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* Dart a step closer to resuming evictions
Cook County judges on Tuesday began using a new court document for foreclosure evictions that specifically names tenants living at the foreclosed property and states how long they are allowed to remain in units — the length of their lease or 120 days, which ever is shorter — before deputies haul out their belongings.
The new language in court eviction orders aims to quell Dart’s concern that renters might not get proper notice their landlord had lost the property in foreclosure.
But Dart isn’t backing off his no-eviction pledge just yet.
* Blagojevich wants to establish ‘free-flow’ toll lane
Under the plan, the Toll Authority will introduce “Green Lanes” into the busiest segments of the tollways. The idea is to reduce congestion and create “free-flow” lanes that would reduce braking and acceleration, thereby cutting emissions.
* Commissioner questions ethics of two separate Cook County deals
A collection of politically connected firms handpicked by Cook County President Todd Stroger’s administration is set to reap the profits from fees associated with the sale of $364 million in bonds up for board consideration today
Mesirow Financial, whose chairman, James Tyree, is chairman of the City Colleges of Chicago, was selected as the lead financial adviser on the sale of $260 million in self-insurance bonds.
Those bonds will be managed by a group of companies with strong local political ties, including:
• • J.P. Morgan Chase, whose Midwest chairman is William Daley Sr., Mayor Daley’s brother.
• • George K. Baumn, which employs Tony Fratto, brother of Stroger’s chief of staff, Joseph Fratto. […]
Burke, Burns and Pinelli, which employs state Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), was selected as the underwriter’s counsel for the sale of $104.1 million in pension fund bonds.
* Daley nephew: No deal for me
Mayor Daley’s nephew Robert Vanecko said Tuesday that he and his business partners no longer plan to invest city pension funds in a proposed Chicago Housing Authority development along the south lakefront
* CTA offers e-mail alerts to riders
* Electronic ticketing system close to reality in county courts
* The $9.5 million parking ticket
A computer entry mistake resulted in a $9.5 million parking ticket for a Glencoe couple.
“Somebody obviously messed up when it was entered into the computer,” said Glencoe Deputy Chief Mike Volling.
* 3 for Water District better go green
In the coming year, one government agency will lead the charge in what could be an ambitious effort to clean up the waterways of the Chicago area, beginning with smarter ways to divert clean rainwater from our sewage system.
* Tribune: Choices for judge
* NIU proton center lands federal grant
“This is exactly the kind of investment we should be making in our universities,” Foster said.
* Only 44% on Medicare get heart stress test before surgery
* Devine on his 12 Years in Office
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 9:21 am
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The gov needs to leave traffic engineering to someone who knows what they’re doing. This should not be for politicians to decide. I haven’t gotten over the implementation of I-Pass that amounted to a 100% surtax on cash.
Comment by Excessively rabid Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 9:36 am
Just back from a reunion trip with my wife to the San Francisco/Bay area.
No tollways. Freeways are generally four lanes. Our pitiful Edens was rebuilt as a three lane, should have been four. They are inherently more safe. Uniformly, the left lane was an HOV lane (M-F during morning and evening rush hours. Our threelaners are not wide enough to do that. 70 mph limits and good spreads between cars under normal driving. Uniformly courteous drivers who were all doing close to the speed limit, plus or minus. Nearly all exits were two lane exits. Most non freeway to freeway exits were to traffic lights at the underpass cross road.
Signage was wonderfully informative in advance on all major roads at major intersections, something I fail to see on most Chicago area highways. The exception can be seen on Golf Road (a state highway) west of 294.
I can’t see that done on our tollways, especially in judging by camera whether there are two people in the car (some carry an inflatable “love doll” for that purpose.)
People did comment that high gas prices did curtail pleasure and “errand” trips. The bravest of politicians, none are identifiable, might propose increasing taxes to relieve congestion.
Otherwise, Blago’s proposal needs to be used with suspicion as another pork project with rebounding contributions — all paid from a new user fee.
Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 9:45 am
So if they reduce the toll lanes by one except for specific vehicles, I imagine it will back up the other lanes by a great deal. This causes people to be stuck longer creating more emissions.
Some of this stuff really should be thought about before they rebuild the highways so it might have a chance of success. For example, the Edens is currently under construction. Maybe they could have planned a viable green lane.
Blago’s style of governing by press release, scrambling for funding, retrofitting and in the end not following through appears to be in the last days. That is a good thing.
Here is another example of shoot, ready, aim. I still think his presser was announcing the teen summer job program late last summer. I wonder how that worked out?
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 9:58 am
There is absolutely no reason the county’s bond issue should not be competitively bid.
It’s vanilla. No special “expertise” is needed. I wish the reporter would have asked the Baum guy what special expertise they were bringing to the table and how that would benefit the taxpayers.
It’s pinstripe patronage and raw clout in the bright sunshine for all to see and it carries a hefty surcharge.
Add bond deals to my Con-Con list. “Issuance of pubic debt shall be competitively bid, bids opened in pubilc, comment period, etc.”
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 9:59 am
==Tolls would be deducted electronically from vehicles, although details on how the tollway would differentiate between types of cars or count how many people are inside were not disclosed== ==budgeted at $1.8 billion, to be financed by bonds backed by a toll increase for commercial vehicles in 2015 and new toll rates for single-occupant vehicles in the Green Lanes. Those new rates weren’t revealed.==
All of this relevant information is on file at the bank with some cancelled checks. I still don’t get without either (a) reducing vehicles and/or (b) adding lanes, how congestion will decrease…
Comment by Vote Quimby! Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 10:03 am
Levying the charge of “pinstripe patronage” in the county bond deal is like shooting fish in a barrel - every bond house in Chicago has “connected” employees, every law firm has political donors. No matter who is chosen, opportunists like Claypool can charge “patronage”. Look back at the bond business and legal business doled out by the park district during Claypool’s day - I’m sure you’d be able to connect the dots to clout just as easily back then, too.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 10:19 am
Wordslinger is absolutely correct. Bidders will form syndicates to handle larger bond issues whether competitively bid at public sales or negotiated.
Under “there oughta be a law” There should be a five year moratorium on contributions by underwriters, bond lawyers, financial advisors or their employees both before and after a negotiated sale.
For a public competitively bid sale, the County’s financial staff is large enough to act as financial advisor. Bond counsel needs to be the subject of public competitive bidding.
Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 10:27 am
Rich
Why do you protect Rod Blagojevich and his administration?
Comment by Just wondering? Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 10:44 am
JW, thanks for the chuckle.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Oct 15, 08 @ 11:15 am
Nadine Bopp got the endorsement! Kudos to the Sun Times for picking the obviously best candidate in this race for the type of position.
Comment by Squideshi Thursday, Oct 16, 08 @ 4:04 pm