Wednesday, February 18, 2009

No Stimulus For Chicago?

Could someone help me out here? I can't find any stimulus projects for Chicago.

26 comments:

RP Free Speech said...

That's da Mare's latest, BIGGEST SECRET, Craig. He's keeping all the info close to his chest.

Guess, maybe, we got nothin'--agin!

ck said...

Hizzoner was nestled all snug in his bed, while visions of O'Hare and LSD expansions danced in his head...

Craig Gernhardt said...

Fast lane from Hollywood to Evanston, here we come.

Craig Gernhardt said...

Block 37, here comes your fix.

Craig Gernhardt said...

More flower pots on Michigan Avenue.

ck said...

Don't forget the black wrought iron fences!

floss said...

In other words, the only people who will get stimulus are the mayor's friends and the guys who lean on shovels.

Both parties are all already well paid and are two major reasons the city is in a financial hole.

Craig Gernhardt said...

I see stimulus money.

CTA is crying Doomsday, wants it's share.

Fargo Woman said...

A movement needs to get started right away to save our lake front or that Sheridan Road expansion project will soon be a done deal. Once he gets the money for it, and I have no doubt he's reaching right now, the Mayor will get it done. I have absolutely no idea how to get such a movement started but if anybody out there does, PLEASE DO IT NOW! I can't do much but I'll do what I can. Is there anyone out there who is up to the challenge?

By the by, maybe this is all moot anyway. I mean it's no secret that the mayor wanted Mieg's field out of the way so he could build his lovely Olympic Village and he vandalized that property before anyone else even thought of bringing the Olympics to Chicago . .

- PEACE -

I heart the R.P. said...

And who is going to foot the bill if the Olympics come to town?

Fargo Woman said...

I heart the RP, look in the mirror. That's who.

Save Street End Beaches said...

Hey Fargo Woman, there are a couple of loose groups organized against any LSD and landfill. We have a huge mailing list ready to go.

Fargo Woman said...

So where do I go to find out more about them?

Craig Gernhardt said...

Here's one group.

Stop the landfill.

Razldazlrr said...

I have been looking at a web page www.simuluswatch.org and you can look by state and city - Chicago - nada. You really should look at some of the things that went into this so called stimulus bill - I don't see much in there that will actually create jobs.
Olympics - read about what is happening to Vancouver now preparing for the 2010 Olympics - their property taxes are through the roof and the city can't figure out how to pay for the upcoming events! We would get stuck paying for them - that's who!

The North Coast said...

Maybe that's why Chicago isn't getting much of the stimulus bounty,Machine...

...because all Da Mare can think about is highways, airports, and white elephant vanity projects like the Olympics and the el "superstation" at Washington Ave that appears it might never be finished and is something like 30% over budget.

We don't need more airport capcity, because air travel will shrink drastically over the next ten years, especially short-hop air travel, which needs to be over anyway.

We surely do not need any more highways in the city.

And we don't need the Olympics, that would probably end up costing $40 Billion or more with no commesurate benefit to the citizenry of Chicago, such as permanent jobs.

We need improved and expanded transit, and somebody competent to manage it, not the mayor's cronies like Huberman, Kruesi, and other lapdogs. We need our sewer system rebuilt, with seperate systems for raw sewage and storm water. We need to make sure we can always have good municipal water, electric, and lifeline services such as police and fire protection. We especially need to allocate more funding for police protection.

Fargo Woman said...

O.K. THAT'S IT

Northcoast:
I don't know who you are, we've never met but by golly (yes, I use that term proudly) if you promise to run on that platform, I would love to nominate you for the next Mayor of Chicago!

Alright, all right, already. I know we've got Daley 'til his toes curl up, just like we did his dad, but one can dream, can't one?

Seriously, the idea of actually using funds for the projects you put forth are exactly what should be done and done now - no waiting! Ah, if only . . .

- PEACE -

been there said...

nc-"the el "superstation" at Washington Ave that appears it might never be finished"
i have seen a lot of construction projects end up over budget, and late. but i have never, ever seen a public works project that was not finished eventually.
you and you hyperbole. you need a med adjustment.

presstoe said...

I heard something about this on the radio today, here's a link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29245860/

The buzz word is "recovery and reinvestment act" and I went to www.recovery.gov to check that out. They have a little timeline, but it seems very vague and apparently nothing will happen after July 15, 2009. I also watched the video, didn't learn much there either.

Jobs would be nice though...

BillyJoe'sBrain said...

been there talking about someone's meds is super ironic.

The North Coast said...

been there, what an idiot you are.

Construction was halted on the superstation last year, according to Crain's Chicago Business, and has been 'indefinitely mothballed', after running over $100 million over budget. The city is searching for a private partner to help finance the rest of this boondoggle, which shows us how fucking clueless concerning financial and business matters our leaders are.

Construction remains halted, and no one has any idea how this is going to get financed. We may be out the Washington station for a long time.God knows we have more critical transit needs than a pharaonic el station where a reno of the existing stations and connecting tunnel would have served well, for a fifth the money.

Daley and his minions and our clueless aldercreatures should have known that the money was going to be a big problem here.

And they really should have known that an airport express is low on the list of things the citizens of this city need. We have too many densely crowded neighborhoods that are steeply underserved by transit.

Here we are, in the middle of the worst financial debacle since the 30s, with dominoes toppling allover the world and our financial system sucking up over 5 $trillion worth of bailout money via various government interventions, and our leaders think that somehow someone will step to the plate to finance this shit when their real estate projects are failing and commercial defaults are piling up. I guess our politicos just assume that all that has to be done is for the Feds to print up more Magic Money to pay for all this crap.

If you bothered to look up info on the project, you would know that the original budget for it was $213M and it has now run over $350M and is nowhere near completion.

You would also know that we could also almost build a new train line for the cost of this extravaganza, which is geared strictly to visitors to the city, and was meant to serve a new express train line between O'hare and downtown, to the detriment of service for Chicago residents.

Look at the decrepitating Red Line el trestle with its crumbling concrete and exposed rebar, this line that hauls 125,000 people a day and could run profitably by itself.

And don't blame CTA's management for this white elephant,even though I do not excuse them for their incompetence and cluelessness. Place the onus on Mayor Daley, who was damned determined to have this so he could get the stupid Olympics, all with money THAT will divert from our needed services and the disruption it will cause.

Razldazlrr said...

well folks - obama, his team and the Democratic Congress want more and bigger government to be in charge. It's now a battle between private enterprise or bigger government. I think we all can see that the layers of bureaucracy don't work. I don't see much hope for the porked out stimulus package - I really hope I'm wrong

Razldazlrr said...

Craig - I saw fast lane from Hollywood - what exactly is it they want to do? Make Sheridan more LSD or make a new road?

The North Coast said...

Razl, I don't think there's any battle between "free enterprise" and "big government", and that there hasn't been for a long time, say about 100 years at least.

Mainly because we haven't had anything resembling free markets for at least that long. The Dummycrats and the Republithugs have both worked to deliver our country to Crony Capitalists on behalf of a population that refuses to learn that you have to pay for what you get and expects all the benefits of both big government and of free market capitalism without paying the price involved.

The Republicans did a wonderful job of building the pyramid of unrepayable debt by means of Fed easy money policies with implicit guarantees of bailouts for failing financial institutions. Their message to their Wall St cronies was- you have Free Markets, do whatever you want and we will pay for it. The Dems are no different, except they try to appear to make concessions to the lower orders by promising job creation and to spread the benefits of the government theft around a little.

Both our parties are clueless regarding economics and both are on their way to becoming irrelevant. Politicians simply cannot drive the economy and everything they do to correct the situation is only going to make it worse. But they will keep trying because everyone out here, business leaders most of all, keep screaming DO SOMETHING! when the proper corrective is to back off and let the situation play itself out, as with the housing situation.

If financial and business leaders don't want government meddling, then they should turn their backs on "private-public partnerships" and the trillions of dollars of subsidies, tax abatements, special legislation favoring this business or that, TIF districts, trade agreements, and all other government assistance. We would have a more robust, diversified economy with more economic niches and less government bureaucracy to support if they did, and if the sheeples out here would realize that there are many problems that the government simply cannot solve.

Save Street End Beaches said...

Raz, I refer you to this Trib article from September 2008, http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/sep/14/news/chi-biggerplans-0914sep14

The pertinent parts:
When Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago, bicycles northward on the lakeshore pathway, he finds frustration when the trail dead-ends.

“At Hollywood,” he said in an interview in his City Hall office, “it just stops.”
...
Daley, for instance, has a vision of giving Chicago four new miles of lakefront parkland that would fill gaps now occupied by high-rises, apartment buildings and abandoned industrial sites. Although the mayor has no money available at the moment, he has named John Bryan, the former Sara Lee Corp. chairman, to head a committee that will look into building a continuous waterfront park stretching from Evanston to the Indiana border. Bryan spearheaded the creation of Millennium Park.
...
At the moment, because of the city’s budget crunch, Daley’s dreams for closing these gaps are just that—dreams. “It’s one of his long-term goals,” said the mayor’s press secretary, Jacquelyn Heard. “If he had his druthers, he’d do it.”
...
Nevertheless, the mayor’s appointment of Bryan to head a committee to look into the question is likely to spur concern from some lakefront residents and property owners, particularly in the Edgewater and Rogers Park neighborhoods on the North Side. They claim that new beaches and parks would lower property values, bring swarms of foot and vehicle traffic, and disturb residents’ tranquility.

“There’s still some opposition,” Daley said, “but we’re saying, in the long run, this is the best thing. We’re talking about a huge open space for people there.”
____________________________
I love the way Mayor Shortshanks thinks he knows what's best for us. BE VERY AFRAID!

Razldazlrr said...

Thanks for link - I have to honestly say that I always thought the same thing when I biked from the near north side to Evanston - how nice it would be if the bike path just kept going. Now, that I live here and take my dogs to the park everyday, I think differently but I guess I can understand why the mayor thinks it would be a good idea.

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