CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY GROUPON DEAL

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP

Story By: Kathy Posner

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Groupon

In November of 2009, I wrote a blog about the financial woes of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) At the time I quoted Jon Hilkevitch of the Chicago Tribune, who had written, “The average fare collected by the CTA is 98 cents, according to the transit agency. It takes into account full-priced fares, reduced fares, passes and free rides. The cost for the CTA to provide service averages $7 per ride, including some capital costs such as maintenance and some system improvements. The cost per ride jumps to $9.90 if major projects such as the ongoing Brown Line capacity-expansion project or the planned extensions of the Red, Orange and Yellow/Skokie Swift Lines are factored in, CTA officials said.”

Since costs have not gone down for the CTA in the past three years, I feel safe in using those per ride numbers in my upcoming analysis of the CTA’S latest deal with Groupon. Followers of this blog are well aware that for years, since Groupon started doing business, I have mathematically proven how the company’s business model cannot sustain itself and the company will eventually implode. There are too many postings to put the links here. But in the case of the recent CTA deal, Groupon won and the taxpayers who support the CTA got screwed!

The Deal:

(1) CTA sold Groupon 250,000 three-day passes for $7.53 or a total of $1,882,500. The normal price of a three-day pass is $14.

(2) If the CTA had sold those passes for the full price of $14, the agency would have received $3,500,000.

(3) So at first look, the CTA had gross revenues of $1,617,500 LESS than they would have received if the passes had been sold at full price. Is this starting to sound like the debacle of selling off Chicago’s parking meters?

The CTA said they were happy to do the deal because the three day passes don’t sell well. Of course the CTA does not sell a lot of three day passes because CHICAGOANS—the people who support the CTA through their tax money- would buy monthly passes if they were using buses. Three day passes would be used by tourists coming for a short visit. There are fewer tourists than there are locals using the buses, so it makes sense that few three day passes are sold.

It is financially better for the CTA if tourists do not buy three day passes because then the agency would receive full fare for every ride they take instead of a discounted fare.

No Deal

Let’s pretend there had been no deal and those 250,000 tourists had to pay full fare.

(1) If they each took four bus trips a day for three days, that would be 12 trips at full fare of a cost of $30.00 per person.

(2) 250,000 people paying $30.00 each would equal a gross revenue of $7,500,000 for the CTA.

(3) But the CTA accepted $1,882,500 which results in a net loss of potential gross revenue of $5,617,500!

If we take this one step further and accept that the CTA said that each ride actually costs the agency $9.90 per ride once all expansion costs and upgrades are figured in, the loss numbers get really scary! Because the CTA has sold those passes at the equivalent of $.67 if they are used for four trips a day for three days, the loss is $9.23 per ride.

Simple math: 250,000 people taking 12 rides during a 3 day period is 3,000,000 trips at a negative revenue of $9.23 per ride costs the CTA $27,690,000.

Groupon will be selling those passes for $9.00 each or gross revenue of a positive $367,500.

Deal or no Deal?

(Frank Sennet's Book on the history of Groupon is fabulous! It is called, "Groupon's Biggest Deal Ever" and can be bought at Amazon.com)


Read More From Planet Posner HERE......

MOB WIVES CHICAGO KICKED OUT OF A BAR

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TIMES SQUARE GOSSIP TELEVISION

MOB WIVES CHICAGO

ALL-NEW EPISODE

SUNDAY, JUNE 17th, 2012

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 Mob Wives Chicago

The women are kicked out of the bar after the fight between Pia and Christina and the only thing left are extensions on the table.

The fight at The Wit takes an even uglier turn, and after it’s over Christina finds herself not only on the outs with her former best friend Pia, but also shunned by Renee and Nora. Shaken up, Christina seeks advice from Leah on how to deal with the aftermath. After some tough talk, Christina decides to confront Nora and Pia. Equally shocked and hurt by the behavior of her friend, Pia struggles to make sense of it all while continuing to fend off the badgering of an increasingly hostile and judgmental Renee. Meanwhile, Renee is confronted by an old nemesis of her own, her ex-husband who is seeking sole custody of her youngest daughter, Isabella. And, as she begins her journey to find out the truth behind her father’s mysterious death and burial, Nora offers emotional support to both, Renee and Pia, with mixed results.

Photo Courtesy Of: VH!

BETTY WHITE CELEBRATES CHICAGO MUSEUM

 

John Mahoney With Betty White

Chicago's broadcasting elite gathered at the Museum of Broadcast Communications on North State Street to celebrate the museum’s 25th anniversary. Betty White was the gala's featured hostess.  



Reflecting on their years in the spotlight were long-time broadcaster Hugh Downs, actor John Mahoney of Frazier fame and a long time Chicago resident. Also in attendance was famed radio host Mancow Muller, civic leader Kathy Posner, nationally renowned author of "The Art of Beef Cutting" Kari Underly, along with many local stars of broadcasting.

KATHY POSNER ENGINEER'S SOME QUESTIONS

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP

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 Engineer Kathy Posner

McDonough Associates, Inc. describes itself on its web site as “a full-service engineering/architectural firm with a professional and technical staff of approximately 135 employees.” But on the site’s link to “Latest News” the stories about the company’s recent travails are not included.

Last week, Sun-Times reporters Chris Fusco and Tina Sfondeles, chronicled the story of how McDonough Associates had blatantly over-billed the Illinois Department of Transportation. They pointed out that a July 2011 auditor’s report had “… questioned why McDonough employee bonuses, payments of dividends to the firm’s shareholders and other expenses were recorded as “overhead costs” even though those expenses appeared to have little to do with the work performed. Those expenses included “dinners, golf outings, Christmas luncheons and professional baseball and basketball game excursions involving IDOT employees.”

Bill Grunloh, the state procurement officer who oversees transportation contracts said that, “$46.5 million was improperly included by Contractor in its overhead computation for bonuses and dividends. Grunloh’s report said, “The overbilling took place over the majority of the last decade and ended in a multimillion-dollar overbilling balance . . . . The magnitude of the overbilling and the inability of such a business to prevent this kind of activity is . . . staggering.”

William B. Sullivan, the McDonough attorney, disputed the findings. “My client does not agree that any theft occurred,” Sullivan said. “

The Tribune reported that, “Since 2002, the state, the tollway agency and City of Chicago have paid more than $330 million to McDonough for engineering work, according to online databases maintained by the state and city.”

The June 5th final report of Chief Procurement Officer Grunloh, listing all the allegations concludes with, “Based upon my review of the evidence and analysis of past precedent, I find that McDonough Associates, Inc. should be suspended for a term of three years commensurate with the seriousness of the conduct by adequate evidence.”

My first question is, “How come the suspension is only for three years? Why wouldn’t the company be barred for life from doing business with the state of Illinois?”

The McDonough web site says that they have “completed more than 1,800 engineering and technical projects with a total value in excess of $5 billion for a client base of more than 500 organizations.” So my second question is,”Are all of those organizations going to do audits to verify that they have not been over-billed also?”

According to state campaign finance records, the company and its officials have contributed more than $700,000 to political campaigns in the last 10 years. So my final question is, “Will the politicians return the contributed money to the company so it can be used to pay back the taxpayers who have been bilked?”

Read More From Planet Posner HERE....

After Heavy Criticism In The Press Obama Flees Washington For Chicago

But Just For The Weekend

Barack Obama

With his poll numbers down, members of his political party turning on him, his Attorney General, Eric Holder, facing contempt charges in Congress and presidential challenger Mitt Romney beating him in major polls such as Gallup and Rasmussen, President Obama has opted for a few days away from the pressure pit that is Washington.    

The First Family of America have decided to spend the weekend in Chicago, where they own a home that was purchased in a controversial real estate deal. This is awfully scaled down for them. What? None of the usual exotic vacations with lobster, caviar, champagne and expensive cuts of beef on the taxpayers' tab, while the nation careens into poverty? 

The Obamas are used to very expensive vacations, with plush rentals and exorbitantly priced food that exceeds most people's weekly grocery bills, in just one meal. Meanwhile, according to a newly released report, American wealth has plummeted due to the current financial crisis, with households in the United States, seeing a 40% decline in income and assets, stripping away 18-years of progress in the space of 3-years.

The president is very good at spending other people's money. $5 trillion of it, in fact. It has left America in a terrible quagmire, regarding how to get rid of $5 trillion in debt President Obama irresponsibly ran up in a couple years. You can't call that an improvement. The nation has regressed.

Obama supporters need to wake up and smell the coffee, as that debt is going to take generations to payoff, saddling your children and your children's children with a financial burden they did not create, which will hamper America in the world. It was not good economics.

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KATHY POSNER IS GUNNING FOR THE GUNS

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP

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Kathy Posner

 

As the summer months heat up, so do tempers and the number of violent gun related killings. On Saturday, June23rd, Chicago will hold its annual summer gun turn-in program - "Don't Kill A Dream, Save A Life." The point of the program is for citizens to turn in any illegal weapons they have with no questions asked. Thousands of guns are turned in every year—in exchange for gift cards. Firearms are worth a $100.00 gift card and replica and BB-guns may be turned in for a $10.00 gift card.

Chicago has long believed in the value of Gun Turn-In days, a program run by the Chicago Police Department’s Community Policing Office and faith and community-based organizations, to decrease the number of guns on the streets Without getting into a debate on gun control, which seemingly has no unanimously agreed upon answer, there is still debate as to whether this voluntary program is affordable to the Police Departments hosting these events.

For the most part, at least in the state of Illinois, guns confiscated by police officers, whether taken from an illegal owner or confiscated as evidence in a crime investigation, are ordered by state law to be destroyed. The destruction process, governed by the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms) includes breaking down the gun and melting the steel, literally never to be identifiable as a gun again. To do this, however, has a cost.

Police departments and sheriff’s departments across Illinois are tasked with taking these firearms, in many cases thousands of confiscated guns at a time, to a legally licensed destroyer or steel smelter and then cataloging and tracking the official destruction of each and every gun. In many cases, this process costs the departments money to have this process completed, but in the best cases, it costs only hours and hours of officer time. This is time that should be used by officers to tend to other duties, duties that can directly translate into the immediate safety or rescue of a civilian in distress.

So why, when there is a company like Law Weapons &Supply who is willing, able and eager to provide this service for free to any and all police and sheriff’s departments in the state of Illinois, would any department continue to destroy these guns by traditional means? Law Weapons is offering to serve these officers and their departments by providing all transportation, all record keeping, all tracking, all official documentation of destruction and all physical handling of these weapons at absolutely no charge to the departments, saving them countless hours of officer time by relieving them of this long and arduous task.

Not only would these departments be taking advantage of a service offered by a locally owned business, increasing relations along the way, but they would be saving themselves countless hours of work and tremendous headaches in the accounting, disassembly and official destruction of confiscated firearms, not to mention any monetary cost involved whatsoever. Law Weapons & Supply is a small federally licensed gun dealer, started by local police officers and security professionals who literally want nothing more than to serve our local and state police departments wherever they can and help out in whatever way they are able.

It seems to me that if a private, locally owned and operated company, fighting for survival in today’s marketplace is willing and eager to assist our local and state law enforcement at absolutely no charge with any of the many tasks for which they are already understaffed, there should be no question.

THE ZIP CAR DRIVES KATHY POSNER CRAZY

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP

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 Zip Car

My condo building owns the garage on which the building sits. Unit owners can not own individual spaces but our monthly parking price is less than what we charge non-resident parkers. Because we allow hourly parking also, the garage is a revenue stream for the building in the same way parking in city-owned lots is revenue for the city. But there are some problems in both cases when outside deals are made.

In my building, if a non-resident wants a reserved space the fee is $389/month. But the Board made a deal with Zip Car that they get two spaces at only $220/month per space. That is a yearly loss of revenue of $4,056 to the buildings coffers. The Board’s explanation for this seemingly “inside deal” was that it made it convenient for residents who don’t have their own personal car to have easy access to the automobile sharing service Zip Car provides. So those people who do own a car and have to pay a higher parking price, gas, repairs, license fees, etc. are subsidizing those who do not. That seems unfair to me.

Last week the Chicago City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate approved the lease of city-owned parking spaces to the car sharing company, I-Go. If the full City Council approves the deal next week, I-Go's agreement will be valid through Dec. 31, 2016. The company will receive 10 parking spaces across five city-owned parking lots. The lots are located at 2418 W. Division St. in the 26th Ward, 740 N. Ashland Ave. and 1311 N. Moorman St. in the 1st Ward, 2019 W. Lawrence Ave. in the 47th Ward, and 5430 W. Gale St. in the 45th Ward. Each lot will supply two parking spaces.

Since during the length of the lease, the city is expected to receive $50,000 in revenue it sounds like a good deal until one hears the monthly per space price of the deal, only $85 per car! I also learned that last year, the city executed the same type of agreement with Zip Car. There is no tax-paying citizen in the City of Chicago who gets to rent a parking space at that low a fee. Because I don’t know the exact price those monthly spaces usually rent for, I cannot estimate the exact loss of revenue if the car companies had to pay the full price like everyone else does. I do know though that the deal is unfair to car-owning tax-payers who can’t get a price like this.

I guess we need to hire our own lobbyists to protect our rights.

Read More From Planet Posner HERE....

KATHY POSNER GET'S RESULTS IN CHICAGO

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP

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 Smug Kathy Posner

Sue Kupcinet, president of the Kathy Posner Fan Club and loyal, daily blog reader, asked me to do a follow up on some stories I wrote about. Because she performs many tasks as President of the Club, how could I turn down this simple request? If I did, she might stop answering all the fan mail! So this blog is for Sue.

LISA AND THE SALON

On Wednesday, March 28th, I wrote about how my friend Lisa was having a problem redeeming a gift certificate at a beauty salon. This seemingly innocent posting had nothing to do with important worldly issues of the day, yet it received 42 comments-- more comments than any other posting in the three year history of the blog.

It was a simple story. Lisa had received a $200 gift certificate as a present but when she tried to make an appointment at the salon, they would not make one without her giving a credit card number over the phone. Lisa did not want to do that and came to me for help. She wanted me to “trash” the salon.

I could not turn Lisa down because she is the friend who has accompanied me to the hospital at check-in every one of the twelve times I have had a surgical procedure. Since I have checked-out all twelve of those times, I feel Lisa is my good luck charm so I could not turn her down.

The posting had very successful results. By the afternoon of March 28th, the salon owner had called Lisa and begged her to “call off the dogs.” So many people had posted complaints on the salon’s web site it had crashed and their Facebook page was littered with nasty remarks. The owner agreed to let Lisa make an appointment without giving her credit card number.

Lisa has not gone to the salon yet because she is worried that they might do the equivalent of “spitting” in her food. She thinks she will spend the gift money on products instead.

SUN-TIMES SUBSCRIPTION PRICE

On April 18th, I wrote three stories about money.One of them had to do with my being upset that the Sun-Times had raised its home delivery subscription price from $107 to $169 a year or 57%. They also wanted payment a year in advance and who knew if the newspaper would still exist in a year!

I went on-line and discovered I could buy a yearly subscription for only $91 if I were not already a subscriber. The only catch for me was that I would have to cancel my home delivery for three months to be able to take advantage of the offer.

I called the Sun-Times subscription department and gave them two options. They could either give me the $91 price now or I would cancel. They turned me down. This made no sense to me because newspapers are desperate for subscribers and each one is golden. But I was going to stick with what I wrote and cancel the paper when my current subscription expired in May.

Last week I received a call from the Sun-Times subscription department saying they heard I was upset and they were willing to give me a year’s subscription for the $91 price. I accepted the offer.

I was feeling very smug thinking some high executive at the paper had heard about my blog but then I learned the truth.

Loyal blog reader Cheryl Lewin had passed my posting on to an advertising executive at the paper who wrote her. 

“Hi Cheryl, It was good to hear from you, but only until I got to the part where we pissed off a loyal reader; thank you SO MUCH for calling this situation to my attention. “ I am not going to share the name of the ad exec because I don’t think it would be fair for everyone to start bothering him about their subscription pricing. I have to protect my sources!

PLASTIC BAGS

On March 27th I wrote about my fear that the State of Illinois was looking into legislation that would outlaw plastic bag. I love plastic bags and did not want to see this happen. Instead it looks like Senate Bill 3442 would create a recycling act and the bags will be not be banned.

Synopsis As Introduced:

"Creates the Plastic Bag and Film Recycling Act. Requires manufacturers of plastic carryout bags to register with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and pay to the Agency an initial registration fee and annual registration renewal fee. Prohibits a manufacturer from selling or offering to sell plastic carryout bag in the State unless the manufacturer is registered with the Agency and its name is printed on the plastic carryout bags it manufactures. Requires each manufacturer to develop, and submit to the Agency, a plan to support the collection and recycling of plastic carryout bags and plastic film product wrap. Prohibits retailers from purchasing plastic carryout bags from manufacturers under certain circumstances. Sets forth duties of the Agency. Creates penalties for violations of the Act. Encourages manufacturers to include recycled content in the plastic carryout bags that they produce."

CONCLUSION

Lisa will be able to carry home her salon products in a plastic bag, the Sun-Times will be delivered in a plastic bag and I will have a convenient way to suffocate the next person who makes me mad!

KATHY POSNER RECYCLES CHICAGO NUMBERS

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP
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Chicago's Kathy Posner

First some background for those not from Chicago. In 2007, the City of Chicago introduced the Blue Cart Recycling program. This is a program for people who live in a single-family home, 2-flat building or 3 or 4-flat building. According to the web site of the Department of Streets and Sanitation,” Recyclables are picked up and transported in specially designated recycling trucks to avoid contamination with regular garbage. Materials are taken to a city-approved recycling center where they are sorted into separate materials, called commodities, then baled or packaged for delivery to manufacturers who reprocess or reuse the materials to make new products.”


Materials that are accepted by the program are:


•Glass: jars and bottles,•Metal: cans, aluminum foil and pie tins,•Paper and Cardboard (flattened): Cereal boxes, paper towel rolls, cardboard (flatten all boxes), junk mail, magazines, catalogs, telephone books, paper bags, office paper and file folders, newspaper and inserts, paper greeting cards, wrapping paper,•Plastic: bottles and containers (# 1-5, 7 accepted), plastic beverage rings.



Currently there are approximately 600,000 homes that qualify for Blue Cart Recycling, but only 240,000 are part of the program. Last week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the remaining 340,000 Chicago households that don’t have curbside recycling will get it by the end of 2013. According to the Chicago Tribune,” The administration says it can afford to expand the recycling program because pickup has become more efficient in the six months since two private firms started competing with city crews.”


The Sun-Times reported, “A service that cost the city $4.77 for every blue cart collected before the competition is now being provided by city crews for $3.28 a cart including the sale of recyclables and by private contractors for $2.70 a cart, officials said. That’s a $2.2 million savings over a six-month period.”


IT IS NOT A $2.2 MILLION SAVINGS, IT IS A LOT MORE! Did the city have 4 year-olds with a rudimentary understanding of mathematics calculate the savings? The true savings are astounding and I can’t understand how my figures are so totally different from what the city claims.



Here are the simple statistics:



(A) 240,000 households at $4.77 means that each pick up costs $1,144,800 when it is performed by city workers at the old cost.


(B) The program calls for a pick up once every week, so that means there are 24 pick ups in six months which gives a cost of $27,475,200 at the old rate.


(C) 240,000 at $3.28 which is the more efficient city rate, means each pick up costs $787,200 or $18,892,800 for six months.


(D) 240,000 at $2.70—the private haulers rate-- means each pick up costs $648,000 or $15,552,000 for six months.


Conclusions:


(A) The old city six month pick up costs compared to the lower efficient city pick up costs are $27,475,200 vs. $18,892,800. That is a savings of $8,582,400.


(B) The old city six month pick up costs were $27,475,200 and the private haulers rate is $15,552,800. That is a savings of $11,922,400.


I know I am not wrong, so I cannot figure out why the city is saying there is only a savings of $2.2 million!! Even if the pick up is only once every two weeks, the resultant savings are still greater than $2.2 million. Emanuel is gloating about how much money the privatization has saved taxpayers, but his bragging numbers are wrong. How come nobody else has figured this out? Whose calculator is wrong? I don’t think it’s mine.

KATHY POSNER INVESTIGATES CHICAGO JOBS

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP
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Kathy Posner

Last November I wrote a blog about how the Chicago City Council had finally hired a Chicago Legislative Inspector General, 18 months after the ordinance to create the job was passed. Because the current Chicago Inspector General (IG) is banned by ordinance to investigate Aldermen, a new office had to be created just for the purpose of investigating allegations of misconduct by Aldermen, Aldermanic staff or members of the City Council. Selected for the job was Faisal Khan, a former New York City attorney who had been Inspector General at New York City Department of Investigation. I wondered what has happened to him since last November when a friend recently asked me if I knew how to reach Khan.


Remember that the Chicago City Council only appropriated $60,000 to run the office. Alderman Joe Moore (D-49) said at the time that the part-time salary and no staff authorized for the new inspector general in the 2012 budget supports his claim that Khan will “end up being window dressing.” He also said, “I don’t know the man. I will assume he’s a man of utmost integrity. But it doesn’t matter how much integrity and independence you have. If you don’t have the tools to do the job, then you are going to be ineffective. And it does not appear he’s been given the tools to do the job.”


There has not been a single story in the news about Kahn in the last six months. That made me wonder, "Is he doing his job?"


I went to the City of Chicago web site and looked for his office. It does not exist. I went to the city employee directory and he is not listed. I called the city information hot line at 311 and asked how I could reach Faisal Khan. The operator did not know who he was. I told her he was the Legislative Inspector General. She said she did not have any listing for that office.

What if I wanted to report misconduct? I could not find him through official City of Chicago channels, so I went to Google. I found Khan’s LinkedIn listing I know I found the correct Khan because this is what was written:

“Legislative Inspector General"
City of Chicago
Government Agency; 10,001+ employees; Government Administration industry
November 2011 – Present (6 months) Chicago

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:


Creation of the first Office of the Legislative Inspector General for the city of Chicago; Investigating allegations of, but not limited to, fraudulent, corrupt or criminal activity, conflicts of interest, unethical conduct, misconduct, and incompetence of City of Chicago Aldermen and employees of the Chicago city council; Work in conjunction with the United States Department of Justice and other federal and state investigative agencies in furtherance of OLIG investigations and prosecutions; Determine and designate appropriate resources and techniques towards initiation of investigative matters, as well as develop rules, regulations, and guidelines for investigative practices; Formally disclose, report, and issue various extensive reports delineating outcomes of investigations, audits, evaluations and inspections to all relevant parties; Conduct extensive legal research of federal, state, and local criminal, civil, and administrative codes and laws for compliance purposes. “
He certainly has a lot of responsibilities for a part time employee with no staff and no office in City Hall!


I finally found out how to reach Khan from a posting he had put up on EveryBlock.com in February in response to a comment someone had made about Chicago being such a corrupt city.


“Hello -
I am the Legislative Inspector General for the City of Chicago. The Office of the Legislative Inspector General is charged with investigating allegations of misconduct by Aldermen, Alderman staff, and/or members of City Council.
If you have any complaints or allegations of impropriety against any Alderman and/or their staff, please contact me at my office. Since this Office has only recently been created, we are still in the process of making ourselves readily available to members of the public. However, the complaint process is up and running, and as such, I can be reached at faisal.khan@cityofchicago.org. The office hotline number is (312) 744-2312.


If there is anything I can assist you with, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please also feel free to forward this contact information to anyone. I look forward to hearing from you.”


Since 1972, when there was no Inspector General investigating City Council, 29 current and former Chicago aldermen have been sentenced to jail. No wonder no permanent office has been set up for him and he is not listed in the Chicago employee directory, it is obvious Aldermen don’t want people to be able to easily find him.


But now you know how, just in case.

Read more from Planet Posner HERE.....


Editors Note: We wonder if Kathy Posner called the number she found or does it even work?

PLASTIC IS CHICAGO'S KATHY POSNERS BAG

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP
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Nothing Plastic About Kathy Posner

On May 11th last year, I wrote a blog “Confessions of a Plastic-A-Holic,” where I highlighted my love affair with plastic bags and why I was upset about the potential plastic bag ban in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. Not that I ever go to Evanston, but since it is so close to my hometown, I was afraid the potential ban could spill over the border.


Some cities currently have plastic bag ban ordinances and I was excited to discover that the measure passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is being challenged in court. An association called, “Save the Plastic Bag Coalition,” filed a motion last week in which, “Petitioner seeks a judgment and writ of mandate to set aside, void, annul, and repeal San Francisco Ordinance No. 33-12 (the “Ordinance”). The Ordinance bans plastic carryout bags (“plastic bags”) at retail stores, restaurants, and other food establishments, and requires that consumers pay a 10-cent fee for each paper carryout bag (“paper bag”) and each compostable carryout bag (“compostable bag”).


Steven Joseph of the coalition wrote, “A 10-cent fee is, or may be, far too low to act as an effective incentive to promote the use of reusable bags. No one will carry a reusable bag with them for unplanned impulse buying. Very few people will carry a reusable bag to Macy’s or other department stores to save a dime. Very few people will carry a large reusable bag to purchase one or two small items such as earrings or a watch or a snack from Union Square or Chinatown. Very few tourists will carry reusable bags when they visit Fisherman’s Wharf and tour the city."


I was thinking my love of plastic bags might put me in a unique category until I discovered there were others like me who wanted to protect the plastic bag. I found www.BagtheBan.com. The facts presented reassured me that plastic bags are good and not the environmental horror that the tree huggers claim.


The site’s fact sheet said:


“Plastic bags are 100 percent recyclable.


Across the U.S., millions of people are choosing plastic bags to take their items home from the store. These bags can be a sustainable option for our country when disposed of properly and recycled. Millions of pounds of bags are recycled each year by being brought in to local grocers for collection. Recycled plastic bags are used to make new plastic bags and building products, such as backyard decks, playground equipment, and fences.

If consumers lose their choice of plastic bags at checkout or are forced to pay for them, people would purchase thicker garbage bags, introducing even more plastic into the environment.


Facts about Recycling


· Retail plastic bags are only one small fraction of the litter problem. Solving the larger litter problem isn't about banning grocery plastic bags. The solution is to create new opportunities for recycling all plastics.

· Plastic bag recycling has doubled in the past nine years.1 In 2010, more than 900 million pounds of post-consumer plastic bags, sacks and wraps were recycled.

· According to the EPA, the recycling rate of polyethylene bags, sacks and wraps in 2010 was 14.7 percent, a 23.8 percent increase from the rate in 2009. Recycling of polyethylene bags, sacks and wraps has now grown in 9 out of the last 10 years.

· These recycling efforts support thousands of green jobs which will be damaged with plastic bag bans and taxes.


Facts about Plastic Bags



· On a per bag basis, plastic grocery bags are the best checkout option for our environment. Plastic bags are more resource efficient, reduce landfill waste and generate fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

They take up a lot less space in a landfill: 1,000 plastic bags weigh 13 pounds; 1,000 paper bags weigh 114 pounds.




They generate 80 percent less waste than paper bags.



They make up a tiny fraction (less than 0.5 percent) of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream.


· American plastic bags are made from natural gas, NOT oil. In the U.S., 85 percent of the raw material used to make plastic bags is produced from natural gas.


· Recycled plastic bags are used to make new plastic bags and building products, such as backyard decks, playground equipment, and fences.”

Now I will admit that Bag the Ban is a project of Hilex Poly, an industry-leading manufacturer of recycled content high density polyethylene (HDPE) bags, films and related products—so they might have a vested interested. But I don’t care where I get my supporting facts from, as long as I get to keep using plastic bags. Another use of plastic bags that was not mentioned--they are quite handy for quietly suffocating one’s enemies.


Editors Note: I have mixed feelings about plastic bags. Lets face it, not many are recycled. Most people use them for their garbage and then throw them all away. There is not much recycling going on. On the other hand, they save trees, which I think is more important. They are also good on a drunken night out when you pick up someone and don't want to look at their face. I think the only answer is to educate the public even better on recycling. Sooner than later the plastics are going to catch up with us and we will have a price to pay. We are already seeing this in the Pacific rim where they have 100's of miles of garbage floating around. The plastics take years to dissolve and when they do, they become part of the food chain. These chemicals are ingested by the seafood we eat. Then we are eating these toxic chemicals.

I think a good start would to ban plastic soda and milk bottles. Cans are easy to recycle and dissolve in landfills. Plastics can take thousands of years. There is no one answer here. Would love to hear what the readers think. Comment as you see fit!

You can read more from Planet Posner HERE...

WALLACE 'GATOR' BRADLEY MADE A DIFFERENCE

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP

Story By: Kathy Posner
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Mancow Muller With Wallace “Gator” Bradley

Wallace "Gator" Bradley growing up in the Racine Courts housing projects in Chicago’s Southside in the 1960’s did not have much of a chance for advancement in life except for what the street gangs could offer. Today is his 60th birthday and I wanted to share his story. Coincidentally it is also the date of my Mother’s birthday. She passed 36 years ago; the two had totally disparate lives. Without her, there would no me. Odd that he and I are friends coming from such different backgrounds.


The young man became a member of Chicago’s largest street gang, the Gangster Disciples (GDs), founded by his childhood friend Larry Hoover. He rose through the ranks, becoming an enforcer, and in 1975 he was convicted of armed robbery. Sentenced to Stateville Penitentiary in Joliet, he was reunited with Hoover, who was serving a 150- to 200-year sentence for the 1973 murder of William Young, who allegedly stole drugs and money from the GDs.


Hoover and his friend realized that they needed to change their lives and decided to transform the GDs into a community service organization. After my friend left prison, he devoted himself to community work with Chicago’s inner-city youth. On January 5, 1980, Illinois Governor James Thompson issued my friend a pardon and this young man committed his life to political activism and community service. In 1981, Hoover changed the name of the GDs from the Gangster Disciples to Growth and Development, with a mission to bring positive change to inner-city youth through education.


My friend became involved in politics through the campaign of Cook County Commissioner Jerry “Iceman” Butler and became the Commissioner’s assistant until 1992. He ran for the seat of Chicago 3rd Ward Alderman in 1991, and while he lost that race to incumbent Dorothy Tillman, the race earned national attention.


One of the highlights of his life happened in 1994, when he was invited to the White House to visit President Bill Clinton to give the president a briefing on violence in the inner city.


He has worked with many politicians and was an early organizer with Barack Obama when the President was a community organizer at a Southside church. He has been recognized for his work and, along with many other awards, in 1989 he was presented with the United Negro College Fund Meritorious Service Award.


Today he consults on political campaigns and I am honored to have met him through our mutual work on Justice Joy Cunningham’s campaign in her race for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court.


When we first met, we had a number of clashes, but we found peace with each other and now share a deep mutual respect. I am saddened at meetings of Editorial Boards and Forums when Justice Cunningham is asked about her involvement with this man and the questions are presented in a contentious light.


He was pardoned 32 years ago and has proved his devotion to enhancing the lives of black youth. When will the unfair questions stop? Happy Birthday, Wallace “Gator” Bradley.

CAN'T PAY YOUR BILL WITH MACY'S GIFT CARD

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP

Story By: Kathy Posner
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Chicago Macy's

“NO” TO “HAPPY NEW YEAR’S”


Just because one turns the calendar on a page, and the year date advances, does not make one bit of a difference in my life. There is no distinction for me between December 31st and January 1st and I am sick of people saying, “Happy New Year” as if one day will vary from the next having anything to do with the date.


I turned off my cell phone on the evening of December 31st so I would not be awakened by all the stupid, “Happy New Year’s” texts that started coming in right after midnight. When I looked at them the next morning, they were group texts, so they were meaningless and had nothing to do with me personally.


All day on the first, I was forced to respond to people chanting, “Happy New Year’s” until I wanted to start screaming! I was forced to respond with greetings in return rather than seem like Andy Rooney ranting at the end of a “Sixty Minutes” episode. Which, of course, will not happen again, since he died in 2011!



“NO” TO FACEBOOK AND TWITTER




Facebook and Twitter are wonderful ways of disseminating IMPORTANT information to groups of people at one time. Notice the caveat, “important,” because most of the postings have to do with such stupid inane items as visiting a friend's Aunt’s cat and drinking a beer at the Bulls game.


Why are people so egotistical to think that anyone cares about the mundane occurrences in their day to day lives? You got a red sweater for Christmas? Please! Don’t bore me! Win the Nobel Peace Prize, and I would be thrilled to learn the news.



“NO” TO GIFT CARDS



I think giving gift cards is the lazy man’s way to not being creative. Handing over a gift card as a gift shows that the giver does not care at all. It totally sends a message to the recipient that you did not care enough about them to discover what their interests are and what might be a pleasant surprise. A present should come in a beautiful box with wrapping and bows. It should not be in a flat envelope—unless it is a check for $1,000,000! If the person does not like the gift, they can always return it, but they knew that you took the trouble to spend time thinking about them.


I received $500 worth of Macy’s gift cards from a promotion I participated in. I did not want to keep them, because I knew I would lose them and forget about them, as I have with gift cards in the past. So I took them to Macy’s to pay my bill. Macy’s would not accept them. I argued in vain, that gift cards were the same as cash, but the manager would not budge. The store’s theory was that someone had given me the cards to BUY something and not to pay for something I had BOUGHT in the past. I asked, how did the manager know that? She had no response, except to tell me she would not accept the cards.


I wanted to tell her, “Happy New Year” with my finger extended, but I was too much a lady to do that. So, instead, I will ask Illinois State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo), who passed gift card usage legislation in Illinois to look into it. When I force Macy’s to accept gift cards as payment for my bill, I will Tweet it. Now that is important news!


You can read more from Planet Posner here....

DRUG DEALING FELONIES & CHICAGO SCHOOLS

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP

Story By: Kathy Posner
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Kathy Posner

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word, “school” as a noun is defined as “an organization that provides instruction.” At dictionary.com, the word is defined as “an institution for educating children.” Likely, we all thought we knew what a school was, but a recent Illinois Supreme Court ruling has changed the definition of school as we know it.


Illinois statute720 ILCS 570/407(b)(2) has a section that makes Delivery of a Controlled Substance a Class 1 felony if it is committed within 1,000 feet of a school. So exactly what constitutes a “school” is very important for drug dealers to know.



The facts of the case I am writing about are not in dispute. On January 28, 2007, an undercover officer approached Anthony Young where he was standing on the sidewalk at 4958 West Augusta Boulevard in Chicago, and bought some heroin from him. The sale occurred within approximately 443 feet from the High Mountain Church and Preschool.


A jury found Young guilty of delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school. An Illinois Appellate Court reduced the conviction to delivery of a controlled substance, finding that a preschool is not a “school” within the meaning of section 407(b)(2) of the Act. Did the Supreme Court agree?


According to a Supreme Court opinion last week, “Young was charged with one count of delivery of a controlled substance (720 ILCS 570/401(d) (West 2008)) and one count of delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising any school (720 ILCS 570/407(b)(2) (West 2008)). Prior to trial, in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant filed a motion in limine seeking to exclude evidence of the location of the preschool, arguing that a preschool is not a ‘school’ within the meaning of section 407(b)(2) of the Act.”


So is a preschool a school? Not in Illinois! The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed a 20-year old Appellate Court ruling (People v. Goldstein, 204 Ill. App.3de 1041 (1990)) that the definition of “school” is unclear in the law and that “school” meant "any public or private elementary or secondary school, community college, college or university." No mention of preschool!


The Illinois Supreme Court agreed with the Appellate Court and said that if the legislature had wanted preschool to be defined as a school, they would have expanded the definition.

Great loophole for Anthony Young -- but not for other, future offenders. I have spoken to State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) about amending the law. He agrees that it needs to be fixed and will create a definition of “school” that is so tight it will include a group of fish.

Read More From Planet Posner Here.....

CHRISTMAS IN CHICAGO WITH DONNY & MARIE

Christmas In Chicago With Donny & Marie

Donny And Marie Osmond

Donny and Marie Osmond had their 'Christmas in Chicago' at the Oriental Theater in Chicago, IL.


Photos By:: Scott Harrison / Retna Ltd.