He was there for a meeting with people from AT&T. Apparently they wanted permission to hang signage on a downtown facade and had been touting the company’s record of giving to the community. As a board member for CANTV, Chicago’s Public, Education, and Government (PEG) television station located in the 2nd Ward, I suggested he remind them of their fierce, anti-PEG lobbying efforts that undermined the publics access to local TV and continued on to work. That certainly was going to be tough.

The alderman’s ability to find media cameras and always have an opinion at the ready--even in meetings for council committees on which he does not serve--is fascinating. What concerns me is that he has not committed as much time to issues of substance as he has to those that garner attention.

Issues the Alderman has chosen to champion include attempting to outlaw metal baseball bats, denying signage and a drive-thru to Felony Franks hotdog stand, holding up sidewalk cafe permits at the Congress Hotel, and denying aldermanic approval for licenses and permits for the Red Bull BMX event.

Just months after his run for Congress, to no one’s surprise, Alderman Fioretti now seems like he wants to run for mayor of Chicago. He spoke last week to The City Club of Chicago about some of his ideas without completely committing to a mayoral campaign. One grand plan which got expected attention was opening a casino to generate economic development.

His plan is to retrofit the old McCormick Place as a temporary casino, while constructing a permanent facility near by, to counter Chicago money flowing to Indiana’s casinos.

What the Alderman fails to appreciate is that the true challenge in raising revenues for Chicago is to do so responsibly; to generate revenue while maintaining respect for residents of the ward and City. Chicago is a world class city with an international travel and freight hub among its many assets. Casino as panacea is a cop-out, especially when the underlying problem is lack of management and overspending.

Similar to casinos are poorly constructed privatization deals.

Alderman Fioretti voted for the poorly planned parking meter privatization. According to www.theexpiredmeter.com, his installation of more than a thousand meters on the west side of the ward cost tax payers an estimated $625,000. Subsequently, he placed "No Parking" signs around the near west side rendering a yet-to-be-completed, independent parking study all but useless.

In another disappointing vote, Fioretti voted ‘yes’ after saying he would vote ‘no’, to relocating the Children’s Museum to Grant Park. Meanwhile, his Ward has vast swaths of vacant and available land for which the museum would be a much welcomed anchor for economic development including restaurants and retail.

I do believe that the role of alderman is one of the tougher elected positions. Each ward and constituent need can be so different. And, I agree with Alderman Fioretti that garbage collection could be more efficient, and that Chicago needs additional police officers. Unfortunately, Fioretti has demanded, ad nauseam, the hiring of 1,000 additional officers, but hasn’t taken advantage of the spotlight he created to offer a real plan to pay for them or restore law and order to our ward and city.

It takes a certain talent to garner the news coverage, while pontificating in committee hearings and council meetings. I’m not sure that talent is what it takes to bring a majority of aldermen to agreement on substantive issues, and to lead one of the world’s largest economic engines.

There will be no resolution to Chicago’s ills until we open up and audit all city finances including tax increment financing (TIF) districts, fully fund our public service departments, and enact fair and consistent planning and development policies that put what’s best for Chicago ahead of political favoritism. We need to do the real tough work of government.

As Kevin Jones, an ex-offender and employee of Felony Franks stated in the Wall Street Journal article about Fioretti’s fight with the hotdog stand, "I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 15 years and there’s gunfire every other day and you never hear anything about that, but all of a sudden there’s all this hoopla about a hot-dog stand?"

My point exactly.