Category Archives: Chicago

Posts on Chicago

An Open Letter to William M Beavers, Cook County Commissioner

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Mr. Beavers:

I am a Cook County Juvenile Probation Officer who has covered the majority of your district for the past Eleven years. I have considered it a privilege to work with the families on Chicago’s far South Side. The current budget woes in Cook County threaten my job, and jeopardize the services that I provide to the families of Cook County.

I provide supervision, case management and treatment to juveniles who have committed sexually aggressive behaviors. I’m on the Illinois Sex Offender Management’s Board of Approved Treatment providers, and I have 12 years of direct experience working with this difficult and expensive population. The services I provide are cheaper than sending a juvenile to Big Muddy or to a residential treatment facility. Despite the savings that my colleagues and I provide the county, we are on the chopping block to close a budget gap.

The County Board believes the best way to close the budget gap is to lay off 29 of my coworkers. Of these 29 dedicated officer, at least two work with me in the Juvenile Sex Offender Unit. Laying off those two workers will at least double my work load. Laying off front line workers, something that President Preckwinkle stated she will not do, will directly cut the services to Cook County’s most vulnerable residents. Within 30 days, instead of providing direct service to the residents of the South Side, I may be limited to coordinating services for a much larger neighborhood. In short, I will have to attempt to find other low-cost Sex Specific Treatment Providers on Chicago’s South Side.

To be blunt, Mr. Commissioner, I am the only low-cost treatment provider on the Management Board’s list in your neighborhood.

Instead of fixing the budget gap by eliminating waste in the forest preserve, within management or with the FIVE IT departments in Cook County (Chief Judge, State’s Attorney, Public Defender, Office of the President, Cook County Clerk), you are targeting the people who rely on services.

Why are you cutting Services, Mr. Beavers? The argument we have heard was that AFSCME refuses to negotiate. As a member of the Bargaining Committee, I can assure you that we have come to the table in good faith. We want a contract–a contract that is years past due–to ensure that our rights as workers are protected. Instead, you want to close the budget gap by directly eliminating county services, in this case necessary mental health and law enforcement. Your actions in this case will make the your neighborhood less safe.

Mr. Beavers, I urge you to work with AFSCME to create a budget that is fair to the people of Cook County. Do not balance your budget by cutting services to the people who need them the most.

Sincerely,

Marty Gleason

PS: I would mail this do you directly, but you don’t have an email address on your Commissioner page or your campaign site.

An Open Letter to My Commissioner, Jesus Garcia

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Mr. Garcia:

You don’t know me, but I am a resident in your district. I am also a Cook County Juvenile Probation Officer. For the past Eleven years, I have been blessed to serve the families of Cook County on Chicago’s far south side. I cover neighborhoods where Chicago’s Finest refuse to go without a partner, a gun and a bullet proof vest. I work these same neighborhoods, sometimes well into the night, by myself. I am not complaining. I love my job. But by the end of this week, you and your colleagues want to remove my job for political reasons.

I should mention one additional fact about my job: I provide supervision, case management and treatment to juveniles who have committed sexually aggressive behaviors. I’m on the Illinois Sex Offender Management’s Board of Approved Treatment providers, and I have 12 years of direct experience working with this difficult and expensive population. The services I provide are cheaper than sending a juvenile to Big Muddy or to a residential treatment facility. And these services will be cut due to the County Board’s insistence on Layoffs.

The County Board believes the best way to close the budget gap is to lay off 29 of my coworkers. Of these 29 dedicated officer, at least two work with me in the Juvenile Sex Offender Unit. Laying off those two workers will at least double my work load. Laying off front line workers, something that President Preckwinkle stated she will not do, will directly cut the services to Cook County’s most vulnerable residents. Within 30 days, instead of providing direct service to the residents of the South Side, I may be limited to coordinating services for a much larger neighborhood. In short, I will have to attempt to find other low-cost Sex Specific Treatment Providers on Chicago’s South Side.

To be blunt, Mr. Commissioner, I am the only low-cost treatment provider on the Management Board’s list in those neighborhoods.

Instead of fixing the budget gap by eliminating waste in the forest preserve, within management or with the FIVE IT departments in Cook County (Chief Judge, State’s Attorney, Public Defender, Office of the President, Cook County Clerk), you are targeting the people who rely on services.

Why are you cutting Services, Mr. Garcia? The argument we have heard was that AFSCME refuses to negotiate. As a member of the Bargaining Committee, I can assure you that we have come to the table in good faith. We want a contract–a contract that is years past due–to ensure that our rights as workers are protected. Instead, you want to close the budget gap by directly eliminating county services, in this case necessary mental health and law enforcement. Your actions in this case will make the South Side less safe.

Mr. Garcia, I urge you to work with AFSCME to create a budget that is fair to the people of Cook County. Do not balance your budget by cutting services to the people who need them the most.

Sincerely,

Marty Gleason

PS: I would mail this do you directly, but you don’t have an email address on your Commissioner page or your campaign site.

Bringing out the Worst

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I firmly believe that there are certain things (persons, places, days of the week, certain months) that bring out the worst in us. I’ve met, and discussed, a few of the people who bring out the worst in me. Now I’d like to share with you the place that does the same.

Target.


Target Springfield, VA

Originally uploaded by j.reed

I cannot stand Target. This has nothing to do with whatever their policies are on unions, living wages and fairly traded goods. Oh no. I hate target for emotional reasons.

I will do whatever it takes to avoid going to Target. If forced into Target, my senses are overwhelmed with negatives. All I see are crowds. Everyone near me has terrible body odor. All I can here are inane conversations OR shitty muzack. All I feel are people bumping into me or my cart. Target takes variety and low prices and uses it to halve the IQ of fully functional human beings. People will sit and stare at items, in the middle of an aisle. These same shoppers will stare at a wall of items–let’s say deodorant–and will not move to let other shoppers get the items that they have selected. People will walk, without care, into other people.

I won’t even talk about the lines. They’re always fucking packed. Target’s low prices seem to stem from having so few staff.

Today, because Shannon asked nicely, I found myself in Target getting a few house hold items. On five separate occasions, full grown adults who, seduced by low prices, ran into me while pushing their gigantic shopping carts. Not one excuse me. Not one apology. I did manage to get a dirty look out of people who I apologized to when I passed by too close.

That’s when I gave into the masses and stopped caring about who I bumped into with my little hand cart. We all made the decision to suffer in Target, therefore, there is no reason to really apologize.

Target: Greatland is a total misnomer. It is Target: Shopping via Mob Action.

South Side Irish

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I have always maintained that my dad was right-off-the-boat Irish, by way of the South Side of Chicago. Despite his love of all things Irish, he never took us to either parade. He despised the north side parade and I think going to the south side was just too busy to get to.

This is where I’m going to be all day. It is supposed to the second largest st pats parade in the world.

Sunday Plug

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As Shannon and I pack and clean to stage the condo, I ran across Ouija Interview no 3:  Naomi.  Sarah Becan, whose website  c o m i c s is beautifully designed, is a fellow Beloiter, writer on Metroblogging Chicago and comic artist.  She has a number of her comics up for sale–the Ouija Interviews are fantastic–so I whole heartedly suggest you go and persue her site.

And My Vote Goes To

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Charles Wheelan

I’m currently reading his book “Naked Economics,” and I think Illinois 5th Congressional District needs to be represented by a media savvy outsider who has his head on straight regarding Education.

I wanted to vote for the Green Party candidates…  But not a single one articulated their points effectively.  Furthermore, when running for office, having someone spell AND grammar check your blog is necessary.

If Mike Quigley wins the primary, I’m pretty sure his Chief of Staff is someone I went to college with.  That’ll be a hoot.