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“Cook county”

So I have a little story to tell. Just to pass the time.

I grew up in Chicago. During one of the summers I got a job working at City Hall. It was a paper pushing “make work job”. Anyway, the mayor was Jane Byrne. There was going to be this contentious City Council meeting. Protestors were lined up outside the City Council chamber doors waiting to get in.

So what did the Mayor do? She filled the chamber with city employees. My boss asked if I wanted to attend the City Council session that day. I said sure, sounds like fun. I was on the clock and getting paid for it.

There is a stairwell that runs from the Mayor’s office down to the chambers. The stairwell can also be accessed from the Finance chair’s office. So all these city employees (including me) are walking through the finance chair’s office into the stairwell and down to the chambers. We all take a seat. This is before the doors to the chambers are opened to the public.

Finally, when its time for the session to start, the doors to the chambers are open to the public. All these protestors charge in and —— there are no seats for them. They are furious. Finally, the police come in and say the City Council session is about to begin. For “fire safety” reasons, everyone who doesn’t have a seat must leave. Its a fire hazard to have people standings in the aisles.

At the time, I didn’t even know what was going on. I was in high school making $3.35 at this summer job. 1983.