Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Thursday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“For lifelong Chicagoan Ron Hall, a bite into a Maurice Lenell cookie brings flashbacks to his younger days – from grade school field trips to the former cookie factory on Harlem Avenue in Norridge to walking his beat as a police officer while snacking on the sweets,” the Tribune reports.
“But soon, Hall and other Maurice Lenell fans will have to find other ways to satisfy their nostalgic cookie cravings. The company that has been producing a limited supply of the cookies since the Maurice Lenell Cooky Company went bankrupt in 2008 has pulled the plug on pinwheels, jelly stars and other sentimental favorites.

“We don’t want to be the bad guy that discontinued the tradition and legacy,” said Roy Jasper, vice president of sales and marketing for private labels at Ohio-based Consolidated Biscuit, which took over production seven years ago. “It just didn’t make sense for us anymore.”

Too bad, Roy, you’re the bad guy!


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Previously in Pinwheels: Chicago Cookie World Weeps.
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Mmmm, pinwheels.
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Although I like these pinwheels way more.
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But not these.
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Except when they were these.
Cheap Cut
That Michael Jordan ad didn’t even include his likeness.
Anthony Armpit
Hey, check out the armpit airvents on those Cubs uniforms.
Weep For Woodlawn
“Woodlawn is a perfect example of a community that could benefit from the City of Chicago’s tax increment financing program, economic development experts say,” Adeshina Emmanuel reports for the Chicago Reporter.
“Vacant lots, abandoned buildings and empty storefronts define many parts of the neighborhood. And small-scale entrepreneurs are typically the only people doing business there, along with national chains like Family Dollar that target underserved neighborhoods.
“But a Chicago Reporter analysis found that most of the money generated in Woodlawn’s oldest TIF district, which includes a swath of 63rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, has not been invested in the area. Of the $30.8 million in revenue generated by the district from 1999 to 2014, according to city data, nearly three-fourths of the money was either unspent or transferred out of the district to repay the city bond debt from the construction of a high school in South Shore, another struggling South Side community.”
Let’s read that part again: [M]ost of the money generated in Woodlawn’s oldest TIF district, which includes a swath of 63rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, has not been invested in the area. Of the $30.8 million in revenue generated by the district from 1999 to 2014, according to city data, nearly three-fourths of the money was either unspent or transferred out of the district.
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“Mayor Richard M. Daley siphoned millions of dollars from Woodlawn and some other TIFs in high-poverty communities on the South Side to pay for [a new] high school. This was part of Daley’s citywide plan to renovate and construct dozens of new schools, something that is typically funded by school bonds. The money added up $10.4 million, or about one-third of the revenue generated in the Woodlawn TIF from 1999 to 2014.”
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“Ald. Willie Cochran, whose 20th Ward encompasses the Woodlawn TIF district, declined to talk to the Reporter.”
Maybe he was too busy “Getting Things DONE!”
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Cochran’s donors include: Rahm Emanuel, Ed Burke, Joe Berrios, Wringling Brothers Circus, Universal Circus and the fauxgressives at SEIU.
Why the circuses? Because.
My favorite part:
“In delaying the vote, Cochran said he was concerned that a ban on the use of chains and restraining devices that Smith wants could end up depriving elephants of sleep and, as a result, endanger circus patrons.”
Willie Cochran, everybody.
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Back to the Reporter:
“The Mayor’s Office and planning department, which oversee the city’s tax increment financing districts, e-mailed a list of accomplishments in the Woodlawn district, including the rehabilitation of a historic hotel on South Cottage Grove Avenue.”
Instead of answering questions, that is.
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The next time a kid is shot and killed in Woodlawn and someone asks “Where is the outrage?,” tell them it’s in a TIF fund that has siphoned money out of the neighborhood and into the mayor’s piggy bank.
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Our 3 Words Of Advice To College Freshmen
Countering Buzz Killington.
The Political Odds
Updated to reflect recent developments.
The Democrats’ Latest Cynical Enterprise
Grasstops organizing.
Dub Witch, Hairbangers, Metal Garfield
Plus: Father-Son Floyd & The Chicago Guy With A Hand In Nearly Every North Texas Album. In Local Music Notebook.
CTU Erotica, Graphic Chicago, The Welsh
Plus: Recovering Chicago Attorney Savages The Law & The Wrong Way To Justice. In Local Book Notes.
Blind Sailing Championship Coming To Chicago
How do they do it?
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BeachBook
* More Than 50 Journalism Groups Again Urge Obama To Stop Excessive Controls On Public Information.
Least transparent ever; worse than Nixon, Bush, Reagan.
* Americans & Mexicans Playing Volleyball Over Border Fence.
Hey, Trump: Maybe we should charge admission! Or put it on TV! Losers have to stay in their own country!
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TweetWood
A sampling.


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The Beachwood Tip Line: Alphabetized.

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Posted on August 13, 2015