* Garbage Piles Up in Special Service Area #24

A great deal of readers who attended the Cobblers Mall redevelopment meeting seem to believe the propaganda our leaders of the ward feed them. We've got over a 100 comments on this subject, mostly in favor. I've been to so many of these meetings where the project presented - turned out nothing like the end result. That's why I'm not buying this plan just yet.

Take the Morse sreetscape meeting for example. Or the Special Service Area higher tax meetings (anyone of them). Or the Gateway Mall meetings. Or the Gale Fieldhouse meetings. Or the new fire station meeting. Or the Loyola TIF meetings. Or any CAPS meeting. Sorry, but anytime Alderman Moore approves of a project, I'm very skeptical what the motive was.

Just last year DevCorp North paraded out a private security company that was going to clean up Morse Avenue. Everyone including Pioneer News Star believed the propaganda. When it was all said and done, for three months the security team took notes on the crimes that were happening. They didn't make any arrests, they just took notes. And collected $25,000 in SSA taxpayer dollars. The public still hasn't seen the $25,000 report log.

Now that night of the Cobblers Mall meeting Dean Maragos kept telling us how wonderful and great the SSA is. SSA this, SSA that. He sounded like a SSA preacher. After asking a question, it turns out he's nothing more than a cheerleader for the Special Service Area tax, as a SSA tax spending manager himself (#16). Most everyone in the room ate it up (except me), at times the crowd clapped for the higher taxes disguised as three letters. (Who claps for higher taxes anyway?)

So, here is what you folks were clapping for. Here is an another example of how the Special Service Area #24 doesn't work in the above photograph. Here is an example of why all the Special Service Area is nothing more than a taxpayer boondoggle. People clapped for this.

I could put up endless links of the Special Service Area tax #19 and 24 janitors caught not working, caught peeing in the alley, caught hanging flyers for groups that had nothing to do with the Special Service Area. But I won't. I'll save you the extra clicks today.

What we have here in the above photograph is at least a months worth of garbage at the Morse Avenue EL stop.

Where's the supervision? Where's the accountability?

If you've been to the Special Service Area meetings, you know the main mission is to keep the area clean. Well, this isn't keeping the area clean. This is adding to the problem. When waste builds up this high, it's a breeding ground for rodents.

So, is the Special Service Area #24 really working? In this case, they are not. I'm sure their going to pass the blame off to the local businesses that own the dumpsters. That's their MO. But shouldn't they have spotted this weeks ago - and done this before the garbage got out of hand? After all, that's why they collect taxpayer dollars to do this chore.

And these are the people you trust when they speak? Like I said before, excuse me if I'm skeptical.