Today we read in the Park Ridge Herald that Alderman Ryan has asked for costs involving potential design/construction of a new police station.
I for one am for this and congratulate the city fathers once and for all.
But , recently we have seen the posted statements by our new city manager Mr. James Hock who stated that we are currently operating a city budget that is in the "red ".
Therefore, if we are already in the hole - why would we go forward with this proposal ?
Did we miss something here ?
A letter was submitted ( respectfully ) with suggestions as to how we can cut the fat from the budget. Such as :
- Stop the use of take home city cars for those non-emergency personnel.
- Stop all paid overtime with time due being substitute until funds are available.
- Salary cuts and start from the top down on a volunteer basis - first.
We are in tough financial times and have seen other cities cut very deep such as the city of Naperville in cutting three officers and two fire fighters from their budget.
The city of Hoffman estates had decided not to fill the five vacancies from their police department also due to the budget.
We certainly hope that this will not be the case here in Park Ridge but if we don't get tough and stop the spending and make some revisions within the city - we could see the above nightmare in loosing highly trained city department personnel being laid off.
I'm sure this is not what the city and the residents want.
Less coverage and more spending.
Its like the current rear wheel squad cars that we have patrolling the streets - when the heavy snow comes - our wheels will only spin.
We need some traction with our budget and those who protect us deserve only the best. Let's not let them or the residents down before its too late.
Thank you.
Gene Spanos
Park Ridge Resident
November 20, 2008
Reader Soapbox!
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15 comments:
I have taken a tour of the police station and it is not what is should be for our men and women on the force. We have to do better.
However, I have to agree with the letter writer. Now is not the time. The economy is tanking and we have to pull in our belts.
I was alarmed to read how much the city is spending in the red. Our officials better get their act together and stop spending as if they are sitting on a big pile of gold, courtesy of the taxpayers.
I agree 100% to look out after the best interest of our law enforcement. They must have the right tools to do their job. However, other than a multi-million dollar, state of the art, police station, could we not use other tools at lower cost to the village, i.e. us the tax payer? I would love to have a large, home with all the amenities, but in these economic times I save when and where I can and spend on neccessity and survival. I am sure if we invested in the right tools, maybe even give the peace officers a well deserved raise, everyone would be happy and not even notice the old police station and save the tax payers a few dollars in the process. Sounds like a win-win!
All great suggestions but I have a few questions.
I am not sure what you mean by people taking voluntary salary cuts. Do you mean city staff, pub works, fire police?? who?? With the economy and household budgets as tight as they are (not to mention 401K, etc) I would not expect a long line at the volunteer window.
The take home city car thing seems like small potatoes to me. I would like to think that our city government and managers are making sure this is happening anyway but apparently not. In terms of dollars saved what does it equate to? A few bucks for gas?
The overtime suggestion may be the biggest save but again I would ask who do you mean? Staff? Fire? Pub works? Police? Are not some of these governed by union contract?
I guess what I am saying is I have no problem with all of these being done but I am not sure how much it chips away at the 1.7 mil.
I have a problem with building a "Super Sized" police station in these economic times.
Especially when some of the reasons for the large size were given as the need to store police cars inside. The need to keep unmarked cars hidden. The need to store inpounded cars inside. Not to mention a indoor shooting range
Being retired and watching my investments go to hell I sure don't need another tax increase.
A.J.
It is abundantly clear that the vast majority of residents are not in favor of a $16 million bond issue (with a total price tag approaching $30 million) to build a new police facility. However, that is exactly what will happen unless the residents arise en masse, contact the mayor and their aldermen to let their feelings be known, and then get behind a referendum petition if, as expected, they ignore you.
New police station = REFERENDUM!
I drive west bound on Touhy every morning to work. Every morning I am passed by vehicles that must be going 10-30 mph over the posted limit. Three kids have been struck in our city recently, two of them on Touhy. How many have to get struck or killed before we do something? I bet on any given morning, 8 - 10 tickets could be written at $75 each on Touhy alone. $600 a day would sure go a long way and help make our street safer for our children. Hey, let's focus on the important things like a new police station?
Mr. Soapbox writer I commend you on writing a column but your suggestions are useless. Be realistic when making suggestions. Who is going to take a voluntary pay cut? Would you? The take home cars are probably not a big way to elimate costs. Those guys would get those cars anyway during day. So i guess the city would save on gas they use after hours on what, like ten cars. The city buys gas in cheap bulk relatively. That fight would be worthless. Then you suggest four wheel drive cars. So I guess you are smarter then budgeting and purchasing of every city in the US who uses Crown Vics. Those cars would cost more to maintain and more for gas. In addition those cars are built for the task, handle relatively well in snow, have heavy duty suspension and cooling to take constant run abuse. Also they resale to cab companies at a decent price. I guess you want all the cops driving all wheel drive Audis. Trying passing that with tax payers. Im confused, you want police to have better equipment but are against new station. Lets be real that place is an old dump in a basement and they need something better. The city needs to finance things longer term and make quality investment so they wont have to reinvest money into things like air systems at Public Works over and over. Running a city isnt small,people need be concerned over big issue and not be wastefull on minimal issues. Its not like a restaurant where you can cut in multiple small areas to make a dent.
In previous post i was also addressing some of the response posts. Not all directed to the Spano guy. Im not trying to shoot down ideas but make people realize small stuff is bogus. If a watermain breaks in someones front yard on christmas you need overtime and remember other guy if you put one cop on toughy all day so people dont speed by you, thats another cop you need working. All these small changes have results that usually cost money. Sorry if last post was confusing. I didnt separate who i was addressing. I just started typing. Its easier.
anon 8:48 AM:
I have kids and, like you, I got a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach when I heard about the boy getting hit at Cumberland and Devon. I cannot even imagine what a nightmare that would be for the whold family - my prayers go out to them.
I also am very familiar with Touhy (as I am sure are most PR residents). The street was not designed to handle the traffic that now uses Touhy at peak times. People race to make lights and there are turning issues. I really think having a left turn arrow onto Western Ave. would help things. I know that there is a crossing guard at Western and Touhy but some of the teens who attend Lincoln choose to cross at a different intersection.
I am sure you are correct that if there was an officer stationed at that area all morning 8-10 tickets could be written - I would guess it would be more. As an aside I have seen cars pulled over and receiving tickets on Touhy but there could me more. But unfortunately the police can not be everywhere where there is a potential risk for an accident and or crime. I live near the intersection of Western and Belle Plaine. There have been 5 accidents at the intersection in the few years I have lived here. If the police stationed a car there every day during school opening and closing the could write 50 tickets. At least 30% of the people who go through that 4 way stop intersection do not stop.
I do not know the staffing models of our police department and have no experience in law enforcement but I do know that if they added staff and or paid overtime to cover these peak periods it would be more money (which many here would object to) and would still not cover every potential risk. All the tickets in the world written on Touhy would not have prevented what happened at Cumberland and Devon.
This is why, inspite of all the legitimate objections to cameras (big brother, cash register for city, may cause accidents) I believe red cameras and speed cameras are worth more investigation and review. I cannot help but think that if there were speed cameras along that part of Touhy from Greenwood to Dee it would reduce some of the issues you referenced in your post.
In tough times everything matters regardless of how small. Small things add up much quicker then people think. We must address all and then prioritize. Sorry, a nice new police station is not on the top of my priority list. I believe we need to focus on generating revenue. Revenue that we are missing due to old school, outdated ordinances leaving many vacant retail/eating establishments. We won't have a downtown, but hey....look at our police station! Nice........
You could wirte 50 tickets a day on Touhy or anywhere else you want. But do any of you know the break down of that $75.00? County gets about 40% State gets 55%. Park Ridge gets about a total of $4.00 per ticket. Thats it!!!!! I seem to remember when everyone wanted the Police to write Underage drinking,Train crossings and other such ordinance violations. Then the Public yelled and screamed to the Mayor.Guess what?It ended.So please the Police are not out there to make revenue.
Everyone wants the police to write lots of tickets until they get pulled over. Then it is the "I usually never go this way so I am unfamiliar with this area" excuse or "I hever get pulled over so I should not get a ticket" remark. Oh, and the best one, "I have lived in Park Ridge -- years, you can't write me!" So if you really want more tickets written by the police, then shut up and take your ticket when you deserve it.
Folks, here's the challenge. Park Ridge has always had the reputation of "throwing nickels around like manhole covers". The opportunities to cut are few and the creative options can only come from creative, highly-capable PAID staff leadership. Our elected officials, regardless of how one may feel about them, are to set policy. They are dependent on our department heads to evaluate their budgets and offer options.
Unfortunately,our building department, planning and public works are lead by exceptionally average folks at best. Damaging to the community at the worst. For a community of our size and maturity, adjacent to the Chicago and O'Hare and served by two rail lines, we should have the absolute best in the business to run the professional departments, not simply settle for whomever happens to remain after the recent smoke settled.
If our elected officials really want to move PR forward, make it a priority to start over, to advertise and interview for the absolute best for each of the city's departments, and rebuild from the top down.
Regarding our taxes. I just looked again at my recent bill. The City's portion of my bill is 8.5%, the two school districts 67%.We get awfully torqued up about our city taxes when they actually are quite a small part of the burden. Frankly, we seem to pay a lot let attention to the 67% than we do to the 8.5%.
Anon@9:46 --
It seems to be such a small %, that 8.5% of the property tax bill that goes to the city. But when you think about it for a moment, you realize the city taxes residents far beyond only collecting property taxes.
For the majority of property owners in Park Ridge, the school districts' portions of the property tax bill are all they will be billed by those districts.
But the city will continue to collect taxes from residents for not only property but also sales, gas, utilities, water, sewer, to name a few, along with a list of fees attached to such items as building permits, pets, business license, and various fines.
If you only look at the surface, it doesn't seem like much. Dig a little deeper, add it up, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.
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