By Ed Hammer

Earlier this month, the Sun-Times reported that the Chicago Board of Education spent $3,000 to electronically sweep certain administrative offices – including that of the board president – for bugs.
I am not talking about cockroaches here. I am not even talking about ants. The bugs I am talking about are eavesdropping devices capable of surreptitiously recording conversations.
A question then arises. Who would want to record conversations in the offices of CPS administrators?

Read More

Posted on March 9, 2011

By Steve Balkin

Dear Mayor-Elect Emanuel,
Congratulations on your election victory.
I write this letter because I hope you are sincere about making positive change for Chicago.
But if you want positive change for the city, you need to know that a world-class city is more than neatness, corporate headquarters’, and big-box stores. A world-class city also includes social harmony, quality conversations across race and class, and preservation of the historical fabric, authenticity, and vibrancy in public places.
I expect you know about this, having lived in Washington D.C., and having visited places such as New York City and Paris; Manny’s delicatessen and Valois cafeteria.
I want to suggest how some simple changes in public policy can make the city money, create businesses and jobs, and enhance the reputation of Chicago as a world-class city.

Read More

Posted on March 9, 2011

By Brooke Alvarez/FactZone

Congress has deemed yelling and screaming as the nation’s official mode of communication.

Read More

Posted on March 7, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

Dan Sinker meeting Rahm Emanuel yesterday was a bit like a local version of Elvis Presley meeting Richard Nixon: A WTF moment for the history books.
But it also illustrated just what was wrong with Sinker’s sometimes brilliant, sometimes predictable, sometimes vulgar, sometimes prescient fake Twitter feed: It was all the time sympathetic to its “target.”
Sinker merely burnished the myth of a foul-mouthed pragmatist with little patience for pageantry who just wanted to “get things done” instead of doing what truly effective political satire does: reveal the truths behind the propaganda and manufactured media narratives.
Rahm Emanuel is a nasty man, but not as charmingly so as Sinker portrayed him. He and his buddy David Axelrod are kings of media manipulation, not doltish road trip buddies cranking Journey in Ax’s Civic.
And that’s why Jim DeRogatis’s criticism of Sinker is valid, despite the rush of fanboys and fangirls rushing to Sinker’s defense. It seems a whole lot of people have forgotten what this is all about – we live in a city decimated by poverty that has failed its most needy as well as its middle-class and we just had a campaign in which the winner did everything he could not to talk about those sorts of things – or anything.
But a lot of comfortable folks sure got a good laugh out of a Twitter feed not available to 40 percent of the city on the other side of the digital divide.

Read More

Posted on March 3, 2011

By Ed Hammer

I stayed up late last night to read the deposition of a convicted felon.
George Ryan is serving time in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, for crimes of corruption and obstruction he committed while he was Illinois’ secretary of state and governor.
He was deposed last March by attorney John Stainthorp, whose client, Oscar Walden Jr., who was suing the City of Chicago.
Walden, who was convicted of rape, was granted a pardon by Ryan. Walden alleged his confession was coerced by the Chicago police.
The March 2010 deposition was the first lengthy interview of Ryan since he began serving his six-and-a-half year sentence more than three years ago.
Often throughout the interview, Ryan responded to Stainthorp’s question with “Pardon?”
What you can’t tell on the black and white document is whether he respond that way because he could not hear the question or because he did not understand the question.
Or, maybe it was something else.
Some of the Chicago’s reporters describe Ryan’s tone during the questioning as testy and combative. As I read the deposition, I could envision the arrogance spewing from the recognizable baritone of the once powerful politician.
I thought of what questions I would ask my former boss. Then I played devil’s advocate and answered my own questions.
This is how I imagined the interview would go.

Read More

Posted on March 1, 2011

By Kiljoong Kim

Nearly five years ago, I wrote my first column for the Beachwood Reporter, about why Chicago has never had an Asian alderman. I made the point that Asian Americans were victims of Chicago racial politics that had to balance existing power of African Americans on one hand and emerging forces of Hispanics on the other. In the process, areas like Chinatown, where there is the greatest concentration of Asian votes, were chopped into four different wards, thereby disabling their chance at political representation in the city.
When Ameya Pawar won the election for 47th Ward last week, he finally became the first Asian American alderman. Even among Asian Americans in Chicago, Pawar was not a heavily groomed candidate like Naisy Dolar was in 2007 when she unsuccessfully challenged Berny Stone in 50th Ward, nor did he win in a ward that has heavy concentration of Asian votes.

Read More

Posted on February 28, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

A roundup of highs and lows. Mostly lows.
Too Soon?
“Rahm Receives Call From U.S. Attorney.”
A) Will you be home tomorrow morning about 6?
B) Please secure all evidence when you take office.
C) Were any fish harmed in the making of your campaign?
*
Crap.

Read More

Posted on February 24, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

For entertainment purposes only. Including gambling.
First posted: 9/9
Last updated: 9/21 9/30 10/4 10/14 10/22 10/24 10/26 10/27 11/3 11/5 11/8 11/14 12/12 12/18 12/26 1/1 1/7 2-9
Last posted: 2/22
*
Candidate: Rahm Emanuel
Status: Considering Almost In In
Odds: 100-1 2-1
Comment: Ask yourself a few questions. Does he really want to go from running the free world to worrying about Streets and San? And the man is still relatively young and ambitious. Where would he go from here – president? He’s everybody’s favorite but it’s hard to envision.
UPDATE 2/9: Amazingly marshals forces to bully himself into office while pretending he’s a reformer and a cool guy (thanks, Ax, you were right, it worked for Obama!) – with the most cold, hard cash. Rose Garden strategy and unresponsiveness to the press, the public and attention to neighborhoods signals the representation of Richard M. Daley’s sixth term. His election will expose once again just how bad Chicago sucks.
UPDATE 2/22: The combination of Rahm’s campaign fortune and his desire to crush all enemies will likely put our new boss over the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Wear a black armband today – or a del Valle button – if you are one of the few who understand just how horrible this is going to be.
*

Read More

Posted on February 22, 2011

By Kiljoong Kim

“More than 2 million Chicago-area baby boomers begin turning 65 this year, unleashing a demographic wave that will last nearly two decades and transform nearly every part of the local economy,” Crain’s reported last week in a special report called “The Graying of Chicago.”
“The number of people 65 or older in the Chicago area will soar 65% to 1.7 million by 2030, estimates William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
“That’s less than the 78% increase expected nationally, thanks to immigration in Chicago. Still, about 1 in 6 people in the area will be 65 or older in 2030, compared with 1 in 9 today.”
Our own examination has found that the transition has already begun.

Read More

Posted on February 21, 2011

Vote Metal

“Write-in candidate Lyndon A Johnson is really pissed off at the establishment. In the 39th ward of Chicago, 25,000 active voters, 19,000 expected not to vote! If you are that angry, vote for Lyndon A Johnson 39th ward write in candidate!”

Read More

Posted on February 18, 2011