Month: September 2024

The 8^th Police District is the largest district in Chicago. It covers 23 square miles with a population of 250,000 people and quickly growing. There are only 9 police officers for every 10,000 citizens making the district the worst in the city.

There have been proposals to split the district. A former National Guard building became available. Rep. Angie Guerrero-Cuellar sponsored a law to transfer the building to the city to specifically be used as a police station for $1. The bill passed and was signed by the governor. If the building is not used as a police station, it will revert back to the state.

Mayor Brandon Johnson has other ideas. Johnson proposed an ordinance to use the building for storage, maintenance, and operation of police vehicles. Evidently Johnson believes he has the power to override state law. The districts two alders, 23rd Ward Ald. Silvana Tabares and 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn are not happy. Johnson also claimed, without proof, that the federal government must sign off on the deal.

It is clear that Brandon Johnson does not care about state laws. He believes he is omnipotent above the law and can do whatever he wants. It is also clear that he does not take public safety seriously, contrary to his word soup and salad claims. He is playing his agenda games with public safety and that is a prescription for disaster(s).

Johnson is also playing games with the Chicago Public School System. He wants Chicago School Board President, Pedro Martinez, out, though he has no power to fire him. The Chicago Teachers Union wants Martinez gone. They bought and paid for Johnson, and he is controlled by them when it comes to public education. It is an egregious conflict of interest, as Johnson is also a former organizer- whatever that means- for the union.

Only the Board can fire Martinez, and it must be for just cause. Refusing to do the mayor’s bidding is not just cause. Martinez and the Board refused to take out hundreds of millions of dollars in what are considered payday loans for pension payments. The mayor does not want that money coming out of his budget, which will be facing another huge shortfall.

Johnson seems or chooses to forget he is management. He proverbially sits across the table from the union not on the same side. He has a total lack of management, fiscal, and budgetary skills. All he knows is his agenda. All he gives the citizens in this city are meaningless platitudes. Chicago needs sensible intelligent leadership. It is not getting it from Johnson and his team. Instead, the city is getting a chaotic administration.

Some in the news media claim these continual missteps are self-inflicted. If Johnson was competent, they would be. Johnson is not competent, and his team of political hacks are not competent. Competent leaders pick or keep people who are smarter than they are or who have expertise in the areas they are responsible for. Johnson picks political hacks.

“The building at 401 N. Wabash Ave. operates without a proper state environmental permit, does not accurately report water discharge levels and violates at least three other laws, according to the lawsuit. Wilson said those facts were “well founded” and “not materially challenged.” (Sun-Times)

Sun-Times Former Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan filed suit Trump Tower in 2018 over the issues. The suit has been bouncing around the court for six years. It is past time the owner/operators of Trump Tower were held accountable and held to the same legal standards as any other entity.

“Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) is in almost constant contact with business leaders, and “all they want to talk about” is finding a candidate to defeat Johnson in 2027.” (Sun-Times)

Ald. Brendan Reilly represents downtown business interests. He is in contact with business leaders daily. Those leaders are disappointed in Mayor Brandon Johnson. Some who supported Johnson have buyer’s remorse and feel they were scammed. What did they expect, this is Chicago where all fairy tales begin with “If elected I promise…”

Economics is not Johnson’s strong point, nor is it a strong point of any in his administration. From its inception as a swampy trading post through today, Chicago has always been a city of commerce and industry. Johnson does no service to that history. Businesses contribute and generate taxes to the city. Businesses employ people who in turn pay taxes. Johnson does not have a clue how the economics of a big city work.

“Three members of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s City Council leadership team and the police union president are demanding that Johnson fire a top mayoral aide for calling police “f—ing pigs” and talking openly about defunding and even “abolition” of police.” (Sun-Times)

Kennedy Bartley, the former executive director of United Working Families, which worked to get Johnson elected was appointed to a cushy job created just for her. Now she is being appointed to the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. This triggered the resignation of several key people in that office. Mayor Johnson does not care about optics. Bartley has to get along with the governor and legislature in Springfield as well as the City Council. Her firebrand reputation will not play well. Johnson needed a salesperson for this position, not a loose cannon. This appointment was nothing more than a typical Chicago Machine payback hiring a political hack.

“We sympathize with those who wish this financially strapped city did not have use for an expensive system designed to get police officers more quickly to a bloody scene on its streets. We dearly wish the same. But the data is clear. Need it we do. To remove it will cost the lives of Chicagoans.” (Chicago Tribune)

Follow the money. Speed cameras make money for the city. Red light cameras make money for the city. ShotSpotter helps save lives but does not make money for the city. Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to eliminate ShotSpotter. ShotSpotter saves lives by getting the police to shooting victims before they bleed to death. According to the Chicago Tribune 85 lives were saved because of ShotSpotter.

The mayor and his minions in the City Council do not care about lives and bloodshed. They only care about money. They do not care about people. They only care about green backs.

“The massive barrier was part of an “emergency” effort to permanently lock out unhoused people from the location near the United Center, where the convention was held, the records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show…But City Hall’s contract allowing for “emergency” spending of up to $1 million for fencing says that this was needed “to address a threat to public safety and city operations during the 2024 Democratic National Convention.”

Once again, the mayor lied to the citizens of Chicago and the City Council. He wanted that camp shut down because it was an eye-sore. Now we are paying big money to fat cat developers- political contributors? – to house the homeless. Just like the tens of millions being paid to house migrant refugees. Follow the money and it leads to fat cats who will pay to keep the chaotic Brandon Johnson in office. The Chicago Way and the Machine are alive and going through a resurgence.

“If we can’t figure this out, Chicago, shame on us,” Warren said in a wide-ranging conversation with Conagra Brands President and CEO Sean Connolly before the Economic Club of Chicago…  Economists generally disagree with the proposition public funding of professional sports stadiums provides enough economic benefit to make it a worthwhile use of tax revenue… “But all this financial maneuvering has left the Bears’ considerable plans for a vast lakefront land takeover without much scrutiny. Dubbed the “Stadium for Chicago.”  (Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Bear’s President is trying to sell the McCaskey’s and Mayor Johnson’s boondoggle plan to despoil the lakefront. The shame is on Warren, Johnson, and the McCaskey family. They want to despoil the lakefront while putting the taxpayers on the hook. All for their mediocre team. It is hoped that Governor Pritzker and the state legislature hold fast and do not approve any funding for the McCaskey family.

The Bears should just move to Arlington Heights. They should leave our- and it is ours- lakefront alone. They no longer have roots in this city. Their office and practice field are in Lake Forest. The McCaskeys were born, raised, and in the suburbs. They do not live or work in Chicago. So, let them go where they belong, and don’t let the door kick them in the a$$ on the way out.

Chicago is facing a Billion-dollar budget shortfall next year. Mayor Johnson wants to implement a hiring freeze, including public safety personnel. The police and fire departments are already short of personnel. Yet Mayor Johnson formed commissions with long titles and staffs. No one knows what they are doing or supposed to do, except collect paychecks.

Everything is on the table, including property tax increases. This mayor has no clue how to manage a city. Neither do his appointees. Some of his supporters in the City Council are questioning his decisions. Johnson is good at one thing though. Bread and circuses, like NASCAR. He revels in bringing them to the city. No matter what the citizens think or want.

Brandon Johnson is what we get when less than 30% of registered voters show up at the polls. We get chaos, failure, and the potential to ruin the beauty of the lakefront.