, Message 10 of 10
Lines: 70
So Pat, why did you call it Moron Grove?
I enjoy some of your reminiscences about the Chicago area, being a lifelong
resident. I lived in Morton Grove for the better part of the 90's, when,
from reading this group, I think you worked at the Skokie Swift station. I
used to take the bus from my job in Evanston, which dropped off at the
station, and may have seen you in there. (This was before I got interested
in telecom and got into that Internet thingy.)
> Since that point in time, Skokie has grown by leaps and bounds
> between Church Street (formerly north end) and Golf Road (new north
> end) and going west to the edge of the village of Morton Grove --
> which we sometimes call MORON Grove; remind me, I will tell you why
> sometime --
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I lived in the area (or, as
Mr. McClain phrased it, 'Skokie was my stomping ground') I did NOT
work for 'Skokie Swift' nor did I work at the 'Skokie Swift Station'.
I was employed at the time by the Skokie Greyhound Agency, then I went
on to take over the operation of the Agency, selling bus tickets
anywhere, but primarily between Chicago <-> Milwaukee, the line we
were on. I rented space from Chicago Transit Authority for the bus
station. Chicago Transit Authority is a *slumlord*, first class. They
do not maintain nor take care of their property. The entire building
was a total shambles, and they would not spend the money needed to put
in heat or water other than the antiquated units which were there, nor
would they allow _me_ to spend the money and deduct from the rent. We
had frequent ceiling leaks and similar. I asked CTA to pay me to allow
_their_ bus passengers to wait in my little run-down shack while
waiting for the CTA bus they were taking; I asked RTA the same thing;
the answer from both of them was 'we are not going to pay for our
passengers to have a warm place to stand or sit; if you do not like
having them around, then lock them out of your place.' So basically,
the only thing I got money for was revenue from Greyhound ticket
sales; and not a lot of that. When I tried locking out the CTA/RTA
passengers, that got me a lot of grief from those passengers who
wanted to use _my_ private bathroom (there are no public facilities
anywhere at Skokie Swift, CTA does not believe in that; only a very
small, very unsanitary place for 'employees only') or in the winter
track mud all over the floor. In order to have _some_ modicum of
facilities for Greyhound passengers to use. i.e. vending machines for
food, public telephones and a clean, sanitary restroom, I had to allow
the CTA passengers in to use the facilities also, but _they_ (CTA/RTA
passengers) were always the ones complaining the most and no one was
paying me _anything_ for their upkeep; or to clean up after them; CTA
refused to do so, and RTA is just part of the CTA anyway. Finally, I
managed to get the Skokie building inspectors on CTA's case, got a
report from building inspector showing in excruciating detail the
extent of repairs CTA would have to make to their property to make it
habitable for any sort of business (like my Greyhound Agency) to
operate therein; getting the building inspectors involved _really_
brought the CTA bureauacracy down on me pretty hard. Thereafter, the
Chicago Transit Authority would repeatedly hassle me about my rent
money and make things even more miserable. But _finally_ they started
making repairs and sprucing up the place a little.
About the _MORON_ Grove police department. In 1985 or thereabouts,
they managed to get a city ordinance passed -- purely city, mind you
-- banning the private ownership of any handguns within their
village. Forget about the Second Amendment and all that rot; that did
not matter at all to them. They put up a sign on Dempster Street where
Dempster goes into Moron Grove warning everyone that all were subject
to search and seizure for handguns; now I do not own any form of gun;
truth be told, weapons of any sort frighten me a lot; but what scares
me a lot more is the blaise way the village fathers were doing away
with guns, just on the say-so of their police department, and their
neighbors to the east, Evanston and Skokie who also supported the
anti-gun initiative. Moron Grove police were very corrupted anyway,
(as are Skokie and Evanston police) and I just did not get along very
well at all in that part of the world. PAT]
Joseph Pine (notme@notme.edu)