Some Self Reflection Needed

Body found in Belmont Harbor.

Patnaude was last seen about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in a cab near Wellington Avenue and Broadway, where he told a friend he was going to the lakefront, police said.

According to family members, Patnaude left the East Lakeview neighborhood where he and a large group of friends had been out drinking a little after 2 a.m. and took a cab to Belmont Harbor.

I'm not going to question Mr. Patnaude's decision to go "to the lakefront." In fact, my heart goes out to his loved ones.

No, I'm questioning his "large group of friends." Drunk people make poor decisions all the time. Groups of drunk people also make poor decisions. I've been in both situations. In a very related situation I was at a big party at a lake house when we discovered a couple had snuck off to "go swimming." This was after copious amounts of shots. One or two people recognized the problem and a search was immediately organized. (They were found safe having a conversation at the end of the dock.)

I've never been in a group where someone didn't recognize and vocalize an idea was not a good one. I don't think the friends should be legally or civilly culpable but there's a large group of people who should be questioning their commitment to friendship.

Volleyball Spectator

Waiting to get on the court earlier tonight and the other team starts showing up. Two of the arrivals are this short girl and this monster of man wearing gray sweats and baseball cap. The sweatshirt simply says "FOOTBALL." I ribbed my team, "Hey, looks like we're playing Urlacher tonight."

My brother looks over. "You know how to play guys like that right? You serve the big oafs until they prove they can beat you."

It's a common theory. We all nod in agreement. The game before ours runs over a few minutes. We finally rush onto the court and start warming up. When I looked over to the other side I see they have 3 guys on the court (this is a co-ed 6s league) and the big guy's not one of them.

We get the first game going and they beat us pretty handily. We were trying a new offense, had a new player, and just didn't play well. Switch sides for game two. We got our shit together. We beat 'em by about 5 points in the second game.

All the while I'm watching the big dude watching our game. Two or three people came up to him randomly and shake his hand. You know what, it is fucking Brian Urlacher. We talk about it between the 2nd and 3rd game. Yes, it is most definitely Brian Urlacher. The girls ask why he's here. Who's he with? "The little girl," I answer, "The one with the big ______"

We kicked their asses in game 3. 25 - 12.

Today's Stat

.036

Is Adam Dunn's slugging percentage in 100 plate appearances against left handed pitching this year.

That is unbelievably bad. That's freaking horrendous. This past year the White Sox gave Dunn a 4 year, $56M deal. This year certainly could be an anomolay but this might very well be the worst free agent signing in history.

Pop Quiz!

pic via Boston Biker

So you've just successfully parallel parked. I'm proud of you. No, it's true, I am. We've been working on this for so long. Now that we have the parking down we need to discuss the safe way to exit a car. For today we'll just go with a single, multiple-choice question.

Q. You've successfully parallel parked your car. The safest procedure to exit the car is?

1. Tuck your cell phone under your ear while telling your girlfriend what that new, cute guy you're dating asked you to do last night. Grab dangle your keys in your left hand. With your right hand grab your purse, the two DSW bags and the bag with the boots from Aldo that were just so cute. Pull the car door handle while kicking the door open with your left foot and hop out while telling your girlfriend you agreed to do it for him but just this one time.

or

2. Turn off your phone - because, you know, you're not supposed to be talking on a phone while driving any way, and put it in your purse. Gather your bags and purse in your lap. Look over your left shoulder. Don't just glance! Actually look over your shoulder and identify any dangers. These could include, but are not limited to moving vehicles that are close to your car. Make sure you have space! Bicycles are moving anywhere from 10 to 30 miles per hour. Cars swerve into bike lanes. Trust me, they swerve into bike lanes. Once you are sure it is safe quickly exit the car, shut the door, and get out of the way of traffic.

Chicago To Host G8 Summit Next Year

This should be fun.

The City From The Lake

It's hard to get good shots on a rocking boat. It's even harder at night. These are the ones that turned out OK last Friday.

While still tied up at the pier.






From The Water




We were moored in open water here. A little fuzzy but I like the colors. Viewed small the fuzziness isn't as noticeable.

Chicago's Mayor Elect

And to almost no one's surprise, it is Rahm Emanuel.  I was looking for a specific wide angle shot from last night's acceptance speech and I scrolled through this Tribune set of photos.

#7:  The Hair!  The Hair!

#37: What's he doing to Nancy?

A Cover Charge and The Taste

Da Mayor:

There's still time to find a private company to run Taste of Chicago this summer, with no entrance fee and a focus on food rather than music

This business model, where you incur all the management costs, that you cannot recoup via the sales has no takers.   But don't take my word for it.  Read the next paragraph.

The Daley administration rejected the lone bidder to run the Taste and other summer festivals last week, turning down a plan by Celebrate Chicago --- a joint venture of the Illinois Restaurant Association, Jam Productions and AEG Live --- to charge $20 for admission to the city's premier summer lakefront party.

The article goes on to say that the city has "lost more then $6.9M" on the Taste Of Chicago and other lakefront events over the past 3 years.  First I would question the validity of this number.  Does the number include the amount of taxes the city collects as Taste visitors spend money in retail stores or bars or museums that they would not have otherwise visited?  Does it include an estimate in additional revenue that is generated by visitors riding the CTA and RTA?  How about additional sales taxes collected as restaurants featured at the Taste see additional business?  The personal gratification of visitors also has a value even if you can't spend it. 

OK, OK, let's assume that the City of Chicago loses money by running the Taste.  Let me ask a few more questions.

1. Did the city lose tens of millions of dollars clearing snow from city streets this past week?
2. Does the city lose tens of millions of dollars every year paying for police and fire protection?
3. Does the city lose money maintaining parks and recreational facilities?

The City of Chicago is a not-for-profit organization and the Taste Of Chicago is a service that the city provides using tax revenues.  If Da Mayor and other city officials feel the Taste Of Chicago is an luxury we can no longer afford then they should come out and say so.  Cancel and face any electoral consequences that might come.

Snowpocolypse! II

I'm taking off Snow Day II. I got to the Addison stop about 7:50 this morning. 45 minutes and 4 packed red lines later I called it off. The platform was completely full of people the entire time I was up there. After the 1st train the a CTA worker announced
\the next train was an express from Bryn Mawr and we would "all be able to get on the train." Nope! Completely packed. Maybe9 or 10 people per car boarded.

In that time 3 Purple lines cruised by. Everyone of them had open seats. I'm sure there's logistician out there that could tell me why it would be a bad idea but any one of those trains could have emptied the platform by pulling in for a stop.

Here's a couple of pics from my 'hood.

Buried Cars



All the sidewalks on my street were cleared. There are a couple houses that never shovel but they were even done. Either the people there decided the snow passed some threshold that they needed to shovel or the neighbors did the work. I'd assume the latter


Team shoveling.

Snowpocolypse!

Those of us in Chicago do so love to bitch about the weather. Listening to the local news the last couple days you would have to make an effort to learn about the mayoral election or Gov. Quinn signing a Civil Unions legislation. Nope. It's all snow all the time. And, to be fair, this could be a whopper.

That's why it blew my mind when one of my volleyball teammates emailed me at 8:30 this morning to say she may not be able to make tonight's game "if the blizzard hits."

Snow well. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Anyway, here's my favorite picture so far.

(Antonio Perez/Tribune)

UPDATE: From the Tribune Front page. Notice the blue square. That's the weather RADAR.

Excitement in the 'Hood

Last Tuesday there was a stabbing and a shooting. It was also the last night of Fall volleyball so we were at the sponsor bar late and didn't get home until after it was all done. I didn't know until I saw the article in the paper above.

My brother, who crashed at my place that night, called me Wednesday to ask about it. He said there were flashing lights and a man on a walkie talkie on our street until after 3AM. That was long after the shooting and my place is 3 to 4 blocks away. Plus, it didn't make sense for fire engines, which my brother saw, to be at a shooting.

Yesterday while driving down a nearby alley looking for parking I found out what he saw was all about.





I'm not really sure what kind of cars those were. Click on the pics for larger versions.

Another One Bites The Dust

Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson Jr., Mike Quigley, and now Tom Dart. How many more people will receive their dead fish?

Better, Stronger, Faster

And now with more parking. Today, my Jewel reopens after closing some 15 months ago.

Rahmbo

I shook Ramh's hand outside the Addison Stop this morning. He was surprisingly short in my opinion. Also, happy he didn't pass me a dead fish.

Police Cameras. What Are The Good For?

I bitched some time ago that the cameras at every light controlled intersection in Lakeview were only good for catching public urinaters.  I stick by that assessment.

Failure in Rogers Park.

"Failure" in Grant Park.

20 Year Decline

Often I hear people talk about the increasing crime rate. The problem is that for the past 20 years over all crime rates have been dropping.

More graphs.

Yes, our crime rate remains higher than most of the first world, industrialized countries. And, yes, localized crime rates vary. For example, Chicago's murder rate has climbed over the last couple of years. The overall trend is clear though. The U.S. is a safer society than it was a few decades ago.

Let The Games Begin

All holy hell is about to break loose in the city of Chicago. Daley has done a fantastic job of keeping competing groups in line by distributing the money and appointing the right people. That power, the power of the purse, will remain in the hands of the future mayor.

So who's going to run? Every group in Daley's coalition is going to want to control that power. None of the alderman openly wield any power. They've all been sycophants for the Mayor. The Cook County board has torn itself apart after the death of Stroger The Elder. I suppose John Daley is fairly strong but will he really be able to take over after his brother? I doubt it though. Cook County Assessor James Houlihan may be the closest you can get to an assumed candidate. I think you will see some local U.S. Representatives get in the race. Look for Jesse Jr. and Luis Gutierrez to look into a run.

Of course there is the Wild Rahm Card. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, has expressed a desire to be mayor but did not want to run against Daley. He's also said he doesn't want to be in the Admin for the long haul.

I think we might be in for another period of city strife that will resemble the Council Wars. I know how racially tinged those were but I hope the battles fought are not grounded along those lines.

I'm rubbing my hands together in anticipation of all the fun!


UPDATE: D'Oh! I forgot about the Madigans. They may or may not run but they are some serious power brokers from the south side.

"If I put this up your butt"

The final evidence is in, Mayor Daley is frothing-at-the-mouth lunatic.

NOTE: Not that we needed more evidence.

Extracting His Last Dime

Philip A. Pagano, executive chief of Metra since 1990, has been on administrative leave all month as he was being investigated for financial irregularities. There were actually 3 investigations going on. One, by Metra's own investigator, into whether or not Pagano was inappropriately cashing in future vacation time. One by Cook County states attorney into financial irregularities. And one by federal prosecutors into misuse of federal transportation funds.

Pagano, apparently feeling the heat, decided he'd had enough. This morning he decided to step out by stepping in front of a Metra train. One might say it was a vaguely poetic end.

One should also realize his apparent last act was to cause a major delay to the system he once ran. An act that will cost Metra and the local authorities money to clean up and investigate.

Today's Stat - Teabagging Tax Day

At lunch we walked through Daley Plaza where the Tea Party movement was holding a rally. We wandered through about 11:40 before eating and then again 30 or 40 minutes later. Although not exclusive from my observations the crowd was overwhelmingly white and comfortably over the age of 40.

I think its good to point to this article at Forbes from about a month ago. David Frum, a former economic speech writer for W., sent out interns to ask questions of protesters at the time. They got responses from 57 of the 300 - 500 protesters present.

When asked how much tax money the Federal Gov't collects as a percentage of the GDP the average response was:
42%

According to the Congressional Budget Office. Federal Income Tax amounts to:
6.4%

Federal Income Taxes plus Social Security Payroll taxes amounts to
12.7%

Federal Income Taxes plus SS Payroll taxes plus all other federal taxes and fees:
14.8%

The highest percentage ever recorded, in 1944, during World War II
20.9%

Their guesses are 3 times the current rate for ALL federal taxes and double the highest ever recorded. Next they were asked how Federal income tax a family making $50,000 per year would pay. Their average answer was:
$12,710

According to the IRS tax tables the amount of taxes owed on $50,000 of taxable income for a SINGLE PERSON is:
$8,694
For a couple filing jointly:
$6,669

Of course those numbers are TAXABLE INCOME. A single person with no other deductions other than the personal deduction would have to make $58,350 to pay $8,694, or 14.8% of gross income and the couple would make $65,050 before paying $6,669, or 10.2% of gross income. (Damn! I got find a "wife" to file taxes with.) Of course, having dependents or owning a house would reduce the tax burden even farther.