Ald. Debra Silverstein has been identified by the BGA and Project Six as one of nineteen alderman who conduct City business on private, unsecured email systems. She is also one of 45 aldermen using privately-owned ward Web sites that may be collecting and retaining residents’ private information when the sites are used to request 311 services.
The Project Six report notes that the use of these privately-owned Ward Web sites “…make it harder for the public to see how their elected officials are serving their respective offices and spending tax dollars. It also opens the possibility for constituents’ personal information being used for political reasons.” Using these private sites to request City services also slows response time, to the detriment of citizens who need City services.
The use of a private e-mail system is questionable for other reasons as well. Such systems are not subject to FOIA requests as government-owned systems are, and do not have the same degree of protection from hackers and cyberattacks that government systems do.
Silverstein has established a six-year record that demonstrates both a lack of transparency and a preference for keeping her constituents in the dark about her activities. She is well-known for her stealth zoning changes and her lack of candor when it comes to keeping constituents informed. Her photo-laden newsletters convey little substantive information. Now we find that she’s using private systems for public business. One has to wonder why.
Read the Project Six analysis here.
Is It Time to Revive the Taste of the 50th?
I got to thinking about a reader comment on my August 12 post about FunFest volunteers. Robin wrote to ask why the event organizers didn’t use Warren Park, and referenced the Taste of the 50th. Long-time residents and regulars at former area businesses will remember the Taste, an event organized by Ald. Bernie Stone. Modeled after Taste of Chicago, Taste of the 50th featured food from local restaurants and was held at Warren Park. It attracted both neighborhood residents and visitors from across the City and the suburbs.
Maybe neighborhood groups and local residents could invite the alderman to a meeting to discuss reviving the Taste of the 50th in time for Labor Day 2017. I think the idea just might generate some excitement and enthusiasm. Successful community events have to be developed and organized with input from as many sources as possible, and would profit from new ideas generated by individuals, block clubs, social media groups, community organizations, LSCs, parish councils, religious or ethnic associations, book clubs, etc. It’s a real opportunity for community-building and getting to know one’s neighbors.
It’s been so long since the last Taste of the 50th that the entire event could be reinvented. Should it run for one day or a full weekend? Could or should it be combined with a mini–carnival? Or a farmers’ market? Or would it be better as a food event only? Where should it be held? We have several large parks in the Ward–would multiple venues be a good idea? What about activities for kids? I’ve noticed that in many other neighborhoods events are family-oriented during the day and afternoon hours, with nighttime hours reserved more for adults. Would this be a good idea for the 50th?
Let’s work together to plan a Taste of the 50th for 2017!
I attended last night’s listening tour on the proposed reforms for the Chicago Police Department. Chaired by Ald. Joe Moore (49th), who heads the City Council Subcommittee, the meeting was also attended by three other north side aldermen: Tom Tunney (44th), James Cappelman (46th), and Harry Osterman (48th), as well as Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd).
The aldermen and the police in attendance were respectful toward those members of the crowd who chose to address them, although the comments were overwhelmingly negative and some bordered on the irrational. The majority of the crowd seemed to support the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), which would put the entire Chicago Police Department under the control of an elected civilian board representing each police district in the City.
An excellent overview of the meeting can be found in today’s DNA Info.
I think the hearing was dominated by anti-police activists who hold the entire police force accountable for the actions of a few officers. Worse, they blame the Chicago Police Department for all the social ills that afflict our communities. Complaints aired at the meeting and aimed at the police included anger about TIFs, the closing of mental health facilities and public schools, and the lack of trust in Rahm Emanuel.
Some speakers advocated cutting the number of police so that funding would be available for mental health facilities and CPS, one person saying that “[having] too many police officers [drains] money from schools.” A teacher, who was angry that the police account for 40% of the City budget, said the only way to stop police corruption was to stop funding the Department. Another speaker demanded that individual officers carry liability insurance, and said that any officer whose body cam wasn’t on should be immediately fired. No hearing, no excuses like faulty equipment, and clearly no constitutional rights for police officers.
Moving testimony came from Mark Clements, a John Burge torture victim who was freed from prison after serving 28 years of a life sentence for a crime he did not commit. He raised one of the most important questions of the night, asking why no one in CPD thought to call the Department of Children & Family Services when children under age 17 were being interrogated. There was undeniable pain in his voice when he said that his youth had been stolen, and asked how he could get it back.
One particularly angry woman (Morgan of the DNA report) shouted that “…cops and anyone who stands with them should just wear a sheet,” noting that “it’s all black and white to me” and “I will be policing you, ok?” before giving the cops the finger. If this is an example of her behavior with cops in general, it’s not surprising that she’s as unable to see them as human beings as she claims they are to see her.
Others alluded to the fact that 702 people have been shot by the police in Chicago in the past 15 years, and 215 of them have died. Yet police shootings account for less than 5% of all shootings in Chicago in those years, while the vast majority of the dead have been killed in senseless street violence.
A few years ago my husband and I were driving through Morton Grove. He was a Mexican Indian, very dark-skinned, while I’m very fair. He suddenly tensed, and pointed to a police car that had moved parallel to us; the officer was obviously checking the license plate number. I didn’t understand. He said, “He can’t imagine a Mexican with a nice van like this, and thinks you’ve been carjacked.” I replied that the officer was just doing his job; how, I asked him, would you feel if it were true? The license plate checked out, and the officer waved as he drove off. To me, the wave meant, just doing my job. To my husband, it said, you got away this time. We were never able to reconcile our differing reactions.
I thought about that a lot last night. I have no answers.
The promised post on the SSA won’t appear today because of a glitch in uploading media files. If the computer cooperates tomorrow, the post will appear then. It’s had a mind of its own all day today, and my patience with it is exhausted.