Chicago 2016

It's over!

Part of me is relieved, the other part is in panic.
The part that's relieved is so because I won't have to deal with the miles of work that would have ensued for the next 7 years. Jamming a New communications system, new recorders, new radios, multiple secondary sites (all with duplicates of aforementioned equipment)while maintaining the existing equipment and functionality would have been a herculean task at the minimum... I mean, we'll still have to do most of that stuff, but not necessarily by 2016, (and not all at once) and there won't be a rush on the projects.

The part of me in panic is the part that knows that the Mayor gave our pension money to his nephews firm right as the Real Estate bubble was about to burst. Seeing that the mayor seemed to think the Olympic bid was the answer to all his problems, I can only wonder what the pension review commitee report coming out in two weeks will look like. You can bet none of that investment is going to pay off any time soon (if ever). What really irks me is that our pension (The Trade coalition) was funded at 120% exactly the way it was designed before the Mayor got his hands on it. Miram Santos stopped him the last time he tried (and we know what happened to her), but now he can write us off as "underfunded" as an excuse to reduce or eliminate our pensions. Had we received the Olympics, I'm sure the report would have been put in a positive light, now....I can't say.... which is the cause for my panic.

Throw into the mix recent articles in the Sun Times about the goings on that will likely result in a massive shake up at work.... and you can see further cause for panic.

As I touched on before, I took this job with "The City" mainly for the pension. I canceled a 75% completed house in the 'burbs to stay here so I could take this job. If there's no pension, there's no reason for me to work for them. Which means there's no reason for me to live here. Dropping or reducing the pension will result in a mass exodus of city employees (albeit when the job market improves). Da Mayor will have to drop the residency requirement just to be able to hire anyone who might be willing to work for him. Or more likely, in his style, he'll contract them out.
I can hear it now. "Chicago 9**, how may I help you?" said in an Indian accent. .....From the person one cubicle over from the Dell phone service department.