Oh, The Cow Goes...

Mooooooooove forward!



Thanks for your patience PRU fans -- we've had some technical glitches today.

The highlights of the City Council COW can be summed up by saying that Mayor Howard is a pandering coward and most of his council alderhacks are firmly under his control.

Also under Mayor Howard's control is ooh, pick me! pick me! I wanna be police chief real real bad, Tom Swoboda, who offered a not-so-cleverly spun recitation of how PADS sites in other towns haven't posed a serious problem, on site, for police departments in those towns. When questioned by Alderman Dave Schmidt (1st Ward) about information Swoboda has been given by a Chicago Police Dept. 16th District Commander, regarding the 513 arrests of PADS clients outside of PADS shelters, Swoboda offered that the information would have to be looked at more closely and broken down, which is another way of saying, "Give me time and I'll find a way to dismiss these facts in favor of the position preferred by Mayor Howard."

For his part, Mayor Howard tried to be clever and ask the city attorney that if the 500 foot restriction remains in the ordinance along with the demands of city building codes regarding sprinklers, how many churches would qualify to be homeless shelters. City attorney Buzz Hill said he couldn't answer that, to which Mayor Howard replied, "I can answer! The answer is zero!" Mayor Howard also stated that PADS gives "health exams" and remarked that the city is "constitutionally on thin ground with regard to fingerprinting". At which point the city attorney said, "No. I never said that." Mayor Howard also stated that he had "called 14 Mayors of other towns today" -- today? Jeeze Howard, what's your hurry? -- and that the 6 that responded to him all said that, in short, PADS is terrific! The PRU Crew would suggest that no other response could possibly be forthcoming from those Mayors, since those Mayor's would then have to answer to their constituents about why they aren't doing anything to address the issues surrounding PADS shelters in their towns.

Alderman Don Bachtard (3rd Ward) said he does not believe that a 500 foot restriction that prevents homeless shelters from operating inside schools will have any effect, and that children do not play within the "little circles" that comprise the 500 foot buffer. Ald. Bachtard also let everybody know that he is tired of listening to arguments over the constitution and didn't want to hear any more. Later, as if to demonstrate his disinterest in hearing anything about constitutional rights, Bachtard suggested that "security escorts" be provided during PADS shelter exits to "escort" PADS clients to buses and trains. And as we can see, Park Ridge's very own Constitutional UNscholar seems to not have gotten past the First Amendment to take a look at all those other pesky constitutional amendments, or this piece of stunning idiocy would never have left his mouth. But we're only speculating on that since that requires the assumption of his ability to understand information.

Alderman Frank Wsooolman (7th Ward) offered that he would like to see the 500 foot restriction language in the ordinance left as-is, with the addition of language stating "while children are present". He also seemed to indicate his support for limiting the hours of shelter operation, and months of operation, as well as shelter operators being required to co-apply for either special use or licensing. Ald. Wsooolman's best question of the evening came when he confirmed that shelters will be allowed in all residential zoning districts, and then he asked why the B4 (business district) zoning district was excluded for special use by homeless shelters. Acting Director of Community Development, Carrie Davis, responded that the purpose of that exclusion was to "limit the impact" of homeless shelters on the business district. And people, we have to tell you, when we read that in our various reports this moring...well...we just don't know what to say about that -- the total disregard for the impact on residents of Park Ridge is so unbelievable, we are left virtually speechless.

Alderman Tom Carey (6th Ward) was the only alderman to address the issue of whether or not the question of Park Ridge supporting the opening of a homeless shelter could go to referendum. Ald. Carey also indicated that it is the City Council's responsibility to find a "healthy balance" between the desires of the community and constitutional laws, and this issue has been very divisive to the community.

~~THUD!!!~~ Who is this guy??? This can't possibly be the same guy who took office just 17 short months ago!!! Has anyone checked under this guys bed for a pod?

What a concept! Send to referendum what 2nd Ward Alderman Rich DiPietro himself described as "the most controversial issue" he's seen in his fourteen years of council service.

Alderman Carey, we can only hope that you will pursue this matter by proposing a resolution of the City Council approving a referendum that asks the voters whether or not they support the opening of a homeless shelter in Park Ridge, and if appropriate, under certain restrictions.

Speaking of Ald. DiPietro (2nd Ward) -- his suggestions were that St. Paul of the Cross erect a partition that will keep PADS clients from accessing other areas of the SPC building. DiPietro also wants bike racks installed for PADS guests who are into pedaling their way from shelter to shelter, from town to town.

Benedict Alderman Robert Ryan (5th Ward) was...can you guess?...absent from the meeting. But he did submit a statement to Mayor Howard to be read at the meeting. Essentially, Ald. Ryan believes there is a need in the community for a homeless shelter and that Journeys from PADS to Hope has a proven process for addressing the issue of homelessness. Benedict Ald. Ryan also wants to eliminate the 500 foot restriction on where shelters can open, wants St. Paul of the Cross to be the only applicant in the special use and licensing, wants to allow medical services to be provided inside shelters, adjust the ordinance to add that temporary overnight shelters provide continuous parking on site or adjacent to the shelter property, and that to address the issue of loitering, shelters not operate within a 1/4 mile of each other in the Uptown area.

Alderman James Allspaghetti (4th Ward) let it be known that when dealing with the constitution, it "puts religion in a special place". Allspaghetti went on to say that when he talked about what the Park Ridge Police Department was doing in enforcing the zero tolerance law, that what they were doing the constitution says they can't do, which may explain why then Chief of Police Caudill issued a memo to his department that zero tolerance was not to be enforced as they have been doing. But of course, this leads the PRU Crew to wonder why Allspaghetti's buddy, Terry Ekl, so strongly suggested that the directives in that memo from then Chief of Police Caudill be immediately rescinded? Anyone? We can't make heads or tails of this "logic".

Finally, Alderman Dave Schmidt (1st Ward) was once again the champion of the residents of Park Ridge, and the representative who challenged his fellow council members to answer the mandates in the zoning code which address the fundamental considerations and purpose for zoning text amendments. Schmidt's council peers were stunningly silent on that issue. Schmidt also read from a rather long dissertation on health issues in the homeless population, pointing out that there are reasonable concerns among those who question whether or not opening a homeless shelter inside a school could expose children to air borne illnesses. Schmidt also questioned the costs that would be undertaken by the city in regard to providing police and ambulance services to a shelter.

Mayor Howard addressed that issue later by pointing out that residents are not charged when police vehicles answer their calls, which of course ignores who it is that provides all the tax revenue used to fund services like police and fire departments -- but, the PRU Crew has come to understand that Mayor Howard doesn't know much about who is actually funding the government he's running. Mayor Howard also presumed that residents of the Youth Campus are not charged for ambulance services, but Chief Gjelsten corrected him on that point, so Mayor Howard offered that maybe the city could charge for ambulance services to any homeless shelter.

Schmidt went on to try to refute much of the unfounded claims of his fellow council members, such as Ald. Allspaghetti's incorrectly stating the City Attorney's position on the 500 foot restriction, and Ald. Bachtard's hair brained idea of "security escorts" out of town for shelter clients. Finally, Ald. Schmidt supported Ald. Carey's question of putting the issue to a referendum vote before the people of Park Ridge.

After Mayor Howard had his final say on the issue of homeless shelters, Ald. DiPietro moved that the matter be referred as an action item on the next City Council agenda.


---------------------------------------------------
And now, a recap of the highlights of last night's City Council regular meeting, which was held at its usual time, interrupting the committee of the whole meeting that took place before and after the regular City Council meeting --

The City Cluck, Betty Henneman, asked the council to vote on a change of venue for the October 20th and 29th meetings of the City Council; those meetings will take place at Washington school.

Next, City Manager Jim Hock offered that he had reviewed the details of the interviews conducted by attorney Terry Ekl in his audit of the police department. Mr. Hock assured the council that the background interview material used by Ekl to write his final report looked okay, and the council can now pay Ekl's outstanding bill. It was moved by the Lord of the Manor, 2nd Ward Ald. Rich DiPietro, that the council pay Ekl $52,381.25 -- seconded by 4th Ward Ald. James Allspaghetti.

First ward Alderman Dave Schmidt moved to demand that Ekl not be paid the balance of his bill to the city, and that fees already paid to Ekl be refunded to the city. That motion died for lack of a second.

Schmidt went on to say that Ekl had stonewalled the council on every issue and that he would not be voting to pay Ekl his final bill.

On a roll call vote, the council approved final payment of the Ekl bill by 4 (Bach, Allegretti, Carey, and DiPietro) to 2 (Wsol and Schmidt).

The next item was a discussion of how to best proceed with accomplishing the needed improvements in the air quality system at the award winning Public Works Service Center. The council had to reject all the bids received in order to eliminate having to accept the lowest bidder, because the lowest bidder provided an inconsistent and incomplete bid; in addition to not meeting the standards required in the staff's reference checks. The city has been actively engaged in this issue, regarding the physical health of city employees, since January, 2007, and at one point it seemed a correction of the Public Works air quality would be deep-sixed due to budget constraints. So the PRU Crew will not stand for even an ounce of whining from any PADS asshats who think the city hasn't moooooooooved forward fast enough on some dumbass homeless shelter, while our own city employees have endured another nine months of talk talk talk over matters surrounding their personal health.

The next item on the city agenda was a discussion of the purchase of four new trucks for the Public Works department. Ald. Schmidt (1st Ward) asked why the city should purchase these trucks now, in light of the city budget deficit of approximately $1.7 million? The answer was that the vehicles are old, 19 years old, and their maintenance costs could skyrocket, and the city may not "get lucky" next year and have these trucks operable. Schmidt then asked City Manager Hock if the city could wait on this nearly $500,000 purchase. Mr. Hock responded that the funds set aside for the purchase of new trucks can't be used for certain things such as payroll, but that it could be spent on things such as fixing roads, to which Schmidt responded that fixing roads in town are a need and that he believes these trucks are a want. Hock then remarked that the longer the city waits to purchase new trucks, the lower the trade-in value for the older trucks become. Several remarks from the audience seemed to suggest that it would be best for the city to either wait on this purchase or find alternatives to buying new trucks, but in the end the City Council voted 5 (DiPietro, Bach, Allegretti, Carey, and Wsol) to 1 (Schmidt) to purchase the new trucks.

Then under the Public Safety agenda line item, the city council voted to finalize raising ambulance fees.

Finally, City Cluck Betty Henneman reported on her recent trip to Park Ridge's sister city of Kinver and Ald. Schmidt reported that he is going on a trip to Fatima Portugal where he has promised to offer prayers for his City Council peers. We would suggest that Ald. Schmidt not waste his energy on his council peers and instead pray for the residents of Park Ridge who are suffering the idiocies of his council peers.

And shortyly after that, the city council adjourned their regular meeting and got back to moooooooooving forward on discussing the issue of regulations for homeless shelters in Park Ridge.