Government

  • Go, Waguespack, Go. (Re: Parking Meter Deal Financial Analysis & Opposition)

    Just got this email from Alderman Scott Waguespack of the 32nd Ward. Brilliantly principled and financially sound opposition to the parking meter deal. Greetings! On Thursday, the City of Chicago signed a 75 year lease of our citywide parking meters with  Morgan Stanley/Chicago Parking Meters LLC for $1.15 billion. I voted against the sale of…

  • Vetting of State of Florida Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Files

    The files listed below are available for download.  Please visit our General Information page for helpful tips on using this site, and read our Disclaimer and README files prior to downloading any file from this site. If further assistance is needed, please view these step by step instructions for a successful download. File Name &…

  • Publish the details of underlying mortgages saved by Congress

    It appears that the United States government is going to purchase hundreds of billions of dollars worth of bad mortgages in an effort to prevent the collapse of the world’s financial system. If they do, I’d like them to publish a list of all of the mortgages they purchase — the loan number, the address…

  • Caution Against Ranking

    Here’s what the FBI has to say about their crime statistics. Today they published their 2007 Crime in the United States Report.   Each year when Crime in the United States is published, some entities use reported figures to compile rankings of cities and counties. These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables…

  • Chicago City Clerk publishes search tool for legislation and other items going back decades

    Here’s some news from our friends at the Chicago City Clerk’s Office. Here’s the complete text of their PDF press release: Unprecedented Transparency Arrives at City Hall City Clerk del Valle Posts City Council Legislation Online Dating Back to the Byrne Administration The old days of crawling around the basement of City Flall searching for…