City Council Meeting 6-7-2010 Video!

Begins with the usual opening ceremonies.

@ 0:1:00 -- Consent agenda begins

@ 0:3:49 -- Mayor's report begins

@ 0:22:44 -- "Park Ridge in 1910" presentation begins

@ 0:37:10 -- Appointments to Animal Commission -- the PRU Crew is holding out for the formation of the PARTY Animal Commission.

@ 0:38:43 -- Garden Club Proclamation

@ 0:41:55 -- City Clerk's report begins

@ 0:42:59 -- City Manager's report begins

@ 0:54:00 -- Citizens wishing to address the Council on Non-agenda items -- A resident asks the Council to consider adopting a ban on all hand-held devices while driving

@ 0:58:00 -- Reports of Boards and Commissions begins -- Ald. Bach for the PROAC

*** The next hour+ of Council discussion is a painful reminder of why we find most of our Aldermorons to be Aldermorons most of the time *** And we're beginning to think Ms. Jennifer Perry has mastered the art of playing a diplomatically doe-eyed damsel in distress very well.

@ 2:09:46 -- Public Safety report begins -- Ald. Wsol asks Chiefski about the forthcoming red light camera update

@ 2:10:05 -- New Business begins -- Ald. Wsol asks for a review of guidelines for no-bid contracts -- Ald. Sweeney announces a volunteer effort at sprucing up the Youth Campus

@ 2:13:15 -- Motion to adjourn

Hump Day PRU Briefs!

To our Monday night post, the following comment was added last evening --

Anonymous said...

The average daily flights, over Park Ridge, on the runways 9L/27R and 4L/22R(these are the paths over P.R), arrival and departure combined, according to the data on the ONCC website are:

Nov 2008--------343 prior to new runway,
Nov 2009-------283,
Feb 2010-------213

Obviously far fewer flights over P.R. regardless of path, with the new runway added.

Now, before someone says this is because there are less flights overall…guess again. There were the same number of total arrivals and 50 fewer total departures when comparing Nov 2008 and Feb 2010; same data source. If you doubt the number just go to the ONCC website and confirm for yourself. I live on the south end right under the new flight path….RIGHT UNDER. It sucks! I got used to it.

What I will not get used to are people talking down my property value by continuing to speak about how bad it is to live here, when it has clearly gotten better for P.R. as a whole.

Lastly, investing anything on an environmental study is just asinine. Park Ridge paid for a study several years ago that shows the air quality in P.R. sucks. I have some news for you; we live next to a major airport, several major expressways, and the 3rd largest city in this country. The air quality will always suck.

June 8, 2010 7:35 PM

The PRU Crew has not taken the time to verify the information in the comment above, but at this time we have no reason to suspect the Anonymous comment as being wrong or intentionally false. And we did find the effort at seeking out and sharing actual facts and data rather refreshing. The Anonymous commenter obviously isn't following the PROAC-scripted version of ineducable ignorance on the part of the citizenry.



Email Release -- from Mayor Schmidtzkrieg
to: presscontacts(at)electdaveschmidt.com
date: Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 3:47 PM
subject: Fwd: Park Ridge, Illinois

To: staber@calairlaw.com

Good afternoon, Mr. Taber, I am the Mayor of Park Ridge. I want to thank you again for coming to Park Ridge to make your presentation. As you may have gathered, I am skeptical of the efficacy of further litigation regarding the O'Hare expansion ("OMP"). However, I have vowed to keep an open mind.

By way of background, I am an experienced litigation attorney and pride myself on being able to assess the viability of a claim or defense. Without going in to too much detail, I have enjoyed great success over the years by consistently approaching potential litigation through a careful process of review and analysis. I view the potential of litigating the OMP issue as I would any other type of potential litigation: before I do anything, I need to see an assessment of the relevant facts, the applicable law, an analysis of how that law would apply to the given set of facts, and then I need to be comfortable with the conclusion before I advise my client regarding whether to proceed. That would be especially true in this situation because I am dealing with taxpayers' money. I cannot achieve the required analysis through a telephone conversation. Rather, I am accustomed to approaching potential litigation by preparing a legal memorandum addressing the aforementioned matters or reviewing a memorandum prepared by an associate.

To that end, if you want to try to convince me that litigation is a viable option for the City of Park Ridge, I would need to first see a detailed legal memorandum which lays out the relevant facts as you see them, your view of the applicable law, your analysis of how that law would apply to our particular set of facts in Park Ridge, and your conclusion which would include an honest assessment of the City's chances of prevailing.

If you desire to take this course of action, please prepare a legal memorandum and submit it to me for my review. Please be advised that the memorandum will NOT be kept confidential. As our City Attorney has correctly pointed out, any discussion regarding proceeding with litigation, and the reason for doing so, must take place in open session.

I look forward to hearing from you.

-Dave Schmidt
Mayor

Mayor Schmidtzkrieg is obviously not following the PROAC and CAL legal team-scripted version of secrecy concerning public policy, at least not on this issue. And the PRU Crew finds that refreshing too.



In an online Herald-Advocate article -- Community group handouts still face veto at mayor's desk -- we read, "Park Ridge Mayor David Schmidt says he will veto any City Council-approved financial contributions to community and social-service organizations."

The article continues, "Schmidt, who believes the 2010-11 budget contains inflated revenue projections and does not take into account potential losses in income-tax revenue from the state, said he will not support disbursements for not-for-profit city groups.

"My intention is still to veto it if and when it goes to the council," he said of the motion. "My hope is that the council will see the light and there won't be a need for a veto."

The PRU Crew once again reminds the Mayor that he has the power to wield a discerning red pen over making the choice to swing a total veto axe.

We find the Mayor's threat to veto all community group contributions in total, without either demanding an accounting of each group's expenditures and--or making a value judgement between the services provided, to be as mindless a course of action as the Council's choosing to make across-the-board cuts of 12% for each contribution.

And as others have repeatedly pointed out, expenditures on tree trimming and planting, as well as fireworks displays and staff support for other special events, aren't essential city services either -- why the nearly complete silence on those expenditures, Mr Mayor?

Seemed Like Forever!

From SodaHead.com

Thanks to our faithful PRU readers for their patience today -- it seemed like it took forever for the blogger gods to get everybody back online!

And now, on with the show!

For your municipal entertainment tonight, the City Council will again be meeting at City Hall beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tonight's agenda (.pdf) is awash in spendy consent agenda items and, considering how routinely this Council spends our money, nobody should be surprised.

The PRU Crew is looking forward to two particular items before the Council tonight --

Under the Mayor's report there is going to be a ComEd update and, under reports of Boards and Commissions we cannot wait to see and hear what the Council has to say about item #2 -- Resolution - City Statement regarding O'Hare expansion (.pdf).

The Resolution states the following --

The City of Park Ridge believes strongly that continued expansion at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport will not enhance the overall quality of life for its citizens. Roughly 6,000 Park Ridge households, which is 42% of all Park Ridge homes, are affected by changes in flight paths resulting from the O'Hare Modernization Plan. The City of Park Ridge seeks mitigation solutions for noise and pollution resulting from continued expansion at O'Hare and vehemently opposes and seeks course correction on continuing expansion at the airport.

As one of our friendly correspondents put it, "Can't wait for another unified City statement reflecting the lack of affect on the other 58% of Park Ridge households, some of whom are tickled pink about the shift in air traffic!"

The PRU Crew is wondering how a commission takes action on something not even listed as a discussion item on their last meeting's agenda (.pdf)? However, building administrator and city staff liaison to the PROAC Mr. Steve Cutaia seems to have understood the item on the Council agenda for tonight should be only for discussion, and he marked his staff memo accordingly. We also suspect the commission's failure to grasp and understand Roberts Rules of Order may be why their next meeting agenda (.pdf) includes a discussion item for Rules of Order How Decisions are Made (.pdf), as well as an action item after the fact to cover the Resolution request before the Council tonight. But hey, the PROAC has only been meeting for a little over a year, it's not like anybody should expect these community volunteers to know by now what the hell they are doing.

We're told the 5th ward's Benedict Alderman Ryan is out of town, which may create the possibility of a 3 to 3 tie vote on what to do with this Resolution. And as our faithful PRU readers know, Mayors can vote to break ties. Yes, indeed -- this could be one fun agenda item to watch tonight!

Billboards Stink!

Not only do we think the billboard deal pushed by 4th ward Ald. Allspaghetti stinks, but now we find out billboards can stink, literally!

According to blog author Jen Aronoff, of What's In Store, the above pictured billboard is a new scent-marketing attempt -- "The Bloom grocery store chain, part of Food Lion, erected the giant sign at 1220 River Highway, between a Shell gas station and a storage facility, to promote its new brand of beef. It'll disperse the scent during rush hour, from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m., every day until June 18, and is visible to drivers heading west, toward Catawba County. It pairs the smell with a big visual, showing a giant piece of steak and a French fry on a giant fork, and is one of the first of its kind in the country."

The PRU Crew expects the people from PETA will pitch a fit and could possibly retaliate with an aromatic billboard of their own -- eau du meat-processing plant? Let the scent-marketing wars commence!

Enjoy your weekend -- we hope it doesn't stink!

A Thursday Two-fer!

#1 -- Water works!

For those of you disinclined to building or buying your own ark, the Park Ridge Park District will be meeting as a Committee of the Whole tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Maine Park Leisure Center to discuss two issues concerning water. The agenda (.pdf) includes the following --

Buildings and Grounds Committee – Commissioners Vile/Maloney

A. Northwest Park – City Flood Issue/Future Plans (Executive Director Ochromowicz)

B. Future of Oakton Pool (Executive Director Ochromowicz)

On a related soggy note, the Park Ridge Park District website contains the following notice --

Notice from Park Ridge Park District:

In the interest of safety, South Park Pool will be closed from June 1 to mid-June for maintenance. To accommodate South Park's pre-season hours, the Centennial Wading Pool will be open at 10am during this maintenance. Thank you for your patience.


#2 -- Wet your whistle!

For those of you disinclined to attend meetings, you may want to consider attending a benefit party tonight!



1900 - 2300 hours is 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. for those of you disinclined to military time.

Contradictions!

You need educatin'! But you're so ignorant you probably wouldn't understand! So we're going to spend your money educatin' you but when all is said and done, if you tell us something we don't want to hear, then we'll know you're just too stupid to understand!

So goes the cluster fuck otherwise known as the Park Ridge O'Hare Airport Commission.

Last week the City Council was treated to a special power point presentation by Mr. Steve Tauber of Chevalier, Allen and Lichman, LLP -- the storied California law firm brought in by the more litigiously bent members of the PROAC to educate the City Council on possible legal strategies for fighting O'Hare expansion.

Our sources report the entire special meeting and power point presentation was eerily reminiscent of the sad SOC (Suburban O'Hare Commission) days gone by and woefully light on substance. Though nobody is saying with any certainty if the Aldermen heard anything persuasive in the presentation, we're told the City Council sat and listened, politely.

And if certain members of the PROAC are to be believed, the City Council is in for a whole lotta listening on down the road.

As our faithful PRU readers may recall, the PROAC asked for funding from the City Council, and 3rd ward Ald. Don Bachtard obliged their request with a suggestion to increase the price of vehicle stickers, making it possible for the PROAC to receive $165,000 in public funds for their efforts.

The PROAC's funding request breaks-down into three areas -- $105,000 for a lobbyist, $50,000 for an independent environmental study, and $10,000 for community education.

That last $10,000 the PRU Crew finds to be a source of twisted amusement -- especially since we are unaware of anyone who is unaware of O'Hare airport and the noise it produces! But it seems, certain PROAC members have convinced themselves of the ignorance of the Park Ridge population.

For example, at the April 28th meeting of the PROAC (.pdf), during discussion of a possible referendum question on the topic of O'Hare, the following is noted in the meeting minutes --

"Commissioner Kutt mentioned that, if it is a referendum, perhaps the residents would start to really look at the real issue and take a true understanding of what the enormity of these numbers mean to us."

"Commissioner Donovan asked if a referendum was really necessary. The aldermen were elected to make decisions. He is not convinced of the intelligence of the public on this problem. They do not know how bad it is. They do not know how simple the solutions are. It is easier to educate the City Council and have them make an educated decision, as opposed to trying to educate everybody."

"Commissioner Kennedy commented that the current level of knowledge in the community regarding changes to the airport and the effect on the community is not sufficient for a referendum to pass and it would take a huge educational push on the Commission’s and whoever else’s part to let them know what the changes are going to be before it would pass. That is going to be part and parcel of what the OAC wants to do: Educate the people about the changes and get them involved. But it is setting up another hurdle for the Commission."

The PRU Crew's very favorite quote is that of Commissioner Donovan.

You see people, the PROAC members are convinced of your profound ignorance on the issue of O'Hare expansion and they intend to use your money to educate you. But they also seem pretty convinced of either your inability to be educated or their inability to educate you.

The PRU Crew finds the sentiments expressed by the PROAC members to be a twistedly delicious intellectual contradiction. And so we are looking forward to the members of the PROAC resorting to the path of least resistance -- educating the dumbest collection of Aldermen ever assembled at 505 Butler Pl.

Does anybody get the feeling the next funding request from the PROAC will be money for another lobbyist -- for the purpose of educating the Park Ridge City Council?

Uninspi(red)!

Found at -- schwimmerlegal.com

In last week's online Herald-Advocate, we read the following article -- District 64 board reviews preliminary budget, written by contributor Alex Mcleese.

Contributor Mcleese writes -- "The budget, which is only a first draft, projects a 15.36-percent increase in operating fund expenditures, including a 7.06-percent increase in payments for salaries. But according to District 64 Business Manager Rebecca Allard, much of the calculated increases in capital-improvements expenditures -- representing a 7.94-percent increase -- will be covered by federal government grants.

The Federal Aviation Administration is paying for sound insulation at Roosevelt and Washington schools, and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funding is paying for the improvement of a multipurpose room at Jefferson School."

And the PRU Crew thought, that doesn't sound too bad -- half the increase in expenditures will be covered by money coming from the federales, for the worthy cause of sound insulating two of our local elementary schools and sprucing up another school room.

The article goes on to quote board member Eric Uhlig -- "I'm very pleased with the first draft," said board member Eric Uhlig. "I'm looking forward to comparing next year to this year using this year's actuals."

And the PRU Crew thought, at least one board member is quoted as being pleased with the first draft -- must be a good first draft -- we wonder what else was in that first draft.

So we looked it up on the District 64 website.

On the District 64 website we found the agenda for the May 24th Board of Education Committee of the Whole on Finance, which included a memo from Ms. Rebecca Allard, Business Manager for the school district.

On page 3 (page 5 of the .pdf file) of Ms. Allard's memo to the Board of Education and Superintendent Sally Pryor we read --

"2010-11 Tentative Operating Fund Budget Recap"

"Revenues:
Overall, operating fund revenues are expected to increase by 8.85%, which includes federal funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) summer projects at Roosevelt and Washington schools. Without the FAA federal funding, the revenue budget is expected to increase by 4.86%. Detailed explanations of the budget-to-budget changes are provided throughout this document.

Expenses:
Overall, operating fund expenditures are expected to increase by 15.36%, which includes the FAA projects at Roosevelt and Washington schools. Without these projects, the expenditure budget is expected to increase by 11.14%.

Other than the anomaly of the FAA summer projects, the largest expense category for District 64 is salaries. The salary category is expected to increase by 7.06% from $39,264,833 to $42,035,136. Other expense categories such as employee benefits, purchased services, supplies, capital outlay and other expenses are projected to increase at a total combined rate of 18.5%. Detailed explanations of the budget-to-budget changes are provided throughout this document." (emphasis added)

And the PRU Crew thought, damn, that doesn't sound too good at all! -- without the FAA funds in the mix, expenditures are still expected to increase twice as much as expected revenues? -- and board member Eric Uhlig is pleased about this?

Once again, the PRU Crew feels underwhelmed and uninspired by the fiscal management on display at District 64. Maybe we're missing something, but the continual growth in what looks to us to be red-ink-spending by our local school board and district leaves us feeling rather sucke(red)!