EXTRA: Some things never change

Just in case you're delusional enough to think Monday, or anything anticipated for this week, is at all unusual or historic, just remember!

This is Chicago in wintertime. Mother Nature is making us appreciate just how wonderful this city is during the rest of the year.

AND IN CASE you think this is some ancient phenomenon, realize that many of us were alive and thriving back in 1967 (although I was a mere 2-year-old back then) or 1979 when these storms hit the Windy City and made their argument that the long-time city moniker was not purely motivated by the wind-bags amongst our political people.

So here's a thought that may, or may not, help you keep warm and dry during the next few days -- they may produce some intriguing video that could turn up on the Internet someday. Some 50 years from now, your offspring's offspring could get the cheap thrill of recognizing you in some snippet documenting just how ridiculously absurd the weather will get during the upcoming week.

Enjoy!

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Is most obnoxious tactic also the most effective when it comes to protest?

It has not yet been a full month since that day when Rev. Michael Pfleger led a band of protesters to march for a mile-and-a-half right on the Dan Ryan Expressway – with the stunt meant to call attention to problems of urban violence.

HARDIMAN: Wants to 'redistribute' pain

Now, another activist group (this one including political dreamer Tio Hardiman) wants to do a similar stunt – although for what it’s worth, they have said they resent anyone who tries comparing their event to that of Father Pfleger.

THIS GROUP WANTS to march in the middle of Lake Shore Drive, and not just any old portion of the road.

They want to cause traffic congestion from Diversey to Belmont avenues, then walk over to Wrigley Field. Which on the day they plan to do their event is one in which the Chicago Cubs will be playing, and it also is the first day of the Lollapalooza music festival.

Meaning it’s likely there will be many white people out trying to enjoy their lives but will find their recreational plans interfered with by these activists – who by the way are also claiming they want to see Rahm Emanuel resign his mayoral post in shame.

Who’d have thought that Michael Pfleger, with his decades of history of outlandish tactics, would come across as the calm, rational guy.

PFLEGER: Tried drawing attention to So. Side

NOW I DON’T mean to try to undermine the problems Chicago has with regards to urban violence. There are parts of this city where it is risky to venture into. For the people who, by circumstance, wind up having to live their lives in those communities, life can be fairly miserable.

And for the rest of us, it is shallow to think we can ignore those people and those communities just because we don’t live there.

So in that sense, I comprehend the intent of what Hardiman and his allies are trying to accomplish. We, the masses, do need to be made more aware of what is happening. And perhaps we do, occasionally, need to have our noses rubbed in reality because we don’t pay sufficient attention.

But I can’t help but think this proposed event could turn out much worse.

Will these kinds of people want to bother with problem/

BECAUSE WHAT WAS key to the event that Pfleger staged was that he focused on a stretch of the Dan Ryan Expressway right in the heart of one of the neighborhoods where the urban violence is at its worse.

A segment where many people merely pass by as they drive along the Dan Ryan and never even think of stopping for anything. Their attention, however briefly, was forced to focus on the South Side.

Whereas this proposed protest is such that it is focusing on a portion of the North Side where it is possible for people to think that talk of a violent Chicago is just another one of those lies spewed by President Donald Trump to appease the whack jobs who still think highly of the man. They, after all, will believe anything – no matter how absurd it sounds!

As the Chicago Tribune points out, the police district for that area has one of the lowest totals (11) of people being shot this year, with 36 shootings all of last year. And some of those were people who were shot by police for causing trouble.

THE IDEA OF activists come next Thursday is to get in the way – to make sure that some concern-goers get there late and perhaps some of the Cubs fans be massively inconvenienced.

EMANUEL: He's not going anywhere anytime soon

In fact, some of the activists organizing this event say they think Pfleger’s event was flawed because it did nothing to “redistribute the pain” they say is felt by black Chicago residents.

Personally, I thought Pfleger’s event succeeded because it managed to tie up traffic without anyone getting killed by a motorist trying to get through. It made its point without getting distracted by fatalities.

I could easily see this one failing because someone driving along (and not on) LSD strikes a protester – and the masses of Chicago will think that protester got what he (or she) deserved for trying to walk in the middle of a major thoroughfare!

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Turning Wrigley Field into a version of the old State Street downtown “mall?”

Remember back in the days when city officials came up with the idea to turn the State Street downtown shopping district.

Much of the Cubs' appeal is that Wrigley Field hasn't changed much from the days of this six-decade-old postcard

No street traffic. Sidewalks widened. Meant to encourage the idea of people walking about from store to store, making that “great street” into something the equivalent of a suburban mall?

IT IS NOW regarded as one of the dumbest things ever done by the city in an attempt to improve its character, and former Mayor Richard M. Daley made it a priority to have it undone – turning the area around State and Madison streets into normal streets once again.

And improving the atmosphere on State Street significantly by returning it to its original character.

It’s obvious that some people don’t learn from past mistakes. Which seems to be the case with regards to Wrigley Field.

For Chicago Cubs officials have said they want a widening of the sidewalks in the block of the ballpark along Clark and Addison streets. Also, the ball club wants those two streets closed off to traffic on game days during the hours leading up to, and following, ballgames.

WHICH MAY BE only 81 games per year out of the 365-day calendar. But it would still inflict significant damage upon the Lake View neighborhood as a whole – not just the portion that likes to call itself Wrigleyville.

The reality is that the more-than-a-century-old building, which the Cubs themselves will celebrate the 100-year mark of playing in come this season, was built for a different era and for much smaller crowds.

The idea of cramming some 40,000 people per ballgame wasn’t something envisioned back in the days when the Chicago Whales of old built the structure at Clark and Addison (the Cubs back then were the West Side’s ball club).

Would Cubs really copy one of Chicago's redevelopment failures? Photograph provided by old-Chicago.tumblr.com

So I don’t doubt that the Cubs have a legitimate point when they say the current structure isn’t really adequate for the number of people they’re cramming in to see Cubs baseball.

BUT I COULD see where such changes would have a negative impact on the neighborhood itself. Bringing in all those people could further enhance the complaints of Lake View neighborhood residents who already complain about Cubs fans who can’t wait long enough to use a port-a-potty or a neighborhood tavern and instead insist on using the alleys behind peoples’ homes for their bathroom needs.

And while I’m sure the Cubs are sincere about their desires to accommodate their crowds, the reality is that much of the reason the Cubs actually draw fans and attract tourists to Wrigley Field is because people want to see its antique character up-close.

The changes being desired by the Cubs would turn Wrigley Field into a second-rate version of any other stadium built during the past couple of decades.

I say second-rate because the changes would be add-ons, instead of features that were designed with the structure in mind.

SOMETIMES I THINK the Cubs don’t appreciate the uniqueness of the facility they play in and its ability to draw people and bolster attendance. If they did, would they be so quick to ask for changes to the structure and its character?

Where else do you see fans buying (and wearing) jerseys touting not the Cubs, but Wrigley Field itself? Besides, so much of Wrigley Field’s character is based off the way it fits into the existing neighborhood. If these kind of features are needed, perhaps it is time to move on to a suburban site for a new stadium – which I’m sure even the Cubs would view as a mistake.

So as for this latest dispute, I’m not surprised to learn that neighborhood activists are speaking out against the Cubs’ demands. These are, after all, the descendants of people who for years fought against the Cubs being allowed to install light towers on the building.

I only hope that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other city officials will feel enough backbone to listen to the neighbors instead of caving in to team owners – which is the stance that politicians everywhere usually wind up taking.

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Bad tickets? Too bad, considering the reason for issuing them was the revenue

I remember an early-morning (as in about 1 a.m.) moment I had a couple of decades ago in the South Loop when I took a wrong turn down a one-way street, and got pulled over within a half-block by a Chicago police officer for driving in the wrong direction.

Too overactive?

I got ticketed, and actually showed up in court about a month later – only to get one of the biggest breaks I ever got in my life.

FOR IT SEEMS that the officers in question who pulled me over had issued a few tickets that night whose legitimacy was questionable.

What wound up happening was that the state’s attorney’s office had to dismiss the charges against every single person who got a ticket on that particular night.

Including myself. My wrong-way on a one-way street wound up being tossed. The court clerk in that courtroom handed me back my driver’s license and I didn’t have to pay any fine.

I still recall the look of disgust on the face of the assistant state’s attorney in that courtroom, knowing she was going to have to repeat the same drill for so many cases because of a cop screw-up.

I WONDER IF she’d feel just as appalled at the Chicago Tribune report on Wednesday that said the video cameras erected at Chicago intersections to catch traffic scofflaws had managed to screw up, and that some $2.4 million in fines were not valid.

I’m sure there’s somebody within municipal government who had already spent that money, and is now desperately trying to figure out how to make up the lost revenue.

It seems the problem lies with cameras that were still active, recording traffic activity and issuing citations, even after hours when they were supposed to be turned off.

For it seems some of those locations only had restricted traffic flow at certain times of the day. Or in other cases, signs warning people of parking or traffic restrictions were written or erected in such a confusing manner that it could be argued that motorists really didn’t know they were doing something improper.

I’M SURE THERE are some people out there who are dismissing this as a petty flaw. There probably are some people outraged that I got away with driving for half-a-block the wrong way on a one-way street.

But it really does come down to that legal principle that we hold our law enforcement officials to a higher standard and will not allow flawed cases to proceed.

These improperly-operating cameras can’t be allowed to take over and impose all these citations upon us – even though I’m very sure the big reason for having those cameras is to catch as many violations as possible as a municipal revenue source.

The fact that catching those offenses might make our streets more safe for the public is probably a secondary concern.

ALTHOUGH I HAVE to confess that reading the Tribune report about all those tickets being tossed out and the revenue lost amused me in the same way that watching television re-runs of “Hill Street Blues” does.

How many times did the officers of the Hill Street station in that Chicago-like city (even though the real-life Maxwell Street station’s outside was used in select scenes) do some minor gaffe that wound up resulting in their whole case being thrown out?

Usually with the voluptuous public defender Joyce Davenport delivering the lethal legal blow; leaving her boyfriend-turned-husband Captain Furillo as frustrated as anybody else!

Think of these flawed cameras as the 21^st Century equivalent of a police gaffe, and we have to wonder how little some things change at all.

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Spring time in Chicago? More like a twisted Midwestern winter wonderland!

On the fourth day of spring time, my true love gave to me, four sloppy inches of snow.

Only in Chicago could something like that be taken literally, and not be the least bit of a surprise.

FOR IT’S TRUE. The spring equinox came on Friday. We’re literally out of the winter season. Spring training baseball in Arizona is well underway. The sloppy, slushy snowfall that can cause massive traffic headaches ought to be behind us.

Yet on Monday, we got hit with anywhere from two to five inches of snow – depending on where in metro Chicago one lives. The further north toward the Illinois/Wisconsin border, the heavier the snowfall!

The four-inch figure comes from what was measured at O’Hare International Airport, where some 250 flights scheduled for Monday morning had to be cancelled and delays ran as long as 90 minutes in length.

All of the Streets and Sanitation Department’s trucks had plows attached and were out working to try to keep the streets cleared. Illinois Department of Transportation officials were doing the same on the interstate highways – although that didn’t prevent an auto accident from occurring this morning that involved the official motorcade of Gov. Bruce Rauner.

THE CAR THAT the governor was riding in was not hit. But it seems that one of the vehicles carrying his security team struck another car, with the sloppy road conditions being blamed.

A police officer was taken to an area hospital, although was treated and released. No major injuries involved, which is fortunate.

Now two months ago, none of this would have been the least bit interesting (well maybe the gubernatorial motorcade in an accident would have gotten a brief mention). But the rest of this would have been chalked up to “winter as usual” in the great Midwestern U.S.

But this is springtime. We’re supposed to be past this.

EVEN THOUGH I realize that the National Weather Service records indicate that Chicago has been hit with snowfall as late as May 11, and that the latest snowfall of an inch or more of the not-so-fluffy stuff came on May 4 (back in 1907, for those who are interested).

But it was still a depressing jolt to wake up Monday morning, flip on a television set tuned to The Weather Channel and see that they felt the most intriguing meteorological event in the United States was a live shot of the Michigan Avenue bridge over the Chicago River so we could see the snow falling on the city.

Made worse by the fact that when I looked out the window, I saw heavy snowfall burying my neighborhood to the point where I couldn’t see any street.

Fortunately for me, the places I had to go to on Monday were for things happening in late afternoon.

BY THAT TIME, the snow had long stopped falling. In fact, by about 1 p.m., the streets had sort of been cleared – although it was quite obvious that a layer of grayish slop still remained on top of the pavement.

Keep in mind that this came just days after the Chicago winter weather season officially ended with temperatures routinely getting into the 50-degree range, and one day when I was seriously overdressed in a sweatshirt because the temperature got up to the low 70s.

Which the weather forecasts indicate is likely to return within days. Supposedly by Wednesday, we’re going to have sunshine and temperatures in the low 60s. Just envision the mess from the melt we’ll face by then!

I understand its worse further northwest (I have aunts in the greater Minneapolis area got whacked this weekend with harsher snowfall). But it makes me wonder what we could have done to offend Mother Nature so bad – or is it all her idea of a sick joke?

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Buying our electoral love by losing (for now, at least) the traffic cameras?

It seems we’re now in a situation where we have to think to ourselves when we see one of those cameras erected at an intersection atop a traffic signal – does it work, or not?

For the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune both reported that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is slowly, but surely, having those cameras that have the ability to capture pictures of traffic violations so that tickets can be issued without a cop present removed.

FOR THE TIME being, many of those cameras remain in place, but they’re no longer programmed to take pictures. They’re merely junk accumulating around the city.

I expect eventually they will be removed. But those non-functioning cameras are now the equivalent of those empty squad cars the Illinois State Police occasionally park (sometimes, they put a uniformed dummy inside) meant to make you think there’s an officer watching – when there isn’t.

People now can see those cameras, give themselves a quick check to see if they’re exceeding the speed limit, then slow up if necessary. They can make us think and police ourselves, rather than having to have a police officer present to intimidate us into driving more safely.

And for the mayor, it makes him appear as though he’s listening to the public, many of whom detest the idea of those cameras being present trying to catch us in a moment of carelessness so we can be fined a hundred or so dollars.

IT GIVES THE perception that the only reason for having the cameras is to squeeze a few more dollars out of us, rather than having any concern for the public safety.

Personally, I’m inclined to agree with the viewpoint I once heard expressed by a now-retired suburban police chief who said he didn’t sympathize with anyone who got caught by such a camera – there are signs erected letting people know exactly where the cameras are.

If a motorist is dumb enough to ignore those warnings and still commit a traffic offense within the range of a camera, it’s their own fault!

If anything, I have a bigger problem with the idea of real-live police officers sitting in a parked car at some strategically-chosen point for the sole purpose of trying to catch motorists whizzing by in commission of some traffic violation.

WHENEVER I SEE someone pulled over to the side of the road with a squad car flashing its lights right behind it, I have to wonder why that officer didn’t have anything better to do with his (or her) time.

And is this a community where the local police are under some strict quota that they’re obligated to issue so many citations – no matter now illegitimate they are?

If anything, I can see how installing these cameras allows for police to be put to better use.

But the public largely disagrees (not that I was all that enthused the one time I was caught by a video camera committing an alleged offense in making a right turn too soon).

SO EMANUEL APPEARS to have given the order to turn off some of the cameras. They likely will be removed by the city eventually – or else someone is bound to come along and steal the equipment, which I’m sure has some significant value in terms of salvage.

Emanuel will want to take credit for the camera removal prior to the April 7 run-off election, particularly since mayoral challenger Jesus Garcia has already pledged his first act (if elected) will be the removal of all the cameras.

This is just enough of a superficial issue that people will be motivated to use it when deciding how to cast their ballot next month.

The only question I have (and I’m sure Emanuel’s people would say I’m being paranoid for even thinking it) is to wonder how many of those now-shuttered cameras will be turned back on come April 8? Just a thought!

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If this is Linus, how harsh would Lucy be on a 'Super Bowl Sunday?'

I felt fortunate to have a dead Sunday, as in a day in which I had nothing that absolutely had to be done that day.

I was able to get away with staying at home all day without having to cope with Winter Storm Linus – the heavy snowfall that swept through the Midwestern United States this weekend and whacked Chicago with potentially a foot of snow within a day-long period.

LIKE MANY OTHERS, I could not help but remember the old Peanuts cartoon where Linus was one of Charlie Brown’s most loyal friends, unlike older sister Lucy who was amongst Charlie’s biggest antagonists.

If this were Winter Storm Lucy, I’d probably have had some business dealing that absolutely had to get done, and I’d wind up stuck in the snow somewhere!

As it was, my brother tried to make a short drive, and wound up stuck in the snow for a short time – although he eventually was able to get his car out of the snow and parked back in his usual spot where he leaves it.

As a result, he wound up spending the bulk of the day catching up on rest – while also enjoying caldo de pollo (a rather elaborate Mexican-style chicken soup) he had made just the day before.

SUNDAY WOUND UP being the perfect day for leftovers – even though the weather wound up costing him a chance to go to a Super Bowl party.

Which may be the biggest local casualty of this particular storm; how many people had plans to go to one of these parties to see the Seattle Seahawks/New England Patriots football championship matchup only to be unable to make it because of the snowfall? Then again, how many people were unable to see the game because their electricity died (mine was out for about three hours during the afternoon)?

Or worse, how many people had pizza delivery jobs and wound up having to cope with the mess while trying to deliver a pie or two to someone’s Super Bowl celebration aspirations – which usually are more about eating junk food with friends and getting worked up over over-produced and over-rated commercials than it is about watching anything noteworthy from an athletic perspective! Perhaps Lou Malnati's had the right idea in deciding to close early Sunday -- even though it should have been one of their busiest days of the year!

Personally, I became aware of just how bad the snow was when I woke up Sunday and did my early-morning e-mail check to see that aides to Gov. Bruce Rauner had sent me a message informing me that his public appearance at St. Pius V parish in the Pilsen neighborhood was cancelled.

THE NEW GOVERNOR was supposed to go to Sunday morning mass with Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti – my guess is that he wanted to attend a Latino-oriented church with his Cuban-American running mate to show some sort of Latino solidarity.

For a politician to give up that kind of photo op means it must have been ugly weather. Although Rauner did include the Illinois Department of Transportation advisory that people avoid driving their cars on Sunday, “unless it’s necessary.”

Officially, the National Weather Service reported there were 8.5 inches of snow at O’Hare International Airport by Noon, with snow continuing to fall. Although it seems the farther south one goes, the heavier the pileup becomes.

Looking out my own front window while I write this commentary, I see a nearby “For Rent” sign totally covered in a pile of snow! Although we’re still at a stage where the snowfall looks clean and pretty.

AS PEOPLE TRY to drive through it, the snow will take on that dingy, dirty shade that we all eventually will have to try to shovel away. Although various weather forecasts claim we’re in for sunny skies in future days.

Here’s hoping that this truly melts away rather quickly and that “Linus” becomes just a faint memory a week from now.

Although perhaps having a Super Bowl Sunday with a storm named “Lucy” might have been most appropriate. Because we all remember Charlie Brown’s repeated attempts at a field goal.

Did she ever let Charlie Brown actually kick that ball?

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Will Illinois Legislature have nerve to do away with red light cameras?

We have the chance to see a classic political battle this spring in the Illinois General Assembly; will the state Legislature have the nerve to irritate all those communities that are rushing to erect the cameras on their traffic signals to boost their enforcement efforts.

I’m talking about those cameras that can take pictures of offenses as they occur, with the pictures being used as evidence against the motorists who can receive a ticket in the mail shortly thereafter.

I SUPPOSE I should confess that I once received such a ticket – while driving through the suburb of Riverdale a few years ago, I supposedly stopped at a traffic sign and made a right turn without waiting for a long-enough time period before making the turn.

Because I was able to make the charge go away with an appearance in traffic safety school (a four-hour session to remind me of the Rules of the Road), I pleaded “guilty” even though I still think I came to enough of a “stop” before making the turn.

It was irritating, and I know I’m not alone. Way too many people scream out a stream of obscenities when they check their mail and find one of these tickets in their box.

It does come across as an attempt by the local government to extort another fee in the form of a fine to the municipality.

THAT IS WHAT inspired state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, to sponsor a bill this spring session that would forbid any municipality from having such cameras installed in their community.

He cited a Chicago Tribune report about how such tickets were overbearingly issued within Chicago as evidence of how they shouldn’t be permitted anywhere in Illinois.

Yet I have heard way too many municipal officials across the state talk about these cameras as a financial savior not only because of the fines they attract, but also because they allow their local police departments to reduce the amount of officers on details for traffic enforcement.

I also know at least one former suburban police chief who thinks people have no right to complain about tickets that result from the cameras, on the grounds that signs are installed informing motorists exactly where the cameras are.

MEANING PEOPLE OUGHT to read those signs and use extra caution in the way they drive, unless they’re absolutely determined to get themselves a fine!

Still, I’m sure McSweeney will get himself his share of favorable press – the legislator who’s willing to do away with those cameras that they feel trap people into paying fines for questionable offenses.

Although will that press make up for the many municipal officials who will now deem him, and anyone else who publicly supports this measure, as the enemy who’s threatening their financial bottom lines?

Those fines, after all, do wind up totaling fairly significant sums. I know of some municipalities that really do rely on those fines in order to cover their essential government expenses.

THIS MEASURE COMES at a time when the City Council is considering restrictions on traffic enforcement camera use within Chicago. I’m sure there will be those who argue those restrictions are a sufficient change in public policy.

While others will argue this is one of those “local” issues that a higher form of government ought to “butt out” of – although it usually is state officials whining about the federal government who make that line of logic in their political arguments.

But if the public were to have its way, this probably would be a slam-dunk issue that would demand a 118-0 vote in the Illinois House and a 59-0 vote in the state Senate.

We’d wind up with the masses making a mad rush to their traffic signals to tear down those cameras with the same vehemence that Iraqis once used to rip down statues of Saddam Hussein following his downfall!

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No more cop quotas for tickets?

We’ve all made jokes at one point or another about having received a ticket for an offense so petty or miniscule that the only reason the police officer really bothered to write it up was because his municipality wanted the money – and not because we did anything wrong.

As in the accumulation of $100 and $200 fines from individuals that can accumulate to build up a significant part of some smaller communities’ budgets.

THE DREADED COP quotas for tickets. As in officers having to show they wrote up a certain number of citations, or else risk some form of professional discipline. Quite possibly even losing their job.

Well, it would seem that policy is withering away. Just this past weekend, Gov. Pat Quinn gave his approval to a measure that prohibits police departments in Illinois from having policies requiring their officers to issue so many citations.

Not that I believe the policy will completely wither away. I merely suspect it will evolve into some other form. There are still going to be police officers writing out tickets while those of us who receive them wind up gnashing our teeth in anger!

Under the new law, which received very little opposition from members of the General Assembly, police departments can no longer require a specific number of tickets to be written in any given time period. Also, officers cannot have the number of tickets they issue used as any kind of criteria as to how good a job they are doing.

QUINN, IN SIGNING the bill into law, said he thinks it means tickets will be issued because people actually committed some sort of offense worthy of punishment. Police will be using their judgment in issuing citations – rather than trying to ensure they meet their goal for the month.

Somehow, I suspect that those officers who already were writing out significant numbers of citations will continue to do so. It is their judgment, and they may well continue to see many things being done that violate local municipal codes.

So those of you with a lead foot ought not think you can get away with driving around as though the whole rest of the world is supposed to defer to you. You’re still going to run into the cop who’s willing to ticket you.

The rest of us will be safer as a result, because you’re the type of motorist that the rest of us wind up shaking our fists at while spewing a string of obscenities because of your thoughtlessness.

ALTHOUGH THE PART of this that catches my curiosity is the fact that many police departments already were getting away from using numbers of tickets issued as some sort of professional criteria.

I know of police departments that require their officers to interact with people in the community – and go so far as to require their officers to record each and every incident.

Whether it’s just answering questions from the public, checking into a situation that looked like it could become heated or actually finding something that is severe enough to warrant a citation or an arrest, they all account for something equal.

That might actually be a better approach, because it puts into the head of the police officer that he (or she) is supposed to be there to serve the public – rather than there to be the constant eye watching over the public.

BUT I’M SURE that even with this approach, there will be people complaining that the police are only around when you don’t need them.

Because the one thing I have always noted about law enforcement is that not only do they do a difficult job (people tend to die when they screw up), it is one that doesn’t get them much public respect.

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