By Steve Rhodes

“Chicago’s Affordable Requirement Ordinance has fallen short of creating the affordable housing needed in communities most at-risk of displacement,” James Rudyk, the executive director of the Northwest Side Housing Center, writes in a letter to the Sun-Times.
“According to the City of Chicago data portal, as of July 2018, the ARO has only generated 334 affordable units, under both the original 2007 ordinance and the 2015 revision that set a five-year goal of 1,200 units by 2020.”
That’s pathetic. What does Bill Daley propose?

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Posted on October 15, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

For completists, there was no column on Friday.
“A central Illinois pork-processing plant last year discharged more nitrogen from animal waste into waterways than any other slaughterhouse in the country, according to a report published Thursday,” the Tribune reports.

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Posted on October 14, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

In no particular order.
1. Daley Crowned.
“Bill Daley is padding his lead in the mayoral fundraising sweepstakes – and topping the $1 million benchmark – with help from two of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s most reliable campaign contributors,” the Sun-Times reports.
“On Tuesday, Daley reported receiving $75,000 from Lester, Patricia and Paula Crown and another $25,000 contribution from Richard Robb, an executive with Henry Crown & Co., who is married to Rebecca Crown.”
Lester, Patricia, Paula and Rebecca Crown, you are Today’s Worst Family In Chicago.

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Posted on October 11, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

For completists, there was no column on Tuesday.
“Elon Musk’s settlement of a securities-fraud case has removed a cloud over the company and its leader. But another remains: how its electric-car production is measuring up against Mr. Musk’s ambitious forecasts, a matter that a federal regulator is still investigating,” the New York Times reports.
“One group of internet sleuths thinks it has found clues in plain sight, pointing to lots and garages in California, New Jersey, Arizona and other states where Tesla cars have been found parked in large numbers.
“The group’s efforts to document those sites could shed light on the delivery troubles that the Tesla chief has acknowledged, and reveal whether demand for the company’s cars is as high as he has suggested.
“Since July, Tesla has been parking anywhere from a couple of dozen to a few hundred cars at a lot in Burbank, Calif. In Lathrop, 70 miles east of San Francisco, Tesla has as many as 400 cars at an industrial site. A similar number turned up outside an industrial building nearby. At times cars have been seen entering and leaving the building, suggesting it may be a collection point or repair center.
“Hundreds more have been found in Antioch, northeast of San Francisco. On Thursday, a batch of about 100 Model 3s turned up in Bellevue, Wash. Smaller collections have surfaced in Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.”

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Posted on October 10, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

“The city of Columbus, Ohio, will not observe the controversial federal holiday honoring its namesake, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, for the first time this year,” USA Today reports.
“City offices are instead scheduled to close on Veterans Day in November, though a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said the decision was not spurred by movements to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, a counter-celebration held on the same day to commemorate Native Americans.”
Then why?

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Posted on October 8, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

For completists, there was no column on Thursday.
“Jeppson’s Malort, a bitter wormwood liquor that’s simultaneously embraced and reviled by many Chicagoans, has been acquired by the Pilsen-based CH Distillery,” the Tribune reports.
“CH Distillery, a craft distillery known for its organic vodka, plans to make and bottle Malort at its Pilsen distillery beginning next year, effectively bringing Malort, a Swedish liquor with deep Chicago roots, back to its hometown.”
By the way, you are allowed to put ketchup on your Malort.

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Posted on October 5, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

1. Assignment Desk, Activate: How They Really Got Rich.
Every one of these people should get the New York Times treatment.
Who’s with me? Grant money? Publishing partners? I’m ready to work.

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Posted on October 3, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

More tomorrow.

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Posted on October 2, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

“For more than 100 years, my family’s business, General Iron Industries, has provided a vital service: We process and recycle the Chicago area’s discarded metal products, including demolition debris, vehicles and kitchen appliances. While the need for our recycling service has grown, our neighborhood along the North Branch of the Chicago River has changed dramatically,” one of GII’s owners, Adam Labkon, writes in a Tribune Op-Ed headlined “Polluter Or Good Neighbor? Setting The Record Straight.”
What record is he setting straight, exactly? At least in part, the record reported by the Tribune’s own environment reporter, Michael Hawthorne, as well as that of the paper’s editorial board. In other words, the paper itself!

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Posted on October 1, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

For completists, there was no column on Thursday.
“President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines on Thursday said for the first time that extrajudicial killings had happened under his government’s brutal war on drugs, an admission that could bolster two cases filed against him at the International Criminal Court,” the New York Times reports.
“In a rambling speech before government executives at the presidential palace, Mr. Duterte again touched on the government’s drug war that has left thousands dead, a common theme in his two-year-old presidency.
“He said he had challenged the country’s military and police brass to remove him from office if they were not satisfied with the way he was running the country.

“I told the military, what is my fault? Did I steal even one peso?” Mr. Duterte said. “My only sin is the extrajudicial killings.”

Last I checked, murder was a more serious crime than petty theft.

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Posted on September 28, 2018