It's no wonder they want to cover their faces. After reviewing the facts, it looks as if this illegally planted garden could cost the taxpayers $2000.00. First, here's the version I got from the Outlaw Gardeners.
Last week I asked the crew foreman, a “consultant” named Frank Jarvien to leave the planter space open. He refused. He said “that’s not how it was”. So I planted it over the weekend with a handful of neighbors. This morning they said they were going to rip up the garden on Thursday morning and pour cement onto the green space we created. They were here at about 7:15am this morning, so I expect them tomorrow between 7am-9am.
The alderman is Joe Moore who claims to champion green spaces and supposedly is weighing a run for mayor in the next election. He “allowed” the 2 corners on the east side of the intersection to have planters, but not this one. One of the crew said this morning that they are going to destroy the garden
because the alderman does not like it. By the way, I openly supported his challenger, Don Gordon in the last election."
Now, here's the version I got from Joe Moore.
Last Monday (Labor Day) while I was watering the flowers outside my office, I noticed Dan and some other folks planting a garden at the corner in front of his coffee shop. I assumed that Dan had asked the workers putting in the new handicapped ramps to leave the corner spot open for a garden. I thought it was a nice improvement and was happy he was doing the planting. That was the full extent of my knowledge.
This afternoon, Dan calls my office and asks Wayne if he could have $2,000 of my aldermanic menu money to "save the garden." I spoke with the supervising engineer of the project to find out what the heck was going on. He explained to me that Dan had planted the garden without any prior authorization. He also told me that the CDOT contract provides that the corners are to be returned to their original condition and that the original condition of the corner in front of Dan's shop was a concrete slab. The new curbs at the corner have already been set to accommodate a concrete slab, not a garden. To accommodate Dan's request, the new curbs will have to be torn out and replaced with new curbs at a different height at a cost of $2,000.
Craig, here's my frustration. According to Dan's own account, he was told by the crew foreman that the space couldn't be left open. Rather than reach out to me to rectify the problem, he goes ahead and lets them put in the new curb and plants the garden without any authorization. If he had reached out to me initially, I could have asked the crew chief's supervisor to accommodate Dan's request, and they would have put in the type of curb that would allow for a garden rather than a concrete slab. Dan could then have planted the garden without any problem.
Instead, Dan decided to act on his own and as a result it will cost the taxpayers $2,000 to "save" the garden. In the big scheme of things, $2,000 is not a lot of money out of a $1.3 million budget, and I've instructed Wayne to see if we can find the money necessary to make the repairs. However, I must admit, I'm more than a little fried that Dan tries to make this a political issue when I had absolutely nothing to do with it.
As I indicated at the outset, I had no idea that Dan had asked for the garden and no idea that CDOT had refused his request. If Dan had approached me initially, I would have been happy to help him, and we could have headed off this entire controversy. As it is, I still will try to help him, but I want it noted for the record that his actions will cost the taxpayers $2,000.
Ok, there you have both sides of the story. Clearly the Outlaw Gardeners knew they were bucking the system. We all know you can't do that. Like I said in the beginning, no wonder they're hiding their faces.
40 comments:
Joe 1
Dan 0
Really like both Joe and Dan. I could name all the people satnding next to he tall guy in the pic as well. All the garden would have been a great idea and Joe seems more than approachable on the idea. Cart before the horse Dan not garden after elevations set.
ADA compliance is what is the issue not politics.
On the issue of politics.
Joe Moore for Mayor of Chicago.
===On the issue of politics. Joe Moore for Mayor of Chicago.===
We'll find out soon enough. 25,000 legit signatures don't just wind up on a petition sheet overnight. Someone's machine better fire up and start collecting.
Yeah i saw that corner garden with thoreaus sign on it and was wondering about it.
I hope they get their garden. In the whole scheme of things what 2 grand?
Dan and his fellow gardeners should be given the September "Passive-Aggressive Rogers Parker" award.
*oops whats 2 grand?
nice to see
things from joe's perspective
though.
OMG Joe Moore as Mayor? Now, that's a frightening thought - he can't even run Rogers Park!
how about those 5 people each pay $200 instead of using taxpayer money? or, for the prices dan charges (more than starbucks) he should foot the bill.
if joe had done something in the middle of the night that cost $2000, can you imagine the uproar?
but, gee, since they are flowers, who cares about procedures and laws, right?
didn't look like they were going to fill it in this morning on my way to work. i'm really hoping they did though. between the outdoor patio and the flowers, the sidewalk will be like a foot.
btw, i think it only takes 12,500 sigs for mayor. at least that is what i've read in numerous places
"In the big scheme of things, $2,000 is not a lot of money out of a $1.3 million budget,"
IT'S NOT YOUR MONEY, YOU FUCKING MARXIST, IT'S MY MONEY!!
God I loathe "progressives".
Great Report. See a few thoughts mixed in with speculation on the future Mayoral Run for the Roses. http://fortysomething-politics.blogspot.com/2010/09/charmers-garden-makes-local-news-while.html
You know what would save the taxpayers money? Finishing the damned sidewalk project on time. The original signs said the project would be finished August 21. Joe Moore complains about gardeners, but he can find extra bribe money to keep the construction workers pretending to work for an extra month.
Taxes would spike with a Mayor Moore. He has matured into a responsible Alderman but a pro-union mayor is not what a city needs during a financial crisis.
Betting the garden gets to stay.
Somehow 2k can be found and the problem can be solved.
The reason all construction projects are a month behind is because we were on strike demanding a cost of living increase and continued health care coverage. Sorry for your inconvenience but really it is hard work and we just want to get paid what we are worth.
Alright, if you're off of your alleged strike, then why aren't you or your colleagues out there finishing the job? There are still holes between all of the crosswalks and the street. And don't even get me started on the sidewalk under the viaduct on Greenview. In fact, every single sidewalk project down Greenview still has gaping holes between the start of the sidewalk and the street. What? You need more Joe Moore bribe money to actually finish the job?
FYI can tell the sullivan kids are back in school. They were trying to hangout by farwell and wayne today. I called 911 once and they headed south toward pratt while i was calling but still let police know. Nice to see squad car at wayne and morse.
todays date 9/10/10
Also wondering when chuckies is going to open. Razldazl incase you still dont know where it is, its on morse on the north side just west of the tracks in the new condo/apt (conapt) building.
I heard it was waiting on the liquor license.
Keep the garden!
As a sign of good faith, move beyond the procedural glitches and frustrations.
Find the 2K. Ask for donations on this blog. Maybe the surrounding businesses & ward office can work together on raising the 2K.
Keep the garden!
"Last Monday (Labor Day) while I was watering the flowers outside my office, I noticed Dan and some other folks planting a garden at the corner in front of his coffee shop."--Joe Moore
And just how was he watering his floweres? By pissing on them as he does on everything in the 49th Ward?
If Joe the Joker can have his flowers, Dan should be able to plants his little area for the beautification it provides.
Damn Joe Moore, who should be resigning right about now, and Damn all these so-called "Progressives" who want to control our lives!
If any of you vote in Joe Moore again--you are idiots, and should be sent to Misericordia or other similar places for the insane!
===Find the 2K. Ask for donations on this blog.===
If you like it so much, pony up the money out of your own pocket.
Sorry for the suggestion regarding donations. Please accept my apology. I was temporarily overcome with a positive feeling for humanity.
Btw the common cup folks still refuse to pick up their parkway.
Or I guess its not their parkway.
Its the owner of the 4.4 millions dollar building. Well he doesnt own the parkway. The city does.
So I guess we should ask city services to do it.
Or the management of the building which is currently for sale for 4.4 million.
Well I will just continue to clean up the area and the ownerless and unloved parkway that just happens to be outside the common cup.
Because no one else cares. But I wont buy their coffee.
I dont think there is a litter problem outside of charmers. So I will drive there and get some of their coffee because they actually have outlaw gardeners who give a crap.
Shame on the common cup. They dont care. The business owners refuse to do it, I have talked to them several times and they refuse.
Too bad.
Until they pick up the parkway they have lost my business.
9/11/10
in other news, early this am
i had to call for ambulance for two kids that were bombed out of their minds and blacked out on alcohol at 8am, they were sitting on the curb at wayne and farwell.
they took them away after some public urination in front of all authorities.
the ambulance, firemen and police all stopped by.
To bwalker:
So you are on strike for a COLA increase, huh? How typical of public employees, who are completely insulated from current economic realities, which pretty much stink for the rest of us.
Perhaps you haven't heard, but we are in the deepest recession since the 1930s. A depression, really.
The private sector employee population in this country not only hasn't had a raise, COLA or otherwise, for a decade, but average wages across the board have fallen more than 1%. Where we are lucky enough to remain employed, we are often on reduced hours and pay. Meanwhile, small and medium sized businesses are failing, or at least experiencing steep drops in their revenues.
So get real. Public sector employees just have to share the pain, even police and firefighters. I would settle for freezing the wages of common rank-and-file employees, and I would like to see the salaries of our elected officials rolled and top department chiefs rolled back 20%, because these top people received massive salary increases while the taxpayers suffered greatly to provide them.
And those who go on strike should be shit-canned, sorry. You are not special- your wages come from tax revenues, which are falling. The taxpayers can bear no more.
It's a bit late to gripe about reasons for the operating engineers and laborers strike now, considering they were off the job for around 3 weeks starting in early July. And it impacted a lot more than just public-sector projects in the area.
i dont care bwalker.
im sick of picking it up.
im mad about the not caring of everyone and the apathy.
but i dont give up, i will continue to pick it up.
i am a bit strange.
i hate litter. totally crazy.
fine, im done trying to talk to the common cup et al.
you guys dont give a shit.
i get it. but i do.
atleast i care and voice my opinion.
is there a polite way to say please pickup the beer bottles and crap in front or your business?
if you leave litter to accumulate that makes the bangers feel at home. they see that people dont care. there have been drivebys and all sorts of crap on greenview.
all of the 911 calls from the community and the picking up of litter has changed that.
if you pick up litter, that is you taking back the community and saying that you own that corner.
when the bangers loiter and litter at a corner that is them saying they own the corner
so who owns the corner?
I do by default, because i care to pick up the trash.
Shame on you bwalker and
shame on the common cup
and btw leading by example didnt work, politely talking to the common cup didnt work.
so whatever,
im the only one who cares.
well, I agree with you geofredo - common cup won't be seeing my biz either and I used to like to support them as an independent business. Why would you not want to pick up trash in front of your biz, even if it's not your responsibility? I expect the store owners with their ugly gates over their windows to not give a damn but I really thought Common Cup would - too bad!
And the unions and public union employees? Don't even get me started - I own a business - I don't work, I don't get paid and neither do my employees - no guarantees or "striking" to get what I want - ugh!
Has anyone reported Common Cup to the City? Wouldn't a call to 311 take care of the problem? Please don't be like the these "Outlaw Gardeners" who, from what I've read, only needed to talk directly to the right person (i.e. the Alderman) and eliminated a lot of bad feelings and saved the taxpayers $2,000.
There is an ordinance on the books regarding litter in front of a business establishment. I found it with a few seconds search on Google. Here's a link that spells it out in the simplest terms possible: http://www.lakeandhalsted.com/home/Litter_letter.pdf
By the way, no, I am in no way calling anyone "simple" so please don't take it that way. I'm just suggesting that a phone call to 311 might help in this situation. Failing that, a few words at the next CAPS meeting. Or maybe you could simply print out the PDF and give it to the Common Cup's owner.
Why boycott someplace before you've exhausted all possible recourse? Shouldn't boycotts be saved for last resort? It seems to me they are most effective when you organize large groups of customers around them, maybe coinciding with pickets and media coverage if possible. Otherwise, you're just one or two people who choose to get their coffee's elsewhere and no one else knows why they don't see you at the Common Cup anymore . . .
- PEACE -
Here's another possibly useful link. It's the Sidewalk Cafe Application Package, complete with applicable ordinances, etc.
http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/bacp/businesslicenseforms/pwu/sidewalkcafepackage011410.pdf
Specifically look on page 18, paragraph "G." It states the responsibilities of the business regarding the upkeep of the public way for outdoor cafes. Hope this is helpful.
- PEACE -
well thanks for info fargo woman.
anyways i dont want to "boycott" them, but also i think they have a bad attitude.
its an attitude that is so rampant.
its a seven story 4.4 million dollar building, its not going to be run perfectly especially if its for sale.
its the city, its our city,
its everyones city.
if you care then pick up the trash.
if it were my coffee shop i would see it as a bad business decision not to keep the parkway clean regardless if it was a storefront of the empire state building. I would take it upon myself and clean it up. Its fun, its instant gratification to clean something up, it takes what a minute or two to do? and bam you are done,
people litter less when you pick up stuff too.
its funny how people really sometimes have to own their space before they see things as they should. but that building is not going condo, the businesses will always rent.
as a business OWNER who rents,
are we going to just live like a tenant and just say hey i dont own that parkway the OWNER should deal with it,
but the OWNER of the building doesnt own the parkway,
its just amazing to contemplate.
NO ONE owns the parkway,
unless you want to......
im not going to give them literature. im just going to pick it up if they dont.
i dont give up.
The common cup opened a business in a blighted area 5 years ago.
They employ several people in the neighborhood and now a small lynch mob wants them out for not picking up a very small amount of litter near their business that is not related to their business.
To the lynch mob go fuck yourself.
Since opening the common cup continues to be a large shinning beacon of hope for that area. All of the employees are fabulous.
So your response to the litter is to drive them under with even more City bullshit laws.
You are a tool.
You are a fool and a waste of oxygen.
Lets say you are successful and the Common Cup folds then you better be ready to make me a cup of coffee just the way I like it from 6AM - 8PM 363 days a year.
thanks bwalker for showing your true colors.
why the profanity?
is that the way to debate or win arguments?
So the common cup isnt responsible for the litter, so what?
That is not the point, that is the bad attitude that is so rampant in this city. I didnt do it, so why should i have to deal with it?
The common cup is a community center. It should be a beacon of light in the community, and lead by example. Not have to be cajoled into picking up the trash in its immediate vicinity.
Shame on you bwalker for your profanity, if you cant win an argument with logic i guess the next step is to swear.
I dont want common cup to fail.
I simply want them to do whats right.
And what is wrong with that?
I drove by this am and
the common cup parkway did look good.
The litter is related to their business. In that too much litter would decrease business.
And it doesnt look good when a business doesnt care or take care of general upkeep of the immediate vicinity.
I cant be there everyday to pickup their parkway. And since I live and own in the neigborhood I am very concerned about this, obviously.
9/15/10
I was not debating I was expressing a feeling. A very unkind feeling.
You are adamant about litter abatement and I am adamant about keeping the Common Cup Open for business.
The beacon of light that is the common cup is one to be cherished and assisted. If you wish to pick up the garbage then yeah you are a champion. If wish to berate a beacon of light in the mist of former blight then you are a looser.
loser.
thats how you spell it.
i wont back down from my stance.
if litter is the common cup's downfall then so be it.
But why should it be?
if 2-4 minutes of quick pick up of litter per day is too much for a business owner to be able to do then i dont want to frequent that business. That is really so hard?
Or is litter so beneath the common man or is so disgusting that it can't be handled? Thats total B.S.
i see it as a necessity to pick up litter.
its not an option.
I take a no tolerance stance to gangbangers and also toward trash.
It goes hand in hand. If you want to have the unsavory element feel at home then by all means walk by the litter.
I will make sure the trash is picked up anyhow.
And fine you are expressing a feeling.
well life is more than just feelings. feelings color our thinking, sometimes too much.
assisted?
we all need to pitch in.
shouldnt they lead in keeping up the area?
really i dont see why there is a good reason why they shouldnt be a good neighbor and pick up the trash.
So really we are arguing about at most 5 minutes of work a day.
And very light work at that.
I have found that its easier just to pick up litter than it is to think about it.
Anyways bwalker
why would you have unkind feelings?
that sounds kindof creepy.
I pickup all around the neigborhood, and if they cant just keep up their corner/parkway, what does that say? Mainly that they are oblivious to their very surroundings. I dont want to hang out where people are oblivious/apathetic/uncaring.
How about this bwalker,
I promise to stop talking about common cup, unless miraculously they decide to pickup their trash.
And you can live in your
artificial warm "beacon of light".
And when you see that the parkway
and surrounding areas arent litter filled you can thank your archnemesis geofredo.
And I think the commoncup can survive without my business in the meantime. And I will frequent Royal Coffee even though the owner is always on the phone.
And also I will frequent Charmers and maybe that cafe on devon by magnolia.
I'm glad that they planted the garden
I'm glad that they planted the garden. I wish that CDOT would have been willing to work with them and avoid the current conflict. CDOT isn't exactly flexible.
I'm dreading when they come to redo the curb at my corner, because I'm sure I'll have to dig up all my plants (LOTS of 'em) so that CDOT doesn't destroy them. You better believe that I'll fight tooth and nail to get some notice and enough time to do that digging.
Well, Craig, they lead by example, and you should probably cover your face too, with all of the bullshit you pulled over the years.......
Hey Rogers,
No matter what craig has done, he cares. The past is the past, I think overall his heart is/was in the right place
and because of his blog alot of problems were solved.
And he did bury the hatchet with
joe moore
bwalker - your rants make you sound like a teenager stomping your feet. If you go there 363 days a year and consider them a beacon - why don't you pick up the litter! LOL
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