Seeing both sides
Thursday, Aug 4, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Daily Herald takes a look at what happens after an inspector general’s investigation turns up alleged wrongdoing…
An investigation by the Illinois executive inspector general’s office determined that [John Grana], a 16-year Illinois Department of Transportation veteran from Roselle, solicited gifts from underlings at the agency’s Schaumburg service yard in exchange for better work assignments. It also found he misused his state email account by sending personal missives laced with sexually inappropriate and racially insensitive material. In the report, Grana denies many of the accusations.
Based on the report’s conclusions, Executive Inspector General Ricardo Meza suggested Grana could be fired from his $75,264-a-year highway maintenance supervisor job. And IDOT managers did suspend Grana without pay for 192 work days — nearly three-quarters of a work year — and ordered him to undergo ethics retraining. But a collective bargaining agreement protected him from losing his job.
State Sen. Ron Sandack told the paper that Gov. Pat Quinn ought to order his agencies to fire somebody when the Inspector General recommends it. But, as noted in the story, Grana was protected by his union contract, so his punishment had to be negotiated. And the IG himself isn’t insisting that his recommendations be followed to the letter…
Union officials defend the collective bargaining rules. They argue the process protects more good employees than it does bad ones. Meza isn’t holding a grudge against transportation department hierarchy who allowed Grana back despite the contents of his office’s scathing report.
“Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, once we’ve made a recommendation, that’s all it is, and I’m fine with that,” Meza, an Arlington Heights resident, said. “If we make a recommendation of termination and you don’t terminate, I’m not going to be upset. But if (that employee’s) name comes up again, we’re going to be sure to mention that we recommended that the employee be discharged.”
* I can understand why motorcyclists would want this law, but I can also see how this could easily cause a whole lot of confusion…
If a bill sitting on Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk gets signed soon, motorcyclists sitting at red lights that won’t turn green will be able to proceed as if at a stop sign — if no other cars are nearby or going through the intersection, of course.
Many of us have been at a red light that won’t turn green, but it’s far more likely for those on a motorcycle because the stoplight sensors can’t always tell a vehicle of that size is present. […]
[Traffic manager Tom Szabo of the Kane County Transportation Department] said the size and weight of some motorcycles makes it difficult to trigger the “loop detector” at intersections that change the signal.
“The detectors are embedded in the pavement and use magnetic fields to determine the presence of a vehicle,” Szabo said. “Some other intersections use video detection.” […]
Not particularly enamored with the thought of something that could cause accidents or allow people to ignore red lights, Geneva Police Cmdr. Julie Nash said she would be “stunned” if the bill is signed into law.
Some red lights are so long that you might think their weight sensors aren’t working. Here’s the actual language…
the driver of a motorcycle or bicycle, facing a steady red signal which fails to change to a green signal within a reasonable period of time because of a signal malfunction or because the signal has failed to detect the arrival of the motorcycle or bicycle due to the vehicle’s size or weight, shall have the right to proceed, after yielding the right of way to oncoming traffic facing a green signal, subject to the rules applicable after making a stop at a stop sign
So, it’s up to the motorcyclist and, I assume, the cop to decide what is a “reasonable period of time”? Not confusing at all.
* It’s not really clear whether there are more of these couples or whether they’re more open about reporting themselves to the Census Bureau, but the numbers are the numbers…
The number of Illinois households run by same-sex couples has jumped nearly 42 percent in the last decade, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released late Wednesday.
The trend in Illinois mirrors those nationwide, with experts and advocates saying a change in social attitudes toward gay couples and homosexuality in general is among the top reasons for the increase.
In 2010, there were 32,469 same-sex households in Illinois, up from 22,887 in 2000. The biggest jump was in female couples, a 53 percent increase compared with a 32 percent one for male couples. In 2000 there were more male couples -12,155 compared with 10,732 female. Last year there were 16,416 female couples compared with 16,053 male couples.
* OK, so we didn’t set a record, but it was still miserably hot and muggy last month…
The sweltering, deadly heat and non-stop heat warnings of last month led to the month making the record books as the sixth warmest July on record in Illinois.
The statewide average temperature for July was 80.1, according to Jim Angel, Illinois State Climatologist. That averages to 4.3 degrees above what’s normal for this time of year and ties with July 1955 as the sixth warmest July since records were kept since 1895.
The warmest July was recorded in 1936 when the average temperature for the month was 83.1. July 1901 came in second at 81.7 average and coming in as the third warmest July was in 1934 when the average temperate was 81.3.
It was the extended nighttime temperatures that pushed the state into the top 10 warmest list. Because of high humidity levels, the state was unable to cool off at night and broke 168 nighttime high-low records throughout the state, according to Angel. At the same time, only 28 daytime high temperature records were broken statewide.
Just imagine living here in the 1930s when those records were set. Ugh.
- Bman - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 8:42 am:
If the Inspector General only has to make a recommendation to resolve a case, why bother to maintain the Executive Inspector General office. This is an excellent example of government waste. The public should be incensed; fire Ricardo Meza he’s not protected by collective bargaining, only the governor. sheech!
- Plutocrat03 - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 8:56 am:
Seems like a work rule change is in order for the next contract. There is no reason that offensive conduct during work hours should be protected by contract.
- Mark - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 9:30 am:
The Daily Herald link states, “To view all of the executive inspector general’s disciplinary investigation reports visit, www2.illinois.gov/oeig/Pages/PublishedOEIGCases.aspx
- What's in a name? - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 9:54 am:
I think something like 95% of IDOT employees are either in the union or eligible to be in the union. I think its interesting that the union is protecting what is essentially criminal behavior rather than the more traditional role of protecting the employees from an abusive supervisor.
- downstate commissioner - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 10:01 am:
Re the motorcycles- wondered about the safety factor myself, since I used to ride bikes quite a bit; have an employee with one of the BIG Harleys (fairing, trailer, etc.- he said that he routinely has to do illegally what this bill will allow him to do legally, because even his big machine won’t trip the sensors.
- zatoichi - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 10:28 am:
Other Ill Inspector General Offices (DHS/OIG) and and Public Health seem to have no problem making recommendations that put employees of community based providers on Nurse registry lists that eliminate all employment in social services or have large associated fines. Their actions are based on abuse and neglect. What is different with the Grana case? If my employer needed 192 unpaid work days to investigate something I did on the job, I would have been shown the door pretty quickly. Apparently firing a state worker based on an investigative recommendation must result in endless appeals. Who would want that grief? It’s just a recommendation.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 10:31 am:
My parents remember the 1930s but they say hot and humid is hot and humid, and they didn’t put in air conditioning until about 20 years ago. Growing up without a/c, my recollections of the summers of the 1950s and 1960s were spending lots of time playing with sprinklers and garden hoses.
- Huh? - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 10:48 am:
“Some red lights are so long that you might think their weight sensors aren’t working.”
The sensors at traffic lights do not measure the weight of a vehicle. They are a magnetic impedance sensors. In other words, if the size of the magnetic object, a motorcycle, is not large enough to trigger the sensor, the vehicle will sit at the stop light. One solution is to install a large magnet on the bottom of the bike.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 11:04 am:
=== One solution is to install a large magnet on the bottom of the bike. ===
Also an excellent way to remove nails, screws, and other metallic debris from the roads.
Great idea!
As long as the rider’s boots don’t have steel toes or anything like that.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 11:19 am:
===One solution is to install a large magnet on the bottom of the bike.===
Or we could just give riders a break when they turn left against a red light, you know, like this law does.
It really isn’t terribly confusing and there is no need to retrofit motorcycles or rebuild the sensors. Sometimes a simple solution is both simple and a solution.
- lincolnlover - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 11:58 am:
Is the practice of negotiating terms of discipline for a union employee any different than the type of “golden parachute” that many executives consider standard in an employment contract? And what about the double standard the state uses in “firing” a non-union employee from one agency and then allowing them to be re-hired at a different agency? I find those types of practices as bad or worse than following a contract agreement in a union discipline situation.
- Cincinnatus - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 12:20 pm:
Re: The Heat.
If you have pizza, high speed internet, toilet paper and air conditioning, do you need much else?
Re: Grana.
Zero tolerance for thee, not me. This guy should have been summarily fired. Yet another reason why public service unions should be decertified.
Re: Motorcycles.
The law is vague because it establishes an indefinable criteria and leaves too much interpretation of “reasonable” which will cause a problem between the officer, and the cyclist. This law should be rethought, as should “Left Turn on Green Only” locations.
- Allen Skillicorn - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 12:21 pm:
As an avid and safe motorcycle enthusiast, I really don’t need someone like Geneva Police Chief Julie Nash telling me when it is or isn’t safe for me to proceed through an intersection. My life is on the line, I have every reason use due caution.
- Plutocrat03 - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 1:09 pm:
So if motorcyclist can be trusted to go through a red light safely, why does a car have to remain stopped at an empty intersection? Same principle applies
- Nohopeforillinois - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 1:14 pm:
The IG “determines” things and we assume he is correct and infallible? Some of his investigations have been pretty shoddy, and due process is lacking. He is just plain wrong sometimes in his “determinations”. It is a good thing that his “determinations” are not binding.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 1:27 pm:
Drove down Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago this morning alongside a bike path. Out of over 100 cyclists, only one stopped at a red light. Out of over 100 cyclists, only one signaled his intentions to turn right or left at an intersection. A few were dumb enough to cycle between stopped cars at red lights or weave between them.
With bikes repeatedly darting into oncoming traffic, we are going to add motorcycles?
Wow!
- Former State Employee - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 1:30 pm:
If they want to be effective, the Inspector General offices need to tie their recommendations to the civil service system and legal system. Their recommended punishment needs to be in line with legally acceptable established practice. Their evidence needs to meet established criteria.
I also think it would be useful for someone to do an analysis of the civil service system and determine if reform is needed. Employee rights need to be protected, but everyone benefits when problem employees are properly disciplined.
- Roadiepig - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 1:53 pm:
As a IDOT worker, I have always thought it was wrong that the person who assigns me my daily jobs and reccomends to management to discipline me if I don’t do that job is in the same union as myself. That said- what this slimeball did to his subordinates (asking for gifts to get plum job assignments) is way beyond any form of misconduct I have seen anyone in our supervisor positions do in my 30 years here. He deserves firing. If the union protects him from that, higher ups ought to at least remove him from the lead worker position and assign him the job of scrapping dead opposuns and raccoons off of the interstate for the rest of his employment….
- The KQ - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 2:39 pm:
If you look at the concrete at many intersections you will see “boxes” that are cut into the concrete. I have read that this is where the sensors are. So, if you are riding a motorcycle you should be as close as possible to the cut lines on the street which will register the metal and trip the signal.
http://www.wikihow.com/Trigger-Green-Traffic-Lights
- Excessively Rabid - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 3:05 pm:
“…after yielding the right of way to oncoming traffic facing a green signal….”
I understand oncoming to mean traffic going the opposite way on the same road, which in these situations should usually also have a red light (although you would think an oncoming car, if there was one, would trip the sensor and eliminate the issue). Shouldn’t the language read that the cyclist should yield to cross traffic?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 3:07 pm:
===I understand oncoming to mean traffic going the opposite way on the same road===
No.
Merriam-Webster…
Definition of ONCOMING
1a : coming nearer in time or space
- SO IL M - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 3:55 pm:
IDOT Story: Another example of why Administrative/Management/Top Supervisory Positions should not be Union Positions. Just wait till next month when DOC puts Wardens, Assistant Wardens and other S.P.S.A. positions in the Laborers Union.
New Law: The law specifies if no other vehicles are close by, or going thru the intersection. So if the bike is the only vehicle there, who will know anyway?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 4:03 pm:
===So if the bike is the only vehicle there, who will know anyway? ===
Those behind the bike, for instance.
- one day at a time - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 5:54 pm:
“the driver of a motorcycle or bicycle, facing a steady red signal which fails to change to a green signal within a reasonable period of time because of a signal malfunction or because the signal has failed to detect the arrival of the motorcycle or bicycle due to the vehicle’s size or weight, shall have the right to proceed, after yielding the right of way to oncoming traffic facing a green signal, subject to the rules applicable after making a stop at a stop sign”
Evidence of failing to wait a “reasonalble period of time:
Motorcycle vs vehicle CRASH
- Not a Newcomer - Thursday, Aug 4, 11 @ 11:31 pm:
Not all Inspector Generals are good guys, some only investigate fraud that creates sexy headlines, or they create scandals to create headlines, and then they use those headlines they created to run for U.S. Senate. Just sayin…
- wordslinger - Friday, Aug 5, 11 @ 12:01 am:
July was a stinker. Oppressive heat and violent storms (and bad baseball). I got lucky, but some neighbors are waiting in line just to get estimates to repair roof damage from the old oaks coming down.
Down the road in River Forest, you’ve got folks tearing there hair out as to how they can be without electricity for a week (twice in a month) in their $2 million homes.
On the bright side, it looks like I have a bumper crop of tomatoes and peppers coming in.
- Man in the Middle - Friday, Aug 5, 11 @ 7:54 am:
Our bike club often has to sit at stop lights between major and minor roads however long it takes for a car to come along behind us, because the intersection lacks a button for us to push to say we are there. Although I’d prefer more push buttons as a safer alternative, I’m all for this law unless and until buttons are provided at all stop lights.
Here’s an alternative way for traffic signals to sense bikes:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/08/02/motion-sensors-adjust-pleasanton-traffic-signals-for-bicyclists/