Nuts!

We hope readers can spare the time - it's a long one today, and it's all about the Napleton give-away.



We are going to begin with a positive shout out to 2nd Ward Alderman Rich DiPietro. We are told the Lord of the Manor stuck to his guns and ultimately voted against the Napleton give-away. After explaining the proper motion procedures for dissenting committee chairman to his fellow council members, Finance and Budget chairman DiPietro then referred the Napleton motion to fellow Finance and Budget committee member, Alderman Tom Carey - the Unfriendly Ghost from the 6th Ward - who then referred the motion to 4th Ward Alderman Jim Allspaghetti - who is not a member of the Finance and Budget committee - who then finally moved to motion the Napleton matter before the council, and then moved to amend the Napleton motion to include an escalation.

Did everybody get all that?

DiPietro went on to explain his "thoughts and feelings" about the deal, and that by his calculations the amended deal only allowed for a 2% escalation each year, which DiPietro said he didn't think was enough and that, though he would be voting in favor of the amendment, he would not be voting in favor of the main motion - the final Napleton give-away.

When Allspaghetti was asked to explain how the escalation was arrived at in his amendment, Allspaghetti was quick to give "credit" to Mayor Howard Frimark for having "sat down with Napleton to get more for the city".



When all faces in the room turned to the Mayor for further explanation of his fabulous negotiating skills, Mayor Howard let it be known that Napleton told him "cars go up about 2% per year."



Clearly, when it comes to 'The Art of the Deal', Donald Trump's got nothing on this Mayor! Of course, nobody bothered to ask the Mayor if he'd made any effort to independently verify the information from Napleton because everybody can be pretty certain that he didn't. And we all know how Mayor Howard hates to micromanage things.

Benedict Alderman Robert Ryan (5th ward), offered that the Napleton deal was "fairly consistent with the other deal at Greenwood and Dempster", and thereby demonstrated to all present that he does in fact read the local papers, and he can sometimes offer an opinion without being expressly directed by the Mayor and/or City Manager.



Once again, the men of the hour at the city council meeting were Aldermen Schmidtzkrieg (1st ward) and the Wsoooool man (7th ward). If it weren't for these two council members, the citizens of Park Ridge wouldn't have any consistent representation in city government at all. They continue to deliver the representation goods.



Both Schmidtzkrieg and Wsoooool man made every effort to dissuade their council peers from going down the dubious path of providing private business with gifts of taxpayer dollars.

The Wsoooool man deftly explained that this was a bad deal for the City of Park Ridge, by noting that the $400,000 being given to Napleton would return a mere $540,000 upon completion of the deal. But that if the city were to put that same $400,000 in a regular bank account earning somewhere around 3% interest, the return to the city would be much better. The Wsoooool man then repeated a question he'd asked earlier, "How is this deal to the benefit of the city?"

The Wsoooool man also asked Mr. Napleton if he would be willing to waive his right to protest his property tax assessment on his Greenwood and Busse property for the duration of the deal, since that could have the effect of reducing the property taxes paid to the city. Mr. Napleton indignantly refused, bemoaning the increases in taxes on his property, and saying that Napleton files a property assessment complaint every year.

Mr. Napleton also indignantly refused to answer when Alderman Schmidtzkrieg asked Mr. Napleton the price for the property being sold to PRC Partners. Mr. Napleton responded by saying, "That's none of your business!" Mr. Napleton then asked Alderman Schmidtzkrieg, "How much did you pay for your house?!" Schmidtzkrieg replied, "Hey, that is none of your business. I'm not the one here asking you for money!" Though Mr. Napleton did answer that the property being sold to PRC Partners was appraised between $4 million and $5 million.

The PRU Crew's got news for everybody - property sales prices are a matter of public record; it's the figure upon which property transfer taxes are calculated and collected by municipalities, and the figure upon which Cook County bases your assessment and calculates your property tax bill. And if you are sick and twisted, like certain members of the Crew, you can read through the property transfers when they are printed in the local papers.

And the PRU Crew has very special news for Mr. Napleton; not only are property sales prices a matter of public record, but so are property assessment complaints; including the appraisal figures used to argue for the assessment reductions being sought - assuming of course, that Napleton goes the usual route of contracting for a new appraisal every three years as part of their assessment complaint process...

Seven residents rose to address the council regarding the Napleton deal. All seven of those residents raised their objections to the deal. But resident Steve Schildwachter best summed up the matter by saying, "This sounds like corporate welfare."

The vote on the amendment to the Napleton deal was 6 to 1, with Schmidtzkrieg voting "no".

The council then returned to discussion of the main motion at which time the Unfriendly Ghost from the 6th ward put on a rather impressive display of his skill at memorization. As Alderman Tom Carey ran through a prepared list of rhetorical and actual questions, the city manager was given the opportunity to regale the entire assembly with bullshit propaganda. Murmurs heard throughout the audience and reported to us are that Mr. Carey's list of questions were probably not his own; the language used was decidedly un-Carey-teristic of the Unfriendly Ghost; many believe the questions were designed to give the Mayor and City Manager "soft targets" to hit the stump on Napleton's behalf.

And again, Mr. Carey, the Crew believes you may be salvageable. But until you let go of the Mayor's coattails and get yourself clean from behaving like a trust fund junkie, you aren't going to cut it.

Schmidtzkrieg also introduced an amendment to remove language from the deal giving Napleton the entire $2.4 million they were asking for. That amendment was defeated in a 4 (Bach, Allegretti, Ryan and Carey) to 3 (Schmidt, DiPietro and Wsol) vote.

When the council finally returned to the main motion of the Napleton deal, all the amending and motioning and numbers just became too much for the Unfriendly Ghost, Alderman Tom Carey. This 33.33...% representative on the Finance and Budget committee just could not grasp the addition of all those big numbers, and admitted he was confused and offered that maybe the matter "merits a deferral so it can be fully understood".



Mayor Howard offered that Mr. Carey "had to understand", and repeated to Mr. Carey the numbers in the deal that Mr. Carey had just admitted to not understanding. It then appeared to become understood by Mr. Carey that it was time for him to be quiet.

Which then left the spotlight to, by all accounts, the star of the evening - 3rd Ward Alderman Don DreadBach. In what can only be described as "DreadBach Unplugged" (we've also heard, "unglued" and "unhinged"), DreadBach began his statement by remarking that he had been uncertain about what to do with regard to his vote on the Napleton deal. So, he did what he says he always does, "I asked my constituents". DreadBach revealed that there are 30 people on the planet who support the Napleton give-away, and all 30 of those people live in the 3rd ward of Park Ridge.



Then DreadBach let it be known that he drives a Cadillac, and that he bought his Cadillac from Napleton, but the next time he buys a Cadillac he was going elsewhere. So too would the people of Park Ridge! He told Mr. Napleton that he (Napleton) had lied to the council, and disrespected the council and the people of Park Ridge! But that he, Don DreadBach, would be voting in favor of the deal.

Or more succinctly stated, "Thank you Sir! May I have another! Here's your money!"

With DreadBach's moment on center stage having come to a close, a final vote on the Napleton deal commenced.

Wsooool man voted "no", Schmidtzkrieg voted "no", the Lord of the Manor voted "no", DreadBach voted "yes", Allspaghetti voted "yes", Benedict Ryan voted "yes", and after a moments hesitation the Unfriendly Ghost voted..."present".

After a brief thud of realization descended upon the room...

Mayor Howard Frimark, whose administration will soon be conducting a budget workshop at which his administration will have to find a way to eliminate a $600,000 budget deficit, while also managing nearly $47,000,000 in total city debt that is costing the city close to $5,000,000 in annual interest...

Mayor Howard Frimark, "artful negotiator" of a whopping 2% equivalent annual rate of return on this "investment" in the Napleton car dealership for the people of Park Ridge...

Mayor Howard Frimark, receiver of a $1,000.00 campaign contribution from Napleton Cadillac...

Mayor Howard Frimark, preeminent representative of the people of Park Ridge...

Mayor Howard Frimark cast the tie-breaking "yes" vote to give Napleton Cadillac $2.4 million dollars of the Park Ridge taxpayer's money over the next 15 years.