Now we'll see even less of Ron. A reader clued us in to this Tribune story: "Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman and his partner have paid $898,000 for a five-bedroom house on the North Side. ... That same day, he also closed on the sale of his longtime nine-room vintage condo in Uptown for $405,000." We can't help wondering if his new place is closer to a modern el station with great retail.
Huberman and his partner adopted a kid earlier this year. I can't blame them for moving. Less likely to be killed by stray gunfire in Ravenswood than living off Montrose.
ReplyDeleteBy the way the place they bought is about one whole block away from the Damen EL stop on the Brown Line. The whole Brown Line was renovated a few years back and that stop is nice. That puts him just over 1/2 mile west of our lovely hood. Just head over to O'Shaunnnnnnnnnnneggggssssy's IrIsHpub and keep walking a few blocks. iV'e Been drinkin' again.
How do I know? The IrishPirate is all knowing and all seeing. Either that or I looked at public records online from closing in Chicago on 1April at that price.
When I saw your headline I figured he got canned from the schools. Da Reader did a story a few weeks back on Hubie raising his salary and Da Mare might not be thrilled with dat.
Anyway Uptown's loss is nearby Ravenswood's gain. If I were married, God help me, and had any kids I acknowledged I'd likely live over there. I have fond memories of shagging my dad out of AA meetings at the "Twelve Step House" on Damen in the 70's.
Now that I think about it I may need to stop in there for myself.
and had any kids
ReplyDeleteGod help us!
As for Ron's leaving Uptown? Good.
I mean, it's not like he gave a rat's tucus about our neighborhood, anyway. Or,the city, for that matter.
Bang up job at OEMC ... oh, wait.
Bang up job at the CTA ... oh, wait.
Bang up job at CPS ... well, damn.
Serioulsy, when has this guy done anything other than drive an organization's budget into the dirt?
If it weren't for a certain Daley connected something-something, this guy would still be wearing bike shorts.
Ah ... Chicago.
I was always taught that if one is not part of the solution, they are part of the problem. Ron was certainly not part of the solution for this neighborhood and then chose to leave because it wasn't safe enough for his tastes. It's one thing for people to try to improve the neighborhood and leave afterwards. It's another for someone to do nothing and then be worried about crime. My irritation is that this man could have had so much influence in this neighborhood but he left us hanging.
ReplyDeleteI can't afford to be Ron's neighbor, but I'm not sure I would want to be if I could.
Ron, his partner and their adopted child are the real "Modern Family" :-)
ReplyDeleteHe moved, so what? It's his choice. Did he ever say he would stay in uptown till the level of poverty, crime and various hookers were gone.
ReplyDeleteLike everything, we choose where we live. He chose a neighborhood that he would like to live in. No one is chained to their house or condo for ever and ever and ever and ever till death do they part.
No story except he moved for his own reason and he does not have to answer to anyone except those that are part of his family.
I wish him well.
Now if you don't like his performance on his job, you have ever right to express your options.
950Leland ...,
ReplyDeleteLet's not overlook where Ron is getting the money to pay for this $1,000,000 place.
That's right - tax payer funded salary.
So, while professional Ron is on the verge of laying off teachers, increasing class sizes, cutting sports programs and generally gutting the Chicago Public Schools due to a lack of funding, happy-time personal Ron is living it up in an 11 room house that we're helping to finance.
Well played, Ronnie-boy.
Well played, indeed.
Ya putz.
Huberman did get a raise that wasn't a raise according to the Chicago Public Schools. I'd upgrade too.
ReplyDeleteI'll beat up on Ron if his child ends up on the VIP list for magnet school slots.
"Let's not overlook where Ron is getting the money to pay for this $1,000,000 place.
ReplyDeleteThat's right - tax payer funded salary."
1) First of all, it is $898,000.00. $100K may not mean much to you, but it is a lot of money for the rest of us.
2) Compared to a CEO in private industry, government leaders have a much more difficult job because of entrenched union rules and laws. (Among other things.) Cuts are impossible to make because of a general feeling of ENTITLEMENT in this country. Taxes are impossible to raise. So, as a government leader you get twice the misery and 1/4 of the pay. Can you imagine dealing with 50 alderman who have no clue what they are doing?
So he works for the government. You don't know what his partner does. You have know idea what investments he made. Maybe he is frugal. Guess what? Government employees work. They get paid. With all the BS he must deal with I say God bless him. I happen to think he did a very good job with the CTA. Sounds to me that he is a smart guy, the kind of person we want in government. He has saved more taxpayer money than his salary would ever cover.
Have you ever worked in the public schools? I'll guess no. You would not believe the sense of entitlement many teachers have. I am glad he is purging those people. I know teachers who buy supplies for kids out of their own pocket, and on the other hand there are TONS who don't bother showing up for work because they are protected by the unions. There are racial issues, money issues, political issues etc. Many people want to make a stink as opposed to actually doing the job. You get paid the big bucks to deal with the big problems. I have no problem with that.
Don't believe everything you read in the paper. Sounds like people like you are just jealous bloggers with no actual responsibility. Government leaders have a right to live their lives and raise their kids like anybody else.
Yo, no offense, I like your comments on the blog, but don't be so Fox News. Step up. Take a government job. Run for office. Try to make a difference. Then you can talk.
(City jobs are available on the City's website. All interviews are monitored by the the federal monitor.)
all the power to him....hope he got near or what he wanted....if I had kids....hell YES I'd be gone....
ReplyDeleteScrutiny comes with the territory. A judge said it best when he told a public employee that if they public employee finds it too difficult to live with the pressures / requirements / scrutiny of the job, its not too hard to quit and find a private sector job.
ReplyDeleteTruth Bearer,
ReplyDeleteNot really the judge's job to stick his nose in it... Just sayin'
I wonder if he'll be an advocate for his new neighborhood? God knows he wasn't here.
ReplyDeleteRon made a personal decision to sell his property and purchase new property.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love Uptown, complete with all its drama, this isn't news.
Let's hope Ron sold his property to caring new neighbors (and not drug pushers, pimps, or gang members) who will take proactive action to improve the community for all.
Feel free to scrutinize Ron's job performance all you want...that's fair game.
Jason-
ReplyDeleteThose are some of the most ridiculous comments that I have ever read. Teachers have a sense of entitlement? Where are your facts to support this claim? Sorry that they aren't lawyers, or have an expense account.
Please, Walk a mile in a teacher's shoes before you try to push that drivel. I'm sure you don't even have kids. It's seems to me that it's always people without kids that make the most moronic statement about teachers. Just because you may have met one once, doesn't make you an expert on all of them.
And while you're at it, maybe you can explain how Ronnie keeps getting these top jobs? He has had major budget issues and underperformed at each post.
I will never begrudge a person for getting all that they can on the open market. I also believe in paying people for performance. If we judge Ron on current performance and track record he:
1. Has/had not one but 2 CPS funded company cars
2. Told teachers that everyone needs to cut back and reported that he will take an addition 10 furlough days.
3. Gave himself a 12.5% raise, er, ahem, pay increase which covers the pay he would have sacrificed with the furlough days.
4. didn't follow trough on many of his promises to renovate stations on the CTA
It's hilarious when:
Ronnie tells teachers: we all need to cut back and make sacrifices. Ronnie has a serious "Do as I say, not as I do" complex
Jason-
ReplyDeleteI'm no lawyer, but If the papers are all making this up, he'll have a strong libel lawsuit. Maybe you can be apart of his legal team.
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/Walter.Perspective.April.2.1651206.html
Jason,
ReplyDeleteNo offense taken.
I hear ya' man (and, forgive my roudning error). The issue with Ron is that this purchase comes at possibly the worst time.
The optics of this are simply horrible.
I don't begrudge anyone for bettering their living conditions, especially if they have children.
What I do take issue with is that this looks so damned bad, and will quite possibly affect the discussions currently under way with the teacher's union.
Then, when you add Ron's record of "success", the picture gets even worse.
The best course for Ron to have taken would have been to wait until the CPS budget issue subsided and then make a move.
That's not always beneficial to the purchase of real estate, I understand; but, part of the job in a public office is to instill trust in the people who are paying your salary.
I don't think he'd garnered much trust when he was appointed to his position, and picking up a plumb piece of property while posing a threat to the property of others ... well, that won't help anyone.
Indeed, bless public workers for taking such high profile positions; but, criticism (rightly or wrongly) comes with the paycheck.
And for the record, I'm not jealous nor am I completley removed from the workings of city business and the responsibilities thereof.
Oh, and you are spot on with how damaging a sense of entitlement can be.
Guitarjunkie,
ReplyDeleteI worked in the public schools as a sub for three years and worked at one school on the southeast side. All I did was take over for teachers who were not doing their jobs. (Actually, is was the best most rewarding job I ever had.) There are alot of bad apples out there.
Also, as I noted, there are a ton of great teachers out there. I know a bunch.
Further, you are wrong on the libel issue. The standard for public officials is much higher. See New york Times v. Sullivan.
So, the papers never pointed out all the good stuff Ron did. What a surprise. He did a great job with the CTA.
Yo,
Its all good. I just get tired of reading about BS in the paper that just isn't true.
Like guys that go on the news who got fired from the City because they were TOTALLY incompetent and usual showed up drunk. Then they say it is political. All that is BS.
Oh, one more thing. We are not best buds or anything but I know for a fact. Ron is incredibly dedicated to the City. He and his staff routinely put in 12-16 hour days.
ReplyDeleteThat's not the point, Jason. Ron did diddly squat for the neighborhood that really needed his help with the Wilson L.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I take that back. He did do something. He knowingly played the pawn to Helen and outright lied that he would clean up and rent out the CTA owned retail space along the Wilson L and use those funds to remodel the Wilson station. Ba-bye Ron.
Holy Moley,
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that the Wilson El is being rehabbed? Who do think really got that going? Santa Claus?
Jason, I did notice that the station identified as one of the worst of all CTA stations is getting less than a tenth of the amount of money that Belmont got to get what you want to refer to as "rehabbed." Given the disproportionate amount of disabled residents here and a local community college with some disabled students, it still won't be handicapped accessible.
ReplyDeleteNo one ever asked that we get special favors from the CTA. How about equal treatment? Just because we have poor people in this neighborhood, we don't have to settle for low standards. It's a slap in the face and an insult to our intelligence.
Jason - the measly $3 million that's going to put lipstick on the Wilson el station is from the TIF. Santa Claus isn't paying for it. The CTA isn't paying for it. You and I are.
ReplyDeleteIt's far from the complete overhaul that was promised by both Ron (I was at that meeting and heard him - were you there?) and Peter Holsten.
Ron can live wherever he wants, but he could have done a lot for Uptown while he was head of the CTA. Instead, he got up and spoke at a meeting that was hostile to Helen and made promises to make her look good and to attempt to defuse the situation. The things he and Helen promised that night never happened, and probably never were going to. It was a big diversionary tactic.
You're defending someone you know and respect. That's understandable. But visit a real rehabbed station, one with a Dominick's, handicap-accessibility, a coffee shop, and (wow) no homeless people living in the doorways or peeing there at high noon, and compare it with Wilson. That's what we were promised by Ron Huberman. Of course we're disappointed that we're getting a puny $3 million (out of our own pockets, no less), not the $50 million top-to-bottom rehab we were promised and that other stations are getting all around us.
Guys,
ReplyDeleteI don't know the details about the Wilson El stop, but I am sure Ron did the best he could.
I just don't know the alderman put up all these barriers to stop fixing up that corner. It makes no sense.
When I am alderman, that corner will be awesome! ;-)
Jason, very early on this thread it has been abundantly clear that you knew nothing about what Ron promised the community with the Wilson L station. Worse yet, it didn't seem to matter. In my book, you don't promise something that you can't follow through with.
ReplyDeleteI'll say this though, you are sounding like a typical Chicago politician.
Jason-
ReplyDeleteSince when does subbing make you an expert on all teachers? You made a sweeping generalization based on one perspective.
The reason that we have a teachers union is because the school board took advantage of it's employees. It seems to me that historically, whenever a union forms, there's a corporation or business taking advantage of it's employees.
I agree that there are many teachers that are protected by the union who deserve to get the axe. The reality is of the 2,400 teachers that will get released, a small percentage of them will actually deserve it.
The way things are structured, the young, hungry, hardworking teachers are left unprotected. Those are the teachers that will be put out, while the teachers that you described will keep getting a paycheck.
Its hard enough to get anything done in a classroom of 30 kids, you think things would improve if you packed 35-37 kids in a class? More is less Jason. Illinois is in the bottom 5 for education funding because of people that share your attitude toward the profession.
"So, the papers never pointed out all the good stuff Ron did. What a surprise. He did a great job with the CTA."
I also found it laughable that you claimed Ronnie did so much good at the CTA, but struggle to produce any verifiable evidence that supports your claim. This is one situation where it might be unfair to put all the blame on Helen.
"Did you notice that the Wilson El is being rehabbed? Who do think really got that going? Santa Claus?"
So, you want to give him credit for something that is happening a year after he left the post? HA, HA, HA, you're a trip.
$3 Million is a drop in the bucket compared to what they spent at other stations. Ronnie could have tried a bit harder on his end as the Head Of The CTA to do something with that Wilson station. I don't think Helen could have stopped him from rehabbing the CTA Owned Storefronts.
What can you prove that he did? Does the captain of the Titanic deserve a raise? I agree, 100k is a lot of cash for the rank and file like me, which makes it even more questionable for Ronnie to pony up 500k more for a new home after asking teachers to cut back and firing people. Some folks earn all of the bad press that they get. Sorry for ragging on your buddy, but he deserves to get sacked as much or more so than any of the employees he's displaced.
I stated earlier, and agree with Yo TSN and Holy Moley, I don't care how much he gets paid, or how much his home is worth. I do feel that timing is incredibly poor. Which really is a sign of ignorance or balls the size if grapefruits.
"When I am alderman, that corner will be awesome!"
God help us all.