Chicago Megathread: With CTU on strike, Lightfoot lays out her budget

[Mr. Illini]

CST reports that Lightfoot has tapped Miguel del Valle to head the school board until an elected board can move into place.

del Valle has been a strong voice for reform over the years. He ran for mayor in 2011 and lost to Rahm.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2019/5/28/18643504/mayor-lightfoot-city-clerk-miguel-del-valle-school-board-president

[Mr. Illini]

In Lightfoot’s first test in front of the Council today, her preferred committee chairs passed on a voice vote - a major victory for her. Reports say that only four members voiced nays, prompting no call for a roll.

Ald. Villegas, Lightfoot’s floor leader, says that the four nays were Alds Burke, Lopez, Beale, and an unidentified alderman.

Prior to the vote, Alderman Ed Burke rose to take issue with Lightfoot’s proposed rule changes because they were not gender neutral. Lightfoot said, “Alderman, please. I will call on you if I want to hear from you.” Afterward, she said that he likes to play games but she won’t allow it.

[Donerail]

lmfao
https://twitter.com/daybydavon/status/1133537414352461824

[LoneStarDem]

Approval ratings ?

[Donerail]

Approval ratings ?

stop asking this question

What are her approval ratings so far ?

no one's doing polls on a mayor who's been in office for slightly over a week lmfao

[Mr. Illini]

lmfao
https://twitter.com/daybydavon/status/1133537414352461824

So ridiculous. She has doubled down on her promise to invest in underserved communities.

She has appointed the most progressive finance chair in history. She has appointed the most progressive CPS chair in history. She has revived the Dept of Housing and appointed an affordable housing champion to lead it. She has taken power over TIFs and aldermanic privilege (major forces against affordable housing) away from the Council. She has called for a re-examination of the code of silence acquittals in the McDonald case. She is moving forward with plans to make video of all Council meetings public. She has strengthened Rule 14 and protections against aldermanic conflict of interest.

All in a week.

Progressive Alderpersons like Ramirez Rosa, Vazquez, Martin, etc have cheered this, but it seems that some in their base will continue to oppose her, likely for the purposes of saving some face after going all in against her during the campaign (and then losing 74-26).

[Donerail]

She has appointed the most progressive finance chair in history.

Tell us why she chose him and not some other Alderman. Is it because he is a progressive? Is it because of anything related to anything he believes?

She has taken power over TIFs and aldermanic privilege (major forces against affordable housing) away from the Council.

This is a lie and you know it.

Progressive Alderpersons like Ramirez Rosa, Vazquez, Martin, etc have cheered this, but it seems that some in their base will continue to oppose her, likely for the purposes of saving some face after going all in against her during the campaign (and then losing 74-26).

lmao, what a bizarre and antiquated way of looking at politics. I am a journalist working for an independent newspaper — our goal is to hold the powerful to account, and I will continue to oppose Lori Lightfoot when she does bad things for this city.

[Mr. Illini]

She has appointed the most progressive finance chair in history.

Tell us why she chose him and not some other Alderman. Is it because he is a progressive? Is it because of anything related to anything he believes?

She has taken power over TIFs and aldermanic privilege (major forces against affordable housing) away from the Council.

This is a lie and you know it.

Progressive Alderpersons like Ramirez Rosa, Vazquez, Martin, etc have cheered this, but it seems that some in their base will continue to oppose her, likely for the purposes of saving some face after going all in against her during the campaign (and then losing 74-26).

lmao, what a bizarre and antiquated way of looking at politics. I am a journalist working for an independent newspaper — our goal is to hold the powerful to account, and I will continue to oppose Lori Lightfoot when she does bad things for this city.

1) Lol what? I don't speak for her motives. I just give my opinion on her actions and their impact. My opinion is that it is a great pick. Why are you questioning it? I can tell you that if Toni Preckwinkle were elected, we'd have gotten an old establishment friend to chair it. In fact, if Burke hadn't been indicted, she'd have gladly kept him in place. O'Connor, too, if he hadn't lost.

2) She has shut down aldermanic privilege for licensing and permits. She will propose re-writing the code to do it for zoning. Her new council rules transfer TIF control to a committee in her branch.

3) I hope you do hold her to account. Instead, you're currently spending time sharing tweets about a tip at a coffee shop and a hearty joke made about it. Would love to hear your input on the actions she has taken thus far instead.

[Green Line]

Just like Bruce Rauner (and Trump), who failed miserably because they don't know to play nice with others who may in fact know a little about politics, Lightfoot is in for a rude awakening.  Its painfully obvious that she thinks she's going to ride in and steamroll the City Council because "change" or whatever.  Give it a year before she's despised by the vast majority of the city and with no accomplishments to show for it.  Very, very bad start to her term.

[Donerail]

1) Lol what? I don't speak for her motives. I just give my opinion on her actions and their impact. My opinion is that it is a great pick. Why are you questioning it? I can tell you that if Toni Preckwinkle were elected, we'd have gotten an old establishment friend to chair it. In fact, if Burke hadn't been indicted, she'd have gladly kept him in place. O'Connor, too, if he hadn't lost.

She didn't choose Waguespack because of his leadership, she chose him because — and this was in the Sun-Times — "He’s the only one of the aldermen who actually supported me before Feb. 26, and I’m not gonna forget that." That's the same old way politics has always worked, but it does mean she doesn't get to pretend to be the progressive reformer.

2) She has shut down aldermanic privilege for licensing and permits. She will propose re-writing the code to do it for zoning. Her new council rules transfer TIF control to a committee in her branch.

Fundamentally, it's the zoning that matters. Licensing and permits is an avenue for low-level graft like the stuff that snared Willie Cochran, but when you're talking about segregation and affordable housing, it is the zoning that makes the difference. She will propose re-writing something, but the deal sounds like surrender on zoning in exchange for limits on licensing and permits. As for TIF funding, I am... skeptical of her willingness to curtail the worst abuses of the practice after she abruptly signed on to $2.4 billion in TIF spending on two megadevelopments.

3) I hope you do hold her to account. Instead, you're currently spending time sharing tweets about a tip at a coffee shop and a hearty joke made about it. Would love to hear your input on the actions she has taken thus far instead.

I can multitask lol. She has not taken all too many actions thus far, but we've extensively covered her choices for committee chairs. To be clear, there are some selections I genuinely like! SSG at Workforce is perfect. But she also inexplicably picked Cardenas for Environment, kept Harris at Rules for god knows what reason, and made a number of decisions that seem nakedly political — Waguespack will be a great Finance Chair, but it’s pretty clear that he’s only being chosen because he endorsed her. Similarly, Beale was a garbage Transportation chair, but it seems clear that he’s being stripped of his chairmanship because he criticized her. Hell, she’s trying to sink Martwick’s school bill because he got in a shouting match with her back in February. There are some bright spots, but it does not seem to be any sort of meaningful break with the type of politics that have characterized this city.

[Badger]

I would never want to be Mayor of Chicago.  The level of social problems in the city and the level of corruption in city government is truly overwhelming.

Chicago is a great City. One of the great cities of the world.

True, and I've always wanted to visit it, but I don't want to be one of its elected leaders (on the way to jail).

Kind of like the White House?

[BundouYMB]

1) Lol what? I don't speak for her motives. I just give my opinion on her actions and their impact. My opinion is that it is a great pick. Why are you questioning it? I can tell you that if Toni Preckwinkle were elected, we'd have gotten an old establishment friend to chair it. In fact, if Burke hadn't been indicted, she'd have gladly kept him in place. O'Connor, too, if he hadn't lost.

She didn't choose Waguespack because of his leadership, she chose him because — and this was in the Sun-Times — "He’s the only one of the aldermen who actually supported me before Feb. 26, and I’m not gonna forget that." That's the same old way politics has always worked, but it does mean she doesn't get to pretend to be the progressive reformer.

... and what's wrong with this exactly? Why wouldn't she appoint a fellow progressive who supported her progressive campaign? Should she have appointed someone who opposes her and her agenda? What a bizarre criticism.

[Donerail]

She didn't choose Waguespack because of his leadership, she chose him because — and this was in the Sun-Times — "He’s the only one of the aldermen who actually supported me before Feb. 26, and I’m not gonna forget that." That's the same old way politics has always worked, but it does mean she doesn't get to pretend to be the progressive reformer.

... and what's wrong with this exactly? Why wouldn't she appoint a fellow progressive who supported her progressive campaign? Should she have appointed someone who opposes her and her agenda? What a bizarre criticism.

"what's wrong with appointing people based solely on their loyalty"

[BundouYMB]

She didn't choose Waguespack because of his leadership, she chose him because — and this was in the Sun-Times — "He’s the only one of the aldermen who actually supported me before Feb. 26, and I’m not gonna forget that." That's the same old way politics has always worked, but it does mean she doesn't get to pretend to be the progressive reformer.

... and what's wrong with this exactly? Why wouldn't she appoint a fellow progressive who supported her progressive campaign? Should she have appointed someone who opposes her and her agenda? What a bizarre criticism.

"what's wrong with appointing people based solely on their loyalty"

Yes, that's my question. Do you want to answer it?

In order to get things done in politics you need allies. If you don't reward your allies, they won't remain allies for long. I guess you'd prefer Lightfoot to remain pure as the driven snow and never get anything done?

[Mr. Illini]

She didn't choose Waguespack because of his leadership, she chose him because — and this was in the Sun-Times — "He’s the only one of the aldermen who actually supported me before Feb. 26, and I’m not gonna forget that." That's the same old way politics has always worked, but it does mean she doesn't get to pretend to be the progressive reformer.

I could, of course, turn the motive question to you and ask why the leader of the Progressive Caucus endorsed her in the first place. It certainly wasn't because he thought she was going to win, as she was polling 3% when he made the endorsement. Regardless, questioning motive is ridiculous - we got a great Finance Chair, a key role on the Council. Like I said, Toni would have loved to have Burke back in the role if she could have.

Fundamentally, it's the zoning that matters. Licensing and permits is an avenue for low-level graft like the stuff that snared Willie Cochran, but when you're talking about segregation and affordable housing, it is the zoning that makes the difference. She will propose re-writing something, but the deal sounds like surrender on zoning in exchange for limits on licensing and permits. As for TIF funding, I am... skeptical of her willingness to curtail the worst abuses of the practice after she abruptly signed on to $2.4 billion in TIF spending on two megadevelopments.

She has not backed off her promise to curtail the practice when it comes to zoning. She's actually reiterated it many times since her election. Time will tell.

I can multitask lol. She has not taken all too many actions thus far, but we've extensively covered her choices for committee chairs. To be clear, there are some selections I genuinely like! SSG at Workforce is perfect. But she also inexplicably picked Cardenas for Environment, kept Harris at Rules for god knows what reason, and made a number of decisions that seem nakedly political — Waguespack will be a great Finance Chair, but it’s pretty clear that he’s only being chosen because he endorsed her. Similarly, Beale was a garbage Transportation chair, but it seems clear that he’s being stripped of his chairmanship because he criticized her. Hell, she’s trying to sink Martwick’s school bill because he got in a shouting match with her back in February. There are some bright spots, but it does not seem to be any sort of meaningful break with the type of politics that have characterized this city.

She certainly chose a council that could pass the council. It would have been a disaster (in fact, a repeat of Harold's fate) if she took a loss during her first council meeting and had a competing organization rammed through. This was not out of the question - there was even talk among some members of separating the Finance Chair vote so that they could vote Scotty down. I have no problem with her shutting Beale out because he spoke out against her. Why would she appoint a political opponent (which he solidly established himself as following the election, despite endorsing her) to her Council organization? Perhaps Dems in the US House should elect a Republican as Speaker, too?

[Mr. Illini]

Also, notice that you separate out individual pieces of my posts to respond to and delete the rest of the quote. Can I take that as agreement with the deleted portions of the quotes?

[LoneStarDem]

Burke going to prison yet ?

[Green Line]

The treatment of Ed Burke, who loves Chicago so much, is shameufl.  Innocent until proven guilty is the way this country works.

[Sestak]

The treatment of Ed Burke, who loves Chicago so much, is shameufl.

[Badger]

The treatment of Ed Burke, who loves Chicago so much, is shameufl.

Don't feed the troll

[Mr. Illini]

For those that missed it, Dinosaur alderman Ed Burke was hit with a 14-count indictment late last week. The Mayor is calling for his resignation. She also says she will work with the council to investigate from within.

[Donerail]

Lori Lightfoot (cop) has used her cop powers to shut down my local fried chicken joint for "grossly unsanitary food handling practices"

[Green Line]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-illinois-sen-marty-sandoval-office-raids-20190924-wns55ttc3fhtdfzlzb5gogd2qi-story.html

Another Chicago ally of Madigan had his offices raided by the Feds today - State Senator Martin Sandoval of the SW Side.  He shares much of his territory with Madigan, and some with Ald. Burke as well, I believe.

Lets hope there aren't more RATS out there like Solis.  This is getting out of hand.

[Mr. Illini]

Little update:
*CTU and SEIU school staff have been striking for about a week over the new contract, joined by Bernie and Liz
*Lightfoot laid out her budget today that counts on permission from Springfield to implement a high end real estate transfer tax
*If she doesn't get that permission, Chicago is going to see a massive property tax hike, which will no doubt damage her popularity
*She declared a $300m TIF surplus, most of which will go to covering the cost of the new CTU contract

I've honestly been kind of out of the loop since she took over (lot going on at the national and international level) but am finally catching up, motivated by the recent developments with CTU and the budget.

What does everyone think of the first five-ish months?

[lfromnj]

Massive FF

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/education/no-more-money-teachers-union-lightfoot-says-including-lincoln-yards