In what is becoming an international spectacle Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel or, Murder Mayor as he is called in some circles, is deploying all city departments until further notice to be deployed on all Safe Passage routes in the first few weeks when school starts for the Chicago Public Schools.
Chicago police stand under a "Safe Passage" sign near W. Fullerton Ave. and N. Major Ave. at the scene where a man, 30, was shot on Aug. 11.
CROSS POSTED @
http://www.substancenews.net/...
A well informed police blog Second City Cop is reporting that orders are going out this weekend for not only Chicago Police redeployments but all city departments to be part of the Mayors damage control in case something happens during the hours that children go back-and-forth to school each day. The Safe Passage routes are the outcrop of the Mayor's closing of 50 plus schools in one year the greatest number of public schools in American history in one city.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at an August 2011 publicity stunt at St. Sabina's school. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Although there were months of "hearings" and other activities, from October 2012 when the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012 ended and Emanuel made Barbara Byrd Bennett the school system's "Chief Executive Officer," informed sources knew that Rahm wanted his administration to meet his quota -- fifty schools.
two men around 6:45 p.m. Saturday near 29th and State Streets. A 25-year-old man was critically injured in the shooting, police said, and 54-year-old Ralph McNeal was killed.
The murder made headlines because it happened along a Chicago Public Schools "Safe Passage" route where children will walk to school in less than two weeks.
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/...
The burdens on the police are part of what has been poured on city workers -- mostly those who do not have union contracts. Since August 23, Barbara Byrd Bennett has ordered non union central and "Network" office workers to don their scrubs or blue jeans and go out to certain schools for "beautification" work.
The "beautification" people were ordered, by a memo from Byrd Bennett's Chief of Staff Bob Boik, to report (well dressed this time) to schools on August 26 to make sure that "welcoming" goes well. Boik, who was brought to Chicago 18 months ago by Byrd Bennett after he worked with her to destroy the Detroit public schools, is currently paid $165,000 per year. (When the Board hired Boik, they also voted to pay him a $12,000 "relocation allowance" to move from Detroit to Chicago. At its July 24 meeting, the Board voted, once again, to keep the minutes of its "executive sessions" secret, so members of the public are blocked from learning the logic behind the hiring of Boik by Emanuel's school board).
Boik's latest orders to administrators and office people implies that they have nothing better to do with their time at work than "beautification" or helping principals with "welcoming." Principals have told Substance, off the record, that they do not want the extra CPS people in their buildings, and would prefer to have gotten enough staff to run their schools. One principal, who asked to remain anonymous, compared the "Beautification" and "Welcoming" people to the staff who were deployed during last year's strike to the scab schools. "We didn't need them, and we wound up with more adults in the building than children," the principal told Substance.
The text from the blog Report is below, but what is more disturbing are two facts. The depletion of capacity to provide city services to prevent violence due to policy decisions on a unilateral basis without discussion of authority from the city council or citizens of Chicago is very troubling since these closing were not necessary in the first place. Second and most important is the fact that this redeployment will cost the city of Chicago millions of dollars in man hours and overtime yet we hear the constant drum beat of a city that is on the brink of bankruptcy so it begs the question, are we really broke or is Mayor 1% lying to us again to cover his ass.
Safe Passage – Spare no Expense
Sunday, August 25, 2013
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/...
this is going to cost the city millions of dollars
First up, the Safe Passage orders are ridiculously long and involved. Seems the entire day watches in select Districts are getting shifted around. If they move your start time by more than 2 hours, you're entitled to a bit of cash per the Contract. Your Unit Rep of the FOP can help you on that front. Word is all the PPO's and maybe even the recruits are involved, too.
Now we find out all those administrative cuts that rahm talks about when laying off people really didn't happen.
Second, they're sending a few hundred non-essential personnel from HQ to 007 and 011 to make sure that the Safe Passage has an incident-free week at least, two weeks on the outside. Where do they keep digging up these "non-essential" persons? We thought they emptied out HQ during the last two purges. Guess they missed a few, because we still can't find parking when we go down for our regularly scheduled IAD dates.
misuse and misappropriation of government equipment for a job they are not suppose to be doing. any other government official, in any other jurisdiction, would be locked up for this kind of shit. but everyone is scared of rahm so he will continue to do what he wants until someone stops him.
Third, we saw the order for something like 40 or more pieces of fire apparatus to be deployed on Safe Passage routes. We assume they'll be free to leave should the next Great Chicago Fire break out, and you know everyone loves a firefighter. But this is getting ridiculous.
shut down the entire city services because of policy stupidity. how long are these departments going to be covering rahm ass!!
And finally, the City is telling non union employees from all departments that they will be assigned to a Safe Passage for 2 weeks (from 0600 to 0900) before reporting to their regular job for the day. Streets, Water, Park District, Sewers, etc. The City mean EVERYONE will have a spot to park and watch the children on their way to school. That means all sorts of regular city services will be delayed at least the first 3 hours of the day and the delays will most likely stack up all week. If they have to complete certain projects or pickups like garbage, is that going to mean another pile of overtime money burned through in short order?
the only way to properly end this diary is:
WHAT A JAGOFF!
in the murder below on a safe passage route the offenders drove up in a car on a busy intersection during the middle of the day using a semi-automatic rifle in an ambush style attack.
Three in Custody After Shooting on Uptown 'Safe Passage' Route: Alderman
Three people are in custody after a shooting that left five men wounded, including four critically, along a Chicago Public Schools "safe passage" route, an alderman said Tuesday.
The shooting was just before 6 p.m. Monday near Uptown Baptist Church, in the 4500 block of Sheridan Road, officials said.
The bloody crime scene was in the middle of a "safe passage" route where students from the shuttered Stewart School will walk to get to nearby Brenneman Elementary starting next week.
http://www.dnainfo.com/...
A "Safe Passage" sign is posted near where five people were shot in the 4500 block of Sheridan Road. DNAinfo/Quinn Ford
Three people walk near the Uptown Baptist Church close to where five people were shot Monday evening. DNAinfo/Quinn Ford
Police look at a pool of blood on the sidewalk as they investigate a shooting in front of the Uptown Baptist Church. Getty Images/Scott Olson
Police investigate a shooting in front of the Uptown Baptist Church on Monday evening. Getty Images/Scott Olson
CPS 'Safe Passage' Defended By Rahm Emanuel, District Despite Uptown Shooting
On the heels of another shooting on a Chicago Public Schools-designated "Safe Passage" route in Chicago, the district and Mayor Rahm Emanuel alike on Tuesday addressed concerns for students' safety over the new school year, which begins next week.
Speaking at a press event at Jones College Prep, Emanuel acknowledged the shooting that wounded five men in broad daylight in the city's Uptown neighborhood on Monday was "an early warning sign for us to be more on our toes," according to DNAinfo Chicago.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/...