By Steve Rhodes
1. In its coverage this morning of the city’s budget crisis, the Sun-Times notes that Chicago has suffered a $4.5 million decrease in cigarette tax revenues this year as well as a $1.9 million decrease in gas tax revenue.
In other news, the mayor announced a new pro-smoking, anti-biking campaign.
2. A Buffalo Grove whistleblower has been awarded $56 million for his efforts.
In other news, the mayor was spotted in the vicinity of Patrick Fitzgerald’s office this morning.
3. Ald. Tom Allen on the measures the city ought to take to solve the budget crisis: “We’ve got to stop, take a deep breath, count to ten and postpone some of these capital projects.”
Meanwhile, the Tribune notes that “O’Hare expansion is more than two years behind schedule, and the city is at least $300 million short of the money needed to complete the $3.2 billion first phase. And the airlines say they are in no position to help play for the vital second phase of the $15 billion project, which would provide the biggest gains in airport capacity.”
Boondoggle Air now loading!
*
“Privately, the airlines say it’s only a matter of time until the city acknowledges it must scale back the project,” Jon Hilkevitch reported last week.
Hilkevitch adds that “O’Hare air-traffic controllers say the southern runway is the most important element of the project and should have been built first, along with jettisoning other parts that add to the cost but don’t significantly help expand flights.
“But in light of the financial challenges confronting the airlines and the economy, it may take years to build the southern runway, if it ever is built.”
*
Alternate idea: The O’Hare waterpark!! Where the power never goes out.
4. “[The mayor] reiterated his promise that no local taxpayer dollars would be used to put on the 2016 Olympics,” the Tribune reports.
Wait, haven’t we put this delusion to rest already?
5. “CEO 2016, citing a Chicago Urban League study, said more than 25,000 people in Atlanta were displaced by Olympic development there for the 1996 games,” the Sun-Times reports.
We’ll displace 25,001!
6. “Conventions feature hundreds of parties; one of the hottest tickets already is ‘Chicago Night in Denver’,” Lynn Sweet reports.
A) Nobody nobody sent allowed in.
B) Minorities and women allowed in only if they are white men.
C) How convenient for Patrick Fitzgerald that all his suspects will be gathered together in the same room.
7. “The taxpayer-funded Harold Washington Cultural Center stands in the heart of the Bronzeville neighborhood as a tribute to Chicago’s first African American mayor. Fox News Chicago has learned the city is conducting an audit of the center’s finances, amidst accusations that the family of a former Chicago alderman is running it into red ink. Dane Placko reports.”
*
Dorothy Tillman will appear at the convention, by the way, on Machine Hacks I Endorsed Night. Er, I mean at that Chicago Night party.
8. “Politically Connected Bidders Set Sights On Big Cleaning Deal.”
Announcing a new business model: The Beachwood Cleaning, Snow Removal and Landscaping Division.
9. The city just announced that jaywalkers will have their legs booted after two violations.
10. The city just announced a new campaign informing drivers that red lights mean “step on it” when cameras are present. Also, you should smoke more when you drive.
11. “A recent admission by Chicago police spokesperson Monique Bond underscores the role that police policy and actions play in inadvertently stimulating more frequent and fierce gang violence in Chicago,” Tracy Jake Siska writes at Chicago Justice. “The zeal with which the Chicago Police Department has gone after street corner gangs in the past has, according to spokesperson Bond, contributed greatly to the increase in deadly violence.”
12. “I’m so angry that I don’t know where to direct my anger. I’ve fervently supported Obama’s campaign up until now, having just donated to his campaign again last week, but I’m not sending him another dime until I see some evidence that he’s willing to take a principled stand against this kind of bigotry. If Obama won’t stand up to the flimsiest of accusations linking someone in his campaign, however remotely and ridiculously, to terrorists, then I’m not sure what he’ll stand up against. I realize this kind of feckless approach worked so well for Michael Dukakis and John Kerry, Barack, but could you act like a man for once and grow a pair? Maybe Hillary will lend you hers.”
13. The Night Chicago And This Song Died.
–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Glory be.
Posted on August 15, 2008