Apparently, City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin feels that she is above the law and that ethics policy doesn’t apply to her or her office. Right now, the blaze is a 2-11 alarm fire rising to become a 5-11 alarm fire. The Inspector General needs to put aside any other business and attack the city treasurer allegations with the full force of the IG’s office. Let’s make sure that no stone is left unturned and that there are no skeletons left in the closet. The treasurer handles the people’s money and entrusted to follow the law.
Let’s bring out in the open what is found and don’t sweep it under the rug. In Illinois, the public has seen too many elected officials get caught in violate the oath of office. The public demands truth and integrity. We await the findings of the IG investigation.
Gerald Bernson, Tinley Park
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Riot pest
Thank you to freelancer Selena Fragassi, whose profile of “Riot Mike” Petryshyn provides an excuse for me to jump back on the soapbox and rant about Riot Fest in Douglass Park.
The opposition to this huge, private festival taking over one of Chicago’s largest public parks has nothing to do with preferences for musical genres (many in the community share Petryshyn’s enthusiasm for the line-up) and everything to do with the location. Two hospitals and a rehabilitation center border the park. It is a mystery how anyone could think this is an appropriate location for such an event.
Riot Fest has spent a lot of money this year to buy the illusion of community support. Local organizations trying to do good for the community have not been supported by the city, and naturally welcome the donations of private entities such as Riot Fest. People who can’t find work will take the few weeks of employment the festival can provide. This does not mean the community as a whole welcomes the loss of our park to a private company. Riot Fest officials are expert creators of fantasies that seem like reality, and have used their skills to bamboozle the city into allowing this very wrong use of public land to continue. We urge the Sun-Times to look more deeply into Riot Fest’s claims of “community support” and find out the truth.
And we wish Mr. Petryshyn well in helping the city to find a location for a permanent festival venue.
Rebecca Wolfram, Lawndale
Standing up against dim bulbs in the Sunshine State
I am so glad to see the protests of Florida’s new standards for teaching Black history. Not all the parents there are OK with their children growing up uneducated ignoramuses. At least some realize their children will have to compete with others in the real world, not the fantasy world of Don and Ron.
Lauretta Hart, West Ridge
