The public comment period closed November 1, but some Chicagoans are still asking whether south and west side residents actually helped shape the plan.
Tag: Mayor Lightfoot
Posted inNews & Politics
Will the 2023 election push the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus further left?
Career politicians are stepping down, and there’s now an opportunity for new—and possibly progressive—Black leaders to take the reins.
Posted inNews
A century of guaranteed income
The push to solve poverty through government-backed cash grants is nearly 100 years old.
Posted inNews & Politics
Young people dream up a safer summer in Chicago
After Mayor Lori Lightfoot expanded the citywide curfew in response to a shooting, teenagers spoke about Chicago’s gun violence crisis and their relationship to the city.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Not a dream
As I lay in bed drenched in sweat, battling COVID, it came to me as in a fevered dream . . . The city council had overwhelmingly approved Mayor Lightfoot’s idea to spend untold millions on a casino. Even as Alderperson Brendan Reilly warned them that it may wind up being as bad as the […]
Posted inOn Politics
Footing the bill
In the last few weeks, Mayor Lightfoot has revealed several important details about the casino she’s pushing so hard to develop, including . . . Where it will go—near Chicago and Halsted on the city’s near north side. Who will run it—Bally’s Corporation. And why we need it—to raise money to pay police and firefighter […]
Posted inOn Politics
Whole Foods flight
In the aftermath of Whole Foods closing its taxpayer-subsidized store in Englewood, it’s as good a time as ever for me to once again remind you that it was only four years ago that the city and state were begging Jeff Bezos to please, please, please take billions of our tax dollars and build a […]
Posted inOn Politics
A bad hand
Now that Mayor Lightfoot has officially revealed the three finalists for Chicago’s casino, the bamboozling of the city will begin. Oh, Chicago, you know you’re getting bamboozled. I think you sorta like it—a little attention from the boss. It’s like you matter as they try to win you over into supporting something you don’t really […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Enemies of enemies
State Senator Martwick must be doing something right if John Catanzara and Mayor Lightfoot dislike him so much.
Posted inOn Politics
MAGA science
Having spent the better part of the last week closely following the showdown between CPS and its teachers, I’ve concluded there’s no way Mayor Lightfoot truly believes the positions she’s been taking. Not unless the mayor—who ran as a progressive—has suddenly transformed into a Chicago version of Ron DeSantis, ’cause the stuff she’s been spouting […]
Posted inOn Politics
Buried secrets
For proof that the people who run this city are determined to never change their ways, I bring you the latest unsavory details regarding the harassment of female lifeguards at Oak Street Beach. They’re contained in the recently released Hays Report, so named for Valarie Hays, the corporate lawyer who wrote it. The Park District […]
Posted inOn Politics
The “fuckton” twins . . .
I was fired up to excoriate Mayor Lightfoot for her recent “fuckton” comments, when . . . John Catanzara released a video of himself holding a sign that read: “John Catanzara for mayor 2023.” And immediately I was overwhelmed with an urge to excoriate him. As Johnny C has come to Lightfoot’s rescue with his […]
Posted inOn Politics
Sorry, Arlington Heights
Pound for pound the funniest headline for the last week, if not month, came from the unlikeliest source—Crain’s Chicago Business. Not widely known for its knee-slappers. But in this case they had me laughing out loud, when a few days ago they posed the following question in a mass e-mailed clickbait post: “A new Bears […]
Posted inOn Politics
The mayoral promised land
In what was for me a dizzying overload of riches, Mayor Lightfoot delivered her budget speech at roughly the same time that Mayor Rahm’s financial disclosure statement went public. Hello, Monday morning! My takeaway from reading them side by side is this: the rich get richer and the poor get platitudes. Same as always. OK, […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Lemming city
For the last few days, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other prominent lefties have sounded the alarm to Dems across the land. Do not support President Biden’s nomination of Mayor Rahm as ambassador to Japan. As he—Rahm, not Biden—buried evidence of murder in the Laquan McDonald shooting. And Dems have responded with their middle fingers metaphorically […]