Guest Report

Submitted by: Ms. Denise Alberts

Mr. Mayor,

I attended the monthly Illinois Gaming Board meeting yesterday (8-25-09). The agenda was heavy with issues on the newly passed law about video gaming. There was nothing on the agenda about the Des Plaines casino license. However, I learned from one of the committee members there that Mr. Bloom (Midwest Gaming) DID get the required paperwork in to move forward with approving investors, prior to the meeting. I am assuming that this issue will be discussed at the meeting next month, after the Board has reviewed it.

Video gaming is definitely a hot topic. The meeting opened with commentary from Chairman Aaron Jaffe who seemed annoyed with the entire situation. He stated that the Board at no time was consulted with before the law passed, yet the Board is being required to regulate the video gaming throughout the state. It "creates a new brand and new industry of gaming." No funding was established for staffing or equipment under this new law.

They need to MONITOR all of the machines (!!!) and he stated that it would be difficult to regulate all of it. Licenses need to be given to the manufacturer of the machines, the distributors, the terminal leasing companies, technicians, and terminal handlers. They would monitor all machines through a statewide computer system yet to be developed. The computer system could NOT monitor the age of a player or if they are on the state's "exclusion" list.

Four of the five speakers who addressed the board during "Public Commentary" spoke AGAINST video gaming and for strict regulations (the fifth speaker spoke about something other than video gaming). One of the speakers was Commissioner Bridget Gainer (10th District Cook County Board of Commissioners) and another was Mr. John Pastuovic (Director of Media and Public Affairs - Chicago Crime Commission). Their statements were all very strong and full of information on how detrimental adding video gaming in bars/lounges/restaurants/truck stops would be to individual communities.

Mr. Pastuovic was especially strong in stating their their studies show a 1000% rise in crime when this type of gambling is added to a community, and that the long-term costs far outweigh the benefits.

One of the speakers asked how the machines would be monitored to ensure that highly intoxicated individuals in the bars would not be using the machines. Another stated that "video poker will be preying on those who cannot afford to spend the money." This "fund" that the state wants to establish will be fed with money primarily from Illinois citizens, not tourists or those from other states. So this would be taking money from the citizens for these machines?!

Below is an article from the Trib. The reporter is a "regular" at the meetings. This is a good summary of Jaffe's comments: Gambling regulators not ready for video poker


The PRU Crew thanks you for your report Ms. Alberts.

Quittin' Time!

Have a relaxing weekend!

For Coffee or Kool-aid!

Available from zazzle.com

In this week's edition of the online Herald-Advocate we read an article, written by Ms. Jennifer Johnson, titled 'Bach: Council should manage city employees'. If that title alone doesn't make you sit up and take notice, then the opening paragraphs of the story should --

"Some might call it micromanaging, but for Park Ridge Alderman Don Bach, giving the City Council the authority to reorganize city staff and terminate positions is a necessity in light of the current economic climate.

Accusing City Manager Jim Hock of not doing enough to cut expenses, Bach presented the council with a proposal Monday night that would allow aldermen to "mandate reorganization and staff reduction for specified positions in specified numbers in a specific period of time by a super majority vote." Since 1949, when the position was created, the city manager has had the authority to "consolidate, combine or reorganize positions or units" that fall under his jurisdiction. These positions include all department heads and any employees exclusive of police officers and firefighters."

Holy wow! Does anyone really feel that politicians should control the hiring and firing of public employees? We mean, anyone besides City of Chicago Mayor Shortshanks?

Thankfully, it appears the rest of the Park Ridge City Council didn't hop on 3rd ward Ald. Don Bachtard's patronage wagon.

The article quotes the 2nd ward's Lord of the Manor, Rich DiPietro as saying --

"This City Council has enough problems trying to figure out what it's doing and being consistent in what it's doing without trying to run the day-to-day operation of the city," said 2nd Ward Alderman Rich DiPietro."

PRUdos to Ald. DiPietro! The PRU Crew has noted the same problems and inconsistency!

Anyone interested in viewing the Council's discussion of this topic can do so by going to the 38:33 mark in video #3 and the beginning of video #4 which we posted here.

For a quicker view, we've been provided with a link to the specific video segment, below --

Video From 8/24/09 COW

Video #00000


@01:30 mark -- Finance and Budget portion of meeting begins.

@02:00 mark -- Second Ward Ald. DiPietro moves approval of payment to Tylor Technologies.

@03:18 mark -- Ald. DiPietro moves to approve changes to meter and parking rates.

@07:10 mark -- Ald. DiPietro moves to approve increase to parking fines.

@08:52 mark -- Ald. DiPietro moves to go into closed session to discuss sale of City owned property.

@09:57 mark -- Discussion begins on heliport permit fees.

@15:00 mark -- Discussion begins on Special Events expense report.

@40:26 mark -- Discussion begins on funding sources for proposed flood control rebate program.


Video #00001


Begins with a continuation of the discussion of funding sources for the proposed flood control rebate program.

@19:08 mark -- Seventh Ward Ald. Wsol's big, dramatic moment in the spotlight -- we didn't want you to have to go searching for it, Francis.

@28:48 mark -- Committee decides to leave discussion of funding sources for proposed flood control rebate program on the agenda -- as opposed to voting to move the item forward to an action item at the committee level.

@29:27 mark -- City Finance Director Diane Lembesis begins the City's quarterly budget reports.


Video #00002


Begins with a continuation of discussion on the City's quarterly budget reports.

@21:40 mark -- Committee of the Whole moves to the Procedures and Regulations portion of the meeting.

@22:40 mark -- Second Ward Ald. DiPietro moves approval of the ordinance to allow package liquor sales at drug stores.

@37:30 mark -- Fourth Ward Ald. Allegretti moves approval to modify the liquor ordinance for live entertainment.

@46:07 mark -- Mayor Schmidt begins giving City Attorney Buzz Hill a hard time which culminates in Mayor Schmidt challenging Mr. Hill to step outside.

@47:55 mark -- Fourth Ward Ald. Allegretti asks the committee to defer action on the motion to modify the liquor ordinance for live entertainment. Ald. DiPietro moves to defer the item to the next Procedures and Regulations Committee meeting.

@48:40 mark -- Discussion begins on video gaming law.

Video #00003


Begins with a continuation of the discussion on video gaming law.

@36:35 mark -- Ald. DiPietro moves to send video gaming issue to next Procedures and Regulations Committee meeting.

@38:33 mark -- Discussion begins on duties of the City Manager -- Ald. Bach begins with a statement about over-staffing in the City of Park Ridge.

Video #00004


Begins with a continuation of the discussion of the duties of the City Manager and veers off into a discussion of whether or not the City budget is balanced.

@19:25 mark -- The Committee begins discussion of permits for liquor sales at special events.

@20:50 mark -- Discussion of the Public Works employee layoffs and service cuts begins.

@30:05 mark -- Council moves to go into closed session.


Good times, good times.

COW Meeting Tonight!

Once again people, your City Council will be meeting as a Committee of the Whole at 7pm tonight to discuss how to throw your money around.

The COW agenda (.pdf) includes, among other interesting items, the following discussion gems --

1 -- Public Works Service Adjustments (.pdf) -- we hope nobody thought they could lay off city workers and not experience service adjustments.

2 -- Special Events Expenses Report (.pdf) -- gobble gobble!

3 -- May-Apr 2009 Financial Report (.pdf) and May-July 2009 Financial Report (.pdf) -- a million here, a million there!

4 -- Flood Relief Rebate (.pdf) -- it's just money!


The Crew is looking forward to more video highlights tomorrow!

We Can't Believe It!

Two years and counting -- time sure flies when we're having fun!

460 posts, including this one --

On average, 2000 unique visitors per week --

Happy Birthday to us!

We thank our faithful readers for their continued interest and participation.

As we opened this blog, we restate here --

"Leave your prissy tasseled loafers at the door - we'll loan you a pair of Doc Martens. We are, as our header says, irreverent and unrepentant in our opinions. If hard driving sentiment with a dash of twisted humor is not your cup of venti caffé mocha then don't let the cyber-door hit you in the ass as you exit. And don't forget to take your prissy tasseled loafers with you!"

For PRU.ADMIN and those long nights of reading and writing --

The Commodores - Nightshift

Beware of Opportunists!

A recent article in the online Herald-Advocate -- Residents thwart attempted 'grandparents' scam -- discussed how two residents avoided being bilked out of money by a caller, or callers, trying to scam them. In the news report, it is clear that the scammers were trying to play on the residents' personal and familial ties.

The PRU Crew knows most of the residents of Park Ridge aren't easily duped and we're very glad to hear these two residents avoided the scam that has turned out differently for many others across the nation.

Beware of scammers.

There are scammers everywhere.

And then there are opportunists.

There are opportunists everywhere.

Sometimes they don't use the phone.

Sometimes they're closer to home than you may think.

Discussion of one particular opportunist took place at last night's Flood Control Task Force meeting.



The discussion begins @ the 10:30 marker in the above video -- another from Cecil B. deMelidosian's Motionbox collection

A copy of the flyer being discussed by the Flood Control Task Force is below --




There's nothing illegal or outright fraudulent in the above flyer. But as we said, we find it very opportunistic and we hope Park Ridge residents aren't duped into believing any final decision on flood control rebates has been made or that anyone can count on receiving a "rebate" of up to $2500 dollars if they choose to install flood control systems of any kind .

Caveat emptor.

Mayor Schmidtzkrieg Speaks!

WHITE PAPER ON
FLOOD REBATE PROGRAM

The City of Park Ridge is at a financial crossroads, faced with the decision of whether to continue down the current path of irresponsible budget deficits and asset depletion, or to chart a new course of sane, fiscally-responsible budgeting and spending.

In his 2009-10 budget message, City Manager James Hock warned that the City’s cash solvency and its ability to maintain the present level of services was “a concern,” in large part because of a damaging string of four consecutive budget deficits totaling in excess of $10 million, with another $1.9 million deficit already being projected for 2010-11.

What has that done to the City’s overall financial health? It has drained the City’s financial reserves - our “savings account” - which protects us from significant losses of revenue and unexpected major expenses. In April 2006, the City had a $15 million reserve balance. That reserve fund has dwindled to $8.4 million in just three short years! This is roughly 16%, or less than one-half, of the minimum 33% of annual operating expenses that sound municipal government principles and our City’s stated policy proscribes for its reserves. Worse yet, more than 75% of that amount, $6.4 million, is not even from regular periodic revenue sources, but is due to a one-time sale of City-owned land.

In a nutshell, if the City continues to run budget deficits at close to the same rate it has over the past few years, the City will exhaust its reserves in a very short time. Or put a different way, the City of Park Ridge is headed toward economic disaster unless we drastically change our budgeting and spending habits.

Against that backdrop of disturbing economic reality, Alderman Frank Wsol of the Seventh Ward and Alderman Don Bach of the Third Ward are promoting their plan for offering cash rebates up to $2,500 to residents who have already installed or plan to install certain types of flood control devices. Alderman Wsol’s own estimate is that the cost of such a program will be over $400,000 during the first year alone, although City Staff calculates that figure to be much higher even without including the cost of Staff time and money to administer such a plan.

Based on information already available to us, there appears to be little doubt that installing “private” flood control devices in individual homes improves the flooding situation for the individuals who install such devices. They do not, however, improve the flooding situation of our community as a whole, or of any other individual residents. To the contrary, they actually may contribute to an incremental increase in the flooding experienced by other residents. The bitter irony of such a plan, therefore, is that a resident who cannot afford the first 75% of the cost of the private flood control device he would be required to pay in order to receive a rebate under the Wsol/Bach proposal would end up seeing his taxes used to subsidize a neighbor’s device that might actually make the resident’s flooding worse!

The Wsol/Bach plan, as currently structured, would also be unfair to many individuals who installed private flood control devices in their homes prior to the completely arbitrary January 1, 2008 retroactive start date for when rebates would be available. Similar unfairness would occur even if the rebates were only prospective, beginning from the time the rebate program is adopted.

I believe that the City Council has absolutely no business even entertaining such a drain on the City’s precarious finances for a program which provides what amounts to public welfare, a principally “private” benefit to only a small group of property owners. This program is no less ill-conceived than Alderman Wsol’s plan (endorsed by Alderman Bach) to spend $16.5 million on a new police station which was soundly, and rightfully, rejected by over 80% of the votes cast in the April 2009 referendum. And it deserves the same fate.

Alderman Wsol and Alderman Bach have already vigorously opposed passing on the full cost of water usage to the people who actually use the most water. That decision took another $400,000 slice out of the City’s reserves at a time when we continue to bleed red ink. Now they want to cut deeper into the bleeding wound by slicing an even bigger piece out what is left.

If this were not bad enough for the majority of residents, the cost of the Wsol/Bach plan will also be borne on the backs of the non-union City staff members whose wages have been frozen, and the firemen who have agreed to help this City overcome its financial crisis by effectively sacrificing pay raises to which they were contractually entitled, and the policeman who will soon vote on whether to do the same. And it is grossly unfair to the four public works employees who just lost their jobs due to the City’s budget woes.

The proponents of this plan claim that the public is clamoring for its implementation. Claims like that are easy to make because they are so hard to disprove. Nevertheless, I call upon those residents who oppose reckless spending and who care about returning this City to sound economic health to contact their aldermen and let them know how you feel about the Wsol/Bach rebate plan, and about the City’s deficit spending and overall financial condition.

And I encourage those same residents to attend the upcoming meetings when this proposal will be debated and voted upon.

I am fully committed to doing whatever it takes to return this City to sound financial health. Anything less would be a dereliction of my duty to safeguard the well-being of the City and all of its residents.

And the PRU Crew could not agree more.

Council Video 8-17-09

@04:40 mark -- Representative Rosemary Mulligan discusses bringing home the bacon to Park Ridge, and says among other things that Pratt Avenue* will get funding for street repairs.

@23:00 mark -- Police Chief Kaminski begins recognition of citizen, police and fire assistance provided to heart attack victim, Lars Larson.

@38:00 mark -- Resolution recognizing Kurt Prinz for his service on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

@40:45 mark -- Resolution recognizing 1st ward Alderman Joe Sweeney for his service on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

@43:00 mark -- Taste of Park Ridge "report" from Al Galus and Dave Iglow.



@00:01 mark -- Mayor's appointments to the Park Ridge Airport Commission.

@01:19 mark -- Mayor's appointment to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

@02:07 mark -- Council Adoption of Resolutions for Prinz and Sweeney.

@02:33 mark -- City Clerk -- Resolution and presentation on Park Ridge Community Project for Kibosho Library.

@15:30 mark -- City Clerk report on vital records for births and deaths being moved to Cook County Clerk's office beginning August 15, 2009.

@16.11 mark -- City Clerk move to adjourn to closed session to approve previous closed session minutes.

@17:09 mark -- City Manager move to adjourn to closed session to discuss pending litigation.

@17:45 mark -- City Manager move to adjourn to closed session to discuss collective negotiating matters.

@18:14 mark -- City Manager request to defer closed session to discuss the City Manager's review; deferred due to the absence of Aldermen Bach and Carey.

@18:34 mark -- Police Chief Kaminski offers summary of recent police work.

@20:40 mark -- *Citizen address of non-agenda items; Ms. Pat Livensparger asks where Pratt Avenue is in Park Ridge, as previously mentioned by Rep. Rosemary Mulligan. City Manager Hock informs Ms. Livensparger that Ms. Mulligan was mistaken -- Avondale Avenue is the project that will receive funding.

@21:45 mark -- Procedures and Regulation item -- Text Amendment regarding billboards.

@22:27 mark -- 2nd ward Alderman DiPietro opens debate on text amendment.

@24:04 mark -- 4th ward Alderman Allegretti responds to DiPietro's comments.

@26:16 mark -- 2nd ward Alderman DiPietro responds to Allegretti's comments.

@27:30 mark -- Council vote on text amendment for billboards sent to Planning and Zoning; 3 (Allegretti, Ryan and Wsol) yes to 2 (DiPietro and Sweeney) no.

@28:07 mark -- Mayor Schmidt remarks on closing of City of Chicago offices.

@28:39 mark -- Council moves to go into closed sessions.

Council Meeting Tonight!

There's a City Council meeting tonight! On the agenda (.pdf) are some interesting items, such as a report on the 2009 Taste of Park Ridge and Council consideration of a text amendment to the City's Zoning Ordinance to allow billboard signs in certain commercial districts.

Does anybody recall hearing about billboards a while back? Oh that's right, former Mayor Howard listed "licensing bill boards" as his first idea for "raising revenue." In fact, former Mayor Howard talked about "licensing bill boards" on his campaign web site -- and the Pub-dogs took note here.

Oddly, we observe the letter (.pdf, pg. 8) written by the law firm of Loss & Pavone, to Procedures and Regulations Committee chairman and loyal Frimark lapdog, 4th ward Alderman James Allspaghetti, is dated June 23, 2009.

And of course Allspaghetti -- along with a majority of the City Council -- thought that the issue of billboards was so important that this zoning text amendment should be sent from the Council to Planning and Zoning on behalf of the applicant, while Allspaghetti seems to have remained stone-cold silent on doing local businesses the same favor, according to the July 13, 2009 COW meeting minutes (.pdf, pg. 4).

At the same COW meeting at which the Alderdopes voted to recommend a text amendment request be sent from the Council on behalf of law firm Loss & Pavone and their client, Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Gail Haller made a similar request on behalf of local Park Ridge businesses to allow A-frame sidewalk signs. The Council's answer to Ms. Haller and our local businesses? You're on your own.

Clearly, our PRU readers see the logic in all this! And the PRU Crew is sure Frimark's past mention of billboards and the advocacy position taken by Allspaghetti are just pure coincidence.

As we said, it's just a little odd.

Hope to have video tomorrow at some point!

Are You Bowlingual?

For the suckers aspiring Dr. Dolittles out there, you may want to check out the Bowlingual Voice translator! According to the products description, it was "developed by Takara Tomy, a Japanese toy company -- this little gadget is supposed to translate your dog’s feelings into words you can understand. The gadget can tell you if your dog is sad, joyful, alert to danger, needy, happy or frustrated."

But you'll also have to be fluent in Japanese first since this is a Japanese product currently only available with Japanese translations. Interesting to note the kind of entrepreneurial undertakings the allegedly superior Japanese education system is producing!

This device could be a godsend to police departments everywhere! Bring in Rover, sit him under a hot lamp with one of these babies strapped on, and let the dog bite interrogation begin!

Have a good long weekend!

No Film AT Eleven! Film ON the Twelfth!

And the PRU Crew has decided for today to embed these unmolested --













Thank you again, Charlie and George!

Film At Eleven? Tonight?

The PRU Crew has been waiting for the video from last night's City Council COW meeting to be uploaded to Cecil B. deMelidosian's Motionbox folder -- we would like to embed the videos here to go along with our irreverent and unrepentant remarks. But so far, zip -- and we don't know what kind of schedules the vidsters are working from.

The PRU Crew did want to take this opportunity to say how much we think everyone in town owes some BIG THANKS to Charlie Melidosian and George Kirkland for their volunteer work and commitment on this continuing video project. It goes a long way in making these public meetings a lot more accessible to everyone. The PRU Crew firmly believes that neither the conventional press nor our blog, together or separately, should be considered definitive sources of reporting on what takes place at public meetings -- we welcome the greater level of access people will have to be able to more fully form their own opinions.

We're looking forward to the uploads -- we hear City staff member Ms. Laura Dee, from the Environmental Health Dept., employed a "visual aid" for her address to the Council, and a good laugh was had by all!

COW Clunkers!

The Obama Administration Rebate Plan looks like this --



The Alderman Frank Wsol Rebate Plan looks like this --



Hello everyone! We hope you've been staying cool during our recent heat wave!

We've been keeping up with the goings on and we've gotten a good laugh or two out of the things we've seen and heard taking place.

We're sure tonight's City Council COW will offer more entertainment. Come on out and enjoy the show!

The PRU Crew is especially looking forward to hearing 7th ward Ald. Frank assWsol justify giving taxpayer dollars away from an already bloody red City budget! We're wondering why this discussion for funding a subsidy program isn't taking place during a Finance and Budget Committee meeting, but logic hasn't ever stopped either Ald. assWsol or Public Works Committee Chairman, Ald. Don Bachtard, from moooooving forward with one of their schemes!

Another item on tonight's COW agenda includes a discussion of 3rd ward Alderman Don Bachtard's idea to add pit bull terriers to the City code which lists "prohibited animals" but, from what we read, new Police Chief Kaminski is coaxing Ald. Bachtard back onto the reservation.

Another sure bet highlight from tonight's COW will be 5th ward Benedict Alderman Robert Ryan's solution for unkempt properties -- if people won't mow their lawns before the weeds grow to 12 inches high, then dammit, reduce the height allowed by the City code! But whatever you do, do not discuss issues of enforcement of the existing City code!

We just love City government in action!