Happy New Year!

digitalblasphemy.com

Top Ten Reasons To Read PRU
in the New Year!

10) We don't accept advertising; advertisers can't call our Editor and raise holy hell about a story they didn't like and threaten to pull their advertising dollars.

9.) We offer an interactive experience on local issues with nearly unlimited space for your comments.

8.) We've got nothing to lose by ratting out the rotten apples in local government, and neither do you.

7.) We don't give a shit who you know, how long you've lived in Park Ridge, how much money you make, what club(s) you belong to, or what ivory tower gave you a degree; as a resident and/or taxpayer you are entitled to open, honest, transparent, and representative government, and that's what we are pushing for.

6.) If we know something and can verify its authenticity, we will tell it to you whether you want to read it or not; we refuse to infantilize the adult population of Park Ridge.

5.) We aren't politicians and we will never ask you for your $upport.

4.) We are a fun and entertaining alternative to the local presszzzzzzzzzzz...

3.) Where else can you see a picture of Howard Frimark in thigh-high fishnets and hooker heels?

2.) Admit it, you like seeing arrogant politicians and stupid kool-aid drinkers being made fun of.

And the number one reason to read PRU...

1.) You don't have to press "1" for English.

Have A Merry Christmas!

digitalblasphemy.com

An Interesting and Different Perspective.

M.C.Escher Puddle

Perhaps some of you noticed the new link we added to our list: Time Tells.

It is a blog billed as, "...a project of FNewsmagazine, the student news publication at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago."

Topics center around architectural history, preservation, and related issues.

We found it interesting. We also found some discussions we thought folks here may want to take a look at.

Time Tells » Huge Fact

Time Tells » A Tragedy in Park Ridge

Time Tells » Park Ridge: a Fistful of Dollars

If we'd had our act together, we would have sought permission to print 'Huge Fact' as a guest essay for today. But we're slackers.

Park Ridge Wonderland!

Our inspiration: 'Typo' or zoning loophole? - Park Ridge Herald-Advocate

For desired accompaniment: Winter Wonderland
(Click on traditional arrangement)

Hey, Park Ridge
Are you listening
In Uptown
Steel is glistening
A beautiful sight
If you're a builder tonight
Walking in a Park Ridge Wonderland

Gone away is the green space
In its place is a disgrace
A four-story hulk
With way too much bulk
Looming in a Park Ridge Wonderland

In the future we can build more condos
Then pretend that density is good
Why not build them higher?
Call them "Mondos"!
And you can say good-bye
To your old 'hood

Once again
They'll conspire
To go up even higher
And face unafraid
The zoning code that we've made
Building in a Park Ridge Wonderland

In the Uptown we can spend TIF dollars
And pretend that we are flush with cash
We'll have lots of fun with those TIF dollars
Unless a downturn bites us in the ass

Years from now
Reminiscing
Open space we'll be missing
What will we say
About back in the day
Living in a Park Ridge Wonderland

What will we say
About back in the day
Walking in a Park Ridge Wonderland

Our 10,000th Visitor!

A little less than two months ago, the Journal & Topics gave us some coverage in an article titled: Beware Of Blogger. That coverage served to boost our readership significantly.

The article contained the following:

"Ald. Rich DiPietro, the widely respected current alderman serving the second ward, was sharply critical of the website. "I didn't read much of Mad Magazine when I was growing up, and I gave up shortly after reading one or two of these blogs," he said. "It's negative, nothing constructive, it doesn't serve any purpose." He added that he doesn't know who the author is, but he offered that "is probably someone well known in the city."

Oh! That hurt! How could the Lord of the Manor not love us!? That's so negative!

In a bit of cosmic irony, we welcomed our 10,000th visitor to PRU early last week. Guess who it was.

That's right folks! The one! The only!

Lord of the Manor!



VISITOR ANALYSIS
Referring Link - No referring link
Host Name - adsl-75-51-60-73.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net
IP Address - 75.51.60.73 Rich DiPietro [Edit Label]
Country - United States
Region - Texas
City - Plano
ISP - Crosstech Communications
Returning Visits - 6
Visit Length - 0 seconds

VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser - MSIE 5.0
Operating System - PPC
Resolution - 1024x768
Javascript - Enabled

No referring link? Awwww, did you put us in your "favorites" list?

800 lb Gorilla in City Council!

Tonight's City Council meeting agenda includes an action item that may give carte blanche to Mayor Frimark to participate in debate and discussion at City Council Meetings, by changing the City Council Procedures manual.

Currently, the City Council must entertain a motion to set aside the rules and allow the Mayor to participate in debate - this is one of the procedures expressly outlined in Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised; the meeting procedure long-ago adopted by the City Council. Though adherence has been far less formal than the language contained in RONR would suggest.

According to the mandate in Robert's Rules of Order - and not so subtly supported by a memo from the City Attorney quoting, "the chair of a meeting should have nothing to say on the merits of a pending question" - it is the role of the chairman to efficiently run the meeting and to see to it the rights of all assembly members are protected; in short, impartiality is required of Mayor Frimark in his role as the presiding officer.

~~~ We pause now for a moment of hysterical laughter ~~~

We feel this is a very poorly considered change to procedure on the part of the City Council, no matter who occupies the chairman's seat.

And from what many have reported, and we have witnessed, Mayor Frimark is barely capable of efficiently running City Council meetings now. We are almost certain his desire to protect the rights of all assembly members is non-existent. His conduct as the City Council chairman has particularly deteriorated over the last several months, and that has been under the proscribed constraints of RONR.

Releasing Mayor Frimark from the requirement of at least appearing to be an impartial presiding officer is like giving an 800 lb. gorilla free rein of a banana plantation.

And we think that is exactly what the City Council will be doing tonight.

HO-HO-HO!

Thanks to the Pub-dogs for the numbers.

Have a warm weekend.

Shell Game.

In today's edition of the Herald-Advocate we read about a New site for police station is under consideration. The article reports that nobody is willing to say which property is being looked at.

Of course, you know the PRU Crew is willing to say which property is being looked at. It's the American Insurance building on Garden St. City staff made a low-ball offer that was rejected by the owner, but that doesn't mean a deal is dead. The owner is said to be getting his own appraisal done, and the back-and-forth on dollars will probably continue.

The article goes on to report that Ald. Frank Wsooooolman (7th Ward) has asked that the city council review the "action plan" passed by the council last April; an "action plan" that Ald. Wsooooolman voted in favor of - Council Minutes 4-2-07 minutes-pdf.

The article notes that a list of preferred properties was included for consideration in the "action plan". But, in our reading of the Police Station Resolution-pdf we must have missed the specific list discussed in the article.

City officials are sure hot to trot for building a new police station in Target Area 4. We hear some interesting things about why that may be so. Do you think any elected officials or their spouses may have any interest in property in Target Area 4? Inquiring minds want to know!

While the city council, the Mayor, and city staff again take up the yackety yack about building a new police station, the city continues to sit on two properties it owns and on which a new police station could be built, 1) the old public works service center at Greenwood & Elm, and 2) the house on Courtland adjacent to the City Hall parking lot, which was specificially purchased as a site for a new police station.

And our cops continue to sit in a 9000 square foot shithole, while the politicians continue to dick around playing the property purchase shell game they love so much.

Another...

...for Norwood Builders' Bruce Adreani!

In today's edition of the Journal & Topics, we read:



Anybody willing to wager that the "temporary waitress" hired from Hooters was consulting with a financial advisor instead of showing up in court?

As one of our friendly correspondents put it, "There was no way any of this was ever going to see the light of day."

Adreani's attorney, Frank DiFranco, uncharacteristically did not have a statement for the press about the dismissal of the charges.

Along with Bruce Adreani, we bet there are a number of Park Ridge Country Club "civillian witnesses" for whom the dismissal of these charges will make this a very Merry Christmas.

B.O.H.I.C.A!*

PRU readers may remember an October post we put up about the City's meeting with ComEd. Our posts on ComEd and the City's meeting were a result of ComEd's piss poor performance in the aftermath of an August storm that left many Park Ridge residents and ComEd customers without power for as long as 98 hours. Many residents and business people in Park Ridge began to also discuss the generally piss poor service the Park Ridge community has received from ComEd over the years. ComEd's response to the complaints was to promise to do a report and get it back to the City.

The PRU Crew still maintains that ComEd and the City of Park Ridge should be discussing the costs and benefits of burying power lines.

Yesterday we came across another article in Crain's about a recent move by ComEd's parent company, Exelon Corp., to link Commonwealth Edison Co. to PJM, an East Coast power grid. According to the article, "The decision to join PJM instead of its Midwestern counterpart, commonly known as Midwest ISO, means the Northern Illinois power market is now tethered to the East Coast, where electricity supplies are far tighter and prices correspondingly higher than in the Midwest."

And ComEd customers can expect to see "households and small businesses...rates jump by 1 cent per kilowatt-hour by 2009, according to Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) staff calculations — 10% above next year's average rate of 10.2 cents per kilowatt-hour." Additionally, "in October, ComEd filed for a $360-million rate increase for delivering power, which if approved in full would raise household electric bills by about 8% starting next year. Put the two items together, and that's an 18% increase in electric bills by 2009."

The article notes:

"By itself, the PJM-related increase would nearly erase the relief won in this year's Springfield negotiations, which reduced ComEd's 24% rate hike that took effect at the beginning of the year to 13%.

In those negotiations, Exelon's Mr. Rowe won an important and overlooked concession: State officials are barred for the next 15 years from trying to force ComEd off the PJM grid."

It's clear to us that public officials are nothing if not fashionably late to a party; the article goes on to report that, "Local officials are beginning to question the PJM tie-in. In a hearing before the ICC last week, Commissioner Robert Lieberman chided PJM officials for hiking electric rates with no promise of anything in return from the industry. "It's not clear to us what we're getting for that," he said."

Maybe PJM will promise to do a report and get it back to the ICC.

*Bend over, here it comes again!

Tip of the Iceberg.

First we read a story in the Journal & Topics about Local House Foreclosures Continue Nasty Climb, which included some stats for Park Ridge. The article reports that "according to this latest information, Park Ridge's foreclosures increased by 147%, going from 32 to 79."

Tell us again how increasing density for new condominium projects is good for Park Ridge?

Then we read two articles in Crain's: one about the Foreclosure wave builds, and another about the Wave of need bleeds charities.

Maybe people can pick up an extra box of Mac-n-Cheese to show some thanks to Kraft foods for their charitable efforts, then deliver that extra box to Emergency Food Pantry - General Assistance - Maine Township.

And just in case anybody thought the Average Joe was going to catch a break, burbcopschicago put up an article to wish everybody a Merry F---ing Xmas From BGPD. They get it because they are out there every day seeing it. The working stiffs get stiffed from every direction.

The PRU Crew still hopes the good and blessed people of Park Ridge can dig a little deeper this Holiday season and give a little bit more to those less blessed, both within and without of our community.

Take It Slow.

full length video



Break it down, hit the blue notes, and have a restful weekend.

R.I.P. Henry Hyde - Funeral set for Dec. 7

Of Preachers, Practice, and Public Relations

The Pub-dogs had another interesting article up this week: PublicWatchdog.org - The Golden Girl. They cover a little-known get-around gal named Linda Szczepanski, or "Linda Ski" as they call her, and so will we.

Linda Ski is the Vice President of Empower Public Relations, which is owned by Samuel Chapman, Chief Executive Officer for Berman Center Inc., and husband of noted sex therapist, Dr. Laura Berman.

Linda Ski has also been the campaign and public relations manager for Mayor Howard Frimark, as well as providing her services to Frimark's aldermanic acolytes James Allspaghetti (4th Ward), and Thomas Carey the Unfriendly Ghost (6th Ward), and the Kalo Foundation of Park Ridge.

As the PRU Crew's curiosity about Linda Ski was raised, we started surfing the net to see what we could find. And we find irony hiding in plain sight.

It seems Mr. Chapman has banned gossip at Empower Public Relations, and is reported to have fired employees who have engaged in gossiping. Gawker.com has a video clip of brief interviews with several Empower employees: The Message Is The Message: Gossip-Banning PR Firm Is Its Own Best Client.

It seems to us that Linda Ski and her fellow employees at Empower Public Relations may preach about the ills of gossip, and may practice what they preach in-house. But the mandate against gossip doesn't seem to be something Linda Ski demands of her clients, such as Mayor Howard Frimark who many have said may be the biggest gossip monger in all of Park Ridge.

Or so we've heard.

Happy Repeal Day!

Today is Repeal Day! It is a day intended to celebrate the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified on December 5, 1933, and which repealed "Prohibition; the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Some of you may have taken notice of some recent Dewar's ad campaigns that are promoting "Repeal Day" and encouraging adults to enjoy the responsible consumption of alcohol.

The PRU Crew gladly joins those promoting "Repeal Day" and we encourage all adults who are so inclined to fully enjoy being adults with the adult beverage of their choice.

We now raise our glasses in our first "Repeal Day" toast to Wayne Zingsheim who, after 3 months of enduring "acting" status as the man in charge of Public Works, we hear was finally named Director of Public Works at Monday night's City Council meeting.

As if on cue, Zingsheim was treated to Mother Nature's version of a celebratory balloon drop - a Tuesday snow storm - on his first day as Director. Most days in the Public Work's department are busy. Snow days are extra-special events. And as of this writing, it is still snowing.

So Zing, when your work is done, go home and kiss that pretty wife of yours, sit back, relax, and enjoy an adult beverage of your choice. You will have earned it.

Welcome to being in charge and good luck.


SLG Publishing - Beer Wench Print

There Goes The Neighborhood! A Two-fer.

Item #1



Just look at those happy little bastards, especially that one on the lower left. Who needs that in the neighborhood?

Two stories about a local child care center, Christie's Carousel of Learning operating out of the Park Ridge Presbyterian Church, 1300 W. Crescent Ave., caught the attention of the PRU Crew last week.

We first read about the issue of a special use permit for the center in the Journal & Topics: Residents Raise Day Care Concerns; then in the Herald-Advocate: Neighbors object to preschool's relocation, playground plans.

According to the Herald-Advocate report, Alderman Jim Allspaghetti (4th Ward) said that, "the school generates too much traffic and is an inappropriate use for the residential area." The report went on to say that Allspaghetti, "whose ward includes the Presbyterian Church, said he has received calls from many neighbors who are unhappy that the school moved there." Maybe Allspaghetti's constituents told him they would rather have 4-story condominium projects that exceed the new city zoning code for density? We're just wondering...

Both reports included an interesting piece of information about the fact that until recently the "center was located for more than 20 years in St. Mary's Episcopal Church. That church recently asked them to leave because they wanted to use the center's space for other things."

Things that make you go hhhmmmm...


Item #2

The PRU Crew knows how to throw a party. We get together and read meeting minutes and agendas for city committees and commissions. We are nothing if not one helluva rockin' good time!

We hadn't checked in on the Human Needs Task Force for a while, so we decided to make their most recent set of posted October minutes and November agenda part of our party games.

Then we remembered another recent story we read in the Herald-Advocate: Hope for the homeless: Churches hope to start PADS program here

We wonder if the newly available space at St. Mary's Episcopal Church is being readied for a PADS Program? Any knowledgeable PRU readers out there?

Or maybe Aldermoron Allspaghetti thinks his constituents would rather have a homeless shelter in their local Presbyterian church?

All together now -

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.
Since we're together we might as well say:
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbor?

Won't you please,Won't you please?
Please won't you be my neighbor?

Worth 1000 Words.

Click on photos for larger view.

Mayor's Office at Park Ridge City Hall.




NorthStarNet was a community information network and hosting service created to help libraries develop relationships with their local community groups by aiding those groups in establishing a Web presence.



White Pages (dot) com Listing



Manta (dot) com Listing.



Yellow Book 2007-2008 page 87 Listing.



Tsk Tsk, Mr. Mayor. Politicizing public resources for political purposes is a no-no.

It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere...

Relax and have a good weekend.

Another One Bites the Dust!

In February of this year, the last city council passed the Early Retirement Incentive plan (ERI). We've been watching the dominoes fall ever since.

First out the door was Joe Saccomanno, Director of Public Works.

Second out the door was Brian Emanuel, Assistant Director of Community Development who was also the top Environmental Health Officer for the City.

Third to announce his exit was Randal Coo coo cachoo Derifield, Director of Community Development.

Yesterday, City Manager Timothy Schuenke announced he's leaving to return to the land of milk and cheese, a.k.a. the State of Wisconsin.


Click on photo above for larger view

In this weeks edition of the Journal & Topics, the last paragraph of an article about the city council's Law Firm Decision? reads as much like a want-ad as it does a reporting of facts. As we told you before, Chief of Police Jeff Caudill's head seems to be next on Mayor Frimark's butcher block.

Did we say falling like dominoes? We meant that they are dropping like flies over there at 505 Butler Place!

With the exit of 4 top-tier city employees, Frimark is in the position of populating the upper echelon of city government with people he hand-picks for like-minded loyalty to himself.

We can hardly wait for the tall tales to begin spinning about "Mayor Howard Frimark; Government Reformer!"

Welcome to Howardwood!

"Everybody's Awesome!"

Calvin and Hobbes; written and illustrated by Bill Watterson

Daily Herald -- Is there honor in forgiveness?

In what we at PRU view as an "awesome" display of "entitlement" thinking, a DePaul graduate and Park Ridge native has hired an attorney to sue DePaul University "to force it to designate him an honors student even though some of his grades were not high enough for honors."

Nobody in the PRU crew had ever heard of "grade forgiveness" before; probably because the PRU crew never thought of demanding anything that hadn't been legitimately earned.

We are nearly speechless about this.

Worse Than Kool-aid!

The games have begun! In today's issue of the Journal & Topics, we read two interesting items. The first is an article about the amazing disappearing council agenda item regarding council decorum:


click on above photo for larger view

It seems the city council has more than one whiny cry baby occupying a seat. It appears the 5th Ward's Benedict-Alderman Ryan went running to the Mayor to wail about a personal email from the 1st Ward's Alderman Schmidtzkrieg that he didn't like, and the Mayor was willing to place the item on the city council agenda for public discussion. We understand that Benedict-Alderman Ryan isn't used to being strongly challenged either publicly or privately, but we had no idea he was such a remarkable cry baby.

According to Mayor Fri-nocchio, he pulled the item from the council agenda because he was afraid the meeting would last too long. Since that entire city council meeting was about 30 minutes in length, we feel Mayor Fri-nocchio must have pulled the agenda item for other reasons. And we are digging in to find out why.

The second item of interest is a letter from 1st Ward resident Dave Kemerer:


click on above photo for larger view

Mr. Kemerer accuses Alderman Schmidtzkrieg of having a "penchant for loose rhetoric." It appears to us that Mr. Kemerer has a penchant for "loose truths." As an attorney, Mr. Kemerer should know better than to declare something unconstitutional before a court has declared something unconstitutional. But we feel the crux of the matter for Mr. Kemerer is not necessarily the truth involved with the constitutionality of a recall ordinance as much as it may be his desire to spin the message and provide his pals with cover.

It appears to us that Mr. Kemerer isn't any better with numbers than he is with his treatment of the truth. The final vote to approve the density variance for Norwood's condominium project was 4 to 3. Schmidtzkrieg was joined in voting "no" by Aldermen Wsooooolman and DreadBach. So, in fact, "the rest of the council" did not "conclude" that the density variance was justified.

Mr. Kemerer also seems extremely concerned that Alderman Schmidtzkrieg may run for mayor - something Schmidtzkrieg himself has said he is not doing, much to the PRU Crew's disappointment.

We wonder what Mr. Kemerer is "running" for?

In any case, what is going on here is that the Usual Suspects Club is cranking up the smear and spin machine. It's of vital importance that a representative with populist appeal gets knocked down and dragged around so that the politically connected can have their way with public policy.

It's nothing more than absolute bullshit.

Say Cheeeeeeeeeese!

In an article in last week's Journal & Topics, we learned that 3rd Ward Alderman Don DreadBach wants the Public Safety committee to Revisit Red Light Camera Idea for various and presumably dangerous intersections in Park Ridge.

According to the article, Ald. DreadBach was prompted into action because "a driver running through a red light broadsided the son of one of his constituents at Oakton and Greenwood Avenue." The article did not say if anyone was injured, and we hope nobody was. We would like to point out though that accidents are called accidents for a reason; nobody intends for them to happen. And personal experience alone or even along with anecdotal "evidence" is rarely if ever a good basis for determining public policy.

Setting aside for the time being our own visceral reaction to the continual surveillance of citizens, and serious constitutional questions about due process...

We'd also like to point out that red light cameras may reduce accidents according to some studies, but have also been shown to increase rear-end collisions in other studies where red light cameras have been installed. And we'd sure like to know exactly who is doing which studies and coming up with which findings. However, we feel it's safe to say that red light cameras cannot prevent accidents, they can merely record them. So while the Public Safety committee gets busy talking about ________ (fill in the blank with your buzzword of choice: risk-reduction, risk-mitigation, risk-management, risk-avoidance) be assured accidents can and will continue to happen.

The last time the Public Safety committee reviewed the issue of red light cameras was in February, 2007. Alderman DreadBach said he read the Public Safety meeting minutes 2/1/07 - pdf and "found several inconsistencies in the (minutes)." We are hoping that Ald. DreadBach can point out the inconsistencies he found - we have no idea what he could be referring to. We also hope he's read the excel traffic study, which appears to indicate the type of accidents that most often occur at the intersections studied are rear-end collisions; the second highest number of accidents involve turning vehicles.

We appreciate that Ald. DreadBach has stressed that his interest is strictly a matter of making Park Ridge streets safer - that red light cameras are not intended to be revenue generators. However, many if not most of the vendors who market their products and services to municipalities are far more shameless in their promises of increased revenue. Of the three red light camera vendors previously discussed by the Public Safety committee, one of those vendors, RedFlex promises to "deliver the most innovative, and comprehensive turnkey public safety programs that provide substantial benefits for our customers year-after year." Since municipalities are the customers, not the drivers, that sounds a lot like promising revenue generation.

The Journal & Topics article goes on to report that Ald. DreadBach "is not in denial or unhappy that the plan could do both" - reduce accident risks and generate revenue for the city. DreadBach goes on to say, "If it's going to add revenue to the city's general fund and make the streets safer, I'm not going to apologize for that," he stated.

Alderman DreadBach, you don't have to apologize for that, you just have to be honest about that.

Kwitcherbellyachin'!

The 4th Ward's Aldermoron, James Allspaghetti, is sounding a lot like a whiny cry baby these days.

Last week we told you about Allspaghetti's whiny response to the proposal that the city council consider a recall ordinance for local elected officials. An article in the November 15th edition of the Herald-Advocate quoted Allspaghetti as saying that if an aldermoron had to face a recall election he may say, "This job ain't that great -- see ya."

In an article in the November 14th edition of the Journal & Topics, about Discussions Could Be Limited To 30 Minutes At Council Meetings, we read that Allspaghetti was again whining about the job demands of being a Park Ridge Aldermoron. This time Allspaghetti was quoted as saying, "I don't want to be there for two-hour, three-hour presentations anymore."

Two city council meetings in the last 6 months have lasted considerably longer than the usual 2+ hours that council meetings normally take. And both of those meetings dealt with issues of serious concern and potential impact to the Park Ridge community; one meeting on July 16, 2007.pdf included an address by Nicor about PCB contamination to residences in Park Ridge, and another meeting on August 20, 2007.pdf included one and a half hours of citizens commenting about Allspaghetti's and 3rd Ward Don DreadBach's zero tolerance idiocy, as well as a presentation by Norwood builders for their condominium development at Executive Office Plaza.

From our reading of both those sets of meeting minutes, it appears to us that what extends the length of meetings is the back and forth debate and questions from and among city council members, as well as increased citizen participation. We don't view any of that as being a bad thing, nor as too demanding of representatives' time.

But from all the whining Allspaghetti has been doing lately, it would appear that he feels sitting through the seemingly rare "two-hour, three-hour presentations" at city council meetings - the only venue where the public can have almost as much access to applicants and information as the city council has - is just too much time for Aldermoron Allspaghetti to have to spend on doing the public's business, in public.

Hey, Allspaghetti! We agree! We don't want you to sit through two-hour, three-hour presentations anymore either! You could save yourself from all the demands of being an elected representative, and save the people of Park Ridge from having to listen to you whine like a cry baby about it, and just leave office. The job you're doing ain't that great -- see ya!

Talk Turkey!

Whatever is on your mind, post it or ask it here.

The PRU Crew will be checking in periodically.

Thanks to those who've offered their support and compliments publicly and privately.

Hell, we're even thankful for the people who give us a hard time - keeps things interesting.

Do-Over Redux!

As we told you before, we're down with Ald. Dave Schmidtzkrieg's (1st Ward) proposal for a recall ordinance that would allow the voters of any ward, after gathering enough petition signatures, to force a recall election for their sitting aldermoron if he isn't getting the job done.

Not surprisingly, Mayor Howard Frimark and his hand-picked successor, Ald. James Allspaghetti (4th Ward), don't like that idea. As reported in last week's Herald-Advocate, Allspaghetti thinks it's a bad idea: "By passing this we open ourselves up to the removal of a volunteer government and the potential for a government by action groups, or a government by interest groups." Say what? How the hell would a recall election be any different from the regular election?

Allspaghetti is also reported to have claimed that if subjected to a recall election, most sitting aldermen would say, "This job ain't that good -- see ya."

To any aldermen who would whine like that, we say, "Good riddance."

But leave it to Allspaghetti's lord and master, that great dissembler, Mayor Howard, to provide the most disingenuous reason for not supporting a recall ordinance: "When you are voted in, [voters] expect you to serve the four years of your term unless you do something that is a felony," Frimark said. "I don't think it's good judgment that if they don't like the way [elected officials] vote they vote [them] out."

Gee, Mr. Mayor, weren't you the leader of an action group petition drive to cut the council in half by depriving the voters in all seven wards of the seven aldermen that they voted in only two years earlier? Did any of those seven aldermen commit a felony? Even a misdemeanor?

Could it be that Mayor Howard is just determined to hold onto the current council because he knows he's got at least four alderpuppets to rubber stamp anything he wants?

Dive In!

Enjoy the warm waters of your weekend.

Hong Kong Phooey!

Hong_Kong_Phooey - Hanna-Barbera Productions

Woooooo! Those Pub-dogs! It was worth the wait!

The Pub-dogs at PublicWatchdog.org are kickin' ass and taking names today!

Very interesting documents!

Go read: The Park Ridge Police Station That Almost Was

Two-fer!

Item #1

A commenter on yesterday's post tried to spread the word about upcoming presentations on "The State of the District" by School Superintendent, Sally Pryor. We found a link to a news item that lists several dates and times. We laughed when we saw who the first presentation is being given to.

In any case, we agree with the commenter that if you have a chance to attend, this may be where you get answers to questions that have been raised about doings in the district. We also agree with a following comment, that these presentation times suck if you have a day job.

THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2007

Dist. 64 Presentations Show Residents Where Money Goes

A series of presentations by Superintendent Dr. Sally Pryor is planned for next Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 14-15.

~~On noon on Wednesday in the district's offices in the Hendee Educational Service Center, Pryor will give a brief presentation to realtors in the community.

~~At 9 a.m. on Thursday, she will make a similar presentation to a group of community leaders, also at the Hendee Center.

~~At noon Thursday, she will provide the same information to the public in the Park Ridge Public Library's first floor meeting room.

Informal question-answer sessions will follow each presentation.

Item #2

A couple weeks ago we gave District 64 An 'A' for Effort in making a good attempt to inform the school community about a public health threat; MRSA. In that post we offered a kick in the ass to the City and the Community Health Commission because they hadn't made use of their website to also help inform the public about MRSA.

We are pleased to now also give the City and the Public Health Dept. a pat on the back for making the effort to provide the community of Park Ridge with public health information. The City of Park Ridge, Illinois has posted on its website a link to information about MRSA.

Look! There Goes Elvis!

There's nothing better for a politician than a good distraction to keep the public from focusing on what the politician is and isn't doing. And a good distraction with a good cover story is even better.

Consequently, it was with great amusement that the PRU Crew read the local rags last week and found several shining cover story gems that should provide the public with plenty of distractions away from Mayor Frimark's continuing power grabs.

The Journal & Topics contained two items, both written by its chronically clueless editor, Todd Wessel. The first was a "news" item about Cops Accused Of Assault, Cover-Up In Federal Lawsuit that was missing so much relevant information that we wondered if Todd has a phone in his office with which he can act like a real reporter and make a few phone calls, get some information, and then write a story that gives readers something that resembles the whole picture. Of course, that approach only works for a reporter who has built a sufficient reputation for credibility, trustworthiness and good reporting on which sources can rely - and we haven't seen that kind of reporter on the local beat for at least a decade.

The second item was Wessel's editorial asking What's With The Park Ridge Police Department? The PRU Crew saw that and immediately thought that "planting season" (as in planting news stories, not rhododendrons) lasts year 'round in that manure-filled patch between the local press and the local politicians here in Park Ridge. So the question became whether Wessel actually knew something. But maybe the guy really is asking the question because of what he knows, which isn't much. And, maybe he is calling for an "independent investigation" because the picture presented by his own newspaper sure does make things look grim at the PRPD. There have been problems of police conduct within and without the Park Ridge Police department, and we agree, the Mayor and City Council should get to the bottom of what the hell is going on.

But then the next day, we read an article in the Herald-Advocate written by the self-confessed "copper"-philiac (as in "police"), Jennifer Johnson. That article tells the Park Ridge community that City considers special counsel to investigate the PRPD, and that pretty much confirmed for us that the fertilizer was being spread.

Unlike Wessel and Johnson, the PRU Crew owns phones and we use them. We made some calls to our favorite sources and here is what we learned...

• Yes, a federal lawsuit has been filed. Yes, things within the PRPD are bad - morale may be at an all time low. And yes, the City will be looking to hire an expensive law firm to "independently investigate" the Park Ridge Police Department.



• Mayor Frimark wants the authority for hiring and firing City personnel, particularly in the Police Dept. That authority currently belongs to the City Manager, Tim Schuenke. We sure aren't fans of Schuenke, but we don't feel giving hiring and firing authority to any politician is a very good idea. Doing that would be pretty much like sending out an engraved invitation for patronage.



• Mayor Frimark may want to sack Chief of Police Jeff Caudill and replace him with a ranking officer who's a favorite of Frimark's but not of many of the rank-and-file officers serving under him - who sometimes refer to him as "the shirtless man."

In other words, the Park Ridge Police Department may be headed out of the frying pan and into the fire. And if you know anything about the City staff grapevine, this may very well have the decidedly unpleasant affect of bleeding into other City departments like the Public Works Department.

Why would Frimark view Hoopty Lou as such an asset? Well, as we told you before, "there aren't too many coppers with the ability to speak and write impressive sounding bullshit" - and the Mayor and the City administration will certainly need someone with that ability to serve as their pitchman for the next new cop shop dog and pony show, which was foreshadowed in another Johnson offering: Police station site search resumes.

Why is the Herald-Advocate's self-confessed copper-philiac walking on proverbial egg shells when it comes to the PRPD and City departments like Public Works? Could it have something to do with the fact that not only is she a neighbor of Hoopty Lou's, but that her daddy is employed by Public Works? That also might explain the slant on her reporting about the PRPD rank and file who dared to complain about Hoopty Lou's cell phone indiscretions.

Meanwhile, if you are Mayor Frimark, you go about your usual public relations practice of sharing questionable "scoops" with the local press while telling the public that their concerns about police conduct will be given the most serious attention the City can afford.

And while everyone is distracted by the cover story, you go about the task of wresting hiring and firing authority from the City Manager.

Hey, everybody! Look! There goes Elvis!

Veterans Day 2007 - Observance

In observance of Veterans Day - Today we will set aside any discussion of politics, government, elected leaders, and policy concerns in order to offer our deepest gratitude to those soldiers who have served our country to protect our freedoms, so that tomorrow, and every tomorrow to come, we may again freely discuss politics, government, elected leaders, and policy concerns.

To all our veterans near and far, thank you.
May God bless you all.


Veterans Day Poster Gallery

Below is a letter that appeared in last week's Herald-Advocate; it is republished below with the permission of the author.

Remember to thank veterans this week

As Veterans Day approaches each year, it typically causes me to pause and consider my service in the Army, particularly my time in Vietnam. However, unlike previous Veterans Days, the approach of this date has caused me to spend significantly more time in contemplation than I normally have done in the past.

Moreover, I know why. For me, this Veterans Day represents a significant anniversary.

On Nov. 11, 1967, elements of my unit (including me), Company C of the 75th Rangers, was sent into the highlands to be attached to and in support the 173rd Airborne Brigade in securing a hill not quite 3,000 feet high (875 meters). What is so hard for me to believe sometimes is that what was barely-out-of-high-school back then for me is now 40 years ago.

For those next 12 days in 1967, Hill 875 became a battleground unlike any other in Vietnam as the 66th Regiment of the North Vietnamese Army -- with its Chinese advisors -- stood their ground and fought a battle of trenches and fortified bunkers more like World War I or II than Vietnam. The network of tunnels used by the NVA throughout the area made any semblance of a "front" frustratingly fluid.

With the 2/503d Battalion of the 173rd leading the way, we initiated the final push for the top of the hill on Nov. 19. Over the next five days the 173rd lost 279 souls killed in action, suffered over 900 wounded, and reported 33 MIA's.

Can you imagine the outcry and uproar if those casualty numbers were reported out of Iraq today?

On the morning of Thanksgiving Day 1967, "The Hill" was finally taken in a cold steady monsoonal downpour made worse by the devastated terrain, the despair over the losses experienced, and just pure exhaustion. Thanksgiving dinner that last day was one of the most miserable meals I ever ate.

I was alive, in large part because of the heroism of Carlos Lozada. Carlos, despite being out-manned and out-flanked, was able to maintain a rate of machine gun fire that disrupted an attack of superior forces set to overrun our sector, enabling the rest of us to withdraw with five of our severely wounded. The attack had broken off when "Moose" and I went back up the slope the last time, where we found Carlos mortally wounded.

Despite the medic's best efforts, Carlos died before he could be medi-vac'ed. PFC Carlos Lozada was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions that day, a richly deserved honor. I wish I could say that I knew Carlos well and for a longer period, but in truth I knew him barely more than a week. He came across as an ordinary kid from the Bronx who ultimately made a most extraordinary and selfless sacrifice. And because of the extraordinary acts of this ordinary man, today -- 40 years later -- I still am able to say how proud I am to have even briefly served with him.

Forty years is a long time and the Vietnam of then is now a long way away; yet sometimes, when I close my eyes in quiet reflection, those events happened but a moment ago.

I think I am like most other veterans, with their own tales to tell and their own memories to share or keep to themselves as they choose. Like most other veterans, I must admit that some of those memories are painful, some humorous, some happy and others melancholy. That is why I personally think the Canadians calling their 11th of November "A Day of Remembrance" is so appropriate.

On the 11th of this month, Veterans Day, if you are related to a veteran, know a veteran, or even see a veteran, please take a moment from your busy life and thank them for their service to our country. Some of these veterans are still kids, freshly home from the Middle East, while others of us served a long time ago. And a quickly diminishing few even longer ago. They all richly deserve credit for what they did, are doing, and will continue to do so Americans like you and I - our children and grandchildren - can have the opportunity to do what we do and be what we are.

However, if you do not happen to know or see a "Vet", I offer an alternative -- pause for a moment to reflect on PFC Carlos Lozada's ultimate sacrifice for his unit and the "troopers" of a very proud Brigade.

To all my fellow "Vets": Thank you for your service and your personal investment in what makes this country so unique in this world.

Jay Hirst, Park Ridge

Below is an email that was forwarded to Park Ridge Underground; it is published here with the permission of the author. We have edited the structure of the piece for readability - all content is as originally submitted.

I received this from my son Tony today, Nov. 7, 2007 and as a proud American and father of this American Hero I wish to share this information with all of my fellow citizens. Despite your personal position on the situation in Iraq we ALL must support our troops.

LARRY FRIEL

"Department of the Navy - this is to certify that the Secretary of the Navy has awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medal to First Lieutenant Anthony L. Friel for meritorious service while serving as the 4th Platoon Commander, Company g, 2d Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, I Marine Expeditionary Force (forward) from 1 August 2006 to 8 February 2007 in support of operation Iraqi Freedom.

First Lieutenant Friel displayed leadership and ingenuity in directing force protection improvements that expertly integrated weapons, barriers, and observation posts at the company firm base and posts. His quick thinking as the senior watch officer led to one counterfire mission that supressed an enemy mortar team, while he also led reaction force patrols against firing sites.

He contributed to the counter-insurgency efforts by integrating civil affairs projects for Saqlawiyah into company operations. His focus on improving local infastructure and developing a sense of Iraqi responsibility has left an indelible impression on the local population and contributed to intelligence development, leading to the capture of more than 30 insurgents.

First Lieutenant Friel's initiative, perserverance and total dedication to duty reflected great credit upon upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the united states naval service."

Given this 17th day of October 2007.

signed J.N. Mattis, Lieutenant General,
U.S. Marine Corps Commander,
U.S. Marine Forces Central Command

Go For It!

Have a great weekend!

Meanwhile in Lombard...

It looks like some elected officials listen to their resident's concerns and carefully consider the consequences of their decisions on their community. Our thanks to a PRU reader for the submission.



Daily Herald - Lombard denies group's plan to build senior housing complex
By Justin Kmitch Daily Herald Staff
Published: 11/7/2007 12:18 AM

Highlights from the article include:

• A Naperville-based nonprofit group has scrapped plans to replace the second phase of a stalled luxury condominium development in Lombard with apartments for fixed-income seniors.

• Lombard trustees denied the Xilin Association's bid to build a publicly funded 52-unit senior citizen housing complex in place of a previously approved 40-unit condo building along St. Charles Road.

• Village President William Mueller said the trustees were uncomfortable the Xilin plan called for 12 additional units. Trustees also had a short timeline to make a decision.

• "The board had a lot of questions that could not be addressed because of the timeline," Mueller said. "But, ultimately, the density was not thought to be proper for that location."

• On Thursday, trustees rejected Xilin's plan.

• Village planner Bill Heniff echoed Mueller's sentiments that "density was an issue." Heniff said several residents voiced concerns and support for the project during the past few weeks.

• Mueller wants the developer, Park Ridge-based Neri Companies, to construct the second condo building as planned in 2004. A message left Tuesday at Neri's offices was not returned.

The Spirit of the 6th Ward!

As we told you before, Thomas Carey the Unfriendly Ghost of the 6th ward usually doesn't communicate with the living. So we were a little spooked to hear that he actually participated in the city council meeting Monday night. We feel that Mayor Frimystic must have called this spirit forth to do his earthly bidding.

As you may recall, Mayor Frimystic was very generous in making "offerings" to the Ghost of the 6th ward. Of the $7,025.00 in campaign contributions taken in by Mr. Carey, Mayor Frimystic contributed $3,127.73, or 45% of the total Mr. Carey received. (See document copies below)

And, as we said before, we expect Alderman Carey knows how to show his appreciation for Mayor Frimystic's generous support.

But we found it very curious that a guy like Thomas Carey, of whom we'd heard rumors of great family wealth, would need or want such a large contribution from Mayor Frimystic.

So we started digging.

Turns out, Thomas Carey does come from a very well-known and prosperous family. A very prosperous family. A very well-known family, if you know anything about the horse racing world.

Mr. Thomas Carey is formally known as Thomas F. Carey, III and hales from none other than the family that owns and controls Hawthorn Race Course. At one time in the not too distant past, Mr. Thomas F. Carey, III was in charge of running Hawthorn Race Course, but now Mr. Thomas F. Carey, III is working for an engineering firm, and we are told a Carey family cousin is now in charge of track operations.

Why would Mr. Thomas F. Carey, III leave the family business? We can't say whether or not he actually left or was asked to leave. But, it seems Mr. Carey got into a bit of legal trouble over his fiscal management during his tenure at the track and then Hawthorne Race Course, Inc. got sued by National Jockey Club, Inc.

The parties went to arbitration, and the arbitrator found in favor of the claimants, National Jockey Club. The arbitrator awarded the claimants what they were seeking, which had the effect of putting Hawthorn Race Course and Thomas F. Carey, III on the hook for $1,200,000.00 That's a lot of hay. (See copy of arbitration doc. pg. 1 below)

A final judgement of the arbitrator's award was entered in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County in September, 2005. The Court decreed the motion to confirm the award be granted in all respects to National Jockey Club; the counterclaim by Hawthorn Race Course was denied in all respects; and, the arbitrator's award was confirmed. (See copy of court cover doc. below)

Of course, an appeal was filed, and the Appellate Court of Illinois First Judicial District affirmed the lower Court's decision in August, 2007. (See copy of court cover doc. below)

Which brings us to today - the deadline for Mr. Carey to have his case heard before the Illinois Supreme Court. We believe the case has come to a sad end for Mr. Thomas F. Carey, III.

The financial troubles Mr. Carey has faced may be why he wasn't more monetarily generous than the $1,375.00 he loaned to his own campaign effort. It may also explain why Mayor Frimystic was so generous.

What we don't understand is why a guy with this kind of legal and financial axe hanging over his head would run for public office.

But we think we may know. We hear Mr. Carey, upon assuming the lofty office of 6th ward Alderman in Park Ridge, got busy smiling and dialing his way up the political food chain. Not on behalf of his 6th ward constituents. No. On behalf of his engineering firm.

If we could get agreement from the horse's mouth that going public, with the specifics of the information, would be confirmed, we'd tell you. But the call-recipient hasn't agreed. So we won't. And at this point the smiling and dialing remains only rumor.

Alderman Carey is certainly a guy down on his luck. But as the old saying goes, you make your own luck. And sometimes you get lucky enough to be elected to the office of Park Ridge Alderman with the generous support of the Mayor.

And sometimes you get lucky enough to have an Alderman "owe" you, isn't that right Mayor Frimystic?

If there's one piece of advice we could offer to Alderman Thomas Carey it is this: Mayor Frimystic is not your way into the light. Find your own path. We actually feel you may have it in you.

It Ain't Over Til...

As we expected, last night the city council voted 4 (Allspaghetti, Benedict Ryan, Lord of the Manor and Carey the Unfriendly Ghost) to 3 (Schmidtzkrieg, Wsoooool man, DreadBach) in favor of giving Norwood's Park Ridge 2004 LLC the density variance for the 8 additional condo units.

Again, it was Aldermen Schmidt and Wsol who led the effort to not only keep the development within the parameters of the new and more lenient zoning code, but also tighten up the language on the ordinance regarding the "senior housing" component and ensure that the city not get handed the final bill for the water retention.

The language in the ordinance remains full of loopholes "big enough to drive a condo through", largely due to the parliamentary maneuverings of the Lord of the Manor and the stupidity of his fellow Aldermorons.

There were 13 comments from the gallery; 4 of those comments were in support of the project. Again, Carla Owen addressed the council and "updated" the petitions she and her Berry Pky. neighbors have been collecting in opposition to the code variances for the Norwood project. Those petition signers now number around 500.

To no avail.

The preferences and will of the majority of residents in the immediate area of Executive Office Plaza and throughout the city have been ignored.

Get used to it.

Bob "the Builder" Ryan!

Tonight's city council meeting may be the end to the Norwood-EOP Space Odyssey. Once the council gets their parliamentary act together, motioning to substitute one PUD ordinance for another or offer amendments as they feel necessary, we hear the final vote count will probably end up 4 to 3 in favor of granting Norwood's Park Ridge 2004 LLC their density variance.

For those of you who don't think 8 extra units and a sham "senior housing" component are good for Park Ridge, you may want to contact the 4 likely "yes" votes: Rich DiPietro (2nd Ward), Jim Allegretti (4th Ward), Bob "the Builder" Ryan (5th Ward) and Tom Carey (6th Ward).

Fifth ward alderman, Bob "the Builder" Ryan, is purported to have privately negotiated with Norwood and then lobbied his fellow aldermen in favor of granting Norwood's request. We're not sure exactly what he "negotiated", but we strongly urge him to remain in the field of traffic engineering, since the plan that is probably going to be approved this evening isn't much of a deal for the residents of Park Ridge.

Look Around.

Have a colorful weekend!