Morning shorts
Thursday, Jun 4, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray
* Rush calls for hearing into claims U. of C. Med Center refuses to treat uninsured poor
At issue is the hospital’s Urban Health Initiative, which steers patients who lack private insurance — primarily poor blacks — to other facilities.
In February, the American College of Emergency Physicians said it was concerned that the policy was “dangerously close to patient dumping” and “reflected an effort to ‘cherry pick’ wealthy patients over poor.”
Although the facility is in Rush’s district, the call for an investigation is his first move on the issue.
* Quigley to tell House committee about budget woes at Cook County public defender’s office
* More city money for mayor’s nephew
City Hall has paid nearly $500,000 in the last 15 months to lease space at a South Side industrial site owned by Mayor Daley’s nephew and his partners, who bought the property with city pension money.
* Ex-governor brought in amid parking-meter flap
Under fire and investigation from all sides, Chicago’s embattled parking-meter contractor is bringing out the big legal guns.
Former Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson said [yesterday] that he and four other lawyers from the law firm of Winston & Strawn were hired this week by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure and Chicago Parking Meters LLC to “interact with the mayor’s office, the City Council and the attorney general.”
* Daley’s Parking Meter Headache Continues
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley finds himself again defending the lease of the city’s parking meters. This follows mounting criticism from aldermen and the city’s inspector general.
DALEY: It’s not that complicated. I mean, these are lawyers in there. I don’t mind constructive criticism. Fine. They had opportunities to talk to us. This has been talked about almost for two years.
Alderman Tom Allen says—yes—the council long knew Daley wanted to lease the meters. But without more details…
ALLEN: …that’d be like saying, ‘Well, the Cubs are playing the Sox two months from now’ So what? You know? I mean, we don’t know what the score will be. We don’t know who’s playing right field. So, yeah. We had the information that we were going to try to sell.
* Daley defends parking deal; City Council split on snafu
* Parking Meter Woes Dominate City Council Meeting
* City Council moves to protect itself from future criticism
* Aldermen Get Heated, Pass Privatization Delay
* Chicago’s Self-Imposed Speed Bump
* Man Found Innocent After Serving 16 Years in Prison
Thaddeus Jimenez was arrested for the murder of Eric Morro when he was 13. Jimenez, now 30, was granted Wednesday a certificate of innocence by a Cook County judge.
JIMENEZ: I feel like I was robbed -you know. Nothing is ever going to make that right, but as far as the courts go he [the judge] did the only thing he can do. And according to his ability, he executed justice.
* United reports May traffic decline
United Airlines on Wednesday reported that May traffic dropped 12.3%, a decline that outpaced a 10.2% drop in capacity, reflecting the continuing struggle of carriers to deal with slumping travel demand.
Fort Worth-based American Airlines also said Wednesday that its traffic dropped 14.3% in May as it reduced capacity 14.5%. Continental Airlines said this week that its May traffic was down 9% on an 8.8% drop in capacity.
* State Farm to Raise Premiums
Starting later this month State Farm customers in Illinois will see a 2–and–a–half percent jump in their premiums.
* Order stops firm from running wind turbine
Aldridge Electric’s new wind turbine has stopped spinning, while the company attempts to strike a compromise over what neighbors are calling excessive noise.
On Tuesday, a group of nine residents who live near the Libertyville company, 844 E. Rockland Road, obtained a restraining order signed by a judge asking Aldridge to temporarily stop the turbine from spinning.
* Wind farm developer wants to put more turbines in Livingston Co.
* Union: Compensation, insurance key issues in rejected Unit 5 deal
* Group misused goverment money
The National Training and Information Center, 810 N. Milwaukee, was supposed to use taxpayer money to train employees of various community organizations, but the group spent some of that money on sending its own employees to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress — for more money.
* Daley To Chicagoans: Appeal Your Property Tax Bill
Daley is encouraging Chicagoans to call the city’s 311 non-emergency number for help with tax appeals.
The mayor is also renewing his plea to state lawmakers to reenact the 7 percent per year cap on tax bill hikes.
* City Council swipes at bucket boys on Mag Mile
* Drivers nabbed by red light cameras may need school
* Chicago blues legend Koko Taylor dies at 80
* Chicago legend and ‘Queen of the Blues’ Koko Taylor dead at 80
* Queen of the Blues Dies
* Blues queen Koko Taylor dies at 80
- siriusly - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 9:19 am:
Based on inspector Hoffman’s report the other day it is clear that the City could have gotten a better deal for the parking meter lease. Also they gave away too much local control regarding meter locations too.
However, the Alderman are protesting wayy too much. They didn’t have to approve the deal if they felt they didn’t have enough information. They gave up all the authority they had when the voted to approve the deal without asking for more money, more authority, more time.
Sure its easy for them to blame the mayor, but they are equally complicit in this contract.
- jerry 101 - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 9:23 am:
The Mayor and the aldermen who voted for the parking meter privatization (not to mention the other privatizations) really do think that Chicagoans are stupid.
Anyone with half a brain could see that the skyway deal was a really bad deal for Chicago. The parking meters likewise. Not to mention the airport deal.
All these companies come in and jack up the rates to what they should be in the first place, and then they make scads of money while the taxpayers of Chicago get the shaft.
And Daley and company think we’re too stupid to figure out that a 75 year lease for a couple of hundred million on an asset that generates millions in revenue each year, and could easily generate millions more each year, is a bad deal.
If the city had just raised rates on the meters in the most congested area, a lot of this problem could have been avoided in the first place.
Meters should not be priced such that a person can park his or her car all day long and have it be cheaper than parking in a parking garage. Meters should encourage churn by pricing high enough that people can find a parking space to run into a business or two, complete some tasks (shopping or whatever) that take an hour or two, and be back at their car.
The meters aren’t for employees at those business to park their cars cheaply all day long.
And, had it not been for the economic crisis, we would have been stuck with another huge money loser in the Midway Airport deal. If a private company thinks it can make a lot more than the city simply by boosting rates, then the City needs to cut the middle man out and boost rates itself.
Privatization is just crony capitalism in another form. Just like questionable massive cost overruns on construction projects and ghost payrolling and steering work to friends and family, it’s another way to rob the public for the benefit of private individuals and businesses.
Chicago’s Billion dollar parking meter fiasco - exhibit #1 why privatization is a horrible deal for taxpayers.
- Third Generation Chicago Native - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 9:36 am:
Appeal Tax? The deliquent tax offender list thickened up yesterday’s papers.
- Lou Grant - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 9:46 am:
So, Big Jim is going to “interact with the mayor’s office, the City Council and the attorney general” on behalf of LAZ. That guarantees this issue isn’t going away. How many months before the next city election?
- JP - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 9:51 am:
Why didn’t the mayor try to raise parking meter rates? The Alderman would fight that, but the only way he could get it through was to privatize? I understand City Hall’s logic, but he should have tried raising rates on their own first. It’s absurd that some parts of River North had street parking available for $1 hour while lots across the sidewalk were charging $6 for 20 minutes. Downtown rates should have been raised years ago, but since everyone, the electeds mainly, was scared they didn’t touch it. What kind of fury would the Mayor have unleashed if he had just raised rates?
If the Mayor was a better manager or had some more political gumption he could have reaped some of the money without going private. The other part of deal that the Aldermen are lax in is what kind of fees and charges were done to make this deal? Who benefits? The Sun-Times hints that Mayoral cronies are feasting at the trough, but where’s the proof? If the City Council is not too busy banning BPAs and Bucket Boys, can the City Council do something about it?
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 9:59 am:
While I lived in Germany, patient dumping is the norm. You don’t see a doctor, you see a triage nurse who takes your vitals, then 99% of the time, (It feels like 99%), send you home telling you that everything is fine. You don’t even get real pharmaceuticals, you get homeopathic or natural medicines, that is, if they determine you need something. There is no interest in your tale of woe, the nurses only listen to the “facts”. They have no interest in you, except your numbers, and to get you out of the door.
If we expect universal health care to provide a similar level of medical attention that is given to paying patients, then that would be a first in the world of socialized medicine. What we are calling patient dumping is better than what I witnessed over seas.
While I want everyone to get top-notch health care, what we have now is better than what we will have if we try socialized medicine - I would rather be patient dumped from the University of Chicago Hospital today, than triaged out of the local Deutche Klinic.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 9:59 am:
–City Hall has paid nearly $500,000 in the last 15 months to lease space at a South Side industrial site owned by Mayor Daley’s nephew and his partners, who bought the property with city pension money….
The city paid $480,408 to Vanecko and his partners between March 17, 2008, and May 26 of this year, according to records on the city’s Web site. That’s far more than the $50,026 the city paid the previous owner during all of 2006 and 2007, records show.–
Wow. Another great clout story by the Sun-Times. The arrogance of power here is simply extraordinary.
Vanecko and Davis clearly have targets on their backs for Fitz.
- Lou Grant - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 10:22 am:
There is an “arrogance of power” in Chicago (and for that matter in Cook County) because they believe they are untouchable. Where are the reformers? Why aren’t they organizing? There isn’t an alternative to the Machine.
Wanted: Citizens fed up with crony politics, high taxes, poor government services, to run in every ward and replace every elected official, including the Democratic ward officials. Reward: your property will be inspected. Your vehicle repeatedly pulled over. Your personal life will be turned upside down. Your children will be refused admission to schools. Your employer will deny they know you. And long-time friends and neighbors, who are city employees or apologists for the current administration, will scream in your face.
- Wumpus - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 10:42 am:
16 years in prision? That is a long time, I hope he is compensated justly. Who was the prosecutor, interrogators, etc. Someone needs to be held accountable if there was wrongdoing leading up to the conviction.
- The Doc - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 10:57 am:
Daley and the sycophants on the city council are feeling the heat in spades for the parking meter fiasco on several fronts:
1) They significantly underestimated the potential backlash for escalating meter prices in such a haphazard fashion.
2) They failed to consider that public ire would be directed at them, as they cowardly foisted the responsibility to an “independent” third-party contractor.
3) They failed to take into account the increasingly hostile mood of the people, exacerbated by high-profile corruption scandals and a worldwide economic meltdown.
And here’s something else to consider. The same finance wizards that brokered this deal on behalf of the city are the same people who “conservatively” estimated the FY2009 budget, which is hundreds of millions of dollars in the red despite the sales of the Skyway and parking meter system. So, while neer-do-wells like Bernie Stone and Paul Volpe lash out at Hoffman and the IG for not being qualified to dispute the terms of the lease, they should explain how their mediocre track records should be considered gospel.
- Mike Murray - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 11:39 am:
===16 years in prision? That is a long time, I hope he is compensated justly. Who was the prosecutor, interrogators, etc. Someone needs to be held accountable if there was wrongdoing leading up to the conviction.====
The article says he will receive 200,000 and the city will help him find a job. That would not satisfy me.
Story does not comment on the former prosecutor or decision to try the case. But, he was tried as an adult for murder when he was only 13. He was sent to prison after he was wrongfully convicted and he was 14 for god’s sake.
We should never be wrong on a murder case, but we better have some hard evidence before we put a child on trial as an adult.
I don’t know who fouled up or how, but some one deserves to be brought behind the wood shed for some good old fashioned justice. LOL.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 11:40 am:
The intern is alive? Wow.
- Mike Murray - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 11:40 am:
LOL. yea yea. I am not used to this much down time
- Wumpus - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 11:54 am:
$200,000? He needs a better attorney. That barely pays him minimum wage for 2080 hours for 12 years. What, are they deducting room, board and meals? Not to mention the lemonade stade he could have operated until he was 16. I am against huge verdicts in many cases, but this would be one I am for.
Even assuming he did not go to college and get some fancy book learnin’ degree. That $200,000 is paltry. I guess he could get a city job and do nothing.
- Mike Murray - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 12:08 pm:
====I guess he could get a city job and do nothing. ====
No, I doubt it. Hoffman would call that a political hire and would start a corruption investigation.
But you are right. The man should have gotten millions. After all, a childhood is priceless. He probably is still a virgin…well… I guess that depends on what happened in prison. But yea, he has spent more then half of his life behind bars, and it was the better half.
You could not pay me $200,000 to spend the 4 years I spent at college behind bars instead, and I still have student loan payments to make.
The man got the shaft, royally
- Wumpus - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 12:22 pm:
Whoa, Mr. Murray, working kinda blue. Any 1/2 way competent lawyer could argue much more on his lost potential. He could have gotten a construction job (no college) or working on a road crew, a mechanic, a salesguy. he could have not gone to college, gotten a union gig or any other honest work and made $200000 in 5-8 years easy.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 12:50 pm:
I was driving in Chicago yesterday, primarily on the North Side, near some areas where street parking traditionally is next to impossible to find. Perhaps others have the same observation, but in heavily metered areas, there seemed to be a whole bunch of vacant or open meters.
Are people now avoiding parking meters? Where are those cars going? Are they parking on side streets?
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 1:45 pm:
It’s sad that after all the corruption — hiring fraud, Hired Truck, insider deals — and blood in the streets — kids, a uniformed cop just this week — that Chicagoans reserve their outrage for having to throw more quarters in a parking meter.
You get the government you deserve.
- Wumpus - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 2:30 pm:
W/S, that $3.00 to park for an hour affects us directly every day (if you drive in teh city). Sadly, if you live in a safer area, not too many of your neighbors get murdered. We can’t do much about corruption as it is part of the system, THE COMBINE!
I agree with you btw.
- Truthful James - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 3:45 pm:
wordslinger –
That nephew deal is worse than you thought. They are getting 500Gs the only tenant is a City agency. That means that is property tax exempt. Hardy ar har.
This is the Mayor’s family.
And regarding the parking meters. Another laugh. The mayor’s budget staff created the 150 Million shortfall which made the alderpeople go for the lease deal.
Still want to see who got the fees. And isn’t the Mayor’s brother in the loop at the company? Somebody has to do an FOI to see who got the probably heavy fees to lawyer and banker this deal.
Which reminds me, the County/City Building sits on valuable property in the Loop. Why not move them into the old Central Post office. Ought to be hundreds of millions of dollars there to split.up there — on both sides of the deal. Just a thought.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Jun 4, 09 @ 4:08 pm:
With one hand, the Man lifts a few quarters outta pocket for the meter deal and Bobby V’s rent. With the other, he takes a few bucks outta your wallet for State Farm so that they can sponsor a boring women’s golf tournament in the middle of nowhere. (Disclosure Note: AA thinks all golf tournaments are boring, men’s and women’s.)