CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[modkris]

To repeat I didn’t say nor do I think that crime is the worst ever in these areas. I only posted to 2019 because that’s all that was listed on the ABC 7 website. It doesn’t go back any further than that. People seem really defensive about this like you can’t say the situation is ridiculous. Also not everything is reported every time it happens today either. When I was chased down the street in Wicker Park a few months ago I didn’t even report it. It was late at night. I didn’t have a good description of the person because he was wearing a mask and a hoodie and he didn’t end up robbing me because I sprinted away as fast as I possibly could. And yes I agree there was no social media back in the day so I get that we hear about more things, but that doesn’t mean it’s not really happening now and that the recent uptick isn’t something of concern.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by modkris

To repeat I didn’t say nor do I think that crime is the worst ever in these areas. I only posted to 2019 because that’s all that was listed on the ABC 7 website. It doesn’t go back any further than that. People seem really defensive about this like you can’t say the situation is ridiculous. Also not everything is reported every time it happens today either. When I was chased down the street in Wicker Park a few months ago I didn’t even report it. It was late at night. I didn’t have a good description of the person because he was wearing a mask and a hoodie and he didn’t end up robbing me because I sprinted away as fast as I possibly could. And yes I agree there was no social media back in the day so I get that we hear about more things, but that doesn’t mean it’s not really happening now and that the recent uptick isn’t something of concern.

1) I specifically stated
"I can sympathize with people in those areas seeing the upticks. I think it sucks royally"

2) You are acting as if unreported crime is somehow magically new. It has been a thing for literally decades. And there is a study I've seen that unreported crime actually DECREASED 8 percentage points from 1994 to 2010. Even if it went back up 20 percentage points, the city still has less robbery than even 2010.

3) Here's the actual data going back to the late 90s for robbery for Logan Square (includes Bucktown) and West Town (Wicker Park)

1998: 1491
1999: 1233
2000: 1137
2001: 1312
2002: 1100
2003: 984
2004: 854
2005: 857
2006: 722
2007: 689
2008: 684
2009: 775
2010: 729
2011: 636
2012: 616
2013: 520
2014: 417
2015: 393
2016: 601
2017: 687
2018: 435
2019: 375
2020: 369
2021: 500
2022: 607
2023 (thru 10/3): 627 ...on track for 829

Murder:
1998: 37
1999: 29
2000: 26
2001: 35
2002: 25
2003: 38
2004: 23
2005: 15
2006: 15
2007: 13
2008: 16
2009: 18
2010: 5
2011: 5
2012: 8
2013: 12
2014: 12
2015: 12
2016: 14
2017: 10
2018: 12
2019: 9
2020: 16
2021: 17
2022: 18
2023: 4 (thru 10/10)


Thr robbery increases royally suck and back to mid 2000s level, but still way lower than the 90s. I think it sucks royally but this thought that it isn't better than the 90s deserves a big eye roll. Perception these days is guided by something else like ubiquitous 24 hour hyper local news.

[twister244]

Not sure if this counts as a Chicago current event - We are nearing the end of a Chicago icon - https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/...to-retire/amp/

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by twister244

Not sure if this counts as a Chicago current event - We are nearing the end of a Chicago icon - https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/...to-retire/amp/

damn, hope he's retiring to have fun and not due to poor health...

[urbanpln]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

damn, hope he's retiring to have fun and not due to poor health...

Same here, although I believe he's just ready to live out his days doing what he wants to do. I watched a clip on Youtube and he said he wanted to travel a little more, but he plans to stick around. He also referred to not having to meet job-related deadlines anymore.

[sentinel]

Fuck yes he will:

Pritzker says he would veto any Chicago financial transaction tax

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/poli...ransaction-tax

[Steely Dan]

Thank God there's an adult at home to babysit young little BJ.

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Thank God there's an adult at home to babysit young little BJ.

Yes, thank god that a bill that was never proposed, never written, never filed, and never had a chance of passing is now dead.

He just proposed a budget that didn't raise any taxes, which oddly didn't get talked about on this board, and people are still complaining about fake tax proposals.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

Yes, thank god that a bill that was never proposed, never written, never filed, and never had a chance of passing is now dead.

He just proposed a budget that didn't raise any taxes, which oddly didn't get talked about on this board, and people are still complaining about fake tax proposals.

that's because every once in a while Crain's or Bloomberg or somesuch runs a scare piece on things that could possibly happen.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

Yes, thank god that a bill that was never proposed, never written, never filed, and never had a chance of passing is now dead.

He just proposed a budget that didn't raise any taxes, which oddly didn't get talked about on this board, and people are still complaining about fake tax proposals.

Or maybe, I dunno, when running for an elected office, don't bring it up as a talking point with potential voters in the first place?

And yeah, his budget doesn't raise taxes. For now:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/polit...b5i-story.html

'From a political perspective, the budget fit Johnson’s progressive agenda, said pension expert Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. But sky-high corporate profits buoyed this year’s revenue stream, and they are projected to eventually return to normal levels, Martire said.

And when they do, Johnson’s campaign promise to not raise property taxes could lead to “very significant structural flaws” without new revenue, he said

“There’s no way to get there from here if ‘from here’ means current revenue streams,” Martire said about the long march to the mayor’s remaining progressive goals.'


Pritzker coming out and saying that he would veto any law (even if nothing was "proposed, never written, never filed, and never had a chance of passing", like you said) was clearly meant as a message to the BJ administration to pound sand.

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by sentinel

'From a political perspective, the budget fit Johnson’s progressive agenda, said pension expert Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. But sky-high corporate profits buoyed this year’s revenue stream, and they are projected to eventually return to normal levels, Martire said.

And when they do, Johnson’s campaign promise to not raise property taxes could lead to “very significant structural flaws” without new revenue, he said

“There’s no way to get there from here if ‘from here’ means current revenue streams,” Martire said about the long march to the mayor’s remaining progressive goals.'

These same people were saying two weeks ago that a large tax increase was coming. Maybe they don't know what they are talking about or have other motives?

Nobody knows what will happen to the economy over the next year. Meanwhile, there is no mention of nearly 20 TIFs expiring on 12/31/24. He doesn't acknowledge the casino. These both represent "new revenue" in the coming years.

Two years ago, it was sky-high income tax receipts that weren't sustainable, then it was pandemic funds expiring, now it is corporate tax receipts. It is another round of scare-mongering, while pushing doomsday out another year.

Originally Posted by sentinel

Pritzker coming out and saying that he would veto any law (even if nothing was "proposed, never written, never filed, and never had a chance of passing", like you said) was clearly meant as a message to the BJ administration to pound sand.

He was explicitly asked about it in an interview, so he answered. His first response was to point out that it doesn't exist:

Let me be clear, there is no financial transactions tax on the table, period

I don't see how it was "clearly a message to pound sand." It seems like he just answered a loaded question.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Fuck yes he will:

Pritzker says he would veto any Chicago financial transaction tax

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/poli...ransaction-tax

He literally told this to BJ in their first ever meeting. I don't know why Crains kept writing articles about CME as if he never said it. They're fucking idiots stirring up shit.

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by marothisu

He literally told this to BJ in their first ever meeting. I don't know why Crains kept writing articles about CME as if he never said it. They're fucking idiots stirring up shit.

Meanwhile, we had a budget with no tax increases and a bond rating upgrade from Fitch.

The analysis by Fitch said the rating upgrade “is driven by a decline in the city’s long-term liability burden stemming from steady growth in the economic resource base and improved debt management practices.”

BJ has bungled the migrant issue with poor staffing, no larger plan, and bad communication. On the other hand, the two things people talked about the most during the campaign were violence and the budget/taxes. He has done very well on those two measures. It's hard for people to know these facts as we are being fed multiple articles about non-existent tax increases.

[Emprise du Lion]

Speaking of Chicago's migrant problem, the International Institute of St. Louis is offering to help:

St. Louis groups seek to resettle Chicago migrants to boost workforce and population

Funded primarily by donations, one program would provide housing for up to three months, job placement by local unions and assistance from immigration lawyers.

By Esther Yoon-Ji Kang
Oct 18, 2023, 6:00am CT

As the city of Chicago scrambles to shelter and find solutions for thousands of migrants who need housing and jobs, groups in St. Louis are looking to relocate some of those asylum-seekers to their town, modeling the program after similar ones it did with Afghan refugees in recent years.

The nonprofit International Institute of St. Louis is partnering with unions and philanthropic leaders to resettle hundreds — if not thousands — of Latin American migrants in their city. The goal is to bolster St. Louis’s workforce and stem its population decline.

“It could be the potential for a great relationship between both cities,” said Karlos Ramirez, vice president of Latino outreach for the International Institute. “If the [migrants] are going to be in a better place, St. Louis is going to be in a better place, and Chicago is going to be in a better place, I think everybody wins.”

The program would be funded primarily by private donors. It would provide housing for up to three months, cell phones, apprenticeship programs and job placement by local unions, and assistance from immigration lawyers, Ramirez said.

He added that St. Louis officials are “very much in line and on board with this initiative,” pointing to Mayor Tishaura Jones recently creating an Office of New Americans.

Remainder of the article is here.

The International Institute of St. Louis most recently assisted with the resettling of approximately 2,000 Afghan refugees, and they also assisted with the resettlement of the Bosnians in the 90s.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

Meanwhile, we had a budget with no tax increases and a bond rating upgrade from Fitch.



BJ has bungled the migrant issue with poor staffing, no larger plan, and bad communication. On the other hand, the two things people talked about the most during the campaign were violence and the budget/taxes. He has done very well on those two measures. It's hard for people to know these facts as we are being fed multiple articles about non-existent tax increases.

The last 2 months is the lowest number of murders since 2014. We'll see how the rest of the year ends up. Even though robberies are increasing from historical lows and back to pre pandemic in a way, I would absolutely love to see those numbers drop too just like homicides did (no idea why) starting sometime in August.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by Emprise du Lion

Speaking of Chicago's migrant problem, the International Institute of St. Louis is offering to help:

If we were smart, we would keep all the migrants, in order to foster a new immigrant community that will eventually send for their friends and family members to come up to the city. Chicago needs a new and growing immigrant community to help make up for losses in working class white and black communities that are still bleeding population to the suburbs or outside the metro area. Especially when considering our traditional sources of immigration (Eastern Europe and Mexico) have been drying up the last few decades. South Americans want to come here, so lets make that as easy as possible for them!

[streetline]

It looks like the federal government is making a $45B push for converting transit accessible offices to residential:

https://www.morningstar.com/news/mar...fices-to-homes

With the signs that Mayor Johnson might be balancing his budget using TIF surpluses, including from the LaSalle Street TIF that Mayor Lightfoot was going to use to subsidize that sort of project on LaSalle Street, this might help provide what's needed to keep those projects going.

And since one part of the plan is to have the government "draw up a public list of buildings it owns that could be made available for sale", I can even dream of the Century and Consumers buildings getting sold and redeveloped rather than demolished. I know it's unlikely, given how far the plan to tear them down has progressed, but I can dream.

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by left of center

If we were smart, we would keep all the migrants, in order to foster a new immigrant community that will eventually send for their friends and family members to come up to the city. Chicago needs a new and growing immigrant community to help make up for losses in working class white and black communities that are still bleeding population to the suburbs or outside the metro area. Especially when considering our traditional sources of immigration (Eastern Europe and Mexico) have been drying up the last few decades. South Americans want to come here, so lets make that as easy as possible for them!

Refugee resettlement is another consideration for Chicago and Illinois generally, especially if the U.S. numbers increase to their totals from years past (25,465 in fiscal '22, but oner 100,000 annually in the early to mid '90s). Some parts of the country have made an effort to attract people through this means. And it might be especially helpful to some of the smaller cities in the state. The Quad Cities has an office of World Relief which expects an additional 565 refugees this fiscal year, covering both sides of the border. I am not aware of much activity in Central IL, but that would seem a logical place to grow a program

https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/l...a-new-qc-home/

[Steely Dan]

Well, Ramirez-Rosa is out from zoning!

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa resigns as Zoning chair and mayor’s City Council floor leader
On Friday, Ramirez-Rosa was frantically trying to persuade alderpersons not to enter the Council chambers to prevent Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) and Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) from reaching a quorum they needed to continue a specal Council meeting.
By Fran Spielman Updated Nov 6, 2023, 7:42am CST


Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) is resigning from his posts as chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee and as Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Council floor leader, a decision coming just days after being accused of “manhandling” the Council’s longest-serving Black woman.

“Because the position of Floor Leader especially requires the confidence of our colleagues, and because through my actions I lost that confidence, I have informed the mayor that I will be stepping down from that position. Furthermore, I am resigning as Chair of the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks, and Building Standards effective December 1st, to allow time for an effective transition,” Ramirez-Rosa said in a statement.

“I cannot take away the mistakes I made last week. But I hope to be able to rebuild the trust we have in each other as we move forward as a Council that addresses the important issues impacting Chicago."

Source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-ha...randon-johnson

[pip]

^From our SSP perspective is that good news?