Sunday, August 30, 2009 Index
There have been some real stinkers that slunk their way into the previous election cycle, but it wasn’t until August 21, 2009 that the sign crying out “Re-Elect Mayor Murawski” the “Independent Party” candidate came down and is one of the last known remnants of what once was the 2008 election cycle.
For those who missed this last election here, both candidates claimed membership to an “Independent Party,” but the real kicker is the rules and regulations that govern political signage during an election cycle and the penalties for leaving behind propaganda associated with a particular election cycle.
With a camera once again in my possession, not only did I capture the sign evolution, I took a few photos of the inside of the storefront.
Call me crazy, but I thought I’d be the temporary spokesperson for the two lonely signs being held captive.
“And I call out to thee with desperate hope…Let these two signs feel the light of day and yes, even the coldest of nights. Do not fear these signs and their meaning, despite the threat of penalty! It’s what they were made for. They were built for the job assigned to them and they are ready and able to serve and protect one and all regardless of race, creed, color, sex and yes, even the disabled and handi-capped and they are aching to venture outward beyond their current boundaries to prove themselves worth of the task built into them.”
Think you know what the two signs say? Then check out this entry and see for yourself if your guess was right…I’m thinking most will be momentarily surprised…but only for a moment.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Spring 2009 Building Department Suggestions
Pulled straight from the pages of the Spring 2009 Midlothian Tartan Tidings, its always good for homeowners and landlords to stay savvy on building department rules and regulations. With the promise of at least a few more months of construction weather (fingers crossed!), here’s what the Midlothian building department wants you to know.
Spring 2009 Tartan Tidings “Chat With the Chief”
Having recently received reports of yet another round of software-driven automated messages causing phones to ring, I though this particular “Chat With the Chief” could help enhance the savvy factor of these types of communication attempts. Just as Schavone points out about cold calls regarding debt consolidation in his article, this most recent wave came in the format of first stating the name of a person and then instructing the listener to hang up if they are not the person. Well…I wasn’t the person they were asking for, but I also didn’t invite them to contact me, so I decided to at least listen to the rest of the message since they already had been rude enough not to validate and verify their database before calling.
Although the recorded storyline runs similiar to what bill collectors have used in the past, there was no true identifier as to the source of the call and the command to call them back at an 800 number if you are the person the recording requested.
Unfortunately, these types of schemes are not used exclusively by bill collectors and there are a lot of other ways your personal information can be compromised when reversing the communication connection from them calling you to you calling into their equipment.
Do not hesitate to contact the Midlothian Police Department if you are being harassed, even with these types of phone calls. Please use judgment when discerning if your reporting an incident demands reaching out via the 911 system or if a simple call to the non-emergency number can accomplish the desired results of at least reporting the event.
And now back to Schavone’s message from the Tartan Tidings! 
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Index
Warning! Major Update Wave!
First, let me start by introducing two brand new collections for your review.
The first is The Midlothian Tartan Tidings, a publication produced by members of the Village of Midlothian using the Corporate Seal on the publication. It should be immediately noted the following disclaimer is included above the postage paid marking “The Tartan Tidings is produced by the Village of Midlothian. Articles that appear within the Tartan Tidings do not necessarily express the views of the Village of Midlothian, its staff or the elected officials, but those of the various authors.”
With zero citation of authorship except for select elements, such as a letter from the President or as otherwise noted, it is important to point out the conflict with the disclaimer. It draws an outline around the various authors being the “voice” of the Village, but that it does not necessarily express the views of the Village, etc. etc. Considering that the staff of the newsletter has consisted of the Village Treasurer, the Village Public Relations Officer and the wife of the now-former Mayor Thomas J. Murawski, it is a disclaimer that is impossible to achieve.
If it is identified that the views of “various authors” is what drives the content choice and said authors are appointed members of the Village, then it seems quite impossible to severe their official Village relationship from the newsletter…especially when one of the main writers is the Village Public Relations Officer. It also remains highly questionable the right of a spouse of a Mayor or President using the Village microphone in the role of Editor-In-Chief…a role that would seem to naturally belong to the Public Relations Officer if it is an appropriate role for an internal player to be fulfilling.
It should also be noted how steady the flow of Tartan Tidings in .pdf format to the Village website has historically been…and since the Village hasn’t failed to produce these for public consumption for quite a few years, the Mysteries of Midlothian Murawski still only scratch the surface of how Midlothian adopted and accepted this type of record-keeping and public communications protocols.
Therefore, all available copies of Tartan Tidings are now available in their .pdf format by clicking here. I have also begun the process of breaking out the content into a searchable format and some of the content is making its way to other locations, such as with Community Policing related issues, health and safety alerts and other timeless notations for the record.
The second is The Midlothian Roll Call. Contained within board meeting minutes are identities of entities and individuals looking for audience from the Village Board. Whether its a contract up for approval or an individual reporting an update on a project, the Midlothian Roll Call is designed to grow into a more in-depth searchable container from its bare-bone listing of identities sorted in alphabetical order by name and by acronym (will be available soon).
This roster is a vital component in throwing the door wide open to transparency in government operations by creating the opportunity for people to verify and validate the identity using a variety of means and methods, such as the State of Illinois Secretary of State database, the Better Business Bureau, Dun & Bradstreet, as but a few on a long menu of additional intelligence research options. Government does not always have the time or the resources (let alone the willingness!) to perform proper due diligence on a business and with the current level of technology available, especially in free formats to the public (which includes government), this is a task geared for someone who likes researching issues via the Internet and pulling together the information in bias-neutral manners.
Index Editorial
How to plug into your community as a volunteer has never been a black and white, “here’s the instruction manual and just follow it step by step,” process. Each of these demonstrations are not designed to make the statement “Eureka! Here is that Final Format Answer to all that ails us,” rather they are a real tool and resource for the Midlothian community while it continues to await full transformation away from total public documentation lock-down to a system in which anyone wanting to learn about the rules governing the placement of fences and walls on private property can quickly visit the Internet, read the law for themselves and leave it to them to discern how it applies to their situation.
So if you have only heard rumblings about Midlothian’s set of current circumstances and are looking for ideas on how you can ensure your municipality is not caught in a similar set of logistical and political traps, the first place to start is to make sure that all public documentation is truthfully available to the general public. And if this means manually re-typing information as I have done with some of the materials on this site, I would make point to you that it is going to take far more than a toss of taxpayer dollars at this current deplorable state of our local government’s public document collection and if you have the will and the way, then just get it done.
The second point I would make is that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) system in Illinois remains a weak symbol of what could, should and would be a truthful political and economic equalizer, despite the recent passage of reform. The fact that a FOIA request to see laws that should already be available being declined on the grounds of “unduly burdensome” remains a ludicrous rational to continue deterring the production of a book of laws even the local police department cannot produce a copy of and the Illinois Public Access Counselor’s Office should not have to dispatch resources to go enforce some of the basics on the books of the local municipalities themselves.
But if there is any one element that should be made clear through all of this quantity of content, it’s the fact that there still remains only negative economic rational to keeping such basic public documentation in such irresponsible lock-down formats, such as municipal code books and board meeting minutes. Boring as this position might come across to the few or even the many, the fact that this effort still represents more of a nuisance to the Village rather than celebrating the advancement of moving away from the out-dated ways and into these ever-evolving broadcasting tools.
So in summary, through using technology free to the public (WordPress), I have managed to move virtually all of the messages on the Village website into a much more user-friendly environment, complete with a privacy policy, internal searching, additional tagging and everything faster, cheaper and more logic-based than the Village of Midlothian could produce one complete copy of their laws for an in-person review let alone updating their website beyond a few tidbits and a .pdf newsletter production.
It’s been said before that these kinds of demonstrations and conversational points of matter clearly signals that I am somehow mentally unstable and worthy of interference from a variety of sources. Although these types of points of mental health argument will always become quick and sometimes sweeping matters of convenience for the rest of my life, it still seems a lot more questionable for anyone in our nation to expect our military to be successful at aiding others around the world in the process of writing, producing and enforcing sets of laws right for the culture of the society crafting the boo and that it is not crazy to expect a copy of the rule book to be produced upon demand…
especially when our nation relies on governing via the consent of the people…
When apparently the Village of Midlothian still has no fear of repercussions for what many have failed to properly document as a part of their duty to the public, let alone Sterling Codifiers, Inc., who operates in multiple states and has long client rosters in quite a few states. Perhaps Midlothian is but one of a few who received such a faulty book…?
So although I cannot testify on the condition of any other municipal’s code book, I guess I will just continue to bear witness to this continuation of delay, deny and dispute tactics that have been a hallmark of the previous two administration’s in Midlothian by continuing to contribute this type of information to the general public via the Internet…
And then leaving it to you to make the call.
I’m just one person with multiple opinions (not to be mistaken with multiple personalities as some have tried!) using the Internet as an outlet for my own desires to participate in a society larger than this Society of One each of us inescapably represent when looked upon from a biological perspective.
Plus, what is a former typist supposed to do in this economy anyway except blog about stuff?
Today’s Index Dedicated to the Universal Legacy of the Kennedy family
Sunday, August 16, 2009 Index
Midlothian Issues
Paper Tigers can make for Pretty Paper Pledges of a Series of Promises…
The United States Department of Justice recently signed what appears to be a series of pledges to keep a pretty serious laundry list of now documented existing violations (complete with legal citations!) regarding the Americans With Disabilities Act. It reads with a pleasant tonality…but Midlothian has a vault full of previously paid for paper tigers proposing step by step changes the Village should take in order to elevate its rankings across the board.
United States Department of Justice Settlement Documentation
Now a permanent part of the Midlothian Issues container, this page holds at least some of the existing documentation surrounding the settlement agreement. Rather than paraphrasing the agreement and pursuant to fair use copyright conditions governing the duplication and distribution of such materials for educational purposes, I have copy/pasted the documents so its a one-stop reading place.
Community Policing Extension for Midlothian, Illinois
Irma Rodriguez information page
Although the discovery of Irma Rodriguez brutally murdered and stuffed into the trunk of her car is already a few months old, the case is still open and police are still looking for any information that can lead to an arrest and conviction against the perpetrator(s). This page is a permanent feature in this blog.
Exoteric Political Opinion by Valerie —> Midlothian, Illinois
So what’s up with the Medium Volume of Digital Paper Tigers Suddenly Roaming Midlothian?
With the DOJ agreement being but one of many paper pledges floating around Midlothian, it is curious who will be picking up the tab with the clean-up and removal of a house that fell right in the middle of Cicero Avenue the other day in between a favorite castle and one of the many Fanny’s…let alone this apparent influx of interest in sustaining the non-uniform FOIA request/reporting system. Will Mayor Stephens have the ability to spearhead some results from the still-existing loyalists of the former administration? Will former Mayor Murawksi ever remove the sign telling everyone to re-elect him as Mayor of Midlothian? Could all of this documented conversation really mean that the previous trends and political protocols are finally being properly dismantled and removed from the Midlothian scenery? Could I come up with any more questions? Should I come up with any more questions? Will I come up with any more questions? Not for this summary…
****Special Addition To the Index!
The House That Caera Built for Caera Kirsch Designs
Once upon a time, in a chair not so long ago, I wore the lenses of a web designer. Okay, so they were just prescription glasses perched on my nose, but just the same, they were but only one of the many, many tools I needed in order to pull together a career as a free-lance web designer.
This site was retired back in 2007 as I came to the determination that no matter how determined I was to keep up with such a fast fluxing industry, I just couldn’t produce what I would classify as quality work and keep my pricing low and affordable for the small business owner.
It’s now 2009 and the Village is being asked to comply with an agreement to keep its website up to date with a variety of information and CSS style sheets is the first mandatory element that comes to mind when dream building anyone’s site.
The Midlothian Murawski Mystery Series
There’s nothing Sterling, let alone Platinum, about the Sterling Codifiers, Inc. production number
The Municipal Code book versions that Sterling Codifiers, Inc. has produced for the Village of Midlothian since 1963 is no laughing matter, except to those who have been laughing all the way to their bank accounts to withdraw payment for “services rendered.”
Now its just a question of how long has Sterling known that its format translates quite poorly with a variety of OCR-based tools and software…and how many other municipalities have been already forced to pay clearly excessive fees to translate their Sterling code books into digital format since they are the ones who have been clearly engineering this slop since 1963.
Mid-Summer Housekeeping
First I must apologize to those that tried to use the index entry from Sunday and Monday and was treated to a bunch of dead-end links. I have hardly been on the Internet this summer and have been occupied by other projects so although my knowledge base is more squeaky than rusty right now, it still means there will probably be a few more glitches I have yet to catch…or you catch for that matter.
With that said, I think it’s safer to simply post the announcement that there are now well over 100 Village of Midlothian Board Meeting Minutes posted at http://midlothianarchives.wordpress.com/ covering a little more than a 10 year period between 1997 and 2008. On my off time this summer, I’ve been slowly translating the original versions into workable text formats and the results are also posted in the Archive. As I pull them together, I’ll post them online and perhaps there will be others inspired to take on such a task as well.
And now its time to check if I’ll need a coat before stepping outside this morning! Boy can this consistently cool of a summer act wild on the mental stability! Who ever thought someone in Chicago would need a heavy jacket in Mid-July back in the 80’s and 90’s!
Sunday June 7, 2009 Index
Taking a cold look at one of the many entrenched pay-to-play schemes designed to artificially inflate a community that thrives and survives on civil unrest and incivility…and paid for with tax dollars being directed by politicians into the pockets of the poorest of performers, at least when it comes to providing quality codifying services, and done under long-term contract so disconnection from a bad deal becomes yet another tab for a group of lawyers to tally up as to how much it would cost to at least hold a codifier accountable for their consistently poor delivery of codifying services, including the use of a sans-serif font as the typeset for the books of laws they produce using taxpayer dollars to such an extraordinarily powerful instrument able to be used to achieve and sustain a peaceful and open community relationship between civilians, law enforcement and government representatives.
Stage 1 Complete For More Evidence Of the “Mom For Murawski” Endorsement Fraud
With confirmation from the local newspaper the reprint was pulled from, questions still remain as to what the final list of line-item violations were performed once this particular piece of election materials hit the postal service and then subsequently carried forth upon the shoulders of our postal carriers into the mailboxes of many, let alone the distress factors forced upon those who were even temporarily influenced by such an intentionally deceitful publication.
2009 Memorial Day Special
Every keystroke and mouse click associated with converting Midlothian’s Village Code Book into a .pdf format are dedicated to all men and women past, present and future who believe the only way to earn the privilege to govern over a free society is by ensuring all laws are easily accessible by one and all…at all times.
There still is zero excuse for the Village of Midlothian to continue actively blockading any and all reviews of the 3 copies they are obligated by their own laws to have available for inspection at any time, including the decline of a FOIA request.
THANK YOU TO ONE AND ALL FOR YOUR LEGACIES! I would not be who I am if those before me had not displayed the courage to sacrifice far greater than I ever could…
Title I Administrative
Title I – Chapter 1 Village Code
Title I – Chapter 2 Saving Clause
Title I – Chapter 3 Definitions
Title I – Chapter 5 Board of Trustees
Title I – Chapter 6 Village Clerk
Title I – Chapter 13 Director of Public Relations
Title I – Chapter 17 Code of Ethics
Title III Departments
Title III – Chapter 1 Police Department
Title III – Chapter 3 Water Department
Title IV Building Regulations
Title IV – Chapter 3 Permit Requirements
