CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Barrelfish

Ald. Solis is expected to resign, according to the Sun-Times. He has been a secret informant as part of the federal investigation into Ald. Burke.

Most of the story here is juicy but not relevant to this forum, so let's leave that aside. What is relevant here is that Solis is the chair of the zoning committee, and his ward includes the West Loop and all the development happening there. He was already not planning to run for re-election, but this accelerates the timing. Any view on who could replace him and what their attitude toward development is?

This is the politics thread. It's all relevant. I do wonder what the Feds got on Danny boy to flip him. Surely it wasn't anything having to do with Pilsen real estate, because the neighborhood's seen virtually nothing in terms of zoning changes. If some developer gave him a bribe for a Pilsen project, it clearly didn't help lol. But the 25th Ward does contain big chunks of the fast-developing West and South Loop where the unofficial Pilsen affordable-housing quotas don't apply, so it could be something real estate-related after all.

LVDW is right, Rahm will appoint a temporary successor to Solis should he resign. Rahm is chafing at the bit to get Lincoln Yards and The 78 approved before his term ends, so I'm sure he will appoint somebody pliant to lead the 25th Ward, and hand the Zoning Committee chairmanship to a more experienced (but still loyal) alderman. Cappleman is currently the vice chair, maybe it will go to him. Or Moreno.

As far as the candidates for the actual election in the 25th Ward, virtually all of them are Latin socialists. Aida Flores is probably the best of the bunch, but Byron Sigcho has the most name recognition so he is likely to win. I don't think Rahm's hypothetical appointee would be able to jump into the election and run for the seat like Solis did back in the 90s, since we are so close to the election.

[the urban politician]

^ Since Rahm’s replacement for Solis won’t last for but a few months anyway.....

Great chance for people who want some upzonings in Pilsen to jump in on the action and get the changes approved before this new crop of Aldermen Che Guevaras take over

[maru2501]

Garry McCarthy won't say whether McDonald shooting was a crime, struggles with case in mayor's race

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...124-story.html

[the urban politician]

I’m liking Gery Chico or Daley

Next rung down: Mendoza or Vallas

Hell no: Preckwinkle

Special shout out: Willie Wilson

[Vlajos]

Vallas or Daley

Mendoza

Anyone but Prekwinkle

[SIGSEGV]

I'm town between Mendoza, Vallas and Daley. Vallas is the most technocratic but I don't know how effective a politician he might be. Mendoza's experience as comptroller makes her exciting as well and she seems able to get things done but she might be too entrenched in the corrupt system. I like what Daley says and his national profile is good but I'm a bit concerned about another Daley.

In terms of strategy though, I won't vote Mendoza in the first round.

[the urban politician]

Some are saying that Gery Chico may supplant Mendoza due to the whole Solis connection.

Chico was Richard Daley’s choice for successor when Rahm first ran for mayor

[Kenmore]

lol @ another daley, americans just love dynasties and nepotism

[Vlajos]

Just saw this in Crains regarding taxes and the candidates.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg...ey-issue-taxes

[Baronvonellis]

Are there any televised debates coming up?
Who is Rahm endorsing? I would think he would have a successor picked and he would campaign for him/her. I don't care who the last Daley liked, he screwed over Chicago on his way out.

There are lots of signs up in my neighborhood for Willie Wilson! TUP did you put those up? What if he actually wins? He is very popular with blacks. He seems like a junior Trump, independently wealthy and not beholden to the machine, he just does his own thing.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

Are there any televised debates coming up?
Who is Rahm endorsing? I would think he would have a successor picked and he would campaign for him/her. I don't care who the last Daley liked, he screwed over Chicago on his way out.

There are lots of signs up in my neighborhood for Willie Wilson! TUP did you put those up? What if he actually wins? He is very popular with blacks. He seems like a junior Trump, independently wealthy and not beholden to the machine, he just does his own thing.

Too bad he is a bit crazy just like Trump. He wants to reopen schools that were closed due to being 25% utilized. CPS can't afford that. We need to close more schools. CPS lost another 30,000 students the last 3 yeas. Likely to continue for the foreseeable future too.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Too bad he is a bit crazy just like Trump. He wants to reopen schools that were closed due to being 25% utilized. CPS can't afford that. We need to close more schools. CPS lost another 30,000 students the last 3 yeas. Likely to continue for the foreseeable future too.

That’s because he, like far too many politicians and religious leaders, make no apology for openly supporting one ethnic group’s interest over the well being of everybody else.

The fact that our increasingly polyethnic society never calls out this anachronistic nonsense from the 1960s baffles me.

It’s clear as day that when a part of town’s population is 20% of what it once was, schools among other public facilities must close.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

That’s because he, like far too many politicians and religious leaders, make no apology for openly supporting one ethnic group’s interest over the well being of everybody else.

The fact that our increasingly polyethnic society never calls out this anachronistic nonsense from the 1960s baffles me.

It’s clear as day that when a part of town’s population is 20% of what it once was, schools among other public facilities must close.

Part of me worries about a candidate like Wilson. He isn't part of the machine, but he seems like someone the machine would just chew up.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by moorhosj

Part of me worries about a candidate like Wilson. He isn't part of the machine, but he seems like someone the machine would just chew up.

He voted for Trump. That worries me more along with the stupidity I pointed out earlier. As the city's population shrinks, government needs to be shrink with it.

[the urban politician]

According to today’s Crains, Preckwinkle and Lashawn support lifting the rent control ban. Wilson and Lightfoot oppose it, as do many others, and interestingly Daley was noncommittal.

A brief quote from the article:

Vallas: "Rent control doesn't work. I don't see it as a solution. The way to control housing costs is to build more housing. Unleash the market and let the market take its course."

Vallas and other candidates, as well as many real estate agents, say new construction is held back by inflexible building codes and City Hall bureaucracy, as well as aldermanic privilege, which dictates what gets built in a ward.

Vallas' opposition to lifting the ban appears to be a new position for him. In December, the Chicago Reader reported that he was in favor of lifting the ban. A spokesperson for Vallas did not respond to a request this morning for clarification.

Chico: "No rent control. I believe in the free market."

Mendoza: "Using rent control to deal with affordability issues that you have in Logan Square or Wicker Park is not the solution" for the entire city. Prices are rising fast in those and surrounding neighborhoods, Mendoza said, largely because they are among "a few neighborhoods where people feel safe."
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/resi...t-rent-control

[Randomguy34]

Holy fuck!! The Machine might be dead!!

Speaker Madigan recorded by FBI: Sun-Times

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was recorded by the FBI attempting to obtain business for his law firm from a developer that Ald. Danny Solis brought to him, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Solis was evaluating the developer’s wish to put up a hotel in Chinatown, according to the Sun-Times, which said it obtained a federal court affidavit.

“The affidavit makes clear for the first time that the federal investigation that has snared powerful Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke extends beyond City Hall and into the Illinois statehouse, examining politicians’ longstanding practice of merging personal and political business,” the paper writes.

Madigan does not face any criminal charges. In a statement through his lawyer, he denied doing anything wrong, and “to our knowledge, neither the speaker nor his law firm is under investigation.”

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/gove...=hero-headline

Is this Chinatown hotel plan focus of Madigan FBI recording?

A 60-room hotel in Chinatown that a Chicago-based developer proposed in July 2014 appears to be the subject of an FBI recording that revealed Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan attempting to obtain business from the developer for the project.

The five-story project planned for 2010-20 S. Archer Ave., submitted at the time by a venture led by Chicago investor Kin Kuong Chong, fits the description of the property in focus in a federal affidavit detailing an August 2014 meeting between Madigan, the developer and 25th Ward Ald. Daniel Solis, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The newspaper reported today that an "associate" of the developer recorded Madigan during a meeting at the speaker's law office, three weeks after the Chong venture submitted an application to rezone the vacant parcel to build the hotel.

Crain's could not immediately confirm that the project is the one in question in the Madigan recording, but a photo of the site published by the Sun-Times matches the nondescript 5,530-square-foot piece of land owned by the Chong venture. The timing of the project also lines up with the report, as the Chicago City Council approved new zoning for the site in September 2014, public records show. The hotel was never built, though the Chong venture—a company formally known as Sheng Man De Investment—still owns the land, Cook County property records show.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...-fbi-recording

Viagra, sex acts, use of a luxury farm: Feds detail investigation of Ald. Solis

Retiring Ald. Danny Solis (25th) received sex acts, Viagra, free weekend use of an Indiana farm once owned by Oprah Winfrey and a steady stream of campaign contributions in exchange for shepherding official City Council actions, according to allegations in a federal court affidavit obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

The allegations are contained in an explosive search warrant application that helps explain why Solis, the powerful chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee, agreed to spend more than two years cooperating in a federal investigation during which he is known to have secretly recorded at least a dozen conversations with Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), the former chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee.

Although no charges have been filed publicly against Solis, the 2016 affidavit lays out in detail a federal corruption case against the veteran alderman, who was one of the closest City Council allies of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Emanuel’s predecessor, Richard M. Daley.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/da...uncil-wiretap/

[SIGSEGV]

Holy giant font batman

[ChickeNES]

[LouisVanDerWright]

News worthy of giant font.

As with construction, let's save the bannannas until they break ground on a federal criminal case against him. Don't want to jinx it, gotta wait until the prosecutor starts drilling cassions into him.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

News worthy of giant font.

As with construction, let's save the bannannas until they break ground on a federal criminal case against him. Don't want to jinx it, gotta wait until the prosecutor starts drilling cassions into him.

You deserve an award for most apropos analogies. Well-done, WELL-DONE!

If Madigan goes down, my God, a new day will dawn on the State. Hopefully.