* Gov. Rauner is still taking heat for saying some Chicago schools resemble “crumbling prisons”…

Speaking at Crain’s Future of Chicago conference, [Mayor Rahm Emanuel] said Rauner is “tearing down” school kids and teachers who have made remarkable progress turning around CPS. He went on to accuse the GOP governor of “running down” the city’s economy.

In a phone call later to emphasize the point, Emanuel expressed amazement that Rauner recently likened many city schools to “crumbling prisons.” Said the mayor rhetorically, “Would you refer to schools as prison?” Schools are “the city’s future,” Emanuel replied to his own question.

* And now this..

A new political ad from Illinois Republicans is using a photo of an abandoned building to portray Chicago Public Schools to a downstate Illinois audience.

We talked about the new ad yesterday. Here’s the image in question…

* Back to the WBEZ story…

In fact, it’s on the stock photo website shutterstock.

“It’s up to the individual viewer to decide how they interpret that,” said Steven Yoffe, a spokesman for the Illinois Republican Party. “But the message is that these representatives and the senator say one thing when they’re in their district and they do another thing in Springfield.”

Yaffe said he’s not sure if it’s a photo of a CPS school, and classified the ad as a “substantial TV ad buy, network buy” in Southern Illinois.

Click here to see the original image, which is described as “Low-angle perspective of an abandoned office or school building with broken windows, graffiti, and debris.”

* Emily Bittner at CPS…

“It’s disgraceful that Governor Rauner’s allies are spreading ugly distortions about Chicago Public Schools, where students are improving faster than their peers in Illinois and the nation. Schools all over Illinois need a funding system that treats students with dignity and equality, which is why so many downstate superintendents are opposed to the governor’s status quo education budget. The Governor needs to unite the state to pass a budget, not divide us.”

* Ah, but it gets better. Click here for another angle of the same building. Notice the mountains in the background? Last I checked, Chicago had no mountains.

During the past campaign, Rauner was criticized for using a stock photo of a mountain range in a TV ad about Illinois.

       

68 Comments - Peters Post - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:54 am: How anyone with a school child could endorse this approach is beyond me. As a parent of a CPS student it causes me to just sit back and think is this what they really think of our school system or is this their wish? - Anon221 - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:54 am: Thanks for the “bigger picture”, Rich! - Saluki - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:54 am: I don’t think it really matters if it is a school in Illinois or not. There is a certain amount of artistic license that I think is acceptable. Furthermore, it seems trivial in comparison to the real issue of Chicago Schools that I believe have to be suffering from substantial deferred maintenance. - wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:55 am: Gee, the governor dog-whistles “crumbling prisons” regarding Chicago schools, then a stock photo of an abandoned building in Idaho is played in GOP spots in Southern Illinois to represent Chicago schools. Subtle and creative, huh? From the Rauner version of the Party of Lincoln. You’d think a governor of Illinois would consider schools that were “crumbling prisons” on his watch a top problem to be solved, not red-meat for partisan political hacks. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:55 am: Typical Raunerite messaging… It’s not the truth of the message, it’s just getting a message others will believe. The scenery, real or contrived, is inconsequential. Truth? Meh. Message, sell it. Critcicism? Deflect it. Divisiveness, own it. Raunerite messaging, winning the day. - From the 'Dale to HP - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:58 am: “Please hate Chicago more than me.” — Bruce Rauner to downstate residents. - Federalist - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:58 am: Calling them ‘prisons’ was unnecessary at best. However, the larger issue of CPS letting their schools deteriorate to such a point is the real issue. School finances are tight throughout the state but I know in my area ( low expenditure per student) nothing looks even close to this. Indeed most look pretty good because they keep them out with the limited resources they have. CPPS has wantonly not repaired their schools over decades. If you and I did this to our own homes and never made repairs they would be in bad shape also. - wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:59 am: –Furthermore, it seems trivial in comparison to the real issue of Chicago Schools that I believe have to be suffering from substantial deferred maintenance.– LOL, is that the “real issue” that the governor with his comments and the negative TV spots are trying to address? Tell me — do you have any bridges for sale? - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:59 am: Wonder what the react would be if someone appealed to a Chicago and suburban Chicago audience with footage of crumbling downstate schools? - Delimma - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 9:59 am: What I don’t understand is the message being conveyed. Are Chicago schools grossly underfunded so that other districts get more money (thus the crumbling infrastructure), or are Chicago schools just being bled dry by corrupt teachers and school administrators? Where are the indictments? Shouldn’t someone be prosecuted for embezzlement if it was theft? On the other hand, if this is just a symptom of pensions that have been underfunded for decades, then isn’t the issue funding? Maybe teachers are just paid too much? Is that the argument? I just don’t know. - lech W - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:01 am: hopefully Rich et al will scrutinize Dem/Madigan ads with such vigor. - A guy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:05 am: When the argument gets to this level, the argument has already been lost. Much ado. What is the other side? Does this now necessitate sending a photographer to 10 or 20 schools to photograph them and illustrate that buildings in this condition or worse are being used? If that’s all they got, they’re better off giving it as little attention as possible and focusing on their own message. - Christopher - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:06 am: Who said anything about “corrupt teachers”? - Huh? - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:06 am: Those “mountains” are actually gob piles near old coal mining towns. No really, gob piles, free dirt that the minert didn’t get paid to remote from the mines. The picture shows a school in a town like Cherry or Roanoke. No really we didn’t use stock photos from the Internet. They are gob piles not mountains. - 47th Ward - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:07 am: ===School finances are tight throughout the state but I know in my area (low expenditure per student) nothing looks even close to this.=== Is your area in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains? Did you even read the post? Key takeaway: this isn’t a picture of a Chicago school. - illini - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:10 am: To badly paraphrase a statement I heard or read many years ago - “Never let the facts or the truth get in the way of a good argument” We are seeing a lot of this lately! - WIUOblivion - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:13 am: You’re missing the real issue here folks. Rauner Inc. goes online, buys a stock photo NOT made in Illinois — c’mon, how’s that gonna put Illinois photographers to work? Jeez . . . /s/ - 47th Ward - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:14 am: ===What is the other side?=== The other side of the argument is that this ad and Rauner’s statement comparing schools to prisons is not only a lie, but a despicable appeal to racism and one that cynically exploits the regional divide in Illinois. You know, the exact opposite of what a Governor should be saying/doing. That’s the other side. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:15 am: Not surprising to see more dog-whistle politics from the GOP, stokin’ the resentment and prejudices of its base. This is, after all, how Donald Trump is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. Republicans are in an uncomfortable place between implicitly and openly stoking their base’s baser political feelings. - Federalist - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:19 am: 47th Ward, No my school district is not in the Rocky Mountains. Obviously you are very bad in geography or just being unnecessarily snotty. Grow Up! - @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:25 am: “When the argument gets to this level, the argument has already been lost.” I’d say the same thing about the IL-GOP resorting to Southern strategy dog-whistles, but I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. – MrJM - wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:27 am: –When the argument gets to this level, the argument has already been lost. – What is the “level” and what is the argument that has been lost? - Retired Lawyer - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:29 am: The Governor’s statements and some of the comments in this post are misleading, ignorant or deliberately false. The top schools in Illinois are in Chicago and well maintained. But Chicago is exceptionally diverse with extreme poverty and other special needs. The State has short changed Chicago and needs to increase its responsibility. - Jose Abreu's next homer - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:29 am: Isn’t that Mt. Vrdolyak which has the Burke River run into it? - 47th Ward - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:30 am: Federalist, My grasp of geography is fine. Your reading comprehension needs some work though. - illini97 - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:30 am: I give this an F for the reasons previously stated. What is the message? CPS schools are decrepit and so they don’t get one more dime? That just sounds cruel to voters. Is the message that Chicago is going to want sacks of cash to fix these schools? Well, that makes an argument for a tax hike, doesn’t it? To the downstate voters targeted, here’s what is heard. “The Governor from a Chicago suburb wants you to know that Chicago schools are crumbling and we shouldn’t pay for them.” As a downstater, I have questions. If he’s a Chicago guy (to downstaters Chicago and it’s suburbs are largely all one mass) why isn’t he fixing this? If they’re in need of repair, who is funding them? Shouldn’t the State be sending emergency funds that way? Why is this a good message for Rauner, et al? As a member of the target demographic for these ads, I don’t get it. - Precinct Captain - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:32 am: Cut the governor and his “heroic” political allies a break–he doesn’t know the difference between his downtown condo, his Winnetka mansion, or his Western ranches. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:34 am: ===When the argument gets to this level, the argument has already been lost.=== What is the argument being lost at what level and “who” exactly is taking whatever argument you think you’re seeing to a level you never clearly stated. Maybe clarity first, then go with waxing poetic - Carhartt Representative - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:35 am: I think it’s important our money goes to educate only the wealthy of the state. If a student is going to crumbling school, it would be a misuse of state money to fix it or provide them with a non-crumbling building. - TinyDancer(FKA Sue) - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:35 am: Hey, Bruce - maybe if the charters stopped draining all the cash out of CPS budget they could fix up the schools: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=5668 - Huh? - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:37 am: No, no I sent CK out to get pictures of a really crappy building. Those mountains are really the Illinois River bluffs from Beardstown. - Lester Holt's Mustache - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:38 am: ==However, the larger issue of CPS letting their schools deteriorate to such a point is the real issue. School finances are tight throughout the state but I know in my area ( low expenditure per student) nothing looks even close to this. Indeed most look pretty good because they keep them out with the limited resources they have. CPPS has wantonly not repaired their schools over decades. If you and I did this to our own homes and never made repairs they would be in bad shape also.== This outlook right here is why I could never be a Raunerite. To find this type of an attack acceptable, not only do you have to swallow the lie (that the building in this picture is an actual school in Chicago that kids are attending) but you also have to make the complete twist of logic that a school was allowed to end up in this shape purposefully. It’s not enough that some CPS schools aren’t in the best of shape (they aren’t) - no no no! - it must have been done “wantonly” (defined as “maliciously or unjustifiably”). Like CPS directors are sitting around rubbing their hands together saying things like “You know what would really show them - we’ll just never make any repairs to the schools and let them crumble! Then we can give more money to the greedy teachers! Bwahahahahahaha!” The explanation could not possibly be that this isn’t a truthful example, and/or that the funding mechanism for Illinois schools doesn’t provide enough money for CPS to keep up with needed repairs, could it? No, in the Raunerite outlook everything has to be some kind of a conspiracy. Maybe try to follow your own advice - Grow up! - Illinois bob - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:39 am: Looks awful sleazy and falsely inflammatory. There’s so much waste and incompetence out there at CPS that you don’t need to fabricate stuff like this for effect. They could show a comparison of contact hours at CPS as compared to other schools like those in Houston (soon to take over Chicago’s place as “third city”), and academic results. They could also compare the “qualifications” of CPS staff compared to other big city school districts. He could go into things like why only three general contractors were allowed to bid on CPS work, and why their subcontractors may only be selected from “clout lists”. They could identify problems in CPS procurement, which is a real cesspool. They could look at all those “non-teaching teachers” in CPS who no principals want in their classrooms, but who CTU won’t let them fire without six figure legal expense. They could show what other districts are getting for their students for a fraction of the cost. One time Oprah and Bill Gates did a show comparing Harper HS in Chicago and Nequa Valley (Indian Prairie 204 in Naperville) and showed the magnificent suburban facilities and bright, energetic young staff compared to the decrepit facilities and unpolished staff at CPS. What they didn’t mention was that Nequa student expenses were about $2,000 per student LESS than CPS. The key question was how Nequa can provide such quality to their students for so much less than CPS, but Bill and Oprah didn’t even MENTION the far higher, and less effective, funding for CPS. The argument for “funding equality” over “educational quality” can’t be fact based and be successful for CPS, so REAL funding effectiveness can’t be debated. Criticism of CPS is such a target rich environment. I’m disappointed they use this dishonest garbage as the pitch. - Chicago Taxpayer - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:40 am: Maybe the schools in Colorado (with the mountains in the background) are the real “crumbling prisons.” - illinois manufacturer - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:41 am: He could stay downstate. We have an excellent selection of abandoned buildings including many schools.But if he wants to light al his money on fire with a Hllary lead of 19 be my guest - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:03 am: ===Houston (soon to take over Chicago’s place as “third city”)=== Chicago is the 3rd largest Media Market. Houston is the 10th largest Media Market. Understand how growth and annexation works. - RH - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:08 am: I can’t think of anything less “gubernatorial” than pitting one part of the state against the other. I know this ad is for a legislative race, but Rauner paid for it and he’s been personally saying the same stuff all over the state. Confirms that he’s not interested in governance. - A guy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:13 am: wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 10:27 am: ===When the argument gets to this level, the argument has already been lost. – What is the “level” and what is the argument that has been lost?==== Arguing over the image in an ad. It’s goofy. Thing about this. You can drive a few miles east and see plenty of rundown CPS buildings. In my travels, I see them regularly. I also see some extremely nice ones. But they’re few and far between. Many prisons are in much better shape. Most of them are newer. No matter what the stock photo image is, there are plenty of awful school buildings. I can’t believe you don’t know this. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:19 am: ===In my travels, I see them regularly. I also see some extremely nice ones. But they’re few and far between. Many prisons are in much better shape. Most of them are newer. No matter what the stock photo image is, there are plenty of awful school buildings.=== Wow… “Many prisons are in much better shape. Most of them are newer. No matter what the stock photo image is, there are plenty of awful school buildings.” Still “all-in” on comparing schools to prisons, but “with a twist”? So I guess you agree how incredibly insensitive Bruce Rauner made that comparison. “No matter what the stock photo image is, there are plenty of awful school buildings.” Then why be so incredibly disingenuous with the photo used. Maybe you can send some B-Roll of real actual Chicago schools. I can’t help Rauner is utterly disingenuous, and you like that Rauner is so disingenuous. - Illinois Bob - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:21 am: @OW =Understand how growth and annexation works.= I understand both as well as you, OW and I spend significant time in the Houston area and have many friends there. We can get into a lengthy and boring argument about how things like the expressways affected the drop of Chicago population from far above 3 million to its much lower population now, but there is a certain pride in having a higher population within a city’s borders exclusive of “media market”. I understand that annexation of adjacent property has led to much of the increase in Houston’s population, but you have to understand that the people in those areas were largely agreeable to being annexed. That certainly isn’t the case for Chicago, which COULD annex towns like Evanston, the People’s Republic of Oak Park and many other suburbs if they agreed to be annexed. In fact, annexation played a big part of Chicago’s early growth with “neighborhoods” like MT Greenwood once being separate towns. It sounds ridiculous today, but there was one time, long ago, when being part of Chicago and its schools was considered very advantageous to a community. Now I’m confident that many communities could break off again, if they could. - A guy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:26 am: Willy, (sans poetry) I’m not a Rahm fan by any stretch. But one thing he did do, that he had to do, was close a number of schools. The numbers would dictate that more should have been closed based on the number of students. That’s not the process in CPS though. There are jobs tied to every one of those buildings, whether they’re unfit dumps or nice buildings. The Archdiocese has had the same problem. Painful as it was and is, they too have been closing schools and consolidating. Can you really make a case that more money should be pored into some of these terrible and nearly impossible learning environments? And remind me, why? Because of the kids? It’s for the kids? C’mon man. If CPS were ever, ever student-centric, everything would look a lot different. They never have been. Ever. It’s always been about something else. Never the kids. Never. And now, it looks like what they’ve focused on. The parking lot isn’t full of broken down 80s Chevy’s, but the neighborhoods around them are. There’s a fundamental change that has to occur before any of this gets fixed. How many kids = how many buildings and how much labor to give them a honest shot at a future. - wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:28 am: Guy, you’ve lost me. Are the motivation of the governor’s remarks and the House Republican ads in Southern Illinois an appeal to fix Chicago’s “crumbling prison” schools? Because I’ve lived all over this state all my life and I’m picking up a different and quite obvious vibe. How about you, in your travels? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:34 am: ===In my travels, I see them regularly. I also see some extremely nice ones. But they’re few and far between.=== Can you name these schools you’ve seen in these travels. One school? Can you name one school, maybe, that made you… Cry? Please stop borrowing Rauner talking points… lol - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:39 am: ===Can you really make a case that more money should be pored into some of these terrible and nearly impossible learning environments? And remind me, why? Because of the kids? It’s for the kids?=== Bruce Rauner couldn’t name a single school that allegedly made him cry… for the kids. Who… is fooling “who”? - illinois Bob - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 11:52 am: folks, a MASSIVE amount of resources went into upgrading CPS facilities over the last 15 years. Few were really left in bad shape. When a problem arose, EVERY school was evaluated for it and the rest of the affected schools were repaired for the problem. I recall that once we had a problem with old terra cotta masonry falling. We surveyed EVERY school in the system and either netted it or re-anchored it. Eventually a city ordinance required this due to falling terra cotta downtown, but we didn’t wait for that. We took care of it. We had a problem with wood roof trusses in gyms under snow load, and had a partial collapse. In short order we had every wood truss inspected, and had engineering evaluations performed, and had prioritized repair bids. Most of the “wounds” we found were self inflicted by staff. I was once called out to Hyde Park HS during the summer after the building engineer went to the press complain that he had no air conditioning. The CPS COO told me to go out and check it out. It turns out that the air handler filter for the AC hadn’t been cleaned in over a decade, and it looked like a solid wall. No air could get through, and no cooling was possible. The building engineer got a nasty visit from the COO, who found him sitting behind his desk in his underwear. Weird stuff. Once we put in new boilers at a West Side HS. The politically connected building engineer was paid for every minute a contractor was working, supposedly with him there to “supervise”. Funny thing. Every time I came there to check things out, he was only available by cell phone. Anyway, he failed to put in the proper water treatment concentration and he dissolved about half the heating tubes in the boilers, cutting their life from 40 years to less than 20. Turns out he did it on purpose because he was ticked off that the contractor hadn’t “taken care of him” well enough. As we’re finding out with the problem at Lincoln Way 210, highly paid and costly incompetence isn’t unique to CPS, but it sure seems to be standard practice there amongst the rank and file. THAT should be the center of any argument against higher funding for CPS, not FAKE school pictures…. - Carhartt Representative - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:03 pm: =They could show a comparison of contact hours at CPS as compared to other schools like those in Houston (soon to take over Chicago’s place as “third city”), and academic results. They could also compare the “qualifications” of CPS staff compared to other big city school districts.= Houston may be my favorite Illinois city. They require students to have 180 days of instruction and a school day that is 7 hours long. CPS requires students to have 180 days of instruction and a school day that is 7 hours long. Houston schools do have a 55 minute lunch plus recess. While Chicago has 45 minutes for both lunch and recess. Most other districts in Illinois have less hours and less days. I’m not advocating for more. I think that’s actually too much, especially with younger children. - Carhartt Representative - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:07 pm: =Can you really make a case that more money should be pored into some of these terrible and nearly impossible learning environments? And remind me, why? Because of the kids? It’s for the kids?= 5 year old article, but I think she makes a really good case for it: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1140 - wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:25 pm: –C’mon man. If CPS were ever, ever student-centric, everything would look a lot different. They never have been. Ever. It’s always been about something else. Never the kids. Never. – Gee, in all your travels, you’ve never, ever, met any successful, educated people who went to CPS, or dedicated CPS teachers. Strange, as you’ve obviously spend a lot of time in the Chicago Public Schools, given your categorical conclusions as to their worth. Maybe you’re not as well-traveled as you think. And I believe there’s a state Constitutional requirement to provide public schools throughout the state. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:33 pm: Chicago’s worst closed school buildings don’t look anything like this. Folks seem to not remember, that CPS spent anywhere from $2.7 million to over $4 million on capital upgrades before shuttering the schools. Most were in excellent condition when they closed. For the mostpart, the schools’ windows are boarded up. Shame on whoever is passing that building off as a closed Chicago Public School. - Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:37 pm: People seem to have forgotten that most of the schools that closed in Chicago got capital improvements ranging anywhere from $2.7 million to over $4 million. They really were in excellent condition. They were boarded up, and even 3 years after the fact, don’t look anywhere near a bad as the building depicted on the commercial. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:47 pm: ===I understand both as well as you, OW and I spend significant time in the Houston area and have many friends there.=== Obviously you DON’T understand… …otherwise you wouldn’t have aid what you did then agreed with me later. Ugh. - A guy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:06 pm: ===Gee, in all your travels, you’ve never, ever, met any successful, educated people who went to CPS, or dedicated CPS teachers.=== Plenty of them. Some are absolutely miracles. Some have benefited from magnet schools that are among the best anywhere. How many kids get in there vs. how many apply (I stipulate to Rauner getting his kid in, so leave that one out for this argument please) Do you think it’s an anomaly that the private school systems in the city have so many students (or several near-in suburbs for that matter- obviously not OPRF) My point was how CPS prioritizes what they do. I contend they aren’t now and never were student-first. You disagree? OW- Google image the schools yourself. Or ask one of your assistants to. - @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:07 pm: “The parking lot isn’t full of broken down 80s Chevy’s, but the neighborhoods around them are. There’s a fundamental change that has to occur before any of this gets fixed.” Yeah, we get it: The first step is for public school teachers to be reduced to poverty. That goal has always been crystal clear. – MrJM - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:22 pm: ===Google image the schools yourself. Or ask one of your assistants to.=== I have no assistants. So… You can’t name single school too… Or… LOL. Speaks volumes about your… “Comments” - wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:33 pm: –My point was how CPS prioritizes what they do. I contend they aren’t now and never were student-first. You disagree?– I don’t understand what you’re saying. What is going on all day, every day, at the schools if it doesn’t involve students? What else are they doing? What are you trying to say? Perhaps a little more thought and editing is in order for your posts. - A guy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:34 pm: ===Speaks volumes about your… “Comments”=== I’m always amazed at what you hear…at a high volume. You and MrJM learned your listening skills in the same place. I wonder (aloud) sometimes, if you ever hear yourselves. It seems we viewed pictures here very recently of lead paint peeling in a school that said the problem was fixed. I guess you believe schools are not in disrepair. Just can’t help you with that. - Illinois Bob - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:36 pm: @OW You once again missed the point, OW. The “third city” comment was a minor point, but you brought it as the main point. You missed the boat entirely. The POINT here, if you understood my second post, is that ANY city can grow by annexation, even Chicago, if joining that city is advantageous to the community. In Houston, the perception is that it is. In Chicago, it is not. That’s a negative for Chicago. Got it? The point of my original post was that there was a lot to criticize and message for reasons that CPS shouldn’t be given more funding, much better than a fake school picture. I gave many examples. Once again you missed the point and got lost in some “media market” thicket irrelevant to the issue. Have a nice day under the bridge waiting for Billy Goat Gruff. I’m through feeding trolls for today. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:38 pm: ===It seems we viewed pictures here very recently of lead paint peeling in a school that said the problem was fixed. I guess you believe schools are not in disrepair.=== - A Guy -, no, you said this, specifically… ===In my travels, I see them regularly. I also see some extremely nice ones. But they’re few and far between.=== … and yet you can’t name a SINGLE school. “In my travels, I see them…” Which ones? That’s the question you still… can’t answer. Pictures here are NOT in your “travels” You’re having quite the day - A Guy - - Illinois Bob - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:39 pm: @OW BTW, I posted about a real horror facility I visited in CPS originally called “Nobel School for Crippled Children”(sic). I hope Rich posts it. It gives a real case of tear worthy school facilities. It’s his bat and ball, he’ll post it if he wants. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:40 pm: ===I’m through feeding trolls for today.=== Ironic, I was just thinking the same thing, lol - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:43 pm: - Illinois Bob - 1) you promised to not feed me, so please stop. 2) I didn’t ask you, I asked - A Guy - - Upstate - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:48 pm: =Arguing over the image in an ad. It’s goofy. Thing about this. You can drive a few miles east and see plenty of rundown CPS buildings.= Hey, “A Guy”: Name them. - relentless optimist - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 2:39 pm: @A guy You say “more” Chicago public schools should be closed without basing it on any facts. Instead ask why the district opened nearly 13,000 new seats for students SINCE closing 49 schools. http://ilraiseyourhand.org/content/behind-ryh-numbers-charter-spaces-2015 - @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 3:39 pm: “You and MrJM learned your listening skills in the same place.” My reading skills are impeccable. (If you’re hearing things, I suggest that your doctor change your dose.) – MrJM - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 3:43 pm: (Defers an answer to - A Guy -, humbly, to - @MisterJayEm - and his response above) - Anon - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 4:07 pm: Wow! A stock photo in a political ad?! How horrible! Pretty soon, we might see someone say something mean and/or untrue about their opponent, too! Whatever will we do?! - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 5:57 pm: =A Chicago public school building that serves children with disabilities has been found with lead levels in its water fountain that are 23 times higher than the federal limit of 15 parts per billion.= Where do the lead levels reported Monday for Blair Early Childhood Center and other schools fit in =the city’s future=? What of the asbestos, lead, repair backlogs and an average school age over 70 years old? Those aren’t prisons or palaces. - burbanite - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 8:39 pm: The great unifier! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.