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The project would add to Chicago’s pipeline of struggling office buildings turning residential, making way for more residents in the city’s core. The developer would make 20 percent of the units available under the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance.
“52 out of the 56 public transit agencies that are not in the Regional Transportation Authority region have the ability to present their needs, desires and the case for funding that their areas also deserve,” state Sen. Ram Villivalam said.
“Regardless of what plan comes out that’s agreed upon, that’s fiscally responsible for the state, No. 1, and equally respectful of the job that our employees do,” state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit said, “we need to acknowledge that it needs to be fixed.”
Splashes of red spray paint covered the statue’s arms, with “Lincoln was an executioner,” “Land Back” and “May all empires fall from Turtle Island to Palestine” written around it.
John Wittman, of Americans for Free Markets: “According to data from the National Federation of Independent Business, small-business owners consistently cite government regulations and taxes as top concerns. Illinois lawmakers have decided to double down, with one merchant payment expert affirming that ‘there is no way to implement what the law states easily or inexpensively. … Smaller issuers will cease servicing restaurants or allowing their cards to be used there solely to avoid the costs of compliance, reducing competition and ultimately resulting in higher costs for merchants and consumers.'”
The deadline for spending or earmarking the state’s almost $7 billion in federal COVID relief funds was at the end of last month, although Illinois indicated it would seek an extension for spending the money. But as a result, local schools could see a reduction in staff and programs next school year, if they haven’t already experienced cuts this year.
“The replacing of the board members isn’t the issue in my opinion,” Ald. Ray Lopez said. “The fact that the mayor and his CTU machine forced out seven sitting members by bullying and pressuring them to leave for failing to do what they wanted them to do, politically, is the most dangerous part of this story.”
Many City Council members support Johnson’s progressive agenda for the city, but they bristle at how he’s been trying to accomplish it. His unilateral moves to remake the school board, in particular, have antagonized city officials like Ald. Bill Conway. “I appreciate that Mayor Johnson is a principled man, but he also needs to realize that city government is not set up like a dictatorship,” Conway said.
“I think we’ve become a society where we sit back and expect others, the government, or institutions to make sweeping societal changes. But the reality is that lasting changes often take place by focusing on the individual and strengthening each one to the best of their abilities.”
According to Chicago Police Department figures, there were 34 people shot in 29 separate shootings between Friday and Monday evenings. One person was also killed in a “blunt trauma” incident, police said.
Dylan Sharkey with the Illinois Policy Institute explained, “There was a similar measure in 2020 which asked if Illinois should adopt a progressive income tax structure. The issue with that is it incentivizes wealthy residents to flee to other states with lower taxes and Illinois gets less tax revenue than they originally had.”
State Rep. Brandun Schweizer: “Illinois families are suffering from high costs, no jobs, high crime and no hope. Springfield is full of backroom dealers who work for their own benefit while a mechanic I met in Danville is struggling to feed his family. Chicago politicians are calling the shots while a retired teacher from Urbana is contemplating moving due to rising property taxes.”
Trump’s rhetoric on Chicago can often be nasty, but it’s not wrong. Too many Chicagoans experience the high-crime, low-literacy, high-tax, low-opportunity version of Chicago – which we detail below – and which Trump is likely to point at Tuesday. But because it’s Trump talking, expect the media and connected class to deflect or even deny that the city’s problems exist.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF Carbondale to talk about the three advisory referendums the state put on the November ballot. Ted warned Illinoisans to not fall for the “progressive-income-tax-for-property-tax-relief” tax swap idea, pointed out that both sides being unable to trust election results has eroded civility and talked about the real reason why the three referendums are on the ballot.
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