One of the most notable, and best, quotes from Pres. John F. Kennedy came near the end of his inaugural address on January 20, 1961: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”
Unfortunately, for most of the past half-century since Kennedy spoke those words, too many people came to see government at every level as an ever-expanding cornucopia of benefits large and small. Only some of the worst economic conditions since The Great Depression have finally caused some to reconsider such a view of government.
So when the Park Ridge City Council cut somewhere between $30,000 and $45,000 (depending on whose numbers you believe) of decorative holiday lights out of the City’s 2009-10 budget, more than a few people who have come to expect more from government than just basic services promptly whined about how the absence of lights would hurt the community’s…wait for it…”quality of life.”
But then a strange and wonderful thing happened.
The Indian Scouts program stepped up and, with the aid of a few local businesses, volunteered to put up the lights; and Park Ridge sparkled pretty much as usual last holiday season.
If you have been out and about over the past couple of weeks you have been able to observe the Indian Scouts’ handiwork again this year. And the taxpayers have saved another $30,000 – $45,000 that can be put toward the essential services that government should provide in return for the taxes it collects.
Of course, there are some residents who view this scenario as evidence of a decline in our…wait for it again…”quality of life” because private volunteers, instead of the government, are doing the decorating. And we expect others – such as Alds. Jim Allegretti and Robert Ryan, for example – to dismiss these savings as another meager fraction of 1% of the City’s $50 million-plus budget, just as they did in denouncing Mayor Dave Schmidt’s vetoes of the giveaway of public funds to private community organizations.
Apparently they were missing from grammar school the day the teacher opened Poor Richard’s Almanack and taught about how “a penny saved is a penny earned.”
Whatever money is saved by volunteers soliciting and contributing private funds and labor as a substitute for public funds and labor truly is money “saved” and, therefore, money available for more important public purposes. And even small amounts of money, when added together, can be significant – as reputedly noted in the early 1960s by Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen in talking about federal expenditures: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”
Even more important than the actual savings, however, is the lesson this kind of volunteerism can teach those special interests for whom the expansion of government and government spending seems inevitable, if not even desirable.
Unlike those private community groups with the entitlement mentality who have become accustomed to getting handouts from government that they can’t get (or won’t make the effort to get) directly from the taxpayers themselves, the Indian Scouts and their parents are giving handouts to government. That’s the kind of “volunteer” spirit we need more of, especially in these difficult economic times.
And that’s why we offer to those volunteers a hearty “Well done!”
To read or post comments, click on title.
24 comments so far
Good point, PW. The only thing that worries me is that after a few years of performing this public service, the Indian Scouts will go the way of those other community groups and start demanding that the city pick up the cost of the lights and all labor. At least Allegretti, Ryan and Bach won’t be around to give it to them.
3:07:
Well, I do not know what to say except….ya caught me!! You sir are a genius. See I was not out there as a volunteer. My eyes were on the future “pay off”. I was willing to work now knowing I can force the city to pay later. So it was not about helping the city or working with my fellow man or making the city look nice. It was not about teaching my daughter some very improtant lessons or about the 7 aims (some of you must know what those are).
Man what a bunch of crap. You must have to stay up nights working at it to be that cynical. Happy freakin’ holidays!!!
The indian scouts and kiwanis and boy scouts and other groups that helped do deserve a hearty thank you.
But do note that Publicwatchdog said:
Whatever money is saved by volunteers soliciting and contributing private funds and labor as a substitute for public funds and labor truly is money “saved” and, therefore, money available for more important public purposes.
With that statement, you are extending the thanks to AmericanEagle for the fireworks, Taste of Park Ridge for creating a fantastic summer event and the Chamber of Commerce and other volunteers for the Winterfest. Those groups do provide opportunities for the City to “Shine” and thus create potential tax revenue.
So thanks Indian Scouts, AmericanEagle, Taste of Park Ridge and Chamber of Commerce (just to mention a few) for the wonderful job of displaying Park Ridge Volunteer Spirt.
Hanging up lights for a few chilly hours per year is nice — emptying catheters and spooning food into uncomprehending but hungry mouths 24/7 is not quite so uplifting. The sad fact is that much of the truly essential work in this culture of life we live in is not particularly fun, but it’s got to be done. When you can’t get people to do it for free, then what? Charity in the essential areas can’t be hit-and-run, if/come. It can’t depend on the ebb and flow of fellow citizen’s momentary good will. It has to be budgeted and procured in a dependable, regular way. Maybe in a better world, tithing 10% or more will be the norm, but not here and not now.
* Nice try, Anonymous on 11.15.10 5:18 pm, but you’re comparing apples and oranges.
To our knowledge, the Indian Scouts don’t turn a profit from donating the lights; AmericanEagle doesn’t turn a profit from donating the fireworks; and the Chamber doesn’t turn a profit from its contributions to Winterfest. These are the apples.
Taste of Park Ridge NFP (Taste Inc.)? For the only year it appears to have filed a Form 990 tax return (2009), Taste Inc. made a profit of $9,000+ from operations, and another $55,000+ from “contributions, gifts, grants, and similar amounts.” This is the orange.
Got it?
* We agree, Anonymous on 11.15.10 6:30 pm, that essential services (which are not synonymous with “charity”) “can’t be hit-and-run, if/come” and “depend on the ebb and flow of fellow citizen’s momentary good will…[but need] to be budgeted and procured in a dependable, regular way.”
That is one of the main reasons we object to the City making donations to private community groups, including the likes of Center of Concern, Maine Center for Mental Health, and Meals on Wheels – and why, instead, we have advocated for the City Council (a) to make a formal determination of what particular services provided by these organizations are “essential” to Park Ridge and its residents; and (b) to enter into fees-for-services procurement contracts with those organizations (or competing organizations, if any, that might provide a better value for the taxpayers).
Unfortunately, the current crop of aldermen seem unable and/or unwilling to comprehend the public policy virtues of that course of conduct; and those organizations themselves seem to prefer handouts to the accountability of a fees-for-services arrangement. Go figure.
Anonymous on 11.15.10 6:30 pm,
Good luck on the idea of 10% tithing. If you want to see that happen you’d best stay the hell out of the city’s coffers and head to (your) church. Because that’s where a tithing might be appropriate… “in a better world”.
It’s amazing how many people volunteer their time for not only this organization that you applaud, but also other organizations that you scorn.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “Volunteers” have nothing to do with how we consider any organization. The organziations we “scorn” are those private 501(c)s who use their friends in City government to grab “donations” of public money but who refuse to account to the taxapayers for their use of those funds.
publicwatchdog said:
The organziations we “scorn” are those private 501(c)s who use their friends in City government to grab “donations” of public money but who refuse to account to the taxapayers for their use of those funds.
Well, a glaring omission in your list of scorned organizations is the one that does polisharts fest. they take city services, don’t account for it..but it must be ok because the person running it is a campaign fundraiser of mayor schmidt even though Anya Dudzik was acknowledged by PW as having a criminal record for theft.
Quite “inconsistent” of PW and the Mayor.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We have never published a comprehensive list of “scorned organizations” – the closest we’ve come to one is the list of organizations that come to the City for handouts, and Taste Inc., which is so well connected at City Hall that it doesn’t even have to formally ask for its handout like the others do.
Our view has consistenly been that any private individual or organization that holds an event (e.g., Polish Arts Fest, Analise’s Run, Taste of Park Ridge, Rotary, etc.) which consumes any significant dollar amount (over $100?) of public services should pay the cost of those services. And if one unit of government consumes the resources of another, it should pay or true up (either in cash or reciprocal services) as well.
The only exception we would consider is where a unit of government is the principal “sponsor” of an event – in terms of both the contribution of funds/services AND effective control of the event. At this moment we can’t think of one of those for which the City serves in that role, although the Memorial Day Parade and the Fireworks Show may come close.
I don’t object to your idea of having Center of Concern, Meals on Wheels, and other essential — yes, I said it and I’m glad! — services being treated as a vendor provider and fully paid for by the City — but you are missing both apples and oranges and acting like a banana — there is NO WAY we could afford public-sector salaries for the people who now do those jobs for close to minimum wage or for free. These organizations may need to provide better detail in their requests for funding, but they are still the cheapest way to provide these services even with a little taxpayer help.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We wonder how you can claim these community groups “are still the cheapest way to provide these services” when none of these groups provide anything close to a detailed accounting – as they would presumably be required to do if they were vending their services under contract with the City – of: (a) the specific services they provide; (b) the unit or measure of such servicesa; (c) the cost per unit to the provider; and (d) what the provider charges per unit. For example, can you tell us how many meals, and the cost of those meals, that Meals on Wheels provides to Park Ridge residents in exchange for the $7,040 the City’s taxpayers are donating to MOW this fiscal year? How about identifying each of the services Center of Concern provides to Park Ridge residents in exchange for the $55,000 the City’s taxpayers are donating to CofC?
Until you (or those organizations) start doing so, your comments can have no more probative value than the undocumented, self-serving propaganda those organizations and their apologists regularly feed their shills/enablers/benefactors on the City Council (a/k/a, Alds. Allegretti, Bach, Carey, DiPietro & Ryan). Or is it that all of you enjoy that warm smoke being blown up your kilts.
5:51:
You are wasting your time. Publicwatchdog has proved he can’t read a financial statement right. Check any post where Publicwatchdog uses a financial statement to build his case against an organization and you see he doesn’t understand how to read one.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “Any post” suggests every post, but you haven’t pointed out any specific examples?
I really don’t understand the attitude of many of the supporters of the charities listed above. Do you really believe that having less information about the cost and benefits of services is better for the taxpayers than having more information? If we have information, we can make intelligent decisions about how our limited public money is spent. Without information, we can make decisions, but those decisions may not be in our best interest.
5:51PM – Who has proposed that public sector salaries be paid to people who work at private charities?
9:24 AM
The blog owner and his puppet would have asked for information from the charities before they decided to try to cut off funds to the charities if this continual barking were for getting information. The blog owner here even wanted names of people getting help so he could review them to see if he thinks they are deserving.
None of this is about making decisions using information. The blog owner and his puppet want to end all taxpayer funds for people in need. period.
The charities report to the IRS and guidestar posts those reports. The information the law commands them to provide is already available to the blog owner and his puppet and to you as well.
Anon @ 9:40 AM:
Are you simply misinformed or just plain lying?
Our “continual barking” is about the inappropriateness, if not the unlawfulness, of the City Council’s donating of public funds to private organizations without demanding any accountability – and doing so in violation of the express requirements of the City’s own 3P Manual.
The only reason we want the City (not ourselves) to receive the names of all those “people getting help” is for the purpose of ensuring that those bogus donations at least are going to Park Ridge residents; and that Park Ridge taxpayers are getting something close to fair value for their money.
The IRS and GuideStar get tax-related information, not the information we believe the City deserves in return for its handouts. As anyone who has ever reviewed a Form 990 knows, they provide minimal detail about how much money goes to what particular local government or community; e.g., the Center of Concern’s Form 990 contains no information identifying how many Park Ridge residents (if any) get how much in CofC services, or exactly of what those services consist.
Unfortunately, that appears to be exactly how the folks at CofC and those other community groups – and sycophants and apologists like yourself – want it, since it’s a lot easier for these groups to put the arm on feckless elected officials than to prove the value of their organizations and their services directly to the taxpayers.
9:40AM
I understand that the legally mandated information is already available. Unfortunately, this does not include the information that I’d like to see: what services are provided to Park Ridge residents and what do those services cost us?
I’ll use an extreme example (I already know that neither of these situations is reality so don’t flame me for the illustration). If MOW provides one meal to a Park Ridge resident for the $7K that it got from the city, I would say that’s not a good use of our resources. If MOW provides 50,000 meals to Park Ridge residents for the $7K, I’d say that it’s an outstanding use of our resources. But how can I make a judgement about the value of their services without the information? The city and its residents have a finite amount of money to spend. Shouldn’t we have this information so that we can spend it in the best possible manner?
The blog owner and his puppet don’t want information or they would have asked for it before trying to cut off all funding for charities.
The blog owners puppet can get names and then give them to the blog owner for approval like he does with everything else.
EDITOR’S NOTE: If we had even one “puppet” with the kind of power you suggest, we wouldn’t need this blog. We also wouldn’t need info from the community groups because they wouldn’t be getting public funding unless they contracted with the City (following competitive bidding, if the amount of the contract required it) just like any other 3d-party vendor of goods or services does. And the City Council would still have 14 aldermen, because it’s clear that 7 – or at least not these 7 – are way over their skis.
Now, isn’t it about time for you to head back over to that other blog in town, where your kinds of mindless comments are regarded as insightful analysis?
EDITOR:
The examples would be every post where Publicwatchdog uses a financial statement to build his case against an organization.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We’ll take that as an admission of your own incompetence, laziness or just plain deception. That’s the kind of trifecta that would put you near the top of the batting order over at PRU. Why not head back over there for awhile.
11:42:
I agree with you that more information is better. I guess I am wondering if you have all this information available about all of the money PR spends with outside vendors so as to make you comfortalbe? Who are the vendors? If it was bid on who were the companies involved? Did we work with them last year? Did they get a raise of a pay cut???? WHat do we pay our tree trimmers?? How many trees do they trim for that price? Do they trim 1 tree or 50,000??etc…etc….etc.
Related to MOW, and considering we do not have all the information we would like, let’s do some math!!! While not perfect, hopefully it will help you sleep better tonight. MOW is a year round program, right?? I mean people eat every day – I know I do. So 7040 over 365 days is $19.28 per day. Now we need to attach a dollar amound per meal. I say it is about 5 bucks – again, not perfect but in the ball park. I went to 5 guys for the fist time last week and spent $14.00 on a burger, fries and a coke, but that is another story. So at $5.00 per meal that is 3.85 meals a day in PR. Is it not possible that there are between 3 and 4 people in PR per day who need the services of MOW?
1:12 pm
I am not 11:42, but you seem to be missing his/her point. City staff, with the oversight of the city council, bids out most of these services to qualified bidders and then signs a contract with them. Then its up to that same staff, with the same council oversight, to make sure we got the services we paid for. If not, we can raise hell with the staff or the council.
That isn’t done with MOW because we just give them $7,000, no strings attached, and have NO INFORMATOION from MOW. That’s why you have to guess what MOW spends per meal, and you also have no idea whether that money is being spent on meals for people here in PR, in Des Plaines, in Maine Twp, or on the slot machines at the Grand Victoria by some MOW person (volunteer?).
If you went to 5 Guys and spent $14.00 on a burger, fries and a coke, you’re an idiot who has too much money. Donate $7,000 to MOW so the city doesn’t get fleeced by them.
why not get the real data as opposed to speculate?
1:59:
Let’s take your issues in order of importance. First, I was not happy about the 14.00 at 5 guys but that is what they charge. It was packed!!
Related to the rest of your post, it is obvious that you did not read my oroginal post. Ya know, the part where I said that I agree we need more information?!?!? It was hard to miss…it was the first sentence! Gee, you are probably right…that are taking the money we give them to feed 3.85 people (approximately) per day and stretching it to feed several other towns AND go to the casino!!!
1:12 PM:
Your comments about MOW are pure speculation. Are they correct or incorrect? We don’t know because we don’t have enough information from the source.
Again, someone please tell me what’s wrong with getting accurate information about where the money goes BEFORE we give it away so (and here’s the important part) that we can make intelligent decisions about where our finite money goes? And please don’t go off on another tangent unrelated to the question. Thanks.
3:41,
You listed the issues in order of importance. It’s interesting to me that you you think that your expenditure of $14 is more important than the city’s $7000 donation to MOW. I guess that means you want to give away other people’s money, just not your own, even when you get lunch in return.
1:12:
Nothing is wrong with more information. I have stated it multiple times in my posts. This blog and many others have been yelling about it for years. While we wait for it, I choose to use a little common sense. I do not for a second think that 7040 is an unreasonable number for a year of MOW. Of course my numbers are speculation but I believe they are in the ball park. I simply find it very hard to get all worked up about 7K going to a program like meals on wheels.
By the way, I also find it amazing that there are people in this town who look at an event like Analise’s Run and all the fun families have had over the years and all the good things that event had done for an organization like Make-A-Wish and the amazing thing this family and group of people have done and they’re pissed the city isn’t billing for the minor services the event requires. But hey, I guess I just out of touch!!
3:41:
I never claimed to have a perfect comedic voice. Obviously my little joke was lost on you.
8:28:
You are definitely “in touch” with your own selfishness, like a small but vocal minority of your fellow citizens who always want to make others pay for the things you want. You trivialize the cost even though it’s never quite trivial enough that you and yours are willing to pay for it yourselves.
What a piece of work.