CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[Halsted & Villagio]

Originally Posted by ardecila

He could turn it around, but he won't. He's lost the support of City Council permanently (outside of a few loyalists) and he will be stonewalled for the remainder of his term. He could mend those relationships with a lot of effort, but he has shown himself to be too proud and stubborn for something like that. It will be the 80s Council Wars all over again, except this time you can't point to racism as the underlying cause.

This election will probably lock in a group of officials (school board, state's attorney, etc) who will refuse to work with him at all.

That's a shame, because the problems our city is facing will only get worse over the next few years without an effective mayor on the 5th floor. Failing public transit, businesses closing, record homelessness. The only thing we can look forward to is maybe the state lege reforming public transit and yoinking CTA out of the mayor's control.

Good post. But like I said, it's not over till it's over though. Uphill climb though it may be, it is still not impossible for him to do it. For me, the biggest thing that I personally felt Chicago was facing was crime -- and the perception thereof, and that it had gotten out of control.

The Trib is no fan of BJ, but even it recently published an article showing that homicides are down:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/...revious-years/

The man has done a few things right. That said, if I had to cast my vote today, that vote would be a strong "NO" to a second term for him... and I speak for many friends and family in feeling that way. It has clearly been a bumpy ride... the ride of a novice. That said, there are a small few who still support him -- siting the long-range vision that he has, the fact that they wanted him to shake things up, and that they hoped he would lower crime - which has managed to do.

My sister, however, hates the guy. Like, truly hates him. I am not at that point yet. At this point I would not vote for him but, for the good of Chicago, I am still hoping that he can manage to pull his head out of his arse and pull it together.

One thing he does have a bit of - charm. Unlike someone with the personality of a ham sandwich, if you can get someone with charm and charisma humbled and properly focused, they can manage to turn it around.

Thats a big "if" though....

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Halsted & Villagio

Good post. But like I said, it's not over till it's over though. Uphill climb though it may be, it is still not impossible for him to do it. For me, the biggest thing that I personally felt Chicago was facing was crime -- and the perception thereof, and that it had gotten out of control.

The Trib is no fan of BJ, but even it recently published an article showing that homicides are down:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/...revious-years/

The man has done a few things right. That said, if I had to cast my vote today, that vote would be a strong "NO" to a second term for him... and I speak for many friends and family in feeling that way. It has clearly been a bumpy ride... the ride of a novice. That said, there are a small few who still support him -- siting the long-range vision that he has, the fact that they wanted him to shake things up, and that they hoped he would lower crime - which has managed to do.

My sister, however, hates the guy. Like, truly hates him. I am not at that point yet. At this point I would not vote for him but, for the good of Chicago, I am still hoping that he can manage to pull his head out of his arse and pull it together.

One thing he does have a bit of - charm. Unlike someone with the personality of a ham sandwich, if you can get someone with charm and charisma humbled and properly focused, they can manage to turn it around.

I believe you are giving him far too much credit for the reduction in crime, which began before he was even in office.

[Halsted & Villagio]

Originally Posted by sentinel

I believe you are giving him far too much credit for the reduction in crime, which began before he was even in office.

I sited the article but for me, it's more what I see. I see the boots on the ground in the community unlike I have ever seen before. And because I spend a lot of time on the road, flying around the country, I rarely hear "Chicago" and "crime" being brought up these days. That subtle change in perception is good for Chicago.

I think he deserves a little credit there. I get it, people don't like him. But that does mean we have to lose all objectivity. Admitting that what he is doing on crime may... just may be good... will still not get him re-elected.

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by sentinel

I believe you are giving him far too much credit for the reduction in crime, which began before he was even in office.

To be fair, if crime was up, it would certainly be held against him. In my mind, it is the one positive thing he's done. The "Cut the Tape" initiative would be a second, if that makes it through.

I think his rhetoric is far worse than his policies, but he needs a quick course-correction or it will be a complete slog the next 2+ years. Unfortunately, I'm not sure he is capable of that correction as he seems pretty dug in.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

To be fair, if crime was up, it would certainly be held against him. In my mind, it is the one positive thing he's done. The "Cut the Tape" initiative would be a second, if that makes it through.

I think his rhetoric is far worse than his policies, but he needs a quick course-correction or it will be a complete slog the next 2+ years. Unfortunately, I'm not sure he is capable of that correction as he seems pretty dug in.

While he says stupid shit, his policies are also garbage. It would be one thing if he went on his rants, but he's been a CTU stooge in every sense with policy. Not to mention he was completely on board with spending taxpayer dollars for a new Bears stadium until Pritzker shot him down.

[Halsted & Villagio]

We all have our issues.... the things that we truly care about. For me, it is crime. The increase in property tax issue did not rankle me too much but that's me. My thing - crime.

My first job out of law school was working briefly as a Public Defender before moving on to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office back before Kim Foxx - back when cracking down on crime and enforcing the law meant something. Not overzealous but fair... simply enforce what the law requires! These days I guess I would be considered "old school" that way. We now have a convicted felon for President (something I thought I would never see).... so yes... I guess I am old school.

My point is, I made my bones as a State's Attorney where I got much needed courtroom experience before moving on to private practice and other areas of a law. But I will never forget my days as an ASA and I carry them with me even now. States Attorneys and Police are synonymous - we are, essentially, cops... just in a different form.

Enter Kwame Raoul... a personal friend of mine. When I was a young State's Attorney, he was like a mentor to me... and our friendship grew from there. I have immense respect for the man and his integrity. If he is now saying that Mayor Johnson is on the wrong track with his Police reform budget cuts, then I believe it. Granted, I do believe in reform. If something is broken, then doing more of the same thing over and over is NOT a solution. But my view is, do the reform... but keep the Police force happily paid and fully stocked. It should never be one.... at the expense of the other.

I take everything I read from the Trib/SunTimes/Crains with a grain of salt - knowing that the written word is often skewed from the prism of those doing the writing. But when somebody I know and trust is ringing this alarm bell, that passes my own credibility/believability test.

This is unacceptable. Mayor Johnson is on the wrong track. He is trying to hit home runs without hitting singles and doubles. Every good batting lineup has both. He needs to build consensus and build up to the home run by getting men on base first, drive in a few runs, then maybe go for the homerun or even the grand slam. Analogy in short - its a process. And you can't go for it all without taking care of the basic things first - such as keeping our Police force paid well and fully stocked.

He is looking more and more like an unmitigated disaster.............

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Halsted & Villagio

We all have our issues.... the things that we truly care about. For me, it is crime. The increase in property tax issue did not rankle me too much but that's me. My thing - crime.

My first job out of law school was working briefly as a Public Defender before moving on to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office back before Kim Foxx - back when cracking down on crime and enforcing the law meant something. Not overzealous but fair... simply enforce what the law requires! These days I guess I would be considered "old school" that way. We now have a convicted felon for President (something I thought I would never see).... so yes... I guess I am old school.

My point is, I made my bones as a State's Attorney where I got much needed courtroom experience before moving on to private practice and other areas of a law. But I will never forget my days as an ASA and I carry them with me even now. States Attorneys and Police are synonymous - we are, essentially, cops... just in a different form.

Enter Kwame Raoul... a personal friend of mine. When I was a young State's Attorney, he was like a mentor to me... and our friendship grew from there. I have immense respect for the man and his integrity. If he is now saying that Mayor Johnson is on the wrong track with his Police reform budget cuts, then I believe it. Granted, I do believe in reform. If something is broken, then doing more of the same thing over and over is NOT a solution. But my view is, do the reform... but keep the Police force happily paid and fully stocked. It should never be one.... at the expense of the other.

I take everything I read from the Trib/SunTimes/Crains with a grain of salt - knowing that the written word is often skewed from the prism of those doing the writing. But when somebody I know and trust is ringing this alarm bell, that passes my own credibility/believability test.

This is unacceptable. Mayor Johnson is on the wrong track. He is trying to hit home runs without hitting singles and doubles. Every good batting lineup has both. He needs to build consensus and build up to the home run by getting men on base first, drive in a few runs, then maybe go for the homerun or even the grand slam. Analogy in short - its a process. And you can't go for it all without taking care of the basic things first - such as keeping our Police force paid well and fully stocked.

He is looking more and more like an unmitigated disaster.............

Thank you for providing a thoughtful and meaningful response. I think it's great having input like this from folks like you who are 'in the trenches' and understand how things work behind the scenes.

Your statement above that I emphasized in bold, about Foxx...I cannot get it out of my mind now; simple but her tenure has had profound implications, for worse.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by Halsted & Villagio

Enter Kwame Raoul... a personal friend of mine. When I was a young State's Attorney, he was like a mentor to me... and our friendship grew from there. I have immense respect for the man and his integrity.

Not that it matters, but I'm just here to register my strong disagreement with this Pro-Raoul propoganda.

I too have personal experiences with him from his time at the City Colleges and the word 'integrity' does not describe him, as he abetted flagrantly racist hiring practices and retaliatory actions in his role as an attorney.

Doesn't mean he's right or wrong about the consent degree or police budget, I just feel so strongly about Raoul and a sense of embarassment that he's our Attorney General that I felt it necessary to post.

[aaron38]

This one graphic explains why Illinois is such a financial mess
https://wirepoints.org/this-one-grap...ss-wirepoints/

[LouisVanDerWright]

No posts about Samantha Steeles DUI and drunken racist berating of an Asian officer for having "a small dick"?

You know, Fritz Kagei's one vote on the Board of Review tasked with preventing anyone from getting a fair shake.

Yet another grossly corrupt and incompetent politician at the helm of this city. It's getting increasingly difficult to justify remaining here. The negligence is gross and it's to the point of disaster. There's a massive wave of demolitions happening to loft buildings right now because of Kagei's incompetence and meanwhile his plant on the Board is rolling around town wasted with a half drank bottle of wine in her car. Does she apologize? No. Will she resign? No.

Oh and BTW it turns out she is also on the board of review for Lake County Indiana. Something she did not disclose to cook county as required. She's over employed and working two jobs. Only showed up at 55% of the Lake County Board meetings last year. How is she possibly paying attention to the mess of cases Fritz is creating in Cook County while also doing double duty in NW Indiana?

She's not. This whole city is run by clowns. The FBI needs to come in and round the whole lot of them up again.

[Halsted & Villagio]

I did not vote for him btw. But once elected, I believed the man deserved a chance to prove himself. He is showing the hubris of a novice combined with the vision of a dreamer. Mind you, vision can be a good thing but it has to be grounded in practicality when you serve as Mayor with budget constraints and have citizens that need Police protection. This is one of those singles that has to be hit. Police reform budget cuts have no place in or around our Police force.

[Steely Dan]

LOL! 🤣

The city council voted 50 to 0 to shoot down Mayor McMoron's proposed $300M property tax increase!!!


"You'll get nothing and like it"

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

LOL! ������

The city council voted 50 to 0 to shoot down Mayor McMoron's proposed $300M property tax increase!!!


"You'll get nothing and like it"

It's clear that he has absolutely no support in City Council, and by extension, the rest of City government is giving a big fuck you to the CTU, which is appropriate.
I fully support unions and union workers who need protection from employers that would easily exploit them otherwise. But the CTU is different because they cannot see the forest through the trees, or refuse to because of inconvenience.
Chicago's population is stagnant, schools with a fraction of the number of students from even 10 years ago should be closed, mothballed, etc. If the population rises again and there is need for schools, then so be it. But new school construction may also be relatively cheaper than renovating school buildings that are 50-60+ years old; the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and interior renovation work alone is far too cost-prohibitive in older buildings...sell those buildings to private residential developers, or create public-private partnerships to do the same and reap the money for the benefit of taxpayers. A pipe-dream perhaps, but it's realistic and there is precedent.

At this point, Johnson has no mandate, and he really REALLY needs to start from scratch...and if he can't, I hope he's smart enough to resign, because he's not going to be able to get anything done by the time of the next mayoral election.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by sentinel

At this point, Johnson has no mandate, and he really REALLY needs to start from scratch...and if he can't, I hope he's smart enough to resign, because he's not going to be able to get anything done by the time of the next mayoral election.

Politicians with his kind of "type A" arrogance never resign.

NEVER.


He either dies in office for some reason or our city has 2.5 more years to suffer through his gross incompetence.

[twister244]

Yeah, It sucks we have this mayor, but very very happy our Alderman are giving him a big FU middle finger right now.

That shows you how bad our mayor is when every single Alderman votes against his proposed budget.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

Ditto. Not as tall, but the old design was way more interesting.

Maybe it's a placeholder design, and Sterling Bay is hoping to upzone and then sell?

Yes, Sterling Bay is borderline insolvent having bet the farm on office buildings all over the place. Lincoln Yards is a total disaster for them with the current entitlements worth $0 and the Home Depot tower fully vacant.

Dark days for development in Chicago and the city in general. Not only is the current mayor a nincompoop, but the assessor is wildly incompetent and his stoogette on the board of review just got rolled up by CPD for driving totally wasted with half a bottle of red wine belted into the passenger seat after sideswiping a bunch of cars on Ashland.

It is absurd that people like this are in control of serious business like tax assessments and the whole city for that matter, but it's also incredibly damaging to the business environment here. The fact is no one is building because there's zero certainly about what the laws will be or even whether the assessor will just triple your taxes without warning.

Unfortunately it's gotten so bad that businesses are actively demolishing old buildings to escape the tax bill. Ozinga is about to take down a big loft building by their plant on Cermak that's currently full of artists because Kagei juiced their tax bill. Easy peasy, kick the artists out, flatten the historic buildings, use it for concrete truck parking. They are gonna need it for all their trucks to sit idle on while we build nothing for the next three years until all these "progressives" get the boot.

Really depressing TBH, but what do you expect. Shame on anyone in this forum who voted for any of these clowns.

[mh777]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Yes, Sterling Bay is borderline insolvent having bet the farm on office buildings all over the place. Lincoln Yards is a total disaster for them with the current entitlements worth $0 and the Home Depot tower fully vacant.

Dark days for development in Chicago and the city in general. Not only is the current mayor a nincompoop, but the assessor is wildly incompetent and his stoogette on the board of review just got rolled up by CPD for driving totally wasted with half a bottle of red wine belted into the passenger seat after sideswiping a bunch of cars on Ashland.

It is absurd that people like this are in control of serious business like tax assessments and the whole city for that matter, but it's also incredibly damaging to the business environment here. The fact is no one is building because there's zero certainly about what the laws will be or even whether the assessor will just triple your taxes without warning.

Unfortunately it's gotten so bad that businesses are actively demolishing old buildings to escape the tax bill. Ozinga is about to take down a big loft building by their plant on Cermak that's currently full of artists because Kagei juiced their tax bill. Easy peasy, kick the artists out, flatten the historic buildings, use it for concrete truck parking. They are gonna need it for all their trucks to sit idle on while we build nothing for the next three years until all these "progressives" get the boot.

Really depressing TBH, but what do you expect. Shame on anyone in this forum who voted for any of these clowns.

Well said. A perfect explanation of today’s development picture.

[sentinel]

I’ve noticed nothing but crickets from Johnson’s past supporters in this forum, which says a lot.

Kaegi is the idiot kid in the front of the grade school class who asks the teacher about the additional homework they forgot they mentioned at the beginning of class.

The only current silver lining in Chicago/Cook politics is that Kim Foxx is GONE. Hopefully, there will now be the slightest amount of accountability for serious criminal activity in the area.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by sentinel

I’ve noticed nothing but crickets from Johnson’s past supporters in this forum, which says a lot.

Because we live(d) in an era where anyone who dared not tow certain political party lines were cast out as Republicans. This is exactly what happened to Paul Vallas....... He probably leaned right in some ways, but because of tribal politics, he was dismissed by swaths of progressives/liberals in the city.

And I say live(d) as I feel like the tides have shifted after this past month..... Hopefully more people decide to speak up more next time we have a candidate that doesn't adhere to rigid political ideologies.....

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by sentinel

I’ve noticed nothing but crickets from Johnson’s past supporters in this forum, which says a lot.

Well, with an utterly abysmal approval rating of only 14% (LOL!!!), I think we can safely say that a significant percentage of BJ's past supporters can now be accurately recast as ex-supporters.


Candid and quiet admission from our lefty neighbors over dinner the other night: "we regret voting for him".


I mean, unless you're some higher-up in the CTU, who actually would still support this useless clown?

Even his own progressive caucus allies on the council gave him the middle finger over the property tax hike debacle. And he then had the bewildering and totally counter-productive gaul to publicly demonize them as toddlers throwing a tantrum after that epic 50 - 0 bitch-slap.

Dude is beyond tone-deaf.