Go Free Yourself

I don’t know Adriana Nebbeling, owner of Chicago’s Orbit Room, but I think we could be friends. In an article today about how Chicago’s new smoking ban will affect the alfresco dining scene, Nebbeling told Metromix that while she doesn’t light up herself, she’d “rather have smoke in her hair than the government down her throat.”

Ditto. And while the fight against smoking bans appears to be a lost cause, it’s a sentiment that deserves repeating.

Nebbeling’s the Orbit Room is one of the city’s alfresco dining spots working to accommodate smokers—they’ve added a tent on the deck. (Remember, the law bans smoking in all indoor public places, as well as within 15 feet of any entrance, exit, window that opens, or ventilation intake that serves an enclosed area where smoking is prohibited.)

Sheffield’s, and the Pontiac Cafe & Bar are also working with smokers…but at Take Five, Sidetrack, and Moonshine, the government’s never-ending nannying has made accommodating smoking customers impossible.

Read the rest of the article here.

Remember when Cook County Board President Todd Stroger pushed through a 1 percent sales tax increase (giving Chicago the dishonor of being the Most Taxed City in the Nation), pleading with taxpayers and commissioners “to make sacrifices for the good of county government”?

It was BS then, of course, but wait ’til you hear this: evidently the “good of county government” was code for “giving his cousin a ginormous raise.”

Donna Dunnings, Stroger’s cousin and the county’s Chief Financial Officer, is set to receive a 12 percent raise—higher than any other county employee—which brings her salary to $160,000. This is $5k more than the last CFO, even though she claimed when she started last year that she’d save taxpayers money by taking a lower salary than her predecessor.

This is ridiculous.

I guess Chicago’s grand plan of raking in extra cash (to the tune of $875,000 per month) with a bottled water tax isn’t going quite according to plan.

According to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times, January brought in $554,000 in bottled water tax funds, almost 40 percent short of the city’s estimate. How sad; their plan to tax our pants off was foiled.

Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman from the city’s Budget and Management office said “it’s too early to sound the alarm”:

“Since January is generally one of the coldest months of the winter, we don’t think January collections are a strong indicator of potential revenue for the remainder of the year,” she said.

Maybe. But personally, I hope Chicagoans continue to get their water elsewhere. Heck, take a straw down to the river if you have to. (But, actually, I wouldn’t recommend that.) But still, stick it to the tax man! If we’re ever going to make a change to this never-ending cycle of overtaxation, we’ve got to say “enough is enough.” Taking our business elsewhere to get water is a good start.

The city of Chicago is on a budget crunch, and its citizens are already the highest-taxed in the country, but why not get the Chicago Police Department a whole new fleet of SUVs?!

This is the latest brilliant idea from the powers that be. At a Chicago Crime Commission luncheon on Wednesday, Police Superintendent Jody Weis “said he would like to update the department’s ‘horrible’ fleet of squad cars…with Chicago’s rugged winters, a sport-utility vehicle might make more sense than the traditional Ford Crown Victoria.”

Rugged winters? Give me a break. I know it’s cold and we get some snow, but this isn’t exactly Alaska. I don’t know if Weis has bothered to take a quick tour of Chicago’s topography lately, but it’s pretty much a big flat grid. I’m actually not sure if Chicago could be any farther from rugged terrain.

Also on the shopping list? Better flashlights and more uniform guns. Chicagoans, your tax dollars at work.

(To be fair, Weis did note that these changes could be difficult to implement given the city’s financial crunch. He also touched on a variety of other plans to improve the police force. But, seriously. A whole new fleet of taxpayer-funded SUVs? You’ve got to be kidding.)

I posted Monday about Chicago’s latest badge of dishonor—The City With the Highest Sales Tax—and today, the news showed up in a Wall Street Journal editorial, “Second City No More.”

The piece is chock full of numbers and percentages that tell the tale of Chicago’s love affair with tax dollars better than any words could. Here are a few:

• 10.25% (Chicago’s total sales tax burden after Saturday’s increase)
• $270 million (the amount represented by November 2007’s “fee increase”)
• $530 million (the total brought in by January 2008’s “real estate tax increase”)
• $234 million (Cook County’s deficit)
• $100 million (the amount of possible reforms, noted by the Chicago Civic Federation)

Great news, huh? This makes me so mad.

Here’s the award you never want your city to win: my beloved Chicago is now the most taxed city in the nation, after the Cook County Board of Commissioners and Board President Todd Stroger passed a 1 percent sales tax increase on Saturday. You’ll have to excuse me if don’t pull out the champagne and balloons, though.

After all, I’m not sure I’ll be able to afford it.