The Best Local Columnist, Who Might it Be?

[TB15]

I grew up reading Jeff Jacobs in CT. I'd put him up against anybody in the country. He could challenge UConn (Jim Calhoun, in particular) in compelling fashion, and he could absolutely nail a human interest column. Plus, he was cranking out 5+ high quality columns per week.

 

[thizzellewashington]

In the sports realm another vote for Mike Finger in San Antonio

 

[HanSenSE]

Do they even have city columnists anymore? Serious question. To me, it's either sports columnists or editorial people.

Sal Pizarro in San Jose. But I've not read enough of his stuff to make a judgement.

Sports? I gave Dieter a shot when he came on, but eventually found him a) trying too hard to be a fanboi and b) unreadable.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Olaf Fub in the Buffalo News

 

[I Should Coco]

Shoot, John Kass left the Chicago Tribune this year. I think he was good early, but became pretty bitter as the years went on. A good city columnist is like a good pitcher, strong fastball, solid curve or slider and the occasional change-up, so you never get too predictable. You write about local politics, local problems and the "little people" who make a city tick and/or give the area color.

To his credit, Kass never tried to be the next Royko, because he knew that was a losing proposition.

And I agree that by the end of his run (the few times I read him), he had been painted into the bitter conservative corner -- conservative by Chicago standards, anyway. He's a strong writer, though.

 

[LanceyHoward]

To his credit, Kass never tried to be the next Royko, because he knew that was a losing proposition.

And I agree that by the end of his run (the few times I read him), he had been painted into the bitter conservative corner -- conservative by Chicago standards, anyway. He's a strong writer, though.

I read Kass a fair amount on Real Clear Politics. Maybe Real Clear only picked up his political columns so I got a distorted impression but I thought his job description was to be the conservative political columnist at the Trib. I think he did his job very well. But I never thought he wrote about anything other than politics.

 

[hondo]

Jim DeFede in Miami was the second coming of Mike Royko. Scorching columns, done just right. Until the Herald brass threw him under a bus. DeFede shrugged it off, though, and moved to investigative work for local TV. What a loss for print columnists.

He was fantastic on the Netflix series about the cocaine dealers in Miami. I went back and read his Miami New Times stories on those guys. Why the heck didn't he write a book?

 

[hondo]

Gene Frenette(ducks)

 

[Alma]

To his credit, Kass never tried to be the next Royko, because he knew that was a losing proposition.

And I agree that by the end of his run (the few times I read him), he had been painted into the bitter conservative corner -- conservative by Chicago standards, anyway.

Here's a column from a bitter conservative:

When I asked the woman for her name, her response was one of sheer terror. ''I can`t give you my name. Do you think I want that gang coming after my kid?''

That`s what she had called about. She lives on the North Side in one of the neighborhoods where gangs are running wild, shooting each other and, as often as not, innocent bystanders.

In recent days, a baby has been killed. So was a woman shopper sitting in her car and a couple of nice teenagers who were on a porch minding their own business. And several others. The list is getting so long that we might consider putting up a wall of names similar to the Vietnam Memorial.

So the frightened woman asked: ''When are the police going to do something about this?''

The answer, unfortunately, is that the police can`t do much more than they`re doing. And about all they can do is try to arrest the cold, young killers after they have shot someone. That`s small comfort to the dead or their families.

It isn`t that the police wouldn`t like to do more. But thanks to the zeal of various lawyers, civil libertarians and judges, the gangbangers now laugh at the cops.

A few years ago, they didn`t laugh much. They didn`t have time to even giggle. That`s when the police gang unit hassled them on sight. Any time they stuck their heads out the door, they ran the risk of being hauled in and charged with disorderly conduct.

It was only a misdemeanor, almost always dropped in court. But it kept them hopping and looking over their shoulders, which prevented some shootings and resulted in a lot of weapons being confiscated.

But lawyers went to federal court and persuaded a judge that this was harassment and a terrible violation of the gangbangers` constitutional rights. It probably was a violation, although I`m not sure how terrible it was. A bullet in an infant`s head is far more damaging than a few hours in a police lockup.

GANG RIGHTS OFTEN WRONG THE INNOCENT

 

[I Should Coco]

Here's a column from a bitter conservative:

When I asked the woman for her name, her response was one of sheer terror. ''I can`t give you my name. Do you think I want that gang coming after my kid?''

That`s what she had called about. She lives on the North Side in one of the neighborhoods where gangs are running wild, shooting each other and, as often as not, innocent bystanders.

In recent days, a baby has been killed. So was a woman shopper sitting in her car and a couple of nice teenagers who were on a porch minding their own business. And several others. The list is getting so long that we might consider putting up a wall of names similar to the Vietnam Memorial.

So the frightened woman asked: ''When are the police going to do something about this?''

The answer, unfortunately, is that the police can`t do much more than they`re doing. And about all they can do is try to arrest the cold, young killers after they have shot someone. That`s small comfort to the dead or their families.

It isn`t that the police wouldn`t like to do more. But thanks to the zeal of various lawyers, civil libertarians and judges, the gangbangers now laugh at the cops.

A few years ago, they didn`t laugh much. They didn`t have time to even giggle. That`s when the police gang unit hassled them on sight. Any time they stuck their heads out the door, they ran the risk of being hauled in and charged with disorderly conduct.

It was only a misdemeanor, almost always dropped in court. But it kept them hopping and looking over their shoulders, which prevented some shootings and resulted in a lot of weapons being confiscated.

But lawyers went to federal court and persuaded a judge that this was harassment and a terrible violation of the gangbangers` constitutional rights. It probably was a violation, although I`m not sure how terrible it was. A bullet in an infant`s head is far more damaging than a few hours in a police lockup.

GANG RIGHTS OFTEN WRONG THE INNOCENT

Right. But what made him great was the variety of his columns, and his viewpoints.

 

[Alma]

Right. But what made him great was the variety of his columns, and his viewpoints.

Oh, I don't really think he was unusually bitter. But this graf shows up later in that column:

"I made a talk at the U. of I.`s Chicago campus and was picketed and jeered by several academics who said I must be some kind of fascist."

He'd be deemed a right wing troll today by the mainstream media for writing that column. Royko.

 

[Azrael]

'Stop and frisk' was unconstitutional then, and is unconstitutional now.