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First video of the Mic Check of March 15... Rahm Emanuel challenged at New Trier dinner

The first news reports on the challenges to Mayor Rahm Emanuel that took place on the evening of March 15, 2012, at the New Trier Alumni Association Awards Dinner (at the Orrington Hotel in Evanston) are now coming out, although the Mic Check against Chicago's mayor has apparently been ignored by Chicago's corporate media. The first video of the event is at the following URL:

Rahm Emanuel making a point at one of the more than 300 media events he has staged since taking office in May 2011. (That's right, "More than 300...") The above photo was taken at Malcolm X College on August 31, 2011 during the second "Town Hall Meeting" on the Chicago budget. During his first year in office, Rahm Emanuel has staged more media events than all of his predecessors combined in Chicago history. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsPbvsC4AT0&feature=share

A later video created outside the hotel by Steve Dalber and Larry Duncan of Labor Beat shows the spirited protest organized by "Occupy Evanston" against Rahm. The group explains their work and then gives Rahm and award for his work on behalf of the one percent. One of their chants is "We need teachers, we need books. We need the money that Rahm took." The URL for that video, which came in to Substance later than the first, is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VVIH8tigkM



Comments:

March 20, 2012 at 8:03 AM

By: John kugler

Startling Admission

Well lookie here Br'er Rabbit - the Tribune published another truth:

After approving a parade permit for a group protesting the G-8 and NATO summits in Chicago, the city has denied an identical application by the same group seeking to move their parade one day later in the wake of the White House’s decision to move the G-8 conference.

The demonstrators asked to move their march from Saturday, May 19, after word came that the G-8 meeting scheduled to start that day had been moved by President Barack Obama to Camp David. The protesters filed a permit that was identical to the one the city approved for Saturday, except the date of protest was moved to Sunday, May 20, when the NATO meeting is set to start.

But this time the city rejected the request, citing a lack of police officers as well as other security and logistics complications from the very summit the demonstrators are seeking to protest.

And look what our old acquaintance published in the Sun Times:

The Chicago Department of Transportation now says the planned protest would “substantially and unnecessarily interfere with traffic” if it were held on that Sunday.

In a letter denying the application for a march that was sent to protest organizer Andy Thayer, assistant transportation commissioner Mike Simon wrote that there wouldn’t be “sufficient number of on-duty police officers, or other city employees authorized to regulate traffic,” on that Sunday.

So what we, along with a few thousand other coppers have been saying for any number of years now, is true? Manpower is the issue? "More with less" is in essence, unmitigated bullshit?

You're welcome citizens and media trolls of Chicago.

The line for apologies starts over to the left.

http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2012/03/startling-admission.html

March 20, 2012 at 8:10 AM

By: John Kugler

Chicago Drug Gangs Operate Freely

under rahm Emanuel crack management team drug gangs in chicago operate with impunity.

watch video and contact mayor 1% if they do this in wilmette where he grew up?

http://youtu.be/4VpvGFpg3NE

March 21, 2012 at 12:10 AM

By: John Kugler

Chicago Drug Gangs Operate Freely new Link

sound was removed from original video

here is new link to new video without sound

Wilcox Francisco on a daily basis

http://youtu.be/fyUZMaTMQ9o

March 22, 2012 at 5:32 PM

By: John Kugler

Show Them the Money!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2012/03/show-them-money.html

Show Them the Money!

Gee, increasing call volume and staff reductions equals what?

Massive overtime $$$!

Overtime at Chicago’s 911 emergency center more than doubled during the first two months of this year, thanks to a 13.2 percent increase in call volume and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to reduce the ranks of police and fire dispatchers, records show.

Police dispatchers wracked up 10,024 hours of overtime in January and February, at a cost of $516,642, compared to 5,247 hours with a $247,662 price tag during the same period a year ago, records show.

Fire dispatchers piled up 3,504 overtime hours at a cost of $220,653 during the two-month period, versus 1,521 hours and $96,366 a year ago.

And get a load of this asshole:

The alarming increases — which came as the number of calls went up by 13.2 percent, or 108,000 calls — are outlined in a March 15 email to 911 center department heads from James Carroll, finance director for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

“Please respond by March 20 with the reason for the overtime, as well as a plan to reduce your section’s overtime,” Carroll wrote. “Hiring new employees is not an option.”

Understaffing has been a chronic problem at the 911 center over the years. As a result, a handful of call-takers have been able to more than double their salaries in overtime.

Emanuel’s original plan called for eliminating the jobs of 17 fire dispatchers, laying off nine others and shrinking supervisory ranks from 13 to eight. After union negotiations, the mayor ended up eliminating 10 dispatcher vacancies, demoting three supervisors and one dispatcher and laying off one call-taker.

Also, the jobs of 45 police dispatchers were eliminated, and so were four of 22 radio repair technicians.

Well gee whiz Jimmy, we guess the only option then is to stop answering the phones and letting everyone go home on time regardless of the stacked up emergencies. Or start randomly murdering citizens so they stop calling 9-1-1 with their bullshit. How the fuck else are you going to stop paying these people for sticking around past their work hours? And no wonder the radios suck lately - technicians cut, too?

At least under the old system of granting them Compensatory Hours, you could defer portions of the overtime payments as long as their retirement dates. And by granting people days off, they would drain the Comp Time bank naturally. Now, by denying time off and capping the number of hours on the books, you have to empty out the OT piggy bank months ahead of schedule and you get bean counters like Carroll looking for solutions to a problem that is literally going to cost people their lives.

And of course, this article being by Fran Spielman, she trots out this tired old canard:

Earlier this month, the Chicago Police Department pointed to faster response times to 911 calls as proof that the department’s strategy of putting more officers in patrol cars is working.

But the winning streak came to a crashing halt on an unseasonably mild St. Patrick’s Day, when bars and the city’s annual downtown parade drew huge crowds downtown and to River North. Sources said 911 dispatchers were so inundated between 10 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday that only 18 percent of the calls received during that time were answered within two to three rings.

And again, Fran has no one's word to go on about the "faster response times" that the numbers tossed out by the city with no attribution or statistical data to back it up. OEC has been understaffed for years which means they aren't answering calls as fast. Calls stack up and wait for an available unit. Everything we've seen shows they are only tracking from the time of dispatch - the wait time doesn't count as "responding" seeing as how the dope jobs are sitting for over an hour, the disturbances sit for twenty minutes and the 1A jobs can sit for ten minutes before they are considered backlogged.

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