…to 505 Butler Place tonight, 7:00 p.m.  That’s when the Park Ridge City Council Committee of the Whole (“COW”) will take up two hot topics.

The “guns” are on the agenda by virtue of the State of Illinois’ new concealed carry law (HB 183), which is expected to be signed by Governor Pat Quinn on July 9, 2013.  Because of reportedly bizarre provisions of HB 183, municipalities like Park Ridge will have only 10 days from Quinn’s signing of that law to enact their own gun ordinances, such as ordinances banning “assault weapons.”

How and why municipal regulation of “assault weapons” was somehow tied to a state handgun concealed carry law – apparently through an amendment to the Firearm Owners Identification Act – is beyond our powers of comprehension. But, then again, we can say the same for a lot of what comes out of Springfield these days…and what doesn’t come out of Springfield, like genuine pension reform.

That’s why we agree with Mayor Dave Schmidt that whichever state legislators came up with the idea of this 10 day window for enacting “assault weapons” regulations or be permanently barred from doing so are “morons” and/or “idiots.”  We’d even toss in “imbeciles” for the trifecta of descriptions of people of low intelligence, except that special-interest pandering may once again be masquerading as low intelligence.

That’s not uncommon down in Springfield.  Or in Washington D.C., for that matter.  But we digress.

History is filled with really bad legislation passed quickly and reflexively rather than deliberately and thoughtfully, especially when the principal motivator of the legislation is fear.  Exhibit A: the “Patriot Act,” the least “patriotic” piece of legislation since at least when Congress voted to intern Japanese Americans in camps during World War II, although we give the nod to the Patriot Act because it affects all Americans rather than just one ethnic group.

Thanks to the proponents of HB 183, a mindless rush to judgment by the Council – whether for or against an “assault weapons” ban – is virtually certain.

Which is why we understand both the pro-gun and the anti-gun forces have been contacting our public officials over the past several days.  And why we wouldn’t be surprised to hear some mindless references to “cold dead hands” and “Sandy Hook” before the night is out.

The “money” part of tonight’s festivities will come in the form of a discussion of the “Uptown TIF Strategic Plan” for dealing with the albatross around the City’s neck known as the Uptown TIF.  Unfortunately, that Plan doesn’t appear to offer a lot of hope for the City’s being able to extricate itself from the economic drain Park Ridge taxpayers were saddled with approximately 10 years ago while their collective vision was distorted by all sorts of rosy promises, predictions and projections from our then-public officials and their hired-gun consultants.

The City is currently $5 million in the hole on the TIF-related debt service payments that the City’s TIF fund was supposed to be making, but hasn’t been able to make because the TIF revenues have been grossly insufficient.  And that doesn’t account for the tens of millions of dollars of long-term General Obligation bonds that still need to be paid off over another 13-15 years.

Fortunately, the current City administration and senior staff realize that managing the Uptown TIF deficit and debt is the single most important strategic issue facing the City.  But that task is as difficult as it is painful, with no good or easy answers.  And it doesn’t lend itself to nifty, emotional appeals like the pro-gun and anti-gun fanatics have become so adept at.

Whether the NRA and Sandy Hook sympathizers show up at tonight’s meeting to make their pitches about “assault weapons” remains to be seen.  But we’re betting there’s a better chance of them making an appearance than of any of our three pro-Uptown TIF former mayors, or any of those pro-Uptown TIF former aldermen, showing up and bragging to the current Mayor and Council about why the Uptown TIF was such a good deal back then, and why they voted for it.

And the “lawyers”?

We’re not sure exactly where they fit into tonight’s Council agenda.  But if the Council starts to make any stupid decisions on either of the two main-event items that put the City between a rock and a hard place, we hope there’s at least one lawyer handy to set the Council straight.

Because we can see the prospects of litigation arising from both of them.

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