A reader writes in:I was just out taking a walk on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. I walked past a woman going door to door to the subsidized housing on my block of Magnolia. She is talking to potential voters about the voting referenda that have been in question on this blog. About using TIF funds for more subsidized housing and the other referenda about requiring a living wage (and right to organize) in our area that will surely keep any well known national retailers out of the area. And I highly doubt she is trying to get these voters to vote against it. Suddenly, the day isn't quite so beautiful. Just passing on the info.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Resident
I can't imagine why we would have any need for well known national chains in our area.
ReplyDeleteMore local businesses please!
Do you just dream of Uptown looking like every other place in America? Good grief it is so sad to get off of nearly every highway exit and have the scene look exactly like the one you just left.
You are being motivated by fear, don't believe the propaganda!
Oops...left out a couple words above. I meant to say, "What is this, the Land of the Free...or the country..."
ReplyDeletewow the trolls jumped right on this one. Way to get some oldies but goodies back in to the blog world.
ReplyDeleteOur "living wages" are what is driving companies over seas. We have priced ourself right out of the global market. I don't buy the "well we can't support our family" retoric. Life should be get a job, then decide if you can afford to start a family. Not start a family then complain you can't afford it.
Oh wait, that is crazy talk in Uptown!
Maybe the problem is the world economy and free trade agreements that do not allow us to be competitive...
ReplyDeleteThe more important part of this is the referendum giving the okay to use TIF funds to support more subsidized housing in an already saturated neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteLocal business, national chains, I don't really care. I would like to see more viable businesses take hold in this neighborhood. There are enough vacancies around here to support it.
All the 'living wage' argument does is keep a segment of business from ever setting up shop here. If people don't think they pay a fair wage, then they don't have to apply for the job. Simple enough? But I bet there be quite a few who would be happy to have the opportunity.
Shoplifters of the world: Unite and take over!
ReplyDeleteChip,
ReplyDeleteWell said..I know I have worked my a$@ off the get my living wage.
The idiots who came up with this referendum about employment didn't think this through. Employers will just raise the bar and insist all prospective employees have a higher level of education. Maybe they will end up insisting that all applicants have an Associative Arts degree with a few years experience. That means the stores going in would have to offer high end merchandise. Maybe we could get a Crate & Barrel after all!
ReplyDeleteI never thought the COURAJ folks were the brightest folks around. This referendum is going to blow up in their faces. They can't insist on higher wages and expect high school dropouts to get hired.
This is a democracy, it's only smart for someone to go to the subsidized housing to try and recruit more voters for more subsidized housing. It may be smart to get people to go and explain what is at stake instead of just complaining about the organizing that others are doing.
ReplyDeleteHello, Rod Serling? Talk about a Twilight Zone of goofiness.
ReplyDeleteI think spaceship Shiller /Couraj has crash landed, with the 'aim as low as possible' mantra.
This is kind of like only allowing the state of Idaho to vote for president :)
ReplyDeleteIf Shiller - or any hack successor - attempts to cite this as evidence of support in 2011 they should be loudly ridiculed. I hope that Cappleman is able to effectively use this ridiculous stunt against her.
OK, sorry. My example about only Idaho being allowed to vote for president was silly.
ReplyDeleteThis referendum is more like allowing only Idaho's congressmen to vote on a federal law to quadruple the price of potatoes.
I wonder why they did not stop ny my place to ask for my support?
ReplyDeleteThink about this for a second... our gov't, that we elect, has decided, somehow, on their own, how to get a referenda voted on. This isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Talk about a biased sample group.
ReplyDeleteHow in the heck do I not get to vote on this? I live 300 yards from people that do get to vote on this. You don't think I'll be impacted?!
What an absolute joke. The crappy thing is that when this passes (it will) COURAJ and the other Shiller folks will hammer it like a drum. They'll bring it up every chance they get. And, people that don't know the background, will assume it's all on the up and up.
Un-fricking-real....
NOW here is an idea. Why do those of us that were not permitted to vote on this referendum, qualify for the next election our own referendum that EXCLUDES those precints that vote this time?
ReplyDeleteWhat precincts were excluded?
ReplyDeleteGayle,
ReplyDeleteIt is ironic to me that you compare our outrage regarding this issue as communistic.
Given the fact that only certain areas of the community are allowed to vote for these referendums even though these decisions affect EVERYONE who lives here, regardless of their economic status, REEKS of communism to me.
Where is the outrage that certain economic groups are PURPOSELY being prevented from voting on these issues? That would be in direct violation of my rights as a resident of Uptown, and an Illinois voter. Perhaps we should start addressing Shiller as Comrade?
This is absolutely incredible to me. The fact that ANYONE would defend the actions of Shiller in this matter is incredulous, and disgusting.
falco_esq - 4800 block of N Kenmore wasn't allowed to vote on this. Interestingly enough, 4700 was...
ReplyDeleteCrazy. How does this happen?
ReplyDeleteI feel kind of powerless...
ReplyDeleteFalco... that is a fantastic question... how does this happen? And how do people get away with these things?
ReplyDeleteI am hoping one of the media outlets I am sending this revelation to will pick this up. Then perhaps we all will get some answers because Shiller will have no choice.
It doesn't seem like the media is that interested.
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of the media:
ReplyDelete"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."
can someone get hold of the voter demographics for the sections voting? It'd be interesting to see how they compare to the general population. I won't bother to speculate about what would show - I think that people here can draw their own assumptions, but the data would be interesting to see and share.
ReplyDelete"How does this happen"? A question for the ages and something that no one could even begin to answer in this sewer that is Chicago politics.
ReplyDeleteseabourne, take one guess what voter demographics were used when crafting this referendum....
ReplyDeleteI was pissed when I couldn't vote on it. At first I thought it was a mistake and asked the polling attendant - "aren't there supposed to be a couple of referendums for the 46th Ward?" She looked it up and VOILA, apparently my precinct wasn't included....guess I live too close to Hutchinson Street
LOL! I just emailed a Sun-times reporter that I contact regularly regarding various issues. I asked him if he knew why a ward would have a referuendum only in certain precincts, or if he knew some way to find out. His response, "Gee, I would ask your alderman. He/she should know."
ReplyDeleteIt made me laugh.
I called the alderman after casting my early vote last week...
ReplyDeleteHer Shillerista admin said with a series of "Uh, oh, uh"s that the alderman would have to call me back.
I'm still waiting for your call Helen.
Any one person or group can put a question on the ballot. It's not difficult. You need to collect 8 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election for any political subdivision you want (precinct, ward, district, etc.).
ReplyDeleteAs for how precincts or more specifically ward maps are drawn, that labyrinthine nightmare of inside politics is something that can be and should be addressed at the constitutional convention. The way it’s done now, redistricting sets the most fundamental principal of democracy on its head---politicians choose their voters, voters no longer choose their elected officials. If you think Shiller is bad on this count, you should look further a field; on this issue, I'm afraid she's a piker.
The only binding question on November’s ballot is whether or not to convene a constitutional convention. I encourage you to focus on that question and the implications of that vote.
We should have put on the ballot "Should Alderman Shiller be recalled?"
ReplyDeleteI had to look up the definition Suzanne used to describe Shiller's actions, piker, and boy that sums her up beautifully. Piker, someone who does things in a small, stingy way.
ReplyDeleteThis referendum, as much of Uptown's politics, stinks of dead fish and a cockeyed view of what's best for our community.
The last referendum Shiller put on the ballot asked voters if they supported "more affordable housing". It was on 2 precinct ballots. Total votes:
- 268 yes
- 152 no
And Shiller used this over and voer to say the people want more affordable housing.
Let's be honest, the reason Uptown's retail streets look like something out of Afganistan is because we have an alderman who doesn't care about people being able to shop, dine and enjoy safe bustling commercial areas.
We all live with the consequences of poorly managed and maintained low income housing that staturates our community. Let's use
TIF money to improve the housing, eliminate the tenants that abuse the priviledge, clean up the parks and create a school system where kids can excel.
Suzanne's right. We have to vote yes to the Constitutional Convention, select good representatives and work for:
-TIF Reform
-Get rid of gerrymandering--an unfair, biased method of redistricting. Right now our aldermen decide what their ward boundaries are based on where they got their most votes!
I think politics stink and have come to the understanding we have to take a longer term view of changing that!
Nicely put Katherine.
ReplyDeleteBecause of Shiller, the streets DO indeed have a pathetic war torn look.
Again, the irony is....she lives on a peaceful street in Andersonville.
I wander if Schiller has ever read "America's Trillion Dollar Housing Mistake: The Failure of American Housing Policy"
ReplyDeleteA summary: Low-income housing programs and lesser-known initiatives have harmed those they were meant to help while causing grave collateral damage, Mr. Husock argues. He emphasizes the deep but unappreciated importance to American society of economically diverse urban neighborhoods, and he demonstrates the historic and continuing importance of privately built affordable housing.
Read this Schiller and all you trolls.
"Any one person or group can put a question on the ballot. It's not difficult. You need to collect 8 percent of the votes ... "
ReplyDeleteyou describe the process for a ballot initiative by a civilian, it's even easier for an ALDERMAN
under Illinois law Shiller only needs to get 26 people to agree with her - a majority of her peers - to put a question to her ward
in targeting only certain precincts Shiller is clearly demonstrating that she is not even trying to represent her entire ward
"As for how precincts or more specifically ward maps are drawn, that labyrinthine nightmare of inside politics is something that can be and should be addressed at the constitutional convention."
ReplyDeleteI don't blame our state laws for our fucked-up ward map, I blame ourselves including myself for not staying engaged with the remap
left to themselves our alderman mucked with the maps until the courts had to step in
Chicagoans know what 'hoods hang together, they have a sense of identity with an area - but when the politicians find a real community their first impulse is to chop it up before it gets uppity
the ward maps in Uptown are an especially egregious illustration of this on the N lakefront
we need to get involved and stay involved in the next ward remap so our voices are not sliced & diced by professional politicians