Urban Coaster: Non-Local, Non-Union

Ginderske and his "Urban Coaster" partners, Franics Scudellari and Tom Westgard are not only misrepresenting the legal status of their organization "The Urban Coaster," they are also hypocritical about being "local." But their web site is not hosted in Chicago, a city full of talented web masters and excellent web hosting services, include a number of them in the areas that Urban Coaster claims to cover. They have a dead tree version and an online version. The web site says, "The Urban Coaster is ... all the news that fits the neighborhoods of Rogers Park, West Ridge, and Edgewater along the shore of Lake Michigan on Chicago's far North Side." The fliers that they hand out to would-be advertisers says, "We are Local - Like You." There's a problem, however. Aside from the fact that their dead tree, big carbon footprint version has no "union bug" to indicate that it's produced by union workers (which they pretend to be concerned about as "progressives"), the web site is not even hosted in Chicago. The "editors," Ginderske, Scudellari and Westgard, each "own" 33 percent of the organization. That's what was listed on their incorporation application to the State of Illinois. (Who owns the remaining one percent is a mystery.) The company is, in fact, not incorporated because their filing check bounced weeks ago. Nevertheless, they continue to masquerade as a legitimately incorported entity in Illinois. "The Urban Coaster" web site is hosted by Lunar Pages, which is not a Chicago company. Lunar Pages' address of record is in La Habra, California. Last summer, Ginderske, Westgard and Scudellari were misrepresenting another sham organization, "Neighbors for a Healthy Rogers Park." NHRP was dissolved by the State of Illinois because Westgard, who is an attorney, failed to file the required annual report. It is probably Westgard who is responsible for sending a bogus check to the Illinois Secretary of State to cover the filing fee. Westgard is listed as the Administrative Contact for "theurbancoaster.com." There is yet another problem. Westgard left his former office at 6970 N. Sheridan Road #C in Rogers Park in late October, 2008. Yet, Westgard listed that as his address on the incorporation filing papers, dated October 22, 2008, and also listed it with Lunar Pages for the web site, which was created on the same day. 6970 N. Sheridan was the address used by Ginderske 2007, the failed aldermanic campaign organization of which Westgard was campaign chair. Westgard took over the office shortly after Ginderske lost the election in February, 2007. He moved across the street to 6977 N. Sheridan around the time of the Urban Coaster's creation in late October, and now receives UPS and FedEx deliveries at a coffee shop next door. Westgard is also listed as Technical Contact for "theurbancoaster.com" The actual listing, as accessed on January 2, 2009, is: Technical Contact: IllinoisMechanicsLiens Thomas Westgard 7733383643 Fax: 1.7733383674 6970 N Sheridan Rd #C Chicago, IL 60626 As noted, however, that address is no longer Westgard's. In fact, a representative of the building's management told The Bench last weekend that 6970 N. Sheridan Road #C is vacant and ready to be leased out. RELATED: Ginderske Violating State Law and Another Sham Ginderske Organization (Updated)