Just saw this on DNAInfo... awesome pic. These protests are going on all over the country, often they are reminders of how we drive at 65mph through these neighborhoods blithely unaware of what is happening.
instagram/jahco1980 http://i58.tinypic.com/nzesdt.jpg |
Well, looks like Rahm is going in full force to win back the black and Hispanic vote.
Too bad real estate development in Chicago is going to suffer. |
I'm actually now starting to rethink my support of Rahm. I'm certainly cutting off my financial support at this point. I just sent him a letter the other day letting him know that I'm not donating another dime if he passes that stupid affordable housing law.
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Rahm needs to remember that a lot of the money behind his reelection is coming from these kinds of people, not a good idea to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. In addition, if you read between the lines of his new Affordable Housing Proposal it is essentially like saying that Chicago's neighborhoods are not good enough for the poor. Why not renovate more housing in the neighborhoods for more moderate or lower income people? Instead, you're putting low income people in luxury highrises downtown for virtually free. It's the worse idea ever, and you're basically sending the wrong message. Definitely the worst thing Rahm has done as mayor. |
RIP Judy Baar Topinka - I met her a couple of times in the past few years and she was always so kind and engaging and pretty hilarious too. I really liked her :(
Regarding Rahm and the new Affordable Housing initiative, I feel like this is nothing but pandering at it's very worst - once the election is over, assuming Rahm wins again, this edict will disappear; I can almost taste the insincerity... |
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besides, i agree with sentinel that this issue is either forgotten about or severely watered-down after the election is over. rahm has probably said as much behind closed doors to his friends in the development community. |
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Oh no! What is Rahm going to do for money if you turn off your personal spigot?!?! :???: Your characterization in previous posts of Rahm being a reformer and at least somewhat implying that he's not fully part of the machine (mentioning Karen Lewis as 'machine' was pretty bizarre) is highly off-base. Rahm's been an absolute disappointment as a reformer - at least in his first term. I realized this completely a couple years ago. For the record, this is not the way to address housing affordability - I agree with those who have already said as much. It's also quite a poor 'bang for the buck' so to speak. However, even if enacted as currently proposed, this will not "shut down" residential development in the city. It could and would impact - delay, make more challenging, and for some - kill - more financially marginal projects, yes indeed. But residential development in Chicago would go on. That stated, I agree that it is definitely a possibility that this gets held up in Committe a while through the election(s), and may change - perhaps substantially - afterward. |
and then there were 9....
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here's how the candidate list currently stands: Rahm Emanuel (incumbent) - website Jesus “Chuy” Garcia - website Bob Fioretti - website William "Dock" Walls - website Frederick Collins - website Willie Wilson - website Robert Shaw - website Gerald Sconyers - website Fenton C. Patterson - can't find a website dropped out: Amara Enyia |
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A couple things: Since the black and hispanic vote probably represent at least around 55-60% or so of the overall Chicago vote, I'd say he should probably be concerned about this component of the electorate! Also, it's not as if this won't be popular too with some not at all insignificant parts of the white electorate. So, why don't we go ahead and tack on another 10-15 pct pts there. Perhaps not at all a bad political move. As I've mentioned it's really not a good policy move however. It's a modest - perhaps very modest - net negative impact overall on development. The boom of course will carry on irrespective.... But it's a pretty darn poor funding mechanism for affordable housing initiatives.....you could design much more effective schemes that deliver much more bang for the buck |
Ugh. Agreed that this is pandering at its worst. It's not like there's a shortage of issues facing people of color that would actually benefit the city to address. Marijuana decriminalization hasn't gone smoothly. Check out those stats. Those kinds of arrests have a noticeable impact on everyday life for Black Chicagoans.
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and then there were 8....
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here's how the candidate list currently stands: Rahm Emanuel (incumbent) - website Jesus “Chuy” Garcia - website Bob Fioretti - website William "Dock" Walls - website Frederick Collins - website Willie Wilson - website Gerald Sconyers - website Fenton C. Patterson - can't find a website dropped out: Robert Shaw Amara Enyia |
And then there were 5, the final candidate list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago...election,_2015
##Rahm Emanuel, incumbent Mayor[2][3][4] ##Robert Fioretti, Chicago City Alderman[2][5] ##Jesús "Chuy" García, Cook County Commissioner and former State Senator ##William "Dock" Walls, community activist, businessman, former aide to Mayor Harold Washington and perennial candidate ##Willie Wilson, medical supply company executive Frankly I am rather disappointed in this mayoral election so far, I really think a runoff would be healthy for Chicago even if it still means Rahm Emanuel will likely win. Compared to four years ago there is far less media coverage and Rahm's opponents are far less organized and behind in the game this time around. I am almost starting to think the Chicago municipal election schedule needs to be revised. Maybe we can do what Los Angeles does, have the Mayor/Treasurer/CityClerk/Aldermen sworn in on July 1 (instead of mid-May), the runoff date would be mid-May (instead of April 7) and the main election would be April 7 (instead of February 24th). There simply is not enough time between the state races in November and the municipal elections, there is too much voter fatigue (I know it sounds silly to those of us who are actually informed and care about politics). The media is still talking much more about Governor-elect Rauner than the Mayoral race. I share the skepticism people on here have about Bob Fioretti for reasons that have been discussed over and over again. Chuy Garcia on the other hand does have a background in urban planning (Master's in Urban Planning from UIC, full disclosure so do I so I might be biased) and he has worked at several levels of government, as an Alderman, State Senator and now Cook County Commissioner. Granted I think he needs to talk about his experience much more and stop talking about silly pet issues ($15 minimum wage, red light cameras, Lucas Museum, some random corrupt school board member, etc.) that you might agree or disagree with him about but frankly won't help him defeat Rahm Emanuel or even get him into a runoff. Frankly he is a far better candidate than Karen Lewis, she should have announced she was not running far earlier and Chuy should have entered the race without waiting for her. Chuy needs to move beyond his progressive base and get more support from whites who live on the fringes of the city such policemen, firemen and city workers who don't like Rahm, i.e. many of the people who voted for Gery Chico last time (Chico endorsed Rahm but it need not matter much, there is tons of dissatisfaction out there), granted Bob Fioretti could get that vote as well. Willie Wilson just did a terrible interview on Chicago Tonight and frankly won't get votes outside the black community despite his money, but his money could help Garcia or Fioretti get into a runoff with Rahm, and William Walls is just a perennial candidate with token support in the black community. The problem is that many business owners in the outer neighborhoods are concerned about Chicago raising the minimum wage and rightly so, it won't matter much to business owners downtown or on the north side because that is almost it's own market but for entrepreneurs considering either Garfield Ridge or Berwyn, Evergreen Park or Beverly, Park Ridge or Edison Park, Rogers Park or Evanston, etc. the labor costs between city and suburbs could make a big difference especially if the state does not raise the minimum wage in due time. What Rahm and the city council should have done is just raise it to $10 an hour on July 1st (as it will) and forget about the incremental to $13 by 2019. Fioretti and Garcia trying to out do Rahm Emanuel on minimum wage by proposing $15 an hour and is a losing prospect on simple political terms alone without even discussing the potential economic ones, fair or not Rahm has won on that issue, they need to move on to other stuff that will make traction on Rahm's weak points. |
Yeah none of the candidates have bothered to put forward a positive vision for what they would do if elected. Rahm has a track record to run on, and he is hosting a series of speeches right now where he is outlining his plan for the second term.
It won't be enough to convince the haters but it's light years ahead of the bitching and moaning coming from the chorus of challengers. |
with the nice weather we had over the weekend i went on two walks through my neighborhood (edgewater) on saturday and sunday to get outside and enjoy some sun and fresh air. over the course of the 4 miles of city streets i traversed, i saw exactly one yard sign for rahm and exactly one apartment window sign for chuy.
with the election about 1 month away, there seems to be a fair amount of voter apathy from my cursory neighborhood walks. 4 years ago i remember seeing a lot more yard/window signs and hearing much, MUCH more about the mayoral race in the news media. does anyone else sense a relative lack of interest this time around? how do you think voter apathy might affect the race? does it help or hurt rahm? |
^ I think it helps Rahm. Anybody who challenges Rahm will want a huge turn out of disgruntled voters, I think..
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new tribune poll:
Emanuel: 42% Garcia: 18% Fioretti: 10% Wilson: 7% Walls: 2% Undecided: 21% depending on how those undecideds break, rahm could be facing a run-off. |
^^^, ^^
I definitely also get the sense that there is no groundswell of interest in this election, above and beyond the usual pretty high level of general voter apathy in Chicago. And, I also agree that this does benefit Rahm. Further, if I were Rahm, I'd be quite heartened by this latest poll. That's also a large group of undecided, and I'd be surprised if less than 40% of the actual undecided out there (and that's conservative, I could probably use 50% there) in the last few weeks don't break his way too in the end. Finally, have you guys seen the incredible campaign hauls he's pulled in during recent weeks? It's positively ridiculous how much more in the way of resources he has than the rest of the field combined. Impressive, but also yet another in the long, sickening line of evidenciary indictments against American campaign finance. And, finally (this time it's the real thing), I'm really hoping to catch at least a couple of the televised debates in the next 2 weeks, and, perhaps somewhat sadly, I'm afraid to say some of my motivation is to watch Willie Wilson for potential explosive comedic content. This guy is apt to say virtually anything. Obviously the political rumor mill regarding him has probably been going overtime for quite a while, but I'm curious: do any Chicago political watchers here think there's actually a decent chance he's some sort of 'plant' in the race?? I've tried to work out the likely logic of such, but when you really think about it, it's not that obvious and at least to me seems farily muddled, I would say, at best.... |
Maybe I'm stupid or ignorant, but I frankly don't see what Garcia or Fioretti have to offer as Mayor. At. All. Fioretti is an abject POS panderer, in my book, with no redeeming qualities - he just appears to be an extremely bitter, apathetic ole queen who represents the decadent status quo worse than someone like Rahm. And I really don't know much about "Chuy", other than his childish nickname, regardless of provenance. Wilson and Walls just seem to be wasting everyone's time.
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I got shook down for my vote by 2 goons from Alderman O'conner in Lincoln Square. They spotted me in front of my apartment building and somehow knew my name even though there are 3 units. Then I got a call from someone in his office the next day asking me to vote for him. Machine politics at it's worst, and his shakedown sure didn't motivate me to vote for him. Yuck!!
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