The PRU Crew is experiencing what can only be described as a feeling of vicarious embarrassment. Ouch.
Addendum -- For the commenter who previously asked about being able to view the budget memos on the City's web site -- the document web addresses appear to have been corrected and the specific documents you asked about can be viewed here.
42 comments:
bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaa...
Great idea, alderidiots...combine two functions which are nearly POLAR OPPOSITES in duties and responsibilities!
F-ing brilliant...
...and I am soooooo looking forward to the next f-ing brilliant suggestion of putting politicians in charge of hiring, firing, and day-to-day management of the city and city staff...
...heh...I thought I'd moved out of Chicago...
I couldn't at all follow the conversation. Honestly, I don't have any clue what any of them were even trying to do.
I have been paying attention and I thank the PRU and the volunteers for the videos.
My Alderman Mr. Allegretti sounds like he can't count because I have noticed he missed many of these budget meetings not just the one he claimed.
4thWR@1:00 --
We believe you are correct. Ald. Allspaghetti, by our count, has missed no less than three budget workshop meetings.
This is not to say we feel his attendance, in any way, would have improved the process.
I think you are right I am also in the fourth Ward. He reminds me of an ambulance Atty. when he has something of interest like billboards he shows up. after having the city attorney draft new ordinances at the taxpayers expense probably cost the taxpayers $100,000 in legal expenses for his own personal gains??? time to look for a new alderman in the fourth Ward. Then he won't have to worry about the salary he gets from the city to take his wife out to dinner. He can hang out at the bar a couple blocks from his house on Main Street till 2 AM.
1:00 & 1:36:
In is funny how things work out. I am not a long timer here but it would appear that Allegretti had some time in office prior to the last election. It is listed as 2005 when he took office and the last election was 2007, no? Making matters worse, he is one of the Aldermen who actualy had someone else to face on the ballot!!! Yet this Ambulance atty who cannot even count somehow was able to garner 72.4% of the vote - more than twice as much as his opponent. Of course the two of you did not vote for him.
By the way, where do you get the 100 K in legal expenses??
Anon@2:16 --
We'll allow the two previous commenters to defend their own statements, however, we cannot help but take note of your own ignorance and--or naivete.
Ald. Allspaghetti first gained his seat through appointment by former Mayor Frimark -- with neither of them bothering to disclose the campaign contribution Allspaghetti made to Frimark while claiming ignorance of the aldermanic seat possibly becoming open during his Council Q&A.
Ald. Allspaghetti then ran for reelection, after the Council was reduced to one alderman per ward, as part of Frimark's hand picked slate.
Unfortunately for the voters in the fourth ward, the opposition Allspaghetti faced was largely symbolic in nature, since the local Democrats decided they would try to run anyone they could find for purposes of creating saddle burs more than serious candidancies -- despite the claims from members of both local parties that local elections are brimming with non-partisan, independents -- wink, wink.
Young Master McConville is a nice kid whom nobody believed, not even himself, had a chance in hell of mounting any serious opposition or challenge. And we believe the final vote count bears that out.
In our never humble opinion.
Ok...so he was appointed in 2005....by Frimark none the less....a hand picked puppet....ahhhhhhh!!!!!
He served for two full years prior to the next election. I am not a PR government historian but I am sure there were things he did that clearly demonstrated what a puppet he was during that two years. So your point is that the guy who ran against him was "symbolic"???? Well that is even worse!! It would appear that all of you think at the least the guy is an idiot and at worst a crook. The two posters sure seem to. Yet not a single person found his performance bad enough or motivation enough to throw their hat in the ring. Here we are 2+ years later still bitching about the same thing.
Anonymous @ 2:16,
Are you saying that if you voted for a particular representative then you should not...or cannot...criticize that representative's performance in office?
I am not saying that at all. I am all for each of us taking a hard look at all of our elected officials and (go figure!!) learning from past votes. I think that all the screaming and yet the lack of candidates says a great deal about public apathy and the desirability of the position.
Anon@3:15 --
We reiterate an earlier statement we made about Ald. Allspaghetti --
The fourth ward's Ald. Allspaghetti brains is nothing more than a greasy dealer for special interests and another embarrassment beyond words.
It is the Crew's hope the residents and voters of the fourth ward have been embarrassed long enough.
And we agree it seems, the symbolic opposition offered was worse than not offering opposition because it made a mockery of both the candidate and the democratic process.
And we see you've answered Bean's question. What you do not seem to understand is, of all the elected bodies serving the taxpayers--residents--voters of Park Ridge, Aldermanic elections have been the most contested races among those of our public bodies.
Anonymous @ 3:24,
You seem to think contested elections are a sure-fire-cure for bad representation...hey!...don't bogart that joint my friend!...because you must be smokin' somthing!
Sometimes...too often, in my opinion...brain-lazy voters, particularly of the partisan variety, get hornswoggled by the better *politician* and let the better *public servant* "get away"...
I think the folks up-thread, commenting on Allspag's doofery are doing EXACTLY what they have not only the right, but also the responsibility to do...and what they are doing doesn't require...nor SHOULD it require...they "throw their hats in the ring." The principles underlying this whole democracy thing is exactly what they are doing, and your criticizing them for it is just pure dumb.
Wonder what was the point of that lady asking the audence " Do you belong to the Country Club?"
MIKE said...
I would say the lady was pointing out how cops and fire don't get rich off being in service of their communities.
Wrong thread, I know, but
Instead of just giving the full amount to the OHare group, and the other charities, why not, as an alternative, give them half (OK, I agree it is still too much) and then let the good people of Park Ridge opt to donate an extra $5 to support these give-aways when we have to buy our vehicle stickers? Everyone has to have a vehicle stickers, so it would be an immediate referendum on whether the City should be supporting the groups. Even better, $2.50 for the community groups and $2.50 for OHare.
The council will not think twice about spending my money. How about letting me decide if I want to make the donations?
Plus they should just put it in a tax increase anyway. That way I can take it off my Federal taxes and get partial relief from this nonsense.
Boy, I didn't mean to open a whole can of worms! I was only saying my Alderman Mr. Allegretti looked like he missed many meetings.
To answer the poster who brought it up. I did vote for Mr. Allegretti and like another poster said, I have the right to say I don't like what I'm seeing from him.
Anon@7:00 --
That is as good an idea as we've heard. Nice thinking.
That's it. I'm outta here. The Vatican has more responsive (and responsible) leadership than this burg.
Ouch.
Father McKenzie:
I am sorry to say our little burg doesn't look as if it has any leadership.
I voted for Mayor Dave and I am still holding hope. I am not sure what will become of us if he does not step up.
7:00:
Fantastic idea!!! I wonder if they could expand the numbers a bit. Like you could give the 2.50 as you mentioned, or 5, or 10.
Small minded cowards. May the good Lord have mercy on your miserly souls. You are all lucky to not be going hungry in these terrible times. You would all rather watch our fellow men go hungry than have your precious taxes go to help those in need. Your pitiful.
Anon@8:34 --
We thought we'd covered the luck issue back in the day, but we see you missed that message.
We'll allow that times are tough for a whole lot of people.
What we won't allow for is the willful ignorance you display -- the obfuscation of the issue of providing taxpayer dollars to non-essential services -- unless you truly believe community groups such as the Cultural Arts Society are providing Tempra Paint Tempura or Roasted Violin Paninis to the hungry.
We missed those recipes on the Food Network.
Small minded cowards hiding behind being anonymous on a miserable blog. Go ahead, be as nasty as you dare. The Aldermen have done the right thing and you can't do anything about it.
Anon@8:50 --
You're right -- we can't do anything about it, other than to keep highlighting the lowlights which are supposed to pass for representative government here in Park Ridge.
Don't let the cyber door hit you in the ass as you exit our blog.
Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives!!!!!!
Oh my!
;-)
April 20, 2010 8:50 PM
Ummmmmm, aren't you one of those Anonymous? Too much Starbucks for that one, shes cut off.
I do like the idea of optional donating when picking up stickers.
I also am and always will be a firm believer that if we do need to generate revenue through "Fees", why not simple raise our taxes instead of "Fees" and allow us to the federal tax benefit. At least we can recoup some of teh impact.
Anon@9:16 --
Be careful what you ask for.
I would caution those who believe simply attaching increases to property taxes is necessarily a benefit.
Keep in mind, fees such as water rates are currently paid by everyone -- including those entities who do not pay property taxes -- Lutheran General Hospital, The Big Ten Conference, and others.
I guess I am an anonymous coward but I am afraid of some of the tone here. Safety is an issue. But I must say that even though times are hard, we should not forget our social responsibilities. I am sure we can all afford some higher taxes to help others in need and to do the right thing. That includes the diversity initiative which seems to have been an election ploy. I still have hope but am waiting for the change, Mr mayor.
Diversity? Dave? That's rich.
Diversity? Park Ridge? That's rich.
Discussions of diversity are always entertaining -- especially when we get the idea some people view diversity through an extremely limited and colored lens.
If you are one of the people who view diversity solely as a function of color, you suck. Welcome to Park Ridge, which we are told sucks -- so it looks like you're right where you belong.
7:32 a.m.
Where in the City Code does it say that the City has the right, or the duty, to use the tax dollars it takes involuntarily from its residents to make donations to whatever private organizations it so chooses, and for whatever use those organizations want to make of them?
Take Center of Concern, for example. It provides services to many communities besides Park Ridge, yet when was the last time COC accounted to the City for the specific Park Ridge uses of all the money the City Council keeps giving it?
Why is COC so unconcerned about transparency and accountability that it doesn't even bother to post its Form 990s on its website? And why, if you go to Guidestar to find those Form 990s that COC won't post on its own site, is the last COC Form 990 for the 2007 fiscal year ending in June 2008?
For an organization that claims to be so efficient in providing services, why does it spend (at least back in FY 2007) almost 50% of its total revenues - $479,323 of $970,930 - on employee compensation and related employee expenses (benefits, payroll taxes)?
And one last bit of curiosity: What were the $221,735 in "IDHS Grant Expenses" used for?
I agree that a tax increase is warranted, but only warranted if we are talking about essential services (Police, Fire, Roads, Water, Waste). Not on lobbyists and donations to various organizations. Our surplus is gone and we have carried these organizations for a long time. And many of these organizations are not for just Park Ridge residents. Are these organizations asking for funds from other communities?
If an organization doesn't at least post its form 990 then it should automatically be excluded end of story.
Shut up and pay your taxes you rich f*cks!!! Some people arent lucky like you!!!!!! PITCH IN FOR ONCE IN YOUR SELFISH LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whatever.
Center of Concern spends half of what it takes in on employee compensation? I never heard them explain that when they were talking about all the wonderful things they do.
Why can't these people just tell the truth and disclose all this stuff?
Don't be too tough on the COC about the Guidestar 990 posting. The latest one posted on Guidestar was received in Feb09 by the IRS per the stamp on it. I'd guess the current one was probably received on time by the IRS in Feb10 and hasn't been posted by Guidestar yet.
You are concerned about staff costs. COC told the IRS that they made served 12-15000 contacts per year...I did not go back and check the exact number. That takes people
9:44 AM
15000 contacts per year over 365 days is 41/day. Unless and until COC starts explaining what those "contacts" consist of, one or two people could handle all of those and plenty more.
At Ms. Schurder's reported salary of $60,000, that's $120,000, or $359,000 less than COC paid out in employee comp.
Maybe COC management isn't what it's cracked up to be, which might also explain why they aren't pulling in all that much in voluntary contributions.
April 22, 2010 4:22 PM,
What is your problem? The Center does the work of the angels and you want to pick apart numbers because you obviously don't know anything about the work of helping those in need.
Mary earns her salary and then some. Your diatribe and criticisms are assinine.
April 22, 2010 4:22 PM,
The "work of the angels"? You're just being silly, right?
If Mary was earning her salary and her organization was all that special, the public would be supporting it so she wouldn't have to depend on cash from the city.
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