As we told you before, we're down with Ald. Dave Schmidtzkrieg's (1st Ward) proposal for a recall ordinance that would allow the voters of any ward, after gathering enough petition signatures, to force a recall election for their sitting aldermoron if he isn't getting the job done.
Not surprisingly, Mayor Howard Frimark and his hand-picked successor, Ald. James Allspaghetti (4th Ward), don't like that idea. As reported in last week's Herald-Advocate, Allspaghetti thinks it's a bad idea: "By passing this we open ourselves up to the removal of a volunteer government and the potential for a government by action groups, or a government by interest groups." Say what? How the hell would a recall election be any different from the regular election?
Allspaghetti is also reported to have claimed that if subjected to a recall election, most sitting aldermen would say, "This job ain't that good -- see ya."
To any aldermen who would whine like that, we say, "Good riddance."
But leave it to Allspaghetti's lord and master, that great dissembler, Mayor Howard, to provide the most disingenuous reason for not supporting a recall ordinance: "When you are voted in, [voters] expect you to serve the four years of your term unless you do something that is a felony," Frimark said. "I don't think it's good judgment that if they don't like the way [elected officials] vote they vote [them] out."
Gee, Mr. Mayor, weren't you the leader of an action group petition drive to cut the council in half by depriving the voters in all seven wards of the seven aldermen that they voted in only two years earlier? Did any of those seven aldermen commit a felony? Even a misdemeanor?
Could it be that Mayor Howard is just determined to hold onto the current council because he knows he's got at least four alderpuppets to rubber stamp anything he wants?
18 comments:
The mayor has a relatively compliant Council majority and it's been suggested that's bad for the community. I still doubt that enough people can be made to care about this stuff. In the absence of an obvious, misguided, serious detour from the wise path (such as the O'Hare fight), it's hard to get a meaningful portion of the electorate fired up about anything local.
Where's today's version of the O'Hare fight? It's not zoning. While there are some activists in the field, not many people care about zoning.
I would love to be proven wrong...again.
What a couple of double talkers. Typical politician butt covering b.s. Now that there is one Alderman per ward, I think there should be a recall ordinance. Nobody wants to be stuck with an idiot for four years and have no way out.
It appears to this novice that some of the folks here are not happy.
Speak your piece at a mtg, the polls
etc.Let them know how you feel is always the best way - legally. After all this is the USA.
hey anonymous at 11:09am...I am TOTALLY in favor of one alderman per ward. As long as the alderman responds to requests of those he represents, and votes in a manner that will speak for the views of the majority of the residents. oh, wait, I live in the 4th ward. Nevermind.
And I live in the 5th Ward and while many of us made our wishes regarding the Norwood variance known, it was to no avail. Ald. Ryan didn't give a damn. So much for being represented.
Welcome to the jungle baby!!!
Land where they charge it without thinking ! Tax it if it does not move too. We can pay for it....they don't care.....especially about us...the little people.
Say....can we get the O'hare funds
back ....anytime soon.
I gues it all paid to help move the dead from the bensenville cemetary.
Good old politics!!!
Let the dead speak for us all!
“When you are voted in, [voters] expect you to serve the four years of your term unless you do something that is a felony”? What an outrageous statement. This guy is a joke. Imagine that this guy represents the City of Park Ridge when dealing on our behalf. Left or right, Democrat or Republican you have to feel embarrassed for our town. I feel like we elected a guy with all the inarticulate verbal communication of Richard J. Daley with the brains of Gomer Pile.
and if you're a cop in Bolingbrook who has had FOUR WIVES, the third who mysteriously dies and the fourth who mysteriously disappears, you can still collect your pension, even if you are eventually convicted of MURDER as long as you haven't committed a FELONY.
this whole "unless it's a felony" thing is a big much.
8:52
Last time we looked, murder was a felony.
Hmmmm. Police Chief Caudill's employment may be in trouble. This guy Peterson meets all of the Mayor’s qualifications for the position.
Are you kidding? That guy's integrity level is much too high for the Mayor.
I'm a little late to this party, but to respond to m. anderson's comment about what issue of local government do people care enough about to get "fired up": How about graft and corruption?
Of course, that would require digging around through a lot of real estate transactions to see who's buying and selling what, where and to whom. After all, it's not every day that a reporter drops an Owen Hayes II conflict of interest/$200,000 profit land deal in your lap.
Better late than never...
I'm not sure what is most reprehensible...the tricksterism of trying to make a fast buck off of fellow citizens...? What the new and much bigger costs will be...? Or the complete screw-job this put on our police department who would already have a newer and bigger facility to operate out of, very near the Public Works building...
Our officers should have better working conditions, and they would have already but for the mess that was made of the entire deal.
Hoover is probably right. Graft and corruption would get people going. But is there real graft (as opposed to the usual slightly funky back-scratching deals found in every small town) and is there real corruption (bribery and the like)? And can whatever there is (if there is anything) be found, proven and explained in a way that gets people riled up--or gets the attention of the U.S. Attorney or State's Attorney?
At least PRU is on the case. That's more than there was before.
I believe that some that were born in town and remain here...are what we call.....POB's ( Product of the Bubble). Nothing can hurt these
TRUST FUND KIDS....Thats why they
could not begin to understand the true meaning of what's it's like to stand on their own two feet.
Let;s see if they could pass the test here to become an alderman/mayor...
1. How many L's in Halsted ?
2. What does catchin ' the L..mean ?
3. Does Ogden really run on an angle ?
4. Who is Willie ?
Good luck !
Anonymous 4:43 - are you sure you're on the right blog? This is a Park Ridge blog. Halsted Street and Ogden Avenue don't run through Park Ridge, and neither does the "L". You won't find Willie Mays or Willie Stargell living here, either.
This is a nice middle-to-upper-middle-class town, with precious few Trustefarians. They're all on the North Shore (or Nort' Shore, as some Chicagoans might say). Those born and raised here may indeed be fortunate, but mostly because they inherited a work ethic as well as a nest egg. Fifty years ago, a lot of the pickup trucks in front of the houses were those of the homeowners themselves. Most of their sons and daughters still work a helluvalota hours to stay here. Their biggest problem is that, by romanticizing how upper-crust this town is, they identify with those who are making sure the game is rigged against them. They're one layoff, one health insurance loss, one divorce away from a whole different school system, but they, as some have suggested, have a blind spot. They're too well educated to be terrified by gay marriage, but not educated enough to question the old Republican mantras. That's how they gave Mr. Frimark this lovely old town. He said, eek! the Democrats are coming! and the residents sold their birthright for a mess of pottage.
Anon @ 1:41 -
Excellent comment. Hope you make PRU a regular stopping point in your cyber travels.
One quibble - we're not so sure that people weren't educated enough to question the Republican mantras.
The PRU crew believes people may have been too trusting of the Republican mantle; they mistook it to mean conservativism, and in the crew's opinion, Frimark and his cronies are anything but that old time conservative religeon.
But for the record, the PRU crew doesn't give a shit if the local candidates are Blue or Red all over, so long as they don't screw the taxpayers and citizens of Park Ridge and destroy what we have and have always been just to feather their own nests and caps.
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