Tuesday, April 7, 2009
News / Clout City What comes first, the green or the jobs?
Posted by Mick Dumke on 04.07.09 at 06:43 PM
Like countless other elected officials across the country, 10th Ward alderman John Pope is deeply interested in the idea of rebuilding the local economy and bringing “green” jobs to the region. He’s even been reading The Green Collar Economy, the book by activist and Obama adviser Van Jones that offers ideas on how to do it.
But Pope has already reached one conclusion: “There are no green jobs if there aren’t jobs.”
Given the dire state of the economy and the rising threat of climate change, policy-makers, business leaders, and activists are having all kinds of debates about what should come first, the green or the jobs. The Obama administration and other advocates say both. But lots of on-the-ground leaders like Pope aren’t so sure.
“Let’s say ‘green’ is fixing up a home with shingles made from recycled materials,” Pope said in a recent interview. “But if there aren’t any roofs to repair, you can’t do it. So we’re trying to get some ‘green’ into our other projects"—by incorporating green standards in new construction, for example.
Pope’s perspective is important, because the 10th Ward would almost certainly have to be a significant part of any effort to rebuild Chicago’s manufacturing base with sustainable industries. At the very least, it’s going to offer prime examples of what’s doable.
The ward [PDF] takes up the far southeast corner of the city, straddling Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line from 83rd down to the city limits at 136th. For a century it was the heart of Chicago’s heavy industrial machine, a network of steel mills, manufacturing plants, supply warehouses, rail spurs, and shipping docks. The difference now is that most of the big mills and factories are closed, and functioning facilities are surrounded by huge plots of open or abandoned land—Pope estimates that the ward has at least 1,000 acres of unused industrial property.
“It’s a big opportunity,” he said. “And when I say ‘opportunity,’ I mean there’s lots of space, it’s relatively cheap, it’s equipped with infrastructure like gas and utility lines, and it’s close to the expressways, railroads, and port.”
He also emphasizes that the neighborhoods on the southeast side are full of experienced workers, including tradespeople, and that large chunks of the ward are in tax increment financing districts and state enterprise zones that can offer economic “incentives” to new businesses.
But there are only so many businesses that are interested—and none of them so far is making solar panels or wind turbines.
Pope refers to himself and his staff as brokers, and he’s eager to point to the places where business activity has returned to once-idle land: the 600-acre US Steel site that’s slowly being converted into a new residential neighborhood; the old mill property on South Torrence that now serves as an equipment facility for Walsh Construction; the former loading area on the Calumet River that’s become a yacht storage lot.
“That site used to have 1,000 jobs; now it’s got about 100,” Pope said of the yacht yard. “That’s been one where we’ve said, ‘We’re not getting all the industrial jobs back.’ You’ve got to be selective, but not too selective.”
Especially since there’s so much other property that’s still not used, and much of it needs extensive cleanup before it even could be—such as the former coke facility that sits on 106 acres on South Torrence. When Acme Steel declared bankruptcy a few years ago, most of its property—down to the bricks in its buildings—was sold off at auction. But not the old coke plant. Pope said the structure and the property around it were too contaminated; in 2007, state officials determined [PDF] that the toxic mix of chemicals at the site “poses a public health hazard to trespassers.”
Activists have lobbied to preserve the site, perhaps to turn it into a museum or park dedicated to the area’s industrial history. Pope said that’s not likely because of the high cleanup costs, which can’t be recovered from Acme since it’s no longer in business.
“This is a challenging one here,” he says.
Pope grew up on the southeast side—he's the son and grandson of steelworkers—and remembers when people simply accepted pollution as a byproduct of prosperity, if they thought about it at all. He still finds it a little surreal to talk about what could possibly replace the mills. “My dad never thought they would close—he said that losing the mills on the southeast side of Chicago would be like losing the lake....
"But things change. This area didn’t develop quickly—it took decades. And it’s not going to come back quickly either.”
Comments (39)
Showing 1-39 of 39
City Clerk Des Plaines 3 Candidates - Vote for 1 Precincts Counted: 56 of 57 (98.25%) Candidates Votes % Jennifer Tsalapatanis (IND) 2,901 32.74% Gloria J. Ludwig (IND) 3,672 41.44% Patrice A. McDonough (IND) 2,287 25.81% McDonough loses again!!!!!! I'm going to bury you McDounuts!!! Remember, we made you, and now we will break you!!!
like
dislike
There is a alderman who can make green happen faster and not in decades. Flores loves green so much he gives green and takes green. He is one green alderman. Pope has nothing on him.
You forgot to mention the other 48. What's the matter, they haven't gotten around to fucking you yet? And why the hard on for Manny? What piece of shit thing do you want to say he did to you? Or would you rather not say?
Hey Capt Paddy, L-O-S-E-R !!!!!! Clerk Race in DesPlaines. You should have listen to the mexican attorney and his dago sidekick! Also pay your bills ass- wipe!
Montel Gayles head of the Public Building Commission,a Daley bagman and clone. He allowed this White guy to pay to play on the minority set aside scam. A major contractor for the city of Chicago as indicted Tuesday on fraud charges, accused of failing to give minority subcontractors their share of business on the construction of a fire station and of CTA train- and bus-washing facilities," the Sun-Times reports. The contractor: Castle Construction Corp. "Over the past decade, the city has given Castle more than $140 million in contracts to build police stations, schools and other public buildings. Three weeks ago, the city Aviation Department awarded Castle a $4.3 million contract to make repairs to a parking garage at O'Hare Airport." Both the firm and CEO Robert C. Blum were indicted.
Thanks for the help Coconate. We needed your extra info on the opposition. Your guy McDonough is still taking pictures of my house.
I like how she never spent a penny, never knocked on a door, never made a phone call. Payback from the 6th ward race was revenge, a dish best served cold! Find a new dic* to suck, your out of a job soon!
He can always have a job with us, he helped push us to victory. You wouldn't understand McDonough, YOU LOST! Next up , you will lose your federal case, because you are a Patrick McDonough Fraud!!!!
Please ban the loser Patrick McDonough from this board. He dimishes and distracts from real issues and discussions. His IP address is in DesPlaines.
You are the best inside man money could buy. You and Frank Avila help kick Geils to the curb,making DesPlaines more Daley and Chicago friendly.
I agree with Neil Kaufman. Keep Patrick McDonough off the board. All he does is talk about his silly self. He has become a big time loser, running three times and getting his ass whipped!
More tasty tidbits from the comments section of: http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/ "Think small, be small. You want to get the Mayors and alderthieves attention? Threaten them with their jobs. Let it be known that the police are serious about circulating petitions to bring a term limit referendum for alderman and the mayor on the next election ballot. Also that we are serious about fighting residency all the way to the supreme court. 4/08/2009 08:56:00 AM" & "Dear Mayor Daley: About your being an ass, I have a question to ask you--can you name the mayor of Atlanta back in 1996? You know, the year they had the Olympics? Didn't think so. No one knows or cares. More folks remember Richard Jewell, the mope security guard falsely accused of setting off a small IED. Anyway, my point is that even if the 2016 games come to Chicago, they will not be your legacy. Your legacy will be numerous murder victims, high crime rates, lousy public services, high taxes, 'X'ing out Meigs Field, hired trucks, meaningless gun control laws, selling off our city's future, and, in general, ruining the standard of living here, while lining your pockets and those of your cronies. These, not the Olympics, are the games which will be your legacy. 4/08/2009 09:16:00 AM" & "Daley is an Ass Like this is News!?!? WE have known this for years, and this ASS keeps getting elected. Every time he runs for re-election, a black hater candidate runs. Then a second black vote-splitting candidate pops up and Shortshanks wins. Don't tell me that second candidate is NOT somehow put up by Daley minions under the table. But the true measure of this Evil Little Man's Character came out some years ago in an interview in the Sun-Times, when it ran a series in the Sunday editions where the readers would write in questions for famous people. The second in the series was Richard M. Daley. It was during contract negotiations and after the city council voted the mayor and themselves hefty raises. One of the questions was, 'How can the mayor get a 35% pay raise and the aldermen get a 30% pay raise and you only offer the firefighters and police officers a 2 ½ % pay raise.' The mayor’s response, 'I am the mayor of a great city and the aldermen are the legislators of a great city. I am very proud of the salary that I make. If this guy or anyone else doesn’t like what we are offering he can quit. We had 40,000 sign up to take the firefighters test and he can be easily replaced.' This is what we are up against, the mentality of that man with the mean little man. 4/08/2009 09:21:00 AM" & "Yes, but Daley has a problem that Boston does not have. He has HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of $$$$$ put to the side for his pet project, The Olympics. He also has Millions in TIF money put to the side. He cannot cry broke to an arbitrator with this money on the books. He will cry there is no money, but the fact is he has openly admitted he has 500 Million still sitting on the side from the Chicago Skyway sale. 4/08/2009 12:05:00 PM" & "First Responders, CPD & CFD, need to do more. We need to unite our groups. We need to involve everyone, Police, Firefighters, Medics. White shirts of all ranks as well. The First responders in Chicago are being left behind by 'shortshanks', it's almost as if he doesn't have any respect for us or the jobs we perform everyday, making his City safe. He has no clue as to what we do for a living and would rather continue with his corrupt ways in doing business with his cronies than give us a fair wage and benefits. Why can't we enjoy the same pension and medical benefits the aldercreatures enjoy. Why does he constantly rush to appease his new found 'base of voters' and forget those who helped make the Daleys look good all these years. Time has come we spoke up for ourselves! We need to continue speaking out! 4/08/2009 12:35:00 PM" & "If the city is so broke, it needs to start cutting expenses. It is planning to waste even more money on the Olympics, so obviously the city cannot really be broke. 4/08/2009 01:38:00 PM" & "Did anyone see who ShitShanks was sitting with at the Sox game yesterday? He was hanging out with his buddy, Father Phleger and another guy who looked suspiciously close to Reverend Meeks. This idiot has GOT to go, that's all there is to it. You could run a rubber chicken against ShitShanks and the chicken would have a decent chance this time around. Can't we find just ONE decent candidate to take this guy out? Suggestions?? SCC... this needs a thread of it's own. It's not too early to start planning on this. Let's see if we can find a candidate to draft for a run against ShitShanks. If we eliminate Daley, the rest of his sheep followers will be rendered powerless. C'mon.... LET'S GET IT ON!!! 4/08/2009 01:45:00 PM" & "maybe our next march in front of city hall should have even a bigger turn out. our signs that we'll be holding should tell the public the Real Truths about what goes on in this city, how the police department is continuously shit on and about all the waisted spending that Daley does. Our mayor is so corrupt it put Al Capone to shame. 4/08/2009 02:34:00 PM" & "Chalkie paid a visit in 006 today and another one in 007 might be claimed by Mr. Chalk. Mr. 10th Ward Alderman Pope. Have you driven around in your ward lately. Never in my entire life have I seen the city streets this horrific with pot holes, craters and sink holes. WTF !!!!!!!! While I'm bitching, drive around for 2-4 hours and I'll bet you never see a single squad car. Obviously, you have no problem with that, but I sure as hell do. Do something already. Typical Daley Cronie (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree). 4/08/2009 02:42:00 PM" & "Lick-A-Dick Daley strikes again. He always has an excuse for his actions being justified like a little child who does wrong, but claims that he didn't and that it's someone else's fault.. it's always SOMEONE ELSE'S FAULT WITH HIM. He is supposed to be responsible for the City's employees for several years in advance, as far as making the proper projections for allocating a reasonable pay raise for police, fire, teachers, Streets and San, etc; he knows how long their contracts are. This man-child takes advantage of the fact that we have a no-strike clause somewhere in our Contract. He never subjects the Teachers, Streets and San, etc., to this type of treatment, all for his own Greedy intentions. Why don't we just get an Arbitrator already, FOP? What's the sense of wasting any more time with this mental and physical midget? OR perhaps you are in cahoots with Mayor Shortshanks, as you never seem to do much until the rank and file are breathing down your necks, at their angriest, then you act a bit, and only enough to appease temporarily.. It was SCC, and the rank and file, who put together the Highly Successful Picketing, NOT FOP, they just jumped on the band-wagon like the fence-sitters that they are, after the frustration was so obvious. I wish we could get the FireFighters Union, and make it the Firefighter/Police Union, all in one. Time to put up or shut up FOP; your games are at end. We are watching and videoing. 4/08/2009 04:47:00 PM" & "I don't know if I'm the poster you're referring to but I did make a comment about Daley rescinding the closing of mental health clinics. The mental health clinics in Chicago are a joke. The majority of their mentally ill clients don't take their medications or don't even show up for their appointments. If they do, it's only because their SSI 'disability' (if you can call drug and alcohol dependence a disability) payments will be held up or they won't get their kids back. Then they go once or twice and you don't see them again for another six months until someone threatens to hold back on their money that comes from all of us---taxpayers. I was upset because I thought, here are Chicago's finest, our police department, who serve and protects, and Daley plays games with them but caves into pressure from a handful of people that sat outside his office. Let me ask you, do you think the police would be allowed to have a sit in on the fifth floor? No, they wouldn't. Someone put them up to it and with Daley's blessing. It's all an act, orchestrated by the usual suspects and paid for by us. And yesterday, when I saw Father Pfleger sitting next to Daley in the bleachers, it all became very clear. The more I read this blog, the clearer it becomes. That people do not vote and did not get out and vote yesterday makes me sick. These lazy bastards who fill the ballot boxes are smarter than decent working class people who sit home on their ass complaining about who's in charge, because, they know not to bite the hand that feeds them. God forbid they have to REALLY work for a living like the rest of the working stiffs. God forbid their phone call gets disconnected or they fall out of favor of the dick they suck day in and day out. I watch it all from a distance and it is fucking sickening, human nature at it's absolute worst. Parasites living off the backs of the taxpayers. I cannot even imagine what that must feel like because anything I ever wanted, I worked for. All the rules I was raised with don't apply anymore. It's all about something for nothing. Sorry for the rant. Just my two cents. 4/08/2009 05:07:00 PM" And some people say that cops are dumb.
I'm running for Democratic Committeeman of the 41st ward next! OOPS! Thats in Chicago. My husband will have to move us from DesPlaines.
She seems like a nice lady. She gave a speech like a hero, you zero! Maybe you can get a job cutting Geils grass at his summerhouse!
Fighting big-city corruption: Mayor Richard Daley offers script Speech skips references to fraud convictions and City Hall probes By Dan Mihalopoulos | Tribune reporter April 9, 2009 Coming from as far away as Azerbaijan, dozens of corporate executives and government bureaucrats gathered at a downtown hotel Wednesday to hear Mayor Richard Daley share his tips for preventing corruption. Absent from his speech at the international event was any talk of city hiring fraud, the Hired Truck program or the myriad other scandals that put Daley aides in federal prison or left them free pending appeals of official misconduct convictions. A day after yet another city contractor became the target of fraud charges, Daley instead focused his comments on how he has tried to "lead by example," creating an Office of Compliance to coax ethical public service from his underlings. The mayor didn't mention, however, that he started the office in response to a federal probe of a hiring and promotions system that was found to be rigged to reward loyal Daley campaign workers for most of his tenure. Daley made only a vague reference to the long litany of corruption charges against City Hall officials during his 20 years in power, according to a text of his remarks the mayor's office provided at the Tribune's request. The event was closed to the media, and Daley aides did not inform reporters of his speech. "Chicago, like every other city and state government, has faced its share of challenges—including employee misconduct," the mayor told the visitors. "I am proud that when missteps have occurred, we've raised the bar and implemented new standards to help prevent future problems." A top local government watchdog laughed when told of Daley's anti-corruption talk. " Chicago is a beautiful city to have a convention, but I wouldn't advise [the conference attendees] to make a model of either our city's or our state's political system," said Cindi Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. Daley's audience at the Westin Chicago River North included anti-corruption officials from about a dozen U.S. and European cities and executives from more than 50 companies, including such worldwide concerns as Microsoft and Coca-Cola, said event organizers with the Geneva, Switzerland-based World Economic Forum. The conference gave executives a chance to discuss how they can foster a corporate culture that discourages bribery and other forms of corruption, said Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr., CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the global accounting firm headquartered in New York. Having worked in Chicago at one point in his career, DiPiazza said he was not unaware of the city's checkered history. Just last month, for example, a federal grand jury convicted Daley's former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner, Al Sanchez, of hiring fraud charges. But DiPiazza defended holding the conference here and praised Daley's effort. "These are big issues whether it's in Chicago or Nigeria or Russia or China," DiPiazza said. "Chicago has its unique challenges because of the way that the entire governance process has been built up over time. But I think [Daley] clearly understands he has to build the processes to stop it." Anthony Boswell, who has led Daley's Office of Compliance since its creation in 2007, said Chicago is "absolutely the place" for officials from other cities to learn about anti-corruption efforts because no other city government has a stand-alone department such as his. "Chicago is at the forefront," Boswell said. Not invited to the conference was City Hall's inspector general, David Hoffman. Critics say Daley created Boswell's office to undercut Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor who has uncovered corruption.
Please, please moderate the comments. I know staff is short but these long and unwieldy comments from Second City Cop that are, 99% of the time, completely irrelevant kill conversation and make it difficult to read. As are the ad hominem attacks on Mick (inexplicably) or Frank Coconate or whatever. I know you're short staffed, but this totally sucks and has been going on forever. Make an intern do it. Or I'll do it for free. I love you guys and I think a lot of these posts have the potential for real discussion, but not with all these maniacs who are only here to push forward their blog or insult each other.
What a generous, genuine and honest soul you are. How kind of you to volunteer to 'moderate' this comment board, which, so far, has been an open source for anyone to express their opinions concerning the politics of our wonderfully diverse city and county. I feel your pain. It's a tragedy that you've never learned how to scroll past those comments which are not to your liking. The terrible burden it must be for you, to have to fight that overwhelming compulsion to read every single word of every single posted comment, the suffering you must have to endure, reading words that comprise sentences that are grouped together into paragraphs, said words, sentences and paragraphs packed full of ideas, concepts, anecdotes and opinions that differ from your own and, presumably, are contrary to your view of the world and life in general. Oh, the humanity. As for the few salient points your run on paragraph presents at this time, I, a fellow reader and commenter, will attempt to engage you, a fellow reader and commenter, in a 'real discussion', to wit: 1. "...long and unwieldy comments..." is a complaint only an idiot would voice. If a given posted comment is 'too long' for your short attention span, how is that every reader of this blog's problem, and not solely your own reading deficit problem? And how is scrolling past any comments you consider to be too 'long' for your tastes 'unwieldy' to anyone other than you? Finally, how can long, ie., more words than less words, comments 'kill conversation'? Other than by discouraging those whose capacity to read is impaired? 2. As for "...a lot of these posts have the potential for real discussion...", I pose this question to you: What the hell is preventing you from posting a comment that contains all the elements that you deem necessary to result in what you would define as a 'real discussion'? I ask because, like some in the past, your comment is sorely lacking in the very elements which your comment purports to be lamenting the absence of. In other words, the sum of your comment is that you want to see less words, fewer comments not to your liking and, incredibly, an offer to be the 'one' who decides which comments are 'worthy' of being posted and which are not. 3. The comments you refer to as being 'completely irrelevant' are everything BUT irrelevant. They are impressively relevant to the politics of this city and county, which, by the way, and if you hadn't noticed, is the subject matter of this entire blog. As for the "...ad hominem attacks.." type postings, it's interesting that your complaint references those referring to 'Mick' and 'Frank Coconate' by name, but omit naming the many other 'insult comedians' who do regularly attempt to distract from intelligent, honest and genuine discussion here. Their feeble efforts are, in no way, shape or form, ever successful, at least as far as an intelligent reader can be concerned, so, why do you, apparently, allow them to distract you, in your seeking to satisfy your, presumably, sincere desire for 'real discussion'? Are you that weak willed, that you cannot muster the necessary mental focus to ignore them? Are you that reading impaired or handicapped that you cannot simply scan each posted comment, determine it's nature, and, should your efforts show you that a comment is unworthy of your attentive reading, scroll past it? Are you so self absorbed that you really think that the efforts needed to ignore comments you don't like are a reasonable excuse to impose limitations on the freedom of speech which the generous owners of this board have shown are appreciated, respected and supported by same? Finally, I have yet to read a comment of the sort that you have posted, complaining about the 'lack of moderation' here, which has ever included anything of substance other than the complaint itself. If you truly want 'real discussion', you would engage in 'real discussion', and not merely complain about your perception of the lack of same. If you want to 'get in the game' of 'real discussion', there is NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING stopping you. NOTHING. As in NO THING. Other than, of course, your own lack of substance.
I would really like to see the 70 acre area south of 126th and near the Powers recreation area turned into a similar sort of area, not an empty industrial zone, which is what is north of 126th along that stretch. A contiguous "nature" area from Wolf Lake to and along the Cal River, wtih a splinter up to 95th would be a unique addition to the recreational, and social lives of Chicagoans.
I would really like to see the 70 acre area south of 126th and near the Powers recreation area turned into a similar sort of area, not an empty industrial zone, which is what is north of 126th along that stretch. A contiguous "nature" area from Wolf Lake to and along the Cal River, wtih a splinter up to 95th would be a unique addition to the lives of Chicagoans.
Katie is right, these boards have become utterly useless and unproductive for those people looking to actually converse, not simply do hit-and-run insults/cut-and-pastes. The Reader has some great staff writing great stories, it's sad they are turning off potential visitors to the site by letting the inmates take over the asylum.
Yet another comment complaining about the lack of substantive comments. Said comment painfully lacking in substance. Are there no lack of commenters interested only in commenting substantively upon the lack of substantive comments? Is there not substantial irony within the comments complaining about the lack of substantial comments? Ain't nobody got no sense of humor no more?
"I would really like to see the 70 acre area south of 126th and near the Powers recreation area turned into a similar sort of area, not an empty industrial zone, which is what is north of 126th along that stretch. A contiguous "nature" area from Wolf Lake to and along the Cal River, wtih a splinter up to 95th would be a unique addition to the lives of Chicagoans." And this would provide long term, secure and lasting employment for the residents of the area how? Other than providing an opportunity for the taxpayers dollars to be doled out to the daley's favorite kickback contractors, who would predictably employ the cheapest, non union laborers to do the grunt work?
It's not that there aren't substantive comments, it's that they get buried in the white noise - which I'd imagine is intentional - and time is an issue. Who has hours to weed out the substance from the crapola? I co-moderate a fairly large yahoo group, and quite frankly as a bunch of rank amateurs we do a much better job - most of the political blogs here are just unreadable these days. I don't see any reason why the Reader can't require registration of some fashion, this isn't a public domain site, they own it.
I have to say that your reasons for not posting substantive comments is pretty feeble, at best. Any comment of substance will likely contain more words, sentences and paragraphs than most of the truly asinine garbage that, being posted for the primary purpose of distraction, can't be effective if the reader doesn't allow them to be. A mouse with scroll wheel is all that's needed to overcome whatever you may consider to be 'the weeds' of crapola. Moderation, even moderate moderation, and registration, both are discouraging factors to open discourse. Unlike verbal discussions amongst 2 or more individuals, posting comments is a vehicle both free from the annoying effect of being interrupted, and the beneficial effect of the time delay inherent in the process. Sort of like the electronic version of exchanging letters. I'll say it once again, nothing prevents you, or anyone, from posting substantive, thoughtful and interesting comments here. The very open, minimally moderated and unregistered nature of this blog that permits the 'crapola', also provides the opportunity for that substantive discourse which you find to be 'buried in the white noise'. You are way too cognizant of that white noise and would do well to learn to scan and scroll past it. It's not that much of a burden. Really, it's not. After all, unless you have never raised a family, 'white noise' isn't all that different than the average sounds of your kids playing. Hell, it's much less distracting than lunch hour on a downtown street. And we somehow manage to survive that every day, don't we?
"Chicago Democrat April 9th - 1:59 p.m. I see Barney Fife has struck again. How very sad." I see one of daley's ass munchers has struck again. How very pathetic.
Hmmmmmmm, No WONDER Geils lost badly. Part of the reason being his one-dimensional fights with our city, Another being the big mouth carpetbagger himself being such a political gadfly & backfiring-Oh lest we forget his defense of pay raises & raising taxes, Like they do in Chicago & other places. Sorry Frankie, It may be small change compared to Chicago, But something that shouldn't be overlooked & ignored. I guess you forgot the meaning of the word hypocrisy. BTW, YOU'RE the one on heavy meds & shit like meth, NOT ME........MEDICATION TIME FRANKIE, MEDICATION TIME.
I always flattered when the losers take the time to post under my name, thanks guys, I've got that warm fuzzy feeling you probably get when you take $50 to pass a building inspection on a porch barely clinging to a building. regarding substance - yo man, time is limited, and the Reader isn't exactly the only place people are discussing or uncovering fraud in the City. the proof is in the pudding - most posts these days are crap. It's the Reader's decision to allow the "white noise" to overwhelm the substance, not mine.
