Where is Bobby Rush? Absent 13.2% of the Time

posted by chicago pop

From today's Tribune:

In case you've ever wondered why it seems that Bobby Rush doesn't really do anything. His record of missed votes is topped only by a woman who was shot in the head and two others, and is in the top ten with two representatives who have been or are still on the campaign trail.

Of note: 

If all the 2008 votes and non-votes are taken out [during the period when Rush underwent surgery and treatment for cancer of the salivary gland], Rush's career percentage of missed votes drops from 13.2 to 9.6 percent, still well above the House average.

And a bit of analysis to confirm what was already known:

[M]embers who are often absent tend to come from 'safe' districts that return them to office by large majorities every two years. That describes Rush.

Sweet gig.

Thoughts From East Hyde Park

posted by richard gill

Two community relations officers of the 21st Police District attended the September 15 meeting of the East Hyde Park Committee. The 21st regularly sends officers to these meetings, to answer questions and discuss various issues.

This valuable service may no longer be available, because the district's community relations staff is being reduced from six officers to two. The reason for this is understandable—the officers are being reassigned to patrol duties as part of an effort to have more police presence on the street. But it short-changes community relations work, which is critically important in a big city.

This move illustrates just how tightly stretched the Chicago police are at this point. The root problem, of course, is money, and the city has none. There are places to look for money to hire more police. A good start would be reducing the number of political wards from 50 to 20, which would save the pay of 30 aldermen and perhaps 100 ward staffers. Then, take away, or at least reduce and restrict, aldermanic "menu" money, some of which is put to good use, but much of which is frittered away on stuff that just helps aldermen get reelected. (Can you spell "Free Parking and Positive Loitering?")

Alderman Hairston Loiters, Positively

posted by chicago pop

It's time once again for the "5th Ward Report," that bulletin of momentous achievements taking place on a quarterly basis in the 5th Ward. Here's the money quote from the "Summer 2010" issue in case you didn't get a copy:

I am very heartened by the response of block clubs, organizations and individuals to my call for a schedule of weekly “Safe Summer” positive loitering activities. Our office has sponsored several events under this theme, such as the July 4 fireworks celebration and viewing party at the 63rd Street Beach.

When we read in this issue about the Alderman's efforts to promote "positive loitering," we were delighted that she had found such a felicitous phrase to describe her tenure, and wondered if it might catch on among other members of the City Council.

Yet imagine our disillusionment when we learned that "positive loitering" was not intended to describe Hairston's aldermanic activity, but that of the mysterious cohort invited to the "July 4 fireworks celebration and viewing party at 63rd Street Beach."

When you've bought city property for your own purposes, you get to control the guest list. We also suspect that "positive loitering" is the updated criminology term for "bread and circuses." The cost of such viewing parties must explain why no work has been done to repair most of 56th Street, and a good chunk of University Avenue, which continue to resemble the craters of the Moon.

With regard to the public lot at 55th Street and Lake Shore Drive, we read this:

Leslie Hairston allocated a portion of the ward's aldermanic menu money to provide some relief from [potholes on 56th Street ... NOT] pay and display boxes the Park District installed along and near the lakefront...The Ward Service Office has been issuing parking permits to residents who live near the 55th Street lot.

"Ward Service Office?" Who do you have to know to get a call back from those guys? Now Hairston's office is not only issuing invitations to view fireworks on city lots, but is also deciding just who gets long-term permits, essentially turning a public lot into a private stall for certain ward residents. Just how does one come upon this particular authority?


And finally, among the collection of other pat-self-on-back items, "5th Ward Report" does not fail to highlight the Shoreland and Hairston's (not quite clear) role in keeping it moving, quoting an Antheus representative on the “support and ongoing work of Ald. Leslie Hairston for helping preserve one of the great buildings in the ward.” Left out, of course, is whatever it was that the good folks of 5490 managed to extort from Antheus in terms of parking benefits in the little game of chicken authorized by the 5th Ward Alderman.

Some day we'll find out, but it won't be the "5th Ward Report".

Alderman Hairston's VIP Fireworks Parking

posted by Elizabeth Fama

57th St. Beach and fireworks, 7/4/2010.

Yesterday the Tribune reported that 5th-Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston reserved the 63rd Street parking lot on July 4th for an "afternoon anti-violence event." She said she distributed the spaces to "local organizations, vendors, and workers." Ordinary people driving to the fireworks were out of luck if they hoped to park there, even if they arrived early for the celebration.

So apparently free parking along the lakefront isn't a right, as Hairston has ballyhooed for more than a year, it's a privilege. I'd really like to know precisely who in her judgment merited permit parking at the beach on the 4th of July.

From the Tribune: "Hairston said....that she modeled the event after the Air and Water Show, where people have to walk to the area and have few parking options."

"'It's a bunch of bull,' said Alex Hall, 39, who arrived early hoping for a parking spot at the beach, where he has been celebrating the holiday since he was a child. 'We should be able to park and have our own Independence Day.'"

So much for Ms. Hairston's claim in April that spaces in the 63rd Street lot should be as accessible as possible to all Chicagoans, regardless of their means (Maroon, April 30, 2010). So much for her insistence that beach parking should be free. So much for her worry that installing meters is what "discourages people from using the parks."

And so much for the City's goal of making the fireworks more accessible and reducing congestion by moving the display from Grant Park to three separate locations along the lakefront.

I guess since Hairston paid an estimated $77,000 out of her discretionary funds to subsidize summer parking at 63rd Street, she figures she can be queen of the lot.