Daley’s Show

* “Naively, perhaps, I’ve always thought of our cultural institutions as the custodians of Chicago’s better nature,” Lynn Becker writes upon discovering even more deceit in the museum’s PR campaign. “I would never have imagined that such an institution – and for the moment let’s be kind and include the CCM among them – would conduct a public campaign built out of deliberate deception, withholding of information, race-baiting, gutter politics, and an almost pathological proclivity for telling lie after lie.”

* “Now that the ever-compliant Chicago City Council has voted 33-16 to approve the Chicago Children’s Museum Grant Park land grab, the real battle can begin: In the courts, where there are no aldermen who cower in fear of crossing Mayor Richard M. Daley, the plan’s most powerful supporter,” writes Blair Kamin at The Skyline.

* “This is a rehab project for an existing building,” Pete Scales, a spokesman for the Department of Planning and Development, tells Bloomberg. “That’s something that gets lost in the debate.”

That’s because it’s not true.

* I’ve got more on Mayor Hee-Haw and his farmhands over at the Beachwood.

The Moore Report

Ald. Joe Moore just sent out this e-mail report on Wednesday’s foie gras fiasco.

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Alderman Moore’s Report on Wednesday’s City Council Meeting

Dear Neighbor,

Recent City Council meetings have been rather unremarkable, and so I generally wait a few days, or even a few weeks, before I issue you a report on the goings-on at Council. Last Wednesday’s meeting was an exception, however, and the events that unfolded should be of profound concern to those who believe in good and open government.

Perhaps you saw the TV coverage or read in the newspaper that Mayor Daley and one of his City Council allies rushed through a repeal of the ban on the sale of foie gras in Chicago’s restaurants with no public input and no City Council debate. You may have supported the ban as an important statement against egregious animal cruelty, or foie gras may be one of your favorite foods – but in either case, I hope you are as troubled as I am about the sad state of democracy in Chicago’s City Council.

War Council

“‘I don’t think we should preclude an attack on Iran if it’s necessary,’ Ald. Bernie Stone (50th) grumbled to John Mearsheimer, a University of Chicago political science professor,” the Tribune reports.

“‘When would it be necessary?’ asked Mearsheimer, an expert on international security policy.

“‘That I don’t know,’ said Stone, an expert on zoning policy.”

“We’ve always taken up issues besides collecting the garbage,” said Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th).

Like approving animal torture for entertainment purposes.

Aldermen at Work

“Chicago’s 50 aldermen are paid $103,308 a year after voting in 2006 for four years of annual pay raises,” the Sun-Times noted in a story over the weekend.

You might recall that the city council justified their raises by squawking about how hard they worked for their constituents. Yet, 18 of them hold second (first?) jobs.

You can see where else your alderman works here.

Wimpy Wal-Mart

So all we have to show for that epic 2006 battle over Wal-Mart that ended with the mayor accusing those in favor of higher wages of being racists is . . . one lousy store on the West Side?

A proposed Wal-Mart supercenter in Chatham on the South Side always had some difficult obstacles to overcome, but Wal-Mart’s super expansion into the city appears seriously stalled.

The Tribune editorial page today argues that the city and the Chatham developers should rescind their promise to not bring a Wal-Mart to 83rd and Stewart.

But even a measly second store hardly seems a good return on the company’s investment so far.

All In Burnett’s Family

The city council’s Committee on Special Events and Cultural Affairs meets this morning, chaired by Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) The agenda appears to only be available at Burnett’s office, though in my brief search for one online I learned that Burnett’s wife is Darlena Williams-Burnett, the Chief Deputy Recorder of Deeds for Cook County.

Couldn’t she just be a sport and make copies of the agenda at the office for him? They’re supposed to be good at that sort of thing – and we won’t tell.

* FYI: Darlena is also the State Central Committeewoman of the 7th Congressional District. And one of the Burnett’s two sons, Jawaharial “Omarr” Williams, is the President of the Young Democrats of Illinois.

Thank Banks

The city council’s zoning committee – chaired by Ald. William J.P. Banks – meets this morning. You can download the 13-page agenda here and try to decipher what hanky-panky is going on in your neighborhood.

If you go, be sure to ask Banks about his Jaguar XJ.

U of C & Darfur

“A Chicago City Council committee has voted to ‘denounce’ the University of Chicago for its refusal to rid its financial portfolio of $1 million invested in companies doing business in the Sudan,” NBC5 reports.

The university has a track record; it refused to divest in South Africa in the 1980s when pressure was brought to bear on that country’s apartheid regime. The issue now, of course, is the slaughter in Darfur.

Question of the Day: Is the University of Chicago being morally reprehensible?

Saluting the Mayor the Chicago Way

Having already delivered “salutes . . . in the Chicago way” to drivers he felt endangered him as a bicyclist, Mayor Daley is behind an ordinance moving through the city council that would fine motorists up to $500 for endangering our two-wheeled friends.

My Beachwood Reporter colleague Cate Plys begs to differ. “My God I’m tired of hearing bikers whine about their lot,” Plys writes. “[P]erhaps the most laughable part about Mayor Daley’s proposed ordinance . . . fines drivers for passing a bike within less than three feet. Ha! The vast majority of cars steer as wide around bikes as they possibly can, often veering into the next lane or over the yellow line to do it. It’s the bikers who like to squeeze into tight spaces. Then they’re surprised when a driver doesn’t realize they’ve materialized inches away.”

Plastic Chicago

A roundup of this week’s urban plasticity:

* The war on drugs goes micro. The city council may ban those little plastic baggies that drug dealers use for their wares. Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), however, is worried about innocent people who may bet caught up in a sting, noting that “extra buttons that come with suits, shirts and blouses – and jewelry that’s been repaired – come in similar plastic bags.”

* In a cover story titled “The Plastic Plague,” the Reader asks, “Even China has found ways to deal with the glut of plastic shopping bags. When will Chicago get it together?”

* And the CTA is installing fare-card machines that will accept plastic.