For your reading enjoyment --
Good afternoon-
Attached is the text of the message I delivered to the Council last night vetoing appropriations for community groups. Pursuant to state statute, the City Council will automatically debate overriding the vetoes at the next City Council meeting on September 20.
You will hear some claim that the vetoes were unnecessary and should be overridden because the total amount involved is a small percentage of our overall budget. That is nonsense. Every single dime we have available to us must be spent wisely and solely for the benefit of the taxpayers, not private organizations, nor anyone or anything else for that matter.
As I mentioned last night, the perceived nobility of the purpose does not change the fact that it is still an expenditure of public funds to private entities without any determination that an essential public need is being met through the expenditure. Wrongfully spending taxpayer funds because politicians determine the cause is "just" or the amount involved is "slight" does nothing to make it right.
More importantly, this issue is just part of the bigger picture which involves defining the role of the city government and ensuring that we finally get our fiscal house in order lest we end up in the same financial condition as the State.
This is a public debate. I encourage everyone, regardless of their opinion, to let the aldermen know and me how you feel and to attend the September 20 meeting if you can.
-Dave
Mayoral Veto 09072010
For our part, the PRU Crew is getting the idea that Mayor Schmidtzkrieg has developed a political tin ear.
September 8, 2010
Press Release from Mayor Schmidtzkrieg!
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46 comments:
Forgive me if this is overly dramatic, but I think there is a very simple question the Mayor needs to answer.
The Mayor lauded CoC and it's methodology during the PADS debate. He said this was much prefered!!! Based on these comments I have no choice but to believe the Mayor thinks that CoC does help people and does good work. Otherwise he was just using them for politicla purposed and as ammo during the PADS debate. He would never do that - right?!?!?!?!
So it is only logical to say that if 55K in funds disappears from their budget that will mean that some person or people that is receiving help today will no longer be receiving help. Now one can make the argument that PR citizens will have to donate more or that CoC will have to raise more funds from the private sector. This may or may not happen. It may take months or even years. But in the near term, there will be people who CoC will not have the funds to help.
So the simple question for the Mayor (and all of us really) is what happens to these people??
2:14, good question. My guess is the Mayor would say "screw em".
“Because one of the deepest values of our country is compassion, we must never turn away from any citizen who feels isolated from the opportunities of America. Our government will continue to support faith-based and community groups that bring hope to harsh places.” George W. Bush, State of the Union Speech Feb 2, 2005.
By the way, I love the part about contractual relationships. Mayor, you guys really have to work on your timing. It sucks when it looks like you lifted your entire speech from PD.
I'm very disappointed in the Mayor. I disagreed with him on PADS but thought we had common ground on local charities like the Center of Concern. I won't let myself be fooled again. Mr. Mayor you just lost my support permanently.
This guy has got far too radical even for me. I’m more of the George W. Bush philosophy. I hope and pray my fellow Park Ridge citizens will make this right.
September 8, 2010 3:07 PM:
I thought it was ridiculous when the Aldermen said yes to everything but I think it's just as ridiculous for the Mayor to say no to everything, except he isn't even convicted enough to say absolutely no to everything!
The real irony is the Mayor and PD saying there should be contracts for these services which I think would increase what the town spends to support these services. But they both scream about the Aldermen spending money we don't have!
I can't even follow the thought processes and positions. Is it absolutely no but yes but with more money spent as long as it's a contract? But we can't have any money going to any groups because we don't have any money? Except if we have contracts then what, we will have the money?
Anonymous @ 3:46,
Yes...that's almost spot on.
It goes like this...
We don't have any money to give.
We can't give away taxpayer money without accountability for what the city gets.
We must have contracts for services, even if it means expending more in funding.
...but!!!...since we don't have any money we can't even fulfill such contracts...
...and!!!...since "you" brought it up...should helping needy people be something government does anyway?
Can you guess what the answer to the last question would/will be...?
I'll give you a hint...the answer to that last question starts with an "n" and ends with an "o"...and their "reason" is, charities should be completely and totally *privately* funded...and best of luck.
Anon 3:07
"lifted"?
You can only say "lifted" if he took it without permission, not in the case when they wrote it for him.
Careful people --
While the overall message and language is eerily similar, we have no way of knowing if the Mayor or somebody else wrote the Mayor's statement.
Though we strongly suspect some form of a collaborative effort may have been made.
PRU....
If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck - then it is probably a duck
Anon@4:43 --
Point taken.
However, we believe the practice of potentially and falsely assigning authorship is a bad practice we prefer not to indulge.
We'll leave that bad practice to the Pub-dogs.
Our city, our state, and our country are in this financial mess because elected official at all levels have forgotten how to say no to expenditures that individually seem reasonable, but in total exceed the revenue stream. I say thanks to the mayor for standing up and saying no.
Anon@5:11 --
If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you may recall we too encouraged the Mayor to say no to spending the taxpayer's money on certain non-essential expenditures.
However, we also encouraged both the Mayor and the Council to be discerning in how and to what they chose to say no.
The Mayor chose to swing an axe and now it will be the Aldermen or more accurately, a number of Aldermen voting to sustain vetoes of certain line items, who will make the discerning decisions we earlier encouraged of the Mayor.
And as many have taken the time to point out, not only did the Mayor simply say no, he failed to say no to enough expenditures which may actually have given the community and the Council something to work with in reaching what the Mayor and you seem to agree are expenditures which "in total exceed the revenue stream."
***edited/corrected content
Anon 5:11,
"No" can be a very useful word when used appropriately. I tell my kids no every day, just not when they are brushing their teeth, eating breakfast, doing their homework or any other essential daily task.
5:40:
The other important thing about no is that it has to be applied consistently. If not people will see you for the hypocrite you are.
Mr. Mayor do you think the budget is balanced?
NO!
Mr. Mayor will you veto line items in the budget?
NO!
Mr. Mayor will you consider not putting your veto on human needs spending?
NO!
Mr. Mayor if we cut community groups and the o'hare funds will the budget be balanced?
NO!
Mr. Mayor will you tell everyone what items besides community groups and the o'hare funds you think aren't essential and should be cut to balance the budget?
NO!
Well Mr. Mayor, you are consistent!
I think the Mayor should be applauded. I'd rather not have my tax money spent on these charities.
"Mr. Mayor if we cut community groups and the o'hare funds will the budget be balanced?
NO!"
That is what gets me about all this. The focus by the mayor and the other blog on these two things that won't even balance the budget as Schmidt says is needed.
Anon@7:52 --
We heard you the first time. It's not necessary to repeat yourself.
However, feel free to suggest which specific expenditures beyond community groups and the airport funding you think the Mayor should add to his list of non-essential expenditures.
7:52 PM,
You would rather not have your local government provide any financial assistance to a local service agency who gives your fellow community members help if it's charity?
That's cold.
I understood the PADS battle and not wanting to draw in the homeless but I thought I was hearing people say we should help our own community members who are in need before we take on any more. I thought I heard the mayor promoting local service agencies and charities as our local response to dealing with homeless problems and the needs of community members.
7:52:
I would point you to the very first response to this post which I posted at 2:14 this afternoon. Please answer the question that I posed.
Anon 753:
I agree. It's all a bunch of nothing but malarkey.
9:01 PM if you happen to like malarkey then you have to go visit the PW site. The Attorney who runs it turns off comments so you can't challenge his answers. What a coward.
September 8, 2010 8:16 PM
Don't hold your breath. They will never admit they don't care what happens to those people.
Do people still read the other blog? I gave up on it months ago.
Anon@10:26--
According to our meter, yes. Pub-dog's have between 8 and 10 dedicated readers, meaning readers who hit the Pub-dog's blog then make their way over here.
PRU,
I hope you will answer my question...
What all information on people do you get from your meter?
Anon@11:00 --
SS numbers, bank account PINs. You know, the usual.
JUST JOKING!
What our StatCounter meter tells us is --
* number of unique visitors
* number of repeat visitors
* number of page loads, meaning how many pages and posts are being read
* referring link, meaning where a visitor hit a link to our blog to get here or whether there is no referring link which indicates they've put us in their personal links library
* what search terms they used to get here, meaning if a visitor does a Google search on something like an Alderman's name and then used the Google link to get here, we can tell. That goes for AOL, Bing, and Yahoo as well -- Google wins with 65%+ of visitors using Google for searches
* what searches somebody has done on our blog, itself, using the blogger search window at the top of the blog
* what links on our blog visitors have clicked out on
* what documents or images visitors have downloaded
* how they generally navigated through our blog site, which is an amazingly unique personal characteristic from visitor to visitor
* visitors general geographic location
* the IP address they are assigned -- some are dynamic and some are static. Usually those assigned through business locations are static
* Which ISP --internet service provider -- they use. 53% of our visitors use SBC
* what browser they use -- IE 8.0 and 7.0 win hands down
* what their screen resolution setting is. This matters to us because we try to match our settings to the majority of our readers so when we construct a post we see what our readers will see
* how long visitors stay on the blog to read
* whether or not they got laid last weekend
O.k. -- not that last one.
PRU,
Gee, is that all??
Thanks for answering and thanks for the humor!
Anon@11:37--
No, that's not all -- we left out two things which are in our best interest to be able to control how our blog is visited. But neither puts a visitor in any personal or computer jeopardy -- we prefer not to alert nasties and crawlies in ways to circumvent our meter.
And you're very welcome.
To the first poster,
I would be curious to hear what the Mayor says.
I just had a thought. Maybe Mayor Dave can get his generous campaign donor to make a real donation to the human needs groups, instead of making a faux donation to his family for advertising.
September 9, 2010 12:03 PM
Never gonna happen. Besides, anyone can spend their money how they want to. It was crappy to lead residents to believe it was some clear donation without saying it was a family arrangement, but residents still got to enjoy a show.
Perhaps Mayor Dave is in danger of becoming the Mike Flanagan of Park Ridge.
Mr. Mayor. still waiting for you to present the bill for services provided to Anelise's run. After all "the limited financial resourses available to us should only be used to fund essential city services....."
5:42:
Forget Anelise's Run. I want to see him present a bill to the Veterans for their parade.
One possible answer to your simple question: two words: Bake sale!
Or maybe even: Car Wash...
What I mean is that this would be an opportunity for the "concerned" citizens to step up to the plate and give some of their TIME as well as (or in lieu of) money.
Isnt this exactly what happened last year when the city pulled the plug on the holiday lights? (couldnt help it, totally intended)
If enough volunteers really wanted to ensure that the "essential" services that the city provided (when it could afford to) still get done, then they can find alternate ways to make it happen. Volunteer to raise funds or provide volunteer services.
The lights still went up last year...
Bake sale? Really? I hate to say how simple minded you are, but you are.
Unlike the Christmas lights, a bunch of well meaning volunteer boy scouts can’t provide social services to the most vulnerable of our Park Ridge citizens 365 days a year. Comparing a onetime seasonal event to an ever-present community need is nonsensical. I know people like yourselves think you can just have any volunteer provide senior and homeless counseling services, but the powers that be actually require licensed social workers to perform those duties.
Also, you seem to be implying that the Center lives solely on government handouts. The reality is that as far as funding from Park Ridge goes the City is big, but far from the majority of funding. The Center already runs multiple fundraisers over the course of the year. Aside from the numerous direct reach outs for contributions from citizens, corporations and grant requests they also run an annual dinner dance. Aside from the money raised from ticket purchases at that event they hold an auction, a silent auction and a split the pot raffle within that event. In the summer they hold a family miniature golf outing, also with raffles involved. They also tie in with other more global community organizations to work within their events as well. I believe last year the Park Ridge Juniors ran an event with them. Their auxiliary board also runs numerous smaller events throughout the year. They have a brunch planned for the fall and just recently started “dine out night” revenue sharing with local restaurants.
It’s funny how some of the politicians play these games by suggesting a lack of effort in fundraising, when they themselves have attended these events. Of course in a politician’s world sometimes you attend an event to give and sometimes you attend an event to take.
So...answer a simple question with a simple answer and the point goes over someone's head...whodathunkit?
So...It's non-sensical to say that some fundraising could be done to HELP to fill any shortfall that would result from a lack of Municipal funding, but then you go on to list the fundraising efforts already in place?
So anything more than these "multiple fundraisers" you mentioned would be frowned upon?
I guess they are fine then and don't need the funds from the city?
What was posted was an intentional simplistic statement, followed by the underlying message that WE, as individuals, can step up and help any of the organizations that we are concerned with by personally volunteering. Or by donating DIRECTLY to already established fundraising efforts.
The thought that the City funds alone aren't what keeps these organizations going is exactly the point that was to be made. If they can't get it from the city, then WE can step up some of these other efforts and by calling out to concerned citizens who are willing to volunteer. With a few more people helping to get the word out or donating time or services at the events, maybe the dinner/dance and/or brunch can bring in record funds this year.
Or another "grass-roots" fundraiser such as a bake sale could then turn proceeds directly over to the organization.
I know some neighborhood kids who recently sold some lemonade from their front yard and gave the proceeds to their little "pet" charity. (Its simplistic, don't let it confuse you) And the kids came up with this all on their own!
And if this effort were to be duplicated and expanded by organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Indian Scouts, and/or Indian Princesses, the result could be a healthy monetary donation to help fill that void left by any lack of city funding.
We are all trying to do more with less these days, so don't dismiss an idea to pitch in as a community to help these organizations and make it like the city trough is the only game in town.
Anonymous @ 1:39,
Indeed..."we" surely can step-up as individuals and attempt to replace the city funds which some are advocating be immediately cut.
Indeed..."we" can do that...over time.
What happens...during the interim...to the services and programs and people being assisted?
Are you aware that without the ability to administer the programs...operational funding used to pay for administration, actual bodies to function in the role(s) required for providing services...other funding from other sources can be lost?
I "simply" love a good bake sale...yummy, homemade goodies at roughly $5 to maybe $10 per item...not including the cost of ingredients...
...sell 5500 Apfel Kuchen @ $10 per piece and, voila!...all funded up, if you're the CoC, right?
How long does it take to prep and bake one Apfel Kuchen?...about an hour...
Indeed...a bake sale...what a terrific idea...
Instead of having my local government take $3.93 from the taxes I pay to the city, I can spend and hour of my time and that $3.93 on ingredients to prepare and bake one Apfel Kuchen...which I can then donate to a bake sale on behalf of the CoC...and because I'm a supporter of their services, I can choose to do so multiple times...even enough times to entirely cover the lost funding...
Hell, who doesn't have an extra 14,000 hours in their year...?
1:39: you are an idiot. Maybe you such a big idiot you think boy scouts helping old ladies across streets are also giving them medicaid counseling before the light turns red. Idiot.
PRU:
I hope you don't mind me copying this here. It was on the other blog and I laughed when I read it!
And as if on comedic cue, the following just arrived in my mailbox.
***************************************
Fwd: FW: FEMA disaster assistanceFriday, September 10, 2010 4:55 PM
From: “Dave Schmidt”
To: supporters@electdaveschmidt.com
Message contains attachments 1 File (36KB)
Press Release Disaster Assistance 9-10-10.pdf
Attached is information about disaster assistance from the federal government arising out of the July 2010 storms. If you suffered any damage from the storm, please check out the link to see if you can obtain some reimbursement for your losses. Good luck.
*************************
It would appear the Mayor is promoting government assistance for those who may have suffered a loss, despite his claims that government should only spend taxpayer money on the most basic essential services.
According to your logic, Anonymous on 09.10.10 2:54 pm, and the logic of the Mayor, those who have suffered a loss should rely on charity without any form of government/taxpayer support.
He voted for unbalanced budgets before he was against them.
He voted for community group contributions before he was against them.
He was for the Center of Concern before he was against it.
He was against government aid before he was for it.
He is becoming the MASTER OF FLIP FLOP!
Anon 9/10 8:03 - Good job backing up your point with anything but personal name-calling!
Of course (since you're so smart) you know that the city doesn't give the CoC anything but FUNDING.
"What's this???? The aldermen don't personally counsel the elderly??" "They just give money???" "well, we can do that too"
Hey and by the way...when you're going to call someone something, be sure not to leave out any articles of speech that makes you sound like one...
Bean: I meant that of course over time to help with our own and their already establishing fundraising efforts as well as DIRECT donation now. In case you havent noticed, the city has yet to give any funds this year to the CoC. Direct donations now in addition to helping to boost near future events could help them keep going this year at a level they have been in the past. I was not saying this would be a long-term thing, since hopefully the city would be back to being able to allow more funding next year or soon thereafter if they can get their ship back in shape (a big if, I know)
I still find it funny that I get personally attacked for saying "Hey, they may be having trouble this year, let's help as much as possible...let's act like a community"
Would you rather that I take the position of "tough...deal with it"
or (as the 2nd post mentions) "screw 'em" ---???
11:08: I admit I'm not the best typist. You should admit you are an idiot. Idiot.
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