Sun-Times: Mayor Johnson takes aim at Rahm Emanuel, ex-mayor's 'neoliberal agenda'

Rahm Emanuel

Does Mayor Brandon Johnson view his predecessor as a threat? It sure seems that way if you believe this report from the Chicago Sun-Times:

Johnson’s barbs directed at Emanuel came when he was asked during his weekly City Hall news conference whether the school funding increase he plans to seek next week during a lobbying trip to Springfield would be enough to avert a stalled, $300 million, high-interest loan at the Chicago Public Schools.

Instead of answering the question directly, Johnson unleashed a tirade against Emanuel, whom he has attacked before, though never so aggressively.

The mayor said he was watching an interview with Emanuel recently and was “incredibly bothered by his temerity.” Johnson said there has been a “long, sustained movement” in Chicago to push back against the “neoliberal agenda” that Emanuel championed to “set up austere budgets” targeting African-Americans and the “public accommodations” that support them.

“The playbook that Donald Trump is running is a playbook that Emanuel executed in this city,” Johnson said.

“We didn’t get here because we just happen to have a tyrant in the White House. We got here because someone gave him the script… The shutting of schools. The firing of Black women. Privatizing our public education system is why the system is as jacked up as it is today.”

Johnson said Emanuel, who famously closed nearly 50 public schools in 2013 in one fell swoop, had “immense disdain for public education and particularly Black, Brown and poor children, and he was vocal about it.”

“He told one of my heroes — sheroes — that 25% of children won’t become anything. Those are his words directly to Karen Lewis,” Johnson said of the late Chicago Teachers Union president whose planned 2015 mayoral campaign against Emanuel was derailed when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“And now, he’s prancing around this country asking people to reconsider him,” Johnson said. “It is not just frustrating. It is beyond offensive.”

I've commented a lot about the prospect of a future third term for Rahm Emanuel and there is speculation on him running for either Governor next year, mayor in '27, or even President in '28.

The reason why he had forgone a third term in '19 was because of his standing among city voters. It was clear he was unpopular and think about it, he had to deal with a runoff in '15.

In considering the last two mayors we had, we know what we were getting. We might have an issue with what happened with Laquan McDonald and that was a tragedy, however, the last two mayors didn't know what they were doing.

What are your thoughts on the former Mayor Emanuel possibly running for another term as Mayor? You see anyone else who you'd think would be a better candidate?

ABC7Chgo: 'Next-level squatting': Chicago couple says squatters moved into home, state lawmaker taking action

 

[VIDEO] Next-level squatting?

Well these people were able to get into this house, so somehow they got keys. And according to this report there is a mortgage document that shows an address in the south suburbs not this city location - which wasn't established. 

What do you all think of this situation? Should the police have kicked these alledged squaters out in this situation with the evidence presented? Should there be a simpler process for situations like this?

Chicago Like a Local: These overpriced box homes are taking over Chicago

 

[VIDEO] Sometimes I enjoy the local commentary of the YouTube channel Chicago Like a Local. He takes aim at a recent trend in modern residential architecture.

He calls the homes you see in this video  blocky or "Minecraft" homes. I may lament the construction of housing that doesn't fit the style of a particular neighborhood. At the same time perhaps you may have a neighborhood where the housing isn't in great condition.

In fact homes like these could be one sign of gentrification. Chicago Like a Local does refer to these homes as overpriced.

Lately I've been taking aim at Roseland and I wonder how many people wouldn't mind seeing homes like these built in Roseland, for example?

Also will this YouTuber ever go to the far south side?

CharlieBo313: Chicago south side Roseland hood/Wild 100s

 

[VIDEO] CharlieBo on YouTube driving around Roseland primarily along South Michigan Avenue from as far south as 119th Street to about 108th Street. That YouTuber primarily drives around urban areas, seemingly decaying urban areas.

One could look at South Michigan Avenue as a decaying area, however, I like to look at what could be. A lot of vacant lots and boarded up buildings, houses, etc. Fortunes could change and as it seems has been said a lot on this page with the Red Line extension there's an opportunity there.

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel interviewed by Mary Ann Ahern

 

[VIDEO] Our former mayor and current Ambassador to Japan speaks on the recent Presidential race which resulted in a win for the 45th President Donald Trump who returns to the Presidency as the 47th President. What he says about the Democrats and perhaps what caused them to lose the election last month and he cited the feel good about themselves messaging of the Democrats and even looked at the measures enacted during the 2020 pandemic.

I do think we'd be in a different place in 2020 or so had he still been mayor.

FOX News - Chicago city council meeting EXPLODES: 'We're turning red'

 

[VIDEO] I think turning Chicago "red" isn't realistic if we primarily judge by the last mayoral election.

I haven't read into too many of these clips I've seen on YouTube in recent months leading up to this month's presidential election. There are clips out there of Chicago residents going to City Hall declaring they're going to turn Chicago red and they often wear red baseball caps - though not necessarily MAGA hats.

Whether or not Chicago will turn red in the future remains to be seen. We know that the presidential race in this state was remarkably close. The margin of victory for Vice President Kamala Harris in this state was not millions of votes but at least 600K votes. An opportunity statewide for Republicans in the future but it remains to be seen if they could capitalize.

I'm sure many of you who are on X/Twitter have seen maps of which precincts in Chicago voted for President-elect Trump and some of those areas are no surprise. Especially if those areas primarily contain first responders (police & fire).

Of course one thing we can glean from comments of "turning Chicago red" is that people aren't very happy with what's going on with the city right now.

Roseland Plaza 115th & Michigan #tbt #Ward09

Via VanishedChicagoland FB

This is what you would've found on the vacant lot at 115th & Michigan perhaps before the mid-2000s at least. 

Of course as you can see by the cars here, this is a vintage photograph. Coffee Pot is likely in the foreground. And then the National grocery store you see in the background here.

Once the Red Line is built in this area, here's hoping we can have this block brought back to life again in the future. Retail, restaurants, hopefully some other services.

Is the Red Line extension worth it?

 

[VIDEO] Just found this video this morning and discusses some thing I knew was going to happen.

For example we know that bus service through the affected areas of the Red Line extention will change. Bus routings will either be combined, extended or even eliminated. So the proposed routings we see here such as extending buses into Indiana aren't very likely.

I would like to see more utilization of Metra Electric service especially within those areas that won't be directly served by CTA extension. Especially in the South Chicago/South Shore area and certainly going into West Pullman and Blue Island - further west.

And transit oriented development. I don't know about developing high density projects. High rises for example or even developing say a new neighborhood. Roseland and Altgeld Gardens aren't very desirable areas anyway.

I would say the lot at 115th/Michigan - where a stop will be located would be a great possibility for a multi-use development. I'm thinking certainly housing and retail - perhaps another grocery store and certainly businesses with the commuter in mind. So I think in that area that's a possibility of developing something that might work for the area.

Also I'd be curious how the YouTuber - BurjTransit - gets these numbers 38,000 riders are expected to use this extension once it's online. However, it's more likely that 6,000 rides would utilize the services. I'm sure the 38K comes from CTA's projection itself.

However, let's note as he had that the Red Line ridership hasn't been great post-pandemic. CTA as a whole has issues as far as rail service and certainly if you've had to take a bus anywhere in recent years.

What are your thoughts on the CTA extension? What do you think it would bring to this part of Chicago's south side?

NBC Chicago: State's Attorney's race

[VIDEO]As you may know the incumbent State's Attorney Kim Foxx has opted not to run for a second term. And the two likely successors are in a close race to replace her former Cook County prosecutor Clayton Harris III & former Judge Eileen O'Neill Burke. Below are the results as I wrote this post.

This was in interesting discussion that was had in the above clip from NBC Chicago which included former IL GOP state house minority leader Jim Durkin who had considered throwing his hat into the race on the Republican side. However, he concluded that he would be running a more challenging race where he'd have to answer for the now Republican nominee for President Donald Trump. He would state for the record that he's not a Trump supporter and that he opposes him but he knows instead of saying what he could bring to the State's Attorney office he'd have to answer any possible connections that could be made with former President Trump.

Regardless though it's an obvious conclusion, Cook County is a solidly Democrat county and most likely any Republican would have a tough time here. Perhaps who might head the ticket in a Presidential Race might prove to be a huge issue in the long run.

Let's open up the discussion here. How did you vote in the State's Attorney race? Is crime an important issue? You think either Burke or Harris have different approaches to the crime issue in Chicago?

Write-in for Ward 9 Democrat Committeeman

 Actually it's "commiteeperson" but that just sounds awful like "alderperson," yuck!

Anything it's unusual to see two flyers for the volunteer, elected position of ward committeeperson, committeeman, or committeewoman which is up for election on Tuesday, March 19th, 2024 (wait that's this coming Tuesday) in time for our state's presidential primary. On top of that both the incumbent Committeeman is one Ald. Anthony Beale and his opponent ran against him last year for Alderman Cleopatra Draper. Both of these flyers show that both are seeking write-in votes.

Really?

Granted in the last few years, the committeeman err sorry committeeperson ewww spot doesn't have the importance it used to. Historically when Chicago had its strong political machine, the committeeman was a very important - and especially the Democrat committeeman - position for getting out the vote. And perhaps doling out political patronage, anyone is free to correct me if I'm not entirely correct on this.

However, for both candidates to chase write-in votes this year? What happened?

I can't believe an incumbent Alderman couldn't get enough votes to secure a spot on this ballot for this position. Ms. Draper, I think I understand her though she was on the ballot for Alderman err sorry Alderperson yuck last year. This year in 2024 what gives why are both candidates chasing write-in votes?

2024 is already being set up as an usual election we know former President Donald Trump has snapped up the GOP nomination. So you may want to vote against him in this state if you pull a Republican ballot, it really doesn't matter. And never mind the confusing attempt to use the 14th Amendment to keep him off the ballot not just here but in Vermont and Colorado for example.

As far as the incumbent President in Joe Biden unless something weird happens he'll probably be the Democrats choice in November and I'm not sure who's on the ballot against him in Illinois. I do wish it was a Kennedy though it seems he's choosing to run as an independent.

Regardless as we consider other offices beyond committeeperson or President this year. What we may see at the top of our ballots in November will be two former presidents in a rematch of the 2020 race.

However, we have to get through the primary this coming Tuesday, March 19, 2024. If you haven't voted early go ahead and do that on Monday, March 18, 2024.

I also hope you all had a safe and fun St. Patrick's Day 🍀

CapFax: (state senate president) Harmon still waiting for “clear direction” from mayor on elected school board

What's going on with that fully-elected schoolboard & what is that Chicago Teacher Union activist Mayor's position on this issue? Why won't he make a clear position on an elected schoolboard?

Harmon still waiting for “clear direction” from mayor on elected school board https://t.co/cWftLG4IqJ

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) January 17, 2024

 

REVISIT: Where is Roseland Heights?

This was posted to The Sixth Ward Blog on March 5, 2012 not long after the ward remap at the time. The topic of Roseland Heights being recognized was a topic of discussion within the Roseland Heights Community Association then.

I attended the recent Roseland Heights Neighborhood Association meeting where they discussed a number of topics that affected that particular community. It could be about landscaping, street lighting, trash, fly dumping, parks, ect. But they devoted a lot of time to the recognition of Roseland Heights.

At their November meeting they devoted a lot of time to address the remap situation. One of the subjects that came up was the recognition of neighborhoods. Look at any current map of Chicago neighborhoods or even the community area maps and Roseland Heights (which is bounded by 95th on the north, Dan Ryan Expressway on the west, Bishop Ford/Calumet Expressway on the south, and King Drive on the east)  is not to be found. The maps are made up by the city, the community area maps were created originally by the University of Chicago, and another map made up by the real estate businesses.

The maps change when the city recognizes a particular area. They may also change when real estate people decide to distinguish an area from the surrounding area. For example you build some new houses in Englewood, you may not like the general reputation of Englewood so you would elect to give your development a new name. One that is marketable!

That may well have been the case in Roseland Heights but then that neighborhood organization has been in existence since at least 1956. So why is it that particular neighborhood isn't recognized at all?

But then apparently there is another thread. It seems on a past map - according to association president Clevan Tucker - Roseland Heights did exist. He was looking up information regarding Abbott Park and he threw out the names of Olympia Park or Champion Park and I'll just assume those are the original designation for Abbott Park near 95th & Michigan.

However old that map was, what happened between now and then where Roseland Heights lost their recognition? Oh and I forgot to add that Roseland Heights according to a neighborhood map provided by the city is considered part of Rosemoor. I took a detail of that map and put an image here.

Also notice the thin Strip of Roseland in light green that comes on the west up to 95th Street. The western part appears to be State Street and the eastern part is Michigan Avenue and then it widens out by 107th Street. The purple shade is Roosemoor which does include most of Roseland Heights and Chicago State University.

CapFax: Alderman attacked....

 Ald. Julia Ramirez (Ward 12) was attacked by constituents who were "protesting" a proposed tent camp in the Brighton Park neighborhood.

I would say citizens have a right to be concerned about immigrants to be housed in their communities. There have been stories out there about crime involving these immigrants who have been bused from places such as Texas primarily. Something needs to be done and there needs to be a better plan than a tent camp or just allowing them to shelter at district police stations.

What we don't need is footage of an Alderman (or Alderwoman but never Alderperson yuck) being whisked away from their constituents because of a violent mob (verbal or physical abuse). I'm glad to see today that the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council denounces the actions of the crowd.

Here's raw footage from what happened on Thurday via WGN News [VIDEO]

Peter Santenello: America's most CORRUPT city

 

[VIDEO] For those of you who read this blog and are Chicago politics junkies this video by YouTuber Peter Santenello who speaks with Chicago first amendment attorney Benjamin Barr talks about all the scandals and issues that face Chicago. The main issue are pensions and where's the money going.

Remember that deal with the Chicago Skyway, the parking meters, remember 20 years ago when Mayor Richard M. Daley closed Meigs Field to turn it into a park, etc? 

Also how is gov't structured in our city? Did you know Chicago officially doesn't have a city charter? What exactly is the idea of Aldermanic (or Alderpersonic, yuck) privilege?

Michael Madigan gives up his ward committeeman position

 Not exactly huge news, but worth sharing I suppose.

The base of Michael Madigan's power as Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party is being the committeeman for the 13th Ward. There was a reason that he had been the longest serving speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives since about 1983 until he resigned in early 2021.

Well he resigned from his seat in the Illinois General Assembly, he dropped out of the running for his Speakership as his continued leadership was said to be toxic in Democrat races around the state. It came out that there was a sexual harassment scandal involving people on his staff.

And then of course there is this ComEd bribery business. People connected with his organization have faced trial and he will have his federal trial next year on April 1, 2024 - sorry to note this it's April Fool's Day '24.

However for a man who had been so powerful and I respect some aspects of his cunning and political acumen it's amazing how far he has fallen from power. He gave up his seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, his speakership, the chairmanship of the state party, and now his Democratic ward committeeman spot.

Times have truly changed.

Now petitions are circulating for next year. We vote for among other offices for President. In next years party primary one of those offices up for election is ward committeperson.

CapFax: CTU president won’t answer questions about enrolling her son in private prep school

 Let me enter a quote before we link to Capitol Fax

To me, the Chicago Magazine quote, “I can’t advocate on behalf of public education and the children of this city and educators in this city without it taking root in my own household” really leaves her open to this.

How to beat the heat?

 

[VIDEO] As I write this at 12:00 Noon the temperature is 97°F here in Chicago - according to Accuweather - and we're in a serious heatwave which actually started on Wednesday. This WGN-TV report shows cooling centers open around the Chicago area. 

If you are in need of a cooling shelter please call 311. Here's a link from the City of Chicago for six community service centers utilized as cooling areas. Masks are currently required however. Dang you coronavirus! 

CapFax: MAA grills the mayor on the CTU, CPD and Arwady

 NBC Chicago's Mary Ann Ahern speaks with Mayor Johnson and when you click through to the Capitol Fax blog be prepared for the evasive answers.

MAA grills the mayor on the CTU, CPD and Arwady https://t.co/5Y493Eyegf

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) August 22, 2023

ABL: DANGEROUS Illegal Aliens THREATEN Black Chicago Residents!

 

[VIDEO] Anthony Brian Logan isn't a Chicago resident and allow me to make that clear, he is one of those citizen YouTube personalities who talk about what's going on in the world. He's talking about Chicago and the issues of one neighborhood - particularly Woodlawn - and their issues with the migrants who have taken up residence at a neighborhood school Wadwsorth Elementary.

So he looks at a report from our local CBS affiliate WBBM-TV or CBS 2 Chicago and listen to resident comments towards city officials which include a deputy mayor, a deputy police superintendent, and an Alderman in this case Jeanette Taylor. Of course the town hall got heated though it underscores in some respects how unhappy some people in this city are with these migrants coming into their neighborhoods.

The other day I was walking around the Streeterville neighborhood, and I do believe it was noted in the WBBM-TV report. And near the intersection of St. Clair & Ohio there's a hotel there and you see these migrants (presumably I might add) just standing around loitering near the hotel and in a nearby alley. That alley is next door to a Dunkin Donuts. I'm amazed that this going on one block away from Michigan Avenue - the Magnificient Mile.

Just so that you might not be persuaded solely by the commentary offered by ABL, I will share links to the WBBM-TV report both video and a written report from the Hyde Park Herald.  [VIDEO]

2nd City Cop blog is back!

2nd City Cop

On July 1st they returned to service, if you want to see the perspective of anonymous sworn Chicago Police officers check out 2nd City Cop. They stopped posting and made their blog private on January 13, 2021 due to concerns with using the Google-owned Blogger platform. I only wonder what changed by July of this year.

How many of you out there read that blog?