Friday, December 12, 2008

News-Star On "The Mayor's Guy"

The Mayor's Guy, by Lorraine Swanson

The fact that Fix Wilson Yard selected attorney Tom Ramsdell to represent them in Uptown residents' lawsuit against the city and private developers involved with Wilson Yard is no accident. Ramsdell is experienced at fighting city hall. His self-named law firm, Ramsdell and Associates, successfully represented Lincoln Park residents in their lawsuit to prevent Latin School from building an artificial turf soccer field on a prime piece of Lincoln Park parkland.

Which leads to this question: When the City of Chicago is named as a defendant in a lawsuit, does Mayor Daley get served?

"We fought the city a lot and every time our process server goes over he tries to find the mayor," Ramsdell said at last week's Fix Wilson Yard press conference in front of the Daley Center. "There is actually a clerk whose job it is to accept service. It is in the mayor's office."

Given the cutbacks in side-street plowing and the car accidents that are likely to occur from unsalted streets, as well as the corner of Leland and Winthrop where the city has been installing a new curb cut that has no discernable barrier to prevent pedestrians falling into the 5-foot-deep hole that is filling up with snow - it's going to be a busy winter for the mayor's guy.

11 comments:

  1. 2 things:

    1) NO you do not serve the mayor when you sue the city. There may be someone in the office who accepts service in the mayor's office, but that is not proper, you have to serve the clerk.

    2) CDOT ARE THE MORONS who screwed up that corner.

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  2. All four corner curbs at Leland and Winthrop were removed over a month ago. Only one has been repaired. Cars keep diving into them and need to be towed out. If this were in Lincoln Park, residents would be at the Alderman's office with pick axes and torches. In Uptown, the curbs may be replaced in........Spring..........Thanks Helen!

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  3. Geez. I am going to try to see if I can get that hole covered.

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  4. This hole should be filled today. The 36" main was replaced with a 24" main. Then CDOT is going to come back and finish the job.

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  5. I'd be happy to see that! I'm tired of walking my dog on the icy street to get around these corners!

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  6. No guarantees on how long CDOT takes to do the rest, but at least the hole should be filled.

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  7. Hopefully the Feds will be indicted the Mayor soon.

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  8. We've got a couple different issues: there's the big BIG hole at Winthrop and Kenmore, which is the one I think Jason is referring to (I did see work going on this morning there).

    Then there are the four corners at Winthrop and Leland, which are all under construction, with big street gaps around them, which are the ones I think Larrynow is referring to.

    There may be some stuff going on at Kenmore and Leland as well, but I don't know for sure.

    In any case, Truman Square is a real mess right now with uncompleted street work.

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  9. Sorry,

    Winthrop and Leland, they (CDOT) are putting in those handicapp curbs. Doing the same thing at Winthrop and Kenmore once the broken main is fixed. Water should be out there now.

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  10. I'm digging a big hole in the street in front of my building, just because I feel left out. =]

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  11. There you go guys, the hole has been filled!

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