Morning Shorts
Monday, Oct 4, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rally targets violence as crime rate drops
Weis said there were 343 murders committed from January through September, eight fewer than last year at this time. The drop puts the city on pace with 2007, a year in which the murder total was the lowest in the city since 1965, Weis said.
Overall crime in the city dropped 4.5 percent, he said. In nearly every category, crime was down, and for the 21st straight month, crime dropped overall and in violent and property offenses.
Violent crime fell more than 11 percent in September.
* Cops: Overall crime down in city, but car thefts up 22%
Murder declined by 2.3 percent after a slight increase in August, police said, adding that the department is on pace with 2007, a year that ended with the lowest murder total in the city since 1965.
Also in September, police said they seized 130 firearms.
Violent crime overall was down more than 11 percent. Aggravated batteries alone declined 7.7. percent, which was the single greatest decrease in this category in 2010. Robberies and aggravated assaults each showed double-digit declines, and criminal sexual assaults were down just over 9 percent, police said.
* Daley says Chicago is ready for a super-fast train
* Water bosses tout meters — for others
* City: Daley’s friend got $31K in free water by mistake
* Top Daley fund-raiser disputes tab for $71,342
* Why some aldermen pay more for water than others
* Free water for charities, schools, museums, churches costs $10 million
* Chicago charities get 5.7 billion gallons a year of water free
* Union electricians fear IBEW plan will threaten jobs
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers plans to add a new classification of workers who will not be required to complete the union’s standard training program and, as a result, will receive less pay than many card-holding electricians.
* Ex-RTA boss: no expansion funds
* Daily Herald: Back to drawing board for ComEd
ComEd says it is still weighing whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court after an appellate court Friday struck down the utility’s plans for a $396 million rate increase to support major infrastructure improvements.
Here’s a better idea: Change the plans.
* What Chicago lost, gained from a failed Olympic bid
* Ex-Ald. Dorothy Tillman gets another month to try to save Harold Washington center
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 9:56 am:
RE: * City: Daley’s friend got $31K in free water by mistake
The only mistake was they got caught…
- Plutocrat03 - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:09 am:
Daley’s desire for a fast choo-choo to travel the 14 miles between downtown and O”Hare points out how he has lost his bearings.
Is it cute? You becha!
is it fast? So they say.
How will this help those who do not need to go downtown from the airport? Won’t.
The actual scheduled time between O’Hare and downtown is in the range of 42 minutes for the There are an average of 2,400 daily riders. The fare is 2.25. What premium would these riders pay to save 20 to 25 minutes? The Heathrow Express charges around 24 dollars for one way service to their downtown. How many of the 2,400 daily riders would be willing to pay $20 each way to save 20 minutes per trip? Not enough to justify the +1 billion cost to install, much less subsidize for the rest of time.
If there is an extra billion or two floating around, why not use it to make transportation improvements that will benefit more that the few who travel between O’Hare and downtown.
The proposal is just a bauble for the political ruling class to boast about.
- Angry Chicagoan - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:32 pm:
Plutocrat, I don’t know about Heathrow but the Gatwick Express, which is even more expensive than the Heathrow Express for an airport that has a smaller share of business travel and a higher dependence on leisure travelers who are more likely to drive and more likely to sweat the cost, has about 12 million riders a year, about 40 percent of Gatwick’s non-transfer passenger airline traffic. I’m sick and tired of naysayers in this country saying it won’t work here because it wasn’t invented here, and your comment is a prime example of this. It’s the same mentality that keeps our government frozen in things like bad labor contracts and outdated and inefficient services. Do you really think a contract rail operator — let’s say UP, or BNSF, or Veolia, or Serco, or Metra, or even Amtrak for crying out loud — would screw up so badly as the CTA has done to have only half as many air travelers as it has airport employees using the service?
- friend of jac - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 2:38 pm:
Comment on crime rate drops in Chicago–has anyone noticed that the Illinois State Police has not yet released the 2009 Crime in Illinois report? With just a few months left in 2010, and one month before the election, wouldn’t it be helpful to know if crime is up or down in the State of Illinois?
- wordslinger - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 4:11 pm:
John McCarron has an insightful column on the Chicago Metro’s position in the world and Daley’s tenure.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-1004-mccarron-20101004,0,5079584.story
- Plutocrat03 - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 4:19 pm:
Yes , anyone who tries this chop chop will Lise their shirts. The operators of the Chunnel went bankrupt 3 times and are not doing great now.
I repeat my question… Who will subsidize the operating cost from hence forward.
For the record, when I fly into London I take the tube for a fraction of the cost of the Heathrow shuttle. I have recommended the CTA for out of town visitors and they loved it. There is no business case for a 25 dollar ride to/from oHare
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 4:33 pm:
Plutocracy said,
“There is no business case for a 25 dollar ride to/from oHare”
Especially when you can get door-to-door cab service for just a couple of bucks more.