[VIDEO] WGN Anchor Ben Bradley goes on NewsNation's Rush Hour program to talk about the mayoral election. He is already predicting 30% voter turnout among those voters who have a vested interest in the system, the teacher's union. Crime is a big issue, however, they talk a little about the education system.
Brandon Johnson is a former teacher and an organizer for the teacher's union vs. Paul Vallas who former ran CPS in the 1990s under Mayor Daley. Could the teacher's union make a difference in the April 4th runoff?
A number of campaign and certainly political updates from the mayoral runoff. Who endorsed who? What are their policy proposals? And of course who called who a Republican? Via Capitol Fax
[VIDEO] As I promised this debate is available to be seen on this blog for those of you who are looking for it and haven't yet watched this. Via CapFax is a react to last night's debate that aired on both NBC 5 & Telemundo and hosted by NBC 5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern.
If you have't early voted, tomorrow is the day to cast a vote for Mayor, Clerk, Treasurer, City Council, and those little known & new police district board council.
If you're looking for some last minute stories check out this round by via Capitol Fax.
So at a rally over the past weekend the Mayor said that you shouldn't vote. Wait did we hear correctly? Well WLS-TV did the story on this. We can listen for ourselves. [VIDEO]
And then this morning some blowback as we've seen on WFLD-TV. So let's put this in text form she stated any votes not for Lightfoot from the South Side is a vote for Garcia and Vallas. And if you want them to determine your fate then don't vote and stay home. It's all about the soundbites.
She must be worried about those two gents, but not as much about Brandon Johnson whom she has cut ads against.
Anyway on to the FOX 32 report [VIDEO]
OK! She misspoke....I suppose I can accept that. Now it's just more evidence that her leadership is very undiplomatic.
One thing is likely talked about. The number of Black candidates in the race could dilute the Black vote and lead to either Congressman Garcia or Vallas to possibly win the mayoral race. Though I'm hoping that Chicagoans will not vote according to their race/ethnicity they vote for the best person to be mayor.
As of today we have a week to go before Election Day. Early voting will continue through next Monday. As you see in the FOX 32 report Mayor Lightfoot and her significant other had voted early on President's Day. Have you voted yet?
[VIDEO] Perhaps you may not know Ron DeSantis - he is in his second term as Governor of Florida. He will be in the Chicago area to speak with the Fraternal Order of Police. And now he's another quick bullet point in this race.
The leader of Chicago's FOP is named John Catanzara who's made many appearances on FOX News Channel especially after the issues of 2020. He's made some appearances for mayoral candidate Paul Vallas. And as a result the visit to this state by DeSantis has become a point of contention in this race.
Vallas was forced to quickly denounce DeSantis as you will see in the above story by our local FOX affiliate. You can read more about this from the Sun-Times.
[VIDEO] This aired earlier this week two days before the recent FOX 32 forum on Thursday night. This quick clip is probably a taste of what you will see later on. The bickering between candidates especially the shots Willie Wilson took at the Mayor. One notable absense, Congressman Chuy Garcia had been in Washington, DC for President Joe Biden's state of the union address.
If you didn't see the WTTW forum check it out below. [VIDEO]
I'd say this is more significant in this mayoral race than Paul Vallas' positions on abortion or even whether or not he's a Republican as opposed to being a Democrat. As Rich Miller says in this morning's post on his blog, "Vallas has been registered to vote in Chicago since 2018. These candidate residency requirements are not difficult to skirt. But he has some more explaining to do."
I suppose the question is from what I have already read, he moved into an apartment in Bridgeport perhaps about a year before running for mayor. The story is that his residence is in Palos Heights, Illinois although his wife currently resides in Palos Heights to care for her parents and mother-in-law.
Come to think of it, after his service as a congressman and White House chief-of-staff in Washington, DC didn't Rahm Emanuel have to face questions about his residency. Although in his case the home he owned in the city was rented out so that was the story back then. Many tried to keep him from even being on the ballot because of this back then.
Did anyone check on this before Vallas turned in his petitions?
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reelection battle is clouded in uncertainty, her chances of beating either U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” GarcÃa or former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in a run-off appearing slim — and her prospects for even making it to the April election up in the air.
With the election less than three weeks away, three out of five voters disapprove of the job the mayor has done in her first term, more than half hold an unfavorable opinion of her and 71% think the city is on the wrong track.
Those are among the key findings of a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times/Telemundo Chicago/NBC5 Poll conducted last week.
All falling within the poll’s margin of error, Lightfoot, GarcÃa and Vallas were essentially locked in a statistical dead heat when respondents were asked whom they would vote for if the Feb. 28 election were held today.
GarcÃa led with 20%, followed by Vallas with 18% and Lightfoot with 17%. Businessman Willie Wilson trailed closely with 12% and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson with 11%. Just 2% said they’d vote for activist Ja’Mal Green, and 1% chose either Ald. Sophia King, 4th Ward, or state Rep. Kam Buckner. Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th Ward, drew no support. Another 18% said they were still undecided.
I thought this was just going to be another article saying we need to cut the size of Chicago's city council. It goes deeper than that, the city does have home rule powers but never had a charter like other cities in America. Should Chicago have a city manager as opposed to the mayor being the city's CEO? Should there be At-Large Alderman which is utilized in places like Houston in this article? Are the staffs for Alderman too large compared to other American cities?
If you're an expert an urban policy or politics, this is an interesting piece to ponder about what solutions work for Chicago. What say you?
[VIDEO] Basic roundup in case you all don't have time to watch the hour and half debate that aired this evening on WGN. It's safe to say crime was a major issue in this debate with all candidates except the Mayor herself wanting to fire current Police Superintendent David Brown.
[VIDEO] I suppose this is a quick meme about Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the state of Chicago. The Mayor says the business climate of the city is great, yet we hear about the city losing businesses.
The most recent news is the Old Navy on State & Randolph is closing. I remember that it was home to a Borders Books up until the company went bankrupt in the early 2010s. And Old Navy used the have the store one block south on State & Washington which was briefly a Gap and now is home to another retailer Primark.
And now Old Navy is leaving State Street entirely. Worse still there are a number of empty storefronts along State Street. Just look further south beyond Monroe Street at least. I was shocked to see after the riots downtown in 2020 - after George Floyd's death - that a Foot Locker store closer to the DePaul University Campus near Adams & State had closed down.
The issue is crime. It's shocking to see police with their flashing blue lights sitting on the streets in and near downtown Chicago basically there as a presence. It was true during the unrest of 2020 and it's true even now just go up and down Michigan Avenue at night.
You know I must say I wanted Rahm Emanuel to go in 2019, well he stands down and is replaced by Mayor Lightfoot. Right now, he looks like a better mayor compared to Lightfoot as he is now Ambassador Emanuel in Japan. While it's a bit early to say, how many people could say that about Mayor Lightfoot?
BTW, with the above video I like the Marvel Comics Antman references.
[VIDEO] Nine mayoral candidates debated last night on WLS-TV from Paul Vallas to Ald. Roderick Sawyer to Chuy Garcia to JaMal Green to Brandon Johnson to Willie Wilson to Kam Buckner to the incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot to Ald. Sophia King. In this report from WGN above they discussed issues such as keeping the Bears in the city, the issue of crime especially on CTA, and of course the issue of migrants being sent to Chicago which is a sanctuary city.
I didn't watch last night's debate however WLS-TV shared the live stream on their YouTube channel which I will share below [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] This WGN report shows shoppers going to their local Pete's Fresh Market in Matteson to stock on food and supplies. I'm sure there could be a report on going to a hardware store picking up shovels, salt or snowmelt among other things to dig out of the snow.
Here's a report from NBC 5 about the snow storm. Of course I would recommend using a weather app on your phone - iPhone especially - I like to use the WGN weather app to check radar. Of course you can use it to check for weather forecasts also.
I hope you don't have to get out of the house once the storm hits of course save for having to go to work. :(
Also I'm hearing about very low temps, time to buy a new coat also. BRRR...
[VIDEO] Here are a few more details from Crain's, this TIF was noted in a recent CTA video about the future extension from 95th Street to 130th Street.
The City Council on Wednesday approved the creation of a new tax-increment financing district to create $950 million over three decades to help pay for the $3.6 billion extension of the Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line from 95th Street south to 130th Street.
“Our community has been disconnected” from the city, said Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, whose Far South Side ward will be home to much of the extended rail line. Beale, who’s a frequent critic of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, thanked the mayor for pushing for the TIF to support the project.
The new TIF will capture future property tax growth within portions of five wards—the 3rd, 4th, 11th, 25th and downtown 42nd—to pay for land acquisition and other costs involved in the project.
The 5.6-mile extension plan also includes four new stations to be located at 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue (between 115th and 116th streets) and a new 130th Street terminal.
[VIDEO] Are you experiencing issues with CTA bus services on the south side?
According to this report from ABC 7 Chicago absenteeism is the reason why buses are delayed. Absenteeism out of the 77th Street garage are at 18% out of the 103th Street garage it's 17.6% however on the north side at North Park it's 10%. CTA has about 1000 vacancies for frontline positions with the majority of these open positions for bus drivers.
Today, Lori Lightfoot has filed her papers to run for a second term as Mayor. [VIDEO]
I'll eventually update the 2023 elections page with all candidates that have filed petitions to run against Mayor Lightfoot for the city's top job. In addition these candidates have filed for Alderman of Ward 9.
Cleopatra Draper
Alderman Anthony A. Beale
Sonya Thompson Dorsey
Cameron M. Barnes
Also bear in mind these petitions will be challenged so this field or for any office in the city for next year will change and we will know for sure who will be on the ballot in February. Those who were able to file for office have done so.
As a reminder here is the ward 9 map from 2023 onwards
It's in the news that Congressman Chuy Garcia is throwing his hat in the ring against Mayor Lori Lightfoot next year. Remember that in 2015 he lost a runoff to them Mayor Rahm Emanuel. So he's the latest to thrown his hat in the ring against the vulnerable lightfoot.
Meanwhile, Crain's has a list of candidates who have announced and a list of possible candidates and then a list of those who will NOT be running. At least we got through those midterms this past Tuesday.
[VIDEO] He speaks with WGN anchor Micah Materre. Here is the description for this 6 mins chat
WGN anchor Micah Materre talks with Chief Cook co. Circuit Judge Timothy Evans about the SAFE-T ACT, bail reform and changing the juvenile justice system to put young people on the path to success.
Judge Evans is also on the ballot for retention to another 10 years on the Cook County Courts. Election day is November 8th.
[VIDEO] Turn your clocks back one hour this weekend, Daylight Savings Time will end at 2 AM in the wee hours of Sunday Morning. Of course we fall back and gain an hour which is how WBBM-TV meteorologist Laura Bannon explains makes this particular weekend the longest weekend of the year.
Turn your clocks back an hour today for the time adjustment on Sunday. And have a good one today, it's a bit windy and wet today!
