To change the subject and focus on another case of vandalism -- the Cook County Board. Read the Tribune piece on Stroger Hospital and see if you can justify voting for Todd Stroger:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/hea...v02,1,4037842.story

Edited by author 11-02-2006 11:25 AM
I asked if there was a law because we certainly wasted a huge amount of taxpayer dollars not to mention personal time on the egg issue, which I am grateful didn't escalate into something worse; though it easily could have.

As for the party idea, our Neighborhood Watch was out during trick-or-treat hours with candy, as had been advertised to the neighborhood. At 7pm, we dropped off the candy at home, but had to remain out there until 10, when it got cold enough that everyone went home. We made an effort to have a nice, quiet, friendly Halloween - and Rachel, Kristin and Alex were part of that effort.

Retailers who stock up on an item expressly to offer it to vandals should be held accountable. Remember - we're talking nearly 40 dozen eggs over a 4-block area. To give you an idea of the volume, if the kids had been systematic and distributed the eggs evenly at each building in the neighborhood, they each would have been egged 5 times. It's a BIG mess. Chicago has a law on the books about spray paint; I don't see where keeping minors away from eggs for one day a year is any different.

I hope that everyone who has to spend time and money on cleanup asks him to pay. The other businesses on Howard were particularly hard hit; the kids were egging each other INSIDE the laundromat while Watch members were directly outside.

I don't know how to handle the kid end of this problem, but we need a better strategy there. I wish there was a way to make them clean it all up, or to make their families cover the cost of cleanup.

The city of Evanston also has an ordinance that forbids the sale to minors of spray paint and other items used for vandalisn.

Believe me, next year will be different and the city will take preventative measures to make Halloween more tolerable.

Here are some great Rogers Park Bargains. I just received this message from the Rogers Park Builders' Group.

Camelot Realty has new construction, condominium apartments for rent from $1,600 for a 2bd/2ba, from $2175 for a 3bd/3ba duplex and from $2450 for a 4bd/3ba duplex all at 1522-1528 W. Greenleaf.
 
The units features cherry/granite/stainless kitchens, large masters w/stone baths, oak hardwood floors and carpet, in-unit laundry, central heat and a/c, gas fireplace, whole-house stereo pre-wiring and alarms. Best features are 1 1/2" concrete sub-floors and carport or garage parking. Available Immediately!
 
Please call Nyan at 773/294-5554 for showings or Rich at 773/294-8888.

Edited by author 11-02-2006 12:48 PM
My wife and I had breakfast today (Thursday) with friends who live just south of Target, at Coyle and Kedzie, a neighborhood that's largely Orthodox Jewish and one in which Halloween isn't as widely celebrated (?) as elsewhere. They told us that last evening two boys returning from schul were attacked by four teenaged boys and badly beaten. Neighbors heard the commotion and called the police, but by the time a patrol car arrived the attackers had jumped back into their own car and driven off. The officers told neighbors that vandalism was up considerably in Chicago this year as compared to previous years and that in their opinion this incident was definitely Halloween related.

Jim, how horrible. I hope that whoever did that is found and charged with a hate crime.

Ann - In the Review it was implied that the City could lay off as many as 38 employees to assist in balancing the budget.

Is there a short list of who potential candidates/departments might be that we could review?

Ryan,

I doubt that anyone would be laid off. The unions will fight that. Expect higher taxes or less service.

If I recall we were told that the pension obligations were up to par, but now we hear that they are underfunded. How much of that is due to reducing the retirement age limit for some departments?

URGENT!

The following is an email from Steven Sklare, 2130 Orrington, regarding a dog poisoning incident involving his two golden retrievers. Steven asked that we pass this information along to all dog owners in Evanston.
Thanks!
Judy Fiske

I am sending you this email to let you know abut a horrible incident involving our dogs and because I believe you have a "neighborhood email list." I would like for you to forward this message to everyone in the neighborhood as well as anyone you know in Evanston that owns a dog.

This past Saturday morning, October 28, 2006, our dogs were playing in our backyard. When I walked out onto our deck to check on the dogs, I noticed that Archie was eating something. When I looked closer I could see that it was "food" of some sort. Because of my background in pest control, I immediately realized that it was rat poison. I grabbed the puppy and took out of his mouth what I could and picked up several other "balls" that were on the deck. I then called our Vet to let them know I was on the way, and rushed over to his office.

I can give you all of the details later, but for the purpose of this email, let me lay out the most important information.

There is NO question that it was rodent poison. This was confirmed by blood tests done by the Vet.

There is NO question that it was placed in our yard intentionally. The puppy had eaten much more than I recovered from him. This was confirmed when we got him to the Vet and induced vomiting. His stomach was loaded with the poison, but he had not digested a lethal dose.

The material used is normally in a dry pellet form. Someone had moistened the pellets and formed them into little round balls and put them in our yard. This could not have happened by accident. This could not have been carried in by squirrels or any other animal. This was a deliberate act by someone.

Most rodent poison that is sold in stores comes in a pellet form and is light-green in color with white specks throughout the product. The poison is mixed with grains and nuts to make it attractive to eat. When it is moistened it can be shaped into balls, but the color will still be the light-green with white specks.

The poison prevents blood from clotting, so if it is eaten and digested the animal eating it will bleed to death within 24-48 hours.

If anyone suspects that their pet has eaten a poison like this they should immediately feed their pet additional food and then get to a Vet or one of the animal emergency clinics.

We were very lucky that I caught our dog in time. He will be on Vitamin K for the next five weeks with his blood being tested every 3-4 days. His blood clotting is not normal at this time. Vitamin K is the antidote to the poison but only works if a lethal dose has not been consumed and it is started in time.

We have been in contact with the Evanston Police, but everyone in the Evanston must be aware of this and must pay attention to anything unusual that they see in their yard or in their neighborhood. The next person that deals with this might not be as lucky as we were.

If anyone is using rodent poison in or around their homes, please be aware of how dangerous it can be. The incident we are dealing with was not an accident, but we don't want any pets being harmed by accident either. Also be advised that it is both dangerous and illegal to place any type of poison outside of your own property.

Steven A. Sklare, REHS, CFSP, LEHP
The Food Safety Academy

Edited by author 11-02-2006 07:11 PM
Ryan on your posting 6273 - I agree with Vito - the city every year claims a budget short fall they always come up with a list to cut - they do nothing and just raise your taxes! Another 8% increase!

I am not against tax increase but bottom line here there is so much waste - and mismanagement of the resources - alot of our taxes is going to that.

This nonsense they want the hospital to pick up the health costs- do they provide any real services? I would like a real audit - rather than our council members pretending they want to transfer thier mess to the hospitals have the hospitals and NU come in and evaluate what the city does - bottom line I think they would find a lot of waste and non-value added activities!

Years back when they cut the Health services to the homeless and transfer it to the township the Health department director came running up and claimed the city employees involved in it had other job functions- he should have been fired on the spot for falsifying the budget, not one council member pick that up. It was costing one dollar to give out one dollar of service.

The whole budget is full of this waste, By the way today I saw a council member at the train station and told him what I thought of the so called referendum - did they really create 142 units of housing I ask him how much they wasted on city employee salaries to create the so called 142 units - my guess well over million dollars! He could not answer that.

Ryan you have not live here long enough - but I think you understand - I believe back in 1992 the chamber did a study called the Diet and told the city to cut the health department and employees - these are old issues they will never do it. You will just get less services and more taxes that is the mode of operation here! Like cutting down on the street sweeping which by the way I know they are doing less!

Sounds like the council has a new useless task - trying to ban bees wasn't enough - now we may have an EGG ordinance! I can wait.

As a business owner, should revenue fall short, I know who I would cut and I know why.

I don't understand why the City can't do this same simple exercise? It's all part of forecasting.

If there were 38 employees who knew that they were short-listed wouldn't that theoretically cause them to: A) Start looking for other employment options which would inevitably lead to some staff reduction due to people finding other more secure work before they were officially terminated B) Increase their efficiency as they attempted to justify their positions C) Reduce waste within their departments so as to reduce the overall deficit leaving more for salaries and benefits?

Also...regarding the affordable housing referendum...I'm new to all of this but who is paying for all of the advertising around town for this?

After reading the Review today I'm having a tough time understanding how it is that we can't balance the City budget yet we're voting to raise more money just to give it away...not to pay down our deficit.

When people sell their homes that they've helped to purchase with this tax money and they realize a profit, are they required or obligated to give that money back or to someone else who might need it? That's the concept behind Heifer Project....somebody gives you a heifer...the heifer grows up has a calf of her own...you pass the calf onto another person who has the same stipulation that they pass on their firstborn heifer...and so on and so on.

Somehow I always thought the concept of affordable housing had to do with helping local school teachers, firemen and policemen live in the communities that they served. The League of Women Voters wrote in the paper today that it was to preserve our economic diversity. A couple of pages over it says that 71% of Oakton school is below the poverty line...that's pretty diverse if you ask me.

Ryan - you are in the real world the city is in the world of politics.

We need to cut entire departments - what does the Human Relations department real do? It appears we recently hired a youth coordinator of some type - it was posted on this board. I have no doubt this position is of little real value. We hire another city manager employee to manage department heads.

In the Building and Zoning department we do not need a housing planner. We may not need all the inspectors.

All these positions have supporters on the council - one of my favorities was when a former Alderperson Dennis Drummer -stated during the budget hearing that they should put up a cut up on the computer screen in the sanation department of $100,000 and that everyone knew what it was but he would not say!

By the why - ask Ann why we are renting the Art center at Lighthouse beach a city building for $1 a year - when we have $500,000 in repairs needed! I bet some council members will fight tooth and nail to protect the $1 rent. the Director of facilities wants to sell it because we have no money to fix it? Don't worry our council members will create a sweet heart deal for any new buyer and we will loose a community resource.

Edited by author 11-02-2006 08:07 PM
Ryan - glad to see you question the powers to be here. The league of women voters - I once asked them to show me a study the claimed backed one of their so called policy position - they would not give it to me. I think I read the same nonsense in the Review this week that they have studied this issue numerous times.

The people who are supporting this referendum are some of the same people which the city already gives your and my tax dollars to. there are alot of flopped programs in this area with no real results but these groups get our money from city programs already thus the city employees -

More over if you go to the city budget and start looking at all the hand out programs here and find out who is on the boards of these organizations and how the council members are connected to them you will get a good idea why the council never cuts a program. Every city council member supports some program with our tax dollars which has nothing to do with the basic operation of the city.

Ryan I know you are busy - with young children and your business but sometime go the the city budget on the web site I think you will be able to see the waste if you review it.

I routinely deal with the Building and Zoning department....seems to me they are one of the City departments that actually generate revenue. With all the construction going on, it would seem that the inspectors are more than likely stretched to the limit. Why go after a department like that when there are more obvious positions that are better candidates for severance.

I have yet to be in the permit department when the women behind the front desk weren't working like crazy. There's always someone there asking for help on this permit or demanding to know what the status of their permits are. Likewise, the City electrical inspector was very helpful in my recent run-in with Com-Ed over burying my power lines. He really went to bat for me. From my standpoint, you can make better suggestions than starting in the Building and Zoning Department.

I'm ready for the annual vetting of the list of who should go and who should stay. It's good to be reminded each year of who is actually in that big building and what they do. The list might come out and we'd look at it and say, "You know, I don't think I could cut anybody." However, if 38 people had to go who would they be and why would they be the ones to go if the decision actually had to be made to do it?