October 1, 2008
City Jobs Being Eliminated Include Needed Police Vacancies
Last week, we wrote about the shortage of police officers as crime in the city was rising, a correlation Mayor Daley denied. In keeping with his line of (faulty?) thought, a number of the proposed job vacancies being eliminated in the City's attempt to get it's $420 million budget under control includes several hundred police positions. According to the Sun Times, "the Chicago Police Department has 329 sworn vacancies and 424 openings for non-sworn police employees. That's in addition to the 705 officers on medical leave and 625 officers on limited or convalescent duty status." These vacancies would be eliminated in spite of Daley's promise earlier this year to add more officers to the force.
Understandably, none of this sits well with Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue, who said:
It's a stupid move at a time when violent crime is on the rise in Chicago. We recently lost two police officers -- and now, the mayor is gonna further reduce the numbers. This mayor -- or somebody in his administration -- needs to stop by midnight roll calls anywhere in the city and observe the number of one-man cars that are patrolling our city streets during some of the busiest hours.For his part, Daley would only say, "We're looking at every department...You cannot say, 'These are sacred cows. Nothing can happen to them.' You take out 60, 70 percent of your budget. You can't do that." Note to Donahue: next time, make sure you mention how this might affect the city's 2016 Olympic bid. Then you might actually see some results.
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Let's not forget that all but 6 aldermen shamelessly declined to forfeit their 6.2% cost of living adjustment starting January 1, making their salaries over $110,000.
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Shameless cockroaches, the aldermen.
And let's not forget that is pay for what amounts to part-time jobs, despite what our poor, overworked, exploited alder-assholes say. Most of them have high-paying side gigs that often depend on their insider status.
Yet we allow this. Our Founding Fathers would not be proud.
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Can someone school me a little on Chicago politics?
I have never lived in a city where you hear the word 'alderman' so much. And they seem to have a lot of power.
What is the deal with Chicago aldermen?
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Lets not forget all the state senators and represenatives that are also on the city payrolls. They of course are not being fired. Too bad Blago's ethics bill did not pass or they would be down to one job and pension
Yea"our" founding fathers would not be proud of 13 percent of the population running around free and half the population voting. I hope our founding fathers are boiling in a very warm place
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Ingrid:
Aldermen do have a lot of power, that is true. I think instead of explaining my opinions on Chicago politics, I'll provide a few sites that give facts:
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/989.html
The authors of this site claim they are unbiased:
http://www.cloutwiki.org/cloutwiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
Hope that helps.
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Ingrid: Please follow Sparky's suggestions, but I've always found it helpful to think of the mayor as King and the alderman as dukes/princes/whatever who lord over their wards/fiefdoms. I am sure I have oversimplified this, but such a model has helped me when I was trying to figure this out.
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Daley is King, but I prefer to think of the aldermen as his bitches.
But that's just me.
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Hopefully the citys gun ban gets thrown out soon. Looks like everyone will need to be packin heat just to get to work.
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Hopefully the citys gun ban gets thrown out soon
We don't agree on much, Fed, but you have my complete support there. Citizens, as long as they are responsible and trained, should be able to defend themselves. How can the overlords of Chicago understand? Many get taxpayer-funded bodyguards, or are able to carry their own guns because of city laws they crafted to favor themselves. In no way is that fair or moral.
That said, any dolt who abuses this right--say, getting drunk and firing off a few rounds, or firing for anything but self-defense--deserves a very, very long prison term.
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Sparky, good sumation, but as Chicago is always noted for is faux "diversity" what about Alderman as his hoes and bitches, course that will make Daley a pimp which could also work
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Don't forget that Chicago Aldermen are exempt from the handgun ban in chicago, so they are allowed to carry.
A lot of those 424 non-sworn officer vacancies are currently being filled by sworn-officers while they await a replacement. What should happen is someone should ask the city for an exact census of the department, you'd be surprised how understaffed they are out on the street.
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Sparky,
Thanks for the links. Very informative.
Matilda,
I never underestimate the value of a simple analogy.
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Spook the recently convicted former Ald Troutman described her fellow alderman as Hoes. Most would be willing to do anything for a buck. This might be a good time to suggest that Chicago doesn't need 50 alderman and there staff(family members) New York and LA get by with less. I would much prefer a few more cops or even garbage men to alderthieves like Burke, Mell,Stone, Rugai, Banks,Munoz, Carouthers and Austin to name a few.
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"overlords of Chicago"
Ha! Ha! Ha!
People on Chicagoist are so overwrought. My God.
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Chicago: Well, yeah, a bit melodramatic, but really, what do you propose? These people do whatever they want; they craft laws and election procedures to favor themselves; they rarely are voted out; they often hand their offices and perks to their assorted relatives; they allow themselves self-defense but deny it for others; and they cheerfully break the law and court orders, all the while wasting our money and crying broke; and they shamelessly use public resources such as inspectors and the like to punish dissenters. These people are virtual monarchs.
Fed: I am wrong. I agree again with fewer aldermen. But that would decrease the chance for big paydays for too many of the overlords ... uh, misunderstood public servants.
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Chicago D:
If you really pay attention to what goes on in this city both politically and economically, how can you not be overwrought?
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Daley currently has 36 cops assigned to his security detail.
Ed Burke has several to his.
NY has 51 city council members for 8 million people & 321 square miles.
LA has 15 council members, for 3.8 million people & 498 square miles.
Cook County has 17 commissioners for 5.5 million people & 946 square miles.
Los Angeles County has 5 supervisors for 10.4 million people & 4,061 square miles.
All of those cities & counties are getting a bargain compared to us!