1. -- H.S. District 207 Board Meeting tonight!
The agenda for tonight's meeting is here (.pdf). Older minutes for District 207 Board meetings are here. We posted an open letter to the District Board here.
And unfortunately, after tonight's meeting, many of our younger, energetic, non-tenured teachers may find themselves here.
2. -- City Council Meeting tonight!
The agenda (.pdf) for tonight's meeting looks fairly full -- we expect the real meat and potatoes of Council discussion will take place behind closed doors, as the City Manager has two line items asking the Council to adjourn to Executive Session. We also expect that, given the thinking caps worn by a super majority of the Aldermorons, Executive Session won't be any more enlightening than open sessions. But the Aldermorons won't be as subject to public embarrassment and ridicule.
3. -- Videos and Documents!
The PRU Crew finds Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's promotion of his campaign web site very entertaining. We aren't eager to promote any politician's personal web site, but in this instance we're making an exception.
The budget documents provided to the City Council for the workshop are available for viewing on Mayor Schmidtzkrieg's campaign web site here. The City of Park Ridge web site also contains a 2010/2011 budget message document (.pdf) for public review.
As usual, faithful PRU readers can view the videos from the City Council Budget workshop at the Melidosian Motionbox web site -- here's the link to all the budget discussion videos. There are only 3 videos and each are well worth your time.
4. -- Master Blaster!
A member of the Park Ridge O'Hare Airport Commission sent out the following email and a faithful PRU reader was kind enough to forward a copy to us --
Dear Neighbor,
As you are a neighbor and resident of the City of Park Ridge, it is important that you carve out a little time to make your voice heard.
On Monday March 1, 2010, the O’Hare Airport Commission will be making their recommendations to the Park Ridge City Council. The Commission is FIRST ON THE AGENDA and the O’Hare Commission report should be finished within an hour. The meeting begins at 7:30 PM.
The Mayor and Aldermen need to hear from YOU that you want action !
Our elected officials need to support solutions for relief from the airport expansion.
There has been much discussion over the past few weeks ways to resolve out of control growth at O’Hare. Reports made by the City Council members have been inaccurate and presumptuous. The O’Hare Commission will be making a series of recommendations that are solid and viable to work toward resolution. These recommendations are based on FACT, not politically motivated conjecture.
Time is of the essence.
THE MAYOR and CITY COUNCIL MUST HEAR YOUR VOICE AND YOUR DEMAND THAT THEY SUPPORT THESE STRATEGIES AND TACTICS –
AND THEY MUST HEAR THIS FROM YOU ON MONDAY, MARCH 1ST.
The full report will be presented by OAC Chairman, Jennifer Perry, at the City Council meeting. Please come (and bring a neighbor!) to hear the plea for support from our City leaders. It is their responsibility to PROTECT THE RESIDENTS OF THIS CITY – these recommendations will allow them to do just that. To review the report in advance of the meeting, please go to: http://www.parkridge.us/events/event.asp?EVENT_ID=1794&F_DATE=3%2F1%2F2010 and click on Cover & Documentation - O'Hare Airport Commission Report. This will allow you to understand the overview that will be presented and the goals and recommendations by the commission.
So far – the City of Park Ridge is DOING NOTHING to resolve the issues.
AND IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THE ISSUES ARE – HERE’S A SHORT LIST:
· O’Hare manages approximately 2200 flights daily today.
· Construction of any southern runways will not give us relief. They will only allow for MORE flights to be managed.
· There are no flight caps at O’Hare meaning that the number of DAILY, could increase to over 5000 with the airport expansion
· Park Ridge gets no financial benefit from airport operations.
· Park Ridge is NOT part of the “economic engine that is produced by O’Hare”.
· Park Ridge has virtually no hotel, industrial, transportation or other business that is driven by O’Hare.
· A minimum of 68% of all flights in and out of O’Hare will travel over Park Ridge air space
· This equals a MINIMUM of 1600+ flights daily over Park Ridge air space
· Prior to the opening of the north runway, south Park Ridge experienced about 200 flights daily on the Higgins runway.
· Another 400+ flights daily will use the yet to be built Granville Runway over the south end of town.
· The construction and use of the Granville Runway will NOT decrease use on the new North runway (9L/27R). They will use both.
· The two northwest runways will be decommissioned; the traffic from those runways will be diverted to the two northeast runways, 9L/27R and the Granville runway
· When the build out of the OMP is completed, air traffic paths will increase on the north/northwest side of Park Ridge significantly.
· Park Ridge OVERALL real estate values were estimated to drop by 27% in the Environmental Impact Study of the O’Hare Modernization Plan. This number was exclusive of any economic downturn
These are FACTS. Not propaganda. Not spin. Fact. Sounds bad, doesn’t it? It is. Fact is that over the next five years, the essence of our community will be altered forever. But, you can make a difference by asking your local elected officials to help support a solution.
Many people in this community have been heard saying, “… there’s nothing we can do…”.
THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE.
If you think there is nothing we can do, think again -. In other cities near airports across the country, communities like ours have been able to get a variety of concessions that seriously improved the quality of life under the flight paths. These solutions have included:
· Modification to flight paths
· Use of new technology to alleviate noise
· Mandatory No Fly Zones (near schools)
· Mandatory Fly Quiet Programs
· Increased Sound Insulation Requirements
· And more…
The OAC has identified a number of action items that can move us toward solution.
Your voice is critical in making sure our City Council know your thoughts.
SO:
Make the City Council meeting this Monday.
Make attending the meeting a PRIORITY.
If you can absolutely not make this meeting, take three minutes and write a note to your Alderman and Mayor Schmidt. Tell them that you hate how the airport expansion has impacted our town and that you want them to support potential solutions environmentally, politically, and legally. They NEED to hear that the city NEEDS to address this growing problem. Without hearing from you, they will not be able to support working toward resolution.
To identify your Ward and Alderman, consult the Ward maps which can be found at: https://www.parkridge.us/assets/city-ward-street-schools-pub-fac-pkg.pdf
Mayor and Alderman addresses are:
Mayor David Schmidt - 847/430-3165; dschmidt@parkridge.us
First WardJoseph F. Sweeney -847/823-5552; jfsweeney1stward@sbcglobal.net
Second WardRichard A. DiPietro - 847/698-2471; richd@crosstechinc.com
Third WardDonald Bach - 847/698-3654; docboc7957@ameritech.net
Fourth WardJames Allegretti – 847/825-8080; jallegretti@sbcglobal.net
Fifth WardRobert Ryan - 847/692-7328; bibandrobert@comcast.net
Sixth WardThomas Carey- 847/975-9474; carey407@comcast.net
Seventh WardFrank Wsol - 847/823-6247; frankwsol@juno.com
Your letter could read something like this: (feel free to cut and paste):
Dear Mayor Schmidt/Alderman_______:
I am writing to you today to express my concern over the City of Park Ridge’s position on finding resolution for the problems we are experiencing as a result of O’Hare Expansion. My concerns include safety, noise pollution, air pollution, disruption of education in our classrooms, night time noise and my inability to enjoy my property. I would like to make it clear that I would like you to stand up for me and my neighbors. I support the recommendations of the O’Hare Commission and request that you approve these efforts and move to action IMMEDIATELY. Make room in our City budget to address this problem in ways that will fully explore our constitutional, environmental and legal rights.
Sincerely,
Name
Address
In closing, I will encourage you to forward this message to your friends, neighbors, parents from school/church/
community groups/merchants/work
and encourage them to do the same:
1. Attend the meeting Monday March 1st at 7:30 PM.
2. Email the Alderman and remind them that this is a serious problem that will continue – 10, 20, 30 years into the future – altering the fabric of our community forever.
3. PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
4. The time to act is now… or forever hold your peace.
I look forward to seeing you at the City Council meeting this Monday evening.
Sincerely,
Christine Kutt
200 Belleplaine Avenue
Park Ridge IL
Tele: 847-571-1010
Email: christinekutt@gmail.com
And we offer a bit of free advice to Ms. Kutt -- too many words! Way way too many words! We won't even begin to address the lack of cites and substantive support for the statements made in the email, but good luck. Water from rocks -- blood from turnips -- but we won't be surprised if certain Aldermorons attempt to perform some kind of financial miracle! Or claim to have located a really really really big couch!
5. -- Finally, our usual nod to the Pub-dogs!
City Budget Requires Will To Say "No!" -- all in, a pretty good write-up! We wish they would have asked 3rd ward Ald. Bachtard the obvious question, "If the cuts proposed by City Manager Jim Hock are the wrong cuts, what are the right cuts?"
March 1, 2010
Our Briefs Runneth Over!
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13 comments:
Bach won't say what he thinks the right cuts are because he wants to pass the buck to Hock. That way if anything goes wrong Bach can then blame Hock for it.
Anonymous @ 3:33,
I believe you're right...I also believe Bach and likely the rest of the clowncil realize they're going to make a lot of people really unhappy with whatever they decide...so they'll try to dampen that unhappiness by throwing a bone...here and there...to just about everyone...
Same old song and dance...
In the end, the effect will be waste and inefficiency...because they will have committed themselves to pandering...and abandoned any strictly principled policy position in order to do so...
If you can't be two places at once, I say show up to the city meeting.
The school board looks like they know the right thing to do but the aldermen need help.
I don't like the planes but the Airport Commission is out of their minds.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars for tilting at windmills when the town's budget is in a hole and we are talking about getting rid of some of our first responders is insane.
Not to change the subject, but congratulations to our Maine South Constitution Team! I can't wait for the parade!
I watched the videos.
Alderman Tom Carey doesn't know much if he thinks we will lose anything by getting rid of the economics director.
Grant writers can be hired for much less than the City is paying for the economics director.
Salaries and benefits are always the biggest costs in any business. The problem with government is they can just keep raising taxes to cover salaries and benefits.
Government employees keep getting raises no matter what job they do and we keep paying more in taxes and getting less for them.
Anon@5:37 --
We would like to remind you and everyone else that many of our city staff took wage freezes last year to pitch in and help keep the budget under some measure of control.
Give credit where credit is due.
Has anyone noticed that, as it was pointed out at the meeting, Park Ridge pays not only the second lowest for its city services out of Park Ridge and the 9 towns we border.
AND 10th out of 12 towns when including a few other near suburbs.
And, as for the people who discussed the city not funding pensions 100% each year with the required tax levy and putting off payment: Do you not realize that paying, say 50% in April and then waiting till Dec. to pay the other 50% = INTEREST FEES. The city was failing to pay required amounts earlier this decade. Failure to pay will bring law suits which will not only cost more funds, but as I said, bring fees associated with the late payment.
But hey, we could just get "Jose's landscaping" service and fix some things...right Mayor?
anon 7:51:
For the record, the Mayor states the name of the landscaping company that he uses for his house is Jose's Landscaping, that's what's on the invoice...and yes, there is a gentleman named Jose who runs the business.
7:51am,
I'd sure like to see the facts and figures behind the rankings you reference. I am a member of the trust but verify club and Hock and the others can say what the will about how PR ranks but I read HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS and I am a skeptic when people with vested interests start floating rankings around to gain leverage.
And the Mayor may have been impolitic when he used the "Jose" example but it seems that is the name of his landscaper; that can't be too big a shock, can it?
If you can't maintain your sewers and streets, or if you flood all the time becasue you can't afford to regularly inspect and clean out your sewers, then it doesn't really matter if you're second from the lowest or the second from the highest. SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH THE WAY YOU'RE RUNNING THINGS!
We've got adlermen saying they won't cut cops and firemen, but you can usually find a Barney Fife or two (or three) at Starbucks. And every time a Fire Dept. ambulance goes out, it is escorted by a fire truck. WTF?
From a message I posted on Pubdog yesterday, but seems applicable to ANON 12:07: Mayor Schmidt has been invited Washington D.C. by Jan Schakowsky to make a case for $2 million federal stimulus dollars, which apparently is available for the purpose of sewer system upgrades. This amount won’t solve the entire infrastructure crisis, but it would be extremely useful as seed money to get the process moving. Seems like a small step in the right direction, if the Council can summon the courage to make the recommended cuts.
Here is an interesting historic tidbit regarding Maine Township High School:
During the Great Depression most of the staff taught without financial compensation, as the district could not afford to meet salaries. As thanks, local merchants provided necessities to the staff free of charge.
Times have changed.
From publicschoolreview.com and can be found at http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:Tf8WADXkpqQJ:www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/25696+%22park+ridge,+IL%22+architecture+significant&cd=16&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
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