We’re guessing that Seventh Ward Ald. Frank Wsol probably hopes most Park Ridge residents are unfamiliar with the following passage from Nelson Algren’s “Chicago: City on the Make”:

For the masses that do the city’s labor also keep the city’s heart.  And they think there’s something fishy about someone giving them a museum for nothing and free admission on a Saturday afternoon.

That’s because anybody who has heard or read it is probably savvy enough to realize that “there’s something fishy” about Wsol’s “flood rebate” proposal [pdf], which is scheduled to be discussed at this coming Monday night’s City Council Committee of the Whole (“COW”) meeting (7:00 p.m.).
Wsol wants to use $420,000 of property tax reserves from the City’s rapidly depleting “General Fund” to subsidize – by as much as $2,500 per household – the cost of private flood control projects (such as overhead sewers, backwater valves, lift stations, sump pumps and generators) installed by Park Ridge residents between Jan. 1, 2008, and April 30, 2010.

For a City whose current budget deficit started at over $2 million and continues to grow, this is the kind of idea that any responsible person in government could be expected to keep to himself.  But it seems as if Ald. Wsol has some kind of undisclosed agenda that apparently involves depleting as much of the City treasury as he can, as quickly as he can.

Wsol, you may recall, led the charge against passing through to Park Ridge residents the actual increased cost of water from the City of Chicago, a bit of financial mismanagement that contributed over $400,000 to the current budget hole.  He also voted for increasing the already over-budget City funding of private community organizations, several of whom appear more financially sound (albeit on a smaller scale) than the City itself.

Even if one were to discount the fundamental public policy arguments against this kind of give-away program, there are more than enough logistical problems to make Wsol’s proposal a non-starter, including the possibility that the whole $420,000 could get eaten up by as few as 168 households grabbing the maximum $2,500 allotment.  That means that unfairness is literally built into the proposal.

And the fact that the proposal gives no indication that these reimbursements will be tied to economic need means that we could end up with what amounts to “welfare” for the already well-off.  Is that really the way most taxpayers want to see $420,000 of their money spent?

But those concerns don’t seem to have prevented Wsol from engaging in a little shameless pandering to the unenlightened self-interest of some residents when he suggests, near the end of his proposal, that those homes adding subsidized flood control systems “may see a property value increase and some corresponding increase in real estate transfer fees as well as property taxes collected.”  We wonder if he can actually say those words in public with a straight face.

Whether he can or he can’t, however, doesn’t change our belief that this proposal is about as wrongheaded as they come.  Every spare City tax dollar devoted to any form of flood relief should be directed toward the systemic analysis and systemic improvement of the City’s sewer system for the benefit of all Park Ridge residents.  And it should be done in a well-thought out, economically sound way that maximizes the value of every one of those dollars spent.

Maybe that’s why Wsol’s give-away proposal smells kind of…”fishy.”

This past Monday night four members of the Park Ridge City Council – Alds. Jim Allegretti, Don Bach, Robert Ryan and Frank Wsol – cast the votes that turned long-time commercially-zoned properties into multi-family residentially-zoned ones.  They did so not because the owners, or prospective purchasers, had any concrete plans for erecting residential structures on them, but simply because a few handfuls of neighbors and one pandering politician (Ryan) wanted it.

The attorney for the owner of one of the properties, the former Napleton Cadillac parking lot at 200 N. Meacham, argued against the unfairness of such ad hoc spot re-zoning and noted the chilling effect it could have on businesses that may be considering whether to re-locate to, or remain in, Park Ridge.  He also warned the Council of a possible lawsuit by his client.

Whether the Council’s action results in a lawsuit or chills business interest in Park Ridge remains to be seen.  But one thing seems certain: the market value of those re-zoned properties just decreased, as did their tax revenue potential.  Given the Council’s irresponsibility in passing a multi-million dollar deficit budget and the sheer boneheaded-ness of adding to that deficit with even more spending, however, “value” and “revenue” are two concepts that seem lost on these Alder-dunces.

As head panderer (or is it “pimp”) for this re-zoning foolishness, Ryan tried to foreclose any debate on the public policy considerations of such action by dusting off the 7-plus year old “Uptown Comprehensive Plan” (the “Plan”) and purportedly quoting its suggestion of “transitional residential areas” bordering the Uptown TIF district as if that concept were a moral imperative delivered by a solemn voice emanating from a burning bush.

We have reviewed that Plan and can find nothing in it that calls for, or even suggests, converting business/commercially-zoned properties into multi-family residential ones; and we hereby challenge Mr. Ryan to prove otherwise.

And although nobody mentioned it Monday night, we wonder why these spot zoning changes – if they truly are as essential to the Plan and as desirable to their neighborhoods as Ryan claims them to be – weren’t adopted by the City’s Ad Hoc Zoning Ordinance Re-Write Committee (with its well-paid consultants) when it rewrote the City’s Zoning Code only three years ago?  Were the members of that committee asleep at the wheel, or is this re-zoning a really bad idea?

But unless Mayor Schmidt were to veto these changes and force an over-ride vote, or Napleton makes good on its veiled lawsuit threat, it looks like this ship has sailed. Unfortunately, we may never know whether, and how many, desirable business opportunities sailed away with it.

Tonight (Mon., July 6) the Park Ridge City Council is set to give its final approval to changing the zoning of two long-standing “B” (business) parcels to multi-family residential (R-3) for no apparent reason other than a couple/few handfuls of those properties’ neighbors want it that way, and Fifth Ward Ald. Robert Ryan (along with a majority of his fellow aldermen) is trying to give it to them.

We don’t fault the neighbors of the former Napleton Cadillac parking lot (NW corner of Northwest Hwy and Meacham) or Audrey’s (SE corner of Northwest Hwy. and Elm) for wanting to keep potential commercial buildings – and whatever traffic they might generate – out of their neighborhoods.  We think that kind of NIMBY mentality is useful in bringing issues to the attention of the rest of the community.

And we don’t expect a huge outcry from the mass of ordinary Park Ridge residents, who probably haven’t given the matter a whole lot of thought; and, if they have, probably side with the neighbors for the same reasons.

But why is the Park Ridge business community so strangely and deafeningly silent on this issue? 

Our City went millions of dollars into hock helping finance “Uptown Redevelopment” because of pie-in-the-sky assurances that retail, retail and more retail would keep Park Ridge consumer dollars here, while at the same time drawing in consumers from outside the community, thereby raising our sales tax base and providing property tax relief.  And one of the loudest advocates of that plan was none other than Robert Ryan, who back then was a member of both the now (mercifully) defunct Economic Development Corporation and the Uptown Advisory Task Force.

This is the same Ald. Ryan who happily voted to give Bill Napleton as much as $2.4 million of our tax dollars before General Motors pulled the plug on his dealership.  But just 18 months later he wants to convert “B” property – including Napleton’s parking lot – into “R” property.  What’s up with that?

We have the oddest feeling that we’re missing something here – the same kind of feeling we have about the secretive Taste, Inc. situation – but we just can’t quite put our finger on it.  Any thoughts from you out there in the audience?

But the really strange thing to us is why we haven’t heard so much as a a “boo” or a whimper from that local bastion of capitalism, the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce.  According to its website, “the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce continually strives to help business develop and grow.”  Hey, Chamber president Karen Anderson and Exec. Director Gail Haller…how does converting “B”-zoned property to multi-family “help business develop and grow”? 

And what about the City’s Economic Development Director, Kim Uhlig?  She gets paid a pretty darn decent salary and benefits to get businesses to come to Park Ridge, and to retain the ones already here.  Hey, Kim…how “welcoming” can you make Park Ridge look to the regional business community when we strip business sites from one of our more traveled thoroughfares that has been home to a variety of retail establishments and business offices for decades?

Kim?  Anybody?  Bueller?

We realize this re-zoning and map amendment are probably a “done deal,” given that both of the required two readings have been pushed through in what appears to be the record time of a mere seven days.  But when the votes are counted this evening and the City Council has chosen to boost multi-family residential over business, again, we hope you will make a note of each and every one of the aldermen who support this action.

That way, the next time Ald. Ryan or his Council buddies brag about how “pro-business” they are, or tell us how we need to spend more of our tax dollars on “business-friendly” boondoggles like façade improvements and the like, we can remind ourselves of who voted to reduce the number of available business sites in Park Ridge.

That way, we’ll know which of them are lying through their teeth.  Again. 

Update (7/7/09)

“Each and every one of the aldermen” who voted to change the zoning on three “B-1” properties to “R-3” are: Allegretti (4th Ward), Bach (3rd Ward), Ryan (5th Ward) and Wsol (7th Ward).  

Not surprisingly, the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce and its individual local merchant members were MIA.  What was surprising (and dismaying), however, is that not one of the four Alder-dunces who voted for the changes asked the City’s retail “czarina,” Kim Uhlig, about how those changes might impact her never-ending quest for more retailers.  But, then again, with “done deals,” anything beyond knowing what to do and when to do it is superfluous.    

Finally, we give a shout-out to Alds. Carey, DiPietro and Sweeney for voting against mindless multi-family residential re-zoning.  Too bad they’re outnumbered by the Alder-dunces.

We closed Wednesday’s post with the comment that converting B-1 space to “R” (residential) space is not something that the City of Park Ridge should rush into just because a handful of residents want it, or because some local politician thinks he can buy some goodwill from such a change. 

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened this past Monday night, as 5th Ward Ald. Robert Ryan led the charge for the zoning change to the former Napleton Cadillac triangle parking lot at Northwest Hwy and Meacham.  That change, and a similar one to the “Audrey’s” property at Northwest Hwy and Elm, passed on first reading and are scheduled for final second-reading approval at this coming Monday night’s Council meeting. 

Two readings in seven days sure sounds to us like a classic rush to judgment, especially when we have a holiday weekend intervening.  But that just shows how badly the Council wants to get this done.  And “badly” is how it likely will end. 

Why is this being done when there aren’t even any plans on the drawing boards for the affected properties, and with the City growing increasingly desperate for tax-generating businesses to locate here?  If Park Ridge truly does have an “anti-business” reputation, it sure isn’t being helped by B-1 properties being converted to R properties.

But according to Ryan, he’s being “responsive” to the wishes of his 5th Ward constituents…after repeatedly having given them the back of his hand on issues like the redevelopment of Executive Office Plaza and his support of the PADS homeless shelter.  And that’s when he wasn’t leading the Council in number of missed meetings. 

Ryan claims that changing the Napleton lot’s status from the B-1 designation it has had for at least the past 20 years to R-3 will “provide consistency with the Uptown plan” – even though that property (and Audrey’s, for that matter) isn’t even part of the Uptown plan, as best as we can tell; and even though Northwest Hwy is dotted with a variety of businesses and strip centers from Uptown all the way out past Oakton Street.

At least new First Ward Ald. Joe Sweeney and Second Ward Ald. Rich DiPietro voted “No” on the Napleton change, although DiPietro flipped over to the “Yes” side and supported a B to R zoning change for the Audrey’s property.

Ironically, these changes were passed after the Council heard approximately 30 residents complain about flooding problems.  And several of the speakers noted that “something has changed” to make flooding more common than it used to be – a comment heard from residents every time flooding is discussed.

If we’re looking for “what has changed,” how about: “We’re losing too much green space (i.e., grass) to oversized structures”?  Or: “We’re adding too many residential units for our antiquated sewer system to handle”? 

These same concerns were expressed prior to the addition of approximately 200 residential units to a few square blocks of Uptown where there formerly was none.  We wonder exactly how much additional sewer capacity – if any – was added to the system in order to account for the evacuation of the sewerage generated by those units which, notably, are located at the highest point of the City. 

Don’t get us wrong.  We are big fans of the “residential character” of Park Ridge, although our taste in “residential character” runs more toward single-family houses.  But residences don’t generate sales taxes, nor do they generate property taxes at the same higher rate of commercial property.  So gratuitously converting B parcels to R sure seems like shooting ourselves in both feet for no good reason. 

Residences, however, are the “low-hanging fruit” when it comes to sales and profit for developers. And the higher-density, multi-family residences are the lowest of that low-hanging fruit.

Park Ridge continues to have a budget that is $2 million in deficit, and growing…thanks to even more spending by City Staff, blessed by the City Council, without any increase in revenues.  Where’s the revenue going to come from to fill that hole, much less to help pay for things like flooding relief?  We don’t know.  And neither does City Staff or the Council, apparently. 

That’s why turning business property into residential without any kind of game plan is the kind of narrow, shortsighted thinking that not only won’t provide any solutions, but which actually raises more questions than it answers.

Yesterday’s Herald-Advocate story on Monday night’s special City Council meeting (“Flood control measures get deluge of support,” June 30) – which reportedly lasted 5-1/2 hours and was packed with people whose homes have flooding problems – presents an informative study in contrasts between the leadership styles of Mayor Dave Schmidt and our Public Works Director, Wayne Zingsheim.

Schmidt blamed the City’s staff and its elected officials, including himself, for having neglected the City’s sewer system over the past several years, noting that residents “are justified in being upset with the inaction by city government over the past few years.” 

Zingsheim, on the other hand, took the typical bureaucrat approach.  First he blamed too much rain falling too quickly, and then pointed to other suburbs (like Elk Grove Village) who also had problems.  Memo to Zinger: the incompetence or ineffectiveness of other towns in dealing with civic problems doesn’t excuse your own.

And just in case those alibis weren’t enough, Zingsheim also blamed the residents themselves for being ignorant of our sewer system and how it works…or doesn’t. 

“The public needs more education on certain issues,” he insisted.

We agree, Wayne, and that “education” effort should have been started by you last September, when we suffered millions of dollars of flood damage even as many residents wondered about the mysterious (but welcome) drainage of their basements between – as best we recall – 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. the morning of September 13, 2008.

Maybe that’s why so many of us believe in “mysterious valves” whose opening or closing is the difference between inches and feet of water in our basements.  And why many of us wonder whether our relief sewers are working…or whether we even have relief sewers on our block.

Of course, because of the non-existent Wayne Zingsheim educate-the-public initiative, we can’t see for ourselves (like, for example, on the City’s website) exactly what streets or alleys in Park Ridge actually have relief sewers.  Do you have such a map, Wayne?  If so, why isn’t it posted so all of us ignorant residents can check it out?

According to the H-A article, Zingsheim also thinks residents should do their own flood control by installing overhead sewers and other flood prevention devices.  That’s one way of avoiding accountability for years of bureaucratic inaction on the problem, but don’t those systems increase the sewer and flooding problems for the system as a whole, and for those residents who can’t currently afford such systems?

Unfortunately for all those residents of Park Ridge whose homes may be their single largest investment, City government has done little-to-nothing over the past several years to understand and effectively address the symptoms or the causes of a sewer system that seemingly everyone agrees is antiquated and inadequate, or to address an electrical power delivery system that is so undependable as to make private electrical generators the newest status symbol.

That’s because any reasonable solution to the flooding problem will require a big bond issue and higher taxes to pay for it, which is going to be a tough sell in a down economy and with a City staff and Council that think a $2 million deficit budget is “balanced.”  And they aren’t nearly as fun to talk about as redevelopment projects that involve paving over even more green space, and adding hundreds of additional residential units to an already overtaxed sewer system.

Which is why converting B-1 space to “R” space is something than shouldn’t be done on a whim, or because a handful of residents finally get a rise out of an otherwise-inert alderman.  But that’s a discussion for another day…this Friday, to be exact.

The Park Ridge City Council will be holding a special meeting tonight at 7:00 p.m. to vote on a first reading for both text and map amendments to the City’s Zoning Code. 

The one that caught our attention was the zoning map amendment for the property located at 255-257 N. Northwest Hwy, formerly “Audrey’s Calico ‘N Lace.”  If approved, the City’s zoning map will be amended to change that parcel from its current B-1 Retail and Office District designation to the R-3 Two-Family Residential District.  

Our questions: Why is this being done?  And why is it being done now?  

According to the draft minutes [pdf] of the June 9, 2009, Planning and Zoning Commission (“P&Z”)  public hearing on this map amendment and other zoning changes, P&Z Commissioner Joe Baldi asked why the subject parcel was not rezoned when the zoning ordinance was re-written a couple of years ago.  Good question, Joe.

The same minutes reflect that the City’s Director of Community Preservation and Development, Carrie Davis, blithely replied to Baldi that it probably wasn’t “considered an urgent matter at the time and that any rezoning would be subject to a redevelopment proposal.” Which inspires the re-asking of the question: Why now?

If the zoning map is amended, the property could hold two single-family houses (with an R-3 designation), or approximately four townhouses or seven multi-family (condo) residential units with an R-4 designation. 

Interestingly enough, rather than this map amendment request coming from the property owner or a developer, it seems to have been the brain-child of 5th Ward Ald. Robert Ryan, who hi credits/blames the “level of interest by residents in his ward” – although the minutes show only four of those residents (Pat Livensparger, Eddie Laken, Steve Buerk and Steve Schildwachter) actually speaking to the issue.

According to the P&Z minutes, Ryan invoked his membership on the Uptown Advisory Task Force and what the “Uptown Plan…recommends for the area where the properties are located” in advocating for a change from a commercial to a residential designation of the subject parcel.  He contended that such a change “would serve as a transition between the surrounding commercial areas and the residential neighborhoods.”

We hate to keep beating up on Ryan, but it’s hard to resist when he seems to be making stuff up out of whole cloth – in this case, about the Uptown Plan.  As best as we can tell (from the Uptown Plan’s map posted on the City’s website), the Uptown Plan’s area ends at Northwest Highway and Morris Avenue, almost a block south of the subject parcel!  That might explain why we couldn’t find anything in that Plan which “recommends” residential instead of commercial on that parcel.

Additionally, this particular one-block stretch of Northwest Hwy. – bordered by Elm on the north and Meacham on the east – is currently a zoning checkerboard, with most of the former Napleton Cadillac parking lot zoned B-1, despite the northern portion of that Napleton lot inexplicably zoned R-2; the property immediately northwest of that lot zoned B-1; the next parcel immediately northwest zoned R-4; and the subject property zoned B-1.

If that’s not commercial enough, immediately north of Elm, on the same east side of the street as the subject parcel, is 303 N. Northwest Hwy, the “Medical Arts Building,” housing doctors’ offices.  And further northwest of there, on the opposite side of the street, are two multi-unit office buildings.  So there’s nothing overwhelmingly “residential” about this stretch of Northwest Hwy. that would appear to justify this kind of attention and action at this time.

Finally, the passage of this map amendment could virtually ensure the demolition of one of the buildings currently on the site that served as the residence and art studio of Alphonso Ianelli, one of the patron saints of all those folks who fancy themselves the guardians of Park Ridge’s art and architectural history – like the members of the Park Ridge Historical Society and the Kalo Foundation.  So why aren’t those folks doing anything to preserve the status quo on – and the current structures – on that parcel? 

When it comes to land and land use in this town, it seems like things just keep on getting curiouser and curiouser.

We’ve consistently been critical of the Camiros/Kretchmer (“C/K”) “comprehensive plan” for the Higgins Road Corridor, which is about as bland and uninspired as any such plan could be. One or two dinky office buildings, a little “facade improvement” and some parking spaces is not a “vision” – unless you’ve got cataracts or need a white cane to get around. 

So putting a lit match to the C/K plan before we waste any more time and money on it is definitely a prudent thing to do. And, surprisingly, that sounds like what the City Council might be doing, judging from the report of the Council’s June 15 “special meeting” in yesterday’s Park Ridge Herald-Advocate (“Higgins plan not detailed enough for some officials,” June 25). 

Given the Council’s (and staff’s) history of bowing and scraping before every hired-gun consultant they employ, chucking C/K would be a full step up the evolutionary ladder for our aldercritters.

But while dumping C/K is a good start, the reported comments of Alds. Jim Allegretti (4th Ward) and Don Bach (3rd Ward) reflect the kind of uninformed micro-managing that, in our opinion, historically has hamstrung the City in addressing development/re-development issues throughout our community.

According to the H-A article, Allegretti and Bach want C/K (or some other consultants?) to provide “directions for achieving specific goals.”  In other words: “Please, oh please, Mr. Consultant, tell us exactly what to do and how to do it so that we don’t have to think for ourselves…and so we’ll have a built-in alibi in case of any bad results.”

Bach wants C/K to report on whether a small hotel or shopping area could work for the Mr. K’s Garden Center site – and, if not, why not.  That’s the right idea but, unfortunately, miserable execution:  by limiting the analysis to that site’s approx. 2.2 acres, Bach is actually discouraging the kind of “blue sky” outside-the-box, revenue-generating ideas that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity deserves.  

That’s why we want to give a big shout-out to 2nd Ward Ald. Rich (“Richie D”) DiPietro, who is quoted in the H-A article thusly: “But in real life, a developer will come to Planning and Zoning or to staff and say they have their own vision for this particular development, and Planning and Zoning will recommend to proceed or not.”

Exactly!  When it comes to development/re-development, the only “vision” that matters is that of the person(s) willing to step up to the plate and make that vision happen.  And the best thing the City can do in that regard is let it be known – in no uncertain terms – that the City is willing to seriously consider any and every plan, even those that include departures from our current zoning standards and/or the acquisition and assembly of more land in order to maximize the value of this opportunity for the benefit of the entire community.

That doesn’t mean bending over backwards and giving the developers anything and everything they ask for.  We have repeatedly advocated for the single-family residential “character” of Park Ridge, and preserving that character should remain a primary concern that should not be betrayed for “thirty pieces of silver” – or at least not unless and until a substantial majority of our residents firmly believe it to be the right thing to do.  

But as our taxes go ever higher and we discover more and more infrastructure and related needs that we are increasingly ill-equipped to afford, restricting or discouraging any “vision” of the Higgins Corridor is done at our – and our children’s and grandchildren’s – peril. 

Why is Taste of Park Ridge NFP (“Taste, Inc.”) so secretive that it doesn’t post any of its financial information on its fancy website, or have its IRS Form 990s on GuideStar?  Frankly, we have no idea. 

And because, so far, we’ve been spectacularly unsuccessful in finding out anything about Taste, Inc.’s operations over the past year, we are asking you, our readers, to consider helping us with some of our sleuthing.

The following people are current members of the board of directors for Taste, Inc.:

President:  Dave Iglow, Pines Mens Wear of Park Ridge
Vice Pres./Sec’y:  Albert Galus, Academic Tutoring Centers
Treasurer:  Jim Bruno, Chase Bank
Director:  Dean Patras, Broadway Livery Service
Director:  Sandy Svizzero, Pathway Bank & Trust Co.
Director:  Barb Tyksinski, All on the Road Catering
Director:  John Warnimont, Activision Electric

In addition to the foregoing individuals, the following people are members of the Taste (the event) Committee:

Bob Hanson, Park Ridge Police Dept.
Jackie Mathews, Rainbow Hospice
Mel P. Thillens, Thillens Service Corporation
Kim Uhlig, Director of Economic Development, City of Park Ridge

If you know any of these people, please ask them: “Why all the secrecy?”  Or “Why doesn’t Taste, Inc. make its books and financial records public?” Or “What is the Taste ‘Community Cares’ Fund, and why isn’t it explained on the website?” 

Maybe these Taste folks will be more comfortable answering such questions posed by people they know rather than by one of the “evil blogs” (to quote former Mayor Howard P. Frimark, who coincidentally was mayor when Taste, the event, went private); and then you, in turn, can share the answers with us and the rest of the community.  

Because as the Taste keeps getting bigger and (we assume) more profitable, all the secrecy surrounding Taste (the event) and Taste, Inc. makes us even more suspicious – especially when there is the appearance of close and strong ties between Taste/Taste, Inc. and City government. 

After all, this is the State of Illinois, and Park Ridge is located within the un-friendly confines of Crook County.  Need we say more?  

Well, folks, it’s almost that time of year again: time for the “Taste of Park Ridge,” that annual street festival that started as a joint effort of the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce and the City of Park Ridge before it was taken over a few years ago by the private “Taste of Park Ridge, NFP” corporation (“Taste, Inc.”).

Almost a year ago (in “Time For A Transparent ‘Taste’,” 07.07.08, and “Time For A Transparent ‘Taste’ – Part II,” 07.09.08),  we expressed our opinion that the Taste is a fine community event, but that we wondered about Taste, Inc.’s penchant for secrecy concerning its operations and finances – especially because Taste, Inc. enjoys a de facto monopoly of Taste, the event; and because it appears to utilize substantial City resources, for which we cannot determine the level of reimbursement it provides to the City, if any. 

Now, a year later, we continue to wonder why, if everything’s on the up and up, Taste, Inc. remains so secretive. 

How about a public statement from Taste, Inc. president Dave Iglow (Pines Mens Wear) and vice president Albert Galus (Academic Tutoring Centers) detailing Taste, Inc.’s operations over the past few years?  And how about Taste, Inc. treasurer Jim Bruno (Chase Bank) reporting publicly on Taste, Inc.’s finances?  For that matter, why aren’t Taste, Inc.’s finances posted on its nifty website, or on Guidestar?

And while they’re at it, maybe those gentlement could explain why Taste, Inc. – with Mr. Iglow as its registered agent – was “voluntarily dissolved” on February 20, 2009, only to be incorporated again on March 4, 2009, with new registered agent Leo G. Aubel of the Loop law firm of Deutsch, Levy & Engel.  What was that all about?

If Taste, Inc. remains close-mouthed, however, how about Taste (the event) committee member Kim Uhlig stepping up and giving the taxpayers a peak behind the Taste, Inc. curtain?  After all, she’s also the City’s Economic Development Director, so she owes a duty of truth-telling to the taxpayers who pay her salary.  She has to know something more about Taste, Inc. than the rest of us do, since the rest of us know virtually nothing.  How about it, Ms. Uhlig?

In addition to Taste, Inc.’s secrecy, we are positively bumfuzzled by the news that Rainbow Hospice as one of Taste (the event’s) “sponsors,”  According to Taste, Inc.’s website, even the lowest level sponsorship runs $1,500 – and can run up to $10,000 for an “event partner.” 

As you might recall, Rainbow Hospice is one of those private local organizations getting those over-budget handouts of tax dollars from the City.  It’s scheduled to receive $5,000 this budget year, which causes us to wonder whether those City tax dollars are just being shuffled over to Taste, Inc. in sponsorship fees?  We also wonder just how much labor from City employees (like Ms. Uhlig) on the taxpayers’ dime goes to Taste activities, and whether – and how much – Taste, Inc. reimburses the City for that labor.

We would have expected that, by now, the Taste, Inc. operators would have done the right thing and made all of their operations and finances totally transparent to the taxpayers who make Taste (the event) a success each year.  But the deafening silence that continues from Taste, Inc. suggests that transparency and accountability aren’t much of a priority to those folks.

Like many Americans, we here at PublicWatchdog look at what’s going on in Washington, D.C. and wonder if throwing around trillions of dollars will eventually bring our country out of this economic crisis…or just bankrupt it. But at least our federal representatives are trying to reconcile such disparate (and often conflicting) interests as GM’s bankruptcy, the collapse of IAG, global warming, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a nuclear pyromaniac running North Korea, and potentially catastrophic wheat rust in Africa – all of which, individually and collectively, are far more challenging than what the folks running the City of Park Ridge have to deal with.

Which is why the stunning and persistent financial ineptitude of our City government – which was on display again this past Monday night – is all the more frustrating and unacceptable.

Let’s start with the $2 MILLION DEFICIT BUDGET that City staff devised and the City Council passed.  To this day, we have yet to hear any City official come remotely close to justifying such a fiscally irresponsible act.  So when the Council voted 5 – 2 (Alds. Allegretti, Bach, Carey, Ryan and Wsol v. Alds. Sweeney and DiPietro) to over-ride Mayor Dave Schmidt’s historic veto of the Council’s even-more-over-budget appropriations for local community organizations, the only response we could muster was: Where will it end?  

Leading the veto over-ride effort was Seventh Ward Alder-Spendthrift Frank Wsol, who acts like he’s never seen a taxpayer dollar that he can’t spend.  We have to wonder if Wsol really is that mindlessly profligate, or whether he’s just trying to get back at the residents for repudiating his expensive, half-baked new-police station plan, and then rejecting his eleventh-hour, confusing and just plain ridiculous cop shop referendum. 

In a tone that wavered between impatient and condescending, Wsol lectured the mayor and the assembled citizenry about how the Council-mandated contributions of our tax dollars to those private, unaccountable local organizations provide a return of $6-$8 of value for every dollar spent.  Who says so?  According to Wsol, the United Way.

We actually spent over an hour surfing the Net trying to confirm that factoid, without success.  But quoting the scandal-ridden United Way [pdf] about the value of “charitable” contributions is a lot like quoting Ronald McDonald about the health benefits of a double Quarter-Pounder…with cheese.

As for our local organizations returning $6-$8 for every tax dollar contributed, we think that’s such a bogus claim that we challenge Ald. Wsol to put up or shut up.  We can’t find one shred of evidence of that claim being true – including reviews of those organizations’ IRS Form 990s which, ironically, we have to view at www.Guidestar.org because the organizations don’t seem to care enough about transparency and accountability to the community to post them on their own websites. 

For anyone who has forgotten, we also feel obligated to point out that Wsol was the Council member who led the charge against a dollar-for-dollar pass-through of the City’s increased water costs to the residents, which contributed $400,000+ to the $2 million deficit hole. 

And let’s not forget Ald. Don Bach (3rd Ward), whose explanation of his veto over-ride vote was that he won’t deprive those private organizations of tax dollars while the City administration – the body legally entitled to those tax dollars – remains bloated.  Of course, Bach has yet to display the cojones (figuratively, of course – we don’t think literally is such a good idea) to provide a comprehensive plan for reducing the alleged bloat to any significant degree.  

So we’re back to: Where will it end?  Unfortunately, long-term spending of millions more than you earn – and depleting savings in the process – usually ends in bankruptcy.