Bryan W. Alaspa 1Da Mayor apologizes
August 26th 2009 13:40
Just because I happen to like Mayor Daley does not mean that I think everything he does is right. See, that is the key to liking people or supporting a side. You have to be able to see that while, on the whole, you may like what the guy does and stands for, you may not like everything he does. It seems, these days, that conservatives and liberals alike think everything and anything their side does is absolutely right and without fail and that anything and everything the other side does is absolutely wrong.
For the most part, I like the way the Mayor thinks. I like the fact he has done what he can to beautify the city. I like Millennium Park. I have no problem with shutting down Meigs Field since I am not a rich man and do not have a private airplane. I am all for increased gun control. We all could do with fewer taxes, of course, but for the most part he seems to be doing OK. Sorry, but if there is a crisis in this city, he is the guy I want in charge.
One thing that has been an unbelievable mess has been his handling of the parking meter mess here in Chicago. Something happened about a year or so where the parking meters were allowed to be run by private industry. So, it went from putting a quarter in a parking meter and getting about an hour to suddenly having to put four quarters in some places or five quarters in another or three in another. Now, most of the individual parking meters have been removed and replaced with these machines that you have to find and then enter a bunch of money and get a slip of paper and put that in your windshield.
Well, it’s been a disaster. People have been ripping the parking meters out of the ground. They have been putting glue in the coin slots. They have been spray-painting over the windows so you can’t see the time left on the meters. Oh, we crazy Chicagoans have been vandalizing the heck out of these things. Well, it finally got through to the Mayor.
Just yesterday the Mayor actually admitted that there were faults with this whole process. Yes, he apologized. Well, sort of. He said he was sorry for the problems inherent with the new system, but at the same time he hasn’t said that things are going to change and go back to the way things they were before. So, what use is an apology if nothing happens?
But that is the Chicago way, too. Actually, it goes beyond Chicago these days. Today is the day of the non-apology apology. Hey, I am sorry if you were offended. As if, well, if you just had a better sense of humor or a thicker skin maybe you wouldn’t be so darn upset. But if you are upset, well, then so sorry, pal.
That wasn’t exactly the apology the Mayor made, but it was awfully close. He’s sorry that things went wrong and people are frustrated, but the city needed to do it and he stands by that. Somehow, you know, the city is making a ton of money from the companies that are now in charge of these parking meters. You know it because, these days, anything and everything comes down to money.
And if that offends you, well, sorry.
For the most part, I like the way the Mayor thinks. I like the fact he has done what he can to beautify the city. I like Millennium Park. I have no problem with shutting down Meigs Field since I am not a rich man and do not have a private airplane. I am all for increased gun control. We all could do with fewer taxes, of course, but for the most part he seems to be doing OK. Sorry, but if there is a crisis in this city, he is the guy I want in charge.
One thing that has been an unbelievable mess has been his handling of the parking meter mess here in Chicago. Something happened about a year or so where the parking meters were allowed to be run by private industry. So, it went from putting a quarter in a parking meter and getting about an hour to suddenly having to put four quarters in some places or five quarters in another or three in another. Now, most of the individual parking meters have been removed and replaced with these machines that you have to find and then enter a bunch of money and get a slip of paper and put that in your windshield.
Well, it’s been a disaster. People have been ripping the parking meters out of the ground. They have been putting glue in the coin slots. They have been spray-painting over the windows so you can’t see the time left on the meters. Oh, we crazy Chicagoans have been vandalizing the heck out of these things. Well, it finally got through to the Mayor.
Just yesterday the Mayor actually admitted that there were faults with this whole process. Yes, he apologized. Well, sort of. He said he was sorry for the problems inherent with the new system, but at the same time he hasn’t said that things are going to change and go back to the way things they were before. So, what use is an apology if nothing happens?
But that is the Chicago way, too. Actually, it goes beyond Chicago these days. Today is the day of the non-apology apology. Hey, I am sorry if you were offended. As if, well, if you just had a better sense of humor or a thicker skin maybe you wouldn’t be so darn upset. But if you are upset, well, then so sorry, pal.
That wasn’t exactly the apology the Mayor made, but it was awfully close. He’s sorry that things went wrong and people are frustrated, but the city needed to do it and he stands by that. Somehow, you know, the city is making a ton of money from the companies that are now in charge of these parking meters. You know it because, these days, anything and everything comes down to money.
And if that offends you, well, sorry.
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