to give the city’s Hispanics more representation, given their increase in population, and to adjust the representation of blacks and whites according to the drop in their numbers, the journey toward remap is uglier than a knife fight at midnight.
    If there is any doubt about that, just take a look at what happened to Ald. Bob Fioretti’s 2nd Ward. Given its tortured shape, it’s being called “The Snake” but looks more like ill-formed blobs of LEGO pieces gone haywire.

    Fioretti, who has made his share of powerful enemies on the council but whose voting record has not been unduly rebellious, is understandably furious.
    Was he made even more vulnerable by his current battle with tonsil cancer? Fioretti told Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman, “No, no. More of it deals with my being outspoken and making sure . . . taxpayers had a voice.”
    A voice in zoning and develop­ment, the Council’s heart of money and power.

    One of the wonkiest aldermen, with the most thorough understanding of what’s at stake in this remap, is the 32nd Ward’s Scott Waguespack. The crazily cut 2nd Ward now slashes through some of his neighborhoods, dividing up communities. “I know I can handle anything that’s drawn up. . . . but I feel for the people who ended up with these really bad maps,” the alderman said.
    Waguespack, whose new ward now cover parts of the former 43rd Ward plus Logan Square, says his office Friday was flooded with calls from upset neighborhood groups, businesses and voters who are no longer sure which ward they’re in or what it will mean to the quality of their areas.
    Then again, if you’re in politics, you better know how to swim through shark-infested waters. Waguespack did. And his new ward came out reasonably well.

    Not so for Nick Sposato.
    One short year ago, in a stunning upset, he defeated Ald. John Rice, the endorsed candidate of Democratic ward bosses and Rahm Emanuel.
    But now?
    Rice, by phone Friday, put it in plain English: “Politics, you have to wheel and deal and make compromises,” he said.
    For his part, Sposato contends that the mayor refused to meet with him and that Ald. Richard Mell, head of the remap, told him to his face, “You’re screwed.”
    Mell, reached on his cell phone, told me he never said that to Sposato.
    Then again, you could argue, he didn’t need to

    Friday, January 20, 2012

    Chicago's Mayor Awards Himself Even More Power...

    Rahm acts quickly for a reason, and like the good little Friedmanite he is- he uses every crisis to his advantage to leverage more power for himself.  Aldermen and readers, watch this man carefully, for if you blink your eyes, twisted malproductive legislation happens - remember NAFTA?  That was Rahm's baby - he crafted that mess to empower the rich, and he didn't care if millions of jobs were lost for the lower and middle class...

    Outlawing dissent: Rahm Emanuel's new regime

    On the pretext of policing upcoming G8 and Nato summits, Chicago's mayor has awarded himself draconian new powers..
    guardian.co.uk,

    Rahm Emanuel
    Former White House chief of staff and now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Photograph: Aude Guerrucci/POOL/EPA
     
    It's almost as if Rahm Emanuel was lifting a page from Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine – as if he was reading her account of Milton Friedman's "Chicago Boys" as a cookbook recipe, rather than as the ominous episode that it was. In record time, Emanuel successfully exploited the fact that Chicago will host the upcoming G8 and Nato summit meetings to increase his police powers and extend police surveillance, to outsource city services and privatize financial gains, and to make permanent new limitations on political dissent. It all happened – very rapidly and without time for dissent – with the passage of rushed security and anti-protest measures adopted by the city council on 18 January 2012.

    Sadly, we are all too familiar with the recipe by now: first, hype up and blow out of proportion a crisis (and if there isn't a real crisis, as in Chicago, then create one), call in the heavy artillery and rapidly seize the opportunity to expand executive power, to redistribute wealth for private gain and to suppress political dissent. As Friedman wrote in Capitalism and Freedom in 1982 – and as Klein so eloquently describes in her book:
    "Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When the crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function … until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable."
    Today, it's more than mere ideas that are lying around; for several decades now, and especially since 9/11, there are blueprints scattered all around us.

    Step 1: hype a crisis or create one if there isn't a real one available. Easily done:with images from London, Toronto, Genoa, and Seattle of the most violent anti-G8 protesters streaming on Fox News and repeated references to anarchists and rioters, the pump is primed. Rather than discuss the peaceful Occupy Chicago protests over the past three months, city officials and the media focus on what Fraternal Order of Police President Michael Shields calls "people who travel around the world as professional anarchists and rioters" and a "bunch of wild, anti-globalist anarchists". The looming crisis headlines Rahm Emanuel's draft legislation, now passed: "Whereas, Both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ("Nato") and the Group of Eight ("G8") summits will be held in the spring of 2012 in the City of Chicago" and "whereas, the Nato and G8 Summits continue to evolve in terms of the size and scope, thereby creating unanticipated or extraordinary support and security needs …" The crisis calls for immediate action.

    Step 2: rapidly deploy excessive force. Again, easily done: Emanuel just gave himself the power to marshal and deputize – I kid you not, look at page 3 – the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Department of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and the entire United States Department of Justice (DOJ); as well as state police (the Illinois department of state police and the Illinois attorney general), county law enforcement (State's Attorney of Cook County), and any "other law enforcement agencies determined by the superintendent of police to be necessary for the fulfillment of law enforcement functions".

    As one commentator suggests, the final catch-all allows Emanuel to hire "anyone he wants, be they rent-a-cops, Blackwater goons on domestic duty, or whatever. For a city that has great problems keeping its directly sworn officers in check, this looser authority is an even greater license for abuse." Thanks to the coming G8 meeting, the Chicago police department has just gotten a lot bigger! According to Fox News, "there will be hundreds, perhaps thousands of federal agents here."

    Not just that, but Emanuel has also given himself the power to install additional surveillance, including video, audio and telecommunications equipment. And not just for the period of the G8 and Nato summits, but permanently. These new provisions of the substitute ordinance apply "permanently": there is no sunset provision on either the police expansion or the surveillance. On this second, the new ordinance reads:
    "The superintendent is also authorized to enter into agreements with public or private entities concerning placement, installation, maintenance or use of video, audio, telecommunications or other similar equipment. The location of any camera or antenna permanently installed pursuant to any such agreement shall be determined pursuant to joint review and approval with the executive director of emergency management and communications." [my emphasis]
    Thanks to the mobilization of the Occupy movement (including their funeral for the Bill of Rights) and other groups like the ACLU, some of Emanuel's other draconian provisions were scaled back. Emanuel dropped his proposals to increase seven-fold the minimum fine for resisting arrest (including for passive resistance) from $25 to $200, to double the maximum fine for resisting arrest from $500 to $1,000, and to double the maximum fine for violations of the parade ordinance from $1,000 to $2,000. But the rest of his proposals – including the three-fold increase in the minimum fine for a violation of the parade ordinance – passed the City Council Thursday.

    Step 3: privatize the profits and socialize the costs. In Chicago, that translates into Emanuel outsourcing city services to private enterprises, but making sure the public will indemnify those private companies from future law suits. This is a two-part dance with which we have become all too familiar.
    First, city services are outsourced, often to circumvent labor and other regulations, and the income side of the public expenditures are shifted over to private enterprise and employees. Under the ordinance (see page 4):
    "The mayor or his designees are authorized to negotiate and execute agreements with public and private entities for good, work or services regarding planning, security, logistics, and other aspects of hosting the Nato and G8 summits in the city in the Spring of 2012 … and to provide such assurances, execute such other documents and take such other actions, on behalf of the city, as may be necessary or desirable to host these summits."
    Second, the agreements can be entered "on such terms and conditions as the mayor or such designees deem appropriate" and these terms include, importantly, "indemnification by the city". In other words, any lawsuits will fall on the city taxpayers. The public will be left holding the bag if there is, for instance, police abuse or other mismanagement by private employers.
    Step 4: use the crisis to expand executive power permanently and repress political dissent. Most of the ordinance revisions, it turns out, do not sunset with the departure of the G8 or Nato delegates. To be sure, there's a sunset provision for those contracts that specifically involve "hosting the Nato and G8 summits." That provision expires on 31 July 2012; but not the expanded police powers, nor the increased video surveillance, nor the other changes to the protest permit requirements.

    The new rules affecting permits for protests and marches include details that impose onerous demands on dissent. As noted earlier, the minimum fine for a violation of the parade ordinance will increase from $50 to $200. On the parade permit applications, the protest organizers now must provide a general description of any sound amplification equipment that is on wheels or too large for one person to carry and/or any signs or banners that are too large for one person to carry. These may sound like small details, but they are precisely the kinds of nitpicking regulations that empower and expand police discretion to arrest and fine, and that make it harder to express political opinions.
    It's another glaring example of what I have called The Illusion of Free Markets and the paradox of "neoliberal penality": the purported liberalization of the economy (here, the privatization of city services) goes hand-in-hand with massive policing. Scott Horton captured the idea well in Harper's, under the rubric "The Despotism of Natural Law". Notice the neoliberal paradox: the fact that the city claims to be incompetent or unable to performs its ordinary functions implies that we need to both outsource city services and augment city police powers.
    It was accomplished so quickly and seamlessly – passed practically overnight – that few seem to have noticed or had time to think through the long-term implications. There's not a mention in the New York Times and only a small story in the Chicago Tribune. The crisis and fear of outside agitators, professional anarchists and rioters – splashed on the TV screens direct from London, Toronto, Genoa, Rome, or Seattle – is enough to create a permanent state of exception.
    To make matters worse, this cookbook implementation of mini shock treatment follows on the heels of a severe crackdown on the Occupy Chicago movement that resulted in the arrest of over 300 Occupy protesters in Grant Park in October 2011. The prosecutions are still ongoing today and the effect on political dissent has been chilling.

    In those 300 arrests, Rahm Emanuel and his police chief rigidly enforced a park curfew without finding reasonable ways to accommodate the political speech interests of the protesters, and beyond any semblance of a legitimate governmental interest. The massive arrests raise a clear first amendment problem – one that has been raised by the Occupy protesters and will be heard en masse at the Daley Center on 15 February. (Ironically, Emanuel and his police will effectively "Occupy the Daley Center".)
    The first amendment argument is compelling, especially when you consider the disparate treatment that political expression receives in Chicago. Recall, for instance, how different things were in Grant Park on election night 2008. Huge tents were pitched, commercial sound systems pounded rhythms and political discourse, enormous TVs streamed political imagery. More than 150,000 people blocked the streets and "occupied" Grant Park – congregating, celebrating, debating and discussing politics. That evening, President-elect Barack Obama would address the crowds late into the night and the assembled masses swarmed the park to the early morning hours. It was a memorable moment, perhaps a high point in political expression in Chicago.
    Well, that was then. The low point would come three years later, almost to the day. On the evening of 15 October 2011, thousands of Occupy protesters marched to Grant Park and assembled at the entrance to the park to engage, once again, in political expression. But this time, the assembled group found itself surrounded by an intimidating police force, as police wagons began lining up around the political assembly. The police presence grew continually as the clock approached midnight.

    Within hours, at the direction, ironically, of President Obama's former chief-of-staff (was Rahm Emanuel at Grant Park after hours, a few years earlier?), the Chicago Police Department began to arrest the protesters for staying in Grant Park beyond the 11pm curfew in violation of a mere park ordinance.
    Emanuel could have ordered his police officers to issue written citations and move the protesters to the sidewalk. In fact, that's precisely what the police would do a few weeks later at a more obstreperous protest by senior citizens at Occupy Chicago. On that occasion, 43 senior citizens who stopped traffic by standing or sitting in the middle of a downtown street were escorted by police officers off the street without being handcuffed, and were merely issued citations to appear in the department of administrative hearings. (Those arrests, however, took place under the watchful eye of Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Democratic Representatives Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky and Mike Quigley.)

    But not on 15 October or the following Saturday night. Instead of issuing citations, the Chicago police arrested over 300 protesters, placed them in handcuffs, treating the municipal park infractions as quasi-criminal charges, booked them, fingerprinted them and detained them overnight in police holding cells, some for as many as 17 hours. They are now aggressively prosecuting these cases in criminal court.
    That's precisely the type of practice that chills political expression. The inconsistent treatment of political dissent in Grant Park or at the Chicago board of trade reflects the colossal amount of discretion that mayors and police chiefs have over political discourse today. Police discretion is wide, political expression is fragile.
    Rahm Emanuel's message on the G8 and Nato meetings has been loud and clear – and chilling: the DEA, FBI, ATF, DOJ, state police and many other law enforcement agencies will be out in force; it will be harder to comply with the protest laws; and any deviations or errors will be costlier and punished. What's really troubling is that the G8 and Nato will come and go, but these reforms are with us in Chicago to stay. Chicago's mayor seems to be following in the footsteps of other municipal officials (recall Rudy Giuliani's idea of staying on as mayor for an extra three months), who, with a touch of Potus-envy and perhaps a small Napoleonic complex, begin to act like minor tyrants.
    It'll be interesting to follow the first amendment litigation brought by the Occupy protesters. Their cases have been joined – there are about 100 of them in the challenge now – and their free speech claims will be heard by the chief judge at the Daley Center on 15 February 2012.

    Thursday, January 19, 2012

    Chicago Police Department Gets Religion

    Readers,

    Here is a report on tonight's monthly Chicago Police Board Meeting.  The entire police board was in attendance. Aldermen Arena and Cullerton were present, too.

    Superintendent of Police, Garry F. McCarthy was not present.  First Deputy Al Wysinger gave "The Report of the Superintendent".

    The report was three minutes in duration.  1st Deputy Al Wysinger announced there were no homicides in the last 24 hours; the first complete day in over a year someone hasn't been killed by violence.  He acted as though we should celebrate that stat, but no one clapped. 

    He said the Chicago Police Department wants to "work with the community, this year".  1st Dep Sup Al then said the Chicago Police Department will be working on "faith based initiatives".  I thought that was rather odd, given the whole separation of church and state thing written in the constitution.  And, that was all Al had to report - nothing else.  I can't believe the police board didn't demand more of a report, but they all sat there and said nothing.  Here's the prayer that came to my mind during the meeting:  "God help us all".

    One question from the public.  The question came from an officer asking the board if they were going to recommend standardization of discipline for officers.  He claimed discipline is now determined arbitrarily.  He was referred to the IAD officer in the back of the room.


    That was it.


    
    Chicago Police Board Meeting 19 January 2012
    

    Wednesday, January 18, 2012

    Old Norwood Park book club

    Tell us about your book club at ctc-books@tribune.com

    Old Norwood Park book club
    Old Norwood Park book club (HANDOUT / December 7, 2011)
    We all live in a unique neighborhood called Old Norwood Park on the city's far Northwest Side. All 11 members live within walking distance of one another. We have been meeting at each other's homes almost every month for five years.

    Our meetings begin with about 30 minutes of catching up on the latest neighborhood news. This allows time for the occasional latecomer to arrive before we start talking about the book. The book discussion lasts about an hour.

    Book selections are made in advance by the person hosting the meeting.

    We loved "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner. His descriptions of friendships and family resonated with many of our own experiences.

    Four books we enjoyed: "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See, "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

    We didn't like "The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow. We found ourselves lost in the verbiage and unable to bond with the characters.

    Our next book will be "The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake.

    Editor's note: Entries will be edited for space and cont

    Thursday, January 12, 2012

    Police Board Meeting

    Readers:

    Lets turn out for this meeting.  Time for you to be heard in an official capacity.  Lets get our concerns on record!

    Notice:  You have to call ahead in order to ask a question/make a comment.


    Chicago Police Board
    Notice of Public Meeting 
        
     
    WHEN:           Thu, January 19 @ 7:30 PM

    WHERE:         Wilbur Wright College
              Events Building Atrium
              4300 North Narragansett Ave
              On-Campus Parking is FREE
     
    All residents of the 41st Ward are strongly encouraged to attend the  next public meeting of the Police Board. This event will include the 14th, 15th, 16th (41st Ward), 17th & 25th Police Districts, which encompass Chicago Police Area 5.

    Members of the public are invited to attend and are welcome to address questions or comments to the Police Board. The Superintendent of Police (or his designee) and the Chief Administrator of the Independent Police Review Authority (or his designee) will also be at the meeting.

     Prior sign-up is required of those wishing to address the Board-  please contact the Board's office at 312-742-4194 by 4:30 PM of the day before the meeting to add your name to the list of speakers.

    In addition to receiving input from the community, the Board reports on disciplinary action and other matters, and receives a report from the Superintendent.
    For more information, please visit http://www.chicagopoliceboard.org/.

    Readers,

    Lets be careful here...  How much power do we want one man to have over OUR city?

    "Every Chicagoan should be concerned about a change in the law that will tip the balance of power between the mayor and the citizenry way in the mayor’s favor. We should also be concerned about the deceitful way he slipped the proposal -- which Occupy Chicago has dubbed the “Sit Down and Shut Up Ordinance” --into the public discourse".

    ________________________________________________________________________

    The "Sit Down and Shut Up Ordinance"

    |
    |
    The "Sit Down and Shut Up Ordinance"
    The Occupy movement actually sat down and wrote a letter to all 50 Chicago aldermen, instead of barging into their monthly ward meetings interrupting them during the street repaving report.

    Let’s hope the written word is more powerful than the mic check, because the topic is next week’s vote on an ordinance to give Mayor Rahm Emanuel expanded powers to deal with protestors at May’s G-8 and NATO summits, by curtailing the use of parks and beaches, and raising the fine for a violation of “parade rules” to a maximum of $1,000. Emanuel originally said the measures were temporary, but now intends to make them a permanent tool to deal with demonstrations.

    Obviously, Occupy Chicago has a vested interest in unfettered dissent -- public protest is its business model. But every Chicagoan should be concerned about a change in the law that will tip the balance of power between the mayor and the citizenry way in the mayor’s favor. We should also be concerned about the deceitful way he slipped the proposal -- which Occupy Chicago has dubbed the “Sit Down and Shut Up Ordinance” --into the public discourse.
    Here is an excerpt from the letter, which was signed by members of Occupy Rogers Park and Occupy the South Side:
    We are writing to draw your attention to policy concerns about legislation pending for the City Council meeting scheduled for January 18, 2012. Specifically of concern are O2011-9743.pdf , “Amendment of various sections of Municipal Code and providing associated authorization regarding upcoming NATO and G-8 summits,” and O2011-9742, “Amendment of various provisions of Municipal Code regarding parades, athletic events and public assemblies.”
    As you are no doubt aware, Mayor Emanuel sponsored this ordinance and has promoted it in the media as a “temporary” measure aimed at controlling protesters during specified events taking place later this year. As you’ve surely read, the Mayor has since been forced to retract his claim that these changes were ever meant to be temporary. Another blatant inconsistency is that the ordinance applies to the entire city, while the NATO and G8 summits occur only downtown. Other inconsistencies in the presentation of this ordinance are similarly problematic.
    Given what the ordinance actually says, it cannot be construed as an effort to protect the integrity of G8 and NATO conferences. This measure is a permanent attack on public protest in the City of Chicago. The consequences of this attack will be far reaching, and will be felt by protesters throughout the city, most of whom will never have any connection to the protests associated with these events.
    As you are also aware, we celebrate the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on January 16, 2012. Dr. King’s legacy is not one of obedience to municipal authorities, but rather the inspiring story of a man who led a community that was willing to face down oppressive lawmakers by violating exactly the type of ordinance the Mayor is asking you to support.


    Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/The-Sit-Down-And-Shut-Up-Ordinance-137019058.html#ixzz1jGBWzyhv

    Wednesday, January 11, 2012

    Advocating for Bipartisan Cooperation

    Resurrection students bake for bipartisan cooperation

    Updated: January 11, 2012 3:00PM


    Frustrated by the recent failure of the Senate Super Committee to compromise on a way to reduce the federal deficit, students in the Resurrection College Prep High School Accelerated Political Science class hosted an assembly on Dec. 13 to speak to fellow students about the need for bipartisan cooperation from both Democrats and Republicans.

    The class members decided to launch a symbolic project named “The Bipartisan Bake Sale: Baking Across the Aisles” in order to demonstrate that students of differing political views can work together to create solutions to problems facing the nation.

    Students invited local politicians to attend the student presentation, including State Rep. Michael McAuliffe, R-20th; Chief of Staff Kim Stark for state Sen. John Mulroe, D-10th; and Chicago aldermen Mary O’Connor, 41st Ward, and John Arena, 45th Ward. O’Connor, an alumna of Resurrection College Prep High School, stressed the importance of young women’s involvement in the political process.
    U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9th, also expressed her support for this project and was scheduled to speak to the entire student body of Resurrection College Prep High School on Jan. 12 on the issues of bipartisan cooperation, the federal deficit, budgetary issues and political involvement by students. Other officials invited to the student assembly included state Rep. John D’Amico, D-15th, and Chicago Aldermen Nicholas Sposato, 36th Ward, and Margaret Laurino, 39th Ward.

    During the assembly the members of the political science class presented information about the national deficit and how it impacts students and their families. They urged classmates to write to their elected officials and to support the bake sale, which was held the next day.

    “The Bipartisan Bake Sale” was held Dec. 14 and raised more than $500, which included contributions from O’Connor, McAuliffe and Mulroe. The funds will be sent to Congress as both a real and symbolic effort to reduce the national debt. Along with the contribution to the federal deficit, students have included a letter to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-20th, the senior senator from Illinois who has worked closely on the deficit proposals that went through Congress in the fall.
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    Thursday, January 5, 2012

    "It's Never to Late to Rise up Against Tyrants

    SUSANA MENDOZA FOR MAYOR IN 2015

    It is never too soon to rise up against a tyrant, so why not float the names of potential candidates to replace Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2015?  An excellent candidate would be current City Clerk Susana Mendoza.  Yesterday, Ms. Mendoza held a press gathering addressing the lack of registration of Chicago’s estimated 500,000 dogs.  Mendoza proposes a carrot and stick approach – the carrot being a raffle of all those who register their canines in the next few weeks being eligible to win a $2,000 dog tag.  And if dog owners fail to register after the 90-day window closes, they will face a fine of between $30 and $200.00 dollars.

    I watched her press conference and found it to be refreshing, given what we’ve had to endure from Emanuel’s scripted and tight-fisted press stunts.  Mendoza was relaxed and informative, with just a couple of staffers assisting her with displays.  How starkly that compares to Emanuel’s’ press stunts. Emanuel usually places his pack of department heads behind him, as if this were North Korea.  And those thought bubbles over the department heads could be read by a blind man – "God, make this stop" or  "I’ve got to upgrade my resume".

    Most notably, Mendoza’s proposal would generate much needed revenue from those who should have no gripe about paying.  Her proposal is well thought out and fair for everyone involved.  Mendoza does not break a campaign promise, as Emanuel did when he promised not to raise taxes, only to do so 5 minutes after unlocking the door for the first time at City Hall. And, Ms. Mendoza has clearly shown she can walk and chew gum at the same time.  The same can’t be said for Emanuel, who is now making the hilarious claim he made a “mistake” when he told the press his proposal to restrict protest at the upcoming G8/NATO event  was temporary, when in fact his proposals have no expiration dates.

    And we would not have to explain obnoxious behavior to our sons and daughters if Ms. Mendoza were mayor, like we have to now.  Can anyone help but wonder how many students in our city asked their parents a few months back, "Mom, why did our mayor cuss out the teacher while she was in his office"?  Maybe next year one of our students will draw Mayor Emanuel sneering down at the city from atop his gargoyle perch at City Hall, and enter that drawing in the annual vehicle sticker contest.  Now that is one fee increase I would not mind paying.

    Yep, it’s never too late to rise up against tyrants.  

    Tuesday, January 3, 2012

    Chicagoshovels.org - Addressing the Challenges of Winter in our Neighborhood

    Readers, Check this out.  An interactive snow plow tracker, help with shoveling sidewalks and much more.  Take a few minutes to read this...
    January 3, 2012

    Mayor Emanuel Launches ChicagoShovels.org to Bring Chicagoans Together to Participate in Winter-Preparedness Efforts

    ChicagoShovels.org Leverages Social Media and New Technology to Connect Neighbors, Encourage Chicagoans to “Adopt-a-Sidewalk,” and Track City Snow Plows in Real-Time
    Mayor's Press Office    312.744.3334
    CHICAGO – Today, Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched ChicagoShovels.org, a new, interactive online resource that helps Chicagoans engage and participate in critical winter-preparedness efforts. The new site is being launched with a real-time “Plow Tracker” that allows residents to monitor the progress of the City’s snow plows, a volunteer “Snow Corps” program, and links to winter web apps. The City is also launching an “Adopt-a-Sidewalk” shoveling initiative where Chicagoans can soon visit the site and sign up to be a part of the program.
    “Winter preparedness is everyone’s responsibility, and when we come together, community by community, block by block, we can help reduce the dangers and health risks that winter weather can bring,” said Mayor Emanuel. “ChicagoShovels.org is an important resource that not only informs Chicagoans about how they can help their neighbors, but allows them to see the City’s snow program in action during severe weather.”
    ChicagoShovels.org brings together City and public resources to help residents and business owners navigate winter and snow-related issues. The portal provides a platform for residents and businesses to organize and participate in neighborhood-level activities. The Adopt-a-Sidewalk tool will be launched in Beta to allow for user feedback that will help continually make improvements to the technology.
    “ChicagoShovels.org uses innovative technology and social media to help Chicagoans connect and work together to help address the challenges of winter weather in their neighborhoods,” said Chicago’s Chief Technology Officer John Tolva.
    The portal will feature several key elements:
    • Adopt-a-Sidewalk Program: This web app will allow neighbors and businesses to connect with each other to help shovel sidewalks and offers a platform for sharing resources. Users “adopt-a-sidewalk” near their home or business by “claiming” it on an interactive map. Chicagoans will be able to see which sidewalks are claimed and have an option to connect with their neighbors to help keep their sidewalks clear. Users can also “share” various snow items. The ability to share items will be powered by http://ohsowe.com/, a site that facilitates the sharing of resources such as shovels and snow blowers.
    • Real-time Snow Plow Tracker: During major snow cleanup efforts, the City will activate the real-time “Plow Tracker” map, allowing the public to track the progress of City snow plows and make snow removal efforts more transparent. 
    • Volunteer “Snow Corps”: Snow Corps is a new program that connects volunteers with residents in need of snow removal – such as seniors and residents with disabilities. Groups and individuals can volunteer to help those in need by signing up using an online form.
    • New Winter Readiness Apps: Chicago web and app developers have leveraged the City’s open data to build apps that help the public weather winter storms.  2inch.es informs and alerts drivers of winter parking bans. WasMyCarTowed.com uses the City’s towed and relocated vehicle data to help people locate their vehicles.
    • City Resource Links: With just one click, Chicagoans can submit an online 311 request, view press releases, sign up for Notify Chicago alerts, watch educational videos, follow the Mayor’s Office on Twitter, and find answers to frequently asked questions. 
    The City is also making components of the final code for ChicagoShovels.org available to other developers interested in building on the technology for use in their own communities. Adopt-a-Sidewalk was built by the City leveraging resources from private partners like OhSoWe and Code for America.
    The City of Chicago’s data portal, data.cityofchicago.org, currently hosts more than 271 datasets with over 20 million rows of data. Since Mayor Emanuel took office on May 16, 2011, the portal has been viewed nearly 750,000 times and over 37 million rows of data have been accessed.

    Work Out Free at All Chicago Park District Fitness Centers THIS WEEK


    Fitness Centers

    WORK OUT FOR FREE JANUARY 3-9, 2012 AT ALL CHICAGO PARK DISTRICT FITNESS CENTERS.
    PLUS - if you register for a 3-month or annual fitness center membership January 3-9, you'll recieve a complimentary Nike bag, while supplies last.


     
    The Chicago Park District’s 71 new/improved fitness centers offer a high-quality, low-cost alternative to private gyms. Membership rates range from $30-$60 for a three-month session, a fraction of the cost of commercial gyms. These centers feature state-of-the-art equipment such as computerized treadmills, cross trainers, upright bikes, recumbent bikes, free weights and benches, cable cross-overs, multi-station weight machines and core-focused weight equipment. In addition to equipment, many parks also offer a variety of classes including circuit training, conditioning, kickboxing, Pilates, yoga and aerobics.

    New for 2012:

    •Gold Card - with the purchase of a gold card, patrons have access to all park fitness centers. The gold card is offered for a 3-month and annual memberships.
    •Monthly, 3-month, or annual memberships can be purchased at any time, and are valid from the date of purchase.
    For additional information on fitness centers:

    •Fitness Center Policies
    •Fitness Center Waiver with Doctor's Prescription

    Fitness Center Waiver with Doctor's Prescription

    The Chicago Park District cares about the health of all Chicago citizens. With this in mind, we are offering complimentary use of park fitness centers for all Chicagoans who have a doctor’s prescription for exercise needed for an obesityrelated disease (diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc.). To take advantage of this free 3-month, single site fitness center membership, patrons must bring the following information to the park:
    • Medical doctor prescription stating exercise needed for obesity related disease (diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, asthma, etc.).
      NOTE: THE RECOMMENDED EXERCISE NEEDS TO BE STATED IN THE PRESCRIPITON and the patron must have a BMI > 26 and noted in the prescription by the medical staff.
    • Legal photo ID and a piece of mail verifying address.

    Rules and regulations are as follows:
    • Participant can use the fitness center during all open hours, as many times a week as desired or prescribed.
    • Participants will receive one free 3-month, single site fitness center pass. This pass can only be used for one 3-month session throughout the park district. Please do not attempt to utilize multiple free sessions at various parks. Participant information will be kept at the specific park and the Chicago Park District administration office.

    Chicago's "Shady" Ward Remap

    Is the "Chicago Way" of re-mapping the ward fair or even legal? Why are ward boundries based on politics and not on an even number of people in each ward so each vote really counts? Personally, I like the 25 Ward/city of Chicago map drawn up based on population numbers.





    One person, one vote? Not in Chicago's new ward remap | Greg Hinz | Crain's Chicago Business


    Lipstick on a pig is artistry compared to that once-in-a-decade horror known as legislative reapportionment.

    The new maps that lawmakers roll out after consulting with their computers and cartographers usually look like your kitchen wall after a food fight: lots of gooey globs and squiggles and messy drippings. I understand why, given that a remap at its core is about survival and screwing the other guys, not aesthetics.


    Read more of Greg Hinz on his blog.
    That said, even remapping has rules, like one person, one vote. The idea is that, after 10 years of population shifts, the new map yields districts that contain roughly the same population. But Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago City Council seem ready to violate those fundamentals, big time.

    The proposed City Council map that African-American aldermen and Mr. Emanuel's council allies released a couple of days before Christmas would partially disenfranchise the North and Northwest sides and overly franchise most of the South and West sides. It would do so by packing white voters into wards with extra-large populations and spreading black voters among wards with significantly fewer residents.

    If that sounds like reverse discrimination, it may well be. It certainly constitutes old-time, follow-the-mayor power politics. Whatever, there's no other way to describe a map in which North Side lakefront wards will have nearly 56,000 residents each, but most predominantly black wards only 51,500 or so.

    That kind of deviation is quite possibly illegal. But Mr. Ema-nuel, who wants to avoid a nasty referendum over dueling maps, is backing it, at least tacitly.

    The core problem is that Chicago's African-American population plummeted in the past decade, decreasing by a jaw-dropping 181,453, or about 18%. In comparison, all other racial and ethnic groups collectively held about even. Like it or not, that would suggest that the new map will include fewer black wards, with the growing Latino population picking up some.

    Instead, the word has come down from the mayor's office to work out something with African-American aldermen who might be out of a job. So Mr. Emanuel's council team is pushing a map in which the 44th Ward in Lakeview would have 55,888 residents, while the 3rd Ward on the South Side would be home to 51,613. The 38th Ward near O'Hare International Airport would have 56,001 residents, but the 37th Ward a couple of miles to the south would have just 51,530.

    Some are squawking.

    “This move is a complete step backwards,” says Lincoln Park Alderman Michele Smith (43rd), whose area would be divided into five chunks. “Lincoln Park was one of the first wards to recover in the "50s and "60s because it had strong aldermen and strong community groups. This destroys that.” Defending this map in court could cost more than a referendum, she adds.

    Other Rahm backers offer an interesting range of explanations.

    They include Alderman Joe Moore (49th), who may want Mr. Emanuel to appoint his wife to his council seat if he gets a big state job. “I could live with either map,” he says, referring to an alternate plan offered by Hispanic aldermen.

    They also include Alderman Harry Osterman (48th), who says the equal population thing “is going to be discussed at a lot of hearings,” and Tom Tunney (44th), who says he's “comfortable with either map” and predicts a compromise.

    Compromise is good—particularly if it involves some of the old Southwest Side ward bosses making way for Latinos moving their way. But it's not right to create a phantom black ward by stretching population.

    Now, it's true the consensus 2000 ward map had different populations, too. But the excuse then was that public housing was being rebuilt in a few black wards and any under-population there was temporary. Even if that excuse doesn't hold up, 2000 was still in the cartographic dark ages. Illinois' new congressional map has a diversion of exactly one—yes, one—voter, with the state's 18 districts having either 712,813 or 712,812 residents. New General Assembly districts are just as even.

    Mr. Emanuel needs to take a good, post-holiday look at this. Avoiding a needless referendum fight is one thing. Caving in to a blatantly unfair map is another. Chicago expects more from our new mayor.



    Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20111231/ISSUE05/312319966/one-person-one-vote-not-in-chicagos-new-ward-remap#ixzz1iR21qeIa
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