CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ Yeah it just goes back to what I said earlier about Chicago having a less pretentious dining culture. Honestly while accolades like James Beard Awards and Michelin ratings are great and all for city vs city pissing matches, I'm actually interested in what actual innovation is happening and on what scale. From that perspective Chicago hasn't slowed a bit with interesting establishments popping up all over the place including in former backwaters like Bridgeport, Pilsen, Little Village/Tri Taylor, etc. Sometimes these places get a Michelin Star, sometimes they don't. I don't really care.

L20 was great, so was Charlie Trotters, but those aren't what make Chicago interesting. Frankly I'm more interested in the origins of the Kronos Gyro, the hotdog, italian beef, etc. in Chicago's working class past than I am in the fact that a restaurant closed because the proprietor died.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ I don't think the 'ideological fight' thing has any legs to it.

The CTU stuff is really just a distraction. The real issue here is NIMBYism. Everybody knows that if this project didn't have a champion like Rahm, that nothing remotely of this scale will be built.

Now sure, we all agree that the plan is greatly flawed--the lack of transit access and road access, and the city is dropping the ball by not pushing for that.

But lets not kid ourselves--if we let Rahm's tenure lapse before approving a project of this scale, it's almost certain that this project will be ripped to shreds by hyenas when turned over to the NIMBYs and their every little demand; something certain to happen with a newer administration. We'd likely end up getting townhomes on cul-de-sacs and perhaps a grocery store.

Despite a lot of fear-mongering, there’s little reason to believe that big projects won’t get approved after Rahm. Calculus will change, and concessions may increase and/or shift, but profitable megadevelopments - even in a location as politically tricky as LY’s - will still be planned and move forward - maybe with better planning results....hopefully much better.

[ardecila]

Well, we'll have to see what happens with One Central Station.

It's not requesting a TIF, as far as I can tell, so it doesn't "steal" from CPS or any other taxing bodies. The only opposition will come from South Loop NIMBYs and left-wing socialist types who just can't stand the idea of anybody making money. Hopefully Mayor Lightfoot will push that one through after the usual rounds of proposals and concessions.

[BonoboZill4]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Well, we'll have to see what happens with One Central Station.

It's not requesting a TIF, as far as I can tell, so it doesn't "steal" from CPS or any other taxing bodies. The only opposition will come from South Loop NIMBYs and left-wing socialist types who just can't stand the idea of anybody making money. Hopefully Mayor Lightfoot will push that one through after the usual rounds of proposals and concessions.

I'm confident Lightfoot will end up being more developer and business friendly than Preckwinkle, so at least we are getting the better one. Not perfect, but I would have been depressed at the thought of getting someone as pathetic as Toni

[skysoar]

Originally Posted by BonoboZill4

I'm confident Lightfoot will end up being more developer and business friendly than Preckwinkle, so at least we are getting the better one. Not perfect, but I would have been depressed at the thought of getting someone as pathetic as Toni

The election is April 2, did I miss something. What makes you think Lightfoot is more business friendly .What is her known position on LY, 78, etc. Ironically yesterday while Lightfoot was at an endorsement with one of her State political allies, whining about someone outing her sexual preference , which is already known, Preckwinkle was at a business center speaking on how to improve investment in small business...hmm, sometimes the devil you know..

[Skyguy_7]

Originally Posted by BonoboZill4

I'm confident Lightfoot will end up being more developer and business friendly than Preckwinkle, so at least we are getting the better one. Not perfect, but I would have been depressed at the thought of getting someone as pathetic as Toni

I'm of the same opinion and still can't believe Taxwinkle is even in the conversation right now. She is disgusting.

[Vlajos]

I don't think either are good options for a city on the brink of insolvency. However Prekwinkle is backed by the public employee unions and is unlikely to cut pay and benefits which must be done. Also, Prekwinkle has proven she loves taxes with the soda tax and bait and switch on the sales tax. She has also come out in favor of rent control.

I can't support Prekwinkle in any way. So it's Lightfoot, though she will likely be a one termer with recession around the corner.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by skysoar

The election is April 2, did I miss something.

there are two post-election polls that i know of so far.

both of them show lightfoot crushing preckwinkle.

i don't think there's much hope for preckwinkle to overcome the burke taint.

unless something major happens in the next 3 weeks, lori's got this in the bag.



run-off polls:

Jason McGrath - lightfoot 59% - preckwinkle 29%

FM3 - lightfoot 58% - preckwinkle 30%

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_C...ection#Polling




speaking of polling, i actually got to participate in one yesterday. i almost never answer unknown phone numbers, but i thought it was my kids' daycare calling me so i answered it, but it turns out it was an election pollster. i got to register my "very strong support" for lightfoot as a "very likely to vote registered voter".

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by skysoar

The election is April 2, did I miss something. What makes you think Lightfoot is more business friendly .What is her known position on LY, 78, etc. Ironically yesterday while Lightfoot was at an endorsement with one of her State political allies, whining about someone outing her sexual preference , which is already known, Preckwinkle was at a business center speaking on how to improve investment in small business...hmm, sometimes the devil you know..

Prewinkle said "I think it's very brave of Lightfoot to run as an outed lesbian" or something along those lines which sounded an awful lot like a dogwhistle to point out her gender orientation to conservative African Americans or Hispanics or whites on the NW or SW sides. I normally don't go for the political correctness thing, but that one was pretty obvious on Bigotwinkle's part...

I mean why bring it up at all? Her orientation should have nothing to do with the race either positively or negatively. When asked what she admires most about her opponent during a televised debate her response was basically "that she's a lesbian"... I mean wtf is that? You couldn't have just spit out some generic canned response about he being willing to work as civil servant or something?

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/lo...lesbian-lgbtq/

[Steely Dan]

in case anyone needs another reason to support lightfoot, here are some recent quotes of hers:


“There is no doubt in my mind that in the coming days, and weeks at the most, we’re going to see a series of indictments that come down from my former colleagues at the U.S. attorney’s office and it is going to center around this issue of aldermanic prerogative. We need to be on the right side of history on this issue.”

“No alderman should have that kind of power where people feel like the only way that they can get basic city services and get business done in a ward is to kiss the ring of the alderman. That’s fundamentally the problem. That is corrosive and again, if I’m lucky enough to be the next mayor, I’m going to drive a stake through the heart of that."


Go get 'em, Lori!

[Tom In Chicago]

^I like it. . .

. . .

[the urban politician]

Yeah Lightfoot is miles ahead of Preckwinkle as a Mayoral choice.

However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say she would be a pro-business Mayor. I just think she would be less anti-business than Preckwinkle.

And don’t assume she won anything. We don’t want complacency to stop people from voting!

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Yeah Lightfoot is miles ahead of Preckwinkle as a Mayoral choice.

However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say she would be a pro-business Mayor. I just think she would be less anti-business than Preckwinkle.

And don’t assume she won anything. We don’t want complacency to stop people from voting!

I don't think we need a pro business mayor at all which is why I wasn't all over Daley to begin with. We need a pro-fairness mayor and that, more than anything, will go a long ways towards making the business environment here better.

Let's face it, the current city structure is already pro business, you can buy off an alderman at any time and get whatever you need. But that's only pro business in the sense that it let's them do whatever the F they want. That's not necessarily a good thing and the contrived, inaccessible, system unfairly benefits those with the clout and wherewithal to navigate it over small businesses.

Think of how much time and money is collectively wasted city wide just trying to navigate building code cases sic'd on owners who piss off aldermen or minor zoning changes where you must kiss the ring? Think of how much damage is done when an alderman can just downzone or upzone property at will without regard for whether it's actually good policy. These things need to stop and, even if Lightfoot is a ways left of center, just stopping these abuses will make the entire city a more appealing place to invest. This is particularly true for outsiders who, rightfully so, view our city as a festering sore of corruption and clout mongering, a market that's not even worth trying to enter.

[BonoboZill4]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Yeah Lightfoot is miles ahead of Preckwinkle as a Mayoral choice.

However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say she would be a pro-business Mayor. I just think she would be less anti-business than Preckwinkle.

And don’t assume she won anything. We don’t want complacency to stop people from voting!

True, still need to do the duty. And yeah, she's no Rahm when it comes to pro-business, but we can't win'em all I guess :/

[DePaul Bunyan]

Originally Posted by BonoboZill4

True, still need to do the duty. And yeah, she's no Rahm when it comes to pro-business, but we can't win'em all I guess :/

Honestly going after aldermanic prerogative and neutering the city council in that regard would be a huge boon for businesses, particularly small (like independent proprietors) businesses. It would remove a bureaucratic stumbling block and a hidden, extra layer of cost (corruption is expensive). And Lightfoot is fairly pragmatic, if there was an honest cost-benefit analysis and/or contractual guarantees (taxpayers recoup their investment with interest for entities that don't follow through) on the part of private entities seeking public funds or assets that the taxpayers come out on top of, she's not going to oppose that on ideological grounds. If a developer offers improvements to public infrastructure or goes above and beyond the legal requirements for affordable housing then there should be reasonable accommodations and set-asides on the part of the city.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

in case anyone needs another reason to support lightfoot, here are some recent quotes of hers:


“There is no doubt in my mind that in the coming days, and weeks at the most, we’re going to see a series of indictments that come down from my former colleagues at the U.S. attorney’s office and it is going to center around this issue of aldermanic prerogative. We need to be on the right side of history on this issue.”

“No alderman should have that kind of power where people feel like the only way that they can get basic city services and get business done in a ward is to kiss the ring of the alderman. That’s fundamentally the problem. That is corrosive and again, if I’m lucky enough to be the next mayor, I’m going to drive a stake through the heart of that."


Go get 'em, Lori!

And here I thought that this choice couldn’t possibly get clearer....

Is it conceivable that Chicago might possibly be ready for a real reform mayor?!
Might just be a confluence of a whole bunch of factors that are swelling to finally bring this about, but whatever the circumstances, I’ll happily take it.

And, no, I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch. Be on the lookout for dirty tricks in the next couple weeks.

This would be an historic departure. Rahm was a fake reformer. That was crystallized in me since his second year in office. He did not set the stage for a period of reform either - despite silly spin to that effect that you’ll no doubt encounter down the road should this actually pan out (unless it were to come to light that he is secretly cooperating with this expansive federal public corruption probe - a possibility I actually do not completely discount).

[Vlajos]

I've noticed that all the democratic socialist candidates seem to support Prekwinkle. If you want a city income tax, a "LaSalle Street" tax and rent control, by all means vote for Toni, Matt Martin, Rosanna Rodriguez, Andre Vazquez, Marianne Lalonde and Ramirez Rosa. Does anyone really think CTU gives a shit about anything other than its members pay check and benefits? It has endorsed all the candidates above.

If you want to the city to grow and prosper, vote against each and every one of these idiots.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

This would be an historic departure. Rahm was a fake reformer.

A strong case could be made that Rahm was a financial reformer (tying tax increases directly to pensions, closing under-utilized schools, negotiating with CTU). Lightfoot seems to be focused more on corruption.

This seems like the ideal order for me. Rahm came in and steadied finances and improved the business environment. Lightfoot can follow by improving the political environment through reforms.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

I've noticed that all the democratic socialist candidates seem to support Prekwinkle. If you want a city income tax, a "LaSalle Street" tax and rent control, by all means vote for Toni, Matt Martin, Rosanna Rodriguez, Andre Vazquez, Marianne Lalonde and Ramirez Rosa. Does anyone really think CTU gives a shit about anything other than its members pay check and benefits? It has endorsed all the candidates above.

If you want to the city to grow and prosper, vote against each and every one of these idiots.

Yep, and what I love about Rosa and Guzzardi is that those idiots got EVICTED for not paying rent. What a bunch of losers. I'd love to know what their credit score is.

I'm sure their answer would be that credit scores are EVIL. I should not be judged on my past behavior, that's a violation of my civil rights!

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by moorhosj

A strong case could be made that Rahm was a financial reformer (tying tax increases directly to pensions, closing under-utilized schools, negotiating with CTU). Lightfoot seems to be focused more on corruption.

This seems like the ideal order for me. Rahm came in and steadied finances and improved the business environment. Lightfoot can follow by improving the political environment through reforms.

Agreed.

Rahm pissed off a lot of people when he correctly closed all of those nearly vacant schools. Sure there was a lot else he didn't reform, but that was a bold move for sure.