May 6, 2008
Visit Mouse City at O'Hare
WGN didn't lead off last night's 9 p.m. newscast with more Clinton/Obama drama. Instead, they started the newscast with Jackie Bange's discovery of an advanced rodent civilization in Terminal 1, Concourse C of O'Hare Airport.
We're prone to hyperbole. Actually, it's just a pretty serious infestation centered around the terminal's food kiosks. The report, highlighted by video of WGN camera crews setting up cookies like a game of Jenga at a key party for the mice to grab and rush back under their dens, was brought to Bange's attention when one of the many passengers stranded at O'Hare during the spring break snowstorms, woke up in the middle of the night to the excited squeals of her kids feeding mice popcorn.
Combating the infestation is further complicated by bureaucracy. The city Department of Aviation is responsible for maintaining the concourse walkways; concession management companies are tasked with pest control around their operating stations; the boarding areas are supposed to be maintained by the individual airlines. Mice and rats were found at all three spots. The Department of Aviation released a stock statement touting their (not so) "very aggressive pest control program in and around the terminals and grounds of O'Hare." All the same, eat before you head to the airport for now.
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BureaucRATS
To quote Racheal Ray:
Yummo!
Another place/agency over which the mayor has more or less assumed direct authority, much like the CTA and CPS.
And another place/agency that is falling apart, whether from rodents or overcrowding or other factors.
And people still think Daley is the shit? What an overrated fucking idiot. I hope heart disease runs in the family. God knows he will never lose an election--not with all the idiots in this city, and not with enough people paid off with city jobs or contracts, and not with the machine controlling the campaign/election process.
Fuck you, Chicago, for producing and then putting up with two generations of this moronic leadership. You deserve the massive decline that soon will hit.
I saw that report last night. Those rats were the size of CTA buses! UGH! I can't believe the health department has no jurisdiction to go in and shut some sh!t down out there...
So disgusting. And yet, I couldn't stop laughing at the way the mice just boldly ran out for those cookies.
But yeah, Chicago is rapidly turning into Detroit with a million-dollar park. It's pretty depressing.
The Health Department does have jurisdiction to do that, at least with regard to the concession stands. Bange noted at the end of her report that Tim Hadac at the CDPH never heard from the Department of Aviation or received any complaints of rodent infestation in the airport.
Hadac's department is very good about inspecting businesses with food service licenses, cracking down on them sending out releases whenever a restaurant is shut down for a Health code violation. It's a pretty thankless job they're doing down there, and it's one of the few city departments that does it to the best of their ability.
"But yeah, Chicago is rapidly turning into Detroit with a million-dollar park. It's pretty depressing."
Um, no it's not.
Tower: No, it's not, but the thing is, we don't have to be as bad as Detroit to simply stagnant and watch other global cities pass us by. Detroit is a piss-poor model that does not apply to Chicago for a variety of reasons--dominant industries, for one--but that still doesn't mean Chicago faces serious trouble that Daley and his idiot supporters have failed to address or repair.
Who's up for going to O'Hare and catching some mice for dinner?
The city's certainly got its problems, but reading the comments on this site, you'd think it was Calcutta. I'm going to enjoy this 75 degree day in the multimillion dollar park, and I'm not going to be pissed about it.
"'m going to enjoy this 75 degree day in the multimillion dollar park, and I'm not going to be pissed about it."
Multiply that attitude by, say, 100,000, and you have the wimpy apathy that defines modern Chicago--and modern America, for that matter.
And who the fuck would read these comments and think Chicago is being compared with Calcutta? No one said that, and even the Detriot analogy, which is bad, doesn't even come close, not if you know anything about India. All that is being said is that Chicago is in grave danger of not achieving further greatness, and is in grave danger of being passed by other cities. Do you read much?
i regularly compare chicago to kolkotta.
Kolkotta is much nicer.
But is it as bad as Orlando International Airport where people were sickened by dead rat stench?
...feeding the mice popcorn...
Now that could have been a great photo series.
One can just imagine the more athletic mice setting up to do high dives into the popcorn stands at night. Wheeeeeeeeee!
Matilda and Keidra:
Move. You are the kind of people who KEEP things from ever getting done. You say that you are progressive, but you would not have built the park. And so we would have the IC lines and no park, which is less World Class than having a park is. That is typically small-minded. There are rats at O'Hare? OK. Let's kill them. Big deal.
As for the Daleys and their alleged incompetence, you only have to look at what happened to almost every other city in the industrial Midwest to understand just how well Chicago has done. Detroit doesn't have to be the model. St. Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, etc. should be looked at too. The fact that Chicago sometimes struggles to keep up with World Cities needs to be balanced against the fact that it has been swimming upstream for 30 years.
So, just to reiterate. Move. You are not helping. I'm pretty sure your not from here, and for those of us in the born-and-raised category, we will not miss you. At all.
Chicago D: Fuck you, asshole.
I've done a lot. Hassled lawmakers at all levels. Even marched to stop a crappy zoning decision. I live here and want to see it better. You live here and kiss ass and tell people you smell chocolate. Fuck you. And if you are a native, a special fuck you for being among the biggest sheep on this planet. Fucking wimps.
FYI: Without transplants, asshole, Chicago would be nothing. Study your city history.
While I give the two Irish idiots some credit--old man Daley worked to preserve downtown, and recognized the value of O Hare--they have fucked up this city in numerous ways, not the least of which is to further lock in a political system that is helping to ruin this city. And while Chicago has made great improvements, it is showing serious signs of stagnation in such areas as transit, schools and public safety, as well as affordability. But hey, who gives a fuck about the working class, right? You sure as hell don't, not if you like Daley.
To repeat: Fuck you, asshole. Don't give me this bullshit "love it or leave it" attitude. Why don't you get off your ass and find someone else to support other than two Irish idiots who, while they probably never took bribes, used corruption (that is, our stolen tax dollars) as a political tool? Why don't you fucking move? Moscow has a political system that would fit well with machine apologists and wimpy Chicago natives. So does Beijing.
Matilda/Thad/Vise 77: I'm warning you that the personal language in attacking Chciago D's comments are thisclose to violating the Gothamist LLC comment policy.
Do try to keep it civil, please.
Matilda,
Typical. Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me. Blah, blah, blah, borderline racism "two Irish idiots." Blah, blah, blah. Now I'd like you to move more than ever.
Like every other American city, Chicago can attribute ALL of its growth to people from other places. However, like all American cities, it has also had loud mouth know-it-alls who move on and leave the real work of the city to people who want to get things done and not just complain and tell people to fuck off.
Unlike you, I am trying to respond to your substantive points. For instance, stagnation in education? I would say that Chicago has been in the forefront of trying to improve a broken system, and that we are discovering the limits of the local-control experiment. Something else will have to be tested. However, because your snap-shot is today only, you can't see that the process needed time to work, or as seems to be the case, not work.
As for transit, we'll see if the city can figure something out to do with the grant from the Feds, and we'll see if the CTA can right itself under Huberman. Both are pretty recent material changes in the issues, so maybe it is too early to call them stagnant.
As for public safety, the city has been at the forefront of the experiment to try to remove guns from the streets. Again, it is not clear that this strategy can work, but it is hard for most people to criticize the effort. Furthermore, the last I saw the city actually went to a genuine outsider to run the CPD. This was a much-needed step, since the CPD has all kinds of issues. However, the step has been taken, and we need to see if it leads to improvements.
Affordable housing is a problematic issue. Healthy cities usually don't have enough of it. Unhealthy cities have too much. However, now that the long real estate boom is over and some apartments may actually not be turned into condos, it is fair to assume that rents will level off or even fall. This is not anything politicians did, but I am not sure when politicians have ever tinkered with the price of housing and not screwed the whole system up.
In other words, every "issue" you raised is in some state of being addressed. Sadly, actual solutions to actual problems take longer than having a march, or hassling an official. Sometimes the "solution" fails and we need to look for a new one. It happens.
So, in closing. Fuck you. Fuck your stupid agenda. Fuck whatever shithole you are from, and God bless your neighbors for having to deal with you. Move.
ChicagoD: You keep it civil, also.
Chuck,
Sure. I'm finished anyway. There comes a point when arguing with an anonymous, abusive person on the Internet is a terrible use of your time. That's just . . . about . . . now.
Chicago D: What exactly have natives done in the recent past except keep electing these morons (and when I say 'Irish," I mainly mean the Irish gang from the Southside--I should have been clear)? Why do you native keep electing these people who have a century of documented history of stealing tax dollars and enriching their pals? Why must natives (and, to be fair, a good number of transplants) often just dismiss this theft with a wink and a nod, as though they are proud of the corruption here? That is what I do not understand.
You really need to lose the "love it or leave it" thing. Perhaps if natives didn't throw that out whenever confronted with criticism, I would not get so angry with natives. I, along with many other transplants, have the choice to live in almost any big city in the world, even with current visa regulations and roadblocks set by the EU. Perhaps you do, too. We chose Chicago for various reasons, some to do with family, others to with careers. Instead of swallowing all the crap, we decide to fight however we can. That is because we want to see this city--it is ours, too, by the way--improve, not stagnant. And some of us are not as easily impressed with a shiny bean as you are.
By the way, I am a wonderful neighbor. I get free cookies and gifts all the time from my neighbors.
It's funny. You make some great points about which we may agree were this anyting but a blog. But why is transit worse than even 10 years ago? Why are the public schools still failing to produce enough graduates by almost any way one counts? Why are working-class people having a harder time keeping hold of their communities, and affording to live here? Why does Daley continue to focus much more energy on downtown than on neighborhoods, even after all these years in office? Why does the old machine corruption keep chugging along, despite what the courts say? Why is O Hare improvement over schedule, as is nearly every project Daley has had his fingers in? Why are we having to sell off public assets (yes, I know fed funding had declined, but why hasn't King Daley done more to find new revenue sources?)? Why did Daley ignore the CTA until he wanted to impress the Olympics people? Why are the cops required to live in a city they are having a harder time affording? Why are taxpayers paying hundreds of millions of dollars for lawsuits over crappy city employees or services, many of whom are under the direct control of Daley? Why are developers and companies that already make profits offered lumps of our tax dollars in the form of TIFs, and then our property taxes go up?
I probably have a hundred other similar questions like that, question that suggest Daley is not as good as people give him credit for. After all, he's been in charge for nearly two decades, so he must take a large share of the blame. Yes, the state and feds deserve blame, but Daley has run this city for a long time. I see him riding trends that led to improvements in such places as NYC, Miami, LA, etc, and taking far too much credit. Yes, politicians do that all the time, but too many people here seem to fall for it.
Who has this much time to write on a blog to other anonymous people? 8 paragraphs?? Learn a new language, study a new subject, or go outside and enjoy the day!
Not one word against United in the thread? I have to believe they are somewhat responsible for maintenance in the building. You would think they would want to be, given they have 500+ flights a day there.
huberman will be fired before he can fix the CTA.
Daley has a way of dealing with competent people...
And for the record, Fuck YOU I_h8_toyota_and_BT (IHTBT). You're a fucking Douchebag IHTBT!!!!
can i get warned for verbally abusing myself?
Sears: It takes about 15-30 seconds to write my crap, at most. Some people write crap faster than others.
And yes, other people share blame, but Daley oversees the airport. Were it just the mice, who would care? But everything this guy oversees seems to turn to crap--either it falls apart, or it goes overbudget, or it goes overschedule, or someone gets charged with corruption, etc.. Why do some people think he is a good manager? I simply don't get it.
For the record, my post was the only 8 paragraph post, so the comment from Sears seems to be directed to me.
Apparently I had exactly as much time as it took to write the post. For all of your suggestions as to better uses of my time, you left out the one that really makes sense: get back to work.
And so it goes. I am always torn when I look at the comments on Chicagoist. There are sometimes interesting insights and tips from Chicagoans drawn to the page. I like those. However, sometimes I get sucked into arguing with someone I don't know, and frankly, don't really care about. Just another opportunity to grow, I guess.