Police Audio Recording Change

As some of you know, it is illegal to record audio without all parties consents, even in a public place. Video is ok, just not audio. CPD Superintendent Garry McCarthy wants to change the law. Under Illinois Law, in order to record audio, BOTH parties must consent to the recording. McCarthy wants to change the law to allow the recording of on-duty Police in public areas. It's a slight change, but no longer will it be an arrestable offense to record police. I'm fine with this. This will award both sides protection, and the ability to prove incidents where the audio can be of great assistance.

Requests and Occupation at The Global Crossroads

Sorry for the lack of an update, so here's the overview.

Chicago has requested the Shops on the Mag Mile (Magnificent Mile, a shopping district along North Michigan Avenue) hire extra security for their shops and employees to and from work. That'll cost more then what they MAY receive from the estimated profit they will make from the Summits.

Adbusters, a company supposedly behind the Occupy movement (Some of us know the truth) is calling for at least 50,000 protesters to show up for a month, on May 1st, before the Summits to set up tent cities, showers, and kitchens for Occupy Chicago and stay until the end of May. Talk about controlled chaos.

" With a bit of luck, we’ll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen." Adbusters Tactical Briefing #25

Knowing the Occupy mentality, I wouldn't be surprised if the gathering turns out to be in excess 60,000. And the way they are doing it will cause a bit too much misinterpretation.

The City of Chicago released the new slogan for the Summits, "The Global Crossroads." It was going to be for the Olympics, but, since this will bring us to the "Global Stage" they are using it for this.

Places to Eat

If you're not from around here, a tourist, protester, dignitary, you may just go to some random place for food, get something that sucks, then think all food in Chicago is horrible. That's not true. Sure, there are some sad joints around that taste horrible, but there are some little gems around the city that have some of the best food you can ever find.

Who has the best "food item"?

It's a common question when someone comes to Chicago.  I'm not going to cover the big name places, just Chicago favorites. When coming to Chicago, there something you need to know about us, we are highly competitive. Whether it be food, sports, parks, fishing spots, or even geographical locations, we will argue what is the best. Right now, I'll focus on Chicago Favorites within a couple miles of McCormick place, which seems to be the main hub for everyone.

Ricobene's -252 West 26th Street
Breaded Steak Sandwich

Started with two bothers. The may not have created the Breaded Steak Sandwich, but the perfected it to the point, almost no one will argue this point. Northsider's and Southsider's can almost agree on this, they have the best. Once you eat it, you will never forget it.

Connie's - 2373 South Archer Avenue
Deep Dish Pizza

You want the best deep dish in the city, you HAVE to go there. Hands down, it is the best you'll find. If you eat in, it's an atmosphere like few other. Every one of them, perfection in a pie. You would swear it's what they put all their time into.

Phil's Pizza - 1102 West 35th Street
Thin Crust Pizza

Now, this place can get me into trouble. Some people hate their pizza, I love it. The majority of the times, it's the only pizza I eat. Just the right crisp to the dough, perfect sauce, and never short with toppings. The perfect thin crust pizza you can find. Other may argue, but I cannot.

Freddie's - 701 West 30th Street
Italian Beef Sandwich

Few can deny the Italian Beef Sandwiches at Freddie's. Meat is the perfect thickness, perfect taste, and one can fill almost anyone with some left over. This is the place to go. I can't say anything else but Perfection.

Punky's Pizza and Pasta - 2600 South Wallace Street
Panzerotti

You will not find a better place for Panzerotties then Punky's. All individually made but they each seem to have a flavor all of their own. You just can't go wrong.

Villians - 649 South Clark Street
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich - Large Variety of Microbrew Beer

You like Barbecue? You like Beer? Look no further then Villains. Don't let the decor confuse you, it may look like a dive, but they have the best of both worlds. Their BBQ PPS is smoked in-house for 12 hours. With house made BBQ sauce and coleslaw, you'll never want to leave. As for their beer selection, they have over a hundred. You're bound to find something you want.

This is just a brief overview of some of the best, you have one for me to add? Let me know, I'll gladly add them on.

Note: Please treat these places as Neutral Ground. Don't start anything there, or alienate other patrons by preventing there from entering due to "Security Risk" of some nonsense like that. Remember, this is Chicago, we don't take that sitting down.

New Protest Laws

1. Emergency Spending Authority: Approved
2. Park Closing Time Extensions: Approved
3. Amplified Sound Time Reduction: Approved
4. Resisting Arrest Fine Increase: Approved
5. Parade Permit Fee Increase: Approved

Breakdown:

Emergency Spending Authority

Emmanuel pushed for emergency spending authority in the case the city needs last minute supplies before the during the summits. Addition ammunition and the such. It was approved.

Park Closing Time Extensions

Chicago Parks, unless otherwise stated, close at 11pm and reopen at 4am. This new regulation keeps the parks closed for 2 extra hours until 6am. Supposedly to keep people from camping. However, it will affect people who like a run before work, or a late night walk.

Amplified Sound Time Restiction

Between the hours of 10pm to 8am, amplified sound is not allowed for parades. To be honest, this one makes little sense because to my understanding, that would fall in line with the already accepted noise pollution regulation. No megaphones, stereos, and the like can be used. Still don't know the effect of this.

Resisting Arrest Fine Increase

The minimum was increase from $25 to $200. Honestly, it's not the big of a deal. Just try not getting arrested.get slammed with $1000 fine. The max here is still only $500.

Parade Permit Fees Increase

The fees were increased from $35 to $50. It's bad for everyone. May not seem like much, but when you are trying to budget for a parade, it can hurt.

During the Votes, Protesters where ejected from the Hallway just a door away from the votes. They were removed because they were being disruptive. How? Yelling to be let in. Understandably, but i they were quieter, they may, very well, have been allowed in.

Now we know what's been changed. Still some time beforehand, so let's see what else.

(Not A) Call to Arms

Quite a bit, I've been seeing people doing a "Call to Arms" to riot in the streets of Chicago. Why? It'll just work to prevent what message you have from getting through. News won't report on your side, they'll be too busy reporting on the riots. Those on the other, the law, are just doing their jobs. They are there to make money for themselves and their family. During the summits they will be putting in significant overtime. They are just people, like you and me. It's bad enough that they don't know if they'll go home to their families on a normal day, why make it worse. Things like this are why location have a damned army in front of their doors. This is why protesters get a bad name.


What ever happened to peaceful protest? About 4 years back, a group called "Anonymous" protested the crimes of Scientology during "Project Chanology". Beforehand, they called for this very thing, violence. A man named Mark Bunker (Wise Beard Man), who I had the pleasure of meeting, gave them the message to remain peaceful. They did, and you know what, Scientology is being prosecuted even now. Why? The protesters listened and remained peaceful which allowed their message to be heard. It's not a difficult concept.


When there is nothing to report but the message, it will be broadcast. So please, don't incite riots, it'll only take away what you want to give.


Fred Lowe

Chicago's Partial Retreat

I reported a few days back that the mayor was "sorry" about the mistake he made in regards to the new regulations. In fact, he changed the game up yet again. The parade is not going to be limited to 2 hours, but remain at the original time allowed. The regulation regarding resisting arrest, is not going to double anymore, but they will be raising the minimum fine. Lastly, I forgot to report on a regulation that would require one parade marshal for every 100 people, that is no longer being requested.

They're finally posting some cash numbers now. The Summits are going to cost between $45-65 million. Honestly, I thing $100 million sounds better. Again, they claim this will not come out of taxpayer pockets, but you know what, they'll have to pay significant over time to emergency services in the city, and where does that come from?

I find it funny that just last month, we had little information as to what was going on. Now we're being slammed with data. If news keeps flowing at this rate, I might have to do daily posts.


Lastly, congratulations to Coalition Against the NATO/G-8 War and Poverty Agenda, also called CANG8, for getting the first of many parade permits.

Downtown Lockdown

A little bit of breaking new. A proposal for the G8/NATO Summits includes a partial lockdown of a potion of downtown. Borders won't be disclosed until about 4 weeks prior to the summits.


Streets shut down? What kind of mess will that bring. I was planning on a post regarding possible street closures soon too. I'll still do it, but don't take it as a full truth. I'll see if I can't find out sooner for my readers.. This'll mess up everyone...
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Now that I have a bit more time I can cover some other things I wanted to.


With thew lockdown of Downtown, as you know, is NEVER as simple as they claim. For instance, for every day the parts of downtown are closed, each and every parking space will have to be paid for. Most of the meters will be at $5.75 for as long as the locations are timed. Might not seem like that much, but lets do a little math. Let's say 5,000 parking spaces. Let's say the spaces that need to be paid for from 5am, to 9pm. Right there is 16 hours. That's $92 dollars a day for just one spot. $460,000. And that's just one day. We're looking at, including staging, tear down, and the sort, about, let's say 3 weeks. Total would be $9,660,000. Now, they CLAIM it will not cost the taxpayers anything. It's coming from Private and Federal funds. I call bullshit. More they likely we'll get stuck with the bill, we almost always do.


Recently snipers were casing the area around O'Hare, Downtown, and McCormick Place. Now we know what airport everyone will be coming in. Security is going to be tighter then Lake Shore Drive at Rush Hour. People coming into the city around that time would be wise to come in either at Midway or take a train.


A little bit of hard-to-find news about the permits issued. To make up for blowing the new laws out of proportion, the city is offering free portajohns and audio equipment to protesters. What's next, armed escorts, hotels, free pizza? Well, I'll enjoy getting a slice or two. All joking aside, everything I find is making these Summits seem like far too much trouble then what it's worth.

"New Year's resolution. I made a mistake."

Protesters have submitted applications for parade permits for the protests in May. YAY! But guess what?

Right now the hot button issue seems to be the fact that the "temporary" policies instated for the Summits (stiffer penalties for resisting officers, and no marches can last longer then 2 hours), will, in fact, be permanent and for EVERYONE in the vote on January 18th go that way. Emmanuel said he made a mistake when it came to it. No, you might not think it a big deal for the Summit protests, but it will effect everyone. Your Pride parades (sexual and cultural) can and will be effected. Think about it. The law will be, anyone refusing to disperse after only two hours can and will be arrested. So much for the good old day long parties. It's bad enough they're pretty much shutting down known city events like the Taste, but now the parades? When will it end? It's starting to look like "1984" here. Good book by the way.

As for the resisting arrest fines, not a significant problem over all. It's been about the same in New York and L.A. but now it's here. It is going to be double what it once was here. Still trouble, but not too big of a deal, but, then again, it was only to be for the Summits. I still find it funny. He begs for it to come here, and now he's mad because he has to put in effect all these laws to prevent trouble. But do I really care? Not as much as you think. But I do know this, if they put these laws on the books, they better follow it or it'll turn people away from the city. We can't have selective enforcement of the laws. And what do I mean? Here's something you might get a kick out of, you see people flying kites in the parks right? The same thing the Mayor did? It's illegal. It might turn into a law that's only used on certain people. If  it's voted active, the parade law should be used on all of them. Including the Bud Billiken, St Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, Gay Pride, and all of them. Like it or not, it will effect everyone. Remember that. In eight days, they'll vote, let's just hope they dismiss it, it'll cause more trouble then it's worth

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The Occupy Side

Recently, I was contacted by "Shaun Bailey" from Occupy Springfield, IL. He was interested in using my blog on one of their sites thinking it would be good to have an independent side to the die. Of course, I have no problem with this, and figured, given the reports the the Occupy Movement would be attending the Summit protests, I thought I try to get their side hammered down as well. After a few emails, I sent him some questions to answer for my blog. He accepted and here we are. Please note, that I, in no way, modified the contents of the following:

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For those who don't know, what is the Occupy Movement about?

The Occupy movement stands against economic and social inequalities, for the most part. The primary catalyst for the Occupy protestors is the merger of big banks and corporations with our government and its political processes. We stand against corporations’ ability to buy our representatives' vote, as their motives of profit typically fall in direct opposition of equality and opportunity for the workers that make their profit possible in the first place, thus stripping the people of representation at all. We stand against the lies that are force fed through mainstream media, and seek to correct the peoples' perception of it by participating with it in such a manner that draws attention to the biggest dilemmas it causes, with the inevitability that it will inspire others to acknowledge those dilemmas exist.

How did the Occupy Movement start?

Technically, the "Occupy" movement started on September 17th when a small group of people attempted to carry out an idea set forth by Adbusters, which is a magazine that is anti-consumerism, and further perpetuated by an online hacktivist group (idea) called "Anonymous." It took hold in several cities around the country pretty quickly, despite the fact that it took the media 17 days to report on it. The media was finally forced to say something when hundreds of people were arrested for their peaceful march on the Brooklyn Bridge. Every Occupy cell started and functions a little differently, as a result of having no hierarchy woven into its structure, but the direction is unilaterally towards a progression in the way we do "business." 

In reality, most people would suggest that Occupy started some time ago. Tahrir Square and Spain were models for the way the movement functions, and many of us believe you can trace these same (recent) energies of dissent towards the status quo to Greece, Spain, and all of the Arab Spring. 

Why are you interested in attending the G8/Nato Summits?

G8 is comprised of exactly what we stand against. The world's richest get together and figure out how to keep themselves rich on the backs of everyone else. While they hold no elected positions, they help to craft policies that affect all of us in very big ways. (Bank bailouts, anyone?) Since their only accountabilities lie in their bank accounts, there is little regard shown for the people that are truly affected by the discussions held at a G8 or G20 Summit. They also have a role in "securing" the internet, and it is every truth-seekers duty to protect the internet from the "security" they intend to give it by shutting out sites like Wikileaks that have provided a much clearer picture of our current global scenario by posing the threat that truth holds over secrecy and lies. The internet is the last open channel we have left, and if we've learned anything from cable news, newspapers, and our own government, it's that money will do whatever it takes to protect money. Once money takes hold of the internet, we're right back in the dark, and it is definitely in the G8's "interests" to put us there.

The fact that NATO is meeting simultaneously should be a bit of a light bulb for newcomers to the global scheme. Anti-war protestors have been saying all along that the role we play in war and foreign policy is tied to the economic security for those that already have the most of it, and the fact that the world's largest military powers are meeting alongside the world's largest economic powers should ring some serious alarm bells for those just catching the plot.

What do you hope to accomplish there?

Awareness is key. Many of us inside the movement feel that education (not indoctrination) is our most immediate step in the journey towards a better world. People have been on the Cable News' chess board for far too long, and many, many Americans have no idea what is going on around them as a result. Tens of thousands of people in the streets over political and economic practices IN AMERICA are hard to ignore, and the more persistent we are in standing against these global injustices with clear facts (that cannot be refuted without the use of lies and misinformation), the more likely others will be to get involved. Naturally, we will be misrepresented by mainstream media... but the truth has a funny way of sinking in over time, and it certainly doesn't forget.

What are you thoughts on the possibility of extensive police presence at the event?

We are very aware of what we will be facing in Chicago... We believe it's good for America to see how far the corruption will go to protect its entanglement in our global situation, and having the amount of force that they will, no doubt, have on hand for the sake of controlling American citizens is a very telling sign that the message and energy we (as well as most of the non-affiliated protestors that will be there in May) are delivering makes the leaders of the status quo afraid. To the cable news viewer, that might be because unbathed hippies are such a "violent" bunch, but to those that are really paying attention, it just carries our message further into their hearts and minds. They want people to be afraid to show up, because the people are the only means of actually puncturing a hole through the wall with which they hide their crimes against, what we like to refer to as, the 99%. I've seen estimates claiming that 30,000 people expected to show in Chicago... It's funny, because there had to be close to a million people in Times Square on New Year's Eve, and we certainly didn't see Bloomberg bringing out LRADs in preparation of controlling that crowd. 

Any last thoughts on the Summits?

I sincerely hope that they go without incident. None of us are naive, but we, as Occupy, think it is very important to remain steadfast in our peaceful approach. Around the country, we have clearly seen the intention that power has to quell the statements of its abuse (no matter how peaceful), and I, for one,  hope that Rahm Emmanuel understood offense to ALL of us American citizens before rushing to pass increased fines and time limits on Free Speech.

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"LRADs": Long Range Acoustic Devices

There you have it folks, From their mouth to your eyes. Now, so you know, this is one Occupy Cell and I'm not saying that this is true across the board, but, this is how Springfield, IL thinks. Now if I could talk to Black Bloc members and Dignitaries, I'd almost have every side. If you know any, send them to me please. Hell, if you know anyone willing to give their take on the Summits, I'll be more then happy to talk with them. I'll take insider scoops as well. 

Just remember, as I told Shaun, and will tell you, I have no affiliation with any side, not Occupy, not Police, not Dignitary, nor Protester, I'm just a private citizen of Chicago.