Rahm's Garbage Grid, Layoffs and Meeting Tuition Payments for Catholic Schools

 

The Beverly Review recently reported on a meeting of residents of the 19th Ward and Alderman Matt O'Shea. 

"The program concluded with a discussion on the city’s move to a grid garbage collection system that will be implemented in the 19th Ward in 2013. The program, O’Shea said, will save the city between $15 and $17 million in 2013 and $20 million in 2014 by essentially doing the same amount of work with fewer crews.

Currently, O’Shea said, there are 11 Streets and Sanitation crews that work five days a week to collect garbage in the 19th Ward. Under a grid system, all 48 of the city’s Streets and Sanitation crews will “saturate” an area of the city at once, thereby eliminating the work of seven crews per week (55 minus 48).

The 19th Ward’s garbage collection day under the grid system will most likely be Monday, O’Shea said, and recycling pick-up will continue every other week. Local residents, he said, will receive written notification before the new system is implemented." (emphases my own)

This gives me pause.  Great pause.  The same amount of work will be performed by fewer crews, who now work five days per week, but they will be part of a 48 crew city-wide.  Seven crews will be eliminated.

Is that seven(7) crews Tops?  Citywide?  Which Ward's crews will get the chop?  Back in 2008 when the well-coiffed Inspector General Dave Hoffman was all the rage, a typical garbage collection crew consisted of  three persons.( an MTD, the driver, and two Laborers) who work 8 1/2 hour days 30 minutes of paid lunch.

Even the well-coiffed IG Dave Hoffman had to admit that Bureau of Sanitation (BOS) workers had a "dirty and smelly job."  Gee, You Think, Dave?   Dave wrote a hair-raisingly hysterical Jeremiad against these 'dirty and smelly' crews in 2008 and bean-counted his assessment that most crews ( Dave counted *only 10 Wards out of the 50 btw) to the conclusion that these 'dirty and smelly' workers loafed an average of TWO HOURS A DAY!!!!!!!!

Systemic Loafing, People!!!!! Quod Erat Demonstrandum!!!!  We need the Garbage Grid Pronto!

Hey, thanks for playing your part there Dave!  How are things working out for you in the post-political life?

Well, the Grid is coming.  More crews will be laid-off, smart-sized, re-configured, no longer compensated, bereft of salary.  Thank God, for the great souled reformers! Why even this morning the Sun Times caught some poor slob napping on the job!

You see that is how Progressives roll.  Find some clouted mope who games the system, tag his behavior as SYSTEMIC, and fire hundreds of solid people standing in the way of some Red Light Camera, $100 M. Riverwalks**, CPS - Our Lady of Perpetual Helplessness, Garbage Grid, Claypool's Pee-breaks, Ventra Card, or Bombardier CTA Car boondoggle, which are the necessary components to Chicago -Urban Center.

What will happen to the families of Sanitation Crew member laid off in sacrifice to Progressive Mammon?

Well, they won't be making obscene lower middle class salaries; that's for sure.  Some MTD Streets and San Driver with three kids in Catholic Schools had better re-evaluate his life choices!  Some Laborers will need to pull Marsha from Queen of Peace High School and send her Madam Curie.

The City workers that I know are breeders who send their kids to Catholic elementary and secondary schools.  Like their neighbors who happen to be electricians, carpenters, cement finishers and sprinkler fitters, the Hope & Change Economy, that is GW Bush's fault 100%,  they can only hope that something will change.  Well, there is Marriage Equality, after all, but that won't pay the $10 K tuition for a Catholic high school education.

The Progressive gets a win-win out of this.  With Garbage Grid and other up-coming City of Chicago employment downturns ( privatized police and fire n'cest pas?), fewer families can afford to send their kids to Catholic schools and fewer kids will learn Catholic teaching and fewer voices will oppose SYSTEMIC CHANGES UNIVERSAL!

Huzzah!  It's an Andy Shaw Rodeo, folks!

Nope, Rahm's Garbage Grid and Obama's Economy are here to stay.  Catholic Schools like Leo High School are working hard to help our middle and lower middle class neighbors meet the opportunity to get a Catholic Education.  It is a systemic thing with Catholics.

Over the next few weeks, I explain exactly how Chicago families can budget against Rahm's Garbage Grid and the Obama Economy.


*"Between May and September, IG investigators spied on 77 garbage truck drivers and 145 laborers in 10 wards. They reported what they called "systemic, pervasive" waste and fraud".Tribune

** Please diagram the following sentence - "The truth is, we're now at a juncture in the history of the city of reintroducing the city to the river and the river to the city," Emanuel said. Chicago Tribune

Waiting for the White Stuff -Snowmageddon Part III

(Up date at 10:04 AM)

Nothing doing here on the great south side.  Schools cancelled and I got up at my usual time -just in case.

So far the weather is mild and no snow.  Hang, on a while, please.  Dunkin Donuts is not open yet, so I'll head over to the White Hen ( actually a 7-11 now, but like Comiskey Park old nomeclatures die hard) at 103rd & Artesian and grab some zoom-juice and cream.

( fifteen minutes later)

I went up Maplewood and saw Alderman Matt O'Shea getting out of the house.  The boy do work hard.  White Hen (7-11)  aside from a couple of lotto-venture capitalists the place was empty.  "Where's the snow?" I asked.  "Don't ask that later, smart ass," was the genial reply.  Cops and Streets and San Drivers were going up and down 103rd Street.  I pulled out onto that street with my 24 oz dark roast and cream and took a right south on Western.  At 10400 S. Western I noticed that Alderman O'Shea already had the lights on.

Unlike that goof Cappleman in the 46th Ward, or that other 40 Watt intellect Proco Joe Moreno, Matt O'Shea is an old time, walk the ward and actually talk to people about services alderman. I may disagree with Matt on rare occassions, but I respect a person who actually works for someone other than himself.

No neighbors were out when I got home, so into Casa Hickey with my coffee and back to the keys.

No snow yet,  I got my oldest, Nora, up for work - I'll drive her to the Metra at 107th and pick her up tonight.

Snow -light snow coming down.  We may get buried, or we may get another pass from God's dandruff.

Stay tuned.  I will be in the garage test-starting the snow blower.

The Catholic Vote in my Precinct ( 23rd of the 19th Ward) in Chicago

My Precinct is very Catholic; my Ward is very Catholic.   Here is how the election returns reflect a heavily Catholic voting sample.  Mind you, I am nothing if not very scientific.

               Prec't.   Total reg.    Obama        %                 Romney          %            Gary Johnson  % Green          %   

23

518

273

52.70%

236

45.56%

5

0.97%

4

0.77%

      Ward  Total reg.       Obama           %                     Romney       %                       Gary Johnson %        Green          %

19

28955

18421

63.62%

10098

34.87%

258

0.89%

178

0.61%

Early on the morning of November 6th, 2012 Kareem's Dunkin Donuts at 104th & Western Ave. was thicker with folks than usual.   Poll judges and workers were getting coffee and donuts prior to their labors monitoring the public franchise and getting out the vote.

I vote at the Quaker Meeting House at 107th & Artesian, so there might be a Quaker or two in the precinct.  Likewise the Unitarian Church at 103rd & Longwood has long been a home to former Catholics and devotees of the Unitarian creed.  However, most everyone I know is Catholic.

Catholics voted overwhelmingly for President Obama in my Ward, but bit less in my precinct.

Catholics - the country's largest religious group with one-quarter of the population - have supported the winner of the popular vote in every election since 1972.
Reuters/Ipsos exit polling found that 51 percent of Catholics favored President Barack Obama, compared with 48 percent for Republican contender Mitt Romney. A report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life had a similar finding, with 50 percent of Catholics for Obama and 48 percent for Romney, the same as the popular vote in the general population. Reuters

I saw Alderman Matt O'Shea all over the Ward on election day and he really did a great job getting out the vote and making it a smooth operation.

City, County, State and Federal "Take it and Like It." South Side Parade, Progressive Government and All of Us

President Obama and the Lawn Rangers

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration indicated this week that it doesn't think the group trying to resurrect the South Side Irish Parade, shut down three years ago because of drunken violence, is prepared to pull it off Chicago Tribune

You set your watch by our elected officials - Gay marriage introduced - 'kill the parade where the breeders live . . .they also object to abortion . . .and are racist . . .and pay taxes.'


One Parade in the City of Chicago, one only, is a 'drunken' monstrosity. That is the South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade. Only one parade in the City of Chicago is bad and all others are good, no matter what.

In the past ten years, the South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade in the Beverly, Morgan Park, and Mount Greenwood neighborhoods has morphed into the South Side Chirish Parade thanks to the news media. Not only has the name been changed but the very location - a Catholic conglomeration of Catholic Parishes, schools and a university - has been tagged as intrinsically racist and bigoted.

Phil Kadner of the Sun Times Group wrote an article immediately after the 2008 Parade in which he attempted to mislead readers with a real stretcher that the genesis of the parade was no more than white flight Irish Catholic racism.

According to neighborhood legend, the South Side Irish Parade was launched by two families that fondly recalled the original St. Patrick's Day Parade on 79th Street.

It seems to me it really grew in popularity about the time the Daley clan was out of power, Harold Washington was mayor, and the Irish of the 19th Ward decided to secede from Chicago.

The parade was begun long before Harold Washington decided to run for Mayor of Chicago and really took off in popularity when Mayor Jane Byrne pulled Chicago Police Department security to punish the striking firefighters who live in this Ward. Like this year, only the South Side St. Patrick's Day enjoys no official support and the media does as it is told.

Sadly, Alderman Matt O'Shea finds himself opposing a neighborhood event that at one time needed to shore up security denied by the Mayor with private volunteers and could have used his skills and leadership. When Mayor Byrne tried to kill the Parade as a message to city workers, Alderman Mike Sheahan led the neighborhood keeping the Parade safe and sober without Chicago Police. The Parade was even more community minded than years previous. Politicians and news creatures broke their knee-caps crawling to and from this very Catholic community event every year subsequent.

Every politician from Mayor Washington to Governor Blagojevich participated in this 'drunken and racist' event. President Obama, while running for State and U.S. Senate made sure he was given proper place in the march route down Western Ave., as did Bill Clinton, Jerry Brown, Al Gore and even Pat Buchanan.

The South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade stands a good chance of being aborted by Rahm Emanuel. Security is the issue. Curbing drunken behavior and white ethnic Catholic racist highjinx that never happened at any past parade in this neighborhood will be Emanuel's meme. Parade Denied. Like the Obama HHS Choice Mandate, this is Progressive government writ large. Take it and like it and vote Democratic this March!

James "Skinny" Sheahan, brother of Alderman and Sheriff Mike Sheahan, provided leadership and is to be commended, whether the Parade marches on or not.

Sheahan demands 100% community intolerance of public consumpstrion of beer and booze. We don't want this neighborhood to be like Wrigleyville on a home game.

Every Cubs home game is a mini-south side Chi-rish Bacchanalia, but it is sanctioned and supported by Annie Sather's Cinnabon Alderman and Mayor alike.

The South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade was made into a political football by the 19th Ward Alderman, the news media, and the Mayor of Chicago. Football is a one tough game.

The Parade was brought back for the very same reasons the parade was begun - to celebrate the identity - Faith, Family and Friendship -of the Irish Catholics who live here. No other reason. The bar owners are hardly a powerful lobby and many are barely scratching out a living thanks to City, County and State taxes and regulations and the always one-way relationship with elected officials - take it and like it and buy some tickets.

Opposition to the parade is sometimes genuine. I live three short blocks west of the parade route. The north side and suburban fern-bar buses drop off revelers from outside of the neighborhood right in front of my house at 7AM on parade days and do not pick up the disoriented and tummysick youngsters until 7PM.

I end up picking up few empties from my lawn, but that is about it. I have helped a few mopes, who missed the pick-up back to Bucktown and River North, call for cabs, or Mommy. Not exactly a Gethsemane.

If the Parade is killed it will be an act of the usual politically correct and very Progressive hypocrisy that controls the public debate - Take it and Like It!

Writing in this morning's Wall Street Journal about the Obama Choice Mandate -pills, abortifacients and rubbers for all of God's Children no matter what God says -the author writes a summary of Progressive Government -

So here we are, with the government demanding that the church hold up its end of a Faustian bargain that was supposed to permit it to perform limitless acts of virtue. Instead, what the government believes the deal is about, more than anything else, is compliance.

Politically bloodless liberals would respond that, net-net, government forcings do much social good despite breaking a few eggs, such as the Catholic Church's First Amendment sensibilities. That is one view. But the depth of anger among Catholics over this suggests they recognize more is at stake here than political results. They are right. The question raised by the Catholic Church's battle with ObamaCare is whether anyone can remain free of a U.S. government determined to do what it wants to do, at whatever cost. .

WSJColumnist Dan Henninger on the Catholic church and government

This is the secularist Progressive Seamless Garment -ObamaCare, Gay Marriage, No School Vouchers, Abortion and more taxes for the middle class have the South Side St. Patrick's Day to be a litmus test.

If we need to sacrifice the South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade to let the Catholic homophobic breeders and racists and drunks know -what's what - so be it.

Greg Harris introduced the Religious Liberty & Gay Marriage legislation in Springfield only yesterday, in order to allow the lame duck Democrats to high speed rail another bill that will be signed by the always compliant Progressive stooge governor. Take it and like it.

My Alderman Must a Poet, I Pray; Like Bathhouse John, Be Matt O'Shea

On May 16, 2011, Matt O'Shea of St. John Fisher Parish in West Beverly, north of 107th Street, will take the oath as Alderman of 19th Ward.

Matt is a ubiquitous civil servant ( he's all over the Ward 24/7) and nice young man. The toils and troubles of elected officials are the roiling tripes of government -favor seekers, grifters, activists, cranks, crabs, and bust-outs will knock, ring and phone Matt O'Shea interminably. "Matt, I was with you the whole time and I volunteered without anyone's say-so, did you see me over by the Quaker's on Artesian ( the polling place for the 23rd precinct -A Quaker Meeting Hall - no sh . . .kidding) I was there and took off the day from Target - I'm a greeter. Hey, Matty, think I can get a spot that don't need too much heavy lifting? I hurt my back playing ball at D' back in the '80's."

Poetry allows us to tap the shoulders of our better angels -'Wake up, Cherub! Wake the #$%^-up! I require soul massage!'

Read poetry -preferably 17th & 18th Century English poets who imitated the Romans -Dryden, Jonson, Pope, Johnson. Do read Paradise Lost by Milton and pay special attention to the moral and political caveats that thicken Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden - in this post-Daley epoch.

If not, enjoy minor poets like Ogden Nash or Robert W. Service.

Begin slowly and with, of all things, prose - Read Lords of the Levee by Lloyd Wendt and Herman Kogan (click my post title, please, do) and immerse yourself in the life and sentiment of Chicago's Politician Poet -John Coughlin and his prosaic pal Michael Kenna.

. . .Coughlin and Kenna had men who were beholden to them in every city, county, state and federal office in the city. They controlled the jobs of city workers, including inspectors and the police, and were also, as aldermen, in a position to grant favors to respectable businessmen in Chicago. They could usually count on a routine take of between $15,000 and $30,000 per year, over and above the stipend of $3 per council meeting that they received from the city. Special votes that were purchased bought them in anywhere from $8,000 to $100,000 each, depending on the importance of the matter. The two men went carefully about their business filling the requests that the financiers of Chicago were willing to pay for, such as zoning variances, permits, tax deductions, licenses and other amenities.


However, things didn’t always go smoothly and the two men did manage to get attention brought to them, both personally and professionally. For instance, one of Bathhouse’s pet projects was the construction of a zoo on land that he owned in Colorado Springs in 1902. The zoo featured a refugee elephant from the Lincoln Park Zoo who had managed to lose part of her trunk in a trap door. Princess Alice, as she was called, was purchased by Coughlin and shipped to Colorado, where she caught a severe cold in the winter of 1906. Coughlin suggested that she be given whiskey, which cured his own ailments, and so keepers gave the elephant an entire quart, which quickly cured her cold. After that, Princess Alice acquired a serious taste for the hard stuff and began searching the zoo looking for visitors with flasks. She would beg for drinks from them and when whiskey was given to her, she would sip it daintily and then go off somewhere and pass out.

Epics that he penned included titles like "She Sleeps by the Drainage Canal", "Ode to a Bathtub", "Why Did They Build the Lovely Lake So Close to the Horrible Shore", "They’re Tearing Up Clark Street Again" and others. It was later revealed though that John Kelley, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, was the actual author of many of Coughlin’s poems, which he read regularly at city council meetings. But only Coughlin would have taken credit for a terrible song that he wrote called "Dear Midnight of Love", which was performed for the first and last time at the Auditorium Theater in October 1899.

The Dear Midnight of Love has a chorus that lilts -

Dear Midnight of Love.why did we Meet?
Dear Midnight of Love, your face is so sweet.
Pure as angels above, surely again we shall speak.
Loving only as dove, Dear Midnight of Love.

Now, how could such a heart and soul as this not do the public will?
Poetry -Blithe Spirit - Bird You Ain't!


http://www.prairieghosts.com/graft.html

19th Ward 75% Turnout Is a Signal 'Engaged and Informed' WBEZ Ignores

“Chicago is pretty evenly split in terms of demographics and voting participation. You have to build a coalition to govern with the city council and he’s going to have to deal with the aldermen in those wards,” - from Southtown Star's best and Chicago's most honest news reporter Steve Metsch reporting the words of a professor of political science.

Last night I listened to a special show on 848 a panel on WBEZ -no kidding. It was the usual stuff. A diverse cross-section of activists and Progressive thinkers told us what is really, really important.

Mayor Elect Rahm Emanuel will be joined by some new faces at City Council. And 14 aldermanic races appear to be headed for April runoffs. We know some of the winners and losers, but what does it all mean? To find out Eight Forty-Eight was joined by a group of engaged and informed listeners, and a panel of political experts. The panel included Maria de Los Angeles Torres, director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Rick Kogan of the Chicago Tribune and WGN, Dick Simpson from the University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Political Science, and Kyra Kyles from Chicago Tribune's Red Eye.

No Ward organization precinct captains, or committeemen, no cops or fire representatives, no helots - working stiffs from Edison Park, Garfield Ridge, Canaryville, or Morgan Park, only engaged and informed listeners need apply.

In fact the only panelist speaking standard and clear Chicagoese was the great Rick Kogan. Click my post title and give it a listen.

Rick Kogan spoke of the youth vote and related a tale in which a young earnest man in the Tribune fibbed about voting - he did not and was one of about 800,000 other registered voters who did not.

Well, the helots voted. In my 19th Ward home to thousands of cops, firemen, City and County workers, professionals, teachers, and the odd sprinkling of activists, bust-outs and lay-abouts living in Mom's basement until crooks and thieves get right with Jesus, we voted from the opening bell in January to the song by the chubby girl.

There is a Ward Organization - recently, it has been described by Chicago Renaissance Man Mike Houlihan as 'The Balkans.' There is diversity of opinion -very strong opinions - and it is effective. In fact, the young Committeeman Matt O'Shea, a splendid chap in my opinion, garnered more than 61% of the vote and will be our Alderman.

Listen to the WBEZ and take a drink of Old Style every time conversation and discussion is used in this gab-fest on real politik from passionate coalition talkers and you will be drunker than a skunk.

WBEZ talkers want engaged conversation. Conversation must be engaged and informed . . . and sit out there in ozone.

Rick Kogan nails it.

Rick Kogan was appalled, and rightly so, by the lack of commitment by Chicago's registered voters. However, the 19th Ward voted - 75% of the registered voters got off their rumps and voted. Gery Chico won the Ward. Gery Chico was endorsed by Cops, Firemen and many of the Skilled Trades Unions and also by former 19th Ward neighbor Paul Vallas.

The 19th Ward voters voted. That should get the attention of the Mayor elect. It plum evaded the engaged and informed listeners and cheerleaders at WBEZ.

I'm a gabby dude, but I voted. 800,000 Chicagoans did not. They did not vote too heavily in WBEZ demographic Wards -home to the engaged and informed listeners. On the south side, we helots have an appropriate aphorism - Only Suckers Beef.

Rahm Emanuel is the Mayor elect. Come May 16th, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will need committed voters who actually vote. Nice numbers where I live..


Mayor results, ward-by-ward
More results:

Summary »

Mayor, ward-by-ward »

Clerk, ward-by-ward »

Referenda »

This site does not report results in uncontested races.

Visit the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners for more information »

Hover over vote percentages to see the vote count. These results are updated less frequently than the summary.

Ward Turnout Emanuel Chico del Valle Braun Van Pelt-
Watkins Walls % Asian* % Black* % Hispanic % White*
Chicago
41.6% 54.8% 23.8% 9.2% 8.9% 1.6% 0.9% 5.4% 32.4% 28.9% 31.7%
1st 35.0% 53.9% 21.8% 21.5% 1.4% 0.4% 0.3% 4.0% 4.8% 34.2% 54.8%
2nd 39.7% 64.0% 16.3% 6.4% 9.6% 2.2% 0.8% 13.7% 34.7% 7.2% 41.7%
3rd 40.1% 57.8% 11.2% 4.5% 21.1% 2.9% 1.6% 4.1% 77.2% 8.2% 8.7%
4th 48.3% 59.1% 9.6% 8.4% 17.7% 2.5% 2.1% 7.5% 70.0% 3.3% 16.2%
5th 44.8% 62.0% 9.2% 7.0% 16.7% 2.9% 1.6% 4.0% 73.7% 3.0% 16.9%
6th 42.6% 58.3% 8.6% 3.0% 23.7% 3.6% 2.1% 0.1% 97.0% 1.0% 0.5%
7th 40.6% 59.2% 9.9% 3.7% 21.1% 3.5% 1.8% 0.2% 88.7% 7.7% 1.7%
8th 43.3% 58.9% 8.9% 3.4% 22.7% 3.3% 2.2% 0.1% 96.5% 1.4% 0.6%
9th 35.1% 58.7% 9.8% 2.6% 22.6% 3.7% 2.0% 0.1% 92.3% 4.9% 1.6%
10th 41.3% 34.8% 52.3% 7.8% 2.9% 0.7% 0.5% 0.3% 24.4% 57.7% 16.6%
11th 44.5% 42.2% 46.6% 9.0% 1.0% 0.3% 0.3% 30.7% 3.2% 34.0% 31.0%
12th 36.1% 28.2% 51.0% 16.9% 1.7% 0.6% 0.4% 3.6% 15.8% 72.2% 7.9%
13th 58.3% 36.7% 49.3% 10.9% 1.6% 0.4% 0.4% 0.8% 4.1% 71.9% 22.5%
14th 45.7% 24.4% 60.2% 13.2% 0.9% 0.4% 0.2% 1.7% 1.9% 87.8% 8.4%
15th 29.1% 53.1% 15.8% 6.0% 19.4% 3.2% 1.5% 0.2% 59.7% 36.0% 3.1%
16th 28.9% 50.5% 18.1% 6.0% 19.9% 2.8% 1.5% 0.2% 53.4% 43.5% 2.1%
17th 32.9% 59.8% 7.8% 2.3% 22.8% 4.8% 1.8% 0.1% 97.1% 1.4% 0.4%
18th 44.7% 52.2% 20.3% 4.3% 17.7% 3.2% 1.7% 0.4% 67.9% 22.1% 8.5%
19th 74.3% 37.4% 49.3% 6.2% 5.3% 0.9% 0.5% 0.6% 26.6% 5.5% 65.9%
20th 33.1% 55.5% 12.2% 4.9% 20.9% 3.5% 2.1% 1.2% 78.1% 15.3% 4.0%
21st 39.5% 59.0% 8.8% 2.6% 23.0% 4.0% 1.9% 0.0% 97.3% 1.0% 0.6%
22nd 30.5% 26.9% 43.4% 24.8% 3.0% 0.6% 0.2% 0.1% 5.1% 92.6% 1.9%
23rd 58.1% 36.7% 53.3% 6.9% 1.7% 0.4% 0.3% 0.9% 3.8% 47.3% 47.3%
24th 31.3% 59.0% 9.0% 3.2% 21.9% 4.2% 1.6% 0.2% 88.3% 9.2% 1.4%
25th 39.3% 35.6% 39.9% 18.5% 2.4% 0.6% 0.4% 14.8% 7.8% 58.7% 17.3%
26th 31.6% 38.0% 21.2% 35.9% 2.7% 0.8% 0.3% 1.3% 12.9% 60.3% 24.0%
27th 33.5% 62.9% 14.2% 8.3% 10.5% 2.4% 0.9% 4.3% 41.9% 17.6% 34.6%
28th 29.2% 59.7% 9.3% 3.9% 20.3% 4.1% 1.4% 0.4% 81.4% 14.9% 2.4%
29th 36.0% 59.8% 11.5% 5.0% 18.5% 2.9% 1.4% 1.0% 65.1% 28.0% 4.9%
30th 29.9% 41.2% 31.0% 24.6% 1.5% 0.6% 0.3% 1.9% 4.0% 73.2% 19.7%
31st 30.9% 37.7% 34.4% 25.7% 1.1% 0.4% 0.2% 1.6% 2.9% 80.7% 14.0%
32nd 39.7% 66.7% 19.8% 10.9% 1.2% 0.4% 0.3% 4.5% 3.9% 10.8% 78.7%
33rd 39.8% 55.0% 22.5% 19.8% 1.4% 0.6% 0.4% 8.4% 3.7% 54.2% 31.4%
34th 38.9% 59.4% 8.9% 2.4% 22.7% 3.9% 2.1% 0.1% 96.1% 1.3% 1.3%
35th 37.8% 44.0% 22.4% 30.9% 1.4% 0.6% 0.3% 2.8% 4.6% 58.2% 32.7%
36th 48.1% 49.7% 36.9% 9.5% 2.4% 0.5% 0.4% 3.5% 5.6% 33.1% 56.4%
37th 29.8% 60.1% 11.0% 5.4% 18.6% 2.6% 1.1% 0.5% 63.0% 33.5% 2.2%
38th 44.5% 53.3% 33.5% 11.1% 0.7% 0.5% 0.4% 4.7% 1.5% 34.5% 57.7%
39th 43.6% 58.1% 28.1% 11.2% 1.2% 0.4% 0.4% 17.7% 3.4% 33.8% 41.8%
40th 42.0% 61.2% 19.6% 15.8% 1.8% 0.7% 0.4% 15.7% 8.7% 23.3% 49.2%
41st 53.8% 42.1% 49.7% 6.4% 0.7% 0.4% 0.3% 5.1% 1.0% 10.2% 82.3%
42nd 44.0% 74.6% 18.1% 4.4% 1.9% 0.3% 0.3% 12.9% 6.4% 5.6% 72.8%
43rd 43.8% 74.5% 17.2% 5.2% 1.6% 0.5% 0.3% 5.3% 6.5% 4.6% 81.5%
44th 40.6% 74.0% 15.9% 8.2% 1.0% 0.3% 0.2% 6.1% 3.3% 6.6% 81.9%
45th 50.8% 50.8% 37.5% 9.4% 0.9% 0.5% 0.4% 7.7% 1.2% 24.2% 64.7%
46th 47.8% 68.8% 15.1% 9.5% 3.9% 1.0% 0.6% 9.2% 17.6% 12.0% 58.6%
47th 50.8% 66.4% 17.0% 14.4% 1.0% 0.4% 0.3% 5.6% 3.1% 15.6% 73.2%
48th 45.5% 68.1% 14.5% 11.8% 3.9% 0.8% 0.4% 13.2% 17.4% 13.7% 52.7%
49th 43.4% 60.6% 15.4% 16.1% 5.1% 1.0% 1.0% 7.5% 27.1% 23.1% 38.8%
50th 43.8% 62.0% 21.5% 10.8% 2.9% 0.7% 0.6% 22.5% 10.0% 19.7% 44.6%

* Asian, black and white percentages exclude those who also identified as Hispanic

Source: Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, U.S. Census Bureau, Tribune data analysis

Mayor Rahm Emanuel -Congratulations!

On September 13, 2010, I wrote on this blog,

The next Chicago Mayor will be either Oliver Cromwell* (someone take out a Cliffs Notes for the Progressives and explain the Lor' Protector's Commonwealth modus operandi following the collapse of Charles I Stuart's reign)or Happy Hooligan.

Rahm Emanuel is no Happy Hooligan. Last night, Rahm Emanuel won a compelling 55.2% of the votes cast. He has a solid mandate.

I voted for Matt O'Shea (19th Ward Alderman) and Gery Chico in this go-around. Matt O'Shea won by a landslide and Gery Chico did OK.

The City of Chicago looks pretty, but is a mess. Rahm Emanuel brings a great capacity for leadership to the table. This leadership will be no blanket at the beach for Mayor Emanuel or the people of Chicago.

The City has sold off its assets

The City has become a thug comfort Zone

The City has lousy public schools

The City has middling adequate public transportation

The City has a pension nightmare

The City has infrastructure nightmares coming down the pike - a simple lane closure on Lake Shore Drive becomes a WWII refugee film

The City has Bread and Circus and no clear path to economic recovery

There are thousands of public employees in the City of Chicago who bring a solid work ethic, original thought, serious dedication to public service and great capacity for innovation if they are lead by a Mayor who can say no to usual crowd of trough drainers.

There are Ward leaders who understand public service and effective service to constituents. Embrace these rivals. Dismiss the bright boys who believe that winning a campaign is same governing.

Restore real police to Chicago's streets - they may not be PC or seem like a good fit for mouthing platitudes to WTTW, but the bad guys wet their britches in their presence.

Put Race on the backburner and productivity on the front burner. Racial harmony begins when service is equal for all neighborhoods. Embrace the most qualified by dint of past service and not some hack's recommendation.

Ditch symbolism for substance. Go back to Chicken and Waffles and actually have lunch and have the waitresses and bus boys sit with you for a few minutes over coffee and tea - then pick up the check. Drop into a few schools unannounced - Simeon, Fenger, Calumet and then wander over to Leo, Mount Carmel and Maria. Go along with Water Department Crew during the next freeze of twenty below and stand with the guys when a burst pipeline is fixed -quickly and effectively. Take the RedLine with an undercover cop three seats behind you. Pop into Gresham ( 6th) and Englewood (7th) some Friday night between 6 PM-4 AM. Stop into the Fire House at 81st and Ashland and do a ride along on few ambulances in Englewood. Drop into a one of few remaining neighborhood taverns and buy a round and listen. Life does not begin and end at Anne Sathers.

Mayor Emanuel should wear Terry Peterson like a pair of tighty whities, nod agreeably to the so-called black leadership. Listen and learn from Terry Peterson.

Go to synagogue ( click my post title) and stay tight with a spiritual adviser; you're gonna need one. Most importantly, stay close to your bride and kids. This is their City and your responsibilty.


*"Government by one man and a parliament is fundamental," Olicer Cromwell- The City Council and the Wards can and will be 'examined.' Ward boundaries will change. Expect this Rump Parialment to be transformed into the Barebones Pariliament -ASAP.

Rally for Matt O'Shea in 19th Ward at Cork and Kerry on February 10th

Hello Neighbors, Friends and Family,

We are hosting a rally/fundraiser for our friend Matt O'Shea,candidate for Alderman of the 19th Ward, City of Chicago, this coming Thursday, February 10th at Cork & Kerry , 7-10 p.m.
The attached invite has all the details. The election is coming up quickly and we want to make sure Matt has all the resources he needs to be victorious on February 22nd. We believe that Matt O'Shea is the right choice for our next alderman of the 19th ward.

Please join us and let your friends and neighbors know as well.

Thank you,

The Winters Family and Brian Hickey

-- THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011
7:00 P.M. ! 10:00 P.M.
Cork & Kerry
10614 S. Western Ave.
Hosted by
Brian Hickey
Bart Winters
Brendan Winters
John Winters
Jack Winters
Liam Winters
Marty Winters
Nat Winters
Tim Winters
Vince Winters
Willie Winters

Tickets: $30
RSVP: willie.winters@gmail.com

Law in that Small Commonweal- The 19th Ward and Mayoral Blizzard

Election officials said that as of 4:30 p.m., more than 6,100 people had voted — a total only surpassed on the first day of early voting in the 2008 presidential election, when more than 11,700 people voted.

Jim Allen, a spokesman for the city's election board, said the number dwarfs the 831 on the first day of early voting in the last mayoral election four years ago. He said that suggests not only that more people are becoming accustomed to early voting but also that Daley — who typically won by huge margins — is not running. He said the widely anticipated storm might have played a role, because people see they may not be able to get to the polls later this week.

"We'll probably break 7,000," he said.

I voted yesterday. Yep, exercised the public franchise. After delivering an Ad celebrating for 100th Anniversary of the founding of Maria High School from the Men of Leo ( Sveikiname, Maria!)and chatting with my counter-part in the Office of Institutional Advancement at the great girls school in Marquette Park, I drove to 22nd District Police Headquarters to vote, but learned that the early voting was moved to Mount Greenwood Park Field House on 111th Street.

In the parking lot, I found 19th Ward Committeeman Matt O'Shea, candidate for Alderman, greeting voters and all and sundry. Matt O'Shea is model of what I like in government service. There is not a day in the week that I do not see Matt going door-to-door, attending one of the almost daily benefits for suffering families at Bourbon Street, Beverly Woods, or a local parish hall, watching grammar school sports at Beverly, Kennedy, Ridge, Monroe or Mount Greenwood Parks. The young guy is ubiquitous. Matt asked about my kids and Leo High School. It was colder than a well-digger's rump and it was clear that Matt had been out there sometime.

Politicians talk about working families, in the same way that Disney Corporation does - Family means more money for them. Matt O'Shea is a public servant. There is a huge difference. A public servant knows whom he serves. Matt greeted people by their names -"Mrs. Janusias, I saw Albert at Jewel last week! Congratulations Grannie!; Hey, Jimmy vote your heart. Yeah you too, pal and the horse you bet on - Jerk."

Jimmy was one of few people who seem to believe that every unhappiness - his fat shrewish wife, lazy kids, drinking problem and collection calls on his house phone can all be traced to the 19th Ward.

I voted my heart and head. I read the papers and more importantly I talk to my neighbors - Jimmy included: " They are all crooked, lying, thieving, pension robbing, one way bastards. Can you spot me a twenty? I'm going up to Dingers for a few. Thanks, gotta drown my sorrows."

We all snow. I am an accomplished snow-thrower myself and the real deal is fixin' to drop on us around noon. All we can do is shovel and vote. No one else will or can do it for us.




The times are nightfall, look, their light grows less

by Gerard Manley Hopkins


The times are nightfall, look, their light grows less;
The times are winter, watch, a world undone:
They waste, they wither worse; they as they run
Or bring more or more blazon man's distress.
And I not help. Nor word now of success:
All is from wreck, here, there, to rescue one—
Work which to see scarce so much as begun
Makes welcome death, does dear forgetfulness.

Or what is else? There is your world within.
There rid the dragons, root out there the sin.
Your will is law in that small commonweal...

Matt O'Shea, 19th Ward Committeman and Aldermanic Candidate - The Real Deal.

O’Shea said his priority is to deliver city services at a time of severe budget cutbacks that are almost certain to get worse as the city copes with a record $654.7 million shortfall.

“We’re in tough times with a shortage of manpower. Everything is taking longer — from recycling to street light repairs and tree trims,’’ said O’Shea, 41.

“We’re still feeling the effect of the summer storms that left hundreds of flooded basements. We just have to work that much harder to stay on top of things, work with the 311 system and explain to residents that it’s gonna take longer to get things done, but we’re working on them.’’

Sun Timeshttp://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2613356,rugai-resigns-081810.article

In 1905 William Riordan wrote a small political masterpiece that ranks second only to Aristotle's Politics -Plunkitt of Tammany Hall.

This book has been reconfigured many times and presented as case evidence of the glories or the calumnies of Ward Politics. I take the former point of view.

George Washington Plunkitt was a Tammany Hall Ward Healer under Boss Tweed and other Tammmany Tigers. Riordan was a newspaper writer who courted Plunkitt at a book black stand, the where the wily politician gave out lessons on practical politics.

Practical politics was and continues to be anathema to Progressives, who honor policy -theirs ( abortion, gay marriage, more taxes, less defense, fewer liberties- over necessity and good grace.

I am delighted to present this pasaage as a means of introducing Matt O'Shea who follows this template from diary of George Washington Plunkitt:

2 A.M.: Aroused from sleep by the ringing of his doorbell;
went to the door and found a bartender, who asked him to go to the
police station and bail out a saloonkeeper who had been arrested for
violating the excise law. Furnished bail and returned to bed at three
o’clock.
6 A.M.:Awakened by fire engines passing his house. Hastened
to the scene of the fire, according to the custom of the Tammany district
leaders, to give assistance to the fire sufferers, if needed. Met
several of his election district captains who are always under orders
to look out for fires, which are considered great vote-getters. Found
several tenants who had been burned out, took them to a hotel, supplied
them with clothes, fed them, and arranged temporary quarters
for them until they could rent and furnish new apartments.
8:30 A.M.:Went to the police court to look after his constituents.
Found six “drunks.” Secured the discharge of four by a timely word
with the judge, and paid the fines of two.
9 A.M.: Appeared in the Municipal District Court. Directed
one of his district captains to act as counsel for a widow against
whom dispossess proceedings had been instituted and obtained an
extension of time. Paid the rent of a poor family about to be dispossessed
and gave them a dollar for food.
11 A.M.: At home again. Found four men waiting for him. One
had been discharged by the Metropolitan Railway Company for
neglect of duty, and wanted the district leader to fix things. Another
wanted a job on the road. The third sought a place on the Subway
and the fourth, a plumber, was looking for work with the
Consolidated Gas Company. The district leader spent nearly three
hours fixing things for the four men, and succeeded in each case.
3 P.M.: Attended the funeral of an Italian as far as the ferry.
Hurried back to make his appearance at the funeral of a Hebrew
constituent. Went conspicuously to the front both in the Catholic
church and the synagogue, and later attended the Hebrew confirmation
ceremonies in the synagogue.
7 P.M.:Went to district headquarters and presided over a meeting
of election district captains. Each captain submitted a list of all
the voters in his district, reported on their attitude toward Tammany,
suggested who might be won over and how they could be won, told
who were in need, and who were in trouble of any kind and the best
way to reach them. District leader took notes and gave orders.
8 P.M.: Went to a church fair. Took chances on everything,
bought ice cream for the young girls and the children. Kissed the little
ones, flattered their mothers and took their fathers out for something
down at the corner.
9 P.M.: At the clubhouse again. Spent $10 on tickets for a
church excursion and promised a subscription for a new church bell.
Bought tickets for a baseball game to be played by two nines from
his district. Listened to the complaints of a dozen pushcart peddlers
who said they were persecuted by the police and assured them he
would go to Police Headquarters in the morning and see about it.
10:30 P.M.: Attended a Hebrew wedding reception and dance.
Had previously sent a handsome wedding present to the bride.
12 P.M.: In bed.

Matt O'Shea will run as the Democratic candidate for alderman of the 19th Ward. Matt O'Shea lives about four blocks north of my home, but I see Matt everywhere - all over the Ward. He is on foot many of these times. I was getting my oil changed at Jiffy Lube on Kedzie and saw Matt making the rounds of the flood damaged folks around 107th & Troy. Later, that day I saw Matt talking with firemen outside of the Fire Barn on 111th Street. The man is everywhere.

This is called Management by Walking Around, according to the Steve Covey crowd.

Matt O'Shea will take care of his neighbors and represent our Ward with courage, honesty, integrity and practical appilication of very practical politics.

Politics over Policy is Good Government.

Thank you, Matt!