Hi. now that i've been sufficiently angered by another recent experience of absurdity in this city i feel like venting a little. first, i'll introduce myself. i live in hyde park and finished college at the UofC in 2001 studying economics and stuff. I've lived in HP and Chicago intermittently for 7 years or so. I'm originally from Sugar Land, Texas, a southwestern suburb of Houston, politically well-known as Tom Delay's district.
i've worked a couple of jobs after graduation with small businesses. i helped operate a high-end triathlon shop known as mission bay multisport for a year and a half. now i'm working part time for a seafood company as a swiss army knife bookkeeper-marketer-web developer-operations strategist-product developer while also working hard at not working, investing in stocks, and maximizing my so-called 'non-productive' activities like writing, researching, training etc. recently, i've been especially interested in technoscience, critical theory, and electronic modes of communication (such as blogs, text messaging, etc.).
Rant Part 1
Now what is the deal with this city and its highly-antagonizing street cleaning ordinances/penalties? After finding a ticket stuck on my window (with glue that's obnoxiously hard to clean) I spent about 15 minutes storming around my apartment cursing at the mayor, the cop, and the other culpable morons that punish people who choose not to drive everyday. Now we know what really drives sprawl. The bureaucratic absurdity of the city. Manuel Delanda's 'History of Non-Linear Cities' (in Eco-Tec) resonates sympathetically with my feeling for the stress of living in the city and my frequent desire to get away.
Is there some kind of schedule of street cleaning available on the web? $50 a pop is just unfair. Just thinking about the efficiency of Chicago's bloated bureaucratic hog of a government it seems that the enormous inequality around here is largely due to the harsh penalties imposed on every little aspect of life and especially on the little guy affected most by these penalties.
Rant Part 2
I have been the beneficiary of about 5 times as many parking tickets this past year versus the previous year, and I get the feeling the city is really abusing its need to generate revenue. I notice this in the numerous permits and things the city charges a business to operate. Here is a list of some: 1) sign inspection fee ~$90-100+ (which perhaps explains some of the incredibly pathetic signs in some places) 2) health inspection fees $50+ (if you're a restaurant) 3) biz license $300 .... 4) false burglar alarm violations over a limit of 5 ($100-200 ea. incident) ... and the list goes on... (there's even a new 2% (i think) tax on restaurant sales)
As much as people moan and groan about Houston and its problems, Chicago is such a phony sign of equitable prosperity. The way business gets done in Houston allows far greater opportunities for social and economic mobility. I just can't see that in Chicago where any hope for economic development in a troubled community requires months if not years of political, bureaucratic, and legal posturing. And let's not get started about the schools here. The public schools in Houston make Chicago look like Iran. And the degree of racial 'harmony' in Houston makes Chicago look like South Africa. I'm not saying I want to move back to Houston. I can't stand the heat and the bike unfriendliness of the city. But sometimes I think 'Canada...' as if things are actually better in Montreal, Ottawa, or Vancouver... (any opinions?)
Of course the local and federal economy isn't doing so hot, but it's just extremely frustrating to be a businessperson/ordinary guy trying to survive when the local government makes such a huge effort to extract as much of your income as possible (which probably results only in the slimmest of profit considering the bureaucratic inefficiencies).
From Rant to Action
Is there a law against taking those damn orange street cleaning signs down? What if a large secret coalition worked together to remove and destroy street cleaning signs everywhere so EVERYONE got a ticket? I don't think this city responds to reason so why bother trying to cope? Have you seen the way circuit courts are stacked against any kind of resistance to these stupid laws? There's nothing you can do about it. The various bar associations write up their recommendations and it does nothing...
Perhaps this would be like a denial of service attack that hackers use to shut down websites. Perhaps the city would face so many complaints and so many irate car-owners that a critical mass of voices can get some of these stupid and unfair ordinances modified.
I just want to go out and DO something NOW. I know (from experience) the people on the other end of my attempts to reason through city fines have no concern for fairness and only function according to da idiot's prime directive of 'take money at all costs'. I think this city is full of angry people who are tired of getting stepped on by Chief Moron and his associates. What can this city do to stop spending money and stop pissing me off by working extra hard to take mine?
disgruntled with da moron,
kelvin
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