After hearing about the possible connection between the Tastees and the Maine Twp. Republican party, I have no intention of contributing to their coffers.

But my kids wanted to go for lunch with their pals today and who am I to spoil their excitement…so they’ll still be getting a few bucks on behalf of our family.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Unfortunately, the Tastees keep all the details about its “deals” with its vendors/suppliers secret, so exactly how the Maine Twp. Republican Party – or anybody else – benefits financially from TOPR is still speculative.

I hope the event is successful too, but I have questions:

Does the City of Park Ridge incur additional costs for the taste?

For example, do the Police or Fire Departments incur overtime for this event?

Does the City have to have a second pick up for waste management?

Are ambulance responses for attendees overheating paid by Taste, Inc. or the City?

My point is that hopefully the $10,000 to $20,000 is over and above the costs that should be paid directly by Taste, Inc.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Getting a straight answer about TOPR out of former City Mgr. Jim Hock (or his predecessor) was almost impossible. But for what it’s worth, 2-3 years ago Hock identified “hard” costs (meaning OT, sewer, water, etc.) and “soft” costs (e.g., reg. personnel time spent on TOPR stuff) that totalled approx. $20,000 and were not being reimbursed by the Tastees.

If Hock developed these estimated costs they should be multiplied by 4 to come up with the true expenses.

EDITOR’S NOTE: If an underlying number is unreliable, doing anything to it only tends to make it even more unreliable.

With the new union contracts, and the increase in costs for water, and this being three years later, the true cost is probably much higher, eh?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Extrapolating from unreliable numbers is probably not the best way to get at the truth.

I hope it is a successful event. I hope visitors to the event also buy items from the shops around downtown Park Ridge too.

With the temperatures looking to be extremely hot this weekend, hopefully the City is ready with cooling stations or what have you.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We think it would be more appropriate for Taste Inc. to provide the “cooling stations,” since Taste Inc. is in total charge of it.

It’s far from the biggest thing on the City’s plate, but thank you for helping to push the City Council into doing the right thing and making Taste Inc. start paying its own way and not leeching on the taxpayers. It took you four years, but you succeeded.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks.

For those who do not want to contribute to the Maine Twp. Repubs, best info is that only the beer tent proceeds go to the political coffers of this 501(c)(6)Taste organization. So you can buy all you want from the food vendors, including their alcoholic beverages, and know that your hands are clean. The food vendors pay an exhibitor fee and perhaps a percentage of the take to Taste, but that goes into operating expenses. As you saw from two days of intermittant but heavy rain, the Taste does need a rainy-day fund to pay the bands and other services even when traffic is not up to par. It’s a fabulous community event and the vendors deserve our patronage. Just drink something besides beer!

EDITOR’S NOTE: The “best info” should be coming from Taste Inc., not speculation by this blog or its anonymous commentators.

We don’t know what you “saw,” but we haven’t seen one thing that persuades us that Taste Inc. needs to sit on a $100K bank account. We’ll reserve judgment until we see what kind of financials Taste Inc. provides the City for this year’s event.

How much does the city make off of the Taste of Park Ridge? I know there are costs the city incurs for police etc. But how much in the way of additional revenue from sales taxes etc is generated for the city? Do the taste organizers pay anything for use city property (street and parking lot)? Is this information available anywhere?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Since 2005 when Taste Inc. was given the no-bid monopoly, Taste Inc. has paid nothing to the City except for the required business license(s). Meanwhile, the City has lost tens of thousands of dollars in unreimbursed police, fire and public works services while receiving revenues of only a couple-few thousand dollars based on the City’s 1% sales tax and the ambulance fees it was able to charge to cart the occasional fallen patron to Lutheran General.

It’s funny to read everything about the taste and the Maine township republicans …. Yes, the beer booths were packed with township officials, but taking a look at the Maine township contributions and expenditures on the state board of elections website, I don’t see anything that links the Taste to anyone…. Except that you have the Maine township supervisor and highway commissioner serving beers (most likely handing them out for free…) anyways, Rosemary Mulligan, Carol T. and Bob Provenzano are not the best of friends these days. Where exactly does the Taste fit in to these assumptions??

EDITOR’S NOTE: We don’t much care about the clown car that is the Maine Twp. Republicans, or the clown car that is the Maine Twp. Democrats, for that matter. But the strange-and-cozy relationship between Taste Inc. and the Maine Twp. Rs goes back to the time when Taste Inc. was a for-profit corporation lying to the public about being an NFP; and oddities like its buying a $1,000 table at Taste Inc. member Bob “the Dude” Dudycz’s Maine Twp. retirement party.

But whether the TOPR beer tent is the No. 1 Maine Twp. Rs’ top fundraising event or merely self-promotion is unclear.