1/13/2009 City Council Meeting

[ZORBA]

Hey Patsy, when have I referred to anyone's ethnic group? Ever?

[ZORBA]

Yes, and I would not want a fat Greek like you to ATTEMPT a rescue...

I asked a f@#$in question, you pasty faced alcoholic buck toothed Mr. Ed look alike pansy.......

Whether or not I am in shape is irrelevant... I'm no longer being paid to be in shape ... but at least at SOME point in my life I WAS in shape, good enough to play NCAA Division I ball ....

... and I'm still in good enough shape to run circles around you in the sport of your choice, excluding of course 12 oz curling and salami slamming ....

But I would be pleased if you made me dinner...

I'll get to it as soon as you fetch my coffee and finish shining my shoes.

Would you or your family be concerned if there was an event
and your responder had difficulty/slow response time due to physical limitation?

My family would be VERY concerned if our survival depended on the fitness level of CERTAIN members of the Berwyn (and other towns) FD.

Now go have another Hamms and shut your trap.

The question remains, and its a serious one-are there any physical fitness REQUIREMENTS (initial and/or ongoing) of the BFD?

I'm asking because I don't know.

Damn zobra...I have no clue how to answer this deal...

You are a hurting dude man, I hope you get some help.

You can't, you drunken imbecile.

[ZORBA]

Maybe Andy's job should offer some Anger Management Counseling?
Why is it, you can call people names, insult them to high heaven, be SO mean
spirited and then when your referred to as a Big Fat Greek, out of shape no doubt,
you blow a gasket?  It is not good for your mental or physical health.

I can GUARANTEE you Patsy that I'm in better physical condition than at least a FEW firefighters.

In fact, in a 50yd dash, I bet I could beat at least one, running backwards..........................

Difference is, I'm not paid to stay in shape. Nor is any Berwyn TAXPAYER paying me to stay in shape.

But, in all fairness, I'm sure the Berwyn Firefighter union has no problem with physical fitnees testing of their members, especially when they (firefighters)  go out and purchase fitness equipment in furtherance of their employment.

[Bonster]

Maybe Andy's job should offer some Anger Management Counseling?
Why is it, you can call people names, insult them to high heaven, be SO mean
spirited and then when your referred to as a Big Fat Greek, out of shape no doubt,
you blow a gasket?  It is not good for your mental or physical health.

Berwyn Patsy needs anger management counseling, for getting all over folks who crap on someone's PUBLIC newspaper columns; columns in which they crap on others.

[Ted]

Seems to me, the residents should be much more excited about the drama team winning big, rather than the b-ball team.

  Why not be excited about both? 

   Just an FYI, the seniors on the basketball team are doing well academically.  The top student academically at Morton West plays on the b-ball team and is going to Yale. 3 of the seniors who play on the b-ball team are Illinois State Scholars (out of a total of 42 Illinois State Scholars for the entire school).

  So, some of the seniors on the b-ball team are doing just as well academically as they are on the court.  I say kudos to both the b-ball team and the drama team.

  Ted

[BRoWN]

yes..."drama" in Berwyn.  No doubt about that.

[tony la]

I don't know why but when I saw that the drama club was in the city council it kind of made me chuckle because of all the drama that was there already

[n01_important]

Article of "Aldermen votes plunges Berwyn into the Red- Mayor"... blah.

Reality is Mr. Mayor, Auto Sticker fees should NEVER EVER be viewed as revenue makers... EVER.  Fees/fines are tools to drive behavior NOT FILL IN BUDGETS.

You raise fees beyond what is "normal" and people will stop registering their cars... they will start making fake stickers... they will start acting in the exact opposite way you want them to act.  You will end up with less control over cars in Berwyn AND still have budget shortfalls.

It is the responsibility of the Mayor/Aldermen to get us in the green.  We need to have a surplus or we will pay dearly if/when our community needs to borrow funds from the muni market.  Credit is drying up, the cost of credit will soon rise.

Don't raise taxes, fees or fines and get Berwyn back in the green... OR STEP DOWN AND LET OTHERS MORE COMPETENT SHOW YOU HOW IT'S DONE.

I'm also frustrated with the media... garbage reporting.  What ever happened to investigative reporting?  It seems writers just take the Press Releases and copy/paste.

[Bear]

"Don't raise taxes, fees or fines and get Berwyn back in the green... OR STEP DOWN AND LET OTHERS MORE COMPETENT SHOW YOU HOW IT'S DONE"

n01...Take a look at the increase in our LEGAL expense over the
past four years...I know of one case where it cost the city 50k
because of OC's ineptitude. And that is a mere tip of the iceberg.

[Terri]

The entire article:
###
http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/berwyn/news/x1943021789/Berwyn-aldermen-s-vote-plunges-budget-into-red-mayor

Berwyn aldermen's vote plunges budget into red: mayor

By Staff reports
Berwyn Life Thu Jan 15, 2009, 06:58 PM CST

Two proposals that would have raised more than $150,000 for Berwyn coffers were shot down by aldermen late Tuesday night, sparking criticism from the mayor.

City staff and City Council members are working on formulating the 2009 budget, which is supposed to be approved in the spring.

The draft budget included a provision to increase vehicle sticker prices by $5 across the board, except for vehicles owned by senior citizens, municipalities, schools, churches, disabled war veterans or former prisoners of war.

The aldermen voted against the increase by a 4-3 vote during Tuesday's City Council meeting. Alderman Santiago "Jim" Ramos, 2nd Ward, was absent from the meeting.

Also Tuesday, aldermen voted 5-2 against increasing the city's gasoline tax from 1 cent per gallon to 3 cents per gallon.

The gas tax has been at 1 cent per gallon since 1998, when it was reduced from 2 cents per gallon.

"With these two nay votes, the budget's now in the red and there will be no employee salary increases," Mayor Michael O'Connor said. "You're going to have to stop spending or find another way to raise revenues."

Some city workers were laid off during 2008 to make up an estimated $2 million budget shortfall.
O'Connor called two budget workshops, scheduled for Jan. 15 and 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, at City Hall, for City Council members to begin hammering out a 2009 draft budget that actually will be balanced.

"Last year, I voted for (the vehicle sticker fee increase), but the economy is not in much better shape," Alderman Michele Skryd, 4th Ward, said during the meeting.

Skryd, along with Alderman Nona Chapman, 1st Ward; Alderman Michael Phelan, 6th Ward; and Alderman Joel Erickson, 8th Ward, cast the no votes.

In voting against increasing the city's gasoline tax, Alderman Robert J. Lovero, 7th Ward, said he was concerned drivers would fuel up in neighboring towns where gas taxes may be less costly.

He said Berwyn's gas tax was reduced from 2 cents to 1 cent per gallon in 1998 because so many motorists were refueling in other towns.

O'Connor took umbrage with Lovero's characterization regarding the reason the gas tax was reduced at that time.

"It was a tough time," O'Connor said of the 1998 economy.

[Bear]

"O'Connor took umbrage"

Yes, as he ALWAYS does... that is why this town has been held BACK
for four years...OC takes UMBRAGE, his atypical shadiness and resentment...

We have wasted four precious years of our lives where this city could have
moved forward but did not. We fester like a a boil on the mayors arse.

Do you see Berwyn as a better city than it was four years ago?

I see a city in deep decline unless there are changes FAST.

[Bonster]

We fester like a a boil on the mayors arse.

Do you see Berwyn as a better city than it was four years ago?

I see a city in deep decline unless there are changes FAST.

Four years??  Are you kidding me??
Nowhere near as bad as the decline from oh, 1985 to 2005. When I moved here under the DCoB it was like friggin' culture shock.
Apparently you love taking it up the ass, since you have now flip flopped and
support those who let this city decline to what it is today. 

Thanks to people like you and the Berwyn Patsy's who let this city rot, our city is what it is today (like a boil on da mare's arse, or like a wart on your penis).
Thanks!!!

[Berwyn Patsy]

I thought it was only Zorba, but Bon your also starting to get weird or is it wired, hard
to tell with you?

And---I beg to differ with you, especially when your in your craziness, but I did not let
this city rot.  What have you ever done in Berwyn to make your city a better place to live?

[Bonster]

I thought it was only Zorba, but Bon your also starting to get weird or is it wired, hard
to tell with you?

And---I beg to differ with you, especially when your in your craziness, but I did not let
this city rot.  What have you ever done in Berwyn to make your city a better place to live?

Everyday I live here and interact with my neighbors, keeping them informed of what's going on I'm making this city a better place.
Every time I give to Donor's Choose or attend CARES events I'm making Berwyn a better place.
Every time I support our teams on road games I'm making Berwyn a better place.
By considering progressive measures to improve our school system and park districts I make Berwyn a better place.
Caring for my landscape, my house, putting up lights in the spirit of the season (and taking them down on time!) I make Berwyn a better place.
I'm doing my part.

But I'll ask you this - what's not weird about Bear talking about boils on someone's arse?
See, I mostly only respond to such garbage, not create it.

And I'm not wrong about the direction of this city under your people - I know how little I paid (and the previous owners) for my house, as well as many others around here.

[ZORBA]

Apparently you love taking it up the ass, since you have now flip flopped and
support those who let this city decline to what it is today. 

Thanks to people like you and the Berwyn Patsy's who let this city rot, our city is what it is today (like a boil on da mare's arse, or like a wart on your penis).

Thanks!!!

LMAO!!!!!!

Bonster, you're TOO much.

[ZORBA]

I thought it was only Zorba, but Bon your also starting to get weird or is it wired, hard
to tell with you?

And---I beg to differ with you, especially when your in your craziness, but I did not let
this city rot.  What have you ever done in Berwyn to make your city a better place to live?

It's YOU'RE Patsy, YOU'RE (as in you are), ............. not YOUR.

I know spellcheck can't help you with this one, but for heaven's sake, it can't be that hard.

[Berwyn Patsy]

Zorba, don't let my spelling get under your skin
  I know it's hard and part of your OCD issues but  just work with it, o.k.
honey?   Every day is a new day for you,  we understand. That's what friends are
for to understand you're short comings.  Happy now?  Good boy.

[Berwyn Patsy]

Quote from Bonster:  "And, I'm not wrong about the direction of the city under your people-I know
how little I paid (and the previous owners) for my house, as well as many others
around here."

When did you buy your home?  Why did you buy your home in Berwyn? How do you figure "my people"
control the value of real estate in the neighborhood?  What is your definition of the direction
of the city and where it is going under "my people"., compare it to where you
think it's going under OC's direction?  Has your property not increased since you bought?
It's to bad, you didn't come to your conclusions before you bought in Berwyn, maybe you would have
been better off some where else?

[n01_important]

Although I enjoy the humor at the slapstick-like rantings of this thread... can we go back to discussing the city council meeting and the ineptitude of our overly compensated elected officials?

[ZORBA]

Zorba, don't let my spelling get under your skin
I know it's hard and part of your OCD issues but  just work with it, o.k.
honey?   Every day is a new day for you,  we understand. That's what friends are
for to understand you're short comings.  Happy now?  Good boy.

No Patsy, in THIS instance it's YOUR, not YOU'RE (you are).

Try again.

Okay, toots?