By Steve Rhodes
“Gov. Pat Quinn signed a package of bills into law Thursday that will slash health care coverage for the poor and hike cigarette taxes by $1-a-pack to help pay for the struggling Medicaid program,” the Tribune reports.
Gov. Pat Quinn signed a package of bills into law Thursday that will slash health care coverage for the poor.
Just to reiterate.
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“Quinn had warned that without action the health care program would collapse under a mountain of debt.”
We had to destroy people to save the program.
Heavy Lifting
“More than half of Chicago’s elevators did not receive their required inspection last year, despite a reform program launched in 2009 to reduce a massive backlog of examinations, a Tribune analysis of city records found,” the paper reports.
“Of roughly 26,000 elevators, lifts and similar equipment, the Tribune found that citywide about 65 percent did not have an inspection in the last year, as mandated by law to help ensure public safety.”
Can the government create a law it doesn’t have to follow? #ExistentialChicago.
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“Outside the downtown Central Business District, about 82 percent were not inspected.”
What is this “outside the downtown Central Business District” you speak of?
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But seriously, this is just life in the big city, right?
“When compared with other places with similar device counts, Chicago’s inspection record appears even bleaker. In Los Angeles, just 7 percent of the city’s roughly 21,500 devices were not inspected in 2011. In Ohio, only 2 percent of about 32,000 devices did not receive their semiannual checks, according to the state’s chief elevator inspector.”
Oh.
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Well, it just goes to show you how incompetent government is. Maybe they should privatize elevator inspections.
“The privatized Annual Inspection Certification program took full effect in 2010, and the city has touted it as a success.
“The compliance rate in the Central Business District is far better than elsewhere in the city, but records indicate that 1 in 4 buildings still were not checked in 2011.
“In addition to the incomplete compliance, the Tribune found that the program was marred by inconsistent record-keeping and lax enforcement.”
Oh.
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“[N]oncompliant building owners did not appear to have much to fear from city regulators, according to records. The city has in many cases declined to fine building owners.
“Officials can move to have building owners charged hundreds of dollars for every day they are in violation, but the Tribune found that only 17 of almost 200 relevant administrative hearings that occurred from 2010 to May 2012 resulted in fines. In addition, the city is allowed to charge scofflaw building owners for a comprehensive inspection done by the Chicago Department of Buildings, but no such follow-ups were entered in the data examined by the Tribune.”
Maybe the city was too busy processing booted cars and red-light camera violations
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But it’s not as if uninspected elevators really pose a safety risk.
“Davis, who had been drinking, parked his car on the fourth floor, then fell to his death when he attempted to use the man lift.
“The next day, the city investigated the man lift and discovered building code violations, including that the lift’s safety switches were inoperative and that the second-floor and fourth-floor hoist entranceways ‘lacked security gates to prevent use of the equipment by non-authorized personnel,’ according to an emergency police order that closed the garage until repairs could be made.”
Oh.
Protection Racket
“Weeks before an expected shutdown for lack of funding, the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission issued three decisions Wednesday supporting inmates’ claims that Chicago Police detectives coerced their murder confessions,” the Sun-Times reports.
“About 110 prisoners have submitted claims to the commission saying they were tortured into confessing to crimes.”
Hey, times are tough. We can’t afford justice for everybody. It probably costs millions to run a commission like this.
“Legislators . . . have whacked the commission’s $150,000 annual budget as they try to address the state’s multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.”
Oh.
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Hey, even $150,000 doesn’t grow on trees.
Boeing To Donate $150,000 For Creation Of Chicago Jazz Website.
$150,000 Guaranteed Cash Giveaway At Horseshoe Hammond.
Man Finds $150,000 In His Garden.
Oh.
Why The Bulls Are Ditching Deerfield For Downtown
A Beachwood exclusive.
Memoir City
Shawn Colvin vs. Buddy Guy.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Ditch digging.
Posted on June 14, 2012