Ready To Move Forward!

In today's edition of the Journal and Topics, Mayor Howard has announced that "We're ready to move forward." It's one of Mayor Howard's favorite phrases, though we're not sure if that's because he has a limited vocabulary or a limited memory; he can't remember any other catchy phrases.

The article goes on to say "Frimark feels the report indicates that there was no pattern of misconduct. 'As far as I'm concerned, it sort of verified what we expected was there."

The report may "sort of" verify that there is no pattern of misconduct...among police officers. The report is woefully short from verifying whether or not there has been any misconduct on the part of elected officials -- elected officials Ekl refused to name in his report, but instead chose to name city employees.

We don't have the documentation to prove it, but some of our better sources tell us that certain elected officials have attempted to go well beyond mere "micromanagement" of police matters, and that the interference by elected officials was not merely calling the police department to inquire about constituents concerns, nor was it only about the zero tolerance idiocy of Aldermen James Allspaghetti (4th Ward) and Don Bachtard (3rd Ward), which by the by, took place at an open public meeting, rightly or wrongly, but nevertheless in response to some constituent complaints.

As for misconduct on the part of police officers, the PRU Crew has always believed the vast majority of the Park Ridge Police Department are stand up and be counted guys and gals. We sure do wish that members of the local business community had the same backbone, because then not only would the citizens of Park Ridge come to understand which police officers may have been misconducting themselves, but also on which elected official's behalf they were doing so.

When the City Council originally discussed whether or not the Ekl report would be released to the public, the council ultimately decide that they would release the report to the public, "warts and all." So the PRU Crew is wondering why Ald. Allspaghetti is allowed to get away with saying to his fellow council members and the public --

Ald. Allegretti cautioned the Council, "Be careful what you wish for. " He stated that Ekl might have withheld certain information from the report that is included in the back-up material. He said Ekl might have done this for a reason - it may open the City up for suit.pdf -- City Council meeting minutes.

Ekl might have withheld certain information? By whose authority did Ekl do that? What happened to the thorough investigation that was supposed to do more than just "sort of" verify what has been going on with the Park Ridge Police Department? What happened to providing the citizens of Park Ridge with a report that included "warts and all?"

Remember people, you are paying for this bullshit. In fact, you will be paying 15% more than the originally contracted fee of $75,000.00 for this bullshit.

Hard to swallow? Don't worry -- Mayor Howard will give you a Big Gulp of kool-aid to wash it all down.