Heads in sand at City hall

by Ben Joravsky on October 2nd - 3:55 p.m.

Tags: Mayor Richard Daley, Alderman William Banks, Tax Increment Financing Districts

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Of all the half-truths, lies, and distortions streaming out of City Hall after the mayor called for tax increases totaling $158 million in the face of a $193 million budget shortfall, my current favorite comes from 36th Ward alderman William Banks.

"I've been in the City Council for 25 years and I've never voted for a property tax increase," he told reporter Fran Spielman. "I don't intend on voting for one now."

Banks wants the public to believe that he and his council allies are always taking a courageous stand against rising taxes for Chicago's beleaguered citizens. But, as he ought to know, this is not exactly true. The fact is that Banks and his councilmates have been routinely hiking property taxes over the last few years every time they create a new tax increment financing district.

What's the correlation between TIFs and property taxes? In a nutshell, a TIF freezes the amount the government can take in property taxes from a TIF district for up to 23 years. To compensate for the money they're not getting from the TIF districts, the city, county, schools, and parks have to raise tax rates. There are now over 150 TIF districts in the city -- with new ones proposed every month, soaking up well over $400 million a year in taxes.

Nobody really know how much these TIF districts add to the average taxpayer's bill. And nobody, except for a few academics, is looking into it. Certainly, not Mayor Daley, who pretends as though TIFs magically create new tax revenue out of thin air. It's important for city officials to perpetuate the myth that TIFs are free money because the less people know about TIFs the easier it is for the mayor (and his favorite aldermen) to spend them anyway they want. Actually, I'm starting to think Mayor Daley's fooled himself into believing that TIFs don't raise taxes. Why else would he so cavalierly propose something as wasteful as -- to pick just one recent example -- forking over $40 million to subsidize the merger of the Mercantile Exchange and Board of Trade.

I suppose it's OK for Alderman Banks and Mayor Daley to fall for their own disinformation -- obviously they make more than enough money to pay their tax bills. It's just a little harder for the rest of us schmoes to keep up.

50 city workers must reapply at less pay

Can anyone say privatization....

'BETRAYED' | Find jobs posted on Web site

October 4, 2007

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com

Fifty employees at Chicago's Department of Human Resources have been ordered to reapply for their old jobs at lower pay -- or risk being fired in mid-November -- in a reorganization tied to the switch to computerized scoring and screening of job applicants.

Two years ago, Mayor Daley gave the Department of Personnel a new name -- and 37 more employees at a cost of $2.6 million -- to ensure compliance with the Shakman decree in the wake of the city hiring scandal.

Now, the newly named department is about to take another major step toward reform by eliminating manual scoring and screening in favor of a technology-based system known as Taleo.

In preparation for the change, the city asked Lincolnshire-based Hewitt & Associates to audit job titles and determine how many would be needed. The number of positions was reduced dramatically. So was the pay.

On Monday, an employee in the department's Human Services Division happened to be looking at the Internet site Craigslist and was stunned to find her job posted in the help-wanted section.

The word spread quickly among panicky co-workers, many of whom are African-American. They confronted Human Resources Commissioner Jacqueline King, who informed them at a stormy, emotional meeting that they were about to be unemployed.

"We feel betrayed. It was like sneaking behind our backs. I am pissed off at how the city is so cold and underhanded. There are people here who just bought houses and condos and cars. If we didn't see it on Craigslist, we wouldn't have known," said one analyst, who asked to remain anonymous.

Human Resources analyst Vera Davis, a 23-year veteran, called the process "unprofessional."

"We were told we would have to reapply for our positions; however, they would be significantly lower in pay. You're looking at a $20,000 pay cut, and you're losing institutional knowledge by getting rid of people with experience," Davis said.

Worker took city to court, now faces battery charge

STREETS AND SAN | Is it harassment because of suit?

October 3, 2007

BY ERIC HERMAN Criminal Courts Reporter eherman@suntimes.com

Michael Sullivan -- the Streets and Sanitation worker who battled city patronage in federal court -- has found himself on the wrong end of the law.

Sullivan, 44, was arrested last Wednesday after shoving a fellow employee while trying to enter an office in a Streets and Sanitation building on the 2400 block of South Ashland, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Prosecutors charged Sullivan with one count of misdemeanor battery. At a hearing Thursday, a judge set his bond at $1,000.

Plaintiff with Shakman

Michael Shakman, the lawyer whose federal anti-patronage lawsuit Sullivan joined in 2005, said Sullivan's arrest "was the result of harassment that has been brewing there for a long time because he has been a whistleblower with respect to patronage practices."

The incident came seven weeks after Sullivan went back to court, claiming he was denied city overtime because he had become a plaintiff in Shakman's lawsuit.

In 2005, Sullivan alleged the Streets and Sanitation Department gave better assignments and more overtime to workers with political clout, especially those with ties to Cook County Commissioner John Daley, the mayor's brother.

The city settled that suit in March, creating a fund for those denied jobs and awarding $25,000 to Sullivan.

In August, Sullivan went to court to enforce the agreement, with Shakman as his lawyer.

As for last week's incident, Sullivan "contends there was no battery," Shakman said.

Streets and San spokesman Matt Smith said a "violence in the workplace" incident was under investigation. He declined further comment.

GPS may keep track of Chicago's police

Wonder who got this contract..............

October 3, 2007

BY KIM JANSSEN Daily Southtown

Every Chicago Police officer's movements could be electronically tracked by global positioning systems if a program being tested in the Chicago Lawn District wins approval.

The program, which requires officers to wear GPS cell phones while on duty, is intended as an officer-safety measure, bosses say, but also could be used to discipline officers.

A group of 50 patrol, gang and tactical officers based in Chicago Lawn will test the technology, which allows supervisors to plot their locations on a computer screen in real time.

"If there's an officer who's in a chase in an alley in a part of the city he's unfamiliar with, the dispatcher will be able to find his location and alert backup," information services Commander Jonathan Lewin said.

The phones can be used only to call a list of approved numbers. Although many officers carry private phones -- and since 2005 all cell phones can be used to track their owners -- the program is the first organized attempt to keep precise, constant tabs on officers' whereabouts.

Sun-Times News Group

Buyout ??

What are you hearing about the 8 and 48 retirement plan

Is it a rumor or not

1,443 victims of rigged hiring?

'RAMPANT' PATRONAGE | Claims seek share of $12 million fund

October 2, 2007

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com

More than 1,400 people have staked claim to the $12 million fund created to compensate victims of City Hall's rigged hiring system, a federal monitor said Monday.

"It tells me what everyone has known all along: Political patronage continued to run rampant" in spite of the Shakman decree, said Ald. Joe Moore (49th).

Attorney Michael Shakman's landmark lawsuit was supposed to end political hiring and firing, but didn't.

Shakman suspects the number of victims is greater than 1,443. But some people are afraid of retribution, some chose to file their own lawsuits and others were unaware the reason they didn't get the job was the interviews were rigged, he said.

Referring to the 2006 trial that ended in the conviction of Mayor Daley's former patronage chief, Shakman said, "We know from the [Robert] Sorich trial that it was a wholesale process of rigged interviews and illegal hiring."

The $12 million fund is part of a settlement that allows the city to get out from under the Shakman decree on Dec. 31, 2008, if it can prove substantial compliance at that time.

Individual awards, capped at $100,000, will apply only to those who can prove they've been bypassed for jobs and promotions since Jan. 1, 2000.

On Monday, federal hiring monitor Noelle Brennan said 1,443 people filed claims by Friday's deadline and "hundreds" of those claims poured in at the end of last week.

Double tax trouble

Mayor Daley is poised to raise property taxes for the first time in four years -- and tax bottled water, gasoline and restaurant meals -- to close a $217 million budget gap, City Hall sources say. The mayor can either raise property taxes by the $30 million allowed by the city's self-imposed cap, raise that ceiling or eliminate it altogether.