“Imagine if you were 11 or older on the west or south side when Covid hit. No in person classes, no education for 2+ years. They’re 14+ now… do you think those kids went back to class? Most are lost for good with no future for them, the west or south side and eventually, the rest of us.”

“Though Ald. (Rossana) Rodriguez-Sanchez has furiously sought to frame the ‘Healthy Homes Check-Up Pilot Program’ as affording protections to vulnerable and victimized tenants, the alderman’s central animating motive behind the draft is to create a registry to archive all rental units in Chicago. A step which offers heavy hints at her next legislative gesture, there is every reason to believe the thrust behind Rodriguez-Sanchez’s demand for a citywide registry of rental units is to create conditions for rent control.”

The events leading up to the crash began around 10:49 p.m. Saturday, when more than 100 cars gathered for a “sideshow” of stunt drivers at the intersection of 95th and Halsted. Sideshows, in which drivers of modified cars spin donuts in front of a large crowd at major intersections, have been an ongoing issue for the city. (With video)

Matt Paprocki of Illinois Policy Institute: “It’s ironic — or maybe not — that Johnson, an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, proposes to fix the city by taking money from workers who happen to live in the suburbs. Johnson’s plan relies on the faulty assumption that taking more money from workers’ pockets will solve Chicago’s myriad problems. That is not a real solution, and it never will be.”

“I want to challenge the private sector to join us. Open up your opportunities as well,” she said. “This is how we keep people off the street, we stop the pipeline to the illegal economy, and we build our city to be fair and more equitable than ever before.”

While speaking to Black voters, Lightfoot said, “any vote coming from the South Side for somebody not named Lightfoot is a vote for Chuy Garcia or Paul Vallas. If you want them controlling your fate and your destiny, then stay home. Then don’t vote.”

Matt Paprocki, of Illinois Policy Institute: “The progressive politics that have dominated the Windy City for decades have arrived at an inflection point, with headline after headline heralding violence and government failure at every level.”

“They didn’t ask the (union) House of Delegates. They didn’t present financial statements showing how we’d be paid back,” said Therese Boyle, a retiree delegate who worked in Chicago Public Schools for 35 years. “It feels like they’re putting all of their eggs in this basket, and not thinking about the other important things for our union, like establishing a strike fund.”

“It’s the poorest people paying the richest people,” said Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, who has become critical of the tax sale after researchers in her office produced studies concluding the sale disproportionately impacted Black and Latino homeowners.

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Everyone’s pleased to see 16 fewer murders so far this year. But that’s still 58% higher than right before the last mayoral election in 2019.

Revenues generated by the City of Chicago’s 129 active TIF districts increased from $1.05 billion in 2020 to $1.22 billion in 2021, a 15.5% increase. The primary reason for this increase is the City’s most recent reassessment, which increased taxable values by 8.3% over 2020.

The whole process is overseen by the Cook County Land Bank Authority.