Hittin' the links: Where the bodies are buried

Well, Burris can die with that "U.S. Senator" inscription on his gravestone at least.

Until it gets ripped up and dumped in the corner of a cemetary, of course.

Inspector General Hoffman is getting a lot of pushback from within City Hall and the Council. It'll be interesting to see where all this goes.

If you read this article closely, it sounds suspiciously like the city never needed to rent Vanecko's garage to begin with, doesn't it? As with any good Chicago news article, you've got to read between the lines.

Speaking of which, a lot of smart writers seem to think there's a lot more than meets the eye in the relatively straightforward announcement that John Harris, Blago's last chief of staff, is cooperating with the Feds.

Arresting Tales is like SCC but smarter and less vitriolic. Today's post has some fascinating links that attempt to explain why so many suspects seem to get shot in the back by police.

I know I've been harping on this, but today ABC-7 repeats Chicago2016's assertion that they'll be visiting "50 wards in 50 days," which is not, in fact, true.

All 50 Wards...

A minor quibble, perhaps, but it's worth pointing out that the Tribune has been peddling one bit of Daley administration propaganda that is essentially untrue.

It appears again today in the 3rd graf of an article that explores a turf-pissing battle over TV rights between the IOC and the USOC:

This week, Chicago's 2016 Olympic boosters unveiled a plan to meet with residents of all 50 wards in an effort to rebuild support in the wake of a controversy sparked last month...

It also appeared in yesterday's Tribune, in the form of an AP article announcing the meetings:

Amid recent criticism of the city's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, local organizers are going out to talk to Chicago residents.

Organizers said they are working with aldermen to plan public meetings to talk with residents from all of the city's 50 wards.

It may in fact be the city's intent to meet with residents from all 50 wards (just as it may be my intent to fly like a bird), but, in fact, it looks like they will be hosting no more than 10 or 15 meetings, grouping several wards together at a time.

It's kind of like if a presidential candidate announced they were going to be holding meetings with people from all 50 states, but then expected you to drive to South Bend for a combined Illinois-Indiana-Michigan confab. As if.

The full list of meetings that have been announced so far appears here, on the official (and quite plush) Chicago 2016 website.

Hittin' the links: Nug

After two hours of teeth gnashing and argument, the city council approves the mayor's furlough days plan.

Afterwards, Mick gets into it with the mayor.

The biggest topic of discussion at the Council meeting? How much it costs to carry a dead body.

Hinz (via a fresh Civic Committee report) dings Daley on one of his signature issues: education.

Chicago gets a bit bigger.

Some minor portfolio-swapping in the Daley administration.

Plans to build an Olympic Village roll on, which has Crain's worried.

Having signed away the parking spaces they did have jurisdiction over, Richard Mell (33rd) and Tom Allen (38th) make some noise over some they don't.

Lastly, there seems to be a rash of pot users and sellers going to the cops when their deals go awry. Interesting.

Weekend on the links: Saber rattling

This rally, in front of the office of John Pope's (10th) ward office, is a good example of why the parking meter story matters: aldermen don't like it when citywide business comes home to roost.

Daley's overseas adventures seem to have really rankled some of the City Council's more independent aldermen, who are rattling their sabers a bit.

Moore (49th), fresh off a spirited shouting match with Cardenas (12th) over Daley's Swiss guarantee, apparently loses it at an IVI-IPO awards ceremony. Sounds ugly.

Hinz sees some glimmers of hope for Stroger 2009. Clout City? Not so much.

And Burris, eternally hopeful, is mulling that 2010 run.

Hittin' the links: "Do you like your tarantula?"

The wonders of the internet.

Obama asks the astronauts to check if his Kenwood lawn is getting mowed. He could've just asked me.

Vallas rules out a run for Cook County Board President, but won't categorically deny mayoral ambitions in 2011.

The 'ayes' on the parking meter deal are slowly being winnowed into two camps: those who feel guilty about their vote, and those who don't. Micah Maidenberg, at ChiJo, is doing a good job of keeping tabs.

Cicero...on the move!

Hittin' the links: Underground

CPD says crime is down 11%, but SCC is...skeptical.

Daley, and K-West, give a strange presser at the Hotel Sax.

A bit of a spat breaks out between Daley and POTUS.

And a big one rages between Daley and the unions.

A classic left-hand-not-knowing-what-the-right-hand-is-doing story: funding is lined up for a new West Side CSU campus, but the South Side CSU folks are in the dark.

The Park District has picked an inconvenient time to start charging for parking in its own lots.

Cellphones go underground!

Hittin' the links: "I'm a Mets Fan"

NPR reports on the startling rise of youth homicide in Chicago. Russo says the MSM still needs to dig deeper.

No comment on any of this from Police and Fire Committee chairman. Oh, right.

The Fitzgerald press release on Carother's indictment is a pretty good read.

Mick makes the connections.

A perfect time to cut back on aldermanic corruption monitoring, right? So say the aldermen, at least.

Daley, as always, provides a fresh perspective on the city's problems: "How many computer glitches do you have in your company? So it happens..."

He also comes down against the war on drugs, and punts the whole enforcement issue...to the IRS.

And media heavies plot how to shut down 'hittin' the links', while us kids plot how to take them down!

Rockers watch your back!

For the second time in as many years, the City Council has backed off on plans to force Chicago concert promoters to get prohibitively expensive licenses before throwing events, an ordinance that would dampen the vitality of the scruffy independent music scene we know and love.

Under the scrapped set of rules, as I understand them, any Joe like me would have to purchase a $500 to $2000 license and purchase $300,000 worth of disaster insurance before throwing a single rock show anywhere in the city. Like fast rock 'n roll in cheap dives? Expect a lot less of it if this law ever passes, as many of the small fries who put these shows together just wouldn't be able to scrape together that kind of lettuce or bother with the headache.

This latest City Council retreat notwithstanding, these proposed rules likely aren't going away, and neither should the voices of protest. As the Reader's Ben Joravsky explains in the article linked to above, the ordinance will now go back to committee. Daley, who seems increasingly power-hungry and irascible, will demand action, seeing as he promised to do something, anything in the wake of the E2 fire. Rather than get his fingernails dirty with the actual details of the situation- that no new law is needed, only enforcement of laws already on the books, that other cities are killing themselves to get the free publicity a healthy indie rock scene brings with it-he and his lackeys in the Council will surely attempt to ram a similarly bad ordinance through in the coming months.

This is just one tiny, tiny example of how true city bosses, to whom voters and council members have ceded their power, function. Grand schemes occupy these bosses' daily schedules, not the delicate tapestry of the city's neighborhoods and scattered communities. If a boss says publicly he's going to do something, no matter how unnecessary, it must be so. Ego and the politics of power demand it.

The moral? If you care about this issue, be vigilant. Sometimes these fake-outs have the combined effect of dissipating and confusing the opposition. And if you don't like the way this is being handled, remember that there are scores of other constituencies that Daley is treating the same way.