A then B then C

It all follows the familiar pattern:

• The Daley Administration says, with the global economic crisis continuing, the City’s budget gap is growing even larger.
  
  WBBM Political editor Craig Dellimore reports that tax revenues are way down and Snow removal costs have been higher.
  
  Chicago’s new Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold says that a $33 million dollar budget gap a month ago has now turned into a $51 million dollar shortfall.

Um...what snow removal? The streets were in the worst shape we can remember. And as a result of failing to clear the streets?

• Transportation Commissioner Tom Byrne said Wednesday he's mapping plans to "reshuffle" personnel -- and "double up crews in high-density areas" -- to increase productivity.
  
  The redeployment is in the works as city crews appear to be fighting a losing battle. Chicago's 311 non-emergency system still has 13,000 reported potholes, even after city crews filled 4,000 potholes on Tuesday.

"...filled 4,000 potholes on Tuesday"? With what? Evaporating bullshit? Because we haven't seen it. And neither has the 4800 block of Van Buren:

• Residents of a West Side Chicago street who were fed up with the potholes grabbed pavement mix and tools to fill the holes themselves.

  Members of the South Austin Coalition used $100 in pavement mix and a 250-pound push roller in addition to rakes and shovels to fill 15 holes on West Van Buren St.

$100 to fix 15 holes one a one block stretch? Holy crap, hire these people. But listen to what the City says about it:

• But city officials say the residents' action was not a good idea.

  Brian Steele of the Chicago Department of Transportation says the driveway mixture used by the neighborhood group does not match the quality of the high performance cold patch used by the city.

  Officials say city crews fill 3,000 to 5,000 a day.

Again, 3,000 to 5,000 potholes filled a day would mean they ought to be catching up on the 13,000 hole backlog. But they aren't. And they are claiming they have filled 300,000 so far this year. We smell bullshit.

Meanwhile, we're on the fifth rim on our 172,000 mile chariot this year alone. Maybe if the City didn't build roads out of such crap material, they'd have a chance to catch up. We hope the media makes a special trip over to the 4800 block of Van Buren and films the citizen patches. Then, if Shortshanks and Byrne don't have the patches scraped and replaced in a few weeks, see how the citizen patches held up against a similar city patch. We're betting it outlasts the City's "high quality."