By Steve Rhodes
Where does your alderman stand on the teachers strike? That and more in Teachers Strike Notebook 2: Obama vs. Sveum.
Seeing Red
“A quirk in Illinois traffic laws has complicated Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to pepper the city with speed cameras and slowed down bidding on a multimillion-dollar system scheduled to begin issuing $100 tickets by early next year,” the Tribune reports.
“The problem: a 38-year-old opinion by the Illinois attorney general that says children must be ‘visibly present’ before school zone speed limits can be enforced.”
Sources tell the Beachwood that when informed of the issue, Emanuel demanded to know who the fuck didn’t do their homework.
*
“What that means is those robotic safety-zone cameras must not only capture high-definition images of speeding cars and their license plates, they also must seek out and photograph a child as much as a football field’s distance away – preferably in the same shot.
“The legal technicality was not addressed when Emanuel persuaded state lawmakers and Chicago aldermen to quickly give City Hall authority to tag speeders near schools and parks in new safety zones that could cover half the city. The mayor argued that a crisis of pedestrian accidents required a quick response, though a Tribune analysis raised doubts about his claims
“The city also told vendors the photographs of pedestrians will be reviewed by three people to ensure an ‘enforceable image’ of a child.”
Three people? So this is really a jobs plan?
*
“There could be hundreds of violations on any given day and now you have to have humans reviewing videos for all those violations,” one bidder told the paper. “I don’t know how that isn’t cost-prohibitive.”
Well, it’s not about the money, it’s about the children, so even if the city loses money on its new speed cameras, it must be done.
Scales Of Justice
“A woman with a history of theft – including using tape and a weighted string to fish cash out of a lock box – was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for stealing more than $500,000 from a Downers Grove law firm where she worked as a secretary,” the Tribune reports.
“Mary Marra, 44, of Woodridge pleaded guilty in June to two counts of theft in excess of $100,000 and one count of continuing a financial crimes enterprise, all Class 1 felonies, according to a news release from the DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin.”
See, her big mistake was not working for a bank.
Train Wreck
“CTA President Forrest Claypool and other top transit officials have declined to speak on the record about the 5000 Series issues that commuters are abuzz about,” the Tribune reports.
Perhaps that’s because it was a railcar of choice.
Springsteen At Wrigley
His country in ruins.
There Will Be Blood
* The Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report: Benson and The General.
* Bears Preview: Take The Packers And The Over.
My Prediction: Packers 33-28.
Through The Eyes Of Angels And Arts
In Local Book Notes.
Memorial Day
ABC7’s 9/11 Report.
–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Tips of necessity.
Posted on September 11, 2012