Sunday, October 31, 2010

Saturday, October 30, 2010

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Monday, October 18, 2010

TIME FOR SOME HOUSE CLEANING





Porn, short days, kickbacks in inspector general's report
By FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
 
City of Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson had a full plate again in the past few months, and those investigations — outlined in a report Monday — were among the reasons why.

One of the most troubling irregularities Ferguson uncovered: contract irregularities at the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications that pose a “significant risk to the city’s emergency preparedness.” OEMC was accused of improperly routing a $23 million sole-source contract to a company — identified by City Hall sources as Schaumburg-based Motorola — when the deal should have been competitively bid.
To justify the no-bid contract, OEMC officials cited an earlier, $2 million deal with Motorola for similar technology. In fact, the earlier expenditure was $350,000. And that, too, was spent “without any contract or procurement process whatsoever,” Ferguson wrote.
“As a result, the city is now committed to a digital radio system that has never been the subject of any competitive procurement process,” Ferguson wrote.
The inspector general noted that his investigation was “ultimately frustrated” by the “debilitating combination” of “high turnover, endemic finger-pointing, poor or non-existent internal controls and missing paperwork.”
“OEMC’s long-running failure to effectively manage the procurement and contract process presents a significant risk to the city’s emergency preparedness, fiscal security and grant compliance,” the report states.
“The IGO is not suggesting that the city’s current emergency preparedness is substandard. We did not evaluate that. We merely note that bypasses of competitive bidding and purchase and contract protocols increases the risk of substandard outcomes in his critical realm.”
read more...

Wow. Who the hell keeps this scheme going? JA was involved the first time. Would AR and his crowd be dumb enough to do it too? Or was it someone else? With all the turnover and new faces on the tech floor it's hard to guess. I'm sure the whole management team is on their way out via the new mayor anyway. Looks like some of them will be gone sooner rather than later. What an embarrassment. We must have the most incompetent management personnel of any major emergency department in the country. They hold us up as the gold standard when the tours are shuffling through. It's all lies. We are no doubt on the edge of complete failure. Why were the zones forced over to the citywides last week? How long before we have a major meltdown? I just hope they hold the right people responsible.

Friday, October 15, 2010

2011 CITY BUDGET

They always seem to be able to cut a few communications operators and tradespeople. Why can't they ever eliminate management positions? I assure you, the place would run just fine without half of the dead weight that pass for bosses around here. read more...

Thursday, October 14, 2010

THE RAISING OF THE BANNER


At last. Something Chicago can be proud about.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA




October 4, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's deputy chief of staff was arrested Monday afternoon in the Loop in connection with her alleged role in a series of no-bid contracts, including one that went to a company she owned.
Authorities say deputy chief of staff Carla Oglesby is charged with three felonies and is being held on $75,000 bond.
Oglesby had no comment as police brought her to Area 4 headquarters Monday night.

read more...

That's awesome. What a pleasure to watch an arrogant puke like that with her hands cuffed behind her back. These people are unbelievable. They raised our sales tax to the highest rate in the country and then proceeded to take the money for themselves and their friends. I hope this ruins her. I bet she'll sing like a canary. Todd must be shittin' in his pants tonight. This is great.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

EMERGENCY DRILL



 Loop Buildings Evacuated in Emergency Simulation


Complete with realistic looking head wounds and burns, officials and volunteers conducted the first evacuation drill from the city's central business district in four years.
"The purpose of this exercise is to enhance the public and private sector relationships in order to coordinate and strengthen response capabilities," explained OEMC's Executive Director, Jose A. Santiago.
The drill was put together by Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications and included roughly 500 volunteers from AON and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
read more...

It must have gone pretty well. If there were problems the news media would have been all over it. As it was I had trouble finding a story about it. I guess that's a good thing.