Ghost roads and union cards.

It’s only a 9 mile drive from my school to my front door.

But on a Friday afternoon the inbound commute on the Kennedy Expressway can take any where from 60 to 90 minutes. I’ve tried many alternate routes. But that’s the commute time on a Friday  afternoon

But not today.

Since Mayor Emanuel turned downtown Chicago into a police state for the NATO meeting, many folks stayed home today. NATO turned the Kennedy into a ghost road. I was home in 15 minutes flat.

I heard a funny story for the first time today.

A few weeks back when our Region went down to  Springfield for our own Lobby Day, not everybody rode the bus.

For some of our colleagues it was easier to drive themselves because of where they live or the need to get back earlier than the bus.

When they got to Springfield they pulled into the IEA state headquarters’ parking lot on Edwards Street and parked in a couple of spaces.

They were followed into the parking lot by a couple of IEA lobbyists who proceeded to give them a hard time about parking in their lot in their spaces.

“Show us your union card,” one of our teachers responded.

Of course, lobbyists are not members of the IEA. Neither is the Executive Director. Neither is the Communications Director.

It’s a fact they sometimes forget. Like when they’re negotiating away our constitutional protections.

Embarrassed, the lobbyists apologized.

But our guys still had to move their cars.