The Cost of Chicago Government
A while back, we railed about how no one in Illinois could seem to produce a road that stood up to the wear and tear of Chicago winters. This while we drove numerous highways in Wisconsin, Michigan, even Iowa, which have comparable winters at the very least and in some cases, much worse in terms of snowfall and icing, yet very few pot holes or pavement crumbling. Hmmm.
Some claim it's the road salt, others say the thaw/freeze cycles. Some even claim it's because the Illinois Combine and the Chicago Machine hand out contracts to crooked road builders who use substandard concrete and asphalt, slap dash work, shoddy engineering and bribed inspectors who overlook flaws in the pours in return for political kickback to campaigns (just look at a "who's who" of road building companies and match it up against political contributors - amazing!)
Whatever it is, it's costing us money again:
Some claim it's the road salt, others say the thaw/freeze cycles. Some even claim it's because the Illinois Combine and the Chicago Machine hand out contracts to crooked road builders who use substandard concrete and asphalt, slap dash work, shoddy engineering and bribed inspectors who overlook flaws in the pours in return for political kickback to campaigns (just look at a "who's who" of road building companies and match it up against political contributors - amazing!)
Whatever it is, it's costing us money again:
- The number of "damage to vehicle" claims filed with the City Clerk's Office has nearly tripled in the last year - from 486 last year to more than 1,300 this year.
The city usually pays half the cost of each legitimate claim filed.
We also notice how Channel 5 doesn't even try to estimate the total bill. That might embarrass the Mayor after his recent tax raises.
Labels: city politics, corruption
posted by SCC at 12:03 AM
34 Comments:
Next time your driving down one of the arterial streets and they are digging it up,look at the two rails from the old trolly cars. They just covered the rails years ago and metal expands and contracts from the weather under the street.
i say its the kickbacks that has prioty in this city. first & foremost.
I concur on this ten-fold. I am a de-generate gambler, and I often frequent the northwest Indiana casinos (East Chicago and Gary). To get there, I have to travel on the Chicago Skyway and then the Indiana toll road, then exit on Cline Ave. Well, Cline Ave. is pretty much a "highway" and let me tell you this, it was re-done; re-paved 5 years ago, and I just came back from losing my arse at poker, and I will attest to this..... I have NEVER driven on a smoother, non-potholed stretch of de-lic-ious pavement (for the last 5 years) in my life! I am NOT KIDDING! And add the Indiana toll road for that matter, very SMOOOOOTH!... after you get off of the Chicago Skyway. The whole "Chicago route" (Dan Ryan) is full of potholes!
What I am getting at here is why is it every year (YES, EVERY YEAR.... ON A YEARLY BASIS), my northwest side Chicago city block is being "re-paved", only to end up being trashed after one lousy snowfall in the winter?
Earlier this summer, there was a nasty pothole in the intersection of Ashland and Bewyn, right next to the sewer grate. It took about a month for someone to come out and "fix" it.
Guess what? It's baaack.
This problem isn't only in Chicago. Try and drive down Ridge Ave, north of Howard Street, in Evanston. Or how about Lincoln Ave headed in either direction from Kedzie to Devon in Skokie.
The north end of LSD is shit! Every day on my way to work is like a friggin mine field. And it's only getting worse.
My theory... the city has to use all of its salt each year...if it goes over, even better...this way they can ask for more $ for the following year's budget. Using that much salt results in the roads falling apart, which is great, because the city also needs to use at least its budgeted allotment of road material each year as well. Simple math, really. By using too much salt, the city gets to spend more on pavement, which gets ruined by more salt, so they can spend more on pavement...its like a vicious cycle. Build something to last? What, are we Toyota?
OT - With all the movement in the department personnel is preparing for 300 retirements by July. This usually happens after a contract is settled. Is the contract almost settled? No way not even close will go to arbitration within the next 7 months and it will take about 8 months of arbitration after that. What it is telling me is that the city is trying to lower payroll by getting older officers to retire to save money. The problem is they may only hire half of the 300. I wonder if the mayor will throw on a uniform like Jody to bolster the ranks!!!!!!!!!
Re:
Anonymous said...
Anonymous said...
Who would you rather have respond to your home if your wife, who is all alone, hears a noise in basement? A 5-10 200 lb male copper or a 5-01 115 pound female copper?
How about a 6-9 450 lb male?
3/28/2008 04:03:00 PM
That is a complete assine comparison. Does size matter or the ability to respond and handle the situation? Read this blog. How many apathetic, lazy male PO's exist? I have had both male and female partners. Gender and size is not the issue but a dependable partner that is willing to help their partner. Partner is everything not size.
3/28/2008 10:06:00 PM
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Try looking at it this way.
You have a son who is experiencing mental health issues. The medicine prescribed to your son turns out not to be the best drug to use and causes your son to become physically violent and start throwing furning and stuff around.
Police come. Your Son lets just say is 6'01 225 lbs.
A two female car responds, but are very petite females. Your son starts to get violent with them and they end up shooting him "in fear of their life" (facts are related from a true incident)
These female officers are cleared of the justified homicide. Due to the physical threat against them.
Now instead of what happened, two big wagon men show up, tackle your son and take him to the hospiatl.
Both described endings are justified. But I rather have my son alive. Get it now?
I like how you can see the old bricks on the bottom of a pot hole on Madison St. in 015. You would think that in 150 years we could have paved a street correctly.
The new Dan Ryan is salt proof and came thru the winter fine not 1 pot hole. Why can't we make the city streets the same?
"These female officers are cleared of the justified homicide. Due to the physical threat against them.
Now instead of what happened, two big wagon men show up, tackle your son and take him to the hospiatl.
Both described endings are justified. But I rather have my son alive. Get it now?"
How about, you don't have a POLICE problem in your home, you have a MEDICAL problem! I've rarely seen prescribed medicines make people violent, I've seen scores of people turn violent who WON'T take their meds!!! Went on a call like that years ago...husband/father didn't give himself an insulin shot, went nuts. Large, sweaty and naked. CFD arrived, we arrived as assist (tact unit). Family said they didn't want their loved one cuffed (which CFD requested before they would attempt to administer the insulin shot). Guess what? WE ALL LEFT.
CFD and CPD. We told the family that, due to their loved one's size and agitated state, they didn't get to decide what tactics we were going to use to get him under control. We left them to handle it themselves. I don't think we ever received any more calls over there for that kind of "assistance" again. I would hope that any officer, male or female, large or small, would make the same intelligent decision. None of the stuff we get called out on is worth getting hurt over, and anyone can get hurt. And when's the last time you've seen a female officer on this job disarmed and shot with her own gun?
I can't remember either. But I can tell you more than a few cases of this happening to male cops, and all the ones I know of were good sized officers. It' rarely about size, it is ALWAYS about TACTICS.
Now instead of what happened, two big wagon men show up, tackle your son and take him to the hospiatl.
Unfortunately, we don't have the wagon men of old. Many of our new wagon personnel have never handled or seen a dead body and no one man-handles anyone. The supervisors and FTOs have Tazers...
And......many of our "old" wagon men just coast to a job, taking their time "to let the new guys" or supervisors ( because thats what they get paid for) do it.
Everyone on this job, women included contribute! I have to say in my many years on the job I have seen just as many incapable men as women. And I have also seen "two large wagon men" need an assist!
Anonymous said...
OT - With all the movement in the department personnel is preparing for 300 retirements by July. This usually happens after a contract is settled. Is the contract almost settled? No way not even close will go to arbitration within the next 7 months and it will take about 8 months of arbitration after that. What it is telling me is that the city is trying to lower payroll by getting older officers to retire to save money. The problem is they may only hire half of the 300. I wonder if the mayor will throw on a uniform like Jody to bolster the ranks!!!!!!!!!
3/29/2008 01:11:00 AM
They need to do a 5 year buy out for cpd that would get us KMA guys to go and now!
It's the salt!
It melts the snow, the salt water goes into the cracks, the salt water freezes at a lower temp than fresh water & breaks up the streets. The salt also rusts out the streetlight poles, always fun when one of those falls over.
But then there's the grindouts, which are caused by idiots that are too lazy to shovel out their cars & they keep spinning one wheel until they get out. That spinning wheel grinds out the street.
Yeah, Ridge in Evanston is a disaster, but it's going to be repaved this year, but it's still better than Ridge in the city was years ago, they deliberately let it fall apart in an effort to force the people around there to have the street widened to six lanes..
Lincoln Ave. seems to have been paved with some sort of different mixture & is falling apart. I've come across several main streets around the entire county like this & they're all the same mess.
The north end of LSD is a total mess. I've warned a few bike riders not to put their bikes on the bus as a few have been bounced off. I'm waiting for the mopes that run the CTA to get sued over this one.
All this cold weather is because of global warming you and your ilk all need to to die off!!!
You need to watch the news, it is not called "global warming" anymore. Since we had an extreme cold spell, the media now calls it "Global Climate Change". Now lets pay more taxes so they can fix it.
NOW, PASS ME THE KOOL-AID, oh yeah.
Lets get this uniform gun problem solved. We should only be caring one weapon in the same caliber. There seems to be so many different weapons carried by this dept. If you run out of ammo on the street, does your partner carry the same caliber?
This problem isn't only in Chicago. Try and drive down Ridge Ave, north of Howard Street, in Evanston. Or how about Lincoln Ave headed in either direction from Kedzie to Devon in Skokie.
The north end of LSD is shit! Every day on my way to work is like a friggin mine field. And it's only getting worse.
3/29/2008 12:27:00 AM
The City of Milwaukee is pretty bad as well.
Properly paved streets mean less repair provision purchases which mean less kick-backs to right-minded city purchasing agents (right-minded in the corrupt sense) and less labor requirements which results in a lower requirement for the employment of connected people.
So, hundreds of people are hired to repair the streets the wrong way with sub-standard materials.
Pass the fuck please.
I would rather have the 501 115 lb female respond to my home on the beautiful northside. If she feels threatened she wont hesitate to shoot the a@#hole while the big male cop will not be as likley to use deadly force. If a@3hole is in my area f@3ckn around he deserves to br shot.
This ties nicely in to chicago refusing to let WalMart in on 83rd. Evergreen Park, where WalMart went instead, is continuously repairing their streets and sewers, and the residents are very happy with the tax money from WalMart paying for this instead of their taxes going up.
Ita a scam,lowest bidder on salt which means it shit,has anyone seen str&sans on the southside?just axing.
I like how you can see the old bricks on the bottom of a pot hole on Madison St. in 015. You would think that in 150 years we could have paved a street correctly.
3/29/2008 01:39:00 AM
we could have!
Streets that are paved correctly the first time do not need the constant maintenance of an army of streets and san workers, who also happen to be the same army used to get king richie and his cronies elected every year. Highways that are paved correctly using the best materials do not have to be rebuilt every two years by Kenny and Walsh construction at the cost of millions and millions of taxpayer dollars.
Do you get it now?
.. I have NEVER driven on a smoother, non-potholed stretch of de-lic-ious pavement (for the last 5 years) in my life! I am NOT KIDDING! And add the Indiana toll road for that matter, very SMOOOOOTH!... after you get off of the Chicago Skyway. The whole "Chicago route" (Dan Ryan) is full of potholes!
What I am getting at here is why is it every year (YES, EVERY YEAR.... ON A YEARLY BASIS), my northwest side Chicago city block is being "re-paved", only to end up being trashed after one lousy snowfall in the winter?
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I worked in the mining and sand and gravel industry prior to coming on. Some of the states like Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, maybe even Indiana have granite and other aggregates in their roads. In Illinois, we have no granite. The closest granite is in Wisconsin, north of the Waupaca River. So we use soft shitty limestone aggregate in Illinois roadways. This Illinois Limestone is supplied by Illinois producers. Politics. It would be expensive and send money out of the state to bring trainloads of Wisconsin aggregate into the state of Illinois, at the cost to Illinois producers. That is why you notice a hell of a difference when you drive across the state line. It has always been like this and probably always will. If you ever lived in a small town, like I did, then you know the sand and gravel producer was the richest guy in town! And you know the guys who supplied materials and did the road work that produced roadway lived large in that town. And they did it damn near every year. Do ypou think that is going to change in this state?
I know news media trolls read this website. Why don't you investigate this one , about what goes in these roadways in our state and other states, it is non-police isssue and will have a broader appeal to your reading public. This one is on me, gratis, from a COP who doesn't know shit, as you would probably think of me. Prove me wrong or prove me right.
In response to recent negative press the Superintendant suggests renaming the Department of Police.
From now on you work for the Department of Civil Liability Management and Control.
Remember to fill out your GOCRs. And during the most tragic murderous incidents when talking with citizens, try to become visibly upset when the citizen offers no phone number to put in the Business Phone Box.
Tell them, "Dear Lord, what will I do? Please tell me something. I can't leave this box blank."
After the citizen gives you a phony phone number to stop your sobbing, pour over every option for the Relationship Code.
Questions on racial catagories should extend at least to great grandparents.
When you can't finish the GOCR in an 8 hour tour, hold yourself down the next day to go back and continue your preliminary investigation.
Gender and size is not the issue but a dependable partner that is willing to help their partner.
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Its good enough as long as you try.
You must have played a lot of soccer as a child.
To: " Lets get this uniform gun problem solved. We should only be caring one weapon in the same caliber. There seems to be so many different weapons carried by this dept. If you run out of ammo on the street, does your partner carry the same caliber?
3/29/2008 12:46:00 PM"
Do you want us to go back to the
.38 Special +P Lead Hollow Point? One of the reasons that was standardized was so that officers share ammo under fire. But in 30+ years I have never know of an incident where that took place.
My weapon(ammo)of choice is .45 ACP +P, but I am big enough and practice enough to shoot well with it. Some people cannot handle that. I would feel less comfortable if I was forced to carry a 9mm.
But whatever you use, you have to hit what you are shooting at.
Stay safe, and shoot straight.
Hey Richie!!
NO more speedbumps, flower pots and traffic donuts...use the money and materail to fix the streets!
Maybe the potholes could do for you what snow did for Bilandic. That gave us Jane Byrne and she was the best for us.
You must have played a lot of soccer as a child.
3/29/2008 07:11:00 PM
Not soccer but had to watch my back with lazy partners that would not leave car or back up on street stops.
Anonymous said...
Jim Carroll the master of DECEPTION & FRAUD.
3/29/2008 08:34:00 Pm
Why don't you grow some balls and tell him to his face. Stop boring us with your pussy ass whining.
3/29/2008 10:02:00 PM
James has no class and of course no balls. His friends; or so they pretended to be, also have no balls.
They would not tell their friend "Jimmy" to treat other officers like human beings; instead they stole time and property,
They made fun of, and embarrassed other POs;
They worked short days and many "extra" hours of over time.
But now the time has come for them to pay for their sins.
And oh, it's going to be expensive.
Is your house paid for?
Anonymous said...
I would rather have the 501 115 lb female respond to my home on the beautiful northside. If she feels threatened she wont hesitate to shoot the a@#hole while the big male cop will not be as likley to use deadly force. If a@3hole is in my area f@3ckn around he deserves to br shot.
3/29/2008 03:10:00 PM
The killer 'B" quello was not afraid (until the gun went off)
Lets get this uniform gun problem solved. We should only be caring one weapon in the same caliber. There seems to be so many different weapons carried by this dept. If you run out of ammo on the street, does your partner carry the same caliber?
3/29/2008 12:46:00 PM
don't ya just hate when ya run out of the 50 or so rounds you carry for that nine.....how old are you....7? go turn on Play Station.
to the copper that worries about running out of ammo, why are you shooting at anyone?
"Pass the fuck please.
3/29/2008 02:17:00 PM"
Can't. Cline's gone so she was demoted and is on the medical.
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