4 The Parks!

We don't want people to forget about the other local campaigns taking place!




Above, courtesy of a Park Board candidate, is campaign material related to the "4 The Parks" slate. The PRU Crew likes slates of candidates about as much as we like Mayor Howard, which is not even a little.

The way candidates choose to conduct their runs for office is their choice to make. And voters get to make their choice by casting votes for or against individual candidates.

When it comes to the "4 The Parks" slate, the Crew will be casting unanimous votes, next Tuesday, April 7th, in favor of Mr. Rick Biagi and Mr. Scott Duerkop. There is mixed opinion on the candidacies of Mr. Nick Milissis and Mr. Pawel Matula.

Mr. Milissis' record of attendance at meetings isn't impressive, and we do not know enough about Mr. Matula to recommend a vote for or against him. The same can be said for Mr. Steven Vile, a candidate who seems to be running independently from any slate or group affiliation.

However, we will say that not a single member of the Crew will be voting for Mr. Richard Brandt, the lone surviving candidate being backed by the SEIU (Service Employees International Union - Local 73).

The PRU Crew thinks unions are a very good thing -- when they do what they are supposed to do for their membership, which is knock heads against the administration of any given governing body, to try and get as much in the way of salary and benefits for their union membership as can be had.

The PRU Crew also thinks governing bodies are a very good thing -- when they do what they are supposed to do for the taxpayers they represent, which is knock heads with the employees and union membership they oversee, to try and keep costs to taxpayers reasonable and spending in check.

Their is a necessary and constructive adversarial tension between the two. When everyone acts like adults, the tension and adversarial points of view can be rough and hard-driving, but nevertheless productive.

The PRU Crew feels that seating Mr. Richard Brandt, who is being heavily backed by a union that is in a necessarily adversarial position against the governing body he is looking to serve on, is a mistake. To use an over-worked phrase, we feel it is akin to putting a fox inside the hen house. We sincerely believe that Mr. Brandt would not be able to set aside his allegiance to his union backers and independently make decisions on behalf of the taxpayers.

For this reason we strongly urge voters to reject Mr. Richard Brandt for a seat on the Park Ridge Park District Board. We also don't like all his damn campaign signs stuck all over the public parkways.

We're Baaaaaaaaaaack!

From -- nps.gov (national park service) -- photographer unknown

We hope everyone got a chance to relax, spend some time among family and friends, or just hibernate over Spring Break.

Did our faithful PRU readers miss us? Thank you to each for the very nice email notes -- that were mixed in with some not very nice email notes. Jeez!

As we told one of our friendly correspondents, we've been plowing through the mountains of slush left unattended while the Crew was on break.

And now we're back!

We think we will commence and dispense with an email note -- forwarded to us by a faithful PRU reader.

Some people should learn not to play with fire.



Below for your review is an unsigned email sent from Mary Seat of Wisdom. The sending email address is pads@maryseatofwisdom.org. We have chosen to delete the names of 134 of the 136 recipients, as they are not responsible for the action of this email being sent, nor for being selected as recipients, and they are private citizens, as opposed to public figures. The recipients whose names remain listed are that of City Clerk Betty Henneman, who is running unopposed for re-election, and Mary Seat of Wisdom Pastor Gerald Gunderson.

From: Pads At MSW <pads@maryseatofwisdom.org>

Subject: Park Ridge Mayoral candidates and support for PADS

To: bhennema@parkridge.us, ggunderson@maryseatofwisdom.org

Date: Friday, March 27, 2009, 7:16 PM

I am writing this brief email in response to recent queries I have received regarding my observations of the Park Ridge mayoral candidates and their position regarding support for a PADS site in Park Ridge.

As many of you know I am an active volunteer at a local PADS site and supported the initiative to find a site in Park Ridge.

I should start by stating the obvious - the best way to understand a candidate's position is to enter into a dialogue with them directly.

That said, during the period that this was a topic of discussion, I attended many of the meetings and hearings. I observed first hand the clear and determined opposition to the PADS initiative demonstrated by Alderman David Schmidt. This contrasted with Mayor Frimark who was supportive of finding a method to support a shelter locally.

I am sharing this information as it has been brought to my attention that this level of detail is not widely known outside those who attended the meetings.

For the benefit of City Clerk Henneman, Pastor Gunderson, and any interested parties we are providing the following level of detail and a link --

IRS Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations (.pdf)

On page seven of the guide you will find the following level of detail --

Political Campaign Activity

Under the Internal Revenue Code, all IRC section 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches and religious organizations, are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made by or on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violation of this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise tax.

The IRS tax guide provides further level of detail on page 8 --

Key factors in determining whether a communication results in political campaign intervention include the following:

* whether the statement identifies one or more candidates for a given public office,

* whether the statement expresses approval or disapproval for one or more candidates’ positions and/or actions,

* whether the statement is delivered close in time to the election,

* whether the statement makes reference to voting or an election,

* whether the issue addressed in the communication has been raised as an issue distinguishing candidates for a given office,

* whether the communication is part of an ongoing series of communications by the organization on the same issue that are made independent of the timing of any election, and

* whether the timing of the communication and identification of the candidate are related to a non-electoral event such as a scheduled vote on specific legislation by an officeholder who also happens to be a candidate for public office.

A communication is particularly at risk of political campaign intervention when it makes reference to candidates or voting in a specific upcoming election. Nevertheless, the communication must still be considered in context before arriving at any conclusions.

Other interested parties may want to read this link for more level of detail.

Think Warm Thoughts!

From -- TravelBlog.org

Have a great weekend and Spring Break vacation or staycation!

Nice Shootin' Texxifer!

Ping-Ping-Ping!


In today's Herald-Advocate we read that one of our local reporters has been paying attention! Local reporter, Jennifer Johnson, took a look around the room she was in last Saturday and she noticed something missing -- 4th Ward Alderman Jim Allspaghetti! She then did some digging. The result is today's Herald-Advocate article 'Alderman: Work interferes with budget meetings'

The article notes, "Allegretti was absent from the council's March 14 workshop, and also missed the one-day Saturday budget meetings in 2006, 2007 and 2008." The article goes on to quote Allspaghetti saying, "I always see clients on Saturday and I use Saturdays to prepare for the coming week," he said. "I wish I could have been there." The PRU Crew would like to point out that budget workshops are scheduled well in advance, and most competent adults are able to manage and juggle scheduling demands. We find it very difficult to believe that Ald. Allspaghetti could not manage to attend even one Saturday budget workshop during the last 4 years.

As we've discussed many times, most of these clowns do a terrible job of representing the interests of Park Ridge. But if they don't even bother to show up then the people they are supposed to represent have nothing. And in this particularly rough economic climate, nothing could prove to be very costly.

PRUdos to the Herald-Advocate's Jennifer Johnson for a good little fully-loaded article!

Name One!

In today's edition of the Journal and Topics we read that Mayor Howard thinks it was the Mighty Schmidt who, and we quote, "...chased PADS out of town." It seems clear to us that Mayor Howard finds math so hard he can't even count -- or he would be able to add up all the votes on the City Council that were cast in favor of the ordinance regulating homeless shelters. Here's a hint for you Mayor Howard -- it takes more than one vote to pass an ordinance.

But what the PRU Crew really enjoyed was Mayor Howard's discussion of the blogs, saying, "They continually, on a daily basis, put out false information and false innuendo about my candidacy."

It seems clear to us that Mayor Howard's ego causes him to believe everything is about him, as anyone interested in reading through our tags will find that of the 379 posts we have written, only 76 -- 20% -- have been dedicated to the shenanigans of Mayor Howard. But again, we all have to recognize Mayor Howard's difficulty with numbers, which may well explain the current city budget mess.

Mayor Howard, we invite you to name one piece of false information Park Ridge Underground has published about either your conduct as Mayor or your candidacy.

Name one.

We'll be waiting.

In the meantime, we will continue to publish our unadorned opinion on the bullshit that takes place in Park Ridge under your watch.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In limerick style --

Howard Frimark is now Park Ridge Mayor
He fancies himself quite the player
Despite many folk's squeals
He keeps making his deals
For his pals, Howard's quite the purveyor!

The city budget is bleeding red ink
And taxpayers are making a stink
DiPietro is wary
He thinks Schmidt is quite scary
If Schmidt wins, DiPietro may need a shrink!

Benedict Ryan, Allspaghetti and Bachtard
Have all kept up their guard
If a new Mayor's in place
They'll have egg on their face
And their egos could become highly scarred!

What can we say about Carey
His mind seems a bit more than airy
He's playing his part
And tries hard to sound smart
But shows himself quite the contrary!

Then there is Alderman Wsol
Who we think is really quite droll
We have the impression
He loves a closed session
And he can't tell his head from a hole!

Now comes one candidate Schmidt
Whose brow is often quite knit
As he runs for election
He's met with affection
As folks learn Howard's quite full of shit!

Election day is coming up quick
There are two candidates from which you can pick
Four more years in the dark
Is what you'll get from Frimark
So please, please don't vote for that...guy!

Gear Up!

By now many PRU readers have visited Mayor Howard's election website and read the Q & A with Mayor Frimark talking points. We hope readers have taken the necessary precautions, such as donning hip waders while slogging through the muck that passes for Mayor Howard's talking points.

The PRU Crew has gotten a kick out of the disparity between Mayor Howard's survey questions to residents and the Q & A responses from Mayor Howard.

We also laughed about Mayor Howard's discussion of Park Ridge Commons, which is an apartment complex outside the city limits of Park Ridge, and whose owners were seeking annexation into Park Ridge a few years ago. We think Mayor Howard may have meant to discuss either the Library City Commons, which was a streetscape project (.pdf) completed a year ago and over budget, or the PRC Uptown redevelopment itself, which is where retail tenants are needed. We understand that there is a partnership agreement in place between the City of Park Ridge and PRC partners, but we also feel Mayor Howard will be as effective as a screen door on a submarine in trying to tell PRC partners, specifically the Mid-America Real Estate Group, how to go about attracting retail tenants.

The PRU Crew is pleased to note some of the critical thinking we see in the comments people have offered on our blog. We too noted the ridiculous spin required to draw a line between promoting the Taste of Park Ridge and generating sales tax revenue. And we hope Mayor Howard isn't serious about licensing billboards in town!

So people, if you haven't had a chance to read Mayor Howard's website muck, we think you should take the time to do so. Just make sure you properly gear up for the task first.

Extraordinary!

Do something out of the ordinary and have a fun long weekend!

Resolved!

The Journal & Topics reports today that the issue of whether SEIU-backed Park Board candidate Richard Brandt's name will appear on the April 7th ballot remains outstanding.

The PRU Crew has been told the issue was settled yesterday, and Mr. Brandt's name will be on the April 7th ballot.

According to our sources, Park Board incumbent Nick Milissis attempted to submit new evidence -- a sworn affidavit from a Park Ridge Park District staff member, attesting that Mr. Brandt's petitions had not been tampered with -- but his request was denied. Therefore, the judge hearing the appeal filed by Mr. Milissis reviewed the Election Board hearing records "as they stood" and found no grounds to reverse the decision.

The campaign for seats on the Park Board will be a horse race, but the field won't be as crowded as when it first began.

Are You Paying Attention?

As one of the Crew's grandmothers used to say, after having lived through the Great Depression, "If you watch the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves."

But that was then, and this is now. And it costs the U.S. Mint more to produce a penny than the one-cent value of a one-cent piece.

So the PRU Crew is interested in watching dollars today. We would also like our elected officials to do the same.

In just five days, the Park Ridge City Council will meet in their annual budget workshop (.pdf). We are hoping our elected officials do not give in to the temptation of political appeal, and show themselves willing to make the hard sacrifices that may help carry this town through what will probably be a very rough economic year.

We are aware that City Manager Jim Hock has suggested some deep cuts. The PRU Crew would suggest the cuts be made deeper.

As distasteful as it may be to certain special interests in the community, we would suggest that any program that is not essential to city functioning and citizen welfare be cut to the bone. And whether we like it or not, we also suggest that it is radically irresponsible to renew, for any reason, the soon to be retiring Public Works Service Center and Alley Paving bonds, which have cost the Park Ridge taxpayers roughly $1,200,000.00 per year in debt service payments.

Current estimates for next year's city budget indicate that again the city will be operating under a wave of red ink -- approaching $2,000,000.00

Are you paying attention?

Another COW!

According to WikiAnswers.com, the average full grown cow can produce about 150 lbs. of manure per day. Anyone care to guess how much municipal manure can be produced by one mayor and seven aldermen in two hours?

If you want to witness such a feat, the City Council COW will take place tonight at City Hall beginning at 7:00 pm.

Of particular interest to all should be the issue of South Park Surface Parking (.pdf).

Government in action!

By Request!

And we're happy to oblige --

Kick up your feet and have a fun weekend!

Every Once In A While!

We warn visitors in our banner, and as our regular PRU readers have come to know, the PRU Crew doesn't pull many punches when being irreverent and unrepentant. We most often write about our displeasure and disagreement with many of our local institutions, public figures, and those who step into the public policy arena. We challenge their thinking, their motives, and their actions. And no matter who they are, what title they hold, or how long they've lived in Park Ridge, if we feel they are acting like asshats, we're going to say so.

Also as our regular readers have come to know, the local press is as much a target for our criticism as are our local elected officials.

But not today.

It is with great satisfaction that the PRU Crew offers MAJOR PRUdos to the editorial writer for today's Herald-Advocate

The editor has penned a piece in celebration of Sunshine Week, which begins March 15, 2009. In the piece the writer says in part --

"While the week is widely celebrated by news organizations, it is important that every citizen recognize the importance of the openness of your government, whether it is the federal, state or local municipality. You are entitled to know how the government decides to spend taxpayer money, whom it hires to do government business and what important decisions it makes that affect you, your tax dollars and the community in which you live."

"...some elected officials would like to conduct important business in closed meetings or to keep the business conducted in those meetings private."

"So it is important that you continue to fight for openness. Because it is important for citizens to remain informed. The more information they have access to, the easier it is for people to be informed."

Bingo!

You're Soaking In It!

A front page article in today's Journal & Topics reports that State Rep. Rosemary Mulligan's effort to get a bill out of committee has failed -- due in large measure to party line votes cast by the members of the Environmental Health Committee.


Journal & Topics reporter Craig Adams writes that --


"State Rep. Rosemary Mulligan (R-65th) introduced the bill on Jan. 23 in response to concerns about debris falling onto homes and neighborhoods from planes flying into O'Hare Airport. She expressed concerns about debris, jet fuel, and noise causing problems with the environmental and the health of residents."


Apparently Rosemary did not have these concerns, or she failed to express these concerns, prior to the opening of the new 9L/27R runway at O'Hare.


As we reported to you yesterday, Mayor Howard mumbled through a reading of a press release from Rep. Mulligan on the subject of HB322 at Monday night's Council meeting -- along with detailing all his other busy-as-a-bumbler-bee activities regarding the issue of O'Hare expansion. However, the report in the Herald-Advocate article does not include Mayor Howard's reading of Rep. Mulligan's press release.


The PRU Crew was drawn to Rep. Mulligan's statement about debris falling on homes. We recalled reading an article about "yellow goo" being found on and around a home after the opening of the new 9L/27R runway at O'Hare.


So we did what we usually do, we started digging around and asking questions of some of our usual sources about whether or not debris has been reported as falling on homes in and around Park Ridge after the opening of the new runway.


We're told the only reports of "debris" falling have been the yellow goo, as reported in the Herald-Advocate.


However, we were also told that City Manager Jim Hock did report at a staff meeting on February 9, 2009, and later to our elected officials, that the FAA had determined the source of the yellow goo.


As old Palmolive Madge would say --



"We'll give you a hint -- you're soaking in it."


Setting aside Rep. Rosemary Mulligan's belated but legitimate concerns about environmental effects of jet fuel and noise, we're wondering why Mayor Howard didn't address the issue of falling debris in his comments about O'Hare, and at least set one skeptical resident's fears to rest? Does anybody think maybe Mayor Howard didn't want to make himself or Rosemary look silly?

Council Recap! And A Note!

-- For our patient PRU readers, a quickie council recap!

As we reported yesterday, the City Council had another meeting planned for last evening. Most of the items on the Council's agenda for approval were listed under the consent agenda that assumes no public discussion is necessary, as the items being approved are considered routine. The PRU Crew does not recall the Council routinely approving any Ground Water Ordinance (.pdf) or Limited Environmental Indemnity Agreements, but under the Frimark administration lack of public discussion does seem to be a routine.

Our sources report that Mayor Howard took full advantage of the evening's lack of scheduled public discussion to thrill those in attendance with an endless series of comments, offered under the Mayor's report portion of the agenda, though none of his comments were listed as agenda items. As we know, Mayor Howard just loves to surprise everyone with his missives!

Mayor Howard's comments included another mumbled reading of a Youth Commission* Proclamation, as well as slaughtering the English language while reading a City press release and a press release from Rep. Rosemary Mulligan concerning O'Hare expansion. Neither of which are listed on the terrific medium for City communications to residents known as the Park Ridge City website.

The two agenda items listed for discussion by the Council last night were "Approval of Modifications to CPS 36 -- Use of City Facilities" and "First reading of Modification to the Liquor Ordinance (12-6-10) -- Live Entertainment.

The first item passed unanimously without any questions or discussions from the Mayor or Alderman.

The second item also passed unanimously without discussion. Though we are told Alderman Dave Schmidtzkrieg (1st ward) recused himself because he is holding a fundraiser at Uncle Dan's which we are told will include live entertainment.

Under New Business on the Council agenda, our sources report that Ald. Dave made a statement regarding the disappearance of yard signs -- asking that all members of the community respect each other's right to free speech and respecting each other's right to take part in the democratic process. PRUdos to Ald. Dave!

Also under New Business, Benedict Alderman Robert Ryan (5th ward) asked City Manager Jim Hock when they would discuss the "objectives and goals" for the creation of a City Noise Commission. Confusion ensued as City Manager Hock seemed to recall that the matter of forming a Noise Commission had been deferred to the Council's March meeting. Benedict Ald. Ryan is reported to have disagreed with Mr. Hock's recall. The PRU Crew can only assume Benedict Ryan didn't read one of the documents (.pdf -- pg. 2&3) in his Aldermanic packet -- but at least Benedict Ryan made it to the meeting!

Finally under New Business, 3rd ward Alderman Don Bachtard reported that the Public Works Department has budgeted money for a City-wide study of the Park Ridge sewer system, and he invited Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim to explain why 2.05 inches of rain could cause 26 basements to flood, 50 streets to have minor flooding, and make 2 streets impassable. The answer is? Because the frozen February ground caused the water to run off and not be absorbed. According to Zingsheim the 2.05 inches of rain falling on frozen February ground was the equivalent of 3 to 4 inches of rain falling in a short period of time.

There you have it faithful PRU readers!

*Note* -- thanks to a PRU reader for the correction. The notes we received said "campus", but a double check with a few of our other sources inside the city confirms that while Mayor Howard mumbled Youth Campus it was ideed the Youth Commission.


-- A Note from the Crew

Please, you can stop sending us copies of the Mary Jo PADS email -- we've gotten a ton of them! We swear it! And yes, it's more of the same bullshit the PADS pushers have been spouting since discovering, after decades of residency, that Park Ridge doesn't have any homeless shelters.

As for the role PRU may have played in seeing to it the PRMA, PADS, and certain pastors did not get to run rough-shod over the rest of the community in pushing their latest pet social cause down everyone's throat without being subject to regulation -- you're welcome.

For those of you who haven't seen the latest round of email garbage on the PADS issue, you can read the crap pasted below -- tsk tsk, Mary Jo. Maybe you should just keep to Book Group activities such as reading, instead of writing.

"Hello to all of the PADS team,

I just wanted to get a quick e-mail out to you regarding the upcoming mayoral election. We all had first-hand experience of Dave Schmidt's role in derailing the PADS initiative last year. He publicly referred to homeless shelters as "flophouses" and "cesspools of infestation". He quoted Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged in advocating the philosophy that those in society who work and are successful are in no way obligated to help those who are not. He aligned himself with the Park Ridge Underground even when it vilified and ridiculed Fr. Carl and other church leaders and citizens who didn't share their anti-PADS sentiments. Many of the people who were affiliated with the PRU and against PADS now actively support Mr. Schmidt.

The reason I write all of this is not to dredge up bad memories, but to encourage you to let people who were not involved in the PADS initiative know about Mr. Schmidt's role in it. I recently had a conversation with a life-long Park Ridge resident who called me about the Sunday Suppers. She was so upset about the outcome of PADS, but delighted that we are doing the dinners. She then went on to tell me about voting for Dave Schmidt. She had no idea about his role in derailing PADS and thanked me again and again for letting her now about it. I think there are a lot of people out there who are looking for change in local government, but who are unaware of Mr. Schmidt's history.

Hopefully, we can get the message out that Dave Schmidt is NOT the change we need or want. In my estimation, Dave Schmidt, the Park Ridge Underground and the anti-PADS movement represented the antithesis of what a caring community should be. On the other hand, the past month-and-a-half of working with so many people of good faith in our community on the Sunday Suppers has revealed the best of Park Ridge. It has shown a spirit of fellowship, compassion and unity that I dearly hope we can continue to build on and nurture. During these tough economic times, it seems that we need an even greater spirit of compassion and empathy from our public leaders for those in society who are most in need. We need leaders who are advocates of inclusion, not exclusion. In regard to Howard Frimark, I can only comment about what I gleaned from the PADS experience of the past year. I know that he sincerely tried to find a way to make the PADS initiative work and has fully supported the Sunday Suppers. In fact, he and his wife stopped by at last week's dinner to see how things were going and to show their support. Mayor Frimark always seemed willing to find middle ground and compromise, while Mr. Schmidt was divisive and always seemed to be politically posturing himself. I just think it is important that voters are aware of the difference.

I'm sorry if I may have crossed a line by sending this, but it just seems that there is a lot riding on this upcoming election.

Thank you for "listening"!

Mary Jo"

All Things AWOL!

#1. -- Petty theft politics

The PRU Crew continues to read comments and receive emails about Schmidt campaign signs going awol during the night. What surprises us is that anyone is surprised by this turn of events.

Remember people, Mayor Howard is the guy who personally imposed himself into an effort by private citizens to collect petition signatures for their referendum effort -- free speech and the democratic process be damned. Never mind that Mayor Howard does not practice what he preaches.

Is anyone really surprised that suspected Frimark supporters may be channelling the mind-set of their leader by denying free speech to fellow citizens through acts of petty theft of campaign yard signs?

We've got news for you, the petty political tricks will get worse before all is said and done.


#2. -- Petty cash?

Some PRU readers may remember that back in April 2008 we discussed the Shrinkage in spending on street resurfacing. The PRU Crew was crabbing about cut backs on infrastructure maintenance, the burgeoning city budget which is funded primarily through property taxes, and stupid spending decisions for "space needs studies" and "vision" plans.

According to a document forwarded to us -- we guess it's too much to ask that these documents appear on the City website -- we can see that street resurfacing isn't the only item where cut backs have taken place, or where over-spending a budget line item has become an issue.

2007-2008 Capital Project Summary

Our discussion last April was intended to get PRU readers to begin paying attention to the City budget process. And we included a link to a Herald-Advocate article that invited citizens to comment on the proposed City budget.

Well once again it's that time of year people! Pay attention and speak up now!


#3. -- Petit agenda

Tonight's City Council meeting agenda (.pdf) is again serving up a menu of items on the consent agenda -- 5 out of 7 items, to be precise, along with one closed session to discuss the discipline, performance, dismissal or employment of specific employee(s) pursuant to Chapter 5, Act 120, Section 2(c)(1) of the ILCS (review appointment of a Department Director).

One of the probable reasons for the City Council agendas being short on items for public discussion is likely because many people understand that the closer the election comes, the less they want the mumbler in the big chair and his Alderlapdogs yapping for the official record! Not that any of the City's official records ever quite accurately capture the discussions that take place during meetings, and that is why the PRU Crew will again try to post a council recap tomorrow.