Tuesday, October 4, 2005

* Alderman Moore and the After-life

Do you ever wonder what Alderman Moore is thinking? What really matters to him? Well I found this today.

Knox College presents a symposium called "The Right to Die and Other Ethical Issues at the End of Life," with a panel of four so called experts, at 4 p.m., Friday, October 14, in Kresge Hall, Ford Center for the Fine Arts, on the Knox campus in Galesburg, Illinois.

As you can see by the credentials of one of these experts, stretching the truth is easy when the crowd's average age is 19 years old and geographically separated by some 200 miles.

Here is Alderman Moores submitted bio.

Alderman Joseph A. Moore represents Chicago's 49th Ward. He graduated from Knox in 1980 and prior to his election to the Chicago city council in 1991, he worked as an attorney in the City of Chicago's Department of Law. Among his legislative priorities are community policing and urban revitalization. Since Moore's election, the crime rate in his ward has fallen by 40 percent and the neighborhood has seen the construction of retail centers, a library, and a 2.5-acre park, and improvements to a theatre renovation and rental properties. He also sponsored a Whistle-blower Ordinance that gives taxpayers the right to recover damages on behalf of the city against corrupt city contractors.

Parks? Rentals? Crime down 40%? What does parks, rentals and crime reduction have to do with the right to die and other ethical issues at the end of life? Here is where you need to quack about the banning of foie gras issue on the resume.

14 comments:

Hugh said...

Shew, after 4 zoning meetings in 2 weeks, you can't blame Moore for seeking a receptive audience, even if he has to travel 200 miles.

End of Life? God help us, he's testing a new legislative initiative of great concern to the residents of Rogers Park. Hang at Gale Park and I'll show you end of life. I got your end of life right here, Joe.

Hugh said...

>Since Moore's election, the crime rate in his ward has fallen by 40 percent ...

Moore does this Superman-Clark Kent dance on crime. When he sees a stat he likes, no matter how dubious, he rushes to take credit. When a crime occurs, he's teflon coated.

Hugh said...

> ... the neighborhood has seen the construction of retail centers ...

Retail centers? Plural? OK, so there's the Gateway Mall disaster he wants to take credit for. Where's Moore's other new retail center?

Hugh said...

>Since Moore's election ... the neighborhood has seen the construction of ... rental properties.

Is Moore claiming a net gain in rental units in Rogers Park during his 14 years? What is the evidence for this?

Hugh said...

> ... Whistle-blower Ordinance ...

How effective has this ordiance been in its first year?

Has anyone made any claims under this ordinance?

Has any whistle-blower reported corruption and recovered a reward?

Hugh said...

>Alderman Joseph A. Moore represents Chicago's 49th Ward.

Alderman Joseph A. Moore represents Chicago-area real estate developers interested in profiteering in Chicago's 49th Ward.

Jocelyn said...

jeff o
historical districting is a good option. I am calling Preservation Chicago to inquire. I sent them an email 2 weeks ago when I found out about 1225 but have heard nothing back yet-strangely enough.

I tend to not believe that the Alderman can't do anything to discourage this- at least try and network- Joe could talk to Tom Tunney- something similar happened in his ward on Newport and the building was saved.

Hugh said...

> ... improvements to a theatre renovation ...

Is Moore bragging on the tax-payer subsidized gutting of the Howard Theater he arranged for pal Jay Johnson?

Or is he trying to portray himself as a patron of the arts? What happened to the Curious Theater? Where is the Raven Theater?

Anonymous said...

As I've mentiond elsewhere on this blog I worked for years in the area of architectural preservation and restoration of historic theaters - for a very well known company that did lots of work on all kinds of landmarked buildings, public and private sector clients, including the Federal General Services Administration and the Architect of the U.S. Capitol...

As some of you may know, preservation, restoration and renovation have very specific meanings in the world of historic buildings. Renovation of an historic building, in these circles, is essentially a euphamism for "doesn't really know what the hell they are doing, but might not totally destroy the historic fabric...will work cheap". In the case of the Howard street theater, using these terms, I don't actually think we can even really call it renovated. If my old company had done that work, our asses would have been sued from here to kingdom come. Too bad they didn't use a qualified contractor...

It also seems to fail on the level of adaptive reuse as well...what is the program for that building these days, anyway?

It's not a project I'd put on my resume.

Anonymous said...

As you all probably know, the Supreme Court is now starting to hear the State of Oregon vs. The United States case over Oregon's "Death with Dignity" legislation.

It is a very interesting case, with many important ramifications and raises many passions along the ideological spectrum. As citizens we should all take an interest in it.

However...

I hope that Joe attended this thing on his own dime and his own time. Using an Aldermans office to grandstand about national issues like this is just plain embarrasing.

Hugh said...

Does anyone know where Moore built the SECOND retail center?

Michael K said...

I beleive this is a bit of creative math. I have noticed in DevCorp's literature they often refer to Gateway Center and Gateway Plaza as 2 separate entities.

Hugh said...

> ... a 2.5-acre park ...

Where's the field house?

Hugh said...

joe asked...

>Does anyone have proof of this?
> ... joe moore ... personally profiting from development in rogers park

To the extent that a contribution to Citizens for Joe Moore benefit Joe Moore, you need look no further than Moore's own disclosures of his campaign contributions. They may be browsed using the most excellent online Campaign Disclosure database maintained by the Illinois State Board of Elections:

Campaign Disclosure

Illinois' campaign disclosures laws were born out of the last in the long line of Illinois governors to retire from the Governor's mansion to the jailhouse. Every Illinois resident should be familiar with this search engine and how to use it. Type in Citizens for Joe Moore and explore. joe, it helps in reading the data if you know some Rogers Park names and addresses.

Each of Moore's campaigns has set a new fund-raising and spending record for Aldermanic races in the 49th ward. Moore's campaigns are mostly funded by real estate developers, realtors, and mortgage lenders. Most of Moore's campaign contributions come from outside the ward. Every tear-down has an associated contribution.

This routine and casual sale of legislative services is a process that is vital for neighborhood residents to understand, but I'm afraid that from the Sun-Times point of view it may be something of a yawn lately. They have their hands full. But things are changing here in Chicago, and the acceptable behavior of the past is slowly becoming less acceptable.

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