The message is on the meter

I'm starting to see these stickers on parking meters around the city. They are to remind us of the need to tell our Aldermen to support the Privatization Transparency and Accountability Ordinance. Check it out on Twitter #PTAO. 

Closings

Chicago school closings have crippled parent participation in their children's education, writes Catalyst editor Lorraine Forte on Huffington. She says that parents interviewed for the latest issue of Catalyst

"...expressed dissatisfaction and dismay about the rocky transition to new schools. They cited bus schedules that don't accommodate after-school activities, crowded classrooms, students feeling anxious and unwelcome. The problems are magnified because many parents were already notoriously distrustful of the district and fought against the closings." 

Two Chicagos
To best understand the context for the mayor's school closings, in nearly all in the city's poorest, isolated African-American communities, you need only glance at Nickolay Lamm's two animated GIFs on Chicago Wealth Inequality Project, which show -- surprise! -- "the city's Near North Side is where the rainbow ends and the city's South and West Sides are mere anthills when compared to the lakeshore communities from the South Loop north and the suburbs." 

He's back
I had the honor of being red-baited yesterday on Twitter by none other than right-wing think-tanker Michael Petrilli from the Fordham Institute. Petrilli's McCarthyite slime came in response to my summary of the latest debate at Bridging Differences between Petrilli and Deb Meier. Here's my tweet which I think summed up the debate quite nicely:

@michaelpetrilli wants us to rely on "faith" in Social Mobility. @DebMeier says faith not enough http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2013/10/dear_mike_wow_youve_raised.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW … EDWEEK

Here's pathetic response from Petrilli:

 .@mikeklonsky @DebMeier I'll take my faith in America over your faith in Chairman Mao. http://www.city-journal.org/2013/23_4_diane-ravitch.html …

I'm beholden to those like @katieosgood and others who joined in the TweetFest that followed.

@MichaelPetrilli @mikeklonsky @DebMeier Actually, I KNOW the Klonskys personally. Staunch advocates of kids, public ed, & heroes in my eyes.

Petrilli responded this way:

.@KatieOsgood_ @mikeklonsky @DebMeier OK. Also avowed Maoists, at least at one time, no? If I'm wrong, tell me.

They did.

Putting Petrilli's McCarthyite tactics behind us for a while, Deb Meier's response to his call to end poverty by stopping poor people from having children is worth reading. She ends with this strong statement:

There's no guarantee that the odds favor the survival of America, much less America as a beacon of democracy and equity.  So we both have a stake in seeking solutions that don't rest on fantasies about being saved by the chastity of poor young women.