Keep A Sense of Humor!

Try to have a few good laughs and enjoy the weekend!

Freewheeling PRU Briefs!

#1 -- The more efficient council of 7!

As our regular PRU readers know, the PRU Crew has a good time keeping up with the City calendar and reading through meeting minutes.

We noticed yesterday that a City Council COW Special Meeting (Closed Session) had been cancelled. The single agenda item (.pdf) listed was "III. ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION TO DISCUSS COLLECTIVE NEGOTIATING MATTERS, 5 ILCS 120/2 (c) (2)"

That sounds important, doesn't it? Does anyone think that agenda item may have had something to do with the on-going discussions between the City and employees regarding wages and budget issues? If you said "yes" to both those questions, you are correct.

So why was the meeting cancelled? To get an answer, the PRU Crew did what it always does and we asked our sources.

The answer? Three of the Aldermen couldn't make it to the meeting; therefore, there would not be a quorum.

The reduced City Council of 7 -- the millions of dollars deficit gift that keeps on giving!


#2 -- An exercise in power?

One of our sources reports that Mayor Schmidtzkrieg has been reading up on what a Mayor and leadership is all about. The PRU Crew has been told to look forward to Mayor Schmidtzkrieg exercising his Mayoral powers -- the proper execution of which Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's predecessor never seemed to grasp.

The PRU Crew has gone back and forth with our source on this very cryptic tip, but our source won't budge and provide any further detailed information.

We're looking forward to the big reveal!


#3 -- Outside the lines with a hometown bent!

Most of our faithful PRU readers probably remember the discussion that took place a little more than 1 1/2 years ago to consider the adoption of a local recall ordinance. Our illustrious box of rocks, a.k.a. our City Council, thought a recall ordinance was a bad idea. At that time, 4th ward Alderman Jim Allspaghetti lead the charge against adoption of a recall ordinance -- with all manner of support from former Mayor Howard.

There were those who contended that without a State amendment providing for recall of elected officials, the City of Park Ridge couldn't adopt such an ordinance.

Yesterday's Chicago Tribune editorial about the actions of the Illinois House's Rules Committee makes it clear that those opposed to a local recall ordinance here in Park Ridge have a lot of support down in Springfield and elsewhere.

Here are the list of "supporters" opposed to a State recall amendment, as listed in the Tribune's editorial --

Speaker Michael Madigan (Chicago), Edward Acevedo (Chicago), Luis Arroyo (Chicago), Daniel Beiser (Alton), Maria Berrios (Chicago), Mike Boland (Moline), John Bradley (Marion), Daniel Burke (Chicago), Will Burns (Chicago), Linda Chapa LaVia, (Aurora), Marlow Colvin (Chicago), Barbara Flynn Currie (Chicago), John D'Amico (Chicago), Monique Davis, (Chicago), William Davis (Hazel Crest), Anthony DeLuca (Crete), Lisa Dugan (Bradley), Keith Farnham (Elgin), Sara Feigenholtz (Chicago), Robert Flider (Mt. Zion), Mary Flowers (Chicago), LaShawn Ford (Chicago), John Fritchey (Chicago), Esther Golar (Chicago), Careen Gordon (Coal City), Jehan Gordon (Peoria), Julie Hamos (Evanston), Betsy Hannig (Litchfield), Gregory Harris (Chicago), Elizabeth Hernandez (Cicero), Jay Hoffman (Collinsville), Thomas Holbrook (Belleville), Constance Howard (Chicago), Eddie Jackson Sr. (East St. Louis), Naomi Jakobsson (Urbana), Charles Jefferson (Rockford), Lou Lang (Skokie), Joseph Lyons (Chicago), Frank Mautino (Spring Valley), Karen May (Highland Park), Emily McAsey (Lockport), Kevin McCarthy (Orland Park), John McGuire (Joliet), Deborah Mell (Chicago), Susana Mendoza (Chicago), David Miller (Dolton), Elaine Nekritz (Northbrook), Harry Osterman, (Chicago), Brandon Phelps (Norris City), Dan Reitz (Steeleville), Al Riley (Olympia Fields), Kathleen Ryg (Vernon Hills), Michael Smith (Canton), Cynthia Soto (Chicago), Andre Thapedi (Chicago), Art Turner (Chicago), Patrick Verschoore (Milan), Mark Walker (D-Arlington Heights) Eddie Washington (Waukegan), Karen Yarbrough (Maywood), Michael Zalewski (Chicago).

Asshats all!

Oh my my my my my oh my mum!

-- with apologies to the Violent Femmes.


Take a look now, look what your Pub-dog's done!


O.k. -- we admit it -- we are being total slackers!

Coming to a Foreclosure Near You?

Last week a faithful PRU reader submitted the above photo of a home in the 2nd Ward that was foreclosed and boarded up -- a neighborhood eyesore to be sure.

Our reader informed us that he contacted his Alderman and the City about the house and received a reply from the City indicating that the City could not locate the owner -- the PRU Crew thinks whoever responded in this way probably wouldn't have any better luck finding their own ass with both hands and a flashlight.

Our undeterred faithful PRU reader conducted an internet search and found the ownership information. He then provided the ownership information to the City, at which point our faithful reader was informed that the City has given the owner 90 days to remove the boards, in accordance with the Park Ridge Property Maintenance Code (.pdf).

22-8-12 CLOSING WINDOWS AND OTHER OPENINGS

Any building that is not secured and is abandoned or vacant shall have all unsecured wall openings including, but not limited to, windows, doors, and porch openings boarded up or otherwise closed until the building is properly secured. No building opening shall be boarded up or otherwise closed for more than 90 days unless approved by the Housing Inspector or Building Official. (Ord 2006-01, 1/9/06, S24)

Our faithful PRU reader also contacted the owner about this property and received the following response --

From: "Henry Jones" <jonesrealtyreo.com>
To: xxxx@comcast.net
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 10:41:49 AM GMT -06:00
Subject: RE: xxxx Hoffman Park Ridge

This house is owned and being sold by the Federal Government of the United States of America. They tell me what to do, how to do and when to do….If it sells hey, I make a few bucks. If it don’t. I still got a few bucks…. It is what it is….. Thanks for the inquiry….

Jones Realty Co
329 W 18th Suite 413
Chicago, IL 60616
312.602.9830
Fax 312.829.6340
corporate website: www.itsmyagent.com
Henry Jones Managing Broker

Does anyone else get the feeling that the managing broker doesn't give a shit?

This is the exact type of situation for why our City officials should -- because they are what is supposed to stand between carpetbaggers, chaos, and the health and welfare of our community.

Really? City staff couldn't find the ownership information? Really? Did anyone even try?

We've received a few reports like this now and so we're going to tell everybody that it is not only true that the Good Lord helps those who help themselves, but also that City staff does too.

The economy isn't going to get better overnight, and neither are the foreclosures -- according to one source, Realty Trac (click on the "Bank Owned" tab), there are currently 175 bank owned properties in Park Ridge.

It seems worth everyone's time to know the Property Maintenance Code (.pdf).

To our faithful PRU reader -- the Crew thanks you for sharing the information with us, your effort on behalf of your neighborhood and community, and finally for your patience with us -- we realize it took us longer than it should have to catch on to what you were trying to make us understand.

Memorial Day, 2009

"Do you know what a soldier is, young man? He's the chap who makes it possible for civilized folk to despise war." -- Allan Massie

Enjoy some personal peace this holiday weekend.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way --

Good afternoon, PRU Readers. We had planned to put up our Memorial Day post and wish everyone a nice long weekend.

Instead, we feel PRU readers should check out the most current Pub-dog post!

To borrow a phrase -- hellooooo!

Smile for the Camera!

With one very notable exception, the PRU Crew hasn't found much to complain about regarding the Park Ridge Park District. In fact, we feel it's one of the more well-run local governing bodies that we've seen.

Our expectation is that, with most of the new crop of Park Board members, the Park Ridge Park District will continue to function pretty well.

So today the PRU Crew wanted to offer PRUdos to the Park Ridge Park District for making the effort to provide taxpayers with the opportunity to view Park Board meetings on video. Nothing fancy. Simply some straight up and unedited recordings of their meetings. We're betting this doesn't cost anywhere near the costs that were quoted to the City Council for taping meetings.

We understand that such recordings may not always "make our elected officials look their best," as we've been told our City Cluck Betty Henneman has been known to say, but not looking your best is part of the human condition on occasion.

We are also aware the local press doesn't like the idea of video taping meetings -- residents and taxpayers, able to see what actually took place at a meeting, may come to understand the shortcomings of our local press...and the dwindling subscriptions may dwindle even more.

Still, the PRU Crew feels that with the technology available there is nothing preventing either the Park Ridge City Council, the Niles-Park Ridge Community Consolidated School District 64, or Maine Township High School District 207 from video taping meetings, and uploading those videos to their respective web sites.

Maybe some nice Park Board member could let our three other local governing bodies know how it can be done.