Thursday, January 8, 2009
News / Clout City Snow Job City
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 01.08.09 at 12:06 PM
I saw a city dump truck barreling down my street yesterday morning, scattering salt and clearing the snow. It's only a side street and there was barely an inch or two of snow to move.
Just a few weeks back, the city didn't bother clearing our street even after we got up to seven inches. To quote the great Bob Dylan, things have changed.
Don't get me wrong--I love my snow removal as much as the next guy. It's just that the mayor and his administration have appeared schizo when it comes to finances as of late. One day they say they have no choice but to cut snow removal services because the budget's hundreds of millions of dollars in the red, and the next they've got the boys clearing away every flake.
I thought Mayor Daley would hang tough on his pledge to cut snow removal services, bolstered by the recent Sun-Times editorial that dismissed the gripes of residents slipping and sliding on icy streets as whiners who didn't appreciate the enormous sacrifices our city has to make. Maybe today's snow truck means the budget crisis has passed.
An old pal who worked at City Hall used to tell me that the mayor's not all-powerful in the way I make him out to be. He said Daley was actually very sensitive to public opinion. If he feels he's gone too far--if he senses an electoral revolt on the horizon--he pulls back.
That's one theory. I'm not sure I buy it. I think the mayor could discontinue snow removal and garbage collection and the mopes in this town would still re-elect him. After all, in the midst of tax increases, fee hikes, services cuts, and layoffs, they're letting him get away with committing hundreds of millions for two weeks of fun and games in 2016.
Or as Bob Dylan said in Idiot Wind:"We're idiots, babe, it's a wonder we can even feed ourselves."
Comments (6)
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A wise man once said: Don't bother giving the ignorant good advice; all you'll do is anger them. I guess I'm not as wise as he. HAVE NO DOUBT, VOTE INCUMBENTS OUT
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Daley is going to pay for the 2009 snow removal with the additional revenue from red light cameras. If Chicago residents complained about the red light cameras as much as they complained about snow removal, Daley, the coward, would stop installing them. The red light cameras are not about safety, the cameras are all about making Daley money so he can pass the cash along to his family and friends.
daley adheres to the following rules: 1) If telling the truth HELPS you, tell the truth. (however rarely this is true for an incumbent) 2) If telling the truth HURTS you, tell a lie, particularly a lie that you are confident is impossible to prove is a lie. 3) When lying, coat your lies with as much truth as possible, so the lie APPEARS to be true. 4) Remember that history has proven that there is no such thing as too big a lie; in fact, the bigger and bolder the lie, the less likely it is that the lie will be challenged by anyone but the most honest, and then, you can apply the next rule of thumb. 5) When confronted with your lies, vigorously assert that you're NOT lying and accuse those who say you are, of LYING. 6) avoid lying about things that can be PROVEN to be lies, tho, you can ALWAYS challenge the honesty of those who present the proof of your lies. 7) Do your very best to keep track of your lies, so you don't waste energy lying when you are confronted with conflicting lies. 8) Whenever possible, always have OTHERS lie for you, so you can denounce them, if and when they are caught lying. 9) When caught in a lie, change the subject and focus on telling those lies that have, so far, not been proven to be lies. 10) Tell the truth sparingly, as, if the truth were helpful to you, you wouldn't have to tell so many lies in the first place. 11) When in doubt, say nothing, even if you have to speak many words which, essentially, mean nothing. 12) Save your best lies for the days leading up to an election, as, after you are reelected, you can, for a period of time, get away with telling your less plausible lies. 13) When submitting to questions from the media, try to mostly permit those media creatures you know are bought and paid for whores to ask the questions. 14) Never submit yourself to being questioned by anyone in the media who you know to be honest. Ever. daley knows that the only potential vulnerability any elected politician ever faces is on election day. And that, once elected/reelected, the opinions of the electorate are essentially meaningless, at least until about a year or less before the next election. Unlike his father, who was once quoted as saying 'Good government is good politics', little richard finds it to his liking to dwell solely on giving the false impression of 'good governing', rather than try to actually govern well. It's been working, for him, for years now, so why would he think there's a need to change strategies?
"...dashing through the snow, on a one-horse open sleigh, to the bank I go, laughing all the way, ha ha ha..." I don't care where he gets the cash Jay, just as long as the check don't bounce!
