#property management company Chicago

[rootrealty]

Root Realty

Website: https://www.rootrealty.com/ Address: 4237 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60618 Phone: (773) 348-8080 At Root Realty, we take pride in providing top-notch property management services for apartment buildings, mixed-use buildings, and development sites across Chicago and the Chicago suburbs. With years of experience in the real estate industry, our team of dedicated professionals is committed to maximizing the value of your investment and ensuring the success of your properties. Our real estate company manages investment property and rents apartments in Chicago. We offer a full suite of service to real estate owners and their residents. Our comprehensive property management solutions are tailored to meet the unique needs of each property, whether it's a small apartment building or a large mixed-use development.

[driverdefens]

Premier Chicago Property Management Solutions

A unique offering among Chicago property management firms, Frontline Real Estate Partners guarantees optimal value and tenant satisfaction by providing thorough and customised management services for both residential and commercial properties.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Foxx Nolte's "Hidden History of Walt Disney World"

NEXT SATURDAY (July 20), I'm appearing in CHICAGO at Exile in Bookville.

No one writes about Disney theme parks like Foxx Nolte; no one rises above the trivia and goes beyond the mere sleuthing of historical facts, no one nails the essence of what makes these parks work – and fail.

I first encountered Nolte through her blog, Passport to Dreams Old and New, where her writing transformed the way I viewed the project of these giant, elaborate built environments. It was through articles like this one – about the sightlines from bathrooms! – that I came to truly understand what design criticism means:

https://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-awkward-transitions-of-disneyland.html

While her work on queue design transformed how I thought about waiting, scarce-goods allocation, and the psychology of anticipation and desire:

https://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2010/12/third-queue.html

But I really knew her for a kindred spirit when I read her masterful analysis of the historical context and enduring power of the Haunted Mansion:

https://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2010/05/history-and-haunted-mansion.html

A decade after that Haunted Mansion post, Nolte published the definitive history of the Haunted Mansions, Boundless Realm, the very best book ever written on the subject:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/09/boundless-realm/#fuxxfur

This year, Nolte came back with another short, smart, endlessly fascinating history of Disney World, Hidden History of Walt Disney World:

https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/9781467156189

There are many histories of Walt Disney World, but none are quite like this. Nolte – who worked at the park for many years – combines her insider's view with her deep historical knowledge and yields up a "hidden history" that will forever change how I look at the built environment and the natural landscape it sits atop.

The path to Walt Disney World – an entertainment juggernaut that occupies a landmass twice the size of Manhattan – was anything but smooth. Its original design – Walt's design – barely survived groundbreaking, dying with Walt himself. Walt's successor, his brother Roy, used the occasion of Walt's death to assert his long-contested dominance over the park, drastically scaling back Walt's ambition for a bizarre residential/utopian community and replacing it with a kind of deluxe Disneyland with the idea of limiting the company's financial risk by re-creating a pre-existing, sure thing money-maker.

But Roy died within a few years of Walt, and the company transitioned from a family business to a managerial one, its direction set by executives who weren't named "Disney." These managers were just as flawed as the Disney brothers, but in much different ways (one long-serving CEO insisted that Disney should stay out of the hotel business, leaving billions on the table for contractors and third parties.

Of course, all of this is happening in Florida, and many of Nolte's funniest, juciest stories play Walt, then Roy, then various CEOs and execs off of flamboyant locals straight out of a Carl Hiaasen novel. In Nolte's capable hands, the many acres of Disney property come alive with the ghosts of Florida eccentrics and conmen who play against the deeply weird Disney brothers and their baffled corporate successors.

The history of Walt Disney World is also a history of the American narrative from the 1960s to the turn of the millennium, especially once Epcot enters the picture and Disney sets out to market itself as a futuristic mirror to America and the world. There's a doomed plan to lead the nation in the provision of an airport for the largely hypothetical short runway aircraft that never materialized, the Disney company's love-hate affair with Florida's orange growers, and the geopolitics of installing a permanent World's Fair, just as World's Fairs were disappearing from the world stage.

With Disney in disarray, corporate raiders smelled blood, and the company found itself on the brink of leveraged buyout hell, triggering another change in corporate leadership with the arrival of Michael Eisner. Nolte's portrait of Eisner is far more nuanced than the presentation in rival histories, surfacing his many forgotten gaffes – but also giving him credit where it was due. When the dust settles on the Eisner era, Disney has more theme parks in one place than can possibly be justified – in an America where workers get almost no paid vacation days, building more theme parks does not extend visitors' stays. It only adds to the expense of keeping those guests entertained during those brief, flitting visits.

The Disney empire is rooted in contradictions. The Disney brothers cordially loathed one another and the company split into "Walt people" and "Roy people" who schemed against one another in secret and sometimes even erupted into open conflict. There's something Hegelian about the Walt/Roy split: Walt went bust trying to run a creative empire that ignored the financials, and fled the ashes of his first venture to work with Roy in California. Roy disciplined Walt with financial rigor, often to excess. When the company emerged from WWII with its outside shareholders in charge, Roy became their champion and Walt's tormentor, with the ability to exercise a firm veto when he couldn't win the day through moral suasion.

Walt sought escape from his brother, proposing a series of ill-starred ventures that eventually became Disneyland. First, he proposed that he would transform his backyard ride 'em train-set into a public attraction that he would personally oversee, so that he wouldn't have to go to the office and let his brother boss him around. Then he proposed buying a locomotive and fitting out a train of railcars with exhibits promoting Disney movies, which he, personally, would drive around America, far from his brother.

Finally, he hit on Disneyland, poaching the company's best animators for a separate firm that Roy was eventually forced to buy from Walt in order to bring it back into the corporate fold. These power struggles, in which Roy first took orders from Walt, before turning the tables, only to have them turned again, culminated in the uneasy detente that characterized the era from Disneyland's opening to Walt's death.

Working with his brother may have made Walt miserable, but he evidently saw the benefit in this Hegelian dialectic, because he became infamous for putting together creative teams who were forever at each other's throats. The storied Sherman Brothers – Disney's star songwriting team – barely tolerated each other. The titans of early Imagineering were often at odds, and Walt took seemingly sadistic glee in forcing artists who disliked one another to work on joint projects.

In focusing on the conflicts between different corporate managers, outside suppliers, and the gloriously flamboyant weirdos of Florida, Nolte's history of Disney World transcends amusing anaecdotes and tittle-tattle – rather, it illustrates how the creative sparks thrown off by people smashing into each other sometimes created towering blazes of glory that burn to this day.

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/15/disnefried/#dialectics

[myhauntedsalem]

9 Terrifying American Murder Houses

From Amityville Horror to Jeffrey Dahmer’s one-bedroom, these murder houses are home to some truly brutal murders.

9. THE AMITYVILLE HORROR HOUSE 112 OCEAN AVE, AMITYVILLE, NY

When the deal is too good, start asking questions. In 1975, George and Kathy Lutz bought this sprawling Dutch Colonial on the south shore of Long Island at a bargain rate. The reason for the discounted price tag? Just 13 months earlier, previous resident Ronald “Butch” DeFeo slaughtered his parents and four younger siblings while they slept in their beds. It didn’t take long for the weirdness to begin. Demonic voices, oozing walls, cloven hoof prints in the snow. The Lutz family lasted just two months before fleeing 112 Ocean Avenue in the night.

8. THE HEX MURDER HOUSE REHMEYERS HOLLOW RD, SHREWSBURY, PA

In 1928, John Blymire was convinced a reclusive neighbor named Nelson Rehmeyer had put a hex upon him. Believing the only way to break the curse was to track down Rehmeyer’s spell book and set it ablaze, Blymire rallied two buddies for a late-night visit. While the gang never found the book, they did find Rehmeyer whom they murdered and mutilated before setting his body on fire. In 2007, an effort was made to open the Hex House to the public, but the plan was eventually scrapped.

7. MOORE FAMILY AXE MURDER HOUSE 508 E 2ND ST, VILLISCA, IA

On a cool summer night in 1912 someone broke into this peaceful Iowa homestead and bludgeoned all six family members plus two houseguests with an axe. The horrific scene was discovered the following morning by a concerned neighbor. Numerous suspects were named in the case including a traveling minister and State Senator Frank F. Jones. Nevertheless, the murder remains unsolved.

6. KREISCHER MANSION 4500 ARTHUR KILL RD, STATEN ISLAND, NY

German entrepreneur Balthasar Kreischer built this sprawling mansion in 1885 as a symbol of his success in the brick making business. The good times were short-lived. By 1894, his company had crumbled and his youngest son had shot himself in the head. The decaying mansion sat empty for years until its groundskeeper used the property for a mob hit in 2005. Joseph Young strangled and stabbed his target before finally drowning the man in a garden pool. Young then hacked up the body and burned it in the mansion’s incinerator.

5. LIZZIE BORDEN HOUSE 230 2ND ST, FALL RIVER, MA

On August 4, 1892 Andrew Borden was thrashed with a hatchet while he dozed on the couch of his parlor. Andrew’s second wife Abby met an equally grisly end in the upstairs bedroom. While everyone in Fall River suspected daughter Lizzie of the crime, the local judge remained unconvinced. She was tried and acquitted of the murder one year later. Oddly, the home is now a successful bed & breakfast.

4. MANSON FAMILY MURDER HOUSE 10050 CIELO DRIVE, LOS ANGELES, CA

In 1969, members of the Manson Family shocked the nation when they broke into this L.A. estate and slaughtered Sharon Tate along with four other victims. The murderers wrote pig in blood across the front door. Numerous residents have since called 10050 Cielo Drive home including musician Trent Reznor, who recorded THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL there. In 1994, the original structure was razed and replaced with a new mansion, currently occupied by the creator of FULL HOUSE.

3. JEFFREY DAHMER’S APARTMENT 924 NORTH 25TH ST, APT 213, MILWAUKEE, WI

Cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer lured numerous victims to his nondescript one-bedroom, where he drugged and dismembered them in a brutal campaign of murder. Severed limbs were packed in the freezer for future consumption; torsos were dumped in a vat of acid. Police finally arrested Dahmer in 1991 after one of his prisoners managed to escape. The entire apartment building was torn down shortly thereafter.

2. JOHN WAYNE GACY’S HOUSE 8213 SUMMERDALE AVE, CHICAGO, IL

It’s always good to know your neighbors especially if you suspect them of murder. John Wayne Gacy buried dozens of bodies in the basement and backyard of his suburban home while neighbors casually went about their day. When Gacy’s wife complained of a putrid smell, Gacy blamed it on dead mice. By the time police nabbed the infamous killer clown and excavated his 8213 Summerdale Ave property, they uncovered 29 bodies.

1. GARDETTE-LAPRETE HOUSE 1240 BURGUNDY ST, NEW ORLEANS, LA

In the late 1830s, plantation owner Jean LePrete leased his French Quarter Greek Revival to a mysterious man from Turkey. The renter, known only as The Sultan had more than a few roommates. He arrived with a massive entourage of eunuchs and concubines. The house quickly became known for its lavish parties, with music and revelry carrying on into the night. One morning, a passerby noticed 1240 Burgundy was eerily quiet. Then he spotted blood seeping out of the door. When authorities entered, they found everyone inside had been murdered and dismembered. As for The Sultan? He was buried alive in the courtyard. To this day, the case remains unsolved.

[rootrealty]

Root Realty

[scotianostra]

On July 1st 1884 Allan Pinkerton, the Scottish-born detective, died.

Not all Scots that I post about should be looked upon as good people, we do have to acknowledge this in our history, scratch beneath the subject in most cases and you will find fault, this is certainly true of Pinkerton.

Born in Glasgow, on the 25th of August 1819 his father was a sergeant of the Glasgow municipal police and died in 1828 of injuries received from a prisoner in his custody.

In 1842 Allan emigrated to Chicago, Illinois, before moving to Dundee, Kane County, Illinois, where he established a cooperage business. Here he ran down a gang of counterfeiters, and he was appointed a Deputy Sheriff of Kane County in 1846 and immediately afterwards of Cook County, with headquarters in Chicago.

In Chicago he organized a force of detectives to capture thieves who were stealing railway property, and this organization developed in 1852 into Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, of which he took sole charge in 1853. He was especially successful in capturing thieves who stole large amounts from express companies. In 1866 his agency captured the principals in the theft of $700,000 from Adams Express Company safes on a train of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway, and recovered all but $12,000 of the stolen money.

In February 1861 Pinkerton found evidence of a plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln upon his arrival in Baltimore on his way to Washington; as a result, Lincoln passed through Baltimore at an early hour in the morning without stopping. In April 1861 Pinkerton, on the suggestion of General George B. McClellan, organized a system of obtaining military information in the Southern states. From this system he developed the US Secret Service, of which he was in charge throughout the war, under the assumed name of Major E. J. Allen.

Pinkerton was not without controversy, one of his detectives, James McParlan, in 1873-76 lived among the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania and secured evidence which led to the breaking up of what was considered a criminal organization. His detectives were also used to escort strike breakers during the era.

In 1869 Pinkerton suffered a partial stroke of paralysis, and thereafter the management of the detective agency devolved chiefly upon his sons, William Allan and Robert. He died in Chicago on the 1st of July 1884. He published The Molly Maguires and the Detectives , The Spy of the Rebellion, in which he gave his version of President-elect Lincoln’s journey to Washington; and a memoir, Thirty Years a Detective. The Pinkerton National Detective Agency continues to trade in the US to this day.

Pics are of Pinkerton, on horseback then with, President Abraham Lincoln, and Major General John Alexander McClernand. Pinkerton was the head of Union Intelligence Services at the time. He also, allegedly, foiled an assassination attempt against Lincoln. His wartime work was critical in Pinkerton’s development, which he later used to pioneer his agency. Other pics include the firms logo old and new.

[margoteve]

Character Thoughts on Lawrence Limburger.

I had some thoughts about Lawrence Limburger from Biker Mice from Mars. I have finished watching first season and IDK it got me thinking how vile the man is.

So he's a really good business man and politician in the worst way possible. If he was human villain he would be quoting Sun Tzu or some modern age Steve Jobs I bet. Because all those pretentious villains do.

His schemes most of the time appear to be acts of good will and philantropy which is the worst kind of villain. To public he is benevolent if not awfully stinky and ridiculous man. His company most likely has an excellent working conditions as he tries to maintain a certain image with the human public. Plus the constant destruction of his tower he HAS to have great bonuses to keep people from quitting. Like in the episode introducing the Loogi Brothers, he took time to personally answer the calls from angry office workers. Illusions of good persona are so importat to him, otherwise how else will you steal Earth right from under humanity's nose?

I mean I am certain he must have bribed his way into ruining Chicago to the state it is now to a certain degree but I doubt anyone would be able to track it to him directly or if they did they probably got disposed of. I would have loved an episode with a news reporter doing an investigation on some suspicious activity and finding Limburger got his fingers in it and then running into Mice while running for their life.

I bet while some in Chi-Town, those who worked with Biker Mice in the past, would see them as heroes those who don't see them as menaces most likely, frequent destruction of property is certainly a reason to dislike them. I bet construction companies love them tho lol. The constant rebuilding of Limburger Tower must be making them a bank.

I think it's interesting how the show must look to the regular Chicago person from the outside. We only see Mice as heroes bc that's how the show presents it.

Great Cheese is cunning, two face and slimy, villain that if not for the rules of the genre of the show would be a serious threat which explains and gives chilling insight on just how easily Mars got stripped mined in the first place. Just look at all the social projects evil schemes he presented to the public:

solar power plant in exchange of the outdated (?) sewage system/cleaning plant

free services for evacuating the city during earthquakes

free cleanup from a toxic spill (nevermind it was destroying the park in the process and the toxins were his inventions - the public didn't know that or other options of how to deal with it)

a new subway tunnel

This is what the public knows of him. We have the knowledge of Limburger being a land stealing intergalactic oligarch (regular American businessman LOL) because the show wants us to know this. To a regular person who only hears about him from the news he's next best thing in the world. No surprise he managed to stay on top in Chicago until Biker Mice came bc they are the only ones with first hand experience of his "benevolence" always having a flip side. If not for his cartoonish looks and behaviour in the show he could have been on Xanatos level of villain but he is played more for gags rather than serious tone of Gargoyles.

But he keeps losing (thankfully). The difference here between the villain and heroes is the most classic one. His closest employees have no loyalty to him unlike Biker Mice who rely heavily on their loyalty to each other and trust each other (the famous Power of Friendship and unspeakable voilence lmao). Like the Great Cheese himself often states - "it's so hard to find good help these days".

To sum it up - Limburger is skilled politician/business man and if the show had any other tone than parody he would have destroyed Earth in like a month (exaggerating here). Fortunately for the show's world Mice are the Mongols to Limburger's Roman Empire and firmly thwarth all of his schemes.

Because Friendship and unspeakbable violence LOL.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Also I am really curious how the Ryan Reynolds reboot gonna portray the Stinky Cheese.

[beardedmrbean]

The family of a North Carolina man is suing Google for negligence after he died from crashing into a creek below a collapsed bridge at the alleged direction of Google Maps, the Associated Press reported.

On September 30th, 2022, state troopers found ​​Philip Paxson drowned in his overturned pickup truck beneath a bridge that had collapsed nearly a decade earlier.

Mr Paxson (47), from Hickory, North Carolina, was returning home from his daughter’s ninth birthday before the incident, his mother-in-law wrote in a post on Facebook. She added that neither the destroyed bridge nor the road leading to it had any barriers or warning signs to alert drivers of the hazard.

“It was a dark and rainy night and he was following his GPS which led him down a concrete road to a bridge that dropped off into a river,” the post reads. “He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. It was a totally preventable accident. We are grieving his death.”

In addition to Google, the Paxson family’s lawsuit names a number of private property management companies who were responsible for the land where the crash happened and for surrounding plots, according to the Associated Press.

In a statement to the Guardian, a Google spokesperson said: “We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family. Our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps and we are reviewing this lawsuit.”

Lawyers for the Paxsons allege that several people have tried to flag the washed-out bridge to Google and have included email correspondence between a Hickory resident who tried to use the “suggest an edit” feature in 2020 to get the company to address the issue. Google never responded to the suggestion, allege attorneys.

“Our girls ask how and why their daddy died, and I’m at a loss for words they can understand because, as an adult, I still can’t understand how those responsible for the GPS directions and the bridge could have acted with so little regard for human life,” Alicia Paxson, Mr Paxson’s wife, told the Associated Press.

Mr Paxson is not the first person whose death has been tied to GPS.

In 2020, a Russian motorist (18) froze to death after he and a friend were stranded in a vehicle for a week after following a Google Maps route through Serbia’s “road of bones”.

In 2019, a truck driver in Jakarta, Indonesia, drove off a cliff after following a Google Maps route that was only meant for motorcycles, the Straits Times reported.

In 2015, Zohra Hussain (51) died in a car crash in Indiana after her husband, who was following his Nissan Sentra’s built-in GPS, drove off an unmarked toll road that led to a demolished bridge. Her husband, sued the state of Indiana over the lack of barricades, according to the Chicago Tribune. – Guardia

[xtruss]

Saving an Endangered Route 66 Gas Station: Once A “Safe Haven” For Black Travelers

— Rebekah Brandes | NiceNews.Com | Friday October 04, 2024

“If you ever plan to motor west,” Nat King Cole crooned in 1946, “travel my way, take the highway that’s the best.” He was singing, of course, about historic Route 66, which spanned more than 2,400 miles from downtown Chicago, Illinois, to seaside Santa Monica, California — winding over the Missouri Ozarks, across Oklahoma, and through the Mojave Desert.

Established as part of the first federal highway system in 1926, Route 66 is “an artery of transportation,” per the National Park Service. It was officially decommissioned in 1985, but much of it is still driveable, with iconic landmarks serving as popular road trip stops. And since 1990, multiple programs have been put in place to protect the cultural significance and history of the highway.

In its early days, Route 66 — nicknamed the Main Street of America — was promoted as being the shortest and most scenic route from Chicago to Los Angeles. For many people, though, there was even more reason to stick to the highway.

Fertnig/iStock

The Threatt Filling Station in Luther, Oklahoma, was once the only Black-owned gas station along the route, and it provided one of the few respites for people of color who were driving, CBS News reports.

“This was literally, literally a safe haven for people during the Jim Crow era,” Edward Threatt, whose grandfather owned the station, told the outlet. “My grandpa, he was a smart man, to be able to acquire 160 acres of land, because we had so much property they could stay out back.”

In 2021, the filling station, which hasn’t been in use for decades, was named one of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places — a list of over 350 culturally significant sites generated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Each year, 11 locations are added to the roster. The 2023 iteration included another Route 66 business: the Osterman Gas Station in Peach Springs, Arizona, considered “a focal point of the Hualapai Tribal community for generations,” per the organization.

Threatt is working with members of the nonprofit’s Hands-On Preservation Experience, or HOPE, as well as restoration expert David Gibney, to bring his family’s filling station back to life. Not as a stop to pump gas, but hopefully a place for people to rest from the road and learn about the station’s history.

The Threatt Filling Station off Route 66 in Oklahoma. Chon Kit Leong/Alamy Stock Photo

“The complex represents the power of Black entrepreneurship and family stewardship through generations. It helps illuminate important but underrepresented stories of life along iconic Route 66,” Jennifer Sandy, field director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, told Fast Company in January 2022.

The project requires great attention to detail. “We want everything to look like (what) was originally there,” Gibney explained to CBS News. “And that’s the real task here.” All the restoration work must be done by hand, he noted, adding: “A.I. can never replace it. Robots can never replace it.”

The painstaking process is a worthy endeavor, and one the original owner, Threatt’s grandfather, would fully support. “He’s proud of us. I mean, I know he is,” he said. “And he expects us, me, my cousins, who are now the elders of the family, to preserve this and pass it on and make sure it is never, ever outside the family.”

For Molly Baker, a manager for HOPE who is working on restoration efforts, it represents an even bigger picture: “Part of telling the full American story is making sure that everyone has their story told, and that there’s representation for everybody.”

— Published: August 19, 2023

[bendingthelaws]

Constantin Nikolaj Vladimir Rakeovich III

No one is quite sure where, or exactly when Constantin Nikolaj Vladimir Rakeovich was born.  There are no records in the state of Illinois for his birth and some say there are none in the entirety of the United States.  His grandfather came to this country at the end of World War II as part of a Top Secret program, the details of which are still sealed.  No one is quite sure that the name that Constantin bears is even the real name of his grandfather.  No records exist of a man with such a name in the Ukraine or in Russia, the two places that the family was supposedly from.  In fact, the first mention of the name at all was in the employment records of the Argonne National Laboratory in 1948.

Secrets seem to surround every aspect of the Rakeovich family.  Property records for them often have different names on them, all tracing back to one of the two surviving Constantin Rakeovichs.  Out of deference to his father, the younger is referred to as Nikolaj by his family, however anyone not related to him that were to call him that would find themselves dispatched quickly.  Few even know his middle names, more layers of secrecy on a family that officially seems not to exist.

While his grandfather appears to have been in some kind of research at Argonne, there are few records on what exactly his father did, but it was clear he was amassing great wealth.  There are no less than five homes in the greater Chicago area that can be traced to the elder Constantin.  There are rumors that he is the sole founder and owner of NVR Enterprises, a secretive company that is steeped in government contracts and foreign relations.  Records on the company are hard to come by and those that look into its business dealings find themselves quickly warned off.

There are no school records readily available for the younger Constantin until he is found at the Houghton Academy in New York as a Freshman.  He graduated with a straight A average and those who attended with him found him to be cold, aloof, and intimidating.  While he was never physically violent, his classmates said that few were ever brave enough to outright challenge him. From Houghton, he moved on to Harvard where he got his Bachelor’s and then Master’s Degrees in Business and Finance.  When he moved back to Chicago after graduation, he was brought in as CEO of NVR.  To those around the Rakeovich family, this solidified the belief that the family owned the company.  What exactly they do still remains shrouded in mystery.

Constantin proved himself to be shrewd and cutthroat in business, negotiating hostile takeovers of small, independent labs and then bringing them under NVR’s umbrella and tying them to Argonne.   As soon as this would happen, all public releases of information became significantly more vague and the dealings of the company more clandestine.  There are those who believe that the businesses and the family are in black ops, while others believe that they are all a front for a powerful Eastern European Crime family.  With the secretive nature of the entire Rakeovich family and their associates, the odds seem evenly split between the two.

While Constantin continues to run NVR, he is known to deal in underworld matters as well.  He first came onto the DEA and US Marshals radar a decade ago when it was found that at least one of his subsidiaries was being used to traffic in cocaine and other high end, designer drugs.  Later ties to very high end escorts, extortion, loan sharking, and a protection racket would be uncovered, but Constantin has managed to stay one step ahead of law enforcement at every turn.  Some say he is just that cunning, others say it is that he has bought off the Chicago offices of the DEA, FBI, and the US Marshals, then there are those who believe it is a combination of both.

Those who have crossed Constantin through the years have paid a high price, normally their lives.  Anyone that he feels has betrayed him in any way has been eliminated.  Many of these were very elaborately staged assassinations that were made to look like accidents.  He has paid top dollar for the best in the business, including Sasha Vasiliev, to ensure that none of the deaths can ever be traced back to him.  In recent years he has become a bit more hesitant to use Sasha, fearing that crossing the assassin would prove more fatal that if someone were to cross he himself.  He has seen the assassin put a bullet through the skull of a man completely undetected to anyone around the target till he fell dead at their feet.  Had he not been the one that hired Sasha, he never would have known who or how.  That he does means that the assassin is one of the very few that Constantin would never double cross.  

When the Federal, State, and Chicago law enforcement agencies began to close in on him, Constantin blamed one man:  Colin Masterson.  They have become bitter adversaries and while Colin would do whatever it took legally to bring down Constantin’s empire; Constantin does not relegate himself to legal means to try and take down Colin.  The feud is escalating, each man pushing the other closer and closer to an explosive confrontation.  

In kidnapping Colin’s intern, Constantin had hoped to force the man’s hand into dropping all investigations into his dealings.  However the intern proved more stubborn and resistant to cooperation than Constantin had anticipated, bringing forth his anger in explosive bursts that even his longest known associates find hard to believe.  Has Colin pushed him finally into the pit of madness from which there is no redemption, or is there still some vestige of humanity left in Constantin’s dark and murky soul?  The man isn’t even sure himself.

[feckcops]

Our new financial masters

“Today, asset managers collectively own global housing and infrastructure assets worth, at a minimum, $4trn. The upshot is that asset managers are intimately implicated (albeit without most of us being aware of it) in everyday social life. They own, and extract income from, things – schools, bridges, wind farms and homes – that are nothing less than foundational to our being. Forty years ago, it would have been unthinkable that we would buy our gas from, make our parking payment to, or rent our home from a company like Blackstone. But this is the new reality.

“In a very physical, if also strangely intangible respect, all of our lives are now part of asset managers’ investment portfolios. Arguably, this is truer in Britain than anywhere else. Consider the quiet county of Kent in south-east England. The entire infrastructure of wastewater collection and treatment in the county, including tens of thousands of kilometres of sewers, is controlled by Macquarie, a leading Australian asset manager. Macquarie also controls much of Kent’s infrastructure of water supply ... Housing? Blackstone owns rental properties in the small Kentish town of Paddock Wood. Student housing? Chicago-headquartered Harrison Street owns digs in Canterbury. Care homes? New York-based Safanad controls homes in Dartford and Gravesend. Electricity generation? The UK’s Foresight Group owns solar farms at Paddock Wood, and Abbey Fields in Faversham. Transportation? Legal & General Investment Management owns parking spaces; Sweden’s EQT Partners owns charging stations for electric vehicles; PSP Investments of Canada owns train rolling-stock ...

“The faster the turnover of infrastructure and real-estate assets bought and sold by asset managers, the higher the returns. It doesn’t pay for fund managers to buy and hold the asset: it pays to buy it, and then sell it for a quick profit. They do whatever is needed to grow the incomes (such as rents or water rates) that the assets generate. They cut to the bone the costs incurred in operating those assets. Eying quick disposals, they have little interest in carrying out asset maintenance or repair for the long term.

“The dire consequences for the ordinary households whose lives are embedded in this asset manager-made world barely need stating. Being dependent on a real asset acquired by an asset manager – for shelter, energy supply, water or transportation – generally means higher costs and poorer-quality service, followed by considerable disruption when ownership changes hands just a few years later.”

[lilnasxvevo]

I didn’t really finish an earlier thought but let me clarify that I’m only being rude back to people who have basically directly looked me in the eye and said “I could help you, I am equipped with the power and authority to help you, but I am not going to help you.” That shit really fucks me up because when you work at a property management company you can fuck with someone’s quality of life pretty hard (intentionally taking forever to fix my Completely Fucked bathroom) and you can fuck with someone’s bank account pretty hard (intentionally refusing to accept an email I sent indicating I was going to move when my lease expired as my required 60-day notice and thus making me pay hundreds more dollars to this wretched company than I wanted to). These are not customer service people who aren’t allowed to do the thing I want them to do who I’m screaming at anyway because I’m a bad person. These are people with power over me. One of the people I’ve been struggling with is literally a top executive at the company who lives in Chicago.

So I’m not mean to the maintenance guy or the plumber to their faces because they’re not the ones making my life a living hell right now. They want a safe and sanitary work environment and I can empathize with that even if I think their standards are weird (after all I live AND work here so I clearly think it’s safe). All they can do is fix my shit or not. Other people decide what day they get to fix it.

[darkmaga-returns]

LA Fires/Urbanates/LA Mayor Karen Bass

Saturday January 11, 2025 Truth Bomb

Karen Bracken

LA fires clear the way for SmartLA 2028 and 2028 LA Olympics - LA is a C40 city and the olympics is scheduled for LA in 2028. Wouldn’t it be just great if LA was a C40 city by 2028?? Let’s not forget Lahaina was to be converted to a smart city but the locals were not willing to sell their property. These greenies/communists will go to any lengths to move their agenda forward including destroying lives. Lets just see how they build back this county (will they even allow people to rebuild?) and then we will have our answer. I lecture on the C40 Cities Initiative and Los Angeles is one of 14 US cities that have signed on to C40. The goal of C40 cities is ZERO cars, ZERO dairy, ZERO meat, 3 pieces of new clothing per year per person among other strict limitations. FEMA is rushing to the aid of CA but not so much for TN, NC or FL. A lot of the people in CA do not have fire insurance because their genius Governor put caps on how much insurance companies could charge. These caps were so low that insurance companies, rather than go bankrupt, no longer will provide fire insurance in CA. Of course the rich and famous can afford to pay high premiums but they are only a small portion of the people living in CA. Believe me these globalists put no value on human life. As a matter of fact the more of us that die the better they like it. ARTICLE

Here are the cities in the US involved in C40: Austin, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Portland, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Seattle, DC, New Orleans. If you live in these cities perhaps you should be keeping your ear to the ground and make sure your house is adequately insured. The largest promoter of the 15 Minute City right now is the C40 Cities initiative. They know most Americans will not come willingly into these communist schemes. Yes, communist. The 15 Minute City concept was started in 2016 by Carlos Mareno but the concept was tried many years ago in the Soviet Union and failed miserably. “The Ideal Communist City” is a book written in the late 1950’s by Alexei Gutnov and members of the architecture faculty of Moscow University. But its real roots go back to 1930 with the creation of Technocracy, Inc.

Below is the C40 initiative hand book. If you are not interested in reading it go directly to Chapter 6 Sec. 6.3.1 and look at their 6 consumption interventions charts. Buildings and Infrastructure (6.3.1), Food (6.4.1), Clothing and textiles (6.5.1), Private transportation (6.6.1), Aviation (6.7.1), Electronics and household appliances - the figures here are incomplete but will expand in the future - they only looked at one aspect of this consumption intervention (6.8.1)

C40 Cities The Future Of Consumption In A 1

20.9MB ∙ PDF file

Download

It is a lot easier and faster to build a C40/15 Minute City from the ground up instead of having to create it from existing structures. Think about it.

Ever hear of an Urbanate? Well it is part of the Technocracy, Inc (1930’s) plan after the Technate (see my substack from Friday) is created to then create what we now call 15 Minute Cities/Smart Cities. Ya just can’t make this stuff up folks. Here is a description…..sound familiar? If you missed my Substack from Friday I recommend going back and reading it. And remember my last sentence above under the C40 Guide that I shared.

Urbanates: A technocratic replacement for cities Once a technate has been established Technocracy Incorporated advocates an entirely new form of living environment called Urbanates. An Urbanate is essentially an assembly of buildings where people live and work. These places would have all the facilities needed for a community, including schools, hospitals, shopping malls, waste management and recycling facilities, sports centres, and public areas. Technocrats plan for Urbanates to be something akin to resorts, designed to give each citizen the highest standard of living possible. Getting around in an Urbanate would be inherently easy and efficient. Every kind of major facility would be placed within walking distance of a housing complex, eliminating the need for cars. Urbanates would be connected via a continent-wide transportation network envisioned by Technocracy, which would involve a High-speed rail network linking every Urbanate, the Continental Hydrology (a massive Canal network), and air transport. These systems would also be connected to the Technate's industrial sites for easy transport of goods to consumers, and to all recreational and vacation areas of the continent. The reason given by Technate advocates for all this ambitious restructuring of urban life is that modern cities are often extremely poorly planned and built in a haphazard way leading to major inefficiencies, waste, and large numbers of social and environmental problems. Technocrats believe that rather than trying to solve all these problems within the framework of existing cities, it is best to start with a clean slate and construct Urbanates when needed.

Source

LA Mayor Karen Bass, Revolutionary Communist - her winning the election was very suspicious and election fraud suspected - but when you see who she really is you can understand why they had to rig the election. And how convenient that she just happened to be out of town while LA was being burned to the ground. 3 min. ARTICLE/VIDEO (3 min.)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

For the rest of May, my bestselling solarpunk utopian novel THE LOST CAUSE (2023) is available as a $2.99, DRM-free ebook!

#20yrsago Bad writerly advice https://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/005212.html#005212

#20yrsago LotR movies remixed as trenchant Russian political satire https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jun/22/film.lordoftheringsfilms

#20yrsago First-person account of Massachusetts gay marriage https://web.archive.org/web/20040605123821/http://www.circa75.com/showArticle.php?article=130

#20yrsago PayPal disgraces itself, cuts off FreeNet https://web.archive.org/web/20040604050939/http://freenet.sourceforge.net/

#15yrsago Pinkwater’s EDUCATION OF ROBERT NIFKIN: zany and inspiring tale of taking charge of your own education https://memex.craphound.com/2009/05/18/pinkwaters-education-of-robert-nifkin-zany-and-inspiring-tale-of-taking-charge-of-your-own-education/

#15yrsago Technology Bill of Rights https://web.archive.org/web/20090521124424/http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-management/toward-technology-bill-rights-867

#15yrsago Debt-collectors and credit card companies: the psychologists of predatory lending https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17credit-t.html

#10yrsago Anti-Net Neutrality Congresscritters made serious bank from the cable companies https://web.archive.org/web/20140520184355/http://maplight.org/Contributions to House Members Lobbying against Net Neutrality from Cable Interests

#5yrsago Apple removed a teen’s award-winning anti-Trump game “Bad Hombre” because they can’t tell the difference between apps that criticize racism and racist apps https://memex.craphound.com/2019/05/18/apple-removed-a-teens-award-winning-anti-trump-game-bad-hombre-because-they-cant-tell-the-difference-between-apps-that-criticize-racism-and-racist-apps/

#5yrsago Pangea raised $180m to buy up low-rent Chicago properties “to help poor people,” and then created the most brutally efficient eviction mill in Chicago history https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/pangea-has-taken-thousands-to-eviction-court-the-story-of-an-apartment-empire/

#5yrsago AOC grills pharma exec about why the HIV-prevention drug Prep costs $8 in Australia costs $1,780 in the USA https://web.archive.org/web/20190628120032/https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ocasio-cortez-confronts-ceo-for-nearly-2k-price-tag-on-hiv-drug-that-costs-8-in-australia/ar-AABsDP0

#1yrago How to save the news from Big Tech https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/18/stealing-money-not-content/#beyond-link-taxes

[gowine7172]

How to Secure Last-Minute Deals on Business Hotels

Booking last-minute business hotels doesn’t have to be stressful. With the right strategies, you can secure great deals even at the eleventh hour. This guide provides tips on how to make the most of your last-minute bookings Corporate hotel deals near Chicago O'Hare Airport, ensuring comfort and efficiency during your business trip.

Use Last-Minute Booking Apps

Last-minute booking apps like HotelTonight and Booking.com are great tools for securing business hotel deals. These platforms offer discounts on unsold rooms, allowing you to book accommodations quickly and at lower rates. Simply input your travel dates, and these apps will provide real-time availability for various properties.

Sign Up for Hotel Loyalty Programs

Many hotel chains offer loyalty programs that provide exclusive deals and discounts to frequent travelers. Signing up for these programs can give you access to last-minute offers and perks, such as free upgrades or complimentary services. Loyalty members also enjoy priority access to available rooms during busy periods.

Be Flexible with Your Travel Dates

Flexibility with your travel dates can help you secure last-minute deals. If you’re able to adjust your schedule by a day or two, you might find better rates on hotels. Prices fluctuate based on demand, so shifting your trip even slightly can make a big difference in the cost.

Compare Prices Across Multiple Platforms

To get the best deal, compare prices on several booking platforms. Websites like Expedia, Kayak, and Trivago aggregate hotel prices from multiple sources, allowing you to spot discounts and promotional rates. Check for last-minute deals and filter the results based on your business needs and preferences.

Contact the Hotel Directly

Sometimes, booking directly with a hotel can lead to better deals, especially when rooms are available at the last minute. Hotels may offer discounts or perks to encourage direct bookings, bypassing third-party commissions. Call the hotel and inquire about any last-minute offers or unpublished rates they may have.

Use Corporate Rate Codes

Many business travelers have access to corporate rate codes, which are discounted rates negotiated by companies with hotel chains. If your company has these agreements, you can use them for last-minute bookings. Corporate rate codes often provide significant savings while maintaining premium accommodations and services.

Look for Flash Sales and Discounts

Flash sales are time-limited offers that provide significant discounts on hotel rooms. Many booking platforms, as well as hotels themselves, run flash sales throughout the year, especially during slow periods. Stay on the lookout for these promotions and be ready to book when you find a deal that fits your needs.

Book at Off-Peak Times

Hotel prices are typically lower during off-peak times, such as weekdays or during the low travel season. If your business trip falls during a less busy period, you can often find better last-minute deals. Consider booking your stay during these times to secure both savings and availability.

Set Alerts for Price Drops

Many travel websites and apps allow you to set price alerts for specific hotels or locations. By monitoring the prices of hotels in real-time, you’ll be notified when prices drop. This can be particularly helpful for last-minute bookings, ensuring you don’t miss out on discounted rates for quality accommodations.

Negotiate with the Hotel

If you find yourself in a last-minute situation, don't hesitate to negotiate directly with the hotel. Hotel managers may offer discounts or upgrades to fill rooms, especially during slow periods. Politely asking for a lower rate or a room upgrade can sometimes lead to favorable outcomes, even on short notice.

[kmrealtygroup]

How Much is Property Management Fee in Chicago?

Meet Sarah, a first-time real estate investor in Chicago. She had recently purchased a multi-unit building in the heart of the city.

While the property had a lot of potential, Sarah knew she needed professional help to manage it effectively.

So, she decided to hire a property management company in Chicago.

But before she could sign the contract, she had one big question: "How much will this cost me?"

After speaking with a few Chicago property managers, Sarah learned that property management fees in Chicago can vary based on several factors.

Let’s break down what Sarah found out.

1. What Does Property Management Fee Cover?

Sarah was surprised to learn that the property management fee wasn’t just for collecting rent.

Here’s a breakdown of what it typically includes:

Tenant Screening: The property manager handles background checks, credit checks, and selecting qualified tenants.

Maintenance and Repairs: They manage regular maintenance and handle emergency repairs.

Rent Collection: They ensure that rent is collected on time and follow up with late payments.

Marketing and Advertising: If there are vacancies, they handle the advertising and showing of units.

Lease Management: They create, manage, and renew leases with tenants.

2. How Much Does a Property Management Company Charge?

Sarah found that most property management services in Chicago charge between 8% to 12% of the monthly rent.

For example, if her building earned $3,000 in rent each month, she could expect to pay between $240 and $360 in management fees.

Tip: Always ask for a breakdown of fees. Some companies may offer additional services, such as accounting or eviction management, for extra charges.

3. Are There Additional Fees?

Sarah learned that while the base management fee is the biggest cost, there are sometimes extra charges. These can include:

Leasing Fees: This covers finding and signing a new tenant, often ranging from 50% to 100% of one month’s rent.

Maintenance Fees: Some property managers charge a markup on repairs or maintenance services.

Eviction Fees: If you need to evict a tenant, there could be additional legal and administrative costs.

4. Is it Worth It?

At first, Sarah was concerned about the cost, but after learning about the benefits of working with professional Chicago property managers, she realized it was worth the investment.

A good property manager can save time, reduce stress, and ultimately help her make more money by keeping her property well-maintained and tenants satisfied.

Answer: Yes, hiring a property management company can be a wise choice if you want to maximize your investment.

By the end of her research, Sarah felt confident in her decision to partner with a property management company in Chicago.

The fees were manageable, and the peace of mind she gained from knowing her property was in expert hands was priceless.