The City Council will be meeting at 7:00 pm tonight for the required budget hearing. The regular City Council meeting will begin at 7:30 pm.
Of the 10 items listed for action on the City Council agenda (.pdf), 6 items -- 2 which are proclamations -- are listed as part of the consent agenda, which is explained as "* All items listed with an asterisk are considered routine by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of those items unless and Alderman so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the Agenda."
And it would appear that the City Council so routinely creates commissions that there is no discussion necessary for tonight's agenda item, * a. Final approval of an Ordinance Creating an O'Hare Airport Commission (Article 4, Chapter 10), which is described in the background material cover & documentation (.pdf) as --
4-10-1 COMMISSION ESTABLISHED
There is hereby created the O'Hare Airport Commission. The O'Hare Airport Commission's objective will be to provide a forum for public discussion and serve as an advocate for reasonable sound and environmental levels associated with flights flying to and from O'Hare Airport over Park Ridge. The Commission shall conduct research; educate the public; and advocate for improvements.
4-10-2 FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMISSION
The Commission shall be charged with the following duties and
responsibilities:
1. Monitor sound and air quality
2. Research and advocate for a decrease in the frequency of
flights over Park Ridge
3. Make recommendations to the City Council on potential and
proposed legislation that will affect the decibel level in homes and schools in Park Ridge. This shall include funding sources for soundproofing, tax benefits for homeowners, and encouragement for quieter aircraft.
4. Communicate regularly with city staff, elected officials and
the public on the Commission's progress.
5. Make recommendations to the City Council on potential and proposed legislation that will affect aircraft and airport related public health and environmental issues that may impact Park Ridge.
City Manager Jim Hock's cover memo does not include an "x" in the box usually marked off to indicate whether or not an action item may "Require an Expenditure of Funds:"
The PRU Crew is wondering just how exactly the commission will accomplish its functions, detailed above, without any funding. The PRU Crew is also wondering what, if any, budget impact the creation of this commission will have by way of the usual "staff support" that is provided by the City.
But we understand that such details can wait for discussion at a later date. Tonight the City Council has a budget hearing and has to "c. Approve Fiscal Year Budget Beginning May 1, 2009 and ending April 30, 2010."
It would be silly to discuss things like any budget impact for the creation of a new city commission tonight.
And while city employees are looking at a wage and hiring freeze, as part of the painful process of balancing the city budget, the powers that be are looking at adding another bureaucratic layer of functioning. Way to go! Keep this up and city staff may soon come to spend all their time in meetings!
B.O.H.I.C.A.!
April 20, 2009
Budget BOHICA!
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15 comments:
Isn't this commission intended to work like the "task force" that the people running ORD-REST wanted the city to create for them - with funding of something like $300 grand a year?
No check-mark in the box for the money question is an ominous sign.
How are they going to monitor air quality? By color? Smell?
The only way to monitor air quality is to pay con$ultant$ who have the experti$e to $ay you need to do more long term $tudie$ to pay for all the equipment and analy$i$. Ye$ a con$ultant who ha$ all the expen$ive $pecialized equipment needed, the $taff to collected the air $ample$, etc.
HELLO
Where is THIS investment going???
Is there another consultant in Peotone??
If these are some of the questions you wish answered, there is a "clause" that states if anyone wishes to have discussion on any consent agenda items, it can be taken off consent by an alderman for discussion. So... call your alderman and ask him to remove the task force item off consent. If you don't have a "friendly" alderman any other may do.
I know this is off topic, but maybe someone has an answer to my question. I've serched the net and haven't found it. Question being.....are there anytimes when planes are not to fly over...like early morning, etc? Are there specific no fly hours? Thanks!
Anon@5:13 --
There are no times at which flights are prohibited.
However, the ONCC --
http://www.oharenoise.org/
-- regularly touts its Fly Quiet program --
http://www.oharenoise.org/
News%20Releases/2008
/FlyQuietAwardsNR3F122208.pdf
Come on folks.
We haven't had any planes landing on this side of the airport, including over Bell Plane for sometime untill now.
At least 1 thing we can be glad is there will be times when we won't as much air traffic as others.
I have lived in PR for over 35 years. I knew there was an airport called O’Hare when I moved here. Now we have South side residents who do not get out much and just found out there was an airport nearby and we are expected to pay for this new commission.
How do I opt out?
PRU...you forgot to add at the end of your statement that this "program" is bullshit.
gypsy --
No -- we figured our cogent PRU readers didn't need our saying so -- they already know bullshit when they hear it.
400 people a year who live in and around the collar communities of O'Hare die from the several types cancers that were found in both cancer studies - is unacceptable as one resident recently stated.
Contamination in our air from the toxic compounds that come from the low level emissions is also not acceptable.Just some of these compounds are:
- Nickel
- Benzene
- Chromium
- Acetone
and more......
The noise levels do change - but one thing is for sure - to see these kids hold their ears while they walk to and from - is sad.
Contact the members of the Illinois delegation and let them know your feelings.
Noise and air monitors won't reduce the numbers of planes overhead.
People will!
Keep it up!
Thank you.
I question this commission as well. It seems to me it is kind of like having "the talk" with your son after his girl friend is pregnant.
But Mike, you post kills me!!! I would say I am a glass is half full kind of guy but come on!! Since November I have and average of abut 200 planes per day flying directly over my house. You are telling me I should be glad that there are times when there won't be as much traffic. When are those times? Should I plan my picnics and outdoor activity based on predicted wind direction in the hopes they will be using a different runway?
I don't necessarily support this commission, but I will say I was at MS last Saturday watching a baseball game and was shocked at the number of planes. At any given time, you would look up and there would 3 coming in for a landing and you could see 3, sometimes only 2, in the distance ready to land next. It really was a lot worse than I would of expected. I lived on the south side of town for 10 years, and it was never like that.
Anon at 7:23
Do your detective work.
Those junk science studies do not support what you are saying.
Benzene - its in gasoline. Do you wear a gas mask when you fill up your tank? If you are concerned about benzene emissions from the airplanes and the airport, you should be aware of the very real risk you willingly expose yourself to every time you fill up the tank.
Acetone? Not in jet fuel. The idea is to have a high ignition point so the fuel does not spontaneously ignite. Acetone would work against this by lowering the ignition point.
Nickel? Chromium? Perhaps from the diesel trucks on the tollways around OHare, but not from the planes.
Please stop repeating false information. We have had enough of that in town over the last four years.
Plus how can one be affected by fumes from planes?
when exhast from cars come out of the exhaust pipe, or from train engines, it goes up, not down.
Same with planes so just stop suggesting such nonsense.
And for 9:47.
If I can fromember there's as long as I've lived here wich has also been 35 years, I can always remeber days with little or no air traffic.
As for your picnic's or any othere outdoor activities,
I never allow the planes to affect my outdoor recreation so there's no reason why you can't do the same thing.
People in PR and other towns have been fighting the airport for decades and they haven't won yet so give it up.
www.ourairspace.org
Check it out.
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