* If Joe REALLY Cared About Us

One Readers Opinion

In the last 4+ years Alderman Joe Moore has spent a great deal of time pushing “national” issues through the Chicago City Council. Among other things, he has sponsored the resolution against the war in Iraq, the ban on foie gras, and most recently the now failed big box amendment. Not one of these measures has had any impact, whatsoever, on the daily lives of 49th ward residents, very little impact on Chicagoans, and zip impact on Americans overall. No lives have been saved (soldiers or geese), no living conditions improved, no new jobs, no improved humane treatment of animals.

One wonders if Joe intentionally sets out to do things that will have zero impact or if he simply detests the voters and taxpayers of his ward, Chicagoans, and perhaps even all American citizens. Or, maybe he only undertakes initiatives that will lead to more campaign contributions from special interest groups so that he can keep a job in which he gets to repeatedly fail while being paid? One has to wonder given that there are some things in Chicago that do need addressing – that if examined might lead to legislation that would have a real and profound impact on peoples’ lives.

Let’s take the high price of gasoline in Chicago. At the gas station at the corner of Clark and Touhy, gas sells for $3.05/gallon. In Chesterland, Ohio, gas sells for $2.10/gallon. That’s almost a buck a gallon less. In Arlington Heights you can fill up for $2.69/gallon! How come Chicagoans are paying SO MUCH MORE?

Folks who have to drive to those lousy paying jobs (that actually pay over $10/hr) at Walmart in Niles have to pay 1/3rd more to get there than the same people who work at Walmart in Chardon, Ohio. That dollar difference can’t be in federal taxes. Could it be state and city taxes? Why doesn’t Joe take on this fight? Doesn’t he care about workers who have to drive or take public transportation? Doesn’t he care that more tax dollars taken from peoples’ pockets means that they have less for housing, food, education, entertainment, retirement savings? Doesn’t he care that higher fuel costs the Chicago Transit Authority, which, in turn, impacts riders?

While we are looking at IL and Chicago taxes – how about our property taxes? Has Joe even whispered that he’s concerned about the 50 to over 100% increase in property taxes his residents will be paying come 2007? What are Joe’s views, exactly, on these substantial increases? Is he at all concerned that moderate income home owners, young couples, and even apartment building owners will be faced with bills that many of them will have a hard time paying, if they can pay them at all? Does he care that the property tax increases may very well force residents from Chicago, into the suburbs (where, at least, they will be closer to big box stores like Walmart that offer less expensive goods), or that rental unit owners may sell and go condo?

Look at all the multi-unit buildings for sale in RP maybe they are getting out before the property tax bills hit next year.

What has Joe done for the taxpayers and voters of the 49th ward? What is ours and where is it, exactly? Joe got a big raise (which it appears that he is keeping, unlike Tom Tunney who is donating his raise to several elementary schools), and he gets to be on national TV a lot. He has over $33k in aldermanic pocket money that taxpayers also pony up (maybe this and/or campaign contributions pay his transportation and property tax bills). What have we got? Joe gets his $100+k job, benefits, car, and pocket money AND he gets to hold another job, if he wants. Does Joe have another line of business we should know about? When would he possibly find time to fit it in?

Joe does care about children (after they die, but not if they are black teenage boys in his ward, who are simply SOL) so he’s sponsoring legislation that would demand that the Chicago public school system provide free breakfast to ALL students in the first period. Leaving aside that school is supposed to be a place of learning, not a food camp, and leaving aside that not all public school students are so poor that they need the school system to provide them with sustenance, how does Joe propose that the beleaguered school system pay for this freebie meal? And what diet should be provided to these students? Eggs and bacon or something lower in cholesterol? Would we have to have special meals, as they do on airplanes, for special needs students such as diabetics, etc.? (And what is with Joe’s obsession with food?) While it is commendable for Joe to be concerned with low income students who arrive at school hungry, shouldn’t the school system’s focus be on EDUCATION so the children don’t grow up and have to work at a low paying job at Walmart? Aren’t there other avenues to provide for poor children’s nutritional needs? Is school really the place this should be addressed? Do we need more public education employees who work in non-educational capacities? Maybe Joe could take his raise and donate it to a 49th ward food bank? Or even work with one of our myriad neighborhood charitable organizations to help feed hungry children.

Maybe Joe could ask his landlord, developer, and PETA campaign contributors to instead donate funds to provide for the hungry in his ward. Or maybe he could ask these campaign contributors to donate funds for job training and adult education that would get people out of low paying jobs and into more meaningful and lucrative careers.

If Joe really cared about any of us – from the impoverished to the middle class – it seems as though he’d be focused on addressing our real world issues: taxes of all stripes, crime, education, job training, and business creation instead of alienating business, spending other people’s money like a drunken sailor, and working on silly legislation that either won’t get passed or will have zip impact if it does.

But, I think Joe hates us all – black, white, rich, poor, and everyone in between – so he doesn’t do any of these things. He just wants to dine with Hot Lips and be on TV – and get paid for it, and we can just go %$# ourselves. What do you think?

Signed,

A Screwed voter.