How do you feel about the quality of public transit? (Chicago: living in, bus)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I would not call it "lack of supervision" I would call it a direct result of hiring connected people.

Imagine this scene:

Custodial Supervisor: Hey, some bum just crapped on the platform at Washington.

Janitor: I cleaned that at 10AM

Supervisor: Well I was there are 10:30AM and the pile was still steamin'

Janitor: Suck to be a CTA rider...

Supervisor: Excuse me? Get over there and clean it

Janitor: Do I have to call my auntie? I mean I may not be the smartest janitor in all of Chicago but when my auntie is an alderman / state senator / county board member I a pretty sure you have to cut me some slack

Supervisor: Sucks to be a CTA rider...

Yeah, CTA janitors are well-known for having clout and connections in high places. How else could they have procured such prestigious careers?

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Drover

Yeah, CTA janitors are well-known for having clout and connections in high places. How else could they have procured such prestigious careers?

Ask anybody that work in Chicago for the City, County or even State of Illinois -- the lower level jobs are ALWAYS filled by folks with connections to SOMEBODY.

The fact is that if you do in fact have sort of "civic mindedness" and have actual talent / skills you COULD get hired to do a technically demanding postion even if "nobody sent you" as the financial mess and decades of neglect really has made it so there is desperate NEED for actual professional but for jobs that anyone with a pulse ought be able to handle THIS is where the typical unskilled ne'erdowell with ties to a "poltical dynasty" is MOST LIKELY to still be on the payroll...

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Ask anybody that work in Chicago for the City, County or even State of Illinois -- the lower level jobs are ALWAYS filled by folks with connections to SOMEBODY.

The fact is that if you do in fact have sort of "civic mindedness" and have actual talent / skills you COULD get hired to do a technically demanding postion even if "nobody sent you" as the financial mess and decades of neglect really has made it so there is desperate NEED for actual professional but for jobs that anyone with a pulse ought be able to handle THIS is where the typical unskilled ne'erdowell with ties to a "poltical dynasty" is MOST LIKELY to still be on the payroll...

What was that old quote from the Daley 1 regime: "We don't want nobody nobody sent!!"

On second thought, maybe it goes back to Cermak..

[Drover]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Ask anybody that work in Chicago for the City, County or even State of Illinois -- the lower level jobs are ALWAYS filled by folks with connections to SOMEBODY.

Yeah, sure -- and yet their supervisors are somehow un-connected and are powerless to get their underlings to do anything.

C'mon, this isn't 1965 any more.

[chet everett]

The supervisors are generally "connected" as well , but kind of like when you're in the mob and you think you are gonna be a "made guy" becuase you are crazy violent but instead they "off you" there is a bit of a reverse hierarchy -- folks get "promoted" to supervisory roles becuase they are actually better at showing up at their city / county / state job reliabily and not really all that effective at the REAL power of connected poltical workers -- delivering sufficent votes. As you can imagine, often the employees that spend the least time actually showing up for their legit job are most effective in knowing where to find drunks, nincompoops and other reliable "voters" to keep the crooks in office...

Things were easier in 1965, there were no "do gooder" types or Federal prosecuters looking for corruption, none of the "pastors" had to worry about the IRS cracking down on blatant tax cheats, everybody was in a Union, even folks who worked for normal corporations had solid pensions. The "pie" was both fatter and there were fewer lay-abouts and "free agent" drug pushers -- cops on the take from the mob could "trust" gangsters to drag the corpses of their victims out to Indiana. There were no "urbanists" eager to pedal their fixed speed bicycles wherever they could.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The supervisors are generally "connected" as well , but kind of like when you're in the mob and you think you are gonna be a "made guy" becuase you are crazy violent but instead they "off you" there is a bit of a reverse hierarchy -- folks get "promoted" to supervisory roles becuase they are actually better at showing up at their city / county / state job reliabily and not really all that effective at the REAL power of connected poltical workers -- delivering sufficent votes. As you can imagine, often the employees that spend the least time actually showing up for their legit job are most effective in knowing where to find drunks, nincompoops and other reliable "voters" to keep the crooks in office...

Where are you right now, 1971?

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Where are you right now, 1971?

How freaking naive are you? The City has literally let connected do-nothing employees shakedown people instead of enforcing building codes : Bribery trial produces conviction of 15th city inspector - Chicago Breaking News

People died becuase connected "know nothings" were given jobs becuase of who they knew -- Chicago Building Department Continues To Crumble: Chicagoist


The higher ups made out like bandits and even the most skeptical judges could not nail 'em becuase they stuck to their lies about not be aware of any "hiring issues" -- Chicago-city-attorney-*follows-Daley-to-law-firm - Southtown Star

[Aleking]

took about 25 minutes to get to work from uptown to the loop this morning...fog slowed it down a bit. Still cheap, fast, and efficient...no complaints

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The supervisors are generally "connected" as well , but kind of like when you're in the mob and you think you are gonna be a "made guy" becuase you are crazy violent but instead they "off you" there is a bit of a reverse hierarchy -- folks get "promoted" to supervisory roles becuase they are actually better at showing up at their city / county / state job reliabily and not really all that effective at the REAL power of connected poltical workers -- delivering sufficent votes. As you can imagine, often the employees that spend the least time actually showing up for their legit job are most effective in knowing where to find drunks, nincompoops and other reliable "voters" to keep the crooks in office...

Things were easier in 1965, there were no "do gooder" types or Federal prosecuters looking for corruption, none of the "pastors" had to worry about the IRS cracking down on blatant tax cheats, everybody was in a Union, even folks who worked for normal corporations had solid pensions. The "pie" was both fatter and there were fewer lay-abouts and "free agent" drug pushers -- cops on the take from the mob could "trust" gangsters to drag the corpses of their victims out to Indiana. There were no "urbanists" eager to pedal their fixed speed bicycles wherever they could.

Sounds like a scene right out of "Crime Story", complete with Dennis Farina and some very strong Chicago accents..

[Ace Rothstein]

Lots of city, county and state jobs are given to those in the know. My cousin's 22 year old boyfriend is a supervisor at a Sec of State facility. He has no degree and a couple years of community college under his belt. His qualification is that his dad and moreso his grandfather have a lot of mob ties.