HUBERMAN BUYS MILLION DOLLAR HOME - MUST BE NICE

We are taking pay cuts and working OT for comp time. Ron got a big raise and can now afford a million dollar home. He's cutting the school budget to the bone and laying off workers. While he and his top officials make outrageous salaries. The kids are in bigger class rooms with fewer extra curricular activities. It's like the middle ages. We're the peasants and Ron, Rich and their friends are the noblemen. I'm sick of it. This is a democracy. We have to have a grassroots effort to remove these thieves from their thrones. Remember these outrages in February and vote them out.

911 CALL

PRANK CALLS

Another story about prank calls to 911. Yet nobody seems to be able to stop it. Why not start charging people for calls to 911. You could charge more each time someone calls. Do it weekly. First call of the week is free. Second call is 25 cents. Third call is 50 cents. Fourth call - a dollar. Tenth call - ten dollars. Then when the bill payer gets the bill the prank caller gets their ass kicked. You could find some kind of formula where legitimate callers would not be discouraged from calling. I'm sure they have statistics to help them figure out when and how much to charge. I call 911 maybe 3 or 4 times a year. Usually to try and help people stranded on the highway. I would not have to pay anything so I would not be discouraged from calling. Some kid who calls everyday after school would be discouraged after the ass whooping. Maybe they could start paying overtime with all the money they would make.

SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS

Politicians suggest national guard troops and gun shot detection technology. That might help catch the shooters. But it doesn't solve the problem. The shooters will be replaced. There's always someone willing to fight over drug turf or even the score. The answers have to be community based. Better parenting and more social support. But that only does so much when the parents are involved with drugs and gangs and the ghetto lifestyle. Sometimes it seems like there are no answers. All we can do is stem the bleeding and try and isolate the problem. But we would all be better off if someone did come up with a viable solution.

NEW RADIO TOWERS

The Daley administration got the go-ahead today to build “wireless communications towers” — as high as 15-story buildings — adjacent to police and fire stations to improve radio communications and pave the way for more surveillance cameras

“The reason we need this 150-foot height is because it provides a clear line of sight for our communications towers over trees and existing buildings,” said Deputy Fire Commissioner Michael Callahan.

“Some of the areas of the city right now — we don’t have as robust communications capability as we’d like. Specifically, the Southwest and South Sides of the city as far as radio transmission.”


Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th) acknowledged that the 150-foot towers “are not going to be pretty.” But, she’s willing to tolerate the eyesore if it paves the way for surveillance cameras at schools, parks and playlots that can’t get them.

“If you go up our hills off Longwood Drive to get up to West Beverly and Mount Greenwood, we can’t get cameras. The radio tower we have at 104th and Vincennes, which is outside our ward, can’t reach up the hills through all the trees. There’s no line of sight,” Rugai said.

Currently, the Police and Fire Departments operate separate radio systems. That can require towers to be located in close proximity.

But, work has begun on a “City of Chicago radio system” that would someday consolidate all the radio systems.

“It’s a very, very large job. We’re trying to find out what all of the other agencies need — what their requirements are — so we can meet their operational needs,” one official said.

I hope this new system is better than the one they installed in zone 4. I bet the city will lease space on these towers to cell phone companies. Probably just another way to give out contracts to connected people. They never seemed to give a damn about fire or police radios in the past. Why now? Someone will get rich off this. And the radios won't get any better.

CFD TRIBUTE

SIGNS OF SUMMER

The boats are headed back to the lake. Summer is on the way. It will be busy with all the shootings and killings and fights and insanity. Just remember to enjoy your time away from work. Spend time with family and friends. With all its faults Chicago is still a great city. Get out and enjoy it. Stay safe and have a great summer.

PENSION PROBLEMS

The combined unfunded liability of the Laborers, Municipal Employees, Police and Firefighters pension funds now stands at 42 percent, down from 62 percent just two years ago and 80 percent in 1996.
To reach a 90 percent ratio over 50 years -- assuming annual investment returns of 8 percent -- would require $710 million more each year. Sixty percent of that would come from taxpayers, 40 percent from city employees.
Click here for article

Another article here

The city refused to keep their end of the bargain. They underfunded the pensions. The workers kept their end of the bargain. They paid in. Every time a city worker got paid, money was taken out to fund the pensions. The city wasted money on TIFs, Olympic bids, planters, corruption and who knows what else. The managers, contractors, consultants and friends of the administration got filthy rich. Now they want the employees and the tax payers to suffer for their greed. City workers will work longer, pay more and retire with less. All to fund the Mayor's kingdom of corruption.

**CHICAGOWORKS** OEMC VIDEO

RAHMBO FOR MAYOR

In January, after the Washington Post published a story that said Emanuel, a one-time Daley aide and longtime supporter of the mayor, was mulling a mayoral run, Emanuel did not deny the report, instead saying in a statement he was "100 percent focused on the job at hand: serving President Obama as his chief of staff."
At the time, Daley himself dismissed the report as gossip.
But tonight, Emanuel said he missed the regular contact he had with constituents as a representative of Illinois' 5th District. "You learned a lot," he told Rose, according to a transcript of the interview.
Emanuel has long been rumored to covet the job of Speaker of the House, but he said in the interview that hope was "over."
Emanuel was a chief fundraiser for the mayor's first election campaign in 1989 and later served as an aide to Daley. He was a White House staffer during the Clinton administration and after a brief career investment banking, was elected to Congress in 2002.

Could this be true? Will Daley reitire? If he was going to retire this would seem like the right time to do it. He lost the Olympics and that seemed to take the wind out of his sails. He doesn't have any big projects to work on. O'Hare expansion is still going on but that's on autopilot. The budget seems to have stabilized. There are no union contracts left to settle. Also he has family issues to deal with. His wife is sick and who knows what kind of trouble his son and nephews are in.

I am beginning to wonder what kind of mayor  Rahmbo would make.

MEAN STREETS

Murders are up in Chicago but down nationwide. Why?

INSURANCE AUDIT

Once again the city is going after the workers. We will be forced to produce documents to show our dependents belong on our insurance. Will the alderthieves have to prove eligibility for their dependents? When will city hall be audited? They continue to waste money and steal services while we pay for it.

IG INVESTIGATES OEMC

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2010-04/53336980.pdf
IGO Case # 08-0574

An IGO investigation revealed that an Office of Emergency Management (OEMC) employee,
Employee A, knew or should have known that an OEMC filing to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) by a supervisor was false. The false filing was made to obtain new radio
channels.
During its investigation, the IGO discovered that a firm OEMC hired as a consultant for FCC
issues did not have a contract with the City. Instead OEMC paid the firm by routing payments
through unrelated contracts with other vendors who did have City contracts, effectively serving
as pass-throughs, and charging the City an additional premium for doing so, all in clear violation
of the City’s procurement policies and procedures. The investigation found that Employee B
failed to ensure that the contractual payments OEMC made to the firm were appropriate. In
addition, the firm failed to fully cooperate with the IGO’s investigation.
The IGO recommended that: (i) Employee A be suspended for 30 days, (ii) Employee B be
suspended for 14 days, (iii) the firm be permanently debarred, and (iv) the pass-through contract
vendors be required to return their mark-up premiums to the City.
OEMC’s responses to the IGO’s recommendations are pending.

  Wow. You would think people would learn after what happened to JA. I guess we will know
who it is when the suspensions get handed down.

COPS GET A RAW DEAL

Police got a contract that adds up to 2% a year. The alderthiefs and the mayor get to steal more for themselves. These used to be good jobs that you could take pride in. Every city employee has to be questioning their career choice at this point.

ALDERPERSON EXPENSE ACCOUNTS - NEW JOBS FOR OLD FRIENDS

What a crime. Aldermen are taking more for themselves while they are taking away from city employees. Daley is giving big jobs to flunkies like Picardi while he is leaving the OEMC and the police department understaffed. We are making less money than ever while they continue to find ways to take more. It's outrageous.

Picardi

Aldermen

POLICE WIN FOOTBALL GAME VS FIRE

CHICAGO GANG UNIT

RUSH HOUR PARKING BAN

The city is considering lifting the ban on rush hour parking in some areas. They sure are going out of their way to make money for this new parking meter company. Doesn't Daley have enough bad press from this already? You would think he would try and keep the meters out of the news. Somethings not right. Of course the money changing hands will be coming from the citizens. So why should the powers that be give a rats ass?

SO...HOW WAS THE MEETING?

CITY HALL CRACKING DOWN ON WORKERS COMP

They are going after people who are fraudulently collecting workman's comp. They will also make it a pain in the ass to collect legitimate claims. They always find ways to squeeze the workers while the administration and the clouted contractors get rich.

TRUE 911 EMERGENCIES

GUN CRIME IN CHICAGO

Jody Weis looks like a coward in this video. First they report how great the camera network is. Now they report how bad the gunfire is. If the cameras are so great why are people able to shoot without fear of being recorded?

ASSOCIATED PRESS WEIGHS IN ON CHICAGO'S CAMERAS

The national news is painting our camera system in a positve light. The police on the streets don't seem to think they're worth a damn. At least from what I read on SCC. I have not heard much from our local press about them. If they were solving crimes I would expect it to be reported by the local news. How do our dispatchers and other OEMC employees feel about them?

TOYOTA - STUCK ACCELERATOR

FYI
Here is an interesting link about what to tell a driver who is in a Toyota with a stuck accelerator.
http://emergencydispatch.org/vehicle_accelerator_stuck.php

R.I.P. BRIAN COLIN "BOO" CAREY

Brian Colin "Boo" Carey, age 28, suddenly. Firefighter for Homewood Fire Department. Beloved son of Brian W. and Kathleen, nee Condon; dear brother of Margaret, Kevin and Anne Carey; fond nephew, cousin and friend of many including Beatrice, the dog. Member of Homewood Fire Fighters Local 3656. Brian was an avid runner and a volunteer for Life Source and PAWS. Donations in memory of Brian to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation would be appreciated. Funeral Tuesday 9 a.m. from Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, 4727 W. 103rd Street, Oak Lawn to St. Bernadette Church, 93rd and Francisco, Evergreen Park, Il. For 10 a.m. Mass. Interment Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Visitation Monday 2 to to 9 p.m.

HAPPY EASTER

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QUINN PARDONS 147

The OEMC takes the call, we dispatch the police. The police arrest the offenders. The judge locks them up. And the governor lets them out. What does he care? They won't be in his neighborhood. His family is in no danger.
We will wait for them to victimize someone else. Hoping our families are safe. We will take the call again. The police will arrest them again. And they will get locked up again. How does that save the state any money? What a dumbass.

dumb idea

BULLETS FLY

MANDATORY OT

O'Hare OC dispatchers and call takers are being forced to work 16 hour shifts. Is it too much? We know it's hard to function with that much sleep deprivation. Decision making is degraded. One mistake that leads to someone getting hurt and the city will be paying out more millions in settlements. And the dispatcher will have to take the fall. Could it happen here?

APRIL FOOLS

Any good fools today?