So far, I like Rahm Emanuel being my mayor.

[LoZoccolo]

[hlthe2b]

1. why?

[Bodhi BloodWave]

2. I would assume because he might be doing an acceptable/good job n/t

[Fumesucker]

3. It wouldn't make any difference to some people..

It's all about being on the team and supporting the team for some voters, what the politicians actually *do* is unimportant.

[hlthe2b]

6. It would seem if someone wanted to praise his efforts on a DISCUSSION Board,

they might feel it necessary to discuss what it is he has DONE to earn that praise... For those of us not in Chicago, we don't hear what he is doing and how it is being perceived. Why you felt the need to add a snarky retort to me, I simply do not know. :shrug:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. can you say, "CREDIT CARDS?"

that alone is huge.
Even if it only saves about 12 million this year.

It sets a tone that this shit must stop. and for that, I am grateful.

[LoZoccolo]

5. He is doing an acceptable/good job

[hlthe2b]

8. It would seem if someone wanted to praise his efforts on a DISCUSSION Board,

they might feel it necessary to discuss what it is he has DONE to earn that praise... For those of us not in Chicago, we don't hear what he is doing and how it is being perceived.

Why be so intentionally noncommunicative?

[LoZoccolo]

9. Sometimes people start changing the subject and being mendacious in my longer posts.

[hlthe2b]

13. What is your subject?

Talking about mendacious...I merely and politely asked you what it is about his mayoral term to date that you found to be praise-worthy. I honestly don't know and I told you that. Yet you can't even be polite enough to answer. Why even bother posting then?

[LoZoccolo]

14. Chicago runs like a machine, and the machine is still running.

[n2doc]

4. I'm glad he is your mayor n/t

[madinmaryland]

10. At least he has not texted his weiner. nt

[LoZoccolo]

12. He used to be a ballet dancer, so maybe you could see the outline.

[mucifer]

11. He's my mayor too. I did enjoy the credit card thing. But, I need more time

to see what he really does and if and how he sells out to big business:

CHICAGO (CBS) – Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking away the credit cards.

CBS 2 has learned the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Housing Authority and other city agencies have been stripped of credit-card privileges after some employees were caught using them to buy gifts, expensive dinners and to even pay off red-light camera tickets.

“This is completely unacceptable to me, and I am troubled by the disrespect this shows for the hard-earned dollars taxpayers give the city of Chicago,” Emanuel said in a letter to the agencies. http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/06/03/mayor-pulls-credit-cards-from-agencies/



Here is more stuff


Chicago, Comcast launch program to give poor kids computers and Internet service at low rate

CHICAGO (AP) — The city of Chicago and Comcast are entering what they say is the first partnership of its kind to provide discounted computers to low income children and give their families Internet service for a drastically reduced rate.

At a news conference Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a Comcast official announced Internet Essentials. They say the program will bridge what Emanuel calls the "digital divide" in Chicago between kids who have computers at home and those who don't.

Under the program, children who receive free lunches at the Chicago Public Schools will be given a voucher for $150 towards the purchase of a computer. They'll also get broadband Internet service for $9.95 per month.

Emanuel says about 330,000 families are eligible for the program.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-il--chicago-computerprogram,0,3539438.story

My question is now what does the city give to comcast in return??

[frazzled]

15. He seems to be appointing some solid, innovative people

This morning I read that his new commissioner of the Dept. of Transportation, Gabe Klein (whom he brought in from D.C.), is going to be putting video screens in the bus shelters ... with Bus Tracker and other information. Also, the dedicated protected bike lanes are already in motion, the first of which is right by my house. Fresh, innovative stuff stressing alternative transportation (walking, shared biking, etc.).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/gabe-klein-chicagos-new-t_n_876856.html

The new Police commissioner seems very experienced: he led the police dept. in Newark (which led the nation in reduction of murder rate under his tenure) and was a deputy commissioner in NYC.

Jury still out on the new CPS superintendent. We'll have to give him a year to see what happens. It's the biggest issue Chicago faces.

[Gabi Hayes]

19. oh, jesus....you don't know anything about Brizard, do you?

Eric Zorn, one of the few decent columnists left at the Chicago Tribune, has this to say about the Eli Broad-borne Brizard:

Rochester has seen teacher dissatisfaction with Brizard polling at around 90 percent in surveys. I realize that many of you believe this is a feature, not a flaw — that self-interested, lazy teachers are the root our educational problems and anything they dislike is probably good for students.

I don't agree, but for your benefit, let's ask a few of the customers — parental stakeholders — who in 2008 were as hopeful as Chicagoans are today that Brizard would work magic for their troubled system.

"He fell on his face," said Jacobs when I asked him for a summation. "He lacks people skills."

Brizard "didn't listen to parents and didn't like being challenged," said Hilary Appelman, who has two students in the Rochester schools and runs the Flower City Parents Network, an online forum for discussion of local education issues. "It was hard to get information out of him, and it's wrong for anyone to say he reformed Rochester. Our system is in chaos right now."
http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2011/04/brizard.html




Eli Broad-Brizard connection:


Brizard has been school superintendent in Rochester, N.Y., for about three years, where he quickly became a divisive figure who recently garnered a 95 percent no confidence vote from the city’s teachers. Parents don’t seem to like him, either: “He’s making it clear that he does not value parents and community members as partners,” said Howard Eagle, a Rochester parent.

................


Those “toxic philosophies” are not unique to Brizard. They are the hallmark of the Broad Superintendents’ Academy, where Brizard was trained in 2008. The Academy was created by Eli Broad, an insurance company billionaire.

According to the newly-published “Parents’ Guide to the Broad Foundation’s Education Programs and Policies,” prepared by Parents Across America,

•“A hallmark of the Broad-style leadership is closing existing schools rather than attempting to improve them, increasing class size, opening charter schools, imposing high-stakes test-based accountability systems on teachers and students, and implementing of pay for performance schemes. The brusque and often punitive management style of Broad-trained leaders has frequently alienated parents and teachers and sparked protests.”

•“Broad and his foundation believe that public schools should be run like a business. One of the tenets of his philosophy is to produce system change by “investing in a disruptive force.” Continual reorganizations, firings of staff, and experimentation to create chaos or “churn” is believed to be productive and beneficial, as it weakens the ability of communities to resist change.”
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2011/04/is-the-chicago-honeymoon-over-for-supt-brizard-before-even-starting/



read the rest of the article, as well as anything else you care to, about the phonying up of the graduation statistics being brandished as just about the sole justification for Brizard's 'success' in Rochester

if you like what Bush/Obama/Duncan/Gates/FTA, etal have done to our schools, you'll love what Emanuel has in store for Chicago

[Gabi Hayes]

20. comment from the Zorn link sums up what Emanuel/Brizard have in mind for Chicago:

Jean, I agree with your suggestion that people read the strategic plan -- it can be found on the Rochester City Schools website. Note that Brizard's signature "portfolio plans" as well as the strategy documents are well referenced. Note the citation to Parthenon Group. This is a capital management firm whose goal is to maximize profits for its client investors. Parthenon specializes in the education market, and they are particularly optimistic and aggressive about expanding the public preschool - 12 market.

You can check out Parthenon's strategy papers to see sectors, market shares, etc. Now, back to the RCSD website: find the strategy map (a bunch of boxes taking up a page). Now, search "Ascendant Strategy Management Group, LLC" in the same website's search bar. You will discover that we Rochester taxpayers forked out $69K+ in Sept 2010 to develop that map; then in Feb 2011 another $17K+ to 'continue the work' because, according to Brizard's Chief Stategy Officer, "many school and operational staff members do not understand the way in which their work fits into the Strategic Plan.." noting that "the contract extension will be paid through funds remaining in the budget for the Office of Strategic Leadership."

Now, this may sound boring, but meanwhile the neighborhood school where we may send our 5 year old for kindergarten is slated to eliminate --yes, eliminate -- art and music and cut librarian from 1FTE for K-6 to 0.5 FTE for K-7 next year under Brizard's budget proposal (he has the arrogance to promise to "see it through" before heading out to Chicago.)

This is a small snapshot, current, example of private contracts and overpaid, redundant and ineffective administrative leaders sucking the resources out of our schools. We have a different strategy, and here's to Chicago's alliances among teachers, parents, public school communities in your ongoing resistance to corporate attacks on public education.

[frazzled]

21. Actually, yes I do

There's a lot of shit out there, and I've read pretty much all of it--the good, the bad, and the ugly. I've read it for several months. I'm merely reserving judgment until I see things for myself. I'm fairly skeptical about his approach, but I also know that there is much, much more to his story than your one slanted article suggests.

[Taverner]

16. What's he done?

Not for or against, that's for Chicaoans to decide

But what's going on?

[City Lights]

17. Tweet tweet.

[TBF]

18. lol - was there ever any doubt? nt

[Bluebear]

22. You frigging worship and emulate him, of course you do.