Chicago needs to ensure its police remain motivated to curb crime following the election of another soft-on-crime mayor, said Brooks, of Project H.O.O.D. “My main concern is the morale of the police department. I think the police force is kind of disheartened and may be a little disenchanted because of this whole situation. My prayer is that they won’t just sit back and not take action as a result of the mayoral election.”

“The bottom line is that we are dependent on ridership and fare revenues,” Dorval Carter said. “That has not changed substantially pre pandemic to post pandemic…When crime does occur, it is very public and it gets a lot of attention and it certainly feeds a perception that riding public transportation is not as safe as it used to be. That is something we have to address.”

Reports of major crimes in Chicago were up 46% during the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2022. Of the seven major crime categories tracked by CPD, only murders are lower this year, down 15% compared to 2022. They are still up 33% from 2019, though.

“I really had no business being where I was,” Engelbert said. “You can call it fate or God or whatever you want, but I can’t count on both my hands the irregularities that put me in that position.”

Actuary Mary Pat Campbell: “I’m willing to bet Vallas will be very happy in about a year when he sees the hideous financial mess he will not have to deal with. To be sure, he’s been through some of this before, but I am not sure he really understands how nasty it is. I am sure Johnson really has no idea how nasty the situation he’s going to be in. He and his union buddies may think there is a big pot of money they can grab at…. I have a feeling they will be corrected in their belief.

“To be sure, Johnson — a little-known Cook County commissioner last fall — inherits a legacy of Black activism and leadership. Jesse Jackson Sr., Congressman Jonathan Jackson and fellow West Sider Congressman Danny Davis supported Johnson. But Johnson, a West Sider who emerged from the capital “P” progressive political wing, in some ways may have been perceived as a Black outsider, since Black political power in Chicago tends to be concentrated on the South Side.”

The group poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into aldermanic campaigns between the initial round of voting on Feb. 28 and the runoffs this week.

In January, he told TNR that the best way forward for Chicago is to invest more in mental health, housing, year-round youth employment opportunities, and the like. He envisions deeper crime prevention, rather than just carceral crime response.

According to state law, school board districts must reflect the city’s population. In Chicago’s case, public schools serve predominantly Black and Latino students, while the city’s overall population is 33% white.

Jesse Sharkey, who stepped down as president of the CTU last year, noted that many progressives were disappointed by President Barack Obama, especially when it came to his education policy.

Pastors Maurice Gaiter and Cornelius Marks said their biggest hope in Johnson’s administration is that the community sees more investment and does not fall to the wayside. They want greater economic development, community safety and greater transparency and visibility. Said Gaiter, “It’s exciting to see someone from your backyard elevated to that position. All

The much younger and more diverse City Council set to govern the city for the next four years will also be the most progressive in Chicago’s history, giving Johnson a solid base of support that he could use to translate his priorities and budget plan into legislative accomplishments.

Some of the stations are slated for concrete repairs, removal of outdated equipment, and repair to plumbing lines. Work will also include cosmetic upgrades like painting, replacing sheet metal and damaged signage, lighting upgrades, cleaning and power washing.

Charles Lipson: “Johnson represents a clear victory for the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wing of the Democratic Party and for the role of public-sector unions within it. The national implications are clear. And the implications for those who live in Chicago are huge.”

Cook County prosecutors last week rejected murder charges against an 18-year-old man who was allegedly caught on video as he fired a gun into a car during a clash that left a 17-year-old boy dead last fall. Pearson, who turned 18 one week before the October 29 shooting, had a felony gun case pending in juvenile court at the time.

Harvey, Illinois’ long-planned exchange offer for its defaulted general obligation bonds could get underway later this month with receipt of an overdue audit the last hurdle to overcome, city officials told a Cook County judge.

The practical barriers of a Republican-controlled House and President Biden’s pre-campaign pivot to the center have blunted their influence in Washington, but the latest results show left-wing candidates are finding new ways to make headway at the state and local levels as their focus shifts beyond D.C.

“Democrats from the upper Midwest to the White House were brimming with confidence after Tuesday’s wins in Wisconsin and Chicago, believing President Joe Biden was handed a template for crucial battlegrounds once he moves forward his reelection bid.”

“The situation demands quick action. Crime is the biggest point and has financial implications for the tax base, but there’s pensions, downtown vitality, the CTA’s problems, and schools,” said Richard Ciccarone, president-emeritus of Merritt Research Services. “When you have a confluence of going on that’s the danger and when you raise your risk level.”

Johnson will likely turn to Springfield pretty quickly for more funding for CPS. Johnson will have immediate allies in the 10 state senators and 12 state representatives who endorsed him for mayor. But it’ll be a tall task that many before him have failed to accomplish. If he falls short, he’ll need to find another way to prevent a $600 million deficit in the 2025-26 school year.

What I’ve heard repeatedly is that, much like teachers, police officers are being asked to do their job and someone else’s job,” the mayor-elect told the Sun-Times

In a Facebook post March 28, the police union said that if Johnson won, there would be a “major exodus” from a group of 2,900 officers with either 20 years of service or those who are above the age of 50. The police department is “already down nearly two thousand officers. We cannot sustain a mass exodus of manpower. Our pension fund cannot handle that exodus either longterm.”