Results tagged “tomallen”

When it was announced that Oprah would be shutting down a portion of Michigan Ave (between Ohio and Wacker) to shoot her 24th season premiere, we heard from many people not too happy about the move. And now at least one city official is getting cranky about the closure. Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Allen (38th Ward) told the Sun-Times, "Two-and-a-half days is kind of reckless. It smacks of elitism. The citizens own the street. Maybe they should ask the people how they feel." There's also some argument as to whether or not Oprah's folks were required to follow the usual protocol of giving 45 days notice to Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) who says they gave him 10 days notice. But Special Events spokeswoman Cindy Gatziolis told the Sun-Times this isn't classified as a "special event" and therefore didn't require 45 days: "This falls under the category of film and TV production. Those require a two-day notice. This has been much more than a two-day notice."

46th Ward Alderman Helen Shiller, along with 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores, proposed an ordinance Tuesday afternoon that requires new apartment buildings in the city to set aside space for recycling. New buildings with four or fewer units, which are served by the city's Streets and Sanitation Department, would be mandated to set aside space to sort and store recyclables and townhouses would have to have set aside space, either indoors or screened off outdoors for recycling. Buildings with five or more units, which are served by private waste haulers, would have to set aside space on each floor, or incorporate chutes to handle recyclable waste. "It's very difficult, right now, to actually comply with that ordinance, give that there is minimal space," Flores told the Tribune.

Swamped by citizen complaints, cranky aldermen, and a whole lot of snow, Mayor Daley has finally relented and put the city back on its regular snow plow plan. His controversial plan to cut back on side street plowing and avoid overtime pay proved quite unpopular as it made driving hazardous and dangerous all over the city.

"Unfortunately, it didn't work out very well," Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi told aldermen at a Tuesday hearing on the subject. "Now that we are in the extreme winter months of January and February, we know that we are going to have to plow and spread salt as we always have and as we did last year. So, we should expect then a significant increase in service on side streets in future snows."

Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) told Picardi, "The calls I've been getting have not been nice, and the language they have been using has not been nice. The residents of Chicago expect the streets to be salted, and when they are not salted, they can cost an election. And you are starting to get back into the groove, and that's what we want to see." The cutback was an effort to save money on overtime as snowy winters the past few years cost the city $30 million in 2007 and $33.7 million in 2008 (including $8 million just in December). Ald. Tom Allen (36th) one of the most vocal critics of Daley's plan, said, "This was public safety, and we screwed up bad. I'm not criticizing the attempt to make a change, but the attempt was a big flop, and now we are back to reality."

Now that we've said farewell to Rahm and set the date for elections to replace him, it's time for speculation on who will take the reins in the 5th congressional district, the former seat of our beloved Governor. The field is crowded now with counts of as many as 18 people running, but Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th) appears to be pulling ahead of the pack, since he is poised to receive the critical Democratic Party endorsement after Ald. Tom Allen (38th) dropped out, citing his desire to remain on the City Council: "My passion is more on the local level of government and helping people in the neighborhood...It's not a money factor [tied to a lingering debt from his campaign for state's attorney]. It's merely that I can accomplish more in the job I'm doing right now."

At this morning's City Council meeting, concerned aldermen will get to address their complaints about the city's snow plowing (or lack thereof) to the Mayor's aides in charge of snow removal. Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi and Transportation Commissioner Thomas Byrne will face the Council's Transportation Committee, which is headed by Ald. Tom Allen (36th), the most vocal critic of the Mayor's new snow removal plan that abandoned side-street plowing to (allegedly) save money. However, Allen is back-pedaling now, saying the issue “has kind of become a moot issue since the experiment failed and they’re back to a common-sense approach. They’ve returned back to normal snow removal.”

In the wake of Ald. Tom Allen (38th) calling out Mayor Daley on the city's failure to properly plow and salt/sand side streets following last week's and this week's storms (both past and future), other aldermen are now getting antsy for answers from MayDay on exactly what's going on.

Ald. Billy Ocasio is the most outspoken critic of the most recent city snow removal effort, claiming that when he personally called for help for his ward last night, he was passed from department to department --- making him wonder aloud "who's in charge?"

Ocasio (26th), who is joining Allen's call for $3 million to be added to plowing and salting efforts, said, "I don't think the resources are out there. I think if you come into the Loop, you see the resources, but you don't see them out in the neighborhoods. Yesterday I had to call personally and just go off on everyone because there are mothers and grandparents trying to get their kids to and from school, and they can't make it. They can't make it down the street."

Ald. Tom Allen (38) is on our good side (for now) after voicing what we (and you) have been complaining about for a while: that Mayor Daley's new plowing policy is a clusterfuck. Echoing comments that have been bouncing around these parts for a week, Allen said:

The new snow program is 'do nothing.' Irving Park Road was ice-packed. Traffic was crawling after a two- or three-inch snowfall. Cars near schools just slide through intersections, putting every kid who tries to cross the street in peril...I'm getting pounded by my constituents. We don't live in Honolulu. We live in Chicago. We've lost our compass. We have to provide the most fundamental city service. Are we gonna ride from December through March with people's lives in peril trying to cross the street?

A-freaking-men. Even better? Allen's solution: he's asked MayDay to set aside $1 million from the city's deals to privatize Midway and the city's parking meters to pay for the whole thing. We couldn't think of a better plan. After all, it's not like that city debt is really ever going to get paid off, so we might as well use some of that money to, you know, keep the city functional. We're just sayin'...