This is exactly what my spouse and I thought, that we were seeing a "bumped up" response than what usually goes down a street for a call. I'm very glad that there was no damage to the house and that in Evanston if you say "flames" over the phone you get a whole lot of people to fight those flames. I'd want the same.

I like learning what all the different "alarms" are.

"This is a General alarm which is a bumped up response of 3
engines, 1 truck, 1 ambulance and the shift chief. This is a
typical response for a report of smoke and fire. It results in
15 firefighters for the initial response."

I am not suggesting the 4 day service week - I am just reporting a different option. I think if the city taxpayers want to pay less, there is no way you can say you cannot be inconvenienced. Keep in mind that in those communities that have gone to a 40 hour, 4 day week, you can purchase a sticker after 5 on 4 days of the week!

The branch library people get it. They do not care that your city tax is increased, the branch libraries have to stay.

While we can beat our brains out to keep city expenses flat, fire 50 plus people - our tax bills are going up. The city portion of your tax bill is still only 20% of the total tax bill.

Ann -

In dropping to a 4 day week of 10 or just under hours per day we as citizens would lose something...i.e. the ability to buy a vehicle sticker on Friday if that were the day selected to close. I'd also venture to guess that closing buildings one day a week wouldn't save half a million dollars each year.

I don't think that is the answer. My taxes went up over $1000 dollars. That hurts. I guess what I'm asking is that City employees collectively share in the same pain.

Tough times call for tough measures. An increase of $1000 to my taxes is tough times. Is it wrong to suggest that on a day that an employee does no work that they not be paid?

Save half a million dollars by not paying City employees on a day when they aren't doing any work??? Why is that so difficult? Union rules?

Edited by author 02-08-2010 11:45 PM
Alderman Coleen Burrus of the 9th ward coducted an Asbury Oakton Survey. Our neighbors in the 9th are on the same track.



Public Opinion of Oakton/Asbury Site Preference by Popularity from the 8th ward message board.
    
 Type of Business # of Votes
 Grocery 29
 Bowling Alley 7
 Coffee Shop 6
 Co-op Art Studio 6
 Deli/Bakery/Other 5
 Break up Space for Shops 4
 Hardware/Garden Center 4
 Restaurant 4
 Library 2
 Movie Theater/Performing Arts 2
 Video Parlor 2
 Athletic Facility 1
 Day Care 1
 Home Accessory 1
 Ice Cream Parlor 1
 Liquor 1
 Liquor Store 1
 Off Track Betting 1
 Pet Shop 1
 Pizza Parlor 1
 Storage Facility 1



From the 9th ward survey

40 Grocery Store (8 second choice)
39 Fruit Market (27 second)
7 Ethnic Food Market (22 second)
3 Restaurant/Deli (18 second)
12 Bowling Alley (7 second)
5 Independent Film Theatre (5)
3 Performing Arts Center (6)
1 Athletic/Health Club (4)

I know of municipalities that have 4 day weeks of 37.5 to 40 hours. The savings are gleened from closure of buildings.

Here is the Fire Chief's explanation for Candace's concern regarding the fire response at the reported fire at tne Housing Authority townhouse on South Blvd.


This is a General alarm which is a bumped up response of 3 engines, 1 truck, 1 ambulance and the shift chief. This is a typical response for a report of smoke and fire. It results in 15 firefighters for the initial response.

General alarm for smoke and fire in the house; nothing showing upon
arrival; smoke detector sounding in the unit; occupant opened the
door; directed Eng.22 to the second floor bedroom; nothing upstairs
but a slight odor of burnt food; went to the kitchen and found a pot
of burnt food on the stove; turned the burner off and cleared the
smoke detector.

This is all the Olympic Committees fault! If only we got the olympics, we would have had a new transit system! That is what they were selling us right? LOL

Nice segment on the CTA cuts on WBEZ this morning (http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=39877).

The conclusion: we don't have adequate public transit in Chicagoland because we don't want it.

Reminder: the CTA cuts are having a serious impact on Evanston. The bus service here is already pathetic and now its getting even worse with cuts to the 205, 206, 93, 97.

I didn't think you could cut service on those lines since they run so infrequently anyway.

In the richest and most polluting country in the world it's an embarrassment when our public transportation system is worse than those in most poverty-stricken African cities.

http://www.transitchicago.com/travel_infor...anges/20100207.aspx

Thanks Bernard, I knew that Stone had endorsed Cohen. Yeah, he should have shown up at Candlelite or Gullivers. There is nowhere to watch a football game and have a beer in the 8th ward anyway! Flapjacks and coffee at the IHop might have sufficed, but they didn't play the game.

Any vote tally coming from the 50th ward is suspect as long as Stone is around given the fact that one of his campaign workers is currently under indictment for ballot tampering!

Edited by author 02-08-2010 02:40 PM
/m18284

Ryan, actually Scott Lee Cohen ventured close to an area where he'd garnered significant support, but it wasn't south Evanston.

Hop Haus is in the 49th ward, but that ward went for Boland.

HOWEVER, Ald. Bernie Stone -- of Chicago's 50th ward, basically starts at Ridge and goes west to Kedzie -- was a supporter of Cohen's. In Stone's ward nearly 50% of the votes went to Cohen, no other ward in the city of Chicago came even close to those percents. Curious, no, that Cohen didn't choose a bar in the 50th ward, which so strongly backed him, but chose a neighboring ward instead?

P.S. Cohen received more votes in the 50th ward, than in ALL of Evanston.
He was in the 'hood for a reason, but had to do with the 50th ward.

Taking a late lunch break at work and wanted to comment on the fireworks last night.

We heard them (several loud bangs) on the west end of the 1100 block of Austin Street. They were very loud -- I assumed that they had been set off in the Oakton School yard right across the street but I saw nothing when I looked in that direction.

Rachel and Jeannie, I appreciate your information because I was wondering what happened. They must have been some serious fireworks in order for me (about five blocks away) to assume, based on the noise volume, that they were across the street from me.

Jeanmarie -

I wanted to clarify that many businesses I am dealing with have dropped their employees to 4 day weeks...therefore an employee who used to earn $50K per year is now earning $40K per year. I wasn't suggesting that for City employees.

The City appears to currently have embraced a policy of not paying for 3 holdays that are already on the books. We don't get (non-emergency)services on those dates anyhow. Most non-governmental offices have six standard holidays when no work is performed (New Years Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Christmas Day, and a half day each for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve).

I'm just saying, a quick half million dollars could be found by not paying for those other three holidays. I'm absolutely certain that there would not be a mass exodus from city hall as a result of doing that. That's not even a furlough which is what many businesses are doing across the country.

The fireworks were at the mouth of the alley that runs parallel to the west side of Custer, right where it meets Brummel. They were shot from a huge bucket. I was right by a window where I could see them when they started, and watched the whole time and for a while afterward, but never saw a person anywhere near them. No one came to retrieve the bucket for the few minutes I watched before The Who started playing and I went back to the living room. These were some serious fireworks.

Re: fireworks last night, one of my neighbors on Clyde heard it with his roommate who had headphones on at the time. He slipped off the headphones and looked quizzically at my friend as if to ask what was that noise, and my friend said non-chalantly, "gas."