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Morning Shorts

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* Finance Committee signs off on blank-check Olympic promise

* Chicago 2016: City Finance Committee recommends guarantee

Mayor Richard Daley came within striking distance Tuesday of securing a final endorsement to make an unlimited financial guarantee for the 2016 Summer Olympics — a critical step in his effort to win the international competition to host the Games.

The City Council’s Finance Committee recommended that the full council grant Daley the open-ended authority Wednesday. The sign-off is part of an ordinance that also would impose reporting requirements on the panel that runs the Games.

Ald. Manny Flores (1st) negotiated some of those oversight requirements with Daley’s office, but he lost a battle to ensure that the city’s inspector general and an independent advisory group get to review the Olympic organizing committee’s quarterly reports.

“Tomorrow, no matter which way we look at it, … Chicago shall stand behind the bid, and we will all be there, and we want to make it clear,” Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) said.

* City’s finance committee signs off on Olympic guarantee

* Olympic sales pitch didn’t reach public

* Hotel “Right-To-Know” Law Passes City Council Committee

* Potential hotel guests to be notified of work stoppages

* Mayor’s spokeswoman rips ‘unfair’ coverage

The Sun-Times reported in Friday’s editions that heroin and marijuana were seized in a May 7 police raid on an apartment in a West Side building owned by Heard and her husband. She had told the Sun-Times that the mayor learned about the case while flipping through a stack of reports on properties deemed drug and gang houses.

When a reporter asked Daley to clarify Tuesday when and how he learned of the incident in the 5300 block of West Adams, Heard strode to the microphone instead.

“This had the very real feel of vendetta journalism,'’ she said. “I don’t even think journalism is the word.”

As press secretary, Heard said she is the person “tasked with calling out the people at your paper who routinely write unfair headlines . . . and I don’t think they like it.'’

* Oak Lawn trustees OK firefighters union concessions

Oak Lawn and its firefighters reached an agreement on cost-cutting concessions Tuesday night, saving about a dozen firefighter jobs and putting an end to a bitter dispute over ways to close the village’s budget shortage.

* Huberman: No Janitor Sick Days Until Next Year

* Cemetery Oversight Task Force holds last hearing

* Former Burr Oak Cemetery Workers Plead Not Guilty

* Investor Group Bids on Sun-Times

The Chicago investor group, led by banker James Tyree, agreed to pay about $5 million in cash and assume $20 million worth of the Sun-Time’s liabilities. Tyree’s group would get the media company’s 59 newspapers and websites including the Chicago flagship tabloid paper. The deal still needs court approval.

* Chicago investor group bids to buy Sun-Times Media

* Tyree agrees to buy Sun-Times for $5 million

* Tyree makes his offer to buy Sun-Times

* Pabst hires industry veteran as CEO

* More mosquito pools testing positive for West Nile

Only about 20 percent of people bitten by an infected mosquito will get sick. The illness is usually mild but can be serious or fatal.

posted by Mike Murray
Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 8:52 am

Comments

  1. Regarding the Olympics, how much does it cost for $1 billion of overrun insurance, considering that every Olympics has cost overruns?

    Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:06 am

  2. Word - my guess is it would cost $1.2 billion.

    Comment by Johnny USA Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:13 am

  3. Somebody is doing enough heroin and marijuana in a building owned by Mayor Daley’s spokesperson that the place is raided, but she does not believe it is news?

    Sure it is, and it would be whether or not she worked for Daley. Landlords need to stand up to this sort of thing to help protect their properties and the neighborhoods. She’s got to know what is happening in units she rents.

    Looks like Heard dropped the ball on this one. I just hope she doesn’t buy any property in my neighborhood. We care about our area.

    Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:13 am

  4. Heard should have used this incident, and the press questions, to advocate within the Daley administration for a much more aggressive City Hall stance against the massive illegal drug trade on the West side.

    It’s been going on for decades–reportedly some of the players are multigenerational—but Daley has been around for decades too, and his handling of this criminal enterprise has been anemic, as has been the response of West Side aldermen and state representatives and senators for the area. And the Chicago PD? Erratic at best. You never, and I mean never, see more than a police car or two when you drive up to Lake Street on Laramie, Central, or Austin–principal West Side drug arteries.

    What do you suppose Daley does when he sees those lists of drug busts. “Gee whiz, look at that, why,
    I never….”

    Comment by cassandra Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:27 am

  5. Can we amend the Olympic guarantee to include a 100K personal guarantee from each alderman/woman? How much should ‘da Mare’ put up as his stake? 100K, 250K I’m open to suggestions.

    It’s only a year’s salary and their Lexus lease still gets paid for by the City…..

    Time to put some personal skin in the game.

    Comment by Plutocrat03 Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:27 am

  6. It’s no longer news, but it can still amaze how Daley can whip the City Council into line. A 49-0 vote on the unlimited financial guarantee for the Olympics. It’s the same with the budget year after year.

    Technically, it’s a Strong Council/Weak Mayor form of government. How in the world can you get unanimous support all the time? Must be some carrots; must be some stick.

    Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 8:12 pm

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