Guest Essay!

For how many pieces of silver?

Open Letter To District 207 School Board

February 25, 2010

The price you pay for the life you choose.

Near the end of Godfather III Michael Corleone is confronted by his young nephew, Vincent. The nephew wishes to take over the crime “family business.” The Don does not wish to do so, but realizes that he is no longer physically capable of leading. Ultimately he chooses to relinquish control of the “family.”

There is one line in that scene that has stayed with my all these years. It is when Michael Corleone says to Vincent: “You must give up my daughter. That’s the price you pay for the life you choose.”

Of all the lines in that movie, it is for me, the most significant.

“That’s the price you pay for the life you choose.” Can you imagine how simpler life would be if we would always adopt that concept as our own.

I’ve been reading a great deal lately about the “plight” of School District 207’s teachers and administrators. What is their dilemma? In a nutshell, this school district has run into a financial brick wall, and its board and management have chosen to bite the bullet now, rather than to allow the district to enter into an ever tightening financial spiral. Clichés aside, this district is in deep financial trouble.

The teacher’s union members are currently three years into a five-year contract. At this time, they are demanding that the district and taxpayers honor that commitment, no matter what.

Reading the comment sections of our local newspapers and blog sites one gets a clear picture of the twisted logic employed by the union rank-and-file and the teacherphiles who support them. They refuse to believe that there is no “rainy day fund” money for their use. They know that the taxpayers who pay their salary are hurting financially, and that there is little likelihood that this situation will change any time soon. We have a contract – pay us, they demand. Well I have a different idea.

To the board, I say - if our arrogant teachers union will not come to the table to protect their own, or the children they serve, and tax strapped families that pay their salaries, let them go. Maybe you will not be able to do so this year or maybe not even next year. But when the current contract ends, the teachers union must be made to understand: “That’s the price you pay for the life you choose.”

Obviously, the highly paid teachers of this district do not know how good they have it.

Kenneth Butterly, Taxpayer

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Couch!

Because if the Park Ridge O'Hare Airport Commission gets what will be asked for (.pdf) at the next City Council meeting, we're gonna need a lot more spare change!

We understand most of our faithful PRU readers have been paying attention to the Mayor, City Council, and the City Budget problems.

We thought our faithful PRU readers may want to see an example of how Mayors, City Councils, and City Budgets can get into hot water when certain interest groups can't see the forest for the trees.

Holy wow! $500,000? Do they make couches that big?

Freewheeling -- 2/24/10!

At Monday night's City Council meeting, there were a number of interesting discussions. The PRU Crew feels anyone interested in highlighting any of the low lights from the meeting should feel free to do so here.

For our part, we found the discussion about reinstating the position of City Treasurer to be extremely entertaining. The City Cluck, Betty Henneman, never fails to provide a laugh on the rare occasions she decides to open her mouth.

But 3rd ward Aldermoron Bachtard was his usual idiot self as well and we laaaaauuuuughed! Did Ald. Bachtard really say he thinks "another set of eyes" watching the City budget could be "a benefit?" Why yes, yes he did. Someone should ask Ald. Bachtard if maybe 7 more "sets of eyes" could be "a benefit?" But we're told Ald. Bachtard previously said in a letter published in the local rags a few years ago that he didn't feel there are enough "quality individuals" in Park Ridge to accomplish such a task. And that opinion would seem to make populating a Finance Commission a rather difficult task, no? Or, has Ald. Bachtard changed his mind about the "quality individuals" who populate Park Ridge? Or maybe Ald. Bachtard only feels there aren't enough "quality individuals" worthy of holding elected office and having an actual vote on public policy issues and the City budget?

Today's Pub-dog post deftly addresses the comedic musings the 5th ward's Benedict Ald. Ryan offered at Monday night's meeting. We hate to break the bad news to Benedict Ald. Ryan, but not everyone moves to Park Ridge for the schools -- the Park Ridge population with school-age kids remains a distinct minority. The Park Ridge population apparently has enough "quality individuals" to offer financial advice to the School District 64 Board though. And it would also appear the Park Ridge population has enough "quality individuals" to actually vote yes to increasing their own property taxes in support of School District 64. We're guessing Benedict Ald. Ryan forgot that part of the financial equation.

For his part, Mayor Schmidtzkrieg didn't seem to grasp the idea that he and the Council are the representatives of the people and are the very same people who are supposed to be "the people's eyes and ears for financial matters." Mayor Schmidtzkrieg also seems unaware that former City Treasurer Brauweiler wasn't much of a set of "eyes and ears" -- at least not when it came to protecting the $650,000.00 Peotone investment. How many relief sewers or sewer liners could that have purchased? How many sidewalk squares could that have paid to replace? How many trees for reforestation could that have paid to plant? The list of possibilities is endless really. Heckuva job, Brauwy!

Mayor Schmidtzkrieg seems to be reaching through the dark -- or taking highly questionable advice from somewhere -- in looking for ways to get the City Council to do their jobs. If the City Council won't listen to him, or the City Manager, or the former City Finance Director, then by God, they'll have to listen to a newly appointed or elected City Treasurer, right? Place your bets ladies and gentlemen...

All in, as we said in our Monday post -- on the Finance and Budget front, business as usual at 505 Butler Pl.

It's Only Moola!

Another Monday -- another COW!

Tonight's City Council COW agenda (.pdf) covers business of the Procedures and Regulations, and Finance and Budget committees. And as usual, we expect a good time to be had by all!

The PRU Crew expects to have a very good time listening to the mental and verbal contortions of Procedures and Regulations chairman, 4th ward Ald. James Allspaghetti, explain his on-going concern over the super majority voting requirement he originally voted to approve.

Also on the agenda for approval is the Special Events application process. Mayor Schmidtzkrieg made the original call for review (.pdf) of Special Event costs, but then did an about-face on the issue by inexplicably pushing to keep review of Special Event applications a City staff function. We're wondering how the Mayor expects to be able to review costs for Special Events without reviewing which Special Events applications are being made, prior to the event being held and the City incurring costs. Inquiring minds are just dying to know!

Also on the Procedures and Regulations agenda is an item (.pdf) apparently inspired by concerns from the 2nd ward's Lord of the Manor, Ald. Rich DiPietro -- Modification to the 3P Manual regarding the City Attorney . Has an Alderdunce been attempting to use the City Attorney as a personal secretary?

On the Finance and Budget front, we expect business as usual -- meaning, a lot of yakking, hot air exhalation, and self aggrandizement on the part of the Alderdunces.

And we're really really really looking forward to hearing how the reinstatement of the position of a City Treasurer would have saved us all from the current budget fiasco -- notwithstanding the performance of the last City Treasurer and his role in the loss of $650,000.00 thrown down the Peotone airport hole. For a refresher on the topic, you can read the Peotone report here and some of former City Treasurer Carl Brauweiler's comments on the matter on page 7.

Gut Checking -- Thoughts

Happy Friday, faithful PRU readers. We hope you've had a productive week.

We put up our usual Monday post and then reviewed the Melidosian Motionbox magic on Tuesday -- and we observe a respectable number of you are finding your way to the videos without having your hands held. Excellent.

As most of you know, our standing blog rule for everybody is "no libel -- no bullshit." For the Crew both portions of the rule are of particular importance. And we are always gut checking to try to make sure what we offer here for public consumption isn't bullshit.

Aside from the City business material covered at Monday night's City Council meeting, we were very interested in the Aldermen's reply to the Mayor's address.

Our first reaction and instinct was to correct the factual error concerning the statement -- "On May 9, 2007, this City Council enacted the first major rewrite of our city's Zoning Ordinance in over 30 years." This Council wasn't installed into office until May 21, 2007 (.pdf), so any attempt to take credit or blame for having "enacted the first major rewrite of our city's Zoning Ordinance in over 30 years" is factually false. Hell, other than the parts of the zoning code placed directly under the noses of these Alderdopes at any given time over the last 3+ years, the Crew is willing to bet a super majority of these Aldermen have never read the zoning code, nor the municipal code.

Our second reaction and instinct was to discuss the seven paragraph introduction in the Aldermen's response and talk about what unmentioned connection there is from the second paragraph to the third, and what any of that has to do with the current City budget dilemma. Our opinion is, whomever may have been the primary author -- and we believe the 2nd ward's Lord of the Manor did not compose this piece alone -- was attempting to buck up the members of the City Council and dubiously highlight items of interest, calling them accomplishments, when they simply are not.

We wondered about the unanimity of the piece and the possibility of IOMA violations, but we don't discount the hub and spoke method of communication among elected officials -- we trust we don't have to explain that to the majority of our educated PRU readership.

Our third reaction and instinct was to do exactly what the Pub-dogs did in their Wednesday post -- address the vacuous, hollow, and meaningless platitudes of the piece. And we expected to have fun pointing out the hypocrisy and irony of one of 3rd ward Alderman Bachtard's quotes in one of the local rags -- "It's my personal opinion that politicking at City Council meetings and in those chambers is a no-no." Is that right, Bachtard? So how do you justify lending your name and support to an Aldermoron response of the same nature?

We were all set to go -- then PRU.ADMIN called bullshit and our internal battle began. And as always, PRU.ADMIN decides the final outcome.

Stepping back and taking a look at the Aldermoron's response -- it was a very politically astute maneuver. And an exceptionally smart way to nullify Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's attempt to differentiate himself from the rest of the City Council by repeatedly offering agreement with the Mayor, while at the very same time denigrating Schmidtzkrieg's more aggressively negative style through a starkly contrasting and seemingly positive approach.

The Aldermoron's unanimous response is the first of many salvos and shots over Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's bow, which are to come as segments of the Park Ridge political population get ready to launch campaigns for the next round of Council elections.

Of course, it was nothing more than a very political attack on Mayor Schmidtkrieg. The response was designed more for the purpose of weakening the Mayor, so any potential Council candidate he may choose to support won't have much of a mayoral coattail to ride, than it was to address any real issues concerning the City budget. But the response was exceptional in its' subtlety. And effective. How effective remains to be seen.

Enjoy a thoughtful and relaxing weekend.

Monday Two-fer!

#1 -- Monday Meeting Menu!

6:15 p.m. Liquor License Review Board -- We have to give the mystery Tinley Park restaurant owner creds for seemingly asking for permission instead of forgiveness!

7:00 p.m. Dee Rd. Sidewalk Project / Public Information Meeting -- Walk if you got 'em! It's for the children!

7:30 p.m. City Council Meeting -- Promises to be another exciting evening! We can't wait for report item a under City Council!





#2 -- Can You Spot the Difference?

As of noon today, the revised draft minutes (.pdf) for the 2/3/10 City Council meeting don't quite match the content of the video from that meeting, which we posted here. The minutes never really do -- but some omissions are glaring!

Play Your Cards Right!

Queen of Hearts by Abigail Kamelhair

Have a good weekend and a Happy Valentine's Day!

Spelunking with the Park Ridge Park District!

In today's Herald-Advocate online we read the following notice -- Park District seeks task force members for the Park Ridge Park District's Environmental Impact Task Force.

Cool!

Anyone interested is told to "contact Maryanne Lucarz at mlucarz@prparks.org or call (847) 692-3482 for more information."

The PRU Crew thought, "The Environmental Impact Task Force sounds like a very interesting advisory body -- wonder what they've been talking about. Let's check the Park District web site and see."

And so we did. And we found...

Absolutely nothing of value. No minutes for the task force meetings are posted anywhere that we could find, which means anyone wanting to know what subjects the Environmental Impact Task Force has already discussed would have to keep digging.

And as our faithful PRU readers know, the Crew is willing to dig around some and see what can be found. So we thought we would read meeting minutes from the Park Ridge Park District Board meetings to see what has been discussed relating to the Environmental Impact Task Force.

And so we did. And we found...

Absolutely nothing of real value. There is one pitiful set of Board minutes from the December 17, 2009 meeting (.pdf) along with one lone video (.wmv) from the January 21, 2010 meeting for review on the Park District web site.

So anyone interested in doing any homework before stepping forward to volunteer for the Environmental Impact Task Force may have to personally contact Maryanne Lucarz for information. Though we have reason to be skeptical of a positive result -- Ms. Lucarz, you see, is also in charge of posting information on the Park District web site.

Moooooommy, he's being a big meanie!

We have to laugh.

If you've taken the time to review the videos from Monday night's COW meeting, you undoubtedly saw 5th ward Benedict Alderman Ryan respond to Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's State of the City address during the new business portion of the agenda.

If you haven't, or don't want to sit through the whole second video, you can use this link to review only Benedict Alderman Ryan's cry baby response.

Benedict Alderman Ryan's entire whine can be summed up thusly -- "Whaaaaa, don't make us feel bad! Whaaaaa, don't ask us to do anything! Whaaaaa, tell us what to do!"
Typical.

The PRU Crew has witnessed Benedict Ryan ask for direction so many times we sincerely wonder if this guy has ever had an original thought in his whole life! What really makes us laugh is that Mayor Schmidtzkrieg has given the Council direction -- specifically on water rates! But apparently Benedict Ryan didn't get the directions to the direction! We also wonder who dresses Benedict Ryan every morning.

Democracy paging Benedict Ryan! Democracy paging Benedict Ryan!

Figuring out what to cut, what to raise, and what to do to manage the City budget IS THE FIRST AND MOST BASIC JOB OF ELECTED OFFICIALS! But we have to assume Benedict Ryan didn't get "the memo" on that either so he doesn't know what his job is! Are there such things as public policy garanimals for Aldermorons? Benedict Ryan could sure use the easy-to-match directions!

Other elected officials, specifically the 3rd ward's Ald. Bachtard and the 2nd ward's Lord of the Manor, also whined their responses to the address in an online article in the Herald-Advocate -- with Bachtard under the particular delusion that criticism of aldermanic action and inaction is "politicking." We don't call him Ald. Bachtard for no reason!

Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's State of the City address may have been lacking in some areas, but the Crew thought the overall message was spot on. And the City Council provided more evidence at Monday night's meeting as to exactly what Mayor Schmidtzkrieg was addressing as this Council's failure to act in the best interests of the taxpayers of Park Ridge.

Below are the videos from Monday's COW. The first video begins with a discussion of the water fund rates -- how do you feel these idiots performed?

video #00000.MTS PRCOW 2/8/10



video #00001.MTS PRCOW 2/8/10



For a more expansive editorial on Benedict Ryan's whine, hop on over to the Pub-dog's website.

Press Release!

While we wait for the Crew to complete review of the Melidosian Motionbox magic, we thought we would share with you the following press release we received from Mayor Dave Schmidtzkrieg this morning --

Park Ridge - The day after a City Council Committee-of-the-Whole meeting, Mayor Dave Schmidt expressed continued frustration with the City Council's lack of progress in addressing the City's current budget deficit.

"For months, I have asked the Council to adjust water rates so the taxpayers are not forced to keep subsidizing the largest users' water bills," said Schmidt. "However, they continue to drag their feet as our deficit continues to grow. Every time a drop of water is used in this City, we have to dip into the taxpayers' savings account, the City's reserves, to make up the difference between the water charge and the City's costs. On top of that, those who use the least amount of water are charged more per gallon than those who use the most. It is completely inequitable."

At the meeting, Schmidt asked the aldermen to at least agree in principle that the City should charge enough for water to offset all of its costs in delivering that water. Instead, the aldermen engaged in what Schmidt termed a "bull" session which accomplished nothing other than to postpone a solution yet again.

"It is this kind of failure to act in the taxpayers' best interests which has been an unfortunate hallmark of this Council," said Schmidt."They cannot continue to fiddle while Rome burns to the ground."

A Monday Two-fer!

#1 --


Once again this evening, our lack-lustrious City Council will hold a COW meeting. The Finance & Budget, Public Works and Public Safety fun is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chamber.

On the agenda (.pdf) are interesting little gems such as discussion of the water fund and sewer rehabilitation program, and an update on the red light camera from Chiefski.

The PRU Crew can hardly wait to watch the verbal contortions and distortions from some of the Aldermopes as to why water usage should continue to be subsidized.


#2 --


Below is the video from last Wednesday's City Council meeting. Can you spot the opening salvo for another bite at the rotten billboard apple?

video #00000.MTS PRCC 2/3/10


We knew that you could.

Ready To Rock!

Enjoy the weekend! And if you're planning on watching the Super Bowl, enjoy the commercials -- especially the one that is costing you, the taxpayers, $2.5million!

Mayor Schmidt State of the City Address 2010

State of The City Address 02/03/2010


An advance copy of the text of the address is here, if you choose not to spend the 22 minutes it would take to view the video.

One Hour From Now --

Mayor Schmidt's State of the City Address

from: Media Relations
to: presscontacts
date: Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 5:00 PM
subject: Press Release from Park Ridge Mayor Dave Schmidt - State of the City Address

(43 minutes ago)

News ReleasePark Ridge Mayor Dave Schmidt
700 Hansen, Park Ridge, IL 60068
http://www.parkridgemayor.com/

For Immediate Release
Contact: Dave Schmidt
February 3, 2010
Phone: 847-430-3165

Park Ridge Mayor Dave Schmidt Delivers State of the City Address 2010

Park Ridge—Mayor Dave Schmidt will deliver the State of the City Address 2010 this evening at 7pm CST at the Park Ridge City Hall, located at 505 Butler Place, Park Ridge, IL 60068. A regular City Council meeting will follow. An online video recording of this address will be available on http://www.parkridgemayor.com/ by the following afternoon. An advance courtesy copy containing the text of this address is attached.

State of the City-2010

District 207 Board Meeting

For PRU readers interested in a recap of last night's District 207 School Board meeting, the Daily Herald has the following report -- District 207 approves $15 million in cuts, lays off 137 employees

Primary Election Day!

Every election season, the pols get busy kissing voters' backsides. Give them a reason to keep having to do that -- if you haven't voted yet, today's your last chance to go to the polls for this primary election campaign.

We don't care which party ballot you pull -- we don't care which candidates you vote for.

We only care that you don't waste the opportunity!

VOTE!

Guest Essay And Report!

Submitted for your review and published by permission of the author.

Open Letter
To the
Maine Township School District #207

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I have just received my "Maine East - Call to Action" flyer*. Being the good citizen that I am, I decided to take the teachers union up on its call.

Attached is a copy of a four-year teacher and administrator study for our district. The data was sourced at Champion News.net. They received the data from the Illinois Board of Education. Over the years I’ve found the Illinois State Board of Education to be an accurate source, as their data is originally sourced from the district itself.

On Monday night this board will feel pressured to give in to union demands for full funding, including higher pay. As you will see, the attached report clearly shows an outrageously high growth rate for teacher and administrator payments since 2005.

I recognize from experience that most teachers and administrators are not business people and that most have never held a long-term full-time job outside of the school system. I also recognize that since coming to District 207, the majority of teachers or administrators have seldom had to worry about where their next paycheck was coming from or whether or not they would have a job tomorrow. District 207 teachers and administrators have good high paying jobs including three months off for vacation.

Unfortunately, this is not the case for most of the people paying their bill. One need only read the paper to see how the present economic realities have affected taxpayers within this district. Further, there are many District 207 taxpayers who rely on Social Security for their income. They cannot afford to pay more.

We cannot afford to pay more!

The Teachers Union is demanding that our representatives on the board dip into the district’s “rainy day fund” to achieve their goal. The district is already doing so! One can only imagine, how in just a few additional years of “dipping”, there might eventually be no “rainy day fund” dollars for future boards to “dip” into. Of course, the teachers union will tell us that the district can always count on taxpayers to fork up the additional money via a referendum, as neighbor districts have in the past few years.

I urge you to look at the report in its entirety. It is, as one of your own members put it, devastating.

Best regards,

Kenneth Butterly, Taxpayer


* Maine South flyer and Maine West flyer -- and no "union bug" anywhere! Tsk! Tsk!