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A lot of our political leaders have been busy playing cards.
Earlier this week Mayor Daley played the Evil Unions Card, so you had to know it was only a matter of time before he returned to his old favorite: the Race Card.
And there it was on Wednesday (the same day he threatened to play the utterly predictable Tax Hike Card), when he suggested prejudice is what’s motivating opponents of the plan to move the children’s museum to Grant Park.
As might be expected, he surrounded himself with loyal aldermen who awkwardly tried to play the It’s In The Public Interest Card.
“This is a public park. People keep acting like it’s a private park,” 17th Ward alderman Latasha Thomas told the Sun-Times.
Thomas was right—but she may not want to make that point too loudly around her mayor or his children’s museum friends. I’m pretty sure the Chicago Children’s Museum is a private institution that wants to build its new pay-to-visit facility on public land.
In fact, 42nd Ward alderman Brendan Reilly also played the It’s In The Public Interest Card Wednesday, except he was explaining his firm opposition to the plan during an evening speech to Streeterville residents.
“I was just informed on my way to this meeting that Mayor Daley again chose to play the Race Card in this debate,” Reilly said. “We hosted nine public meetings on the museum plan. If the mayor had been at one of those meetings—just one—he would have seen the diversity. And the one thing people were unanimous about was their rejection of this proposal.”
Reilly, though, didn’t stop there. He played the Hypocrisy Card, then backed himself up with the Here Are The Facts Card, which is seldom used in local politics.
“I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that children are currently not allowed to play in Grant Park,” he said. “If you visit Grant Park you will see hundreds of children of every race and creed playing in the park at no charge. The truth is that under this proposal children will be welcome to play in Grant Park—so long as their parents can afford to pay the steep admission fees of this private institution.”
A few minutes later Reilly was asked what he thought of another recent park controversy: the private Latin School’s exclusive rights to use a soccer field in Lincoln Park during most of the spring and fall seasons in return for money to build it.
Reilly noted the field is in the 43rd Ward, not his, but blasted the deal anyway, playing the even more rare Let’s Put This In Perspective Card. “There are some similarities here to the current debate taking place in Grant Park,” he said. “What I see is the slow but steady leasing off of public land to private institutions. And I think that’s wrong.”
If the CCM really wants to serve the public, let them commit to providing FREE access to their contemplated new museum, TOTALLY FREE FOREVER, 7 days a week, open to the public from, say, 9am until 9pm, rain or shine, winter, summer, spring and fall, accessible to any and all, just like Grant Park is now.
NO ADMISSION charge, ever.
And no parking fees, since those kids that the mayor's knuckleheads are claiming to be being discriminated against, and their parents/guardians, are supposed to be from neighborhoods some distance away from the lakefront.
Let's see if this so-called charitable organization is truly a charity.
If they don't like the previously suggested idea of multiple smaller museums, located within every neighborhood of this city, (especially those neighborhoods where the kids that they claim to want to serve actually live), being a better way to serve their intended clientele, let them bring some 'skin' to this game and offer a proposal that ensures that their 'public service' will truly be public, as in ABSOLUTELY FREE ADMISSION, AT ALL TIMES, FOR ALL CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS or GUARDIANS.
That would be an authentic act of charity.
Daley isn't fighting for the kids. He's carrying a torch for the Pritzkers.
Put the museum in Pilsen, Little Village or Back of the Yards.
With the CTA cuts it is hard for poor and minority kids to make it to the museum.
Yawn . Bring back Coconutty!
F - Pritzker
F- the Museum
F them all.
Another scintillating ALL CAPS comment from the 'ALL CAPS' poser, once again proving that the useless fucks 'working' in city hall think that a lunch 'hour' runs well past 1pm.
And it also makes Mick's point about the nature and characteristics of the hypocrisy.
Since Mick isn't 'slamming' anyone but the Daley hustlers and, since the Daley hustlers are allergic to the truth, it's to be expected that they will react to the truth by responding with lies, more lies and, eventually, damn lies.
Thanks, ALL CAPS, you are a true representation of the 'best' that the Daley administration has to offer the citizens of this city.
Brendan Riley is a great alderman. He represents his constituents and is truly independent.
Hopefully, Tony Peraica is your next Cook County States Attorney. He spoke at my Shakman Settlement press conference.Anita Alveraz was told not to come by HDO's Tim Degnan.
(go to www.frankcoconate.com)
Their constituents are not the ones going to the Pritzkers Children museum.
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My response to the Mayors Office: All GPS records, All Photos, and ALL of my Work product have never been given to my lawyers in Discovery. Insubordinate? I won Safety Awards 11 years (1993 to 2004) in a row and my real Supervisor (Mark Holder) praised my team work ability. Failed to protect the Public? Refer back to the Safety Awards.
The Mayors Office claims Brennan gave award without talking to his supervisors:
Noelle Brennan couldn't talk to the Supervisors that fired me because they both resigned there positions due to lying in my appeal. Commissioner Pestka went to work for a cleaning company and Robert Sorich's aid Brian Murphy is now Asst. Chief of Staff for Mayor Daley.
Also note: Safety Specilaist and my Co-Workers in the Department of Water Management (William Coclanes, Derwin Thrower, Alice Carter) all filed Shakman Claims with Noelle Brennan. Evidently I was not the only one who felt abused!
Note to Judge in the Circuit Court handling my case:
I WAS FIRED FROM THE CITY OF CHICAGO for bringing a Black man to the Northwest side of Chicago and promoting him to run for Mayor
You Gone
April 5th - 9:02 p.m.
Good Bye. Fired and Finished. Coco gone for good. Nice knowing you. You are finished. Mayor Daley won again. Sorry for the family.
To Coconut......
April 6th - 12:28 a.m.
Don't Drop The Soap!!!!!!........I guess the tables have turned on you. Squeaky clean?????????. Maybe you could share the cell with Tony's boy Marko, Should he get caught again. Heh, Daley may be no angel, But YOU????????. And your dishonest aims????????????. You'll either be a vagabond or incarcarated.
OHHHHH!!!!!!!.......
April 6th - 12:31 a.m.
But Superman Peraica will be there to save the day, With a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card, Given to baldy Coconutty. Being the hypocritical charlatan & conartist he is......
He is the man!
Sign my rights away ? I did that when I trusted local 1092 to defend me.
Never see him again? The Daley Administration said that after I defended that nit wit plumber , who I saved from himself!
I still hangin around BABY!
? Have another beer nit wit!
Where is David Bonoma in all this?
Is Anita Alvarez really that stupid or corrupt that she would take money from HDO thugs gangbangers and drug dealers?
These parks need to be developed into an interesting and interactive environment. I believe there are some good ideas about building a casino complex on the south side of Grant Park which would really help in bringing in tourist dollars.
Adding the CCM and the Peace Museum (or maybe some others) to the north of Grant Park would balance things out. Ideally, some sort of restaurant complex near the fountain would really draw people in who want to spend money.
We need a "new millennium" Montgomery Ward to draw up a new vision for an interactive park full of excitement and energy. Holding on to some old law that holds back imaginative development of such a useful area is backward looking.
This is getting better and better.
A museum for children on one end and a gambling palace on the other.
Will the whore house be located somewhere in between?
Where will the opium dens be located? And the crack cocaine rent-by-the-hour hotel?
Shit, if we open up this town to the three vices, legalized and appropriately taxed and regulated, we could eliminate the property and sales taxes entirely.
Change the zoning of the public parks to a new category, that being a V for vice category, teach our kids that, contrary to what their parents have been telling them, there's a time and place for vice and the time is now and the place is here, and you've got a winning combination that will assure the reelection of those touting this plan for generations to come.
Streets paved in gold, tourist dollars flowing into the city's coffers like wine, freedoms undreamed of by the previous generations, it'll make this city and county a paradise, akin to the historical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
I can hardly contain myself, anticipating all the fun and frolic that awaits us all, gambling 24/7/52, tasty whores to relieve the stress from that occasional losing streak, the much needed availability of a variety of stimulants, to help keep the old eyelids open during those 24-48 hour binges at the craps table, then the sweet peacefulness of putting oneself into a narcotic induced coma once one has gambled away all one's assets, fucked one's roscoe raw and one needs the old batteries recharged, before heading back to one's country of residence.
Thank you, 'Friend of Grant Park', you are truly a visionary.
Now why would you object to the 'friends of grant park' sharing with us the obvious intention of the daley crew, that being to turn this town into an extrapolated version of Las Vegas?
I'm all for it, as I stated in my comment.
Although I would prefer that our parks remain true to that "...18th century idea....", said idea being more needed by the city's citizens than ever before.
In fact, I propose the following:
1. Legalize all 3 common vices, namely Prostitution, Gambling and Substances currently 'controlled/prohibited'.
2. Using the powers of the zoning of the uses of real property, create zones where the 3 vices can be enjoyed and indulged in by whoever sees fit to do so.
3. License, Regulate and Tax the providing of the goods and services that comprise the 3 vices.
4. The specific locations of these 'vice zoned' properties would be proposed and then voted on by binding public referendum.
5. The opportunities for employment will be as great or greater than those for tax revenues.
6. The removal of these 3 vices from the communities currently suffering under their presence will, no doubt, be a welcome occurrence to the residents of same.
7. The increase in tourism resulting from the legal availability of substances, sexual services and games of chance will satisfy even the most doubtful, as businesses of all kinds will benefit from the influx of foreign capitol.
The subsequent revenues garnered from implementing the above will, no doubt, prove to be quite substantial and would likely reduce or eliminate the need for residential property taxes, sales taxes and the relentless pursuit of revenue through the punitive practices of the city's 'Revenue Department', via parking ticket quotas, etc.
This city can be the leader of the movement to restore true individual freedom to this country's citizens, to finally remove the unconstitutional influences of the various religions over our laws and our society.
That is, if individual freedoms are what the people want.