24/7 Howardwatcher and 'Broken Heart' of Rogers Park contributor asks too many questions.
When a longtime homeowner tried to speak up at the only City Council hearing on a project in his Far North Side neighborhood, aldermen threatened to toss him from the room for trying to ask questions.Why?
"I'm feeling like chopped liver," Hugh Devlin, who lives in the 50th Ward, said after the council rubber-stamped his alderman's approval of a proposed seven-story, 90-unit building that he and many other neighbors oppose.
The Tribune has found that zoning rules have been ignored or changed to make it easier for developers and harder for residents to have a meaningful say in what gets built on their streets.It's true what newly convicted, ex-alderman Troutman said. All Alderman are ho's. And on more than one occasion, asleep at the wheel.
After the committee hearing, Devlin approached project architect John Hanna outside the council chambers. He asked Hanna why he gave $3,000 to Stone before last year's hard-fought 50th Ward election, even though Hanna does not live in the ward.
"I get requests [for donations] all the time, from every alderman," Hanna responded. Source.
23 comments:
I hope that picture is chopped liver because it is making me hungry looking at it and so I hate to think what else it could be on the "Broken Heart"
"Politics is politics, you know?" Hanna said.
What does it say about someone's conception of politics when they contribute to the re-election of both Joe Moore and Bernard Stone?
Hanna Architects Inc
188 W. Randolph
Ste 1825
Chicago, IL 60601
$1,000.00 3/10/2006 to Citizens for Joe Moore
hey, or maybe the citizen was being a jerk.
mo,
maybe people are tired of developers contributing to alderman and then getting the zoning changes despite the communities lack of input. maybe communities are tired of seeing an aldermans brother(or any other relative) constantly joined at the hip to all these projects.
did you read the article saying that the zoning comittee disapproved of the paln initially!
maybe mo cahill should get a clue!
and maybe isaac should go back to 7th grade civics. we elect representatives, they make the
decisions.
you really don't understand too much about the zoning law, either. they are not like criminal laws. every waiver is not some sort of felony. you are telling people what they can and can't do with their own property. they are there to prevent excesses. they are not there to freeze the city in some fallible human attempt to predict the future. in the end, property owners have rights. you are applying absolutes to things that do not yet exist.
i know this is all a little to grey for a lot of you. but you do want developers to invest in your community. some people will bitch no matter what you do, tho.
Yes, been there.....but elected officials are supposed to represent the electorate, not donors.
Moore and Stone are an insult to democracy.
no, actually, they are not beholden to the voters except at the ballot box. they are supposed to do what they find to be in the best interest of their ward, and the city as a whole.
the corporate interests may be, and actually must be, a part of any consideration of the best interests of the ward and the city. there is no city without commerce. without buildings. without jobs. without investment.
and if you want to allege that there is impropriety in zoning decisions, you need more than to note that developers have given to campaigns. you need to show that there was a quid pro quo. you have the that- a campaign contribution. you do not have the this- just granting a zoning variance is not a this. you have to show that campaign donors received zoning variances in excess of what any other non-donors received. something i trust you cannot show.
so, your case is dismissed for lack of evidence.
If you pay just a little bit of attention, you will see it is only the foolish who tend to support Joe Moore. He doesn't tend to surround himself with the sharpest pencils in the drawer.
No reference to Mo, of course. Really.
All we need to show is Joe Moore taking a campaign contribution, then granting a up-zoning to said donor to show, Joe's dirty. Case closed.
"did you read the article saying that the zoning comittee disapproved of the paln initially!"
A few members of Zoning Committee of the Chicago City Council, well short of a quorum, comprised of aldermen who are nominally our elected representatives, considered this issue once and unanimously approved it.
What the Trib pointed out was that the professional urban planners on the staff of the Zoning DEPARTMENT of the (executive branch of the) City of Chicago wrote a report in which they recommended NOT to approve.
If you look into it, you find that most of what the Zoning Committee does is OVERRIDE the recommendations of the Zoning Dept.
So we taxpayers pay professional staff to review each proposed zoning change on its merits, and then we taxpayers and developers pay the alderman to override them.
" ... they are not beholden to the voters except at the ballot box."
wow
and you think Isaac doesn't understand basic civics?
Moore apologist are sounding Moore and Moore like Stone apologists every day
case is closed in the twilight craiggie zone, maybe.
been there,
For the sake of argument, let's assume that there is indeed no quid pro quo between developers and aldermen.
Why then, do developers make campaign contributions?
look, i am not an idiot. i know that it helps to know people. i know that people like people that give them money. i do fundraising myself, and believe me, if you give to my cause, you have to be a pretty big asshole for me not to think of you as a friend.
but that doesn't mean that i will break the law for you, or let you take a shit in my front yard, or even vote for you if i don't agree with you.
the test in the real world is whether people who DON'T donate to the alderman's campaign get treated any differently than those that do. in a city with a 100 year old building code, it is pretty hard to build much that doesn't bump into some code. but the codes are there to make sure that things get looked at on a case by case basis. and that is what you see happening. iirc, the trib reported a while ago that joe was at the bottom of the list in contributors getting zoning "favors"
and really, the same people who are screeching about rogers park, and want the damn chamber of commerce here (something they don't really even understand) are bitching nonstop about developers. get a clue. you can't have it both ways. either you want change or you don't. don't scream about stores closing, and shitty housing stock then whine about developers.
they aren't scum, they are businesses. they are investing in your neighborhood. it is what your neighborhood needs.
if you are the alderman, and you don't want to help them, i am not voting for you.
time and time again these mere coincidences end being proven to be corruption. i dont need a 6th grade civics lesson to know that.
and you and the mayor will claim that troutman and hired trucking scandal are isolated istances of corruption. troutman pleaded her innocence initially, and how did that end? do you remember when the reports of a reputed gang member was seen driving her car? what was her response then? it is alll similar to the excuses you make for our aldermen.
save your breath mo. the intelligent folk arent voting for these corrupt alderman. these alderman arent entirely looking out for the ward and the city!
you need a lesson in life at the 3rd grade level.
been there,
Lord knows we need changes here. Office holders like Joe Moore are part of the problem
Does Moore get to keep his job because he is so effective?
..or is he an inept alderman kept afloat by raking in re-election donations tied to his duties?
hugh,
thnaks for correcting me.
the trib reported a while ago that joe was at the bottom of the list in contributors getting zoning "favors"
you are so very full of shit
the Trib reported no such thing
comparing Moore against his peers, that's your moral compass?
how do you tag $ to a zoning change when you have to sort thru a maze of LLCs, partnerships, architects, buyers, sellers, etc?
the test in the real world is whether people who DON'T donate to the alderman's campaign get treated any differently than those that do
sure, just ask Dick & Dorothy Gregory and Eva McCann
in a city with a 100 year old building code
we're talking zoning and the zoning code is 4 years old fool
Developing Government Accountability to the People (DGAP)
Industry Contributions
Aldermanic Rankings
Real Estate
(1 - Top Recipient)
1. Natarus,Burton
2. Solis, Daniel
3. Flores, Manuel
4. Burke, Ed
5. Preckwinkle, Toni
6. Moore, Joe
"the test in the real world is whether people who DON'T donate to the alderman's campaign get treated any differently than those that do."
Moore fails your own test
and in another context you defended the alderman's right to give preferential treatment to supporters
"... elections have consequences. if your side loses ... you are not going to be a part of the new administration. ... no one, elected official or not, has to cooperate ... "
nice edit, hugh. typical.
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