NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 01:12 PM) I went down approximately 20 meters and that was it. What I really, really, really want to do someday is 2 groups...one departs from the North Rim, one departs from the South rim, keys are exchanged while camping at the bottom, and then each group heads up the opposite way. That's kind of cool - a thru-hike with easier car scrambling.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 01:35 PM) I just assumed that employers considered the unemployed as the bottom of the barrel. In that case, for the reasons I mentioned, they really are stupid. It also means that those companies have no confidence in their own recruiting and screening personnel and procedures to hire a good candidate.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 12:40 PM) http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/...hed-back-maybe/ Well that's just f***ed up. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 01:09 PM) Really, you genuinely expect anyone to shiver in their boots over the Iranian navy? You can't possibly actually be scared of this, and yet you think that the Kenny "The Genius" Williams Liberal is the one to laugh at...not the threat of the Iranian navy. I agree here, I couldn't care less.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 01:11 PM) If it was the case that avoiding hiring the unemployed was a bad business decision...why would so many places be doing it? Either businesses are simply uniformly idiots who have no interest in all these benefits you're proposing, or excluding the unemployed gives them a lot of benefits which overwhelm the things you point out. I wondered the same thing, and I honestly can't figure it out. Maybe someone can illustrate for me why the policy makes any sense.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 09:37 AM) REVENUE INCREASES ($234M total) Impose a pay-per-throw garbage collection fee: $125M Transaction tax on major exchanges (not sure the fee level, apparently small): $37M Impose a blue cart recycling fee: $18M Eliminate free sewer service for Senior Citizens: $17M Eliminate free water for hospitals and non-profits: $15.2M Double ambulance fees (currently $750, and was recently doubled anyway): $13.2M Eliminate reduced rate city stickers for Seniors: $7.6M Increase health insurance contribition for city employees making over 90k: $1M SERVICE/DEPARTMENT CUTS ($698.6M Total) Eliminate supervisory personnel redundencies (includes 707 from CFD who have a 3.5-1 ratio, and 309 from CPD currently 8-1): $190M Switching to a grid system and reducing to one the laborers per truck: $66.1M Fire 161 general laborers: $65M Reduce firefighting teams from 5 to 4 per vehicle (this proposal caused the 1980 CFD strike): $57M Get rid of on call pay for CPD and CFD: $52M Convert 20% of firefighting apparatus to ambulance/EMS: $41.5M (wouldn’t there be a revenue increase effect here too?) Switch all employees to a 40 hour workweek from 35 and reduce accordingly: $40M Fire 75 downtown traffic control aides: $37M (fire all of them if there are anymore more Transfer City Dept of Public Health to the Cook County Health and Hospital System (LOLOLOLOL): $33.7M Eliminate 200 motor pool truck drivers who just transport to jobs: $19M Transfer all election management oversight to Cook County: $16.1M Eliminate quarterly pay for supervisors (not sure exactly what this means): $9.6M Eliminate Chicago Career Tech (job training program): $8.4M Eliminate tuition reimbursement programs for city employees: $7.3M Eliminate funding for after school and summer employment programs for youth: $6.5M Eliminate Condo Refuse Rebate Program: $6M Eliminate city-funded delegate agency programs for small business: $5.6M Merge City and Park District agencies: $5M Reduce spending on janitorial services: $5M Reduce number of holidays for city employees from 12 to 10: $4.9M Charge more for health insurance for city employees who smoke: $4.8M Eliminate "Personal Computer Operators": $4M Hold municipal elections on same day as statewide elections: $3M Close down the CFD Commisary contract and use just the uniform allowance: $2M Reduce number of fire districts and district-level personnel from 6 to 4: $1.9M Eliminate city TB clinics: $1.4M Eliminate subsidy to "World Business Chicago" economic development office: $1.4M Privatize CFD Internal Affairs investigations: $1.2M Civilianize CPD Forensic Services: $1.1M Privatize parking enforcement: $1.1M Independent commission to redistrict ward boundaries apolitically: $1M Gives you about 300M in surplus which should be used for infrastructure improvement/saved for a rainy day fund. Other ideas: -Get the casino into the old post office building ASAP. Some rich European billionaire wants to spend like 4B to create a casino/hotel/shopping district in the southwest loop, which is great. Do it. Create another destination for the City = more money/job for the local economy. Subsidize the cost and own a minority percent of it for the benefit of the public. -Cut CTA services and/or find a way to make it more efficient. The bus system is in need of some tweaking and I think there's millions in cost savings there. -Not a fan of the fee to enter the city. You basically pay that now with the taxes parking operators pay that are just passed to consumers anyway or the ridiculous street parking rates. I agree on the casino idea, and I agree the CTA needs some efficiencies. Though I also think that, even with those efficiencies, CTA is still underfunded for their infrastructure needs. One thing I see you included on the revenue side is the exchange transaction fee. The financial sector is probably the single most important one for downtown Chicago, and at this point with CME Group talking about leaving (they won't though), I am not sure that adding a tax making the Chicago exchanges less competitive is a good idea.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 11:59 AM) I'm keeping John Danks before I keep Buehrle. Youth wins out. So he stays for one more year at about $8M, then he's a free agent. Assuming he has a typical year, he's looking at a 4 or 5 year deal in the territory of $15M a year. Just something to keep in mind.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 11:31 AM) You realize that SP rotation has only one left hander? You need Danks or Buerhle. On the list of reasons to keep or not keep certain starting pitchers... I think whether or not you have a 2nd lefty in the rotation falls somewhere only slightly more important that nose-picking ability. All else equal, sure, I love a good nose picker. Or a 2nd lefty in the rotation. Whichever. But all else is never equal - you get the best pitchers you can.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 10:04 AM) The really funny part is that my boss told this exact story. Is GoSox05 your boss?

I already like this thread, and I think it might get better.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 10:38 AM) Not to mention probably cheaper to hire. Also true.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 10:17 AM) I read somewhere that either a city or state is trying to pass legislation to make this an illegal practice. City of Chicago is considering it. It's not just morally disturbing, it is also business stupid in my view. For one, why limit your pool of potential employees like that? And for two, people who've been out of work longer will also be hungrier and more dedicated, all else equal. To me, I'd almost prefer the person unemployed, unless they are unemployed because they were terminated for cause.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 09:10 AM) It really is. Did you hike down? Just want to interject this... Do NOT take the Bright Angel trail lightly. More people need rescue from that trail than any other in the country. This is for two reasons. One, the Grand Canyon attracts all manner of people not really in shape for a serious hike. And two, unlike a mountain trail, a deep canyon trail goes down first and then up... this is bad because it's easy going down (except for the knee pain), so people just keep going and going, then they have to hike back up. That is when they realize they are in over their head (either due to not being in shape, not leaving enough time, not having food and water, etc.). It's a great trail, but be prepared for it.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 09:09 AM) The two parties in control have completely changed the narrative of elections. It's not longer about actual issues, it's about a bunch of fake bulls*** issues that get people riled up so that no matter who is in office a small elite still comes out ahead. And they can do that because of the exact approach Y2HH is taking - giving up and relying purely on screaming and yelling about it.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 06:07 PM) On the other hand, I can be like you people and pretend I know what I'm talking about when I suggest solutions for all the City's woes...which is pretty much what all of our modern day politicians are. People that "don't know" that "pretend to know". Difference is, I'm ok with saying "I don't know how to solve this massive set of problems they've created", whereas you aren't...which makes you exactly like the people you elect. A bunch of people implementing a bunch of "solutions" that do nothing but make things even worse. If the people who actually DID know how to fix this were elected, it'd get fixed. Until then, they're just a bunch of group-think forum posters that pretend they have all the f***ing answers, when in reality...they don't...but they're too "smart" to admit it. Thought so that. And this is a forum, where I guess I can post how I want, so long as I don't call you names...so while you call it a non-existant boogie man, I call it shooting holes into the "solutions" you've thus far proposed, which have ALREADY BEEN proposed time and time again, only to fail...time and time again. Let's see, transit? Yeah, because reforming our transit system hasn't already been proposed and attempted 50 times. What else did we suggest off the list of mind numbingly stupid suggestions so far...raising more taxes of some sort? Implementing some sort of additional fees perhaps? Riiiiight...because nobody's EVER suggested THOSE things 500 times before! You're a f***ing genius, Gump! Wow. Hm, instead of getting all riled up like you did, I'll point out three small facts for you to consider... 1. I think you missed the point of the thread - it is an exercise to create discussion and illustrate that actually making budgetary decisions isn't so easy. This thread was supposed to be people showing what they'd do, and see how those topics fall out. From what I can tell, you think this is a futile effort, which makes me ask... why bother posting then? 2. No, no one in Chicago has been here before. We haven't had deficits at this level before... we haven't had an independent IG office do this kind of study before either.... and many of the suggestions are sacred cows that have only been whispered about before (did you notice how the Aldermen reacted to the IG's list? They ran so fast to denounce the whole thing they were out of breath at their press conferences). 3. You still never gave an answer about the transit system. What is your proposed solution? Do you want to just let if fall apart, and dump 1.75M more drivers on the roads? Do you want to invest in it to make it better? Do you want to just have it continue to limp along like it does now, and hope for no major disasters? What would you do? Or do you prefer to be the guy who just yells and screams at stuff because they aren't able or willing to come up with a solution?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 07:52 AM) They have reached that tipping point on many things. It is why people leave the city to buy gas, cigs, major purchases, houses etc. The taxes are ridiculous, and to some extent it is to support Chicago's inherent corruption. More than just taking the City of Chicagos figures at their word, I would love to be able to take apart some of the itemization's and compare them to other cities and towns around the country. I agree on cigarette taxes and some other narrow taxes of the sort, they've already stacked it too high. Which is why they need to lean towards the cutting angle more than revenue increases. Well, it's one OF the reasons why. If you want to do a comparison to other cities, that might be interesting. Problem is, when you look at NYC, Los Angeles or Chicago, it is really difficult to make good comparisons to other cities. Each of them stand alone in terms of population for the metro area, and other dynamics. For smaller cities it is easier - you can compare, say, Houston with Phoenix with Denver, they are all pretty similar in size and density. Who do you compare Chicago to? Not trying to say its impossible, just that it has some difficulties.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 06:19 PM) I've decided shooting holes into other peoples suggestions is my new desired method of posting, versus proposing wildly out of reach solutions in an ideal world none of us live in! If you prefer intellectual laziness, then go right ahead.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 05:24 PM) In order to take a serious "crack" at this, I'd need to see the city books, how much money they REALLY have, how much money they're REALLY spending, and how big/small these departments are... Otherwise it's just stupid guessing games IMO. In other words, I'd need to know FAR more than I know in order to start making such large scale suggestions. Thought so. You'd obviously prefer to point to some non-existent boogie man, than try to suggest a solution.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 05:15 PM) Our transit system/infrastructure, in it's current state...I have to go ahead and disagree that it's a good thing that more people would be forced to use that pile of monkey crap we call public transportation. Chicago should be ashamed of itself and it's transit infrastructure. It's garbage. Total garbage. I feel sorry for people that have to use it. Also, Mr. Superior, how about you take a crack at the original topic of the post? Try your hand at it, see what you can come up with.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 05:18 PM) It's a real shame the focus isn't on Buehrle tonight Good point. I hope he is back though, I still think that is likely to happen.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 05:15 PM) Our transit system/infrastructure, in it's current state...I have to go ahead and disagree that it's a good thing that more people would be forced to use that pile of monkey crap we call public transportation. Chicago should be ashamed of itself and it's transit infrastructure. It's garbage. Total garbage. I feel sorry for people that have to use it. LOL You do understand that the more people use it, the more money they make to fix it, right? And that the more people use it, if it's in bad shape, the more voices and voters will look to prioritize funding for it? If you think it should be fixed, you should love the idea of more people riding it. If you think it shouldn't be fixed, then have fun on the streets and highways of Chicago when we add 1.75 million more people a day to the roads who can no longer commute via mass transit. That should be fun.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 05:14 PM) You don't deserve a statue if the hat on your HOF plaque has a different logo IMO. Fair enough. I disagree, but I can understand that perspective. He played less years with the Red Cubs, but he started his career there, and his most famous moment (the '75 series HR) happened there as well.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 05:08 PM) Chuck Garfien shot that down on Twitter. Anything Cowley says not involving Ozzie is outright made up in all likelihood. Heck, if it's about Ozzie it STILL is made up often times. Ranger hinted on Facebook his loathing of a certain columnist. Didn't name Joe, but, pretty sure that is who he meant.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 04:47 PM) I hope not. Retired numbers are one thing. Statues should be for legends. And I hate the fact that Fisk has one. You hate that Fisk has one? He was one of the best catchers of all time, he's in the hall of fame. Or do you hate it because he only played 60% of his career with the White Sox?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 04:53 PM) I disagree just because of the sheer population in the city. I personally wouldnt take a job in the burbs if I had to commute. I also debate the "most" comment on commuters coming into the city. The number is staggering, much worse than you think. And even if its not taxing them, they should have to pay for a Chicago parking permit like the rest of us to park on the streets, thats only fair. I said, "most" commuters who CAN, take a train. For a lot of people it isn't a realistic option, because they live too far away, or have to take multiple lines, etc. And while it may seem "fair" to charge them, fairness isn't going to jive with impact here. I agree it would seem fair, I just think it may have a negative effect. I would be open to the idea of, say, just having people buy a city parking sticker - $100 a year or so - to park in the city. For people who only visit occasionally, provide $2 daily permits or something, kind of like making the whole city have zoned parking. It is a small enough amount to not be a massive increase in costs to people, it would force more folks to take transit (which is good), and give the city more money for its infrastructure. But doing a congestion toll like they suggest, even at just $1 a pop, that's $20 a month or $240 a year for a commuter. Do it at $5 like they suggest, it becomes $1200 a year.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 03:46 PM) Fire Cora via text message with 2 games left in the season? Rediculous, what does it matter if he coaches these last two games honestly? And if you're going to fire someone, do it in person not through a text message. Unreal. QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 03:54 PM) Is this text story a fact? Where was this reported? QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 03:55 PM) I don't know if it's true or not. I just got home and have only read one article on it. http://eye-on-baseball.blogs.cbssports.com...297882/32312942 The other article just quotes Cowley as it's source. So it's just Joe. I have a hard time believing it, but I suppose it is possible.