c1899. Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress
The circus we've come to know as our Park Ridge City Council will be meeting tonight at City Hall. For our faithful PRU readers, interested in live entertainment, the show is set to begin at 7:30 PM.
Tonight's program (.pdf) features two acts which hold promise for providing special excitement!
First, Ringmaster Schmidt will attempt to amaze the audience with another veto! This time Ringmaster Schmidt will attempt to make the City's amended and then suspended facade improvement program disappear! The PRU Crew has serious reservations about how this vanishing act will be conducted. And we are again hoping discerning consideration will win out over ham-fisted treatment of this budgetary issue, but we have our doubts.
The second act we are looking forward to is the discussion of the O’Hare Airport Commission's Recommendations regarding the Taber Law Group (.pdf). A friendly correspondent worded concerns surrounding this issue as --
First we will get, and I quote, "a strongly worded letter with this presentation to the FAA," which it is anticipated will not work.
Then we will get Mr. Taber to, and I quote, "select these experts [for "air quality and noise impacts" studies] based on his substantial experience with EIS law and science and Mr. Taber's firm would also outline the scope of work." And presumably, since Mr. Taber will be researching various avenues for funding these studies, Mr. Taber's fee does not include the costs of these experts and these studies. What is the ballpark/range of such experts and studies and why, exactly, do we need Mr. Taber to select these experts, why shouldn't the members of the OAC be doing this research? After all, they were able to dig up Mr. Taber.
Then finally we will again have Mr. Taber, and I quote, "submit another letter to the FAA, again requesting a supplemental EIS based on "significant" new information." I presume this letter too will be "strongly worded."
So, for the nice tidy sum of $8,987.50 the actual work product Mr. Taber, himself, will be producing for the city of Park Ridge is two letters to the FAA requesting a supplemental EIS study; $4,493.75 per "strongly worded" letter, the first of which it is presumed will fail in its' goal.
Though there is cold comfort in knowing that, for $8,987.50, the city will get two "strongly worded" letters to the FAA, which is a better return on investment than we got from "investing" $650K for a Peotone study.
There you have it ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls -- enjoy the circus!
13 comments:
I thought the referendum lost??
Anon@1:05 --
It did.
What the ....?? How can they do this??
Anon@1:16 --
Our sentiments exactly.
The referendum was only advisory, not binding.
We strongly urge you to express your concerns to your Alderman.
"........ This time Ringmaster Schmidt will attempt to make the City's amended and then suspended facade improvement program disappear!"
"We have no idea what the mayor will do, but we know what he should do: veto the amendment that adds the new business which has not yet received facade approval, while making it clear to the Council that his veto is limited solely to that new applicant and not to nuking the ridiculous facade improvement program....."
-PD 11/7
Holy coincidence Batman!!!!! Which one is Jim Henson and which one is the Muppet??
Anon@1:40 --
Unfortunately, we have some doubt as to whether or not the suggested course of action is what Mayor Schmidt is actually planning to do. And therein lies our great concern.
...in "pondering the possibilities"...it seems the mayor might be attempting to have his cake and eat it too, after a fashion...
If he vetoes the entire facade program...he can say he is doing it based on his belief that it wasn't explicitly delineated within the most recent budget process...and therefore, isn't a legitimate budgeted item...
...and he can "take cover" from the displeasure from one or more of his friends, neighbors and contributors as having "used them" to try to win populist political points...
...and there probably isn't too much political harm and fall-out from the idea of jerking around an absentee property owner/landlord from Wilmette (I think...) in relation to the Prospect Ave. property.
The greatest harm is to the "reputation" of PR as being "unfriendly to business," because essentially the mayor might be be reneging on an already-signed facade reimbursement agreement...
If the clowncil balks at that sort of "bargaining in bad faith," they might choose to simply uphold the veto as it pertains to O'Reilly's Pub, alone, or not...and/or insist the already-signed agreement be completed with or without the additional application from the Pub...
...then the mayor can blame the clowncil, either way...
...heh...and on a side note...
The Prospect Ave. property owner, via an assessment challenge, got a nice reduced assessment this year...$30,000 less than last year and $8,000 less than their 2003 final assessment, 7 yrs. ago.
...sure wish my 2010 property tax assessment was less than it was in 2003...
Hey you know 32% of the people voted for Joel Pollak, so maybe he should be the Congressman until Easter and then Schakowsky takes over. That would just be nice, because you shouldn't make people feel bad even when they lose.
It's the same tired political games. Mayor Dave plays them. The aldermen play them and now the airport commission is playing games and putting spin on the loosing referendum. I didn't support the Tea Party because I think they are kind of nutty but I understand how they got there.
Putting a lawyer on a retainer for thousands of dollars so he can write a couple of letters is stupid. It's just a way for these people to begin slow push for filing another lawsuit against Chicago and O'hare. They want to throw away money because they are unhappy about what happened and they don't care about anyone else.
The people here complaining about the OAC do not seem to understand they have the right to ask for the Mayor and the Aldermen to keep on fighting whether any of you like it or not.
It is their right to ask for the concerns for the effects of the airport expansion on Park Ridge do not get ignored because too many people are too uninformed on the issue.
Anon@8:39 --
You're quite right. The PROAC Commissioners have the right to ask for the sun, moon and stars, if they so choose.
Now that you've discussed their rights, would you be kind enough to summarize what you believe to be their responsibilities? -- as both individual citizens and as a public body of commissioners.
We have to confess, our patience is growing thin with the constant hue and cry from those so eager to project what they feel their rights are, with nary a mention of the necessary other side of the coin in a democracy.
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