Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Wednesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

Catching up . . .
“Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration has long said its troubled, $54 million anti-violence program didn’t spend a dime before the governor’s 2010 general election, despite opponents contending it was a rush-job, ‘political slush fund,’ the governor used to drive critical voters to the polls,” the Sun-Times reported Friday.
“New e-mails obtained by the Sun-Times, however, indicate the administration had attempted to move large amounts of tax dollars into the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative three weeks before the Nov. 2 election, a critical period when Quinn was in a tough contest against Republican challenger Bill Brady. Quinn eventually prevailed, winning by about 31,000 votes.”
This story reminds me of the Curie ineligibility story and even Derrick Smith’s conviction for accepting a bribe of relative chump change: “Everybody” does it but you never know if you’re going to be the one to get caught. It’s like someone has to be sacrificed to the gods of corruption every once in awhile in order to maintain some sort of cosmic balance to the system. The formula seems to include one alderman a year – and this year might include a governor.


*
“Attempts to move the money onto the streets early on failed, however, when there were ‘insufficient funds’ ready to pay for the new initiative.”
Pat Quinn didn’t get to the bank on time and bounced a State of Illinois check.
*
“In response to the Sun-Times inquiry, Quinn’s administration denied that it controlled when the money was released.
“‘The governor had no involvement in the timing of any grantee payments,’ spokesman Grant Klinzman said.”
The governor had no sense of urgency about funding the anti-violence program at all!
See, when you do something wrong, every answer backfires.
–
X Men
“Chicago doesn’t assign red ‘X’ signs to just any vacant or abandoned building; a sign is a visual cue that a structure is structurally unsound and that firefighters and other first responders should take precautions when responding to emergencies there,” WBEZ explains. “It’s also an extra reminder for anyone who might wander into a vacant building – which is illegal already – that they should stay out.”
Also, it means don’t land here because the airport was closed at midnight by a madman.
*
The best part of WBEZ’s report is this:
“[W]e encountered hard questions about the program that supports red ‘X’ signage, including whether the city’s doing enough to communicate its intentions. We also turned up some surprising news: This program, meant to save the lives of first responders and others, has run out of money.”
Maybe Pat Quinn will free up some funds now that he’s in another dogfight for his job.
Alternate: Well, if we didn’t have to pay that fine for closing Meigs . . .
–
Fantasy Fix: Mining The Minors
Got Baez?
The Week/Weekend In Chicago Rock
Catching up with Bare Mutants, Make Overs, Robbie Fulks, Yann Tiersen, The Menzingers, J Mascis, NRG Ensemble, Lindsey Stirling, Jamie Cullum, Deanna Devore, Deap Valley, First Aid Kit, Threatening The Order, Devildriver, Vampire Weekend, Cults, Cher, Dacor, The New Mastersounds, The Mavericks, Christopher Willits, Don Felder, Styx, and Foreigner.
–
BeachBook
* Oh Yeah! Check out the lobby of Kraft’s headquarters in Northfield..
* Burton Cummings (The Guess Who) doing the Family Guy theme song at City Winery.
* 1977 Harris Bank commercial featuring Gary Coleman.
–
TweetWood


*


*


–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Standard.

Permalink

Posted on June 11, 2014