By all indications, you led the public to believe you attended this meeting. You even have quotes and everything. I couldn't believe what I was reading. This was nothing like what my sources were telling me. Plus... You left out important stuff off the burner. I'll get to that in a second if it hasn't burned already. First, a few more questions Angela Caputo.
"So, did you get the feel of the meeting"?
"What did the people who attended this meeting think"?
"Were they a hostile crowd or did they all leave with happy heart's"?
"Why didn't you write about the Abels 7-0 rejection vote which was also a important issue at that meeting? Did you figure the bloggers would cover that end of the story and you didn't have to?"
"Did the crowd cheer with approval before leaving the meeting after the vote?"
Now Angela, I'm sure if you were there you would have surely wrote, "After this 7-0 Abels vote a bunch of people just up and left, then missed some of the best stuff of the night, on the front burner stuff like"....
..... "The New Jay Johnson Twin-Tower Legacy Highrise" in the 1500 block of West Morse Avenue.
Say what.... You didn't get that part of the meeting? Yes Angela, the possible 80 foot high building where now sits a very important parking lot. Right there, you and I stood in a circle prayer, Thursday February 16th. The place where Wayne Jones got murdered.
But, according to two sources on this story... you wouldn't know about these zoning issues that night... because you were never there.
So, how did you get all the facts for the A & T condo story?
Angela Caputo said.....> "The owner of the restaurant, Pete Fromimos, went before Alderman Joe Moore's, D-49th, zoning advisory committee last week"...
Caputo also said.....>"There are a few design kinks that Fromimos' architect has been advised to work out before the neighborhood has a chance to weigh in."
My two sources tell me Mr. Fromimos wasn't even there. His architect was. According to a source AT THE MEETING, the architects name is Chris George.
Hugh said... >"So, Ms. Caputo, where are you getting your information? A Pioneer Press reporter wrote this article without attending. This is irresponsible and scary."
Hugh also said....>"Apparently Ms. Caputo is willing to write up stories reporting on Moore's insider, campaign contributor zoning committee, stories that read AS IF she were there, but are based on the version of Moore's paid staff."
Hugh finishes his displeasure by saying....>"This is extremely disappointing and illustrates how we as a community cannot rely on the traditional press to provide the sunshine we so desperately need."
What do you have to say for yourself Ms. Caputo? Should you instead be covering the News-Star Bingo Night at St. Jerome's Church?
Do us all a favor... Stay away from zoning and crime issue stories in the future.
33 comments:
"The New Jay Johnson Twin-Tower Legacy Highrise" in the 1500 of West Morse. [Jaws Drop]"
Why doesn't the alderman require Mr. J clean up his messes NOH before he starts another? Is he using his government funded checks for these new projects? Neighbors claim to have complained to both the alderman and the buildings department to no avail. What gives?
question and food-
i happen to enjoy ms. caputos accessible writing style and dedication to our neighborhood. did she get a little swayed on this story.....probably. but i think we can all claim that honor once in a while.
those of us who were there did a pretty good job of filling in the gaps that her story contains. rpr didn't post it with a heading, we just thought it was good to support our beat writer.
as far as expecting to see minutes of the meeting. that apparently, is top secret. something to do with varnish.
> Ms. Caputo's story doesn't claim that she attended the meeting.
Yes, it does.
"The owner of the restaurant, Pete Fromimos, went before Alderman Joe Moore's, D-49th, zoning advisory committee last week with a plan to tear down the restaurant and rebuild it while adding three stories of condominiums above it."
... should have been ...
"The owner of the restaurant, Pete Fromimos, went before Alderman Joe Moore's, D-49th, zoning advisory committee last week with a plan to tear down the restaurant and rebuild it while adding three stories of condominiums above it, according to Moore aide Michael Land."
> Gathering information by interviewing people is standard journalistic practice.
Sure, but get the attribution right.
"The owner of the restaurant, Pete Fromimos, went before Alderman Joe Moore's, D-49th, zoning advisory committee last week ... "
Not true.
"Appearing before the committee for a second time within the year, Fromimos ... "
Not true.
And the spelling is wrong. But that's the kind of errors you have to expect when you take dictation from an aide to the Alderman.
> Angela ... has a real interest in RP.
Where is the coverage of the Abels vote?
Where is the coverage of the Jay Johnson proposal for Morse Ave?
Where is the coverage of the neighbors who attended hoping to be heard but were not allowed to speak and were asked to leave?
nice pick up, tw. java with a capital J.
Craig psoted:
>Hugh said... >"So, Ms. Caputo, where are you getting your information?
Craig,
May I ask, what is your source on this?
> You're just making things up at this point
I was there. Pete, Mary, and Angela were not.
ditto on that, hugh.
majsquarenuts-
ok, imagine standing along side a giant 4 story freighter with a couple of equally spaced portholes.
we were not specifically told why the original proposal was rejected and we were not allowed to ask questions. so my assumption is, that the 6 story version was too big and shocked even ZALUC.
not a pretty building, majsquarenuts
lunt ave.-
the distinction between blogs and newspapers is not nearly as clear as it once was. many nationally followed political blogs are rivaling newspapers for sources and the immediacy of the news they report.
many have adopted the same journalistic standards also.
Food 4 -
A while back, January and February of this year to be more precise, Joe made a commitment to post the following on his website www.ward49.com:
Schedules and agendas of zoning and land use meetings.
Determinations of zoning and land use meeting
Notification of community meetings to review proposals which may lead to re-zoning or zoning variances.
I have been checking the site regularly and haven't seen any such notifications yet...I agree that written transcripts and/or audio files of the community meetings would be a good thing to add to the list, for neighbors whose other responsibilities prevent them from attending the live meetings.
In January, Joe wrote an email explaining that some of the delay was due to miscommunication with a volunteer who helps him update his site. I recently sent Joe a letter volunteering to help get these updates on to his site, since I have the skills - I have not received a reply.
Perhaps if there are other neighbors who feel posting announcements of this sort on the website would be helpful could communicate this directly to Joe, it would help him understand that this is a sincere request on the part of the community. If you agree, I recommend you send him a short request and if you have the skills to help, I recommend you try to volunteer - maybe you'll get a better response than I did.
He has a website already. I don't think these simple requests are too much to ask, especially if we are willing to help implement them.
My two cents is that I agree with Tom and the others here who defend Angela. The worst thing she did in my opinion was spell the owner's name wrong - that could be fixed with a simple correction - happens all the time.
I'm not sure it's really fair to criticize her for what she doesn't do. We could all come up with our own wish lists on what she might report...why should her priorites be the same as any one of ours. Anyway, it's not like you can't just send her a letter with a story idea...that happens all the time too. Maybe she didn't choose to report the outcome of the Abel project because most of the RP blogs did it...just an idea...
I think her heart was in the right place on this story, and it doesn't really seem fair to cast her as a JM stooge just because she speaks to Michael Land...I think her reporting does add value to the community, and instead of reaming her over this story, it would have been better to simply ask follow up questions (letter to the editor can work well for this) to her directly and allow her to clarify as need be. Again, that also happens all the time, and it would have been the civilized thing to do...
There was a public presentation of the Morse ave. streetscape project...but I haven't heard anything on it lately...
I don't think it's something that would go ahead without another community meeting, but then you never know...I also think there is still a funding piece that needs to be sorted out. I think a call to Michael Land at Joe's office or to Devcorp might be helpful here...I've gone on record saying that I don't approve of this project as it currently stands, so I doubt I'd get much information, but perhaps Maj or Food would be willing to make those calls and let us know the status?
Rebecca said.....>"In January, Joe wrote an email explaining that some of the delay was due to miscommunication with a volunteer who helps him update his site. I recently sent Joe a letter volunteering to help get these updates on to his site, since I have the skills - I have not received a reply."
Of course Alderman Moore wouldn't let you manage the site Rebecca. I could just see the little Don Gordon animated figure running across Alderman Moore's website with a sign saying... "Vote for Me!"
Nice try.
So shall neighbors NOH who watch the squatters and dealers come and go from Johnson's buildings keep calling Joe and the department of buildings? Apparently, there were more properties and plans discussed that night besides the A&T but they flew right through the ozone here.
So do y'all really want Jay Johnson down there? Again? How about making him a deal. The deal is he turns over his properties NOH so they can be rehabbed into safe, clean living 'units' for those who deserve them.
Ew, man, the thing you really need in your mouth right now is a stick of Lifebuoy to wash out the filth. Save the Y Tu Mama Tambien-esque stroke fantasies about another poster for your own blog. Please.
Nice try right back at you Craig. When I decide who I'm going to support for Alderman, you'll be able to find out easily from public record of the campaign contribution I give them...but not before then...
And I didn't offer to "manage Joe's site" by the way - I offered to post the announcements he committed to us...if he is willing to look this gift horse in the mouth, that's his problem...
Carol J - I respect your point of view, but honestly if you refuse to engage with any news media that has at some point needed to make a retraction or correction, you soon won't be engaging with any news media at all. Angela's writing is just one tiny piece of the larger information puzzle up here - take it or leave it as you see fit.
Craig has implied that Angela has ulterior motives in using the techniques she did here, which is not the same thing as saying that she could have been a little less sloppy on this story...
Tom - that "press release" comment made me laugh too - as if they would be writing press releases about this sort of stuff...that's something I'd really like to get a look at...
You have a good point Toni...I wish I had stayed for the entire meeting, but it came at the end of a very very long day. The format of that meeting was so weird - they kept shuffling the public observers in and out of the room between each presentation to go into closed deliberation. I did write to Joe about that, asking him if they could gang up all the presentations from now on - he told me they did for just that one time, I think because they had a guest chairperson that night...
> The worst thing she did in my opinion was spell the owner's name wrong
The worst thing she did in my opinion is to report events she did not witness without attribution.
In addition, she got the attendees wrong, incorrectly spelled names, and failed to report other very important aspects of the meeting, including key votes, other development projects, and the neighbors who were locked out and not allowed to speak.
> it doesn't really seem fair to cast her as a JM stooge just because she speaks to Michael Land
She can talk to whoever she wants as often as she wants as long as she gets the attribution right.
> I think her heart was in the right place
I assume so. I don't care to speculate as to her motives. But this reporting technique of covering the Alderman's "community" zoning committee by calling the Alderman's office and interviewing a paid staff person is dangerous for our community.
>Hugh said... >"So, Ms. Caputo, where are you getting your information?
Craig,
Any chance you see the irony in you making up a quote in a post where you call a reporter on the carpet for her journalistic standards?
You didn't like what I wrote? You needed to punch it up a little? Are you my editor now?
A&T Grill on Front Burner, on Rogers Park Review
> Why doesn't the alderman require Mr. J clean up his messes NOH before he starts another?
Toni, if that's what you think then you probably will not be happy to hear about another project Johnson is currently working on that he mentioned in passing, 99 single-family homes on the south side.
And you might also think Aronson/Coe should finish the Pinewood before they tear down Morse & Greenview, or finish Morse & Greenview before they tear down the dry cleaners on Howard, etc.
Hugh, of course I'm not thrilled about anything Johnson does with tax dollars from the TIF and our pockets for his slum buildings here. If you recall, I have posted about his south side Haven's twice now! I did side by side comparisons of his website photos versus the realities. Coe should be put into receivership of the community! And Aronson should get a better advertising color than lavender. We could probably get Jimmy Carter and crew to build for us and save a heckuva lot of time and aspirin.
The Havens
The only way that you will get the honchos at the News-Star (and their bosses at Pioneer Press) that you are fed up with the shoddy journalism and the Joe Moore butt-kissing as shown by Ms. Caputo is to protest where it hurts them. Organize a couple of day-long informational picketing in front of some of the largest advertisers in the newspaper, and I suspect there will be a reaction from Caputo's bosses VERY quickly.
But for now (to change the subject slightly) those of us who want to stick it to Moore and his lackey committeeman David Fagus need to focus on the various races on the March 21 Democratic Primary. Those who want to join in the effort to tear Moore and Fagus down further politically can contact the Illinois Committee for Honest Government at 773/744-8839 to get details on the candidates whose would help discredit the 49th Ward's Dismal Duo even further. Thank you.
RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government
> Having Ms. Caputo as an ally could be useful ...
> this blog post is effectively a Re-Elect Joe Moore post.
So you think controlling the News-Star coverage is key in 2007? Where have you been? Good luck with that strategy.
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