Morning shorts
Thursday, Aug 20, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray
* City Calls Parking Meter Suit “Without Merit”
A public interest group filed the suit Wednesday, claiming—among other things—Chicago lacks the authority to lease public streets.
It also says it’s unconstitutional for public officials to write parking tickets, now that the meters are controlled by a private company.
* Chicago’s parking-meter lease draws lawsuit
* Illinois high schools’ scores drop on state achievement exam
Elementary students posted modest gains on the 2009 exams, continuing an upward trend. But high school scores tumbled, according to data released Wednesday.
Last year’s junior class posted the lowest pass rate — 51.6 percent — ever recorded on the math portion of the Prairie State Achievement Exam, given this past spring. Barely half of the students got over the bar in science, a slight drop from the previous year.
* Illinois officials to release July jobless rate
* Over 30% of Chicago homes have upside down mortgages
More than 30 percent of single-family homes in the Chicago metropolitan area had mortgages that were greater than the value of the home at the end of June, according to a report from First American CoreLogic. That’s 550,572 Chicago area homes with negative equity.
Statewide, 29.4 percent — 650,720 properties — had negative equity, also known as having an “underwater” or “upside down” mortgage.
The state and metropolitan area fared slightly better than the nation, which had 32.2 percent of properties with negative equity, the report said.
* Distressed Kane fits ‘recovery zone’ tag
* Peoria City Council spares public safety cuts
* Unions: Prison layoffs would harm Logan Co.
Union officials here are projecting a $7 million loss of taxable income to the Logan County economy if pending cuts of more than 100 state Department of Corrections employees take place at two local prisons.
That’s prompted the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to launch a public campaign against the cuts announced recently by Gov. Pat Quinn. The campaign included a town hall meeting at the Knights of Columbus hall Wednesday night.
* Daley in D.C. asking for . . . more
According to a press release on Wednesday afternoon, the mayor met Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to ask for increased efforts at the federal level to crack down on gang-bangers and drug dealers.
* Ike Carothers Trial Date Set
A March 8 trial date has been set in the federal corruption case of Chicago Alderman Isaac Carothers.
* Tollway board member was seeking work on other tollways
An Illinois tollway board member had been pitching his company to do land consulting work on other tollway systems and for construction companies, which a top ethics group says is an apparent conflict of interest.
David Andalcio, who was appointed to the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2003, has a company called Wynndalco Enterprises that was offering services on its Web site as a consultant for tollway and other transportation projects.
* Former mob attorney joins Blagojevich outfit
Allan Ackerman, a onetime mob attorney whose specialty of late has been crafting appellate arguments, said Wednesday he will formally join the ranks of the former governor’s legal team.
Ackerman referred to himself Wednesday as a “maven,” an expert who will organize the evidence, including more than 3 million documents in the case, and have it ready for the June trial.
* Blagojevich’s Defense Team Signs on Colorful Character
* Blago lawyers want more time with tapes
Attorneys for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich say they’ll need three more weeks to listen to secret recordings that’ll feature prominently at his corruption trial.
Federal prosecutors and defense lawyers attended a 10-minute status hearing Wednesday where Judge James Zagel asked how preparations for a trial were going. Blagojevich didn’t attend.[…]
The next status hearing is set for Sept. 22. A trial isn’t expected to start until next year.
* Burr Oak out of cash; staff laid off
Burr Oak Cemetery’s remaining eight workers have been laid off since Friday, when the cemetery’s receiver learned in court he couldn’t make payroll, the SouthtownStar has learned.
Roman Szabelski, the appointed receiver charged with running the beleaguered historic cemetery in Alsip, said none of the money he’s requested from a Cook County judge to operate the cemetery has been released. The cemetery’s assets all have been frozen in the wake of a grave-reselling scandal in which four employees are charged with multiple felonies, including dismembering human remains.
* No fish story: This carp could eat up Lake Michigan
Ecologists fear that the carp, which can grow to 100 pounds and up to 4 feet long, could devastate sport and commercial fishing in the Great Lakes.
- Steve - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 9:14 am:
Can the parking meter lawsuit get a fair hearing? Will an Alderman Burke slated judge want to tick off Alderman Burke?
- Hank - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 10:11 am:
Steve, I’m with you. This is Cook county. This lawsuit will be delayed indefinitely if not dismissed outright
- Tollway Joe - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 10:14 am:
What a great legacy Blago has left the Tollway:
Jack Hartman - Contract fixer with Chris Kelly
Brian McPartlin - Give him a job, he’ll give you a no bid contract.
John Mitola - Write a campaign check, get a tollpayer supported “gift”.
- MrJM - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 10:16 am:
“Prison layoffs would harm Logan Co.”
Ohmygod! We can’t do that then.
Economics are always the driving force of any just prisons system.
– MrJM
- Stevie - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 10:29 am:
What was Avis Lavalle deal in all of this, she has close ties to the Mayor, ran one of his campaigns, was press secretary and is currently working on the Cable Commission, this looks like the crooked deal they did years ago with the Cable TV Franchise, what local investors go rich on that deal.
- The Doc - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 10:57 am:
Here’s hoping the parking meter deal is Daley’s Waterloo. No matter which way you slice it, this was a terribly bad deal.
I’m curious, in the event that the lawsuit is successful, what type of legal precedent is set. Does it endanger the Skyway deal as well?
- Will County Woman - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 11:09 am:
beyond just the families caught up in the Burr Oak mess, there are the workers who did no wrongdoing too. These people have homes and families to feed and now they don’t have jobs. The job market is tough, I hope that they do qualify for unemployment benefits as they try to put their lives back together too.
My only encounter with Burr Oak was last summer (2008) when I found out that my grandmother did not have a headstone and was likely not buried where Burr Oak staff told me she was buried. But, I have to admit that the ladies in the office were helpful and instrumental in helping me to find the information about my grandmother that I was seeking. One of the grounds workers who saw me searching for a burial plot that (i now know) didn’t exist was very helpful, though I now understand his look of frustration for having taken part in the lie about where my grandmother was buried.
- Plutocrat03 - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 12:01 pm:
Sure is a novel attack on the parking meter lease.
An additional angle is the state and federal money being used to maintain many of the streets with meters. It can be argued that it is improper to use public monies to maintain or improve the assets of a private enterprise.
It is clear the deal was a major boon to a whole series of private parties by the way so many have come out of the woodwork to support the Mayor.
Leases of public resources can be a valid technique when judiciously applied, but the parking meter deal seems to have crossed the line in how brazenly a river of money was handed to a private entity.
- Northside Bunker - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 12:48 pm:
Allan Ackerman oh my!
It’s getting weirder!
Who paying for ALL this high-priced (attorneys) beef?
- wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 1:10 pm:
With all the hinky stuff that comes out of the Tollway month after month, year after year, you begin to understand how their former employee/Outfit Guy John “Quarters” Boyle could steal $4 million from them under their noses.
That’s $4 million in coin , remember.
- Obamarama - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 2:37 pm:
===Who paying for ALL this high-priced (attorneys) beef?===
“Ackerman, like the rest of the lawyers representing Rod Blagojevich, will be paid $110 an hour — a rate controlled by U.S. District Judge James Zagel and deducted out of the ousted governor’s campaign fund.”
Courtesy of the Sun-Times
- this old hack - Thursday, Aug 20, 09 @ 7:22 pm:
Both Steve and Hank raise excellent points. Looking on the bright side, I can’t believe the IVI-IPO is actually doing something useful for a change! Its a miracle! Is there new leadership over there or something? That organization has been useless, pathetic and redundant for years now. They are finally doing something other than having endless meetings and putting out a pretty bad endorsement newspaper insert that no one ever looks at before the primary! Amazing!