We demand: Commitments to the highest standards of ethical conduct at all departments and levels of city government. This includes: full adherence to state ethics statutes, with full and repeated public disclosures of financial interests by elected officials, city employees, family members of city employees, former city employees, and board and commission members; ethics ordinance(s)…
Category: City Watch
DeKalb Declares War on Bloggers
From Citizens Community Enhancement Commission (CCEC) meeting minutes (PDF p. 42), September 21, 2009: 1. City Image Chairman Matya advised that at the suggestion of City Manager Biernacki, he and Mr. Barnes met with Mr. Biernacki, Mr. Espiritu and Mr. Herb Rubin regarding the City’s image on blogs, etc. It was suggested that the CCEC…
A Call for Better City Government
What: March and Rally for Good Government When: Monday, November 9, 5:15-6 p.m. Where: Assemble at Lincoln & First Street; march to the Municipal Building on South Fourth More: Bring signs if you can, and a smile for the cameras. Place sign ideas in comments if you like, and help us go viral with the…
Fox Guards Henhouse in Chicago
Friday balm for weary goo-goos (emphasis added): The city watchdog agency charged with rooting out City Hall corruption sued Mayor Richard Daley’s administration on Wednesday, accusing it of thwarting an investigation into possible wrongdoing by current and former employees. The inspector general’s office wants Daley’s top lawyer, Mara Georges, to hand over documents relating to…
Gallagher’s Got Some News
[Update 11/4: The Plan Commission closed the public hearing last Wednesday but will consider the matter at its next meeting, which they’ve reset to November 18 to avoid meeting on Veterans Day. Says the city’s acting planner Sue Guio: A primary reason for postponing action was to allow Staff time to research whether the product…
Conflict of Interest
This is a major conflict of interest: Crain’s Chicago link We pay for the City Manager’s subscription. Perhaps the Mayor can borrow a copy?
If I Were Queen
If I were Queen of DeKalb for a day, my first act would be to run Victor Wogen out of town on a rail. The man is congenitally incapable of following the rules. Just last Monday he parked in a 30-minute visitors’ spot for 3-1/2 hours. I hope he gets ticketed the next time he…
City-Connected People & Our Money
Last week I asked the City Clerk to help me get information about who, besides Victor Wogen, are or have been council members or city employees who’ve benefited as vendors to the city, beyond their primary roles. The Finance Office was able to provide 11 names for the period of my request, which was 2002-present.…
News from CB Reader on Wogen’s Domestic Battery Proceedings
I’ve no idea who Anson McDonald is, nor was I able to attend the proceedings today, but here you go.
The Other “Quoters”
As most of you know, the City of DeKalb’s stated procedure for the type of jobs Third Ward Alderman Victor Wogen got was that two quotes or estimates were obtained for each job and that Wogen had the lower quote for each of the projects he worked on. Today, I went to the City Clerk’s…