A FEW THINGS I WAS RIGHT ABOUT

My role as “Urban Philosopher,” dictates that I write my views on events in the world around me and sound off on what I think is wrong.  Last October,  I wrote,” My friend Linda Shafran perfectly described my blog writing style as, ‘Kathy is pissed off and they are dummies.’”   There have been a number of postings recently where I was right and those dummies were wrong.  The stories are below.

RIDING THE ETHICS RAILS­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

The Story

This story was about how the new ethics manual that Metra gave to its employees contradicted itself. In one spot, the manual said, “Under the Ethics Act, Metra employees or appointees may not intentionally solicit or accept prohibited gifts from certain individuals or entities that are defined by law as a ‘prohibited source’ or in violation of any federal or state statute, rule or regulation.“

I pointed out that it is crystal clear that Metra employees CANNOT solicit or accept a gift from a “prohibited source.”  Then how could this footnote make sense? “Please note that Metra’s internal policies prohibit the receipt of more than $25 worth of food, drinks, and gifts (combined) in a calendar year from all prohibited sources combined.”

The Result

The result of this blog is that State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) told me he is doing an investigation into the ethics manual.

A CHA “AHA” MOMENT

The Story

In June I wrote about the proposed Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP) for 2011.  ACOP is the equivalent of a lease and the CHA was holding hearings on the changes in drug policy on the lease.  The problem was when I went to the CHA web site to see the draft of the proposed changes, it was stamped, “Approved by Board of Commissioners July 19, 2011”  It was June.  The Commissioners could not have approved the lease changes yet. 

The Result

I received a call from the General Council of the CHA that they had made a mistake and the ACOP pages should have been stamped, “Scheduled to be presented to the Board of Commissioners July 19, 2011.” The CHA changed the web site to reflect the correct information.  

How to Survive the Summer

 

This is when I wrote about my “rules” for the summer.  I included a paragraph that read:

“I find it disgusting when women wear dress shoes without stockings. Sandals I can barely tolerate, but pumps without hosiery? What is so difficult about putting on panty hose in the summer? Most women’s legs are pale and pathetic and I don’t want to look at stubbly legs. Plus, having bare feet encased in leather shoes without stockings creates a sweating situation that leads to smelly feet. Put on stockings!”

The Result

Blog reader Liz Johnson initially disagreed with me about wearing stockings and attended a lunch dressed in crop pants, bare legs and sandals just to “piss me off” as she claimed. 

She realized that she was wrong and I was correct about stockings when she saw a story about how Kate Middleton wears panty hose and bare legs are “so 2010.” 

CONCLUSION:
I am right and everyone else is wrong-- except for my friend Linda who acknowledges that I am always right!