Register For The Revolution!

Today's Chicago Tribune editorial -- Enlist in the revolution! -- strongly encourages people who are not registered to vote to do so by the deadline for regular voter registration tomorrow. If you are already a registered voter, nag somebody you know who isn't registered to vote to get their backsides to the City Clerk's Office at Park Ridge City Hall -- 505 Butler Place!

The City's website offers the following --

"The City Clerk’s office will register voters for the February 2 primary daily, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Those registering need to bring two forms of identification. Identification must include one piece with the current address...To register to vote, you must be: a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old by Election Day and a resident of your precinct at least 30 days prior to an election."

Your choice people -- primaries and general elections were our Founding Fathers' peaceful revolution solution to the more traditionally conducted bloody variety.

And every single military veteran who has fought and--or died in every single war since the founding of the United States of America has done so in large part to secure your right to vote among the other blessings of liberty we enjoy.

But hey, it's not like you owe anybody anything -- but maybe you owe it to yourself?

Videos from PRCOW 12-14-09

No indexing today, people -- we haven't had a chance to review each video, but feel free to add your own comments.

video#00000.MTS PRCOW 12-14-09



video#00001.MTS PRCOW 12-14-09



video#00002.MTS PRCOW 12-14-09



video#00003.MTS PRCOW 12-14-09



video#00004.MTS PRCOW 12-14-09

Peaceful Revolution!

'Spirit of 76' -- by Archibald MacNeal Willard


Good day PRU readers!

President John F. Kennedy once said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." And the PRU Crew remains grateful to our Founding Fathers for undertaking violent revolution to secure our nation's independence and then installing a system by which posterity can partake of peaceful revolution, according to various election cycles.

Tonight, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall (.pdf), you may wish to witness what peaceful revolution looks like -- the peaceful transfer of power --

6. ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE BY JUDGE JORGE ALONSO

a. Betty W. Henneman, City Clerk

b. David F. Schmidt. Mayor

c. Presentation of Badge of Office to Mayor David F. Schmidt

(RECESS FOR REFRESHMENTS)

Mayor-elect Dave Schmidtzkrieg will take the oath of office and become Mayor Schmidtzkrieg, here on PRU anyway. We expect the conventional press and most others to call him Mayor Schmidt.

How sweet it is!

Back in the Saddle!

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving with lots of leftovers!

Tonight's City Council agenda (.pdf) is full of fun! The items of particular interest to the Crew are 1st Ward Alderman Dave Schmidt's resolution for a referendum on the question of building a new police station, the agreement to let PRC Partners lease space to another service business that doesn't generate retail sales tax revenue, and an agreement that will allow Red Speed, the red light camera company, to line their pockets at taxpayer expense.

We hope to be able to publish a recap tomorrow!

It's Showtime, Folks!

City Council Meeting tonight!

City Council Recap tomorrow!

Speaking of Driving...

visualparadox.com

We think that we shall never see
The lovely Park Ridge money tree.
It must exist, we truly feel
Or why give Napleton a deal?

Yes, dear readers, we're sad to say
But another deal is on the way.
It's in the works at City Hall
Where "Friends of Frimark" often call.

A story in the press last week
Gave to us all a little peek,
Of what is up and soon may come
To Howard Frimark's good ol' chum.

We invite you now to go see
And read the plans for your money.
About Napleton Cadillac,
The Pub-dogs ain't just talkin' smack.

Beware of Braying Ass!

Yesterday, we read a "guest commentary" written by the Journal & Topics reporter, Dwight Esau (sounds like EEE Saw, which sounds to us like Hee Haw).

It seems the Journal's reporter couldn't pass up the opportunity to counter punch a letter writer concerned about questions left unanswered in an earlier Esau offering: Who's On The Other Line, Mayor?; which was written only as a result of the concerns of an unnamed community activist who had to physically pay a visit to the Journal & Topic's offices to draw attention to the issue. The entire issue came to light because of our post: Worth 1000 Words.

The letter writer is former 3rd ward alderman, Kim Jones. In her letter she asked:

"The most obvious question is why doesn't Mayor Frimark use his cell phone to call his wife or conduct his insurance business?

Why is Mayor Frimark conducting any type of personal or Frimark Insurance business from his city hall office?

If the listing is in fact wrong, why hasn't the Mayor corrected it with AT&T? He has had nearly three years to do so.

Is the bill for the "Friends of Frimark" line being sent to his home address or the city hall address it is listed at?

If the number was listed by AT&T as a political phone for the past 2-1/2 years why hasn't Frimark listed any telephone expenses, including installation costs on his semi-annual reports filed with the State Board of Elections?

By the way, who is actually paying for the "Friends of Frimark" phone located at City Hall? Is it Mayor Frimark personally or is the city of Park Ridge?"

We feel those are very good questions. We feel the Mayor should answer them. We wonder why Esau didn't ask those questions and report the Mayor's answers.

Esau concedes that the Mayor should get rid of his personal/political phone in City Hall. But Esau also calls Frimark's continued ethics violations "dust-ups". If we were to concede that Frimark's on-going ethics violations are nothing more than "dust-ups", we'd also have to concede that Frimark is surrounded by so much dust that he looks like the Charles Schultz Peanuts character, Pig-Pen!

But we do concede that the local rags' reporters seem to view their public role not so much as reporters as they are the public relations arm of local government.

Esau goes on to say that, "Someone who obviously doesn't like the mayor has gone so far as to set up a website dedicated to embarrassing him as often as possible." The first part of that statement is correct. The PRU Crew does not like Mayor Howard. But if Esau weren't a 2nd rate English major, working for a 3rd rate local newspaper, he may have been able to count our post labels - located under each of our pieces. If he'd made that much of an effort to "investigate" our blog, for his Beware Of Blogger article, he would have discovered that less than 1/4 of all our posts are about, or high-light, the Mayor.

But we understand that irreverent and unrepentant criticism of Frimark isn't something anybody is used to seeing, especially from local reporters.

No Discouraging Words, Please.

In typical pol fashion, the mayor and city council have decided to do a citizen survey, to find out what citizens think about various subjects, but without asking the dangerous question: "Do you think Park Ridge should adopt a local ordinance that allows for the recall of an elected official?"

According the 12-17-08 city council minutes (.pdf), a randomly selected sample of 1200 households will receive the survey.

Questions will range from issues of "traffic calming" to citizen opinion on building a new police station. There will also be questions asking those 1200 residents about police conduct, despite the mayor and city council's already having determined that police conduct is an issue that requires an independent investigation at considerable cost.

But the mayor and city council DO NOT want to hear what citizens have to say about having the right to recall an elected official.

Citizen opinions that displease the pols are just too negative.

Shell Game.

In today's edition of the Herald-Advocate we read about a New site for police station is under consideration. The article reports that nobody is willing to say which property is being looked at.

Of course, you know the PRU Crew is willing to say which property is being looked at. It's the American Insurance building on Garden St. City staff made a low-ball offer that was rejected by the owner, but that doesn't mean a deal is dead. The owner is said to be getting his own appraisal done, and the back-and-forth on dollars will probably continue.

The article goes on to report that Ald. Frank Wsooooolman (7th Ward) has asked that the city council review the "action plan" passed by the council last April; an "action plan" that Ald. Wsooooolman voted in favor of - Council Minutes 4-2-07 minutes-pdf.

The article notes that a list of preferred properties was included for consideration in the "action plan". But, in our reading of the Police Station Resolution-pdf we must have missed the specific list discussed in the article.

City officials are sure hot to trot for building a new police station in Target Area 4. We hear some interesting things about why that may be so. Do you think any elected officials or their spouses may have any interest in property in Target Area 4? Inquiring minds want to know!

While the city council, the Mayor, and city staff again take up the yackety yack about building a new police station, the city continues to sit on two properties it owns and on which a new police station could be built, 1) the old public works service center at Greenwood & Elm, and 2) the house on Courtland adjacent to the City Hall parking lot, which was specificially purchased as a site for a new police station.

And our cops continue to sit in a 9000 square foot shithole, while the politicians continue to dick around playing the property purchase shell game they love so much.

Worth 1000 Words.

Click on photos for larger view.

Mayor's Office at Park Ridge City Hall.




NorthStarNet was a community information network and hosting service created to help libraries develop relationships with their local community groups by aiding those groups in establishing a Web presence.



White Pages (dot) com Listing



Manta (dot) com Listing.



Yellow Book 2007-2008 page 87 Listing.



Tsk Tsk, Mr. Mayor. Politicizing public resources for political purposes is a no-no.

Two-fer!

Item #1

A commenter on yesterday's post tried to spread the word about upcoming presentations on "The State of the District" by School Superintendent, Sally Pryor. We found a link to a news item that lists several dates and times. We laughed when we saw who the first presentation is being given to.

In any case, we agree with the commenter that if you have a chance to attend, this may be where you get answers to questions that have been raised about doings in the district. We also agree with a following comment, that these presentation times suck if you have a day job.

THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2007

Dist. 64 Presentations Show Residents Where Money Goes

A series of presentations by Superintendent Dr. Sally Pryor is planned for next Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 14-15.

~~On noon on Wednesday in the district's offices in the Hendee Educational Service Center, Pryor will give a brief presentation to realtors in the community.

~~At 9 a.m. on Thursday, she will make a similar presentation to a group of community leaders, also at the Hendee Center.

~~At noon Thursday, she will provide the same information to the public in the Park Ridge Public Library's first floor meeting room.

Informal question-answer sessions will follow each presentation.

Item #2

A couple weeks ago we gave District 64 An 'A' for Effort in making a good attempt to inform the school community about a public health threat; MRSA. In that post we offered a kick in the ass to the City and the Community Health Commission because they hadn't made use of their website to also help inform the public about MRSA.

We are pleased to now also give the City and the Public Health Dept. a pat on the back for making the effort to provide the community of Park Ridge with public health information. The City of Park Ridge, Illinois has posted on its website a link to information about MRSA.

An 'A' for Effort

Yesterday, we gave School District 64 a kick in the ass. We feel they deserve it.

Today, we'd like to give them a pat on the back. We feel they deserve it.



On October 25, 2007, School District 64 sent out the following email notice. Our thanks to the PRU reader who shared this with us.
------------------------------------------------------------------

To the Parents of District 64 Students:

I am writing to ask your cooperation in helping to fight MRSA infection in District 64 schools. The guidelines immediately following this letter are being shared with all District 64 staff members. Teachers have been asked to review the information with students as a way to reinforce good personal health habits while pointing out the serious dangers of such infections.

Now we need your help and active cooperation to take the steps necessary at home to make sure your children are protected as far as possible from such infections. Please note especially the instructions on daily hygiene, avoiding the sharing of towels and personal items, laundering of clothes, and frequent hand washing.

Please feel free to contact your healthcare provider, the District 64 School Health Services Facilitator or your building Health Assistant if you have questions.

We are asking every District 64 household to adopt these guidelines. With everyone's cooperation and ongoing vigilance, we hope to keep all members of our District 64 community healthy and safe. Thank you for your support.

Sally Pryor, Ed.D.
Superintendent

******
How YOU can help fight MRSA infections in District 64

Sandy Larson, RNFacilitator, School Health Services & Certified School Nurse

In response to the media coverage of Community Associated Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (CA-MRSA) infections, it is important to remember that District 64 already has practices in place that address this real concern. Although student athletes are cited as the primary focus for transmission of this infection, staphylococcus aureus is a bacteria that is commonly found on the skin or in the nose of healthy people. This makes everyone subject to a possible exposure in many settings.

Risk factors associated with the spread of this bacteria include:

o Direct skin-to-skin contact with infected persons (non-intact skin allows a point of entry for the bacteria)

o Sharing contaminated personal items (towels, razors, soap, clothing)

o Inadequate personal hygiene

o Direct contact with contaminated environmental surfaces

In District 64, we practice Universal Precautions and take every measure to evaluate students and staff with any kind of skin lesion. Teachers are responsible to send students with any questionable skin condition to the health office for evaluation. Skin rashes, wounds or lesions require medical evaluation and physician documentation regarding treatment, dressing, and contagiousness in the school environment.

All staff have been asked to be aware of and follow these hygiene practices, and to share reminders with students to prevent the spread of MRSA, as well as other infectious organisms:

o FREQUENT HAND WASHING - use soap, rub for 10 seconds, rinse well.

o Use hand sanitizer if you cannot wash your hands.

o Any skin lesion must be evaluated, treated and kept covered with clean dressings, as indicated.

o Good body hygiene is essential, including showering with soap.

o Avoid sharing personal items such as towels, clothing, skin lotions, or razors.

o Do not touch skin lesions/abrasions or bandages on another without the use of protective gloves.

o Wear clean clothing daily - washed in hot water and dried in a hot dryer to kill bacteria.

o Clean environmental surfaces on a regular/as needed basis where potential wound, blood, or body fluid spills may occur.

Maintaining clean, healthy, intact skin is the first line of defense against innumerable diseases. As we work together to keep District 64 healthy, we will assess areas where practices can be improved and awareness can be increased.

Remember that the most important practices are already in place, and that questions that arise about health practices are being addressed on a daily basis.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your cooperation.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Neither the Park District nor the City has posted anything like the above on their websites, nor has the City made use of its NorthStarNet email notice capabilities.

To the Community Health Commission: We hope your fundraising/recognition dinner was a success. Now bend over, we've got something for you.

Smile for the Camera!

As we discussed earlier this week, the city council Finance and Budget committee is considering the feasibility of broadcasting city council and committee meetings.

We had expected the topic to be covered in the local rags this week, but if they did cover it, we can't find it.

Our sources tell us there may be two city staffers who are still walking around upright! They've done some excellent research into the costs, technical requirements, and scope of televising city council and committee meetings. We are shocked, SHOCKED, at this revelation! No we're not. We are aware of these two particular city staffers, and we shall protect their identities by not naming them here because we would hate to see their good work rewarded with more work.

From the research that has been conducted, we hear the cost may be less than originally estimated; original estimates were in the $70,000.00 - $75,000.00 range, but the staffers proposal is in the $50,000.00 range. And, the scope of coverage may be greater than mere broadcasting of meetings; not only can the city council chamber be wired, but also the mayor's conference room, the public works service center and the fire department.

Broadcasting could include city council and committee meetings, and the city could broadcast emergency messages or something arty, like local concerts.

The recorderings would be archived on the city's website so that the 1o people in Park Ridge suspected of being interested in city doings could access the tapes. The broadcasts could be searchable through a menu option.

There are two aldermorons said to be less than enthusiastic about the idea. Care to guess who they are? Yes, Benedict-Alderman Robert Ryan (5th), and Thomas Carey the Unfriendly Ghost (6th). Their concerns are purported to be about the cost and how few (or how many?) Park Ridge citizens may actually watch.

While the roughly $50,000,000.00 city budget is always a matter for concern, because there isn't anything politicians and bureaucrats like better than spending the taxpayer's money, we feel the estimated $50,000.00 would be worth the expenditure for what appears to be available in the scope of this project.

Come on city council! Give the residents of Park Ridge the gift of learning what it is you do every couple of weeks!

Here fishy fishy fishy!

Item #1: The city council Finance and Budget committee appear to be serious this time. They have scheduled a meeting for tonight and they haven't cancelled it. Yet.

On the agenda for tonight's meeting is a discussion of broadcasting city council meetings, and even committee meetings. We feel that's a good idea. We felt it was a good idea every time it was suggested over the past number of years. We would be pleased to see the city council go beyond the idea and discussion phase of doing this to actually getting it done! Government should be conducting the people's business in a fish bowl.

The background memo provides fairly reasonable beginning questions for the committee and, ultimately, the council to consider. But we take issue with the notion that televising committee meetings should not be done "because doing so will change the tone of the meetings and the decorum of the participants." We feel it could have a sobering effect on the decorum of participants, and those who currently "white-wash" meeting minutes won't be able to do that so easily.

Item #2: The Finance and Budget committee background memo also includes a discussion of how the city will play follow the bouncing borrowing ball between city funds in order to bridge the gap between expenditures for city operations and the late, very late, arrival of tax revenues.

Item #3: According to the Finance and Budget committee background memo, the 2006 equalized assessed valuation (EAV) is now $1,528,372,764.00; an increase in property value of 1.7%. Does anybody remember what the city's amount of debt is? Does anybody remember when we had a debt ceiling? Does anybody care to wager what the city's amount of debt could be if all the mega-projects planned by the city are funded through more borrow-bond-spend schemes? Pay attention.

Surprise!

In today's Journal & Topics newspaper, we read that the Park Ridge - ComEd town hall meeting was not well attended. Park Ridge's Public Information Coordinator, Aggie Stempniak said, "There weren't a lot of people there...I was a little bit surprised by the number. I thought there'd be more."

We are not surprised. We are not surprised even a "little bit." We understand some things that seem to be escaping city officials:

1) Anger fades pretty quickly.

2) The city waited too long to hold this meeting, perhaps by design.

3) Citizens want to hear about solutions, not be suckered into telling their stories over and over and over again at municipal group therapy sessions.

4) Citizens are not likely to have faith in a utility company that promises to "do a report and get it back to the city" as the sum total of its' response to the problem of frequent power outages.

5) Citizens are incredulous of the abilities of a city administration that tells them "the key thing ComEd emphasized was calling the company when power is out".

6) Citizens really do expect utility companies to know when their power is out; that's not an expectation of "osmosis" - that's an expectation of monitoring and maintenance. If their car's dashboard can tell them when it's time to change their oil, why can't ComEd's dashboard tell them when power is out?

Scheduling a succession of town hall meetings is an exercise in condescension. How many tales of woe do the city administration and ComEd need to hear before they begin providing real solutions?

Here are some free clues for city officials: Read the story in the Journal & Topics. Take note of the 419 utility poles "taken down" during the storm. Stop scheduling group therapy sessions for citizens. Begin discussing the merits and costs of burying power lines.

Shazam!

No need to thank us. Really, we are very self-interested on this one.

Road Trip!

Frimark Will Lead Team To D.C. In Search Of Cash

Mayor Howard Frimark will lead a team on a trip to Washington, D.C., in October seeking federal money for several projects.

"We're following up on a list we've submitted over the last two years," he explained. He, Director of Economic Development Kim Uhlig, and City Manager Tim Schuenke plan the trip for Oct. 2-3.

The team hopes to meet with U.S. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) as well as U.S. senators Barack Obama and Dick Durbin.

We've heard that the wheels of government turn slowly, and now we know why - "following up" takes two years.

We could have loaned the mayor our map of Chicago so he could have found these three elected officials' local offices some time during the last two years, but...

You see folks, it's like this...

A headline that reads "Frimark Will Lead Team to Chicago In Search of Cash" just doesn't have that same adventurous ring! Particularly when a significant portion of the Park Ridge population makes the same trip every day of the work week.

Hey Howard, you might want to go low key when you ask Schakowsky for money for Park Ridge. She may remember you used her to smear your opponent during your mayoral campaign, because your opponent received a modest campaign contribution from her - the same amount you received this past March from Jack Owens, Norwood's former variance czar. You wouldn't want Schakowsky to think you are some kind of ass, since now it is you who is asking her for money.

Iraq Ridge?

U.S. soldiers walk through an electrical substation in the Ghazaliyah area of Baghdad.

By John Moore, Getty Images

Problematic power grid plagues Iraqis - USATODAY.com

No, not really - Park Ridge residents and businesses aren't suffering infrastructure mismanagement to the same degree as Iraqis. But shouldn't the residents and businesses in Park Ridge have more to look forward to than just another city-arranged bitch session?

Customers have the right to demand service from utility companies, and elected officials have the ability to help them do that.

There are utility company customers who do understand what good service is:

"When my phone system was destroyed by that flood, I thought I would be out of business for days if not weeks. Instead, Allied Tele-Com came to my rescue and had me up and running twelve hours later. Now that's what I call service!"Allegretti & Associates Mr James L. Allegretti, Attorney at Law - Welcome to Allied Tele-Com

Now that Mr. James L. Allegretti, Attorney at Law also carries the title and authority of Park Ridge Alderman, maybe he can make an effort to see to it residents of Park Ridge can some day also proclaim, "Now that's what I call service!"

A Target-Rich Environment!

There is no end to the amusement provided by politicians. We find the fun reaches a zenith when they get together in the same room!


We read today that the Park Ridge city council held a planning meeting-pdf. back in June. They got together in the same room to do it. We are amused! Even if we had to wait three months for the city clerk to prepare and post the draft minutes.


The very first order of business was to break for dinner. You can't have your representatives starving while they plan the city's destiny.

We read that Alderman DiPietro discussed his desire to move forward on Norwood's Executive Plaza plan.

The Lord of the Manor is nothing if not a quick study in buzzword bingo lingo! Still we remain pleased that, despite his desire to move forward, he's kept the interests of the Park Ridge serf-izens in mind.


Mayor Hozo Frimark is always a source of amusement! We read that Mayor Hozo wants to form a "Citizens Advisory Task Force to help promote the new Police Station."










We hope he's just clowning around. We would hate to think Mayor Hozo is recommending that the city council use a group of serf-izens as a propoganda vehicle for moving forward on the building of a new police station. Mayor Hozo "explained it would assist by informing the community of the Council’s message and plan", but we feel he must have been joking. Surely Mayor Hozo understands it is the responsibility of elected officials to inform the community of their message and plan, even if he doesn't understand the expressly written purpose of a citizen's advisory task force is to inform the council on issues in the community.

Alderman Wsoooool man offered that he's "inclined to protect the little guy", notwithstanding his voting record.











Alderman Wsoooool man believes that the serf-izens of Park Ridge need to understand what the police are asked to do, while the police need to "develop a positive relationship" with Park Ridge serf-izens. The Wsoooool man goes on to suggest that Park Ridge serf-izens should be treated with respect by the Park Ridge police. Mind you, this is only a suggestion.


To accomplish the fulfillment of these needs and suggestions, Alderman Wsoooool man offered another suggestion - a sign design contest to promote involvement.


We speculate that the sign design contest was too complicated to implement, so the city administration decided to hand out an assortment of trinkets to serf-izens who stop by the Coffee with the Cops booth that we mentioned here.

Nothing helps a serf-izen to "Focus on the Vision" - the city administration's plan for promoting a more positive relationship between Park Ridge serf-izens and the police - like a shiny new keychain.

We would like to suggest that the next time our politicians gather to plan the city's destiny that the caterer be asked to include an assortment of herbal supplements.

Maybe if they ingest some fish oil, the serf-izens of Park Ridge would be saved from suggestions for political snake oil.

Cost Neutral or Neutralized Thought?

"God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board." said Mark Twain.

We read today that the district 64 board is moving forward in exploring the city's proposal to acquire the district's headquarters site for a new police station. The preliminary estimate submitted by Green Associates is in the range of $3,000,000.00, and doesn't include costs for acquiring a new site, demolition of the old site, replacement of the district's technology hub and phone system, nor any new furnishings.

The operative phrase being used is "cost neutral". Meaning, district 64 will insist that the city pay for all costs associated with a move.

"Cost neutral". Sounds pretty good.

"Cost neutral" to district 64. For the city? Not so "cost neutral".

Are the city's taxpayers all that different from district 64's taxpayers?

"Cost neutral" for whom?

Coo coo cachoo.

Development director Derifield to retire reads one of today's headlines in the Herald-Advocate.

The mustachioed maestro of the city's Community Development department will have to be replaced, which begs the question of how effective the city's early retirement incentive plan will prove to be.

City Manager, Tim Schuenke, notes that the salary range for a replacement is beyond the current salary of $119,242.00 being paid to Derifield. Who says public service isn't rewarding? And you just can't beat a guaranteed government pension.

Derifield, himself, notes that he will probably find other employment. He is young enough to do that with many income producing years ahead of him.

If we had a crystal ball, we suspect it would tell us Derifield will go on to become a crystal ball gazer, a.k.a. - a consultant, maybe even a lobbyist*. That is usually what you become after you have worked in government. Just ask former State Senator Dave Sullivan.

With Derifield's departure, we are left to wonder if the city's Economic Development Director, Kim Uhlig, will feel more free to discuss demands for office space in Park Ridge?

Derifield has been telling city officials for years there is little if any demand for office space in Park Ridge, but we hear Ms. Uhlig has a different story to tell.

We feel she should be asked to tell it, before the city council takes Norwood's map amendment from the table for another vote.

*Our thanks to a keen eyed reader for the details.