Category: Chicago-esque

Chicago related, duh

Illinois tax Increase

Seth Anderson3 Comments

Flag Waving

Illinois is in financial trouble, so there are two realistic options, not mutually exclusive1 – drastically cut spending, or raise taxes. I’m hoping the Illinois legislature is not planning to only raise taxes.

That said, despite all talk about percentage increases and so on, the actual dollar increase is not that jaw dropping, is it? I can’t say I’m angry about it, nor am I planning on moving my business to Indiana or Missouri, or somewhere without state income tax. I like it here.

The morning-after reality was this: The state portion of your personal income tax bill is likely to grow by about two-thirds after Gov. Pat Quinn follows through with his vow to sign legislation enacting big tax hikes.

If state taxes would have cost you $2,000 annually under the old rate structure, it’s likely your bill will now jump to about $3,300.

In Quinn’s first year as governor in 2009, he reported adjusted gross income of $157,122 and shelled out $4,468 in state income tax. If the new, higher rate had been in force, his personal tab would have approached $7,500.

(click to continue reading Illinois taxpayers wake up to new reality: 67 percent hike – chicagotribune.com.)

Digest that for a second, the Chicago Tribune is trying to get worked up over what is probably a few hundred dollars a year.2 What percentage of Illinois residents even make $150,000 a year? If you did, your tax went up a couple thousand dollars. I’m not sobbing. Illinois is still middle-of-the-road as far as state tax levels. Ranked 23rd (South Dakota is 1st, Alaska is 2nd, Wyoming is 3rd, and California is 49th, New York 50th, in a study of fiscal year 2011 tax rates by The Tax Foundation) and is probably going to be lowered, but still respectable.

I mean we all want free cheese, but sometimes it isn’t an option. Plus, if I’m not mistaken, if you submit an itemized federal tax return, you can deduct the tax you paid to the state.

I’m sure there is a bunch of waste in the state budget that I would cut out if I was in control of such things, but I don’t want state mental hospitals to close, don’t want bridges to collapse, CTA trains to be reduced, potholes to remain unfilled, etc.

–update, don’t forget that the Illinois legislature has also tried to bridge the budget gap with the short-sighted Amazon tax bill, as previously discussed.

Footnotes:
  1. and not counting the third option, do nothing and ignore the problem. Illinois does not want to follow the Texas model [↩]
  2. You can check specifically what the increase will mean to you in this handy-dandy tax hike calculator [↩]

Tax Zealots – Amazon vs. Illinois

Seth Anderson14 Comments

Amazon - The Original Store

Amazon just emailed me:

We regret to inform you that the Illinois state legislature has passed an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, if signed by Governor Quinn, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Illinois-based Associates. You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. …

Please note that this not an immediate termination notice and you are still a valued participant in the Amazon Associates Program. But if the governor signs this bill, we will need to terminate the participation of all Illinois residents in the Associates Program. After that point, we will no longer pay any advertising fees for sales referred to amazon.com, endless.com and smallparts.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Illinois residents.

The unfortunate consequences of this legislation on Illinois residents like you were explained to the legislature, including Senate and House leadership, as well as to the governor’s staff.

Over a dozen other states have considered essentially identical legislation but have rejected these proposals largely because of the adverse impact on their states’ residents.

Governor Quinn’s office may be reached here.

I had heard of this happening in other states, but this is the first mention I’ve heard about it happening in Illinois. Frack. I don’t make thousands of simolians using Amazon links1, but I do make enough to pay for the hosting of this blog.

I guess it’s happening though:

A bill seemingly being fast-tracked by the Illinois General Assembly would add a new tax…

Beginning July 1, 2011, a retailer having a contract with a person located in this State under which the person, for a commission or other consideration based upon the sale of tangible personal property by the retailer, directly or indirectly refers potential customers to the retailer by a link on the person’s Internet website.

This is widely known as the Amazon Tax. Supporters include the state’s retail merchants. They claim it will raise $150 million a year in revenues. But the Tax Foundation begs to differ…

Word is that Illinois legislators are considering click-through nexus, also known as an “Amazon tax,” pushed by revenue officials who claim that it would raise $150 million a year in revenue. Such laws, nicknamed after their most visible target, require retailers that have contracts with “affiliates”-independent persons within the state who post a link to an out-of-state business on their website and get a share of revenues from the out-of-state business-to collect the state’s sales tax. They exist in New York, Rhode Island, North Carolina, and Colorado. […]

Illinois’s version is a traditional first-generation “Amazon” tax that targets affiliates. Contrary to the claims of supporters, Amazon taxes do not provide easy revenue. In fact, the nation’s first few Amazon taxes have not produced any revenue at all, and there is some evidence of lost revenue. For instance, Rhode Island has seen no additional sales tax revenue from its Amazon tax, and because Amazon reacted by discontinuing its affiliate program, Rhode Islanders are earning less income and paying less income tax. There’s no reason why Illinois wouldn’t suffer the same fate.

(click to continue reading Capitol Fax.com » Today’s lessons.)

What bullshit. Utter bullshit. Amazon isn’t going to pay the tax, and I’m not going to report the income anymore, because there won’t be any. How does this help close the monstrous budget gap in Illinois? It doesn’t.

Darth Vader

Bill Status of HB3659  96th General Assembly   Full Text Votes  View All Actions  Printer-Friendly Version

Short Description:  PROP TAX-PUBLICATION FEES

House Sponsors Rep. Patrick J. Verschoore – Dan Reitz – Brandon W. Phelps – Linda Chapa LaVia – Frank J. Mautino, Roger L. Eddy, Mark H. Beaubien, Jr., Michael K. Smith, Daniel V. Beiser, Harry Osterman, Mary E. Flowers, Greg Harris, Sara Feigenholtz, Lisa M. Dugan and Naomi D. Jakobsson

Senate Sponsors (Sen. John J. Cullerton – Christine Radogno – Jeffrey M. Schoenberg)

(click to continue reading Illinois General Assembly – Bill Status for HB3659.)

Idiots, all of them.

—-

I was going to make this into an info-graphic, but never got around to it. Anyway, here’s the text-only version:

Old system:
1. I see a film I like (or book, or musical instrument, or whatever), write about it, post a link to Amazon’s DVD, partially because they host an image of the DVD cover, partially because I want other people to watch the film too.
2. My aunt in California sees my post, clicks the link, and buys the DVD
3. Amazon (in Seattle) sends her the disc via UPS
4. I get a 3% commission
5. I report this income in my yearly federal and state taxes (and I do)
6. State of IL makes a little bit of tax revenue

New proposed system
1. I see a film I like, write about it.
2. my aunt in CA sees my post, goes to Amazon and looks for the DVD, buys it.
3. Amazon sends her the DVD
4. I get zero commission in IL
5. I don’t have this income to report on my taxes, so I don’t.
6. State of IL gets zero

Why is the proposed system better for the State of IL?

Footnotes:
  1. if you click a link I put up, and purchase an item from Amazon in the same web session, I get around 3-5% of the purchase price as commission [↩]

Lion’s Pride Organic Dark Rye Whiskey

Seth Anderson0 comment

My local grocery store, Green Grocer, had a bottle of this whiskey, and a companion, the light rye. Rye is my current favorite sipping spirit, so I took a chance, and bought this bottle.

Lion's Pride Organic Rye Whiskey
Distilled in Chicago by Koval. Allegedly the first Chicago (legal) whiskey since Prohibition era. Charred oak barrels, and no caramel coloring added. Powerful flavor.

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone1

lionspridewhiskey.com/ has tours of the Koval facility – I’d love to go on one. Add it to the tourist list!

Organic? Why not?

Koval is dedicated to using organic raw ingredients because we want to support agricultural practices that are sustainable and respectful of the soil. We also think that organic food tastes better and is more nutritious than conventionally grown produce. Choosing only the best organic ingredients is the first step in making the best spirits possible. Adhering to kosher standards is another way we maintain strict levels of purity and quality control. We also like to think that it makes us a bit more spirit-ual.

(click to continue reading Lion’s Pride: Organic and Kosher.)

Lion’s Pride Whiskey is Chicago’s first whiskey. Aged in new Amerian Oak barrels. Distiled by Koval Disitllery! All whiskey is single barrel and available in limited quanities, so get yours while you can. The first release consistes of 2 barrels of Oat and Rye and a very limited amount of Dark Oat and Rye. Only 1 barrel of each Dark Oat and Rye have been released. Keep your eyes out for millet, wheat and spelt to be released shorty! Enjoy!

The Lion’s Pride whiskeys will have notes of vanilla and some fruitines, while the Lion’s Pride Darks will have notes of butterscotch and caramel.

Footnotes:
  1. Lens: John S Flash: Off Film: Ina’s 1935 [↩]

China’s Push Into Wind Worries U.S. Industry

Seth Anderson0 comment

Talk to the Wind

Well, on the one hand, the Chinese government fully supports and subsidizes its green power industries, and on the other hand, the U.S. government, and especially the Tea Baggers and Oil Slurper Republicans are dismissive of any energy policy that doesn’t focus solely on highways, natural gas, coal and oil. So, do the math: Chinese companies are going to be lapping the innovations of American companies until something changes. And it probably won’t.

Goldwind and other Chinese-owned companies plan a big push into the American wind power market in coming months.

While proponents say the Chinese manufacturers should be welcomed as an engine for creating more green jobs and speeding the adoption of renewable energy in this country, others see a threat to workers and profits in the still-embryonic American wind industry.

“We cannot sit idly by while China races to the forefront of clean energy production at the expense of U.S. manufacturing,” Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said during a debate this year over federal subsidies for wind energy.

(click to continue reading China’s Push Into Wind Worries U.S. Industry – NYTimes.com.)

and World Trade Organization threats notwithstanding, China is serious:

American wind output still meets only a small portion of the nation’s overall demand for electricity — about 2 percent — compared with countries like Spain, which gets about 14 percent of its electrical power from the wind.

And the tepid United States economy, rock-bottom natural gas prices and lingering questions about federal wind energy policy have stalled the American wind industry, which currently represents only about 85,000 jobs. Even the American market leader, General Electric, reported a sharp drop in third-quarter turbine sales, compared with the same period last year.

All of which might indicate that dim market prospects await the wave of wind-turbine makers from China. But the Chinese companies can play a patient game because they have big backing from China’s government in the form of low-interest loans and other blandishments — too much help, in the critics’ view.

…

In the case of China, the Obama administration is investigating whether the Chinese may have violated World Trade Organization rules in subsidizing its clean-energy industry.

Mr. Rowland’s company, Goldwind, is the fledgling American arm of a state-owned Chinese company that has emerged as the world’s fifth-largest turbine maker: the Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology Company.

To help finance its overseas efforts, Xinjiang Goldwind raised nearly $1 billion in an initial public stock offering in Hong Kong in October — on top of a $6 billion low-interest loan agreement in May from the government-owned China Development Bank.

Goldwind, which set up a sales office in Chicago, has hired about a dozen executives, engineers and other employees so far. Most, like Mr. Rowland, are Americans already experienced in the wind energy field.

Not sure where exactly the Goldwind U.S. HQ will be located, but somewhere near me presumedly. Google Maps says on W. Washington, which is probably correct, but Goldwind’s site doesn’t yet reflect this.

Another major international player in the wind energy business will soon be calling Chicago home, as Chinese manufacturer Goldwind has announced plans to locate its North American headquarters in the city.

Goldwind’s move to the Windy City is the latest in a string of major wind firms that have looked to Chicago as the most logical business center for their US operations, attracted by the city’s central location, international airports, strong legal and financial expertise, and an experienced, educated workforce.

The firm also announced it has hired a talented pair of new executives to head the company, including Tim Rosenzweig as CEO and Matthew Olive as Director of Sales, both well-seasoned wind industry officials.

(click to continue reading Goldwind to Locate US Headquarters in Chicago, Hires Executive Staff – News – The Illinois Wind Energy Association.)

However, honestly, as a consumer, I’d happily purchase a home windmill from any manufacturer, regardless of geopolitical concerns. Jingoism doesn’t really factor in. And I’d be happy if my cousin got a job with Goldwind, or some other foreign green energy company. If the US is too short-sighted to encourage alternative energy companies, well, c’est la vie.

Illinois Seeks Sweet Sweet Wall Street Cash

Seth Anderson0 comment

Flag Waving

I knew Illinois budgets were out of whack, but didn’t quite realize how bad the deficits are, and how far behind Illinois is on meeting its financial obligations. Yikes. Illinois has been operating at a deficit since 2001, and each year getting deeper and deeper in the hole.

Times have gotten so tough for the Illinois state government that it has begun turning to Wall Street trading houses and hedge funds to help pay its bills.

The state owes more than $4.5 billion to vendors large and small, ranging from prison-cleaning crews to schools for the disabled. Tax shortfalls and pension obligations continue to leave the state light on cash.

Quietly, the state has begun reaching out to Wall Street and other investors with a novel plan to plug this shortfall. Instead of further tapping the public debt markets, Illinois is trying to tap private sources for short-term cash to repay vendors.

Such efforts reflect the pressure many U.S. states face and raise questions about the lengths some governments should go to in funding their operations. And they put Illinois, which has endured budget strains for a decade, in the uncomfortable position of pitching its fiscal problems as someone else’s profit opportunity.

The Illinois approach works like this: Investors take over the delinquent bills owed by the state to its vendors. Those vendors are due a 1% penalty each month after the state falls behind by 60 days. The financial investors make the vendors whole and are entitled to 1% monthly penalties until the state pays the investors back.

(click to continue reading Illinois Seeks Wall Street Cash – WSJ.com.)

Even though Illinois is constitutionally obligated to pay its debts, eventually, this seems like a bit of a risky investment. What if the state government can’t reign in spending, or agree to raise taxes? Illinois could just default on the bonds. One unnamed hedge fund declined for exactly this reason:

At least one prominent New York hedge fund passed on the opportunity, fearing that profiting from a cash-strapped state’s taxpayers and small vendors would appear unseemly. Another of its worries: The state mightn’t ultimately make good on its promises.

Scottie Pippen honored by Chicago Mayor’s Office

Seth Anderson0 comment

Michael Jordan Dunking on Dvorak Park

Chicago Bulls icon, Scottie Pippen, not pictured above, was feted by Mayor Daley and the City Council today

Bulls legend Scottie Pippen received formal recognition from the Chicago Mayor’s Office during Wednesday’s city council meeting at City Hall.

The council honored Pippen for his 17-year NBA career, and more recently, for being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and rejoining the Bulls as Team Ambassador.

“It was a historic moment for me personally to be among so many of the Chicago’s powerful politicians,” said Pippen. “Mayor Daley so many others who work at City Hall have done a tremendous job for the City of Chicago. For them to take a break from what I’m sure are 24-hour jobs running the city and providing so many of the things we enjoy meant a lot to me.”

As the legislative body of the city, the City Council usually meets once every month to exercise general and specific powers delegated by state statute. Mayor Richard M. Daley led the proceedings in which a resolution was read citing some of Pippen’s most prominent accomplishments.

Several moments were recalled by various aldermen who supported the proclamation, from Pippen’s dunk over the Knicks’ Patrick Ewing in the Chicago Stadium’s final game during the 1994 NBA Playoffs to carrying a sick and slumped Michael Jordan off the court during the 1997 NBA Finals in Utah.

Hoops the Gym

and I love this:

Alderman Patrick J. O’Connor of the 40th Ward echoed that sentiment, noting how often times the Bulls of the 1990s helped keep the city’s politics out of the headlines.

“I have a theory about politics in Chicago,” O’Connor told Pippen. “We love our sports teams so much that we only turn to politics when our sports teams aren’t doing real well. And you and the Bulls kept the city of Chicago politics off the front page for so long.”

“Thank you!” interjected Mayor Daley as the council erupted in laughter.

 

(click to continue reading Scottie Pippen honored by Chicago Mayor’s Office | Bulls.)

Chicago History in Photographs

Seth Anderson0 comment

I must see this exhibit at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, it sounds fascinating. Nothing seems to be available digitally, at least yet, the print edition of this Tribune article had a photograph of the Chicago River at Addison – a single structure, no bridge, lots of empty land. Hard to imagine in the context of what exists there now.

When author Michael Williams got permission 10 years ago to search a little-known photo archive at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, he was on a hunt for old pictures of the Rogers Park neighborhood.

What he found made him feel like Indiana Jones stumbling upon a great lost treasure.

It was a collection of 25,000 6-by-8-inch glass plate negatives that district photographers made while documenting a project that began in 1892 to reverse the flow of the Chicago River.

Among the negatives are thousands of rarely seen images of Chicago’s downtown and city and suburban riverfront scenes at the turn of the last century, as well as rural, horse-and-buggy Illinois vistas.

A taste of what Williams and his business partner, author Richard Cahan, culled from the archive is on display through March 13 in “The Lost Panoramas” exhibit at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. They plan to publish a book of the images next year.

“The collection is so large and so broad that any number of groups could go into it and come out with unique books and texts on architecture, city infrastructure, waterways and scenes totally unfamiliar to us now,” Williams said. “The city has been remade a couple of times since these pictures were taken.”

(click to continue reading Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum exhibit gives peek at century-old vistas of city, suburbs and downstate – chicagotribune.com.)

Observers

Author Richard Cahan gives us recently discovered plate images from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Archives and unveils a forgotten world of turn of the century Chicago and Illinois landscapes. Originally commissioned by the State of Illinois to document land development, these images reveal a changing world where open lands and waterways are molded and tamed into the modern urban environment that we know today.

(click to continue reading The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum :: Lost Panoramas.)

Introduced as a Friend

Rahm and the residency requirements for mayor

Seth Anderson2 Comments

Layers of Meaning

Cecil Adams wields his logic knife1, and slices, dices the controversy about Rahm Emanuel’s residency.

[Rahm Emanuel’s residency] is the most ridiculous controversy to come down the pike in, oh, a good two months. For example, John Kass writes [in his basement, probably]:

I appreciate and respect Rahm. Sure, he’s profane, but so am I when I’m not typing, and he’s got a great sense of humor. And I believe he should be on the ballot.

Still, there’s that nagging issue. It’s called the law.

Please, spare me the melodrama. While wacky things have been known to happen in Illinois courts, under any reasonable reading the law squarely favors Rahm.

 

(click to continue reading Straight Dope Chicago: Does Rahm meet the residency requirements to run for mayor?.)

Witchy oops in Oak Park

and the main reason Rahm has residency, as Cecil Adams see it:

Chapter 36, Section 3.2(a) of the Illinois Compiled Statutes includes the following provision:

A permanent abode is necessary to constitute a residence within the meaning of Section 3-1 [which says who’s allowed to vote in Illinois]. No elector or spouse shall be deemed to have lost his or her residence in any precinct or election district in this State by reason of his or her absence on business of the United States, or of this State.

…

Nonetheless, it seems clear the Illinois election code is meant to cover similar situations: if you go to work at the White House, or become an ambassador, or perform some comparable public service, you retain your state residency during your absence. It’s not necessary to delve into who’s currently renting your house or any other such nonsense.

(click to continue reading Straight Dope Chicago: Does Rahm meet the residency requirements to run for mayor?.)

Seems pretty straightforward to me, especially since the main people raising objections seem to have solely political motivations.

Footnotes:
  1. whatever that is, I assume my metaphor is not so obscure as to be confusing. I’ll admit to needing more coffee [↩]

CTA Apple Station A No Bid Process, So?

Seth Anderson0 comment

Apple Blues

The CTA accepted Apple’s offer, as presented, without soliciting other bids, probably because no other corporation was offering anything. Why would there be a bidding war for the (formerly) decrepit North & Clybourn El stop? Theoretical money isn’t the same as the actual money Apple spent.

The Chicago Transit Authority announced last month that it is looking for a consulting firm to help develop a “revenue-generating corporate sponsorship program” — a plan to sell private companies the naming rights to CTA train lines, train stations and bus routes.

The consultant will determine which of the agency’s assets might attract sponsorships and what the naming rights would be worth, according to a request for proposals issued by the CTA. Public bidding would be central to the consultant’s work, the CTA said, to assure “transparency and increased competition.”

But there was no such bidding last year when the CTA agreed to let Apple spend nearly $4 million on renovation of the North and Clybourn train station. The CTA agreed to let Apple turn an unused bus driveway into a plaza and to renovate the inside of the station to the company’s specifications. In return, Apple was given the rights to lease the plaza space for no charge for at least 10 years, to advertise anywhere in the station at rates set by the CTA, and to purchase station naming rights if the agency ever sells them.

(click to continue reading Competition Wasn’t Part of CTA’s Apple Deal – NYTimes.com.)

Now that Apple was so successful in refurbishing a station in their chosen manner, future similar CTA station deals will have more public bidding processes, I don’t have a problem with that. I also don’t care if private businesses adopt other train stations, and clean them up in exchange for naming rights or whatever. What’s the harm? The oft-criticised parking privatization sold off future Chicago revenue streams to a for-profit corporation for 99 years, the Apple CTA station is a quite different scenario.

A Clemency of Elders

Seth Anderson0 comment

Under the CTA tracks.

A Clemency of Elders

Van Buren

Looks better if you embiggen: decluttr

I honestly don’t remember the reference the title refers to, could be anything. Titles are created on the cuff, based on what I’m reading, hearing, or otherwise improvisationally.

 

With Sound Investments, Lyon & Healy Harps Endures

Seth Anderson0 comment

Lyon Healy Harp

Lyon & Healy, located at Ogden and Randolph, a few blocks from me.

We’ve written about Lyon & Healy previously, but the Chicago Collective1 has a slightly different slant:

In a recession that shuttered longtime manufacturers, reshaped whole industries and sent millions of people looking for work, one might expect a company that makes $100,000 harps to be wobbling at the knees, if not toppled over by now.

But Lyon & Healy, the Chicago company that produces one of the music world’s most esoteric instruments, knows something about weathering disasters, having survived the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 and the Great Depression.

Even as domestic sales fell by 25 percent since 2008, the company, which opened in 1864 and made its first harp in 1889, kept all 135 employees on the payroll and continued to build its instruments using carefully selected hardwoods and master carvers.

“I think people are still looking for things that are sound investments,” said Stephen Fritzmann, a master harpmaker and Lyon & Healy’s national sales manager.

(click to continue reading With Sound Investments, Harp Company Endures – NYTimes.com.)

though every article written about the harp seemingly has to mention Joanna Newsom:

Lyon & Healy’s harps “just speak beautifully,” Joanna Newsom, an innovative American harpist, wrote in an e-mail. “They have such dynamic breadth and coloration. And I think they each have a sort of ‘spirit.’ ”

…

The company may owe part of its economic durability to the fact that harps are having a bit of a moment. They have appeared on the hit television show “Glee” and have gotten a boost from Ms. Newsom, a Lyon & Healy devotee whose style has taken the instrument out of its classical mold and brought its sound to a general audience.

…

The aroma of drying wood and the din of harp music fill the company’s five-floor, 64,000-square-foot factory in the West Loop. The instruments pass through several stages of production — building the mechanism and body, carving the column and base, and gilding and stringing the instrument. “I still love just walking through those doors and being surrounded by all those harps,” Ms. Bullen said.

Ms. Newsom plays a rented style No. 23, which stands just over 6 feet, weighs 81 pounds and is intricately carved along the base and crown with flowers. She said she was awe-struck during her first visit to the factory, which she described as the equivalent of “stumbling on El Dorado.”

Footnotes:
  1. New York Times division [↩]

Chicago Has The Worst Mail Delivery In The US

Seth Anderson3 Comments

Mail Acceptance

My congressman, Danny Davis, when he isn’t busy being a lapdog to Reverend Sun Moon in crazy Moonie ceremonies, is planning to run for mayor of Chicago. I don’t think he’d be a very good mayor, actually. Congressman Davis has been on the awkwardly named standing committee United States House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Post Office, and the District of Columbia for years, even been its Chairman for a while, and Chicago’s mail is still the worst in the nation.

The audit found that first-class mail sent between Chicago ZIP codes made it to the correct address the next day 91 percent of the time. The cities that fared best in the audit had deliver rates of around 97 percent. The audit was for mail delivered between June and September of last year.

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Chicago), who heads a congressional subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, said he has urged officials to do whatever they can to fix the delivery problems in Chicago.

(click to continue reading Chicago Has The Worst Mail Delivery In The US – The Consumerist.)

Doesn’t bode well for Congressman Davis’ ability to improve Chicago’s infrastructure, or be an effective mayor for that matter. When I moved to Chicago in the mid-90s, Chicago mail was a national joke1. Well, fifteen years later, Chicago USPS is still a joke.

Footnotes:
  1. remember reading a long article in the New Yorker about it back then, but am too lazy to locate it at the moment [↩]

Dream caused by the flight of a bee near Presidential Towers

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Dream caused by the flight of a bee near Presidential Towers

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone

Lens: Salvador 84

Flash: Cadet Blue Gel

Film: DreamCanvas

Lightbox version for your viewing pleasure.

Title stolen from Salvador Dali’s painting: Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, 1944

Evening rush of dreams

Seth Anderson0 comment

Evening rush of dreams

New Hipstamatic add-ons include a multi-exposure lens called Salvador 841, and a film called DreamCanvas which adds a bit of texture and some weird edges to photos. I like them both a lot.

This photo is of the evening commute on Randolph Street, in a hail/sleet storm, the first frozen particulates of the season, and always worth celebrating.

Lightbox version.

Footnotes:
  1. i.e., Salvador Dali, duh [↩]

Election Day November 2, 2010

Seth Anderson0 comment

No electioneering beyond this point

 

Outside my polling location. On the other side of this demarcation, a Rahm Emmanuel volunteer was collecting signatures to put Emmanuel on the ballot for Mayor.

 

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone1

Thank you for voting

In 2008, we voted with electronic voting machines2, today, the ballots were paper: selection of a candidate was made by using a pen and connecting a line from one side to another. Wonder what happened to the electronic machines? I’m happy, actually, to use the older style ballot, seems like it would be easier to conduct a recount with this kind of document as opposed to a digital record.

Sample+Ballot+Chicago+2010-723016.PNG

Footnotes:
  1. Lens: John S / Flash: Off / Film: Ina’s 1935 [↩]
  2. even though there was some sort of paper trail [↩]