CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

I dunno, it's kind of like the no-fly list, an opaque thing that people can get on without their knowledge and it makes their life miserable. I wouldn't be surprised if CPD didn't use the utmost discretion when deciding who is on it...

I agree that a gang list would be a useful tool if it were properly maintained and accurate, or even some sort of probabilistic model (e.g. "the urban politician has a 0.5% chance of being associated with gang activity"), but it could be that it has turned into a tool to harass people.

Right. I'm sure the list has value, but I don't doubt people who have no hard connections to gang activity end up on the list solely because they rubbed an officer or CPD affiliate the wrong way. Many probably end up on it because of suspected or recorded history of criminal activity. It's a knee-jerk reaction to assume Preckwinkle is racist. The real question is why isn't Mob boss Madigan on the list...

On another note, JB was sworn in today. During his address he said he wanted Illinois to be the "fastest growing big state economy in the US". Lets see how this plays out.

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ Rent control and financial services taxes won't get us there...

[Vlajos]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...115-story.html

“We intend to bargain hard,” Sharkey said. “We intend to bring both our allies and our members into a fight for the schools that our students deserve. We’re going to support a new mayor to the extent they do the right thing by our schools, and we’re going to act independently of them and fight them to the extent they don’t.”

A union spokeswoman said the CTU had not fully tabulated the cost of its demands, but labor group leaders acknowledged its proposals would require a significant amount of additional spending.

These folks are simply nuts. We can hardly pay for the past demands of CTU. But they're getting more money from "rich people".

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ With an average salary of nearly double the median personal income (not even including their obscene benefits package) in Chicago I think CTU members should count as "rich people"...

[emathias]

I don't know how banning family of politicians from conducting business stands up to a constitutional challenge, but the rest of it sounds good.

[the urban politician]

So has Preckwinkle said anything about improving Chicago’s economic competitiveness as we continue to stagnate compared to the coasts? Anything about improving our image, luring tech jobs, luring headquarters, reducing tax burden and waste?

Or is she just going to keep talking about Laquan McDonald, holding police more accountable, slapping the wrists of criminals who actually beat and murder innocent people, and turning the city into an ATM machine for the CTU?

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

So has Preckwinkle said anything about improving Chicago’s economic competitiveness as we continue to stagnate compared to the coasts? Anything about improving our image, luring tech jobs, luring headquarters, reducing tax burden and waste?

Or is she just going to keep talking about Laquan McDonald, holding police more accountable, slapping the wrists of criminals who actually beat and murder innocent people, and turning the city into an ATM machine for the CTU?

I have heard nothing from her about economic development other than the obligatory, "share with the neighborhoods". Which means tax downtown and spend on useless things in poor neighborhoods.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Which means tax downtown and spend on useless things in poor neighborhoods.

I hear this sentiment a decent amount on this board. Can someone provide their perspective on what useful spending in poor neighborhoods would look like? Or is the thought that additional spending in those neighborhoods is inherently useless?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

I have heard nothing from her about economic development other than the obligatory, "share with the neighborhoods". Which means tax downtown and spend on useless things in poor neighborhoods.

She doesn’t even know what she’s talking about.

You can spend a billion dollars in Englewood and it won’t change a damn thing and everybody knows it, whether they want to admit it or not.

What are you going to do, upgrade the schools? That won’t make the students better.

Build more “community centers”? Oh yeah, that will turn things around.

More rec centers? Oh, that’s what we need, more places to play hoops and go swimming

This is just people who don’t know a life outside of Government living under the delusion that they have the power to fix things when it’s obvious they can’t.

The only thing that will EVER fix the south and west sides of Chicago is for new people to live there. We. Need. Immigrants. They don’t all need to go to New York and LA—we have room over here

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by moorhosj

I hear this sentiment a decent amount on this board. Can someone provide their perspective on what useful spending in poor neighborhoods would look like? Or is the thought that additional spending in those neighborhoods is inherently useless?

Truth is, other than infrastructure I don’t believe the Government should spend more than the usual amount in poor neighborhoods.

I do think that providing extra assistance to businesses that are struggling in these areas is a good idea, which we have been implemented with Rahm’s density bonuses downtown.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Truth is, other than infrastructure I don’t believe the Government should spend more than the usual amount in poor neighborhoods.

I do think that providing extra assistance to businesses that are struggling in these areas is a good idea, which we have been implemented with Rahm’s density bonuses downtown.

This is a fair thought. I am sympathetic to the idea we may need to spend more today to make up for spending so much less in the past (i.e. lead pipes in our poorest neighborhoods). I think your point rests on the assumption that they have actually spent the "usual amount" today and in the past.

On your second part, I would love to see a mayoral candidate talk about streamlining all the programs that currently exist for this exact purpose. In just the past few years we have added the $100 million Catalyst fund and Rahm's Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. TIFs are also used for this purpose. Seems like a great way to simplify the application process for business owners and save some overhead.

[Baronvonellis]

Lead pipes? There are lead pipes in rich neighborhoods too. We need military style boarding schools for these area, it's the only way to give them the structure and discipline that they need to improve their own lives. Not basketball rec centers and community centers. I will wager that if we did that it would turn around these areas in 1 generation. These folks have no discipline, I see it everyday they jaywalk all the time, I almost ran a guy over yesterday he was crossing Roosevelt in rush hour with cars flying by. What's with these people that think it's ok to just start walking across a busy street with cars flying by? They didn't get anything from their families growing up, people from the poorest parts of Calcutta have a better family life and more discipline from their family growing up.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by moorhosj

On your second part, I would love to see a mayoral candidate talk about streamlining all the programs that currently exist for this exact purpose. In just the past few years we have added the $100 million Catalyst fund and Rahm's Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. TIFs are also used for this purpose. Seems like a great way to simplify the application process for business owners and save some overhead.

Yes, but keep in mind that this is the bare minimum. We are only going to go so far helping out barber shops, barbecue joints, etc for areas of town that have 1/2 or 1/3 their prior population.

Sorry, but we must end the perception of these neighborhoods as being by and for American born descendants of Africans. That is a highly specific ethnicity, many have moved on to better pastures, and despite the provincial and narrow-mindedness of many, the world has moved on.

People of all ethnicities and colors are moving to the US in droves. Chicago needs to cast aside its “charming” little “oh shucks!” mild-manneredness and go reach out and get its share of the pie. New immigrants are gold, they are our path out of so many of our problems—but they are headed to the burbs, the north side, and other regions. This must change.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

Lead pipes? There are lead pipes in rich neighborhoods too. We need military style boarding schools for these area, it's the only way to give them the structure and discipline that they need to improve their own lives. Not basketball rec centers and community centers. I will wager that if we did that it would turn around these areas in 1 generation. These folks have no discipline, I see it everyday they jaywalk all the time, I almost ran a guy over yesterday he was crossing Roosevelt in rush hour with cars flying by. What's with these people that think it's ok to just start walking across a busy street with cars flying by? They didn't get anything from their families growing up, people from the poorest parts of Calcutta have a better family life and more discipline from their family growing up.

Lead pipes and lead paint are more prevalent in poor neighborhoods. The Tribune has done extensive reporting on this.

Lead paint:

Alarming levels of brain-damaging lead are poisoning more than a fifth of the children tested from some of the poorest parts of Chicago, even as the hazard has been largely eliminated in more prosperous neighborhoods, a Tribune investigation has found.

Lead pipes:

In Mount Greenwood, one of the same neighborhoods where the city conducts its EPA-mandated testing, the amount of lead in initial samples of water averaged 5.2 ppb among the 127 homes that submitted testing kits. Average first-draw concentrations of lead were even higher in 16 other community areas where at least 10 homes sent water samples to the city, including South Chicago (17.6 ppb), Chicago Lawn (16 ppb), New City, (14.3 ppb), Chatham (9.4 ppb) and Avondale (7.8 ppb).

People in Calcutta would never cross the street in front of cars:

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Yes, but keep in mind that this is the bare minimum. We are only going to go so far helping out barber shops, barbecue joints, etc for areas of town that have 1/2 or 1/3 their prior population.

Sorry, but we must end the perception of these neighborhoods as being by and for American born descendants of Africans. That is a highly specific ethnicity, many have moved on to better pastures, and despite the provincial and narrow-mindedness of many, the world has moved on.

People of all ethnicities and colors are moving to the US in droves. Chicago needs to cast aside its “charming” little “oh shucks!” mild-manneredness and go reach out and get its share of the pie. New immigrants are gold, they are our path out of so many of our problems—but they are headed to the burbs, the north side, and other regions. This must change.

I agree with you. To clarify, I never mentioned ethnicity in my comment and don't really view that as the key here (there are plenty of immigrant communities with crime and dis-investment issues). In fact, the strongest voices of "keeping neighborhoods how they were" are more recent immigrant communities, Pilsen and Logan Square for example.

That said, I think it is a bit of chicken and egg scenario. We can talk about making these neighborhoods more diverse and welcoming to immigrants, but the perception doesn't just change overnight. Immigration is down across the country. Add in domestic population patterns (towards the west and sun belt) and it highlights the problem for our city.

We can wait out the gentrification from tech economy and higher educated populations (could argue this was Rahm's plan) or work towards something transformative to entice Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Kenyan, Nigerian, Puerto Rican and other immigrants to set up shop. I just have no idea what the second one might look like.

[Baronvonellis]

I live in a 1890 house in Lincoln square and I know it has lead paint and lead pipes. All the windows are original and have peeling paint. I got my water tested and it has less the 1 ppm lead, I know they put minerals in the water to build up a inner coating in the pipes to protect you from the lead. It seems to be working for my pipes, something else must be happened in these other areas.

I've worried about the lead paint too, if you get your paint tested for lead can you force your landlord to remove the lead paint? In my lease he put that he has no knowledge of lead paint in the building.

[galleyfox]

You know, I had lived for several years on the South Side when I first came to Chicago, and I've found that South Side residents can be very dismissive and obstructive towards change that could actually help their communities.

For instance on a first date with a South Shore man, I got questioned if I was a Muslim or not. I'm not, but can you imagine all the new immigrants who might have actually considered living on the South Side and building communities encountering hostility like that?

Not to mention, the attitude toward neighborhood improvement is focused on managed decline and not wealth-building. Of course, they want better schools, but the end goal is to use that education to permanently leave the neighborhood thereby accelerating the decline. If your educated, employed children are just going to leave then what's the point?

In my opinion, the African-American community needs to focus all their resources on building ONE strong middle class-wealthy neighborhood close to downtown where black students and young professionals can feel happy (Bronzeville perhaps) and build from that point. Neighborhoods like Englewood will have to make do with managed decline until space runs out in more desirable locations.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

You know, I had lived for several years on the South Side when I first came to Chicago, and I've found that South Side residents can be very dismissive and obstructive towards change that could actually help their communities.

For instance on a first date with a South Shore man, I got questioned if I was a Muslim or not. I'm not, but can you imagine all the new immigrants who might have actually considered living on the South Side and building communities encountering hostility like that?

Not to mention, the attitude toward neighborhood improvement is focused on managed decline and not wealth-building. Of course, they want better schools, but the end goal is to use that education to permanently leave the neighborhood thereby accelerating the decline. If your educated, employed children are just going to leave then what's the point?

In my opinion, the African-American community needs to focus all their resources on building ONE strong middle class-wealthy neighborhood close to downtown where black students and young professionals can feel happy (Bronzeville perhaps) and build from that point. Neighborhoods like Englewood will have to make do with managed decline until space runs out in more desirable locations.

Thanks for adding this perspective. These communities don't seem to trust outsiders (developers, government, etc.) and that has likely held things back over time. It's hard to blame them for that perspective, but it certainly doesn't make it easier for them to recover in the long run.

I think Kenwood would qualify as a middle class-wealthy black neighborhood, but even they have violence. Jackson Park Highlands meets this criteria, but that is basically a subdivision within South Shore, a community area with significant gang issues. EDIT: I should add Morgan Park as a majority black neighborhood with a median income higher than the city at-large.

[SIGSEGV]

Yeah Morgan Park is not particularly urban though. Bronzeville has the bones, infrastructure and history. I don't know if ward boundaries are doing any favors though.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

You know, I had lived for several years on the South Side when I first came to Chicago, and I've found that South Side residents can be very dismissive and obstructive towards change that could actually help their communities.

For instance on a first date with a South Shore man, I got questioned if I was a Muslim or not. I'm not, but can you imagine all the new immigrants who might have actually considered living on the South Side and building communities encountering hostility like that?

Not to mention, the attitude toward neighborhood improvement is focused on managed decline and not wealth-building. Of course, they want better schools, but the end goal is to use that education to permanently leave the neighborhood thereby accelerating the decline..

I feel like You're describing the majority of Chicagoans
Parochial, deathly afraid of change, willfully ignorant, etc, etc..