RAHM'S ROVINGS ENDS: City Hall resumes providing Substance with the mayor's public schedule
The special feature of Substance we called "Rahm's Rovings" officially ends on September 11, 2011, with the resumption, for at least two days in a row, of the e-mail provision of the public document called "The Public Schedule for Mayor Rahm Emanuel" to Substance. As we reported to our readers, for reasons mysterious — and possibly profound (or banal) — after more than 120 days of continuous e-mail service, someone at the large and growing mayoral propaganda department at Chicago's City Hall clicked off Substance from the routine distribution list of "The Public Schedule". The click off, well known to Chicago teachers facing Rahmlike principals, consists of eliminating a publication from routine distribution of a public document.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, above, during a media event at Chicago's St. Sabina's school, did not order City of Chicago propaganda underlings to click off Substance. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.City of Chicago press officials denied that Substance had been clicked off. After three days during which Substance did not receive the document, Substance did begin to receive the document again.
The "Public Schedule...", which comes out regularly at midnight every night, provides the press with planning materials. If a media entity wants to cover the events being hosted or attended by Chicago's mayor, the schedule gives reporters a timely heads up.
As a result of the schedules, Substance was able to bring our readers major reports on the growing attacks on the Chicago Teachers Union by Mayor Emanuel through coverage of the mayor's carefully scripted and orchestrated media events.
One of these was the noteworthy St. Sabina's walkabout (featuring Chicago's mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago's schools Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard, and Chicago's union busting, scab-herding and pro-privatization Catholic priest, Michael Pfleger). The annual walkabout, during which prominent people go door-to-door reminding families that school is about to start, proved somewhat disorganized despite hefty planning. Reporters were originally told to go to 78th and Ada, only to be told (by cell phone) that the event was really at 78th and Throop, which was adjacent to Father Pfleger's St. Sabina's church. (78th and Ada is a much more "challenged" block, with a number of foreclosed properties; Throop is less dramatic). The walkabout gave the mayor and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and opportunity to be on TV with Father Pfleger. The URL for that story, for those who cannot access a hotlink, is http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2500§ion=Article
Substance also covered the now famous Preacher Patronage Breakfast at Chicago's "U.S. Cellular Field" (Sox Park to most), which rewarded the many Chicago clerics who were supporting, for various and sundry reasons, Rahm Emanuel's demand that Chicago public schools adopt his "longer school day" for the 2011 - 2012 school year, rather than waiting and planning for the 2012 - 2013 school year and beyond. The preacher patronage breakfast raised the question, still unanswered, as to how much the fancy breakfast cost Chicago Public Schools, which paid for it. To this date (September 11, 2011) CPS has refused to answer our question about the cost of the Preacher Patronage Breakfast, or the related costs of the so-called "Office of Faith-Based Initiatives" which actually hosted the event, or the cost of the chief of the CPS "Faith-Based Initiatives," Rev. Kyles. Chicago's mayor may have been promoting "transparency" in city government by ordering the City of Chicago website to publish everything from personnel and contract costs, but his appointed staff a few blocks away at CPS continue Operation Cover Up, the complete refusal to provide any information about how they are spending the taxpayers' dollars in the 2011 - 2012 school year.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel spoke with many of the preachers who attended the August 25, 2011, breakfast at the United Airlines "Scout Lounge" at U.S. Cellular Field. Although the event was organized by the Chicago Public Schools "Office of Faith-Based Initiatives", CPS has refused to provide Substance with the information on the cost of the event or the cost of the "Office of Faith-Based Initiatives" in the public school system. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.The URL for our Preacher Patronage breakfast story, for those who can't access a hotlink, is http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2540§ion=Article
And on the opening day of school, thanks to the Mayor's Public Calendar, Substance was able to cover the even more infamous publicity stunt orchestrated on September 6 2011, by the mayor's office, the various offices of Chicago's public schools, and staff of the so-called STEM magnet school on Chicago's west side. Somehow, following the use of children as young as kindergarten props for a media event promoting the waivers of the Chicago Teachers Union contract, the City of Chicago stopped providing Substance with the Public Schedule, so Substance began reporting the lack thereof. The URL for the STEM story is http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2578§ion=Article
So... On September 7, September 8, and September 9 Substance didn't receive the Public Schedule in the usual way and had to resort to some creativity and cooperation with a few other members of the city's dwindling press corps. Then, on September 10, Substance began receiving the announcements again.
As a result, the special feature called RAHM'S ROVINGS ceases publication. Unless the deprivations that gave rise to its existence in early September 2011 return.
