All That Jazz! Abridged Council Recap!

Hello, PRU readers! The reports have come in and we're going to cut right to the chase; last night the Park Ridge City Council voted unanimously to refer the matter of opening a homeless shelter to the Planning & Zoning commission for addition to the zoning ordinance under the requirement and review through a special use permit process.

You read that right folks! Unanimous! Even the perennially confused Alderman Don DreadBach (3rd Ward) and Benedict Alderman Robert Ryan (5th Ward) voted to require a special use permit process for the opening of a homeless shelter at St. Paul of the Cross, or anywhere else in Park Ridge.

There was an overflow crowd in attendance at the meeting last night, which prompted Mayor Howard to issue one of his infamously rambling decrees on council decorum and respect.

We're told that Mayor Howard is another one of those "preachers" who can't seem to manage much in the way of his own personal practice. In addition to the less than equal treatment certain speakers were subjected to by the meeting chairman, Mayor Howard, we are told that at one point during the meeting, while speakers addressed the council, Mayor Howard called a gentleman from a list of names of those wishing to speak. The gentleman declined to speak but did add, "Please protect our children, Mr. Mayor." Mayor Howard then told the gentleman that if he had anything to say he should "be a man" and step up to the podium. Mayor Howard's remark reportedly elicited a very negative response from the audience. So much for decorum and respect.

We're told that there were well over 40 speakers, the significant majority of whom favored the process of a special use permit for a homeless shelter. We are also told the majority who urged the council to vote for the special use permit process also requested that not only St. Paul of the Cross be required to apply for the special use permit, but also that PADS too be required to apply as a co-applicant, since it is that agency that will be performing the services they allegedly provide to the homeless population, as well as the agency that will be responsible for following their own policies for the protection of their volunteers and the rest of the community. The PRU Crew could not agree more with that idea; PADS must be a co-applicant for the special use permit process for opening a homeless shelter.

Also in attendance was the Chicago Archdiocese in-house lawyer, Maureen Murphy, who seemed to be present to figuratively hold the hand of Fr. Carl Morello. Ms. Murphy let everyone know that the parish would "only be hosting" the shelter, "not leasing or licensing" their space, and that the Archdiocese does not believe a special use permit could be required...but if it is required then the parish would go through the process. It's clear to the PRU Crew that Ms. Murphy is unfamiliar with not only the concept of an in-kind contribution, but also recent Federal court law. And now we see why continuing education requirements are as important for attorneys as they are for other professionals.

So now the issue will move to the Planning & Zoning commission for review, where members of the public will again have a chance to ask that their concerns and questions about homeless shelters be answered. Stay tuned!

In other City Council actions, Fair Housing commissioner, former Alderman Sue Bell, after giving another impassioned plea for understanding that we are told was rife with misleading statements, was handed her hat and shown the door, despite the Lord of the Manor's attempt to defer adoption of the ordinance yet again. The council voted, in its first reading, to adopt the fair housing ordinance as currently written. No more whining. No more nagging. No more delays. No more behind the scenes maneuvering. The reason posed for yet another delay, besides Ms. Bell's whining, was to give the new City Manager, Mr. James Hock, time to review the ordinance and his role in it. If history is any teacher, and the PRU Crew believes it is, Mr. Hock will be able to deal with one pseudo-fair housing complaint every decade or so.

We again give out some PRUdos here, and today they go to Alderman Jim Allspaghetti (4th ward). Nice job getting this thing finally done.

Finally, action on the R-5 zoning issue was again deferred until the next meeting.

We know there was more but our sources apparently pooped out and left the meeting before it ended, past midnight.

Overall, we feel the City Council did a reasonable job of listening to the issues and concerns from residents of Park Ridge. We wish somebody among their number would take Mayor Howard aside and clue him in on how this whole "representative of the people" thing is supposed to work.