Council Recap! And A Note!

-- For our patient PRU readers, a quickie council recap!

As we reported yesterday, the City Council had another meeting planned for last evening. Most of the items on the Council's agenda for approval were listed under the consent agenda that assumes no public discussion is necessary, as the items being approved are considered routine. The PRU Crew does not recall the Council routinely approving any Ground Water Ordinance (.pdf) or Limited Environmental Indemnity Agreements, but under the Frimark administration lack of public discussion does seem to be a routine.

Our sources report that Mayor Howard took full advantage of the evening's lack of scheduled public discussion to thrill those in attendance with an endless series of comments, offered under the Mayor's report portion of the agenda, though none of his comments were listed as agenda items. As we know, Mayor Howard just loves to surprise everyone with his missives!

Mayor Howard's comments included another mumbled reading of a Youth Commission* Proclamation, as well as slaughtering the English language while reading a City press release and a press release from Rep. Rosemary Mulligan concerning O'Hare expansion. Neither of which are listed on the terrific medium for City communications to residents known as the Park Ridge City website.

The two agenda items listed for discussion by the Council last night were "Approval of Modifications to CPS 36 -- Use of City Facilities" and "First reading of Modification to the Liquor Ordinance (12-6-10) -- Live Entertainment.

The first item passed unanimously without any questions or discussions from the Mayor or Alderman.

The second item also passed unanimously without discussion. Though we are told Alderman Dave Schmidtzkrieg (1st ward) recused himself because he is holding a fundraiser at Uncle Dan's which we are told will include live entertainment.

Under New Business on the Council agenda, our sources report that Ald. Dave made a statement regarding the disappearance of yard signs -- asking that all members of the community respect each other's right to free speech and respecting each other's right to take part in the democratic process. PRUdos to Ald. Dave!

Also under New Business, Benedict Alderman Robert Ryan (5th ward) asked City Manager Jim Hock when they would discuss the "objectives and goals" for the creation of a City Noise Commission. Confusion ensued as City Manager Hock seemed to recall that the matter of forming a Noise Commission had been deferred to the Council's March meeting. Benedict Ald. Ryan is reported to have disagreed with Mr. Hock's recall. The PRU Crew can only assume Benedict Ryan didn't read one of the documents (.pdf -- pg. 2&3) in his Aldermanic packet -- but at least Benedict Ryan made it to the meeting!

Finally under New Business, 3rd ward Alderman Don Bachtard reported that the Public Works Department has budgeted money for a City-wide study of the Park Ridge sewer system, and he invited Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim to explain why 2.05 inches of rain could cause 26 basements to flood, 50 streets to have minor flooding, and make 2 streets impassable. The answer is? Because the frozen February ground caused the water to run off and not be absorbed. According to Zingsheim the 2.05 inches of rain falling on frozen February ground was the equivalent of 3 to 4 inches of rain falling in a short period of time.

There you have it faithful PRU readers!

*Note* -- thanks to a PRU reader for the correction. The notes we received said "campus", but a double check with a few of our other sources inside the city confirms that while Mayor Howard mumbled Youth Campus it was ideed the Youth Commission.


-- A Note from the Crew

Please, you can stop sending us copies of the Mary Jo PADS email -- we've gotten a ton of them! We swear it! And yes, it's more of the same bullshit the PADS pushers have been spouting since discovering, after decades of residency, that Park Ridge doesn't have any homeless shelters.

As for the role PRU may have played in seeing to it the PRMA, PADS, and certain pastors did not get to run rough-shod over the rest of the community in pushing their latest pet social cause down everyone's throat without being subject to regulation -- you're welcome.

For those of you who haven't seen the latest round of email garbage on the PADS issue, you can read the crap pasted below -- tsk tsk, Mary Jo. Maybe you should just keep to Book Group activities such as reading, instead of writing.

"Hello to all of the PADS team,

I just wanted to get a quick e-mail out to you regarding the upcoming mayoral election. We all had first-hand experience of Dave Schmidt's role in derailing the PADS initiative last year. He publicly referred to homeless shelters as "flophouses" and "cesspools of infestation". He quoted Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged in advocating the philosophy that those in society who work and are successful are in no way obligated to help those who are not. He aligned himself with the Park Ridge Underground even when it vilified and ridiculed Fr. Carl and other church leaders and citizens who didn't share their anti-PADS sentiments. Many of the people who were affiliated with the PRU and against PADS now actively support Mr. Schmidt.

The reason I write all of this is not to dredge up bad memories, but to encourage you to let people who were not involved in the PADS initiative know about Mr. Schmidt's role in it. I recently had a conversation with a life-long Park Ridge resident who called me about the Sunday Suppers. She was so upset about the outcome of PADS, but delighted that we are doing the dinners. She then went on to tell me about voting for Dave Schmidt. She had no idea about his role in derailing PADS and thanked me again and again for letting her now about it. I think there are a lot of people out there who are looking for change in local government, but who are unaware of Mr. Schmidt's history.

Hopefully, we can get the message out that Dave Schmidt is NOT the change we need or want. In my estimation, Dave Schmidt, the Park Ridge Underground and the anti-PADS movement represented the antithesis of what a caring community should be. On the other hand, the past month-and-a-half of working with so many people of good faith in our community on the Sunday Suppers has revealed the best of Park Ridge. It has shown a spirit of fellowship, compassion and unity that I dearly hope we can continue to build on and nurture. During these tough economic times, it seems that we need an even greater spirit of compassion and empathy from our public leaders for those in society who are most in need. We need leaders who are advocates of inclusion, not exclusion. In regard to Howard Frimark, I can only comment about what I gleaned from the PADS experience of the past year. I know that he sincerely tried to find a way to make the PADS initiative work and has fully supported the Sunday Suppers. In fact, he and his wife stopped by at last week's dinner to see how things were going and to show their support. Mayor Frimark always seemed willing to find middle ground and compromise, while Mr. Schmidt was divisive and always seemed to be politically posturing himself. I just think it is important that voters are aware of the difference.

I'm sorry if I may have crossed a line by sending this, but it just seems that there is a lot riding on this upcoming election.

Thank you for "listening"!

Mary Jo"