By Steve Rhodes

“St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay turned down the traditional friendly bet on the playoff series between the Cubs and Cardinals, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office,” the Tribune reports.
“Emanuel proffered the usual assortment of Chicago beers, deep-dish pizza and Eli’s cheesecake, plus tickets to Chicago tours and a donation to charity as the city’s offering if the Cubs lose to their hated rivals from Missouri in the National League Division Series. But Emanuel spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said Slay declined to reciprocate.”
Maybe that’s because:

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Posted on October 10, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“Former CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett will plead guilty in a federal corruption case connected to the no-bid principal training contract for SUPES Academy,” Catalyst reports.
“The federal case was launched as the result of a Catalyst investigation in 2013.”
Here is how the first story began:

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Posted on October 9, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

Geez, I got caught up writing a long Cubs essay and in the midst of it Barbara Byrd-Bennett gets indicted. I can’t keep up!
So here’s my Cubs piece:
Cute Kiddie Cubs Pass Playoff Audition, Cuddle With Champagne, Complicate Feelings.
It’s about more than last night, though; it’s about my particular strain of Cubs fandom.
Keywords: Bruce Springsteen, Deacon Blues, Homi Bhabha, Kevin Coval, Mark Grace, Rod Beck, Sarah From The Real World Miami, The Chicago Board of Exchange, The Ricketts’, Wicker Park, Wrigley Field.

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Posted on October 8, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

I have to fight at least three different bureaucracies today, so I don’t have the psychic energy to write a column.
You know what the problem is with bureaucrats – and this includes private-sector customer service personnel? They are so intent on rules that they are adrift when the rules don’t work for someone or someone has followed the rules and the system has broken down anyway. The bureaucratic mindset has no way to help you at that point.
If I were training a government agency or customer service department, I would advise my troops that their jobs were to be problem-solvers, not systems enforcers. The job is to be an advocate for the taxpayer, client or customer who is stuck in the gears.

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Posted on October 7, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“A group of black aldermen on Monday called for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fire police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, saying the city’s top cop hasn’t done enough to deal with crime in their wards or bring more diversity to the upper ranks of the department,” the Tribune reports.
“A City Hall news conference included most of the 18 members of the City Council Black Caucus, including some aldermen who have been staunch supporters of Emanuel’s agenda. Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, chairman of the caucus, said the group decided after years of frustration to push for McCarthy’s ouster on the day before he and Police Department brass are scheduled to come to the council for their annual budget hearing.

“As aldermen of these communities, we are on the front lines of the work to keep our streets safe and secure. We have been troubled by the superintendent’s lack of responsiveness to our concerns and requests as we face this crisis,” Sawyer said. “In addition, we have been deeply concerned about the superintendent’s failure to place African-Americans in a position of leadership throughout the department, as well as the reduction in new African-American police recruits despite our repeated efforts and inquiries.”

Okay, not to invalidate (yet) the call from the Black Caucus, but isn’t this sort of an annual occurrence? To the Beachcave!

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Posted on October 6, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“CPS frequently says it wants more input from parents and communities about how it educates nearly 400,000 children,” Lauren FitzPatrick writes for the Sun-Times.
“The district touts its many ways for the public to weigh in, and said it has made recent improvements while remaining open to more.
“But when newly appointed board president Frank Clark told one speaker [last week], ‘This is a board that truly listens,’ laughter broke out.”
Aside from the fact that Clark and the new board just installed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel haven’t been on the job long enough to make such a claim, it became patently clear last week that such a claim is patently absurd.
In fact, hard as it is to believe, the new board is even worse than the last one, having further limited public participation by changing the rules without notice. Chicago Public Schools has, in effect, become a private operation.

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Posted on October 5, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

The Cubs are in the playoffs. Me and Jim “Coach” Coffman talk about it and you should listen:

The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #71: Kiddie Kubs Get Playoff Audition. Invited to cute play-in game. Plus: Inside Coach Coffman’s Castle; The Immorality Of Daily Fantasy And Their Native Radio Announcer Advertising Tools; Jerry Reinsdorf’s Pet Cemetery; The Ridiculous Resurrection Of Jay Cutler; The Bulls Are Back Dragging D-Rose’s Baggage Around; and the Positive Coaching Alliance.

This is a particularly fun one; Coach is on fire. I’m reading books on the side just to keep up.

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Posted on October 3, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

Speaking of ConAgra . . .
“Illinois’ flagship job program has awarded millions of dollars to companies that never hired an additional employee,” the Tribune reports.

It’s doled out millions more in tax breaks for corporations that eliminated jobs and became smaller.
And it’s allowed companies to reap lucrative rewards and then relocate to other states without penalty or repayment.
Illinois cut these deals through a strategy dubbed EDGE – short for Economic Development for a Growing Economy – that was launched in 1999 by Gov. George Ryan as a way to create jobs and lure businesses from other states.
But what began as a modest number of tax breaks for a handful of companies has mushroomed into a billion-dollar giveaway rife with failure.

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Posted on October 2, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“ConAgra Foods said Thursday that it plans to move its headquarters to Chicago. It will eliminate 1,000 corporate jobs in Omaha and move at least 300 to the Windy City, cutting its salaried payroll in the area by more than half,” the Omaha World-Herald reports.
“Omaha-based ConAgra said the moves are designed to achieve cost savings of $300 million as it remakes itself under pressure from investors.”
I’m not sure this is something Chicago should celebrate.

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Posted on October 1, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“The Port Authority kept secret four meetings between Gov. Chris Christie’s former top staffer at the bi-state agency and representatives of United Airlines when it initially made his calendars public, WNYC has learned.
“The hidden meetings were between then-Port Authority Deputy Director Bill Baroni and Jeff Smisek, who at the time was CEO of United Airlines, and Jamie Fox, a former United lobbyist and the current Christie transportation commissioner. They were redacted from documents requested by The New York Times in December 2013 and posted on the Port Authority website.”

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Posted on September 30, 2015