Venice Ridge? Council Recap!

According to our faithful sources, last night's City Council meeting lasted 5 1/2 hours.

The first half of the meeting was dedicated to listening to a long parade of residents detail their recent experiences with flooding, residents' concerns and ideas for addressing the problem, and marginal updates provided by city staff.

According to one of our sources, there was a disturbing pattern of people who related that they had never experienced any flooding until last September and then again this past June 19th. The most frequently asked question was, "What changed?" The PRU Crew is wondering the same thing, and hoping the learned engineers on the Flood Control Task Force, along with the consultants hired to study the problem, will answer that question.

Many people addressing the Council used the word "emergency" to convey their belief that the City must address this issue immediately. The Crew believes people have paid enough attention to know that without the problem being given "emergency" status, the likelihood of approval for spending any money to mitigate the problem is nil. We're told even Mayor Schmidtzkrieg characterized the problem as an "emergency", so we feel confident in believing the Mayor would not veto a spending ordinance approved for this matter by the Council.

One of the exasperating circumstances for residents seems to be the snail's pace at which information is being gathered, by both the consultants hired to study the issue and the Flood Task Force formed to discuss the issue to come up with recommendations, and formulation of a final plan. We hate to tell you this people, but things can only move as fast as they can move -- and then the search for money begins. And make no mistake about it, whatever plan is eventually settled on will require gobs of money. We hope a majority of residents will be prepared to pay for what it is they say they need and want.

In the meantime, people may want to keep Service Master on speed dial.

The second half of last night's Council meeting was devoted to discussions of zoning changes for commercial parcels along Northwest Highway.

The zoning for the Napleton Cadillac parking lot property was changed from a B1 zoning designation to an R3, which means residential, despite the recommendations made by the Planning and Zoning Commission. We trust the neighbors in the immediate area are pleased with this change. We also trust that nobody will be surprised if Mr. Bill Napleton becomes totally pissed off about the change and files a law suit. The Crew hasn't heard any rumors about such a thing, as we try to avoid moving in the same circles as the likes of Mr. Napleton, but we're just saying we wouldn't be surprised by such a move.

The old Audrey's property was left as-is in terms of the zoning designation, but should the owner wish to place a generator 5 feet from the sidewalk, that could now be done, as the Council voted on an amendment offered by 3rd ward Alderman Don Bachtard that allows generators to be placed as close as 5 feet from any property lot line.

We hear this change to the zoning code for the placement of generators is a particular triumph for one particular resident. We also hear this particular resident thinks his shit doesn't stink and he has the right to act obnoxiously at Council meetings -- throwing a stack of petitions at the Director of Community Development and demanding that she pass the petitions around to the Council.

We're told Mayor Schmidtzkrieg got all up in the guy's grill. Good.

As for the PRU Crew, we generally feel Ms. Davis operates at a level barely above incompetence but, nevertheless, she's still the Director of Community Development -- required to attend public meetings for the benefit of the public. Be careful, sir, at whom you throw things or we may be tempted to see to it you go home wearing whatever it is you chose to throw at a city staff member.

As for Alderman Bachtard and the other Alderidiots, your silence on the matter was duly noted.

There you have it people, an admittedly lite recap.

The Crew has decided to take the month of July off -- off meaning an irregular posting schedule, if any -- we'll see you again in August.

Special Meetings for Special People!

We're wondering if the special people on the Park Ridge City Council will be "going green" and taking public transportation to their special meeting tonight! The PRU Crew suggests the above --

We hope to be able to provide PRU readers with a recap tomorrow!

Whoomp! There it is!

Have an amazing weekend!

Relocation, Relocation, Relocation!

In this week's edition of the Journal and Topics we read about Rising Costs Send Johnny's Place Packin'.

The article reports the owner "[Mr. John] Nasiopoulos made it clear he did not want to leave Park Ridge, but cited a rent increase and rising taxes as two reasons he had to leave.

"It (the increase) was almost $1,000 a month," he said. "I either had to raise my prices to the point where I aggravate my customers... or I buy garbage product," he said. "And I never considered reducing the quality of the product."

The PRU Crew recalls many other businesses that have closed up or moved on from Park Ridge -- Happy House, Bailey's, Walter's Restaurant, and Napleton Cadillac to name just a few -- for reasons that didn't seem to have much to do with the constantly cited "Park Ridge is unfriendly to business" complaints we hear from members of the Park Ridge business community.

We've also heard complaints from businesses that landlords in Park Ridge need to adopt a more realistic view of the rental market, which seems to fit the bill in the case of Johnny's Place.

We are very seriously wondering how exactly Park Ridge is "unfriendly to business." Does the business community experience insurmountable difficulty when trying to open a business here? What are those difficulties? Does the business community find shoppers in Park Ridge particularly tight with a buck? Did the Chamber experience any up-tic in sales during their "Shop Local" campaign?

Anybody got any insights?

We ask because we do not expect the economy to get much better any time soon, and more importantly we also hear rumors that another large business player in town could be having some serious problems.

Every time our town loses a business that closes or decides to relocate out of Park Ridge, and then invites Park Ridge consumers to follow them out of town without the lost business having been replaced by some other tax generating entity, taxpayer's here will feel the pinch. Given the City's current financial position, these losses are felt more deeply than they may otherwise have been.

If City government is truly an impediment to new businesses opening in Park Ridge, we would hope that members of the business community would grab their brass and speak up. You can't fix problems you don't know exist.

We have yet to hear anyone in the business community articulate the precise issues that may make doing business in Park Ridge difficult or more difficult than in other places.

We're all ears.

Man, It's A Hot One!

Like seven inches from the midday sun!




Stay cool, unlike the PRU Crews equipment today.

We hope to be back in the blogger game by tomorrow.

Dangerous Thoughts!

We read an article in the online Chicago Tribune -- Antioch district decides against book ban -- that discussed the efforts by some parents to eliminate an award winning book from the high school freshman summer reading list, despite having the option of reading an alternative selection. The article reports that parents' objections were based on their sense that the book uses "vulgar" and "racist" language.

The Tribune article describes the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, as "a coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy who triumphs over obstacles after leaving an American Indian reservation to attend an all-white school."

The PRU Crew was reminded of a similar effort last year by parental zealots and the Illinois Family Institute to eliminate birth control information from the Maine South curriculum, despite the ability to have their own children opt-out of the class. In a twisted way we were gratified to learn from the Tribune article that Park Ridge isn't the only place where absurdly concerned parents try to dictate curriculum and values for an entire community.

We will never understand people who seem to fear information. Also, we will never understand people who seem to believe 14 year old boys -- and girls too! -- don't use vulgar language. The PRU Crew actually finds the judicious employment of some vulgarity is useful! Though we admit we'd rather not hear anyone under the voting age using it.

After reaching the voting age, paying attention to elections, public policy discussions, listening to politicians make promises, then voting, and the general condition of being a citizen of Illinois under what could be said to be one of the most politically corrupt State governments in the Union -- we don't understand how anyone over 18 isn't walking around muttering "Fuck!" to themselves all day long!

Because the PRU Crew loves to piss off people who piss us off, we asked ourselves, "What would piss off the thought police as much as possible?" The answer we came up with is, we think District 207 should consider adding an elective Junior and Senior level course to the high school curriculum devoted entirely to the reading and discussion of "banned" books.

With a heavy dose of Constitutional and public policy issues thrown into the mix.

Keep the thought police hopping!

"The thorn defends the rose"

Last week we talked about Rainbow Hospice and the Taste of Park Ridge. The PRU Crew's sentiments about both of these organizations and their activities hasn't changed. We still very much appreciate them both.

Our faithful PRU readers may remember from last year our post about the Taste of Park Ridge. We offered PRUdos to the Pub-dogs for pushing for transparency in the face of some seriously strident opposition and criticism.

The Pub-dogs are again making another call for transparency, regarding the financial arrangements for the Taste of Park Ridge Inc.

And again the PRU Crew is appreciating the tenacity of the Pub-dogs.

In the words of a Shaolin master -- "To suppress a truth is to give it force beyond endurance."