By Steve Rhodes

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel has backed off his commitment to enter a court-enforced agreement with the federal government to reform the Chicago Police Department, his administration confirmed late Friday,” the Tribune reports.
“Instead, Emanuel’s administration is seeking a solution outside of court, one that drew criticism from criminal justice experts, reform advocates and the former federal official who oversaw the yearlong civil rights investigation into the police force that led to a damning report on the department’s problems.”
Any questions about Rahm’s sincerity on the matter have now been answered: His heart was never in it. Instead, he was doing and continues to do the bare minimum dictated by political necessity. Most people don’t change, no matter how many fuzzy sweaters they put on for heartwarming campaign commercials or how many tears they cry giving speeches before the city council. Rahm remains ruthless.

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Posted on June 5, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

“As the final hours of the spring session ticked down, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner railed against Democrats for failing to send him a budget and for letting the state government stalemate spill into its 24th month,” the Tribune reports.
“The public scolding came after Rauner had spent time working to ensure that a Democrat-led attempt to pass a spending plan with multiple tax increases never made it to his desk.”
That’s because it would have interfered with his re-election message.

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Posted on June 2, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

The newspaper mindset persists.
From Natasha Korecki’s Politico Illinois Playbook:

THE BUZZ – This is a day you’ll want to buy hard copies of the Sun-Times and the Tribune, sit down with a large cup of coffee, and read. There’s that much news; not just hard news, but impactful investigative pieces that warrant your attention, involving the Chicago Police Department, the Democratic primary race for governor, the future of the Dept. of Children and Family Services and the future of Illinois.

Why would a particularly newsy day necessitate buying hard copies of the papers? Read the lesser versions without links! Oh yeah, newspapers still rarely use links (it’s 2017). Read the unupdated versions! Read the versions you could have read online last night! If anything, a particularly newsy day necessitates an online read, in which one can take full advantage of all the online tools available, shift between stories and sites beyond the Tribune and Sun-Times, and get a broader range of viewpoints.
Also, Korecki is offering this advice in an e-mail newsletter with links to the newsy stories she’s aggregated! “Instead of following the links I’m providing here, follow along with your print editions!”
Mindset, people. Mindset.

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Posted on June 1, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

“Emergency dispatchers, phone companies, and lawmakers from both parties were in agreement. The fee on cell phone bills needed to increase – to keep 911 services going and to add new technology mandated by Illinois,” NPR Illinois reports.

Rep. Chad Hays, R-Catlin, says he was not part of the talks, but he was ready to lend his support when talks broke down.
“My understanding of where it bogged down was this notion that there were perhaps disagreement between the City of Chicago and others,” Hays said.
Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, says the “others” was the governor’s office – and industry members in the negotiations say that was indeed the reason the agreement disappeared.

What?

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Posted on May 31, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

Can it actually be true that we’ve forgotten the true meaning of Memorial Day when every year the media reminds us that we’ve forgotten the true meaning of Memorial Day? It’s such a staple of the weekend that I think what we’ve actually forgot is how to fire up the grill and ignore the true meaning of Memorial Day.
I’ve participated in the exercise. I wrote this for the Tribune 23 years ago and it could still stand today. But is it still true? Was it ever?
I have my doubts.

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Posted on May 30, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

1. WBEZ: Does New Neighborhood Watch Reduce Crime Or Create Resident-Cops?
“On the Far North Side, about 70 members of a controversial new community watch group walk the West Rogers Park neighborhood in orange jackets that were paid for, in part, by the Chicago Police Department.
“The police sergeant who spearheaded the effort sees the watch as a way for residents to work together to reduce property crime in their neighborhood. But others see the orange jackets as a polarizing symbol that authorizes residents to act as an extension of the police.”
In fact, that’s the stated purpose. Call it anti-community policing.

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Posted on May 26, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

The site may be light through the weekend due to both unforeseen and foreseen circumstances. No one ever says “foreseen circumstances,” but why? Often they are foreseen. In this case, both. So let’s jump right to the social media.

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Posted on May 25, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

“To earn a high school diploma, Chicago high school students would have to take chemistry and physics in addition to biology, under a new proposal unveiled Tuesday by Chicago Public Schools officials,” DNAinfo Chicago reports.
I took none of those as a student with pretty stellar grades at my affluent, highly regarded suburban high school. I did take philosophy, though. We did have basic science courses, but those were my worst. This is (another) an ill-considered proposal.
“If the tougher requirements are approved as expected Wednesday by the Board of Education, students entering high school in the 2018-19 academic year would still have to earn at least three science credits – but they would have to be in biology, chemistry and physics classes.”
Wait, the board is voting on this today?
Unveiled on Tuesday, up for a vote on Wednesday.
Today’s lesson is twofold, kids:

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Posted on May 24, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

I’m just catching up now with the Tribune’s “Cubs Mean Big Business, And Big Debt, For Spring Training Home Mesa;” keep this article in mind when journalists wax about how the Ricketts family supposedly hasn’t asked the taxpayer for anything, including funding of their Wrigley Field renovation, which they actually did originally seek taxpayer subsidies for. Let’s take a look – while also remembering that this is one of the nation’s wealthiest families.
*
“When the Chicago Cubs opened spring training play [this year] in Mesa, nearly 15,000 far-flung fans packed the city’s 3-year-old stadium, celebrating the defending world champions after more than a century of shared futility.
“For Mesa, a city of 475,000 which bankrolled the $100 million ballpark to keep the Cubs from bolting to Florida, ownership in the team’s success is a source of civic pride, an economic opportunity and a major league debt.
“Much larger cities than Mesa have balked in recent years at funding sports stadiums and indeed, in Chicago, the Cubs are privately funding the $800 million renovation of their team-owned mothership, Wrigley Field, and part of the surrounding neighborhood.
“In Mesa, voters agreed to pay for the Wrigley-themed showplace in the Arizona desert more than six years ago. Full hotels, busy restaurants and sellout crowds have become the norm in March since Sloan Park opened in 2014, and on the heels of the Cubs championship last fall, the city expects sales tax revenue, tourism and its own marketability to reach new heights.
“But beyond a new upscale hotel, adjacent development has come slower than some had hoped, and while the stadium’s tax burden falls on Mesa, the economic benefit flows across the border to neighboring Scottsdale, Tempe and other Phoenix-area towns.”
Economic development always comes “slower than some had hoped” when it comes to stadium subsidies. There’s a reason for that; it’s called “economics.” The data is there. The projections are almost always fanciful – and almost always accepted with little skepticism by the media.
Remember Chicago’s Olympic bid? Now virtually everyone in public life is relieved to have lost that bid, understanding how economically disastrous it would have been. But back then, when it was important, virtually everyone in public life was onboard – including the media machine.

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Posted on May 23, 2017

By Steve Rhodes

“Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker is making a $1 million deposit in a black-owned bank in Chicago, taking a page from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s playbook,” the Tribune reports.
“The issue led to back-and-forth attacks from the two campaigns centered on failures of financial institutions Rauner and the Pritzker family have been involved with in their careers.
“Pritzker’s planned deposit, like Rauner’s three years ago in a South Side credit union, carries the goal of generating support from black voters.
“Pritzker’s campaign tried to draw a distinction between the two men’s actions: the Democrat’s money pledge was only announced on a Chicago radio show, while Rauner’s visit to the credit union was a major campaign event.”
That’s the distinction the Pritzker campaign is trying to draw? That’s pretty weak tea – “I’m slightly less cynical if you use the metric of how much attention we each sought!”

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Posted on May 22, 2017