Monday, July 21, 2008

How to Talk to Moore Supporters

Occasionally, you may cross paths with a Moore apologist. Usually, you will quickly discover they don't live in Rogers Park, because it is almost impossible for any rational person who lives here to be anything but VERY ANGRY with Joseph A. Moore.

There's little point in arguing with the Moore-ophiles. Most Moore supporters support Moore for entirely irrational reasons, like the war in Iraq or animal rights. Most Moore supporters have fundamental deficiencies in their understanding of basic civics, including gross misconceptions of the job of alderman, obstacles to right thinking so severe that you are unlikely to remedy them.

Whatever you do, DON'T let anyone talk to you about Joe Moore out of context. Here's what you do: say,
"Look, you want to defend Joe Moore, fine. But first, give me 45 minutes to an hour. Let's see what 17 years can accomplish. Let's hop on the Red Line. We'll get off at Howard Street, and walk around a little bit (not too much). We'll hop back on and get off at Morse, and have a stroll. When we're done with our tour, if you're still of a mind to laud Joe Moore, then if you can find a place decent enough that you might actually want to sit down, you can buy me a cup of coffee and I'll listen to whatever praises you have to sing about Joe Moore. Let's continue this conversation on Morse or Howard."

29 comments:

mcl said...

During the 80's Howard & Morse were viable retail/commercial Streets with NO VACANT storefronts. They were a 'little worn around the edges' but with a large variety of goods and services available i.e., Army Navy store, hardware stores, restaurants, shoe stores, world renowned Wisdom Bridge Theatre & old world violin shop, etc, etc, etc. If you look at how things have evolved during the Alderman's 17year watch; 'What you see is what you get.' As you say,"Take the tour."

Man On The Street said...

Yeah, gotta say, the Howard stretch is looking pretty dismal these days, even with the new condos and shopping strip, etc. I guess my favorite times was hanging out at the bar near Sheridan and Howard that had turtle races, then around the corner to Biddy Mulligan's for a show. Oh well, gone are the days...

Unknown said...

And don't forget to speak to them veeeerrrrryyy slooooowwwwllly.

mcl said...

P.S.
Virtually all of the long time businesses fled Howard Street during the 1990's due to the erosion of a viable economic base, as the NoH neighborhood was allowed to become a very concentrated, very low-income, subsidized housing, pocket of poverty, promoted and encouraged by Alderman Moore.

MadeInRogersPark said...

I have a question! Was no moore's
first stint as alderperson an appointment or an election?
If appointment by whom? Where is he hiding now?

Craig Gernhardt said...

I wouldn't be surprised if Joe was picked to be alderman originally by drawing straws.

Or being blind-folded and tossing darts at a board full of easy to read names.

He sure wasn't chosen for his qualifications to handle ward issues. In 15 years he's proven that.

mcl said...

Yesss....turtle races at the Beach View!

Razldazlrr said...

Morse Avenue is just frightening in the summer. Moore wants all of the "low income" section 8 housing - then I suggest he move into a building on Morse and live right with them!

Hugh said...

Moore first took office by election, not by appointment, after being forced into a run-off, back in 1991, SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO last Spring. Here's some notes:

Moore Took Office in a Run-Off

Moore ran as an anti-Daley independent. Now he is Daley's point man on the union-busting privatization pilot project in the new Park District field house North of Howard.

Hugh said...

In fact, Moore unseated a Daley-appointed incumbent, Robert Clarke, who was appointed a few months earlier to fill the vacancy created when David Orr went on to become County Clerk.

Moore won by 453 votes, the SECOND closest call in his career.

Hugh said...

oops! there goes the negativity index

sorry everybody!

MadeInRogersPark said...

OK Thanks! Who backe no moore in his first election?
Where is he hiding?

Craig Gernhardt said...

From the looks of things, Moore is grooming Jimmy the Plumber to be as worthless and idiotic of an alderman as he currently is.

Hillari said...

"I'm too busy to listen to nonsense, sweetie", would be my instant response to a Moore supporter. There wouldn't be a conversation.

been there said...

mcl. i think your recollections are through rose colored glasses. or is it anti-joe colored glasses. when i moved here things were pretty much like they are now, except that fewer people were investing in the housing stock. i bought in 1987, and this was the cheapest neighborhood around. but the realtors all thought i was nuts. stores on howard were running out of steam, which is why gateway was established.
howard street is empty because of all the construction. when everything is done, the street will rebound.
joe ran with the blessing and help of dave orr, who supports him to this day, as far as i know.

mcl said...

I moved into 7710 N. Marshfield in 1975. I was the site manager of the Northpoint developement project from 1980-19086. I was an original Board Member of the Howard Paulina Development Corporation and very active with the Howard Area Chamber of Commerce from 1978 thru 1982 when it morphed into the HPDC......again beenthere. YOU don't know what the hell your talking about!

mcl said...

And for your information, beenthere, Gateway evolved from an earlier HPDC plan, using the Howard Theatre Howard Street entrance to lead up and into a new CTA Station. Gateway planning itself didn't get underway until the mid 90's at which time Howard Street retail had collapsed and vacant storefronts were the 'new' look of the street.

mcl said...

And FYI, the collapse of Howard/Paulina Street as viable retail areas took place beginning in '84 & '85 and accelerated into the 90's until we have the current, sad state of affairs. It was during this same time-line that the faith-based NFPs,(Good News Partners, Peoples Housing,etc.) and other property owners succeeded in turning the NoH neighborhood into a concentrated, very-low income, subsidized rental community. As the economic base of the neighborhood collapsed so did the retail viability of Howard Street. If you put it on a graph, the lines depicting the rise in low-income housing would be the same as the line depicting the decline of retail! It's not rocket science.

mcl said...

Obviously, what I meant with the graph illustration was that as the concentration of low-income, subsidized housing grew, the viable retail declined.

Unknown said...

Despite what "Been There" would have you believe, she has not been there.

Craig Gernhardt said...

The mentally delusional Mo Cahill is just repeating old Joe Moore campaign lies.

Howard Street has witnessed great improvements with the stabilization of the Broadmore Hotel and the construction of the Gale Community Center, which will open next year.

The Gateway Shopping Center is now nearly fully leased and the Wisdom Bridge Theater Project is moving ahead with plans to develop a new community-based theater on Howard.

Several run down storefronts are slated to be replaced with mixed- use developments that will bring new homeowners and brand new storefronts to the street."


Joe Moore campaign speech, December 2006.

Craig Gernhardt said...

Mo Cahill is a community fraud. Hey, Mo, tell us, where's the miles of murals project? Is this just another project that has fallen by the wayside?

Hugh said...

" ... when i moved here things were pretty much like they are now ... "

there she goes, perfect, right on cue, that proves the point

that's a very common delusion among Moore apologists:

the good things happening in Rogers Park, that's all Joe Moore

the problems - they have NOTHING to do with Joe Moore

Hugh said...

the same poster recently argued vociferously that Joe Moore is the Great Decider

today he is an innocent bystander

that's not a coherent political ideology, that's faulty wiring upstairs

Hugh said...

" ... the street will rebound ... "

oh, yeah?

will that be during Moore's 6th term or 7th term?

been there said...

mile of murals sank under the weight of the rogers park nutbloggers.

Isaac Marshall said...

been there said:

"things were pretty much like they are now".

What a wonderful endorsement for Moore!!!!

Get a clue.

Craig Gernhardt said...

Mo Cahill said....> "mile of murals sank under the weight of the rogers park nutbloggers."

A good Moore apologist can always fall back on blaming the bloggers for the wards problems. This is acceptable in the Joe Moore playbook.

been there said...

and once again craig refuses to take responsibility for the degraded discourse he has created and it's actual fallout on real people. the mural people were not about to put themselves in the middle of your and mannis' ongoing vendetta. i do not blame them.
there are consequences to this kind of shit in the real world. hate and venom feed on themselves. and things get destroyed. you want joe to bear the consequences for everything that happens in the ward, but you accept none for yourself.
childish is what it is.

'Broken Heart' Past Blogs