If you think about it, a wonder ‘the Bean’ doesn’t get tagged more often

It got more than its share of national news attention – somebody tagged “the Bean.”

Somebody felt compelled to 'leave their mark'. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

As in that gigantic bean-like structure in Millennium Park covered in highly-polished steel plates that reflect everything just like a mirror. Seven people now face assorted levels of criminal charges for graffiti that was applied to the structure – which officially is known as “Cloud Gate.”

YET EXPECTING TO find anybody who actually uses that moniker for the structure is rare. You’d probably have to find some clown of a tourist who also wants to eat at a Lou Malnati’s pizza joint – then fold over his slice of pizza pie just like they do in “Noo Nawk.”

So somebody thought they’d get their kicks by using white paint to tag the sculpture with the legend “35^th Crew.”

As though they want everybody to know THEY were the ones who dared to deface the sculpture that has become one of Chicago’s primary tourist attractions. Mostly people who just can’t believe that anybody could think a gigantic lima bean (or is it a pinto bean) could have artistic aspirations.

Of course, they didn’t really want people to know it was them. They just wanted to be able to snicker every time they walked by it at how brave and daring they were in tagging the sculpture – and how stupid the rest of us were in not knowing it was them!

BUT NEWS REPORTS indicate that off-duty security guards managed to see some of the vandals as they were leaving Millennium Park – and were able to identify them by the articles of clothing they were wearing at the time.

Which led to two people now facing felony charges of criminal damage to property and also a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass to state land. As in they were Millennium Park in the early hours of the day at a time when decent people ought to be at home and in bed – or at the very least cuddled up next to a loved one.

Instead of like these clowns, who apparently had up to five accomplices now face misdemeanor charges AND may find their own list of charges added on to as prosecutors wish to turn this into the equivalent of a ‘crime of the century’ – someone having the nerve to deface the very face of Chicago itself.

This part of the park left undefaced

Perhaps Judge David Navarro summed it up best when, while setting bond for the accused, said, “I take offense at these offenses.”

OF COURSE, THE vandalism wasn’t limited strictly to ‘Cloud Gate.’ The nearby Cancer Survivor Wall, which is meant to be a tribute to former Chicago “first lady” Maggie Daley, along with several area benches and walls in Millennium Park, also were hit with the “35^th Crew” label.

Which most likely will now go to extremes to avoid ever being detected doing anything. They probably now won’t want people to ever discover exactly who, or what, they are.

Because in all likelihood, any public disclosure of their identity would merely result in guilt, by association.

As in being connected to what may quite possibly be the stupidest act of public vandalism ever in Chicago history. One that actually required municipal maintenance crews to have to spend the days leading up to Independence Day polishing up ‘Cloud Gate’ to make it all shiny and reflective once again.

SO THAT, FROM a distance, looking at the sculpture enables one to see the skies and the clouds (hence the name).

My own reflection in the surface of 'the Bean'

I just wonder now how long will it be before somebody else feels compelled to try to vandalize the sculpture. Some people truly have nothing better to do with their time.

Think about it, the sculpture has been in place for just over a decade. It’s almost a wonder the ninnies of our society aren’t trying to tag ‘the gate’ on a regular basis.

That is, unless one counts the thousands of touristy twerps who feel compelled to leave their grimy fingerprints all over the sculpture every time they decide to check it out up close-and-personal.

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Putting pressure on the pols to resolve Illinois state budget (or lack thereof)

Let’s hear it for Cook County Circuit Judge Diane Joan Larsen, who on Tuesday took action that puts pressure on the political people who currently are finding ways to avoid getting serious about putting a budget together for the state’s fiscal year.

Will anything significant happen here Wednesday?

Larsen issued the ruling that is the worst nightmare to Gov. Bruce Rauner – who had hoped he could continue to make the state payroll even though there is no budget in place.

WHICH IS SOMETHING the Illinois Constitution requires before any government expenses can be paid. It is a logical requirement – spending government money without a plan would be irresponsible.

Larsen ruled that the state payroll can’t be made come July 15, or any other time, until the state gets its act together and officials pass a balanced budget.

Since Rauner and the General Assembly’s leadership aren’t in any mood to get serious (they’re more interested in one-upping each other), there won’t be a budget in place by next week.

So state workers are likely to miss a paycheck (or a few if this political fight lingers on).

IT BECOMES LIKELY they’re going to blame the new guy for stirring things up with his desires for anti-labor and other ideological measures. Even though Rauner desperately wants everybody to believe that it’s the fault of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who has taken on the role of leader of the legislative fight against the governor’s ideological battles.
 

Couldn't we just put gov and speaker ...

It’s just a matter of time before Rauner or his allies start taking pot shots (they may be already) at Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose staff argued before Larsen that the state payroll can’t be made.

It will be Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger who will lead the political rhetoric – although there will be others who will spew claims of “Daddy’s girl” against the attorney general. Her office will file the appeal in court, although the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has its own legal action planned to try to keep workers getting paid.

The rhetoric is going to get ugly, and I’ll be the first to admit sympathy for those state employees who are showing up for work these days without knowing if they’re going to be paid on time.
 

... in a boxing ring to slug it out?

IF EVERY JOB has a perk to make it worthwhile, there also are drawbacks. And one of those for state workers is that there is always the risk of the payroll getting entangled in partisan politics. It has happened in the past.

What makes this year’s situation seem so pathetic is that it seems that Rauner was too eager to bring it on.

So what happens now?

The Illinois House of Representatives is scheduled to convene on Wednesday, which means the high and mighty speaker of the House will have his opportunity to make a statement of sorts that denounces the governor for not getting serious about putting together a budget that fulfills all of Illinois government’s obligations for the upcoming year.

WHICH MEANS MORE rhetoric with little action. Although even if the Illinois House were to pass something on Wednesday resembling a budget, there’s still the fact that the state Senate won’t convene until next week.
 

MADIGAN: A win for father also benefits state?

Nothing can happen until at least then. Which makes it highly unlikely that anything will happen before the July 15 payday that is the newest “drop dead’ date in this political fight.

Yes, I’m being critical of the governor for prolonging this issue – instead of realizing that his political fight to pass his ideological fantasies is over for this year and that he ought to focus his attention on how to resume the battle come next spring.

If he were serious, he’d realize that is the best tactic to get a political win for the long-term. Instead of threatening the state payroll and angering his employees to the point where they’ll actively work against him to make sure he never achieves his desires.

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Does it mean much that one-time Channel 2 news anchor Holt now the big guy at NBC's prime newscast?

I kind of got a kick out of the way I learned the latest in the Brian Williams/NBC News saga that he is no longer the face of the evening newscast and has been permanently replaced by interim news anchor Lester Holt.

HOLT: From BBM to natl. newscast head

I woke up Thursday morning and started the day with a few minutes of Robin Meade at CNN’s Headline News channel, where the one-time anchor of WMAQ-TV’s morning news segments told us all of how Williams was “demoted” to MSNBC and how Holt, the former WBBM-TV news anchor, now has the top broadcast position at his television network.

IT SOMETIMES SEEMS like one can’t get away from Chicago no matter how much they may try.

But back to Holt, who hasn’t worked in Chicago television for 15 years. But he did leave a memorable presence on the CBS station back when he worked in Chicago – helping to keep the channel’s news presence alive in those years AFTER Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson completed their domination of the Chicago news scene.

He even left his image on our city proper.

I found it amusing when I had to do a day of jury duty back in February that the Cook County Sheriff’s police continue to use a decades-old video featuring Holt, as he explained to us exactly what a jury is and what would be expected of us if – by chance – we were picked to be on a jury and asked to render a verdict on some poor schlub who theoretically is among our peers in society.

THAT VIDEO LOOKED like it had seen better days; having been played over and over and over again throughout the years since Holt had left Chicago – even though the basic message hasn’t changed one bit.

WILLIAMS: Was he really demoted?

But now, Holt has moved up to the top of the broadcast news scene – being in charge of what is supposedly the top priority newscast that NBC puts on each night.

He has the same job title that David Brinkley, John Chancellor (himself a former Chicago Sun-Times reporter-type person) and Tom Brokaw once held.

Yet I don’t know that anyone views Holt’s job as being anywhere as prominent as the role those men once held.

THE FACT IS that fewer people tune in to a scheduled newscast to learn news – preferring the notion of being able to tune to a news channel for 20 minutes or so at a time to get a jolt of information about what is happening in society then tuning in to whatever entertainment program it is they’d really rather watch. Just think of all the odd-hour newscasts our local television stations have created for those who can’t wait until 6 p.m.

MEADE: Is she now more prominent than Holt?

It may be that people seriously interested in news are still turning to the newspapers with the declining circulations – which could show that fewer people are seriously interested in “the news.”

So what should we think of this latest move – brought about by the fact that corporate officials felt the need to demote Williams without actually firing him. That would have brought too much shame to the network.

I’m not going to get too worked up over what Williams is alleged to have done – the whole account of whether he exaggerated his experiences while reporting in Iraqi war zones. It is proof that the memory is flawed.

I ALWAYS GET concerned anytime I have to write copy about some past event based off my own memory of it, rather than being able to look through the files of notes and old clippings I have accumulated during the past three decades. Invariably, some of the details are off. (Insert premature senility gag here).

So Williams is no longer on the network proper, but he’s now a reporter-type for MSNBC, the cable channel – which in some circles may actually be regarded as a promotion of sorts. A more prominent spot that gets watched by some, rather than an evening newscast whose timing isn’t convenient for people who want a fact or two right now!

Holt from the old days lives on in Cook County jury rooms

Holt winds up getting the allegedly prominent post when it no longer means as much as it used to.

And in Chicago and suburban Cook County, at least, some people are bound to stumble across the NBC Nightly News in coming weeks and say to themselves, “That’s the guy from the jury duty video. What a mustache he used to have!”

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Legislators rush to the bank to get their money before a judge changes mind

“An extortionist” was the term used by one member of the Illinois General Assembly to describe Gov. Pat Quinn these days.

QUINN: A loser, for now

Of course, this particular legislator was snickering when he used the term. He could afford to laugh. For just a few hours earlier on Thursday, a Cook County judge issued an order that said Quinn was wrong to take actions that caused legislators to not get paid during the months of August and September.

THAT SAME JUDGE on Friday refused Quinn’s request of a stay that would allow for the governor’s salary ban to remain in place while legal appeals continue before the Illinois Supreme Court. Late in the day, an appellate court panel also rejected the idea of a stay.

Personally, I won’t be surprised if some judge somewhere manages to rule that Associate Judge Neil Cohen missed some esoteric concept of law and that his ruling is flawed. As it is, there are those who say that this was a purely political ruling that shows the high level of influence that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has over the court system in Cook County.

But it won’t matter from a practical standpoint.

Because Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka – who in recent weeks has bad-mouthed Quinn every chance she could get for this issue – was quick on the draw to start issuing checks to the Legislature’s members.

IN THEORY, THE people who received their monthly payments (the 1^st of each month) by direct deposit into their bank accounts had their money by Friday morning. Topinka’s staff said that all checks were in the mail by 3 p.m. on Friday.

I could just envision the outburst that would occur if someone gets a check in the mail in coming days, only to learn that a stop-order prevented them from getting their money.



Will Gov. Quinn glare at Daley Center ...

Particularly since it creates a situation where some would get paid and some wouldn’t – because the people with direct deposit already have their money.

And I doubt they’re ever going to be in a mood to give the money back.

IN SHORT, THE Legislature wins this fight in the short-term. The 177 members of the General Assembly to whom Quinn wanted to deny their salaries until a resolution was found to the problem of inadequate pension program funding will get their money.

The best that Quinn could hope for at this point is that he can find a sympathetic judicial panel somewhere that’s willing to re-impose his salary ban on legislators – and do so before Tuesday.

... while asking Supreme Ct to overrule?

Because that’s the beginning of a new month. We could well get legislators all gleeful that they got two months back pay, along with a little bit of interest, only to have them repeat this legal fiasco next week!

Now I don’t know how you feel about this situation, although I am amazed the degree to which many people who don’t follow the inner-workings of government don’t have any objection to the notion that the Legislature didn’t deserve to be paid.

MAYBE WE’RE GOING to see an outcry to the legislators getting all happy about being paid even though we still don’t have a solution to pension program funding problems.

Although the fact that nobody really likes Quinn all that much probably means they’re not going to get too worked up over his legal loss! This issue may well turn out to be a big “yawn” in the minds of the public.

Which is the sad part. Too many people don’t care enough to get involved. Which is why our state’s pension funding problems have lasted for so many years without solution – WITHOUT recriminations against anyone.

 

That pension problem is the REAL problem. And it is one that we don't seem to be focusing on in all this politically-inspired gibberish about compensation.

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