CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by Bonsai Tree

And? Sure he didn't make progress- but I'd rather have 496 homicides than the 618 we had last year. I find this argument ridiculous- since homicides in the 400s is the lowest the city had in generations.

Let's also not forget the 800+ homicides from 2016.

Homicides were already in the 400s when Rahm came into office (2010: 456, 2009: 463). We were at the end of a decade-plus run of murders falling. By the end of Rahm's 8 years, we weren't in that category anymore.

[pip]

A few months ago an approval rating of Mayor Johnson at 14% was posted here and I questioned it but was given a source. At the time I thought an approval rating that low is unheard of after seeing it sourced. But he is now at 6.6% approval rating "one of the worst showings for any major political figure in the country's history."
https://www.newsweek.com/chicago-may...rating-2036026

[pip]

I've been out of the loop with Chicago. Been in Boston the past 2.5 years with quick side trips back to check on my place. I've been back now for almost two months so I have no opinion formed on the mayor aside from what I have read here.

[sentinel]

Not Chicago-specific, but pretty amazing for the entire state, if this passes:

Short Description: IL UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE ACT
Synopsis As Introduced
"Creates the Illinois Universal Health Care Act. Provides that all individuals residing in the State are covered under the Illinois Health Services Program for health insurance. Sets forth the health coverage benefits that participants are entitled to under the Program..."

https://ilga.gov/legislation/billsta...SessionID=114#

[moorhosj1]

It's pretty telling that the only people who can make BJ look competent are Congressional Republicans. Kind of makes sense why Vallas lost to BJ, considering Vallas now works for Illinois Policy Institute.

For those unaware: IPI has received financial support from charitable foundations associated with the Koch, Mercer, Uihlein, and Rauner families.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Not Chicago-specific, but pretty amazing for the entire state, if this passes:

Short Description: IL UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE ACT
Synopsis As Introduced
"Creates the Illinois Universal Health Care Act. Provides that all individuals residing in the State are covered under the Illinois Health Services Program for health insurance. Sets forth the health coverage benefits that participants are entitled to under the Program..."

https://ilga.gov/legislation/billsta...SessionID=114#

Interesting. I wonder how this will be funded. Will it be a private/public partnership? Will this work with existing private insurance, compete with them, or offer some sort of Illinois-only single payer system?

The uninsured in this state already receive medical service for free by law in the form of ER visits, which are prohibitively expensive. By allowing preventable health services, which are considerably cheaper and prevent chronic illnesses from becoming much more expensive health emergencies, this might be a zero revenue initiative.

That said, considering the state's financial situation, unless there is a guarantee that this initiative will not draw funds from the state's budget, it might be tough to get passed.

[left of center]

I found some information on this bill online:

https://www.pnhpillinois.org/311summary.php


At the top they claim that the savings alone from "paperwork" will be able to pay for this initiative, which sounds a bit dubious. However at the the bottom of the page there is a small section that explains the financing a bit:

The program would be paid for by combining current sources of government health spending into a single fund with modest new taxes that would be fully offset by reductions in premiums and out-of-pocket spending.

I would be interested to see some of their number crunching on this. While I am averse to new taxes considering the already heavy burden for taxpayers in this state, this would definitely be a worthy cause that we should pursue.

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by Garynewman

Find yourself the least popular politician in state history and need to pay for clout? Pass an $830 million bond deal with no payments on the principal for 20 years. The latter is what Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson did on Feb. 26."

I think this is bond deal is a very bad idea and have told my Alderperson as much. That said, 10 years ago, Rahm proposed borrowing with an even longer deferred payment schedule.

The latest general obligation bond proposal from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel could have the cash-strapped city selling up to $500 million of capital appreciation bonds (CABs), a form of debt that government finance experts say could be costly and risky.

Richard Ciccarone, president and CEO of Merritt Research Services, said Thursday the move would allow the city to "kick the can down the road" by deferring debt service payments for as long as 40 years.

[Steely Dan]

^ yes, the neverending can kicking in this town is now mulit-generational, and it needs to fucking stop!

But the dipshit citizens of this city have decided that they'd rather be governed by children who really do believe that money grows on trees.

[Steely Dan]

So the census bureau released 2024 metro area estimates today, and they say Chicagoland reversed course last year and added ~71K people, with 40K of that in Cook County.

Which I guess is good from a PR and media narrative perspective, but we all know ridiculous CB estimates are.



But the best part is the Illinois Policy Institute's contortions to spin it negative, which basically boils down to:

"Well, like, ok....... so Chicagoland actually grew by 71 thousand people according to the census bureau....... but, but, but........ it was like...... all brown people...... so, ya know....... that's still not like......... good......... man."

https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chica...8k-since-2020/


What sad fucking clowns.

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Which I guess is good from a PR and media narrative perspective, but we all know ridiculous CB estimates

They also updated last years numbers to show growth.

The Census Bureau now says the Chicago metro area grew in each of the past two years. Previously, it estimated that the Chicago area lost 16,602 residents in 2023. The Census Bureau did not explain the revision.

According to Crain’s they have changed their methodology, although we don’t know how.

The Census Bureau said it is using new methodology that better estimates immigration, including humanitarian migrants, such as Venezuelan refugees.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by Garynewman

https://x.com/EricAbbenante/status/1895711070976618742

Rahm Emmanuel appeared on the Real Time with Bill Maher and scolded Johnson for his 6% approval rating and progressives for destroying Chicago and other blue cities. Really hope he runs for mayor again in 2027. We need common sense, moderate, democrat leadership back in power.

Rahm was an ok mayor and in another league compared to what we’ve had since but let’s not ignore his blatant opportunism. He loved playing lip service to progressive causes when he was mayor.

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by Garynewman

"Progressive causes" have doomed Chicago. How do you not see that after these past two mayors? Chicago peaked when it was ran by centrist, pro-business democrats (Daley/Rahm). Save the "progressive causes" for the national level, it always fails on a city level.

How do you not see that Daley and Rahm laid the foundation for our major problems today (high taxes, underfunded pensions, high crime)? You keep lauding their “pro-business” approach without acknowledging how they kicked the can down the road and gave us today’s financial reality.

Daley sold some of our greatest assets to balance the annual budget and started the concept of skipping pension payments. Rahm continued many of those bad financial practices and left with violence rates higher than when he entered.

They borrowed from today to build that “peak” Chicago. Now we are paying the bill, literally.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Garynewman

I wonder what the political response will be when DFW surpasses Chicagoland by the next census and Houston surpasses Chicago.

I doubt anything more than a shrug.

I mean, I don't remember any "political response" when the great Texas sprawl-a-thons surpassed Boston, Philly, and SF, and yet those places will forever remain 100x more "city" than anything in Texas.

Quality > quantity.

The only growth I'm interested in seeing in Chicagoland is in-fill densification. We don't need one single acre of more cornfield sprawl.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

How do you not see that Daley and Rahm laid the foundation for our major problems today (high taxes, underfunded pensions, high crime)? You keep lauding their “pro-business” approach without acknowledging how they kicked the can down the road and gave us today’s financial reality.

Daley sold some of our greatest assets to balance the annual budget and started the concept of skipping pension payments. Rahm continued many of those bad financial practices and left with violence rates higher than when he entered.

They borrowed from today to build that “peak” Chicago. Now we are paying the bill, literally.

While you have a point, it's not exactly as though Johnson is doing much of anything differently than previous mayors. The only difference is he went full throttle on identity politics and the progressive voters turned out to vote him in because we had a weak pool of candidates.

A true progressive would try to tackle some of these problems once and for all. Kicking the can down the road is the opposite of progressive as it will end up hurting the poor people in the city the most - Reduced public service, reduce police presence, reduce job opportunities, etc. etc.

Our problems could get fixed pretty easily in Chicago, we just choose not to address them because we constantly have just enough wiggle room to let problems slide. This is the same city that reversed the Chicago River over 100 years ago but somehow we can't manage our finances?

Give me a break......

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by twister244

While you have a point, it's not exactly as though Johnson is doing much of anything differently than previous mayors.

This is my entire point. He is doing pretty much the exact same things as Rahm and Daley, but for some reason we hear over and over again about how great those Mayors were for the city. I don't think any of them were/are particularly good.

Rahm is a master of self-marketing. If the Quantum Campus or 1901 Project were announced during his tenure, you better believe he would have been first in line to pat himself on the back for making it possible. Johnson and his admin are too inept to even communicate the wins they do have. I'm not saying he made those things happen (he didn't), but that wouldn't have stopped Rahm from taking credit.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

This is my entire point. He is doing pretty much the exact same things as Rahm and Daley, but for some reason we hear over and over again about how great those Mayors were for the city. I don't think any of them were/are particularly good.

Rahm is a master of self-marketing. If the Quantum Campus or 1901 Project were announced during his tenure, you better believe he would have been first in line to pat himself on the back for making it possible. Johnson and his admin are too inept to even communicate the wins they do have. I'm not saying he made those things happen (he didn't), but that wouldn't have stopped Rahm from taking credit.

I haven't followed the 1901 project, but the Quantum project is the brainchild of Pritzker - NOT Johnson. He can swoop in and attend ribbon cuttings, agreements being signed, etc, but it was Pritzker that has done a bunch of heavy lifting to:
1 - Get investors to agree to invest into an actual facility on the South Works site
2 - Get money into the state budget to support all of this.

This is the difference between Johnson and folks like Rahm/Pritzker. Yes, they engaged in dumb practices that are essentially also kicking the can down the road, but at least they know how to attract investment, give the city good press, and elevate our image.

[Steely Dan]

Rahm also had the stones to stand up to the CTU cretins.

Whereas BJ simply is a CTU cretin.

[ithakas]

Delete

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by twister244

I haven't followed the 1901 project, but the Quantum project is the brainchild of Pritzker - NOT Johnson. He can swoop in and attend ribbon cuttings, agreements being signed, etc, but it was Pritzker that has done a bunch of heavy lifting to:
1 - Get investors to agree to invest into an actual facility on the South Works site
2 - Get money into the state budget to support all of this.

Pritzker is absolutely responsible for gathering the funding and bringing the Quantum Campus to Illinois. But if you remember when that was happening, there were two sites under consideration, one in Lockport near Argonne and South Works.

Johnson should get a little credit for closing them on the South Works site. Your comment helps prove the point that even when he has a win, him and his office are completely incapable of properly communicating it to citizens.