Archives for the 'Law, Politics and Government' Category
Chicago Venetian Night R.I.P.?
Clout Street – Chicago Tribune:
Facing the worst financial crisis of his 20-year tenure, Mayor Richard Daley plans to slash city funding for Venetian Night, a festival that his father began as mayor more than 50 years ago.
And that places the future of Chicago’s longest-running public party very much in doubt.
City officials said today they can no longer afford the $100,000 for fireworks or the $200,000 to police crowds estimated at more than 500,000.
“Operational costs exceeded the sponsorship revenue,” said Cindy Gatziolis, spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events.
Leaders of the Chicago Yachting Association, which organizes Venetian Night, said city officials had not informed them of the event’s demise.
Mayor’s Office of Special Events (Venetian Night webpage, already deleted…):
Venetian Night is the longest running event that the City of Chicago produces, and was once a multiple day event that featured a beauty pageant and parade on State Street in addition to the lighted boat parade and fireworks show on the waterfront.
Say “Hello” To Big Brother
Navy Pier triples number of surveillance cameras
June 10, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Navy Pier has more than tripled its surveillance network — with cameras so sophisticated, they can pick out a face in a crowd six blocks away — thanks to a $4.2 million Homeland Security grant designed to prevent a lakefront terrorist attack.
The Navy Pier network marks the first installment in a four-year-old plan known as Operation Virtual Shield. It calls for linking 1,000 miles of fiber optic cable into a uniformed homeland security grid, with surveillance cameras capable of spotting suspicious activity from one end of Lake Shore Drive to the other.
Until now, Navy Pier’s nine million annual visitors and surrounding lakefront waters have been watched by 60 black-and-white cameras in fixed positions. They were linked to an even more primitive control center on the pier.
The new network includes 200 rotating surveillance cameras so sophisticated, they can pick up a face in a crowd six blocks away. To speed response times, they’re linked to the 911 center, the nearby Marine Unit and to the Chicago Police Department’s Near North District.
Forty of the cameras are located indoors, including the Winter Garden and Navy Pier garage. The 160 outdoor cameras monitor the main entrance, the east end, and exterior perimeter.
Vince Gavin, director of special projects for Navy Pier, said there’s even a special camera trained on the inlet between Navy Pier and the Jardine Water Filtration Plant, one of Chicago’s most vulnerable terrorism targets because Lake Michigan water is purified for drinking there.
“When a boat penetrates the east end of that inlet, that camera focuses on the boat, a horn will go off and an audible message will go out: “Leave this area immediately. You’re subject to a $5,000 fine by the U.S. Coast Guard,’ “ Gavin said.
“Then, we monitor the boat. If the boat continues, the Marine Unit’s got it. A Marine Unit boat is over here in two minutes.”
Installed in February, the new cameras have already been used to catch at least one pick-pocket and nab someone who was damaging a store that had closed for the night. They can also pinpoint boating accidents and drowning victims or monitor emergency response to Lake Michigan plane crashes.
Parents who take their young children to Illinois’ most popular tourist attraction can also breathe a little easier.
“If we had a lost child, [investigators would ask], ‘Where did you lose him? We can focus in on that area. What was he dressed like? Okay, we’ve got a boy fitting that description.’ You don’t have to run around and up and down. It provides so much of a quick response. … And the facial recognition — it’s as close as I’m looking at you,” Gavin said.
The next round of lakefront surveillance cameras will be installed around McCormick Place, Soldier Field and the Museum Campus, thanks to a $6.8 million Homeland Security grant awarded in 2007.
Seventeen cameras — 11 of them infra-red — will cover the area from Oak Street Beach all the way to 3900 South. That’s because on flat land, there’s a visibility of one mile at night and two miles during the day, Gavin said.
And what about Navy Pier and lakefront patrons who are not comfortable being watched?
“Walt Disney [World] has probably been doing this for years,” said Ray Orozco, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
Chicago Sun-Times: Navy Pier triples number of surveillance cameras
UPDATE:
According to this IBM press release, Navy Pier is “the top-visited tourist and leisure destination in the Midwest, welcoming more than eight million visitors annually”, having “an economic impact of more than one billion dollars annually”.
IBM Press Release: IBM Launches Intelligent Security System at Chicago’s Navy Pier
CBS “48 Hours”: ‘Operation Virtual Shield’ discusses the homeland security impact of Chicago’s camera surveillance system, also highlighting its striking inability to protect against terrorist attacks that remain undetectable or which take place outside of the limited camera surveillance areas.
Chicago Tea Party
alternate link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZB4taSEoA
Today is Chicago Tea Party Day.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123975867505519363.html
Just say “NO!” to Big Government.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-04-14-biggovernment_N.htm
Update:
Representative Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, released a statement in response to “tea parties” being held on Tax Day.
Chicago Tribune: reports:
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Chicago Democrat, said in a statement that the protests were “an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan” and called them “a shameful political stunt.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-taxdayprotests-il,0,2920655.story
Here’s the entire press release by Jan Schakowsky:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/il09_schakowsky/pr_teaparties_04_15_09.shtml
Needless to say, we do not support the views of Jan Schakowsky.
Local Sailor on American Ship Attacked by Pirates
Suburban man on American ship attacked by pirates
Pirates attack American ship
Batavia sailor e-mails mom in Wheaton: We’re OK
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/1527460,w-new-york-pirate-attack-041509.article
Batavia Man on Ship Attacked by Somali Pirates
Local sailor: We practiced evading pirates
“We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets”
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/batavia-man-on-ship-attacked-by-somali-pirates.html
“I’m not a pirate, I’m the saviour of the sea”
Who are the pirate bands menacing commercial and tourist shipping off Somalia? Our writer meets one of the leaders
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6100783.ece
Pirates Attack on Lake Michigan: Grand Haven, Beaver Island, Manitous Threatened by Marauders Causes Excitement
Pirates on Lake Michigan have attacked boats and towns during the 1800’s, wreaking havoc and mayhem in their search for booty in regions such as Beaver Island, the Manitous and Grand Haven.
WBBM Newsradio 780 reports:
CHICAGO (WBBM) – While the world watches the Somali pirate drama, there’s a story to be told of pirates right here on Lake Michigan.
Lake Michigan was home to a few pirates from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The headline: Wholesale robbery by pirates on Lake Michigan. The date: October 10, 1855, in the New York Times.
The Times reported on people in the area around Saugutuck, Michigan, “thrown into the most intense excitement by the operations of a gang of marauders, who are reported to be Mormons from Beaver Island.”
But it wasn’t other ships that were attacked, it was land-based stores.
Half a century later – and almost 101 years ago – “Roaring” Dan Seavey took control of a Great Lakes cargo ship and sailed it to Chicago.
He reportedly got control of the 40-foot schooner Nellie Johnson in Grand Haven, Michigan, by out-drinking its captain and crew – then stealing it.
The Sun-Times reports that Seavey “found no fortune in his pirating: He was unable to sell the load of cedar posts in Chicago and was captured back near his home in Frankfort, Michigan.”
Chicago 2016 Olympics bid update
We attended a preview last week of the Chicago 2016 Olympics Bid Committee presentation for the Olympics selection committee.
The venue for sailing was identified vaguely as offshore the Burnham Harbor entrance and McCormick Place. The venue for rowing was located at Monroe Harbor between the Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier. Details were sparse and these locations may be subject to change.
Dislocation of boats from the harbors during Olympics and construction was not mentioned. There are many other aspects of the Olympics bid that have greater priority in the bid presentation, let alone if Chicago is chosen as host city.
The Chicago bid is a responsible effort to address the concerns and requirements brought on by hosting the Olympics, local politics and financial controversies notwithstanding. The bid focuses on solving the many logistical and pragmatic concerns that are involved in the overall project, including attention to winding down after the Olympics. In this regard, the Chicago bid is considered very strong among the other possible host cities, due to its solution-oriented approach and the local geography, Olympic village and infrastructure providing a good host location.
However, it was noted that unforeseeable and unknown factors impact the host city decision. For example, one country recently sent a delegation of schoolchildren to vote whimsically for their city of choice.
The planned new 31st Street harbor is included as a component of the Olympics bid.
The upcoming timeline of the selection process includes Olympics selection committee visit to Chicago in April, and ultimately the final decision made on October 2, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The decision will be made by a series of votes in a process of elimination, removing one city each round until the winning host city is chosen.
Regardless of the outcome of the Olympics bid, the city of Chicago will purchase the approximately 37-acre Michael Reese Hospital property before the end of June 2009. The Michael Reese property will have a TIF tax benefit for its developers.
Current Illinois governor Pat Quinn has pledged to increase the state’s Olympic guarantee to $250 million, adding to the city’s previously-announced guarantees. The Illinois budget is long overdue and still undecided, having been delayed by Blagojevich and the fiasco surrounding his arrest and the Burris senatorial appointment. Currently, the Illinois budget has a deficit more than $11.5 billion, according to Quinn.
Today on WLS 890 AM radio, Quinn described the state’s Olympic guarantee as third in line after Chicago’s $500 million guarantee and the bid committee’s $500 million guarantee funded by “private insurance”. Interestingly enough, the recent controversies in the news involve similar transactions, as AIG is a major insurer of government, and the city has been plagued with scandal involving city ties to insurance agency schemes locally.
Pat Quinn also highlighted the problem of road potholes throughout the state, and stated his goal to fix the roads, even aspiring to be the “pothole governor” if that were to be his legacy.
Potholes were in the news earlier this week, as the city generated more controversy by rebuilding roads in the vicinity of the Olympics site, while ignoring necessary road repairs throughout the city, particularly in nearby neighborhoods that have been neglected for years.
If you are interested in supporting the Chicago 2016 Olympics bid, the bid committee is seeking financial support and commitments by institutions or investors to demonstrate to the Olympic selection committee that there is sufficient financial backing to meet the guarantee requirements and establish the feasible likelihood that the overall project and infrastructure can be developed and completed successfully to host the Olympics.
In particular, if you represent a banking institution, investment company or other organization that can provide written documentation of your level of commitment to investment, underwriting or lending on behalf of the project, please contact the bid committee, or contact us for specific contact information.
President Barack Obama: “Special Olympics” gaffe to impact Chicago 2016 Olympics bid?
Last night during his appearance on the the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, President Obama likened his bowling ineptitude to the Special Olympics.
Chicago’s Mayor Daley has stated on numerous occasions that US President Obama would be a key factor in influencing the 2016 Olympics bid selection favorably, by dint of his high official rank and connection to Chicago serving to impress and wow the selection committee.
Apart from the audacity of offensiveness in Obama’s gaffe, one must now wonder if Obama reflects favorably or not on Chicago in the eyes of the Olympics selection committee.
Too bad politics does not have the same rules as the Olympics, because our country certainly voted for amateurs to occupy the White House this term.
Unfortunately, although his chaotic and ill-considered policies are driving up the price of gold and emptying the pockets of taxpayers for years to come, Obama is not winning any gold medals for his presidential abilities.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7129997
Chicago Park District: 2009 Budget Documents
The Chicago Park District is responsible for the operation of Chicago Harbors.
Summary budget documents for 2009 are available online.
The capital expense budget remains a work in progress, with plans for two new harbors pending bond financing now on temporary hold.
http://www.cpdit01.com/resources/budgetbook/
Fighting Invasive Lamprey in Great Lakes
National Public Radio describes a possible new solution for the lamprey problem, gratuitously invoking vampirism and sex to tell the story:
A team at Michigan State University has discovered how to create sort of a “Love Potion No. 9″ to attract an invasive species of fish out of the Great Lakes.
Originally from the Atlantic, the lamprey is usually considered a parasite. But in the Great Lakes it has achieved the status of predator. Researcher Nicholas Johnson says the fish is killing off other large predator species and has “completely changed the ecosystem.”
Lampreys use their suction-cup-like mouths to attach to other fish and feed off their blood. Their prey is often left for dead, giving the lamprey the moniker “the vampire fish.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spends $20 million annually to control the jawless fish. Now they may have a new weapon to combat the invasion — lamprey perfume.
The substance is created from the pheromones the male lamprey releases to attract females during mating season. Johnson and his team are using it to redirect the females into traps.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101892336
Proposed Wind Farm for Evanston?…
Offshore wind farm on Evanston’s horizon?
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=123795
