Hallelujah- We are saved! The CTA will ride again! Finally the the scions of the Cook County Democratic machine were able to conspire and collude to do something other give each other fat contracts. There's still time though there is still plenty of legislative session left to screw something important up.

Eve of Destruction

As we sit on the precipice of a massive though modified tax increase it is useful to look at what "brung" us here to begin with. Big dollars for settlements on lawsuits against police misconduct, that's one! Municipal contortion to get the 2016 Olympics, that's another! A mayor who never met a TIF he didn't like, whew - it's gettin' hot in here! Let's not forget that old standby, City Hall corruption - you name the department and they got goin' on, know what I'm sayin'?! Lucky for us all, that at this particularly providential moment in time that at the state level there is a crack group of leaders whose special skill is infighting and insufferable pouting. Oh how I miss Romper Room! And the mayor has the clear unyielding vision to place at the mouth of the Chicago river, which of course runs backwards, a giant and great symbol of what every taxpayer will be getting over the next decade. They call it a "Spiral" but we all know what it really is... and what is really being done to us.

The Creepier Family Secrets

Are the revelations about the Chicago Outfit the real secret? Or is it the close ties between the Outfit and the family that has dominated the 5th floor of City Hall? Which is worse the private (the Outfit) scheming to squeeze money out of a hapless populace or the public (the Mayors office with help from Don Timoteo Degnan) scheming to squeeze money out of a hapless populace. See John Kass' recent column about the intersection between the mob and the 5th floor. The cast of characters siphoning money out of the public trough is just dizzying. Not only are Chicagoans footing the bill for dazzlingly overwrought downtown development while regular neighborhoods lay fallow but we're also paying for hissy fits between felonious frat boys. You have to wonder, if your ALIVE and BREATHING instead of doing crystal latte while speeding to your condo along LSD, why city hall engages in so much sub rosa activity. Why do they protect police officers who abuse the public (see Michael Miner' Chicago Reader article here)?

I guess we're not in Kansas any more!

Not to say I told you so, but I told you so. This week an article by Andrew Herrman came out in the Sun Times about how shenanigans (I call it so whenever anythings rigged in your favor, legally or not) by Pete "Super Red" Ueberroth to maintain USOC's lion share of Olympic revenue. It's obvious the 2016 Olympic Chicago Boys, all pals of the Mayor, think they're still in munchkin land with their Olympics bid but the world is a big place. Not until President Obama and Vice President Bill Daley can help salvage the reputation of the US by appointing David Axelrod Secretary of Good Publicity and Only Good Publicity (Rezko who?) will Chicago have a clear shot without troubles. And of course people across the world are ticked off at the US for a few other things too... what were they so upset about? I can't remember... I must be getting Reaganesque in my old age.

Duncan next?

Botched payroll, stolen laptops and a generally unfocused, unremarkable education plan at CPS may contribute to the "resignation" of Duncan. As demonstrated yesterday, if heads are going to roll it has to be now before the new City Council is inaugurated. Not because they can stop the carnage but merely because they can draw attention to the way the Mayor handles defeat and the sloppiness that comes with purges.

Alderman Moore, by quickly questioning Huberman's replacement of Kruesi, showed what happens when you have a council that feels it has enough cover to be critical of the way decisions are made by the Mayor. Let's see if anyone else has half a mind to speak up.

Expect the Mayor to continue to have that exasperated and scowling look on his face for some time to come. The only other face he has for a situation like this is the perspiration laden giggling he does when he's whistling past the graveyard.

So when your downtown (when you can afford it) and you hear the hammering for the new guillotine (those TIF funds come in handy!) going up across from City Hall don't be surprised.

This just in...

Will the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce be sending bags of money and adulation to French Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy in a desperate bid to bring not only expensive french bus shelters to Chicago but also special Sarkozy Water Cannons (shooting Chanel No. 5?) to control the Labor rabble? Who will the Higginbottoms look down on now that Dorothy Tillman is out? What Gore-Tex safety-taped jacket will Frank Kruesi wear to the unemployment line? Who else will be booted out to accommodate the wrath of the fearless leader of the fifth floor?

Let's all take a deep breath and let in sink in for a second...

Call it a drubbing, call it a spanking or call it a message from GOD (remember Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce - the commandment "You shall have no other gods before Me", so stop the mayoral worship).

Yesterday's aldermanic run-off (there's that phrase again) proved to be the titanic struggle everyone anticipated. The results clearly are disturbing for City Hall. Witness the mayors confused and dismissive response to Gary Washburn of the Tribune today. The mayor does not want anyone but staffers and presumed allies to know just how ticked off he is.

But you have to imagine that when other big city mayors like Villaraigosa in Los Angeles or Bloomberg in New York hear about what went down they're going to take it very seriously. After all here is the mayor of Chicago, often imitated by others - even the President, getting his wings clipped by the unions. They're bound to think if these unions could organize against the democratic machine in Chicago what can they do to me here in _______________(fill in city here).

Lets hope also that all of this run-off puts to rest the notion that the mayor is a friend of Labor. The Mayor is a manipulator of Labor and an abuser of Labor. A friend , in real terms, I think not. In fact to say that the mayor was a friend of Labor is like saying that Bush is a veteran.

So now the mayor, instead of paying attention to the handful of alderman who regularly might oppose him, has more than a quarter of the council to worry about. May not seem like much now but in real terms it is a phenomenal shift. All sorts of people who previously had sleeper positions in the council, like president pro-tempore, might have to be pressed into service. Why, they might even need to have a majority whip... for whichever part of the democratic party you're affiliated with. Make no mistake, a great leviathan like effort will be made by the fifth floor of City Hall to compromise all of the newly elected alderman. But there is more of them now.

And what does this all do for the Olympics in 2016? Not until this fall will the city be able to formally push for Chicago to the IOC. Then onto the international stage where Chicago is competing not just as Chicago but as the United States selection and all of the baggage that goes with it. In October 2009 the IOC will make its decision and then the ball really starts rolling: Who gets contracts? What will labor agreements look like (thaaats riight!)? Who will have to be ejected from their homes by eminent domain to make way? Who will control the spigot on cost over-runs? How will different standards for security impact the disposition and behavior of the Chicago Police Department? So many questions and, really, so little time.

In 2011 we will have the next municipal elections and the argument will be that you can't switch horses (or generals or some such thing) at such a critical point. Let's hope that our new alderman will be able to set some precedents to protect the residents of our fair city. If not our only hope is US Attorney Fitzgerald.