Shortfalls
Teachers
Gangs
Killings
Schools
Pensions
Aldermen
Tax Increase
Guns
Crime
Police
Michigan Avenue
Claypool
Unions
Madigan
Daley
Cubs
Murder rate
School closings
CTA
Rosemont
Taste of Chicago
I predict he will not run again and is presently burning up the phone lines to Obama looking for an appointment to something (anything) prestigious.
We can only hope. Rahm is what is known as a legacy mayor. He wants to create a legacy -- through repeating empty mantras for the press, at the very least -- that he can then sell on his way to higher office. So we'll have a commemoration of the Chicago Fire -- this is laughable. He says, for instance, he is for the Chicago taxpayer, yet takes tax money and routes it to slush funds for his buds, through "Trusts" and "TIF" money. He's for no one but himself. The problem is, who will run against him?
ReplyDeleteHe can't leave fast enough for me.
ReplyDeleteI disagree and would argue that he believes his tenure thus far pretty good.
ReplyDeleteThankfully,he understands the gravity of the financial situation and brought in expert money guys that understand full well the world of public finance.
Chicago and CC are a mess and Illinois even worse because of fools like Madigan,Cullerton,Richy,Arne,{Pauly,Precky,Strogers,Burke etc. etc. People have no idea how fucked up we are. We have to loan $ @1.45 percentage points higher than comparable debt. The aforementioned goofs simply do not understand these matters. Paying more for debt is crazy and we have no choice. We are at present in the same boat as Greece boys and girls.
90% of this ward voted for these turkeys! WHY? Ask your neighbor with the Hynes sign, or Dart, or "Proud Union Home"(aka Obama). Are you kidding me? The best are the cars with St. Barnabas on one side and Obama on the other, what hypocrites. Do you care that religion is being attacked by these bozo's or do you just want to get into the sheriff's dept, qualify for another tax payer funded pension, or get on the disability payroll?
DeleteStatus Quo
What a candyass
ReplyDeletehe's about done.
ReplyDeleteLook for Tom Dart to make the run for ag but if it looks like Rahman is out dart will make the run for that for sure. A man of principle and conviction, not.
ReplyDeletedart
DeleteI happened to see him yesterday. Anyway, I do not think so. I think the problems with the City are coming to light more during his regime than prior administrations (Daley).
ReplyDeleteTom Dart should run for Governor. The worst possible thing is for L. Madigan, step-daughter to Herr M. Madigan, to become Governor. You think this state has problems now? Wait until we have a Madigan as Governor and a Madigan as Speaker of the House. This will go from nightmare state to worst nightmare failed state.
But there is a long laundry list there. But I think I can narrow it down to three issues that Chicago must improve upon:
1) Public Safety;
2) Cost-of-Living; and
3) Public Transportation.
2) and 3) impact the ease of business, the ability to attract customers, location, and even quality-of-life (in fact, 1) also impacts quality of life). Chicago needs to be more open to entrepreneurs: keep our tech people here! No more running off to Silicon Valley; we should have, in Chicago, a stronger tech industry. We should become a private equity hub, comparable to NY and Silicon Valley. We should need new (new) businesses from mom-and-pop bar-restaurants to technology start-ups.
Too much of this City and state is entrenched in this old (Madigan) regime and way of doing business. Our City, County, and State has suffered. We need total reform, beginning with the leaders (really leader) at the top: Madigan. Nothing is going to change until the man whose ring must be kissed is out of office with his daughter and their political egos.
Very well thought out! Our antiquated imploding system here in Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois is falling apart before our very eyes. Our media is 100% complicit in the downfall and ignores anything that would shed light on the corruption and waste of tax dollars and resources.
DeleteOther parts of the country are racing past us at light speed. We are dial up in a wifi world. By the way all of Illinois is run by Democrats and they are running it into the ground.
most intelligent comment I ever read on this blog. totally agree
DeleteUnemployment rate fell 0.1 to 7.6% last month. Before you get all jiggy, listen to WHY? 500k people quit looking for work last month and dropped out of the work force. The rate is going down NOT because jobs are being created, BECAUSE people have stopped looking. Its crazy, but this is the way jobs are counted.
ReplyDelete88k jobs were created last month, far less than the 200k expected. The "labor participation" rate, that's the % of Americans working or looking for jobs, fell to the lowest it has been since 1979. That # is going the wrong way for a recovery. The # of people collecting disability(welfare) is at its highest EVER!
So when Obozo tells you today "unemployment is at a 4yr low, we're winning", understand the lie.
Yes, there needs to be a change in the political culture in Illinois and nationwide, and that will only happen when voters become aware and stop perpetuating that culture.
Will Tom Dart even run our of pals to appoint to high positions in the County Jail and in the Sheriff's office. Here in the jail we get a new "director" or whatever gold plated incompetant "pal" of Dart's every week, it seems. No jail experience, no police experience, most have never had a "real" job. Except kknocking on doors and getting votes for toupee Tom.
ReplyDeleteRahm will run again and be reelected due to lack of viable opposition.
ReplyDeleteLack of money on the other side.
DeleteUnlike Daley who gave the unions whatever they wanted and squandered billions in taxes and has left us with a gaping 500 million annual hole in our budget, Rahm at least has taken on the unions and the rip off artists trying to scam the city. He is at least putting up somewhat of a fight in the slip and fall lawsuit million dollar annual give aways....Union and city workers are pampered and dang annoying to listen to...especially the teachers....They make 70k for 9 mos of work....okay blah blah...say 10 mos. With two full months off a year ! They are paid 50 percent above the average citizen who supports them. At least when I see Rahm I do not see a bought and paid for stooge of the underworld who looks at the taxpayer (me)... as some chump...or a mark.
ReplyDeleteTeachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That ...would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to......... 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is!
DeleteYour "example" is ridiculous. You are proving that YOU must be a teacher and you are proving WHY the Chicago Public Schools are crap and have basically graduated semi morons for at least a generation now.
Delete"At least when I see Rahm I do not see a bought and paid for stooge of the underworld who looks at the taxpayer (me)... as some chump...or a mark."
ReplyDeleteYou just proved that you are by that comment stooge, chump,mark.......
Unlike the programmed city worker I do not have death fantasies of Rahm. He was put in under horrible economic circumstances. The city worker with the lean on broom jobs era is OVER. You have a left wing Democrat running your city that all your unions supported - and even he has to cut spending in order to balance a budget that has a 500 million dollar hole. City hack workers never have an answer for WHERE do we get half a billion dollars. I am starting to think they have what they think is the answer - but Im tapped out and sick of supporting people who make more than I do. Go back to waxing your car or power washing your deck..
DeleteTeachers didn't support him.
DeleteYa know, I agree with ya, anonymous. Those damned cops and firemen are pampered and annoying.
ReplyDeleteI - anonymous - was referring to primarily the Teachers. If they cannot teach people, and it is not their fault, then they should be paid LESS not MORE. Why should they make 50 percent more than the taxpayers on average, make ? Their results are crap whether it is their fault or not. And your math is a bit fuzzy regarding their pay. They are paid FAR more than the average citizen. Why ? And I did not say Cops are annoying. Firefighters ...yeah....(I do not work for any government in any capacity by the way). I just pay your salary. Firefighters and Cops have a harder job than MOST of us, and certainly teachers....Teaching used to be a profession....now it is just another government union job. We are going the way of Stockton. Bankrupt.
DeleteBy the way Karen Lewis and the VP of the Teachers union, (name escapes me), are hard core leftists who are living in a fantasy of the Workers of World uniting and all that discredited Commie claptrap. Karen Lewis is an embarrassment not only the CPS but the city.
DeleteAnonymous #2 -- Please. Be honest. She's black, a woman, and talks a lot. That's what you hate. If she is a commie living in a workers fantasy, then so are the police -- the police union supports her.
DeleteJust because a union supports another union does not mean anything. By the way, you are really obnoxious to assume that I do not like someone because they are black. In fact you have a lot of nerve to suggest it. You do not know me and you certainly cannot see into my heart. But I guess the race card is just a knee jerk liberal response. By the way, if some guy like Pat Robertson said something in the reverse you would rightly excoriate him for thinking he had some inside knowledge of a persons innate goodness or thinking he was morally superior. Karen Lewis called Rahm a "murder of schools", a "murderer of neighborhoods" and all types of incendiary rhetoric. And of course she pulls the race out card out too. I guess maybe you have something in common.
DeleteMy knee jerk liberal response is right up there with your far-right knee jerk response.
DeleteYou'll pardon me if I point out what seems to be left out of the conversation on this blob. People will go on and on about teachers or about Lewis -- exclusively. Cops? Nada. The fact that the leader of the policemen's union supported the strike loudly -- he was there for the main rally, speaking out for it and for Lewis -- DOES mean something. It means, logically, that in your view he must also be a hardcore leftist. But you wouldn't say that, would you? Why is that?
Anonymous, I KNOW you were referring to the teachers primarily, because you would never say anything against the police. OF COURSE you would say cops have a harder job than most of us. Most of the contributors on this BLOG feel the same way. I think that entirely depends. A cop working Lincoln Park works no harder than I do. A cop working near North works no harder than anyone. Firemen spend most of their time in the firehouse, and they have great schedules, to boot. BOTH of these fine professions demand salaries that eclipse what most average citizens make. I defy you to spend a day in a classroom around Halsted and 63rd and tell me teaching isn't a profession. I know teachers who stay way past closing time and have to leave a school as a group with an armed guard so there is less risk of getting mugged or shot. I defy you to spend some time even looking over a curriculum for National Board Certified courses. There's nothing fuzzy about the math, you just don't like what the math reveals. Your math -- teachers make 50% more than the average citizen -- huh? Figures, please. Ask yourself: why do you assume you know so much about what teachers do?
ReplyDeleteI am not a cop or firefighter and do not work for the government. I will definitely admit you do make some good points. But Karen Lewis is a bad representative of your organization then. Making 70k per year is far more than the average citizen of Chicago....
DeleteThe median income for a household in the city was $38,625, and the median income for a family was $42,724. Males had a median income of $35,907 versus $30,536 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,175. Below the poverty line were 19.6% of the population and 16.6% of the families. Of the total population, 28.1% of those under the age of 18 and 15.5% of those 75 and older were living below the poverty line. Wikipedia 2008 figures.
Not to mention that you only work 9 to possibly 10 months per year. If you extrapolate out the months you do not work - you are paid like someone making $84,000 to $93,000 per year. My main point is that your union and too many of you will never stop complaining. It is like the guy in the hospital getting his tonsils out blabbing and complaining on and on to the guy in the bed next to him with cancer. The union mantra is - NEVER admit you have it good. You got your raise and you knew all along Rahm was going to close those schools.
I'm not a teacher, anonymous, and I'm not in a union. I don't have the patience.
DeleteYour figures are off. Just google Chicago household median income for 2011 and see what you get. Ditto family median. Your per capita quote is a little misleading -- according to the 2000 census, 23 thou plus per capita income for Illinois residents makes it the 11th wealthiest state in the US.
You apparently think teachers or cops or firemen should be paid based on what other people make or don't make. I just disagree with you.
Do you know any teachers? If you do -- someone you respect -- ask them how many hours outside of school time they put into their work. This is not true of either police or firemen or any other city worker. It has nothing to do with what's on paper (10 months, not nine.) You also make no distinction between say, a teacher who is just starting out, with a BA, and a teacher who has a master's degree and is board certified and has a successful 30-year history. I assume they're all the same to you.
I get where you're coming from -- you just want everybody to be quiet since so many people are not doing as well as they did in days of yore. I would think you'd be happy, then, that so many of them just lost their jobs.
Rahm is the type of politician that is great , can smile, raise funds, be ever so likeable but when he is elected to an office where he has to manage people, he falls flat on his face. Sort of like Aurelia Pucinski. Blago, Quinn
ReplyDeleteDick Durbin is viewed as highly successful, no one to manage. Same for any state or US rep, state or US Senator.
The Teacher rhetoric has really gotten to the point where I am ready to go off on the next whiner I encounter. Hey teachers, you are seriously misreading things when you actually think that parents are REALLY on your side. They are really ticked off that you screwed up the school year for their kids...but they are afraid if they complain - especially to YOU...their kid will feel the repercussions in the class room. In essence the union held their kids hostage. And If I hear another commercial for the Illinois Teachers union with kids singing "for the children" I will puke. They exist for the TEACHERS - not the kids.
ReplyDeleteAll of those problems you listed are totally eclipsed by what Rham does have. CASH. Hitler or Stalin could get elected in Chicago, as long as he was a democRAT.
ReplyDeleteI'm puzzled that anyone begrudges teachers a good salary.
ReplyDeleteSome of the contributors on this blog would limit salaries of city workers -- or is it just teachers, I can't really tell -- to the median income of your typical Chicago citizen.
Delete