CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by emathias

Of course not. But to the extent she can get police to respect the community more, and to the extent she can convince the community that the Mayor's office actually understands their concerns hand has real skin in the game (a daughter, in addition to herself), that can make a big difference in outlook.

The real issue is the extreme violence in the AA communities, literally 3rd world murder rates - AA's are not leaving because the police don't respect the community.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by Investing In Chicago

The real issue is the extreme violence in the AA communities, literally 3rd world murder rates - AA's are not leaving because the police don't respect the community.

Houston and Atlanta, where many of these people have moved to, have high murder rates. Milwaukee and Indianapolis have very high murder rates and their black populations have grown since 2010.

[Vlajos]

Chicago's new socialist aldermen look to flex City Council muscle

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg...council-muscle

Let's not forget a lot of bad happened yesterday too.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Chicago's new socialist aldermen look to flex City Council muscle

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg...council-muscle

Let's not forget a lot of bad happened yesterday too.

Yep, all cheer our newest faction. The 'Democratic Socialists of America', now 10% of the city council!

[Hourstrooper]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Chicago's new socialist aldermen look to flex City Council muscle

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg...council-muscle

Let's not forget a lot of bad happened yesterday too.

Yuck this is Even worse than the corruption.....

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Hourstrooper

Yuck this is Even worse than the corruption.....

Socialism breeds corruption, so no, it's worse.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Socialism breeds corruption, so no, it's worse.

According to the World Economic Forum, democratic socialist countries perform pretty well on corruption.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by moorhosj

According to the World Economic Forum, democratic socialist countries perform pretty well on corruption.

Most of those are not socialist countries (North Korea and Yemen? excluded). They are social democracies. They use market forces in most instances. They have large safety nets though. I believe some don't even have minimum wages. And none of the policies they employ should be done at the city level. You think Chicago should have its own health care system?

[Vlajos]

A family in metro Chicago making $250K should not be taxed at a higher rate, than a family making $200K or even $150K. That is not a large income for the cost of living. The income tax proposal unfairly targets the Chicago area, which already subsidizes downstate. Of course Pritzker can't cut any government spending AND ran on increasing spending.

[Hourstrooper]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

A family in metro Chicago making $250K should not be taxed at a higher rate, than a family making $200K or even $150K. That is not a large income for the cost of living. The income tax proposal unfairly targets the Chicago area, which already subsidizes downstate. Of course Pritzker can't cut any government spending AND ran on increasing spending.

I view Pritzker as basically the Rahm of the state ina good pro developmental way.

[emathias]

Short but interesting commentary on why Lightfoot won. Lines up pretty well with my perception of what happened v

Sun-Times article

...
“She was on the wrong side of both some people — like [former Cook County Assessor] Joe Berrios and [14th Ward Ald.] Ed Burke — and on the wrong side of some issues — it wasn’t clear she had any important ideas about police reform … or curbing aldermanic privilege,” Simpson said.

“She had sort of a half-step progressive platform rather than a pretty pure one. She is legitimately progressive, but much more moderate than Lightfoot, much more cautious.”

Still, Simpson doesn’t believe the loss will affect Preckwinkle’s ability to get things done in the county.

Ken Snyder, who worked on Preckwinkle’s first run for the board president spot and helped launch Lightfoot’s mayoral run, said the defeat is not likely to stop Preckwinkle from going forward with her agenda at the County Board. But he said there is no question she was politically weakened.

In a race that became “entirely about change and reform,” Lightfoot became the perfect fit, Snyder said.

“Toni Preckwinkle made her bed,” Snyder said. “She decided to be an apologist for Joe Berrios [and become] the successor of the Democratic machine.”
...

[LouisVanDerWright]

It's really a shame Lightfoot is lesbian...

Because I think I'm in love:

Lightfoot tells Burke to forget Council Wars 2: ‘That’s not going to happen’

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot on Friday accused Ald. Edward Burke (14th) of attempting to organize the City Council against her and threatened to expose aldermen who dare to conspire with him.

“Any alderman who’s gonna try to align themselves with Ed Burke at this time — we’re gonna make sure that gets very public and exposed . . . I’m going to do everything I can to shine a light on that,” Lightfoot told the Sun-Times.


“They’re gonna have to explain to the public why they’re aligning with him against the voters of this city.”

Burke could not be reached for comment


Lightfoot likened Burke’s behind-the-scenes mischief-making to what he and former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th) did to Mayor Harold Washington.

Their mostly white coalition, better known as the Vrdolyak 29, thwarted Washington’s every move. The stalemate ended only after special aldermanic elections in 1986 finally gave Washington control over the City Council.

“We’re not gonna resurrect the Vrdolyak 29 in the form of Ed Burke. That’s not going to happen. He can try all he wants. He’s not going to be successful,” Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot was alerted to Burke’s Machiavellian maneuvers by fellow alderman who have been approached by the deposed chairman of the City Council’s finance committee, sources familiar with the matter. Some of those same aldermen confirmed the maneuvers to the Sun-Times.

She wasn’t surprised. Lightfoot is a longtime Burke nemesis who targeted Burke and did battle with him long before the alderman was charged with attempted extortion.

“Of course he is [conspiring against her]. That’s what he does . . . It’s always power,” she said.

“He’s been very successful in accumulating power despite the odds and he’s not gonna give up on that easily. But beware.”

Burke was forced to relinquish the Finance Committee chairmanship that was his primary power base for decades after being charged with attempted extortion for allegedly shaking down a Burger King franchise owner for legal business and for a $10,000 campaign contribution to vanquished mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle.

Those Jan. 3 charges were a turning point for Lightfoot’s campaign. Preckwinkle never recovered from being dragged into the Burke scandal.

On Friday, Lightfoot noted that her former colleagues in the U.S. attorney’s office face a May 3 deadline to indict Burke.

“He’s going to have bigger fish to fry. I have every confidence that charges are gonna be brought in an indictment against him before I’m sworn in. So he needs to focus on his own personal circumstances and stop trying to meddle around,” she said.

Earlier this week, veteran aldermen urged Lightfoot to tread softly with the new, emboldened and more progressive City Council or risk derailing her ambitious legislative agenda.

They invited her to weigh in, but urged her to let them choose their own committee chairmen.

Two of the City Council’s most senior African-American aldermen — Transportation Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9th) and Budget Chairman Carrie Austin (34th) — also warned Lightfoot to soften her promise to end aldermanic prerogative, the unwritten rule that gives a local alderman iron-fisted control over zoning and licensing in his or her ward.

But Lightfoot said Friday she’s not backing off from ending the longstanding tradition at the heart of the Burke scandal and nearly every other aldermanic conviction over the years.

She plans to issue an executive order on May 20 — inauguration day — ending aldermanic privilege and establishing a two-term limit for the mayor and committee chairmen.

“If you’ve got 50 separate fiefdoms that you have to deal with on issues like affordable housing, [or] just getting a sign on your building, it makes doing business with the city of Chicago damn near impossible,” she said.

“If we’re gonna really be true to the mandate for change . . . we cannot have a circumstance where an individual alderman can exercise unilateral control over virtually everything that goes on in their ward . . . We cannot have 50 separate aldermen having unchecked power to play Caesar on everything that goes on.”

As for the line-up of committee chairmen, Lightfoot said it’ll be a give-and-take. She’s prepared to work with aldermen to strike a balance between identifying council leaders she can trust and committee chairmen aldermen can swallow.

She refused to pinpoint a choice for Finance Committee chairman. But pressed to identify the aldermen she trusts, she mentioned several of her early supporters.

In addition to Beale, they include: Progressive Caucus Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd); Hispanic Caucus Chairman Gilbert Villegas (36th); Aviation Committee Chairman Matt O’Shea (19th); Special Events Committee Chairman Tom Tunney (44th); and Aldermen Derrick Curtis (18th) and Michael Scott Jr. (24th).


https://chicago-suntimes-com.cdn.amp...against-her%2F

Lightfoot has an absolute mandate to put a stop to this bullshit and isn't fucking around. We are done with aldermanic perogative, resist at your own peril. I already made it known to my alderman that I expect full cooperation with Lori's agenda. If he doesn't comply I will oppose him both financially and by volunteering for whoever is running against him in the next election.

Good riddance, these scumbag alderman can all go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

[Vlajos]

Elected school board measure picks up speed in Springfield

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg...ed-springfield

"Under the bill as now drafted, beginning in 2023, on the same date as the next mayoral and aldermanic elections, Chicagoans would elect a 21-member school board to four-year terms. They'd repeat the process in 2027, before the mandatory legislative review.

Twenty of the 21 members would be elected from single-member districts initially drafted by the Legislature. The 21st member, the chairman, would run citywide."

21 elected board members? AND we have a 50 member City Council? This is crazy! I am not opposed to an elected school board, but why on earth do we need 21 members? We have far too many politicians as it is.

[the urban politician]

^ HELL YEAH!

That was a great read. I'm rooting for her. Chicago needs this, badly

[tjp]

I'm so excited to watch Lori lead after reading that!

[Tom In Chicago]

She plans to issue an executive order on May 20 — inauguration day — ending aldermanic privilege and establishing a two-term limit for the mayor and committee chairmen.

If these are her only achievements, then her tenure will be a resounding success. . .

. . .

[harryc]

Client and lawyer, a 'willful enabler,' sanctioned over $1M for 'simply obscene' condo litigation

Judge Margaret Ann Brennan said litigant Marshall Spiegel and his
“willful enabler” lawyer John Xydakis had brought claims with “no basis in law
or fact” and had “shown complete disregard for the judicial process through
their egregious conduct.”

[the urban politician]

^ I'm sure that black cops aren't out there thinking "blue first" just to be assholes.

The reality is much simpler. They deal with tough members of society and are doing their jobs. And that's what public wants and needs them to do, whether some members of the public will admit it or not.

The notion that they should give "special treatment" to people of their own race is preposterous nonsense from liberals behind a desktop who've obviously NEVER had to arrest a violent 19 year old who could be kicking, threatening, or cursing him out. I am wagering that if any of you textbook policy wonk types spent 1 month as a cop working in a gang-infested neighborhood you'd quickly come around to the fact that yeah--this job is dangerous and skin color really is not what's important. Maybe that explains why white and black cops on the same force seem to get along perfectly fine with each other for the most part.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ I'm sure that black cops aren't out there thinking "blue first" just to be assholes.

The reality is much simpler. They deal with tough members of society and are doing their jobs. And that's what public wants and needs them to do, whether some members of the public will admit it or not.

The notion that they should give "special treatment" to people of their own race is preposterous nonsense from liberals behind a desktop who've obviously NEVER had to arrest a violent 19 year old who could be kicking, threatening, or cursing him out. I am wagering that if any of you textbook policy wonk types spent 1 month as a cop working in a gang-infested neighborhood you'd quickly come around to the fact that yeah--this job is dangerous and skin color really is not what's important. Maybe that explains why white and black cops on the same force seem to get along perfectly fine with each other for the most part.

Your right, I've never been a cop.

I have been a parole officer. I have worked with inner-city youth. I grew up in a very hard-scrabble town in rural Oregon which, if you don't think is relevant, you don't have any right lecturing me on knowing culture because some of the kids I grew up with went to prison for murder, armed robbery, and drug crimes just like inner city kids. Some who weren't arrested, still did things like beat an old man almost to death for no reason, and beat up a tourist so badly that the tourist was "kicked until his ribs stopped breaking." More than once, my high school football games turned into riots that required police response.

These weren't people I "heard about," these were my friends and people I socialized with daily. While I'm pretty quiet and mild-mannered myself, I grew up with these people and avoided trouble myself by knowing how to keep my mouth shut, make a persuasive argument to angry, violent peers, and read the crowd. I think these are skills inner city kids learn to survive, too, and that cops use on a daily basis.

Is all that a replacement for being a cop? No. But it's certainly a far cry from some kid who grew up in an upper-middle-class gated community going to private school whose only view of the streets was through the windows of a Range Rover and now writes your mythical policy papers.

FINALLY,

I'm not advocating that different cops treat different races differently. I'm advocating that ALL cops treat all people they interact with equally fairly and respectfully. The fact that you started talking about angry, violent kids when I mentioned police shootings of innocent, unarmed children is your own racist bullshit, not mine.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by emathias

I'm not advocating that different cops treat different races differently. I'm advocating that ALL cops treat all people they interact with equally fairly and respectfully. The fact that you started talking about angry, violent kids when I mentioned police shootings of innocent, unarmed children is your own racist bullshit, not mine.

Complete disagree with this - there are a lot of violent people in the city of Chicago, and for a variety of reason, the majority of them happen to be people of color - the goal isn't to ensure the police are treating these people with respect, the goal is to ensure they are not a danger to anyone and that they are off the streets.