ThirdWaveDave tipped me off to a Reason Magazine article that ranks 35 cities in regards to personal freedom. Las Vegas came in first--the most free--Chicago last. There are tons of nit-picky laws in Barack Obama's hometown--although the widely ridiculed ban on foie gras was repealed. Here's one law the libertarian-minded magazine missed: After Little Marathon Pundit was born, I had to sell my two-seater Honda. I received a parking tickett for having a "For Sale" sign in the window of my car.
From Reason:
But the repeal of the foie gras ban doesn't herald a freer future. The same week Chicago reversed the ban, the Board of Aldermen (My note--it's called the City Council in Chicago) considered a law that would require all pet owners to sterilize their dogs and cats, an overreaction to a pit bull attack on a woman one month earlier. And after a year in which the city's notoriously rough-around-the-edges police department endured a series of high-profile shootings, beatings, and allegations of corruption, the City Council addressed these problems by considering a bill that would...give overweight cops a nutritionist and personal trainer.
(Doug) Sohn (the only man fined for serving foie gras while the ban was in effect) says this is typical of the way the aldermen operate. "The board thinks, 'This is our job; we pass laws,'" he says. "The trans fat ban, the smoking ban—these are easy problems to look like you’re solving. It's easy, it's elitist, it's black and white. People don't like smoking, so let's ban it. Chicago is the fattest city in the country, so let's attack McDonald's with a trans fat ban. The knee-jerk stuff is a good way to look like you're leading. It's much more difficult to fix something like the broken sewer and street systems—why we have so many potholes."
Reason notes that Chicago has more red light cameras than any city in the country, and it's second to only New York in the number of public surveillance cameras. That's one of them up on top, taken a few weeks ago on the corner of Howard and Damen in the ward of Joe Moore (the alderman who pushed through the foie gras ban). Perhaps the people who live and work near these boxes feel safer, but to me, it's a heads-up call that I've entered a high crime area. Roll up the windows and lock the doors.
However, if Chicago lands the 2016 Summer Olympics, Mayor Richard Daley will have those police cameras everywhere.
But at least you'll be able to munch on foie gras within sight of them.
For more on Alderman Joe Moore, visit Tom Mannis' The Bench, and start scrolling.
Related post:
City of Chicago weighs elephant ban
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A few blocks south of me some woman raised a ruckus with the media over some kids who were bothering her, so the city put in a camera. Now her neighbors are complaining it will hurt their property values because it makes the neighborhood look like a high crime area.
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