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Showing posts with label chicago city council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicago city council. Show all posts

Thursday, June 22, 2023

WGN: Many becoming impatient with Mayor Johnson's approach of getting to root of crime in Chicago

 

[VIDEO] Well, do you think Brandon Johnson in addition to wanting to hire more police detectives could instead hire more police officers? More people on a beat? Just as it seems the city council has, have you grown impatient with Mayor Johnson's "mulit-tiered" approach to the crime issue?

Monday, May 15, 2023

Inauguration Day - City of Chicago

 A new city council, a new mayor, in addition to the incumbent treasurer and clerk get sworn into office today. Check out the live feed from our WLS-TV. [VIDEO]


Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Lightfoot concedes #ChiMayor23 #Ward09

 For those of you paying attention to the results of yesterday's election race, well this is not breaking news. For those of you who weren't well after the April 4, 2023 runoff we will have a new mayor. The mayoral race has been whittled down to former CPS CEO Paul Vallas and current Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson. Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot was relegated to third place in last night's results.

If you don't believe she conceded video here. Perhaps I expected her to be more combative than she seemed to have been last night. [VIDEO]


I plan to update the 2023 page with current numbers and especially for the mayoral race who will be moving onto the runoff. Final numbers - per the experts - won't be known for at least a couple of weeks as electoral authorities continue to count ballots especially the early votes and mail-in votes.

From the results I've seen last night in Ward 9, it appears Anthony Beale has secured yet another term on the Chicago City Council.

Via ABC 7 Chicago 2023 election results


Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Flyers for #Ward09 #ChicagoElections

 So far I haven't received any flyers from Cameron Barnes - whom I could call a very young upstart in this race. However I have two from Cleopatra Draper and three from incumbent Alderman Anthony Beale.

Let's start with Draper. She's hitting the incumbent Alderman Beale over a lack of grocery stores in the area. And I'm sure Beale will note the new grocery store coming to the Altgeld Gardens area and then let's not forget about Walmart which has a grocery section. 

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Block Club Chi: Longtime Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale Faces 2 Challengers In 9th Ward Race

These are the three people who are running for Alderman in Ward 9.

Via Block Club Chi

And here is the start of the write-up:

Two hopefuls are trying to unseat one of City Council’s longest-serving members, aiming to bring new leadership to the Far South Side seat after more than two decades.

Cameron Barnes and Cleopatra Draper are challenging Ald. Anthony Beale in the 9th Ward race. Beale, first elected in 1999, is seeking his seventh term representing Chatham, Roseland, Pullman, Washington Heights, West Pullman and Riverdale.

Sonya Thompson Dorsey withdrew from the race in December after two residents challenged her signatures. Dorsey said she still plans to participate as a write-in candidate, she said.

The 9th Ward has seen increased development in the past several years, with new businesses like Lexington Betty Smokehouse and Culver’s. It’s also home to Pullman National Historical Park, which opened in 2021.

I see Barnes in this article wants to fight gentrification. Beale of course touts his accomplishments as the longtime incumbent in the 9th Ward. And then I really like this by Draper:

Draper’s goals are to revitalize the Roseland business district, bring better grocery stores to the area, improve housing stability and mental health facilities, fight “food apartheid” and tackle gun violence, according to her website.

“The goal is to revitalize the 9th Ward, the Far South region,” Draper said in a December YouTube video. “This is not just a singular race. This is to change and enhance the quality of life Black folks on the far South Side. We’ve been neglected for too long, and I’m not accepting another day to live in a food desert, a medical desert, transportation desert, child care desert. Where and in what form or fashion is that community?”

If elected, Draper also wants to bring essential services to South Michigan Avenue, create new and expand existing businesses and address public safety concerns, she said.

I'd like to see Michigan Avenue get some more investment. What's her plan?

Early voting has been going on since January 26, 2023 and will be going through election day February 28, 2023. 

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Ray Lopez drops out of mayoral race #Ward09

 

[VIDEO] Over the summer he had been one of the first candidates to announce his run for the mayor's office. Yesterday he had dropped out of the race stating that a crowded field could help Lori Lightfoot get a second term as Chicago Mayor. Well while I could be disappointed that's he's dropping out, he is running for re-election as Ward 15 Alderman and well it'll have to be another candidate who could potentially defeat Mayor Lightfoot.

Earlier this month Congressman Chuy Garcia announced another run for Mayor.

Meanwhile this week candidates seeking an elected office in Chicago have started filing their petitions. You can check out them out here at the Chicago Board of Elections. 

These two candidates are running for Alderman of Ward 9. Ald. Anthony Beale is running for re-election and so far Cleopatra Draper has filed to run against him. Time to start that Ward 9 elections page.

Also I see also on the ballot next year in 2022 is three positions in 22 Chicago Police Districts around the city. I'm sorry but had no idea about this, when did this start? Anyone reading this blog running for a seat on the Chicago Police District council?

BTW, I wish I could create an iniative no more of this alderperson junk. Let's just change the job title of Chicago alderman. Find something that is "gender neutral" and a bit more logical to say...can't get used to it! 

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

CBS 2: 13 members of the city council are leaving

 

[VIDEO] And more to come reportedly according to this report. The latest Alderman to announce she won't run for re-election is Ward 10 Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza. You can read more about it at Crain's.

You can check out this list also from Crain's in August the Alderman who are calling it quits, some are trying to attain higher office as three Alderman are looking to challenge Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Others are outright retiring also.

Portrayed as a mass exodus, I'd pay attention if half of the 50 members of the city council are leaving.

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

CBS Chicago: Ald. Beale hopes to vote for proposal to raise 6 MPH threshold for speeding tickets #Ward09

 

[VIDEO] First it was red light cameras giving out tickets now it's speeding camera tickets. The threshold for a speeding ticket before Mayor Lori Lightfoot changed it was 10 MPH now it got lowered to 6 MPH. Ward 9 Ald. Anthony Beale finds that change to just be a revenue grab and he wants to change it. We see what happened when he tried to move the proposal to the floor of the Chicago City Council.

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Sun-Times: Compromise on new City Council ward map could take issue away from Chicago voters

 The vote on this new map will take place when the City Council meets next week. You can check out what the ward remap looks like here.

From Sun-Times:

A deal has been struck on a new Chicago City Council ward map that, if approved, will keep the decision out of the hands of voters.

Under the deal, which still must be cemented by a City Council vote next week, the map will create 16 Black majority wards and 14 Latino majority wards, according to Ald. George Cardenas (12th).

Faced with a May 19 deadline to work it out themselves, the agreement calls for one fewer majority-Latino ward than the council’s Latino Caucus had wanted.

The proposed map also contains the city’s first ward with an Asian American majority.

Demographics are key to ward map negotiations. The city’s Black population is shrinking while the city’s Latino population is growing.

“There’s no need to bring the house down. We can own the house,” Cardenas said, referring to the next remap — in 10 years.

“Our day is coming for sure. We have to be patient and humble,” he said.

Cardenas offered a “kudos” to Mayor Lori Lightfoot for her work on Monday to facilitate the agreement and get all sides to sign on to the map.

Cardenas is grateful the map won’t go to a referendum — a step that, he said, would have siphoned energy from council members dealing with other pressing issues, including crime and a city casino.

Here's how our part of town looks in the new ward map. If you live in Altgeld Gardens, that development will now be in Ward 10.


 

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

We're closer to a ward remap referendum

 I've haven't kept up with the ward remap issue. 

From WTTW, it seems we have another month for the Chicago City Council to agree on a new map or in the June 28, 2022 primaries the voters will have to choose a map for the first time since 1992. It seems the city council still isn't quite there to agree on a new map.


Friday, December 3, 2021

CBS Chicago: City Council Rules Committee unveils their own draft ward map

 

[VIDEO] I haven't really covered that here on this blog but have delved into this in recent posts over at The Sixth Ward, perhaps you guys might want to talk about this there. I just felt it was necessary to share this blurb from WBBM-TV here on this blog.

I do want to share that Ald. Anthony Beale is unhappy with the politics of the map by the Rules Committee chaired by Ward 8 Ald. Michelle Harris. He was on WGN Radio a few days ago to talk about what's going on with the remap and how it affects him. Ald. Beale really wants to keep the Pullman area in his ward.

Monday, October 11, 2021

WGN: City leaders, council members debate ShotSpotter use

 

[VIDEO] There is further debate over whether or not ShotSpotter technology is effective in the city at curbing violence. In his report Paul Lisnek, especially notes the spat between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and State's Attorney Kim Foxx on a shooting that took place on the west side where no charges were filed citing "mutual combat". Neither Lightfoot nnor Foxx haven't polled very well on the issue of crime and what happened on the West Side over a week ago probably didn't help their poll numbers.

Supt. David Brown is seen in this report defending ShotSpotter in a city council hearing noting how in using the technology they were able to find wounded victims. Regardless the debate is over whether or not this technology has been a great help in gun violence in high crime areas.

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

WGN News: 'Taste To Go' offers reimagined Taste of Chicago experience

 

[VIDEO] I've been wanting to share this event before it occurred for a while and then when I thought about it again it was today - OOPS!

Anyway, you might have gotten an email blast from Ald. Beale which shared a flyer to this event which is to take place in Pullman today. Taste to Go is a number of Taste of Chicago style events to take place around the city. It's cool that one such event takes on our part of town.

WGN shares a short story about this event.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

FOX 32: Ald. Beale wants Nat'l Guard to patrol city #Ward09

 

[VIDEO] Ald. Anthony Beale proposes that the Nat'l Guard secure the perimeter of the Loop in the wake of unrest downtown. To be honest, this just seems to be a go to though at least we're not hearing anything about martial law which I think could set a dangerous precedent.

What's the point in this situation get some attention. What's wrong with suggesting that more resources are necessary with what happened the Fourth of July weekend?

Either way as you see in the above FOX 32 story we hear from Ald. Beale and we hear from Mayor Lightfoot. She's quoted as stating the Ald. Beale is a critic who likes to grandstand and lamented that reporters are covering him anyway.

Who's ready for the election for mayor and city council in 2023?

Thursday, July 1, 2021

Ald. Carrie Austin (Ward 34) indicted

 

[VIDEO] Ald. Austin and her chief of staff were indicted by federal authorities for bribery. Allegedly a contractor wanted to curry favor with the Alderman and offered free home improvements as they sought a contract for a $50 million development in Ward 34.

Video from WGN 

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Fran Spielman: SC Johnson steps forward to fund Beale’s $250,000 Roseland ‘cop house’ #Ward09

Sun-Times:

SC Johnson & Son, Inc., a multi-billion dollar manufacturer of household cleaning supplies, identified itself Thursday as the $250,000 corporate donor behind Ald. Anthony Beale’s Roseland “cop house.”

“You can’t get any bigger and more credible than that,” Beale (9th) told the Sun-Times.

“This is a great tool that they fund elsewhere. They wanted to bring it to my community. ... To have a Fortune 100 company step up to the plate in my ward is really a tribute to what we’ve been able to do out here.”
...
The company’s $250,000 commitment in Roseland, where they own Method Manufacturing and a second distribution facility, will test the concept in the Chicago Police Department’s Calumet district.

“As a member of the Chicago community with manufacturing operations in the Pullman neighborhood, SC Johnson is invested in supporting the people and communities where we live and work,” the company said in a statement.

“We view these funds, given to Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a non-profit organization dedicated to economic development and neighborhood revitalization, as a pathway to help improve outcomes for communities.”

SC Johnson has a vested interest in improving neighborhood safety, Beale said. The company approached him about bankrolling CNI’S purchase and renovation of a Roseland home on a crime-plagued block to create a place where police officers, adult residents and young people can come together to build trust.

After a trip to Racine to see how it works, Beale decided to try it in Chicago, only to have Lightfoot stonewall the idea — with deadly consequences, according to the alderman.

“The very first house we had in mind — we had a contract on it. We ended up losing the contract. Five people have been shot and two people have been killed in or around the house where we were trying to first implement this,” he said.

I got some research to do on this "cop house". How will this plan be implemented? Why is the Mayor of Chicago opposed to it?

We should be trying anything to get crime rates down in the city, and especially in unsafe neighborhoods.

Read the whole thing