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* Biggest pension in city, courtesy of labor
* Union salaries boost pensions from city
Three men who once ran Laborers’ International Union Local 1001 — a union with a history of mob ties that represents Chicago garbage collectors — are now getting city pensions based on the salaries they got from the union.
All three once worked for the city. All three moved on to work for the union. But even after leaving their city jobs, they remained in a city pension plan but got credit for their time with the union — and, thanks to an obscure state law that allows all of this, were able to have their city pensions calculated based on their union salaries. In each case, the result was a higher pension.
* In Chicago, a public pension — and a paycheck
Plezbert was just 49, a few weeks shy of his 50th birthday, when he retired in June 2006 as Mayor Daley’s first deputy commissioner of general services — a job that paid $124,944.
Three days later, he started a new job — as the $155,324-a-year first deputy director of the mayor’s Public Building Commission.
Between his city pension and his city job, Plezbert now makes $246,721 a year.
* Widow gets $260K — a year
DUPAGE | Dying school chief set up his bride — a retired teacher — with 2 death benefits
* Union Pickets Hit Chicago Hotels
Picket lines formed Friday in front of three hotels in downtown Chicago. A union representing 6,000 hospitality workers says hotels are trying to roll back health coverage.
* CHA transformation still faces tough odds
The CHA has promised to build or rehab 25,000 apartments by 2015, with just one-third in mixed-income communities.
The rest will be in traditional public housing developments, including 5,000 units — or 20 percent of all apartments — in smaller rehabbed public housing family projects. (The balance will be in senior developments and at scattered sites.) More than half of those 5,000 units already have been rehabbed.
This means the public housing of yesteryear– families concentrated in high-poverty enclaves — remains part of the landscape today and for the foreseeable future.
Does that mean the CHA is doomed to repeat its past failures? The risk is clearly there.
* Weis calls 911 letdown of cop under fire ‘reprehensible’
Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis on Friday denounced as “reprehensible” — and demanded severe punishment against those responsible for — a 911 dispatch delay that left an off-duty police officer to fend for himself while being shot at from a car filled with alleged gang members.
“This incident is just reprehensible. We had an officer [who] needed assistance, and he didn’t get it. … He was pretty much on his own for quite a few minutes. … He had to go to [a police] station, and that’s where he received assistance,” Weis said.
* Chicago parks may pay $20 mil. for Olympic canoe course
* Games riding on Obama?
* Reinsdorf-funded charter school opens near United Center
* Recycled glass used to make eco-friendly pavement
* Hearing Thursday on plan pushed by Naperville to widen Illinois 59
* Hannig: High-speed rail deadline rules out 10th Street study
* SJ-R Opinion: Rail plan must benefit all
* Moving companies endangered due to economy, cut-rate competitors
* Jewel-Osco parent company sued for discrimination
* Three resign, fired at Illinois nursing home
posted by Mike Murray
Monday, Sep 14, 09 @ 7:10 am
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The $260k per annumn retired teacher is a wonderful example of school board financial high jinks and clueless taxpayers.
Wealthy suburban school board give huge end of career raises to favored school administrators (regardless of whether the kids are learning anything) and the entire state pays the freight via the teachers pension system.
I thought that some legislation passed a few years ago to curtail this outrage. But maybe not
entirely.
If the teacher involved lives a long time, she will earn many millions more from us taxpayers.
And other equally outrageous cases are likely in the school employee pipeline.
We are sheep.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Sep 14, 09 @ 8:19 am
Hats off to Jerry Reisdorf. However you feel about him as an owner, he’s plowed a lot of his money into good things for kids, especially on the West Side.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Sep 14, 09 @ 8:58 am
Please note that the park district’s plans are dependent upon a private developer doing the heavy $ lifting. While it is has not made the papers, there have been several private businesses that have pursued having their recreation-oriented business on Northerly Island only to come to their senses when they realized that there are no customers out there. These business people look at all of the people roaming around Millennium Park, central Grant Park and the Museum Campus facilities and they think that is their prospective customer base.
When they finally look at the facts they understand that the people in Millennium Park are 2 miles from Northerly Island; that the people going to Buckingham Fountain then travel toward Navy Pier; and the museum visitors are generally families with crying kids (who need to take a nap, not a practice slalom run). Even the thousands who are at McCormick Place can only look at the island; it’s a looong walk around the peninsula to get to it – and a bridge would interfere with the boat traffic.
The Park District has no one who understands business financials; they are all from the public sector. Thus, they encourage private businesses to think there are opportunities that don’t really exist.
Comment by Redbright Monday, Sep 14, 09 @ 9:47 am
I get so tired of the public pension stories (state retirement), especially since they are all slanted like the public employee has done something wrong. The rules are the rules. We did not make them up. If you don’t like it, tell you legislator to work on changing the rules for future employees (sorry, the rules are set for current employees - they can’t be changed).
Anonymous 8:19 - there were a lot of pension reforms proposed but not a lot of what was proposed actually passed.
Comment by RJW Monday, Sep 14, 09 @ 10:27 am
Redbright, You are right about the proximity issues of Northerly Island limiting it’s uses for private recreation. It will take some creative thinking to fully utilize it’s potential.
I would suggest some type of fisherman’s park where the city establishes a new charter fishing industry or better yet a small urban executive airport and heliport that could serve the downtown businesses and provide services for events like the Olympic games.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Monday, Sep 14, 09 @ 10:40 am