WEEKEND QUOTABLES

The official police explanation, offered by spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, is that Augustus was "exhibiting characteristics of an armed person."

Ben Joravsky, in the aftermath of the police shooting of Harith Augustus

But you know how it goes. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's anti-union Janus decision, it's obvious that Republicans think the First Amendment is only supposed to protect the speech of conservatives—certainly not football players, like Colin Kaepernick, who kneel during the National Anthem.

And apparently, the NRA thinks the Second Amendment only applies to white people. -- The Reader

Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward)

"Yes, there will be a Latinx candidate for mayor." -- Hitting Left

Laura Washington

 As far as I know, [Trump] hasn’t set foot in Chicago since he ran away from his own “Make America Great Again” tour back in March 2016. -- Sun-Times

Millionaire Chicago mayoral candidate Willie Wilson 

He handed out $300,000 in cash to attendees at a South Side church Sunday. And it gets better: According to Wilson, $100,000 of it came from Gov. Bruce Rauner. -- POLITICO

The French ambassador to the U.S. @GerardAraud criticized Trevor for congratulating Africa on France’s World Cup victory. Trevor responds #BetweenTheScenes: pic.twitter.com/5nJklXRyY8

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 19, 2018

An important fair housing victory in Chicago yesterday

I was part of the large crowd that packed the City Council chambers yesterday in support of Ald. John Arena's affordable  housing initiative in his 45th Ward. In past hearings, we've been out-organized by fear-mongering and (yes, I'll say it) racist groups who have spread fear of  an "invasion" of  renters, war veterans, people with disabilities, immigrants and people of color.

In this case, the fear mongering was led by John Garrido, who lost twice to Arena in previous elections and neighboring 41st Ward Ald. Anthony Napolitano. Garrido's forces have been organized into Northwest Side Unite and the Northwest Side GOP Club. Another local group, the Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association, which opposes the project, has a longtime policy of opposing up-zoning in the area. The opposition gets it money from Liberty Principles, a right-wing PAC funded by Dan Proft. 

Their arguments at yesterday's Zoning Committee hearing, often began with the disclaimer, "I'm not a racist..." A dead giveaway. And then there are some who claimed they would support the project if it was reduced to only four stories. Others claimed they were defending "local control" of their Jefferson Park, Addison Park and Portage Park neighborhoods against the "outsiders" from other areas of the city, bent on stirring up trouble. It's a tactic right out of Saul Alinsky's playbook and a reason I never bought into his model of community organizing. Ironically, Alinsky's book, Rules For Radicals, is the featured book for GOP Club's May reading group. 

Ald. John Arena talks with supporters 

The developer of the building at 5150 N. Northwest Hwy. has agreed to make 20 of the apartments fully wheelchair accessible. Another 20 will be reserved for veterans. But if the height or number of apartments were reduced, the set-aside apartments would become unafordable.

The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law warned the city’s Law Department that rejection of the project could be viewed as fair housing discrimination under federal civil rights laws.

Open and mixed income housing has always been more than a local ward issue in Chicago, often referred to as the most segregated city in the nation (see video below). This was clear to progressive groups like the Chicago Housing Initiative and Access Living who provided most of the troops at yesterday's hearing.

The hearing itself was almost painfully democratic, with speakers from both sides holding forth from two in the afternoon, into the early evening. But the final vote in support of Arena's plan was unanimous.

An important victory.

TOMORROW ON HITTING LEFT

Tomorrow on Hitting Left, I will be missing my co-host, brother Fred, who is off to New York where he's taking part in a 40-mile bike run across the boroughs. I know, right?

But joining me will be three of my favorite people, Harish Patel, Anne Emerson, and Ald. Scott Waguespack. Not too shabby.

Harish will be my co-host and my Klonsky brother for the day. He's an Indian-American, Muslim local and international social activist based in Chicago, a former candidate for state rep and the deputy director of the non-partisan policy group New America Chicago. I'm sure we will be hearing about his recent up-close and personal exchange last week with Barack Obama.

The two of us will be digging political dirt with Chicago political strategist Anne Emerson and the alderman from my own 32nd Ward, Scott Waguespack. Scott is an outspoken member of the city council's Progressive Caucus and a major thorn in side of Mayor 1%.

A stunning victory...We'll also hear from SEIU organizer Larry Alcoff on today's victory for Chicago's nursing home health care workers. At the 11th hour, just before what would have been the largest strike by nursing home health care workers in the U.S., a settlement was reached between the management of 103 nursing homes across the Chicago area and 10,000 SEIU members. Tune in and hear Larry and Brother Fred talk about the significance of this important labor struggle.

Obama to Patel...

Mr. Obama wanted to know why Harish Patel, a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, had chosen to run for state representative last year as a young man. The answer, he replied, was in part that he did not see very many Patels in office and wanted to fix that. 

“There are lot of Patels in India,” Mr. Obama interjected, prompting more laughter from the audience. “There are lot more Patels than there are Obamas."

So tune in to hear the Klonsky Bros. Hitting Left on Friday at 11 a.m. CDT, on WLPN 105.5 F.M., streaming live at Lumpen Radio. If you have an IPhone, download the Lumpen Radio app. If you miss the show live, you can always listen to the podcast 

Brother Fred & I will be HITTING LEFT & streaming live this morning.

Ald. Munoz

Tune in this morning at 11 (CST) for week 2 of Klonsky Brothers, HITTING LEFT on Lumpen Radio at 105.5 FM and streaming live here. Fred and I will be joined by Chicago's 22nd Ward Ald. Rick Munoz, who definitely hits lefty.

He's a member of both the Progressive Caucus and the Latino Caucus in the City Council. His Little Village ward is the main debarkation point for Chicago's one million Mexican immigrants.

It's a perfect time to talk to Rick as #PEEOTUS blames "immigrant gang members" for Chicago's rising murder rate. Says he wants to invade our Sanctuary City, round up immigrants and have posse of sheriffs running the city.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he's willing to deal with Trump. But what possible deal could he make? If Trump agrees to "give us more resources", will Rahm agree to... do what? Abandon Sanctuary City? What?

And what's up in the upcoming race for mayor? In the last election, Rick backed his mentor, Chuy Garcia. What about this time around?

Can't wait to hear Rick's response.

Tune in and Tweet us at #HITTINGLEFT17.

Sense of urgency at last night's community hearing on police accountability [Updated]

AMAZING!...No sooner did the Progressive Caucus of the City Council hold the first of its hearings on police accountability THEN THIS HAPPENED.

Instead of watching Trump's "Make America Germany Again" speech last night, I and hundreds of others went over to Malcolm X College on the west side, where the City Council's Progressive Caucus was holding its Community Forum on Police Accountability.

The purpose of this forum was to gather testimony and recommendations from members of the public. The Caucus deserves kudos for listening and for doing what the city and the mayor have so far stalled on doing.

Supporters of CPAC, which calls for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council from the city's 22 police districts, came out in force.

The meeting was moderated by WVON's Dometi Pongo. Ald. Rick Munoz (22) and Ald. John Arena (45) and Rod Sawyer (6) were the only aldermen to speak, and only at the opening and close of the meeting.  Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), David Moore (17), Toni Foulkes (16), Ariel Reboyras (30), Jason Ervin (28), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10), and Willie Cochran (20) also attended.

Most disappointing to me was Police Board President and Police Accountability Task Force (PATF) chair Lori Lightfoot who went on much too long until the crowd demanded that she stop since she was cutting into allotted testimony time. Worse, she left to attend a Police Board meeting while audience members urged her to stay and listen. It wasn't her night. That's for sure.

Munoz says the Progressive Caucus plans to draft its own reforms in the coming months and members were there to listen.

"We listened, we heard people's voices, and that will be part of the legislative process... we will have a series of ordinances in September, October, and November, on how to reform the police department."

People want less talk. More action.

Tour de Fork shows signs of political realignment in Chicago

The Progressive Caucus Tour de Fork fundraiser last night at the kitschy Catalyst Ranch in the West Loop was an impressive event, catered by restaurants from some of the 11 wards represented by Caucus members. But the large, spirited gathering was much more than a gastronomic success. It also signified the sea change taking place in city, state and national political alignments, thanks mainly to the emergence of Gov. Rauner as our own local version of Donald Trump.

There are now 11 caucus members, instead of 8 a year ago. This growth is testimony not only to the progressive movement's recent election victories out in the wards, but to the rapid and near-total collapse of Rahm Emanuel's political machinery and personal credibility.

In the wake of the school closings and the Laquan McDonald scandal, the mayor's approval ratings are somewhere down in the 20s, and in the single digits in the black community where voters were largely responsible for Emanuel's previous two election victories over the progressive opposition.

Rahm has lost so much juice that both Democratic Party presidential candidates avoid him like the plague when they campaign in Chicago. Liberal icon Bill Moyers is now calling on Hillary Clinton to press for the resignations of both Rahm Emanuel and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in order to "do their party and country a service."

Moyers and Michael Winship write:

And now he’s mayor of Chicago, reelected last April for a second term, but, as historian Rick Pearlstein wrote in The New Yorker a couple of months ago, “Chicagoans — and Democrats nationally — are suffering buyer’s remorse.”

 To millions, they are enablers of the one percent, perpetuators of the Washington mentality that the rest of the country has grown to hate. What a message such servants of plutocracy send: Democrats — a bridge to the past.

Alds. Munoz, Foulkes, and Sposato at Tour de Fork

Just as the Bernie Sanders campaign, combined with the existential threat of Trump presidency, has pushed the Democratic Party's campaign rhetoric leftward, the Rauner-inspired realignment in Illinois has brought some strange bedfellows together here in Chicago around an emerging progressive and pro-labor policy agenda.

Last night, veteran Caucus leaders like Alds. Scott Waguespack, Leslie Hairston, Rod Sawyer and Rick Munoz shared tacos and chicken wings with newly-elected Democratic-backed State's Atty. Kim Foxx, State Senator Omar Aquino, Rep.  Jaime Andrade,  City Treasurer Kurt Summers, City Clerk Susana Mendoza, Committeeman Aaron Goldstein, reps from the CTU, SEIU, AFSCME, and more.

Tactical alliances and overlap of interests between the progressives and the council's Black and Hispanic Caucuses could well decide the next mayor's race. Note that yesterday's Black Caucus press conference demanding greater input into the selection of the next police superintendent drew progressive support. Ald. Sawyer plays a leadership role in both caucuses.

New State's Atty. Kim Foxx speaks to Caucus supporters

I joked with some, standing in the taco line, that I half expected Rauner nemesis Mike Madigan himself to come walking through the door singing "we shall overcome".

The new political alignment in the city and the shifting boundaries around the word "progressive" may cost some Caucus desertions and precipitate new internal struggles within the ranks of union leadership. But it is more likely to liberate some pols held captive on the machine's plantation in the same way the Harold Washington movement liberated them back in the day.

It's the season of the progressives. And that's a good thing. Right?

See Ben Joravsky's latest Reader piece for another view of the realignment.

We need an independent People's Task Force in Chicago

I'm all for the call by A.G. Lisa Madigan,  for a federal civil rights investigation of the Chicago PD and City Hall's ongoing cover-up of recent police killings. I'm glad to see that the call to bring in the feds is gaining broad support, including most recently from a group of retired African-American police officers and from (get this) Hillary Clinton.

The mayor's proposed Task Force is a farce and its members should be ashamed to have agreed to take part in this charade.

Even a federal investigation is not adequate. While Obama's Justice Dept. has stepped up investigations of big-city police departments -- at least, compared to Bush's DOJ -- results have been too slow in coming and there's little or no transparency in the process.

The current ongoing federal investigation in Chicago of the Laquan McDonald murder has even been used by Anita Alvarez and Rahm Emanuel as an excuse for not releasing the video of the shooting. And for not telling us that officer Jason Van Dyke, had been accused of misconduct 18 times before he killed Laquan.

Plus, the feds have spent months in Ferguson as well as in Chicago, investigating civil rights violations and corruption, only to come back with politically expedient band-aid solutions, and empty reports leading to little or no change.

Alongside the Justice Dept. investigation, we need an independent People's Task Force that is representative of the community. One that includes community groups, black and Latino youth activists, progressive pols, parents, women and LGBT groups, victims of police brutality and mistreatment, teachers and community elders. Expert witnesses, journalists, academics, victims of police brutality, and even members of the CPD should be called to testify and tell their stories.

Findings should be summed up in a report to the public and in media reports with a list of demands and recommendations for community action.

Retired African-American cops call for federal investigation.

Who could call together such a Task Force? How about it, Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus of the City Council, together with the city's labor coalition?

Without an independent People's Task Force, we will once again be relegated to spectator status and be fed (no pun intended) a little to hide a lot.

Oh, and while we're at it...How about a truly independent Police Review Authority to replace the look-the-other-way IPRA? The N.A.A.C.P. issued the following statement this week:

“The Independent Police Review Authority, (IPRA) was created to be an independent agency that investigates police shootings and misconduct cases. Currently, this process isn’t truly independent because cases are sent back to Chicago Police Department to approve. The process needs to provide IPRA with true independent authority with referral rights to an independent prosecutor.”

More on that later.

No more fun and games.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Joanna Klonsky
press@joannaklonsky.com

Members of the Progressive Caucus call for thorough examination of McDonald case

CHICAGO (November 25, 2015)--Chicago City Council Progressive Reform Caucus members Ald. Leslie Hairston (5); Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6); Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10); Ald. Toni Foulkes (16); Ald. David Moore (17); Ald. Ricardo Muñoz (22); Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29); Ald. Scott Waguespack (32); Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) and Ald. John Arena (45) issued the following statement on Wednesday to respond to the video of a Chicago Police officer shooting teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times:

“We are mourning the violent death of one of our city’s young people, Laquan McDonald, and we are praying for his family.

“We call for a thorough examination of the apparent effort to withhold information about McDonald’s death as it moved through the administration of the Police Department. We are deeply committed to transparency and public accountability, and we urge all of our fellow public officials to recommit to upholding the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

“We ask why this officer is still on the public payroll. In the 14 months since the killing of Laquan McDonald, Officer Van Dyke has continued to live comfortably, facing no criminal charges until yesterday, all while drawing a paycheck at the expense of the taxpayers of this city. This is unacceptable.

“We are concerned that the delay of justice in this case has served to undermine the hard work of the police officers in our districts, who now must face deep distrust from some residents.

“At the same time, peaceful protestors were arrested during last night’s response to the release of the video. These young people came out to march, chant and draw public attention to the death of McDonald. Several of the march organizers were arrested despite multiple witnesses who confirm that they broke no laws. While we were pleased to see that the charges against protester Malcolm London were dropped, we ask that the charges against the other protesters also be dropped immediately.

“Unlike those who protected Officer Van Dyke, these young people were acting in the spirit of stewardship of our city, peacefully assembling, participating in nonviolent civil disobedience, and demanding justice.

“We call upon the leadership of this city and its police force to convene an inclusive, empowered panel to investigate the entire minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and day-by-day course of this apparent miscarriage of justice, which took the life of a young man and shielded his killer for more than a year.

“Furthermore, in order to revamp the institutional crisis of police discipline, we plan to convene a panel of experts to work with us on providing the City Council and people of this city a thorough change to the City code and regulations that oversee police officers, the Independent Police Review Authority, and the Police Board. We need to ensure that bureaucracy or union contracts don’t stop us from being able to remove bad police officers from the payroll. Changes must be made a priority in order to end the lack of effective and clear discipline practices and oversight that perpetuate these crimes.

“The public demands answers. We have a right to know, in order to put in place new policies and regulations to be applied in any future instance of misconduct.”

###

Former CPS liar-in-chief leaves Rahm's Super PAC to start her own biz.

Substance photo

"She will be a real asset to those that work with her," says Michael Sacks, CEO of Grosvenor Capital Management. -- Crain's

Becky Carroll served as J.C. Brizard's and Byrd-Bennett's liar-in-chief at CPS before moving over to run Rahm's campaign Super PAC. Now, after a year and a half at Chicago Forward, Carroll is setting out on her own. Her new money-making venture is called Chicago Backward (just kidding) C-Strategies LLC and I assume her specialty will be union-busting, school privatization, and attacking progressive political candidates, as always.

Carroll's time at CPS was mostly spent trying to cover up Brizard's ineptness (admittedly an impossible job) and then keep a lid on the BBB/SUPES affair and the UNO corruption scandals. Then there was her CPS budget deception and her selling of the school closings (she named it, "right-sizing"). 

Oh, I almost forgot her efforts to spread dis-information about the Chicago teachers strike in 2012. Quite a track record.

After her relationship with local reporters crashed and burned last year, the mayor pulled her out of CPS' massive Communications Dept. and moved her over to run Chicago Forward where she headed the PAC's $5M effort to elect Rahm's favored puppy-dog aldermen. $2M of that was used to target two progressives, Scott Waguespack in the 32nd and Carlos Rosa in the 35th. Both won handily over machine candidates.

For more on Chicago Forward's failed run at the progressives, see Paul Blumenthal's piece at Huffington, "Chicago Progressives Emboldened After Rahm Emanuel's Super PAC Fails To Beat Them."

Despite this trail of losses, I'm sure Carroll, with investors like Michael Sacks behind her, will make a pile of money in her new venture. Carroll says she's already signed up 10 or so clients, including the Illinois Restaurant Association, who's leading the charge against increasing the minimum wage, and  union-busting education group, Stand for Children.

I can't say I wish her well.

Warning: Be careful who you embed with

em·bed

əmˈbed/ verb 1. fix (an object) firmly and deeply in a surrounding mass.

No, my warning isn't directed at Charlie Sheen's "goddesses". Probably too late for them. It's also too late for GOP current poll leader Ben Carson whose ignorance on foreign policy just got exposed (as if we hadn't noticed) by his "close adviser" and professional embedded "journalist", Armstrong Williams.

So just consider this a warning to everyone who feels they may need it -- AFT, NEA leaders?

Armstrong Williams

For those too young (or too old) to remember, William's approach to journalism was to embed himself with the Bush administration and in particular with Bush's ed secretary, Rod Paige. In January 2005, USA Today reported that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Williams had been paid $240,000 to promote No Child Left Behind. USA Today found that Williams was hired "to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same".

Now Armstrong has betrayed Carson. I guess Dr. C must not have left enough money on the nightstand.

Not to say that politics doesn't make strange bedfellows, or shouldn't. Just a reminder to use protection.

Case Studies... Billionaire Rauner is now the most hated governor in IL history. His budget terrorism and banning of Syrian refugees have been met with hostility and resistance across the state. But who will step up in this fight to save public education and salvage what's left of social support networks in the state? And what kind of deal will Sen. Cullerton and House Speaker Madigan try and cut?

I know CTU is watching to make sure we don't get sold out again on Cullerton's "compromise" SB318 like we did on the unconstitutional pension-theft bill.

Brother Fred says that the Supremes' latest oral arguments indicate that their next ruling will help insure us against another pension grab.

When the Court rules again in favor of our pension rights, as it is expected to do, it will now include what it did not have the opportunity to rule in SB1. They will not only protect us from the elected pension thieves in Springfield and City Hall. They will protect us from sell-out union leaders as well.

Ald. "Slow Eddie" Burke is still quick enough to know which way the wind is blowing on this one. He knows Rauner will take a beating on the refugee question, especially here in Chicago. For one thing, the governor doesn't have the authority to stop refugees from settling in Illinois. But he can push the legislature to cut funding for refugee aid.

So Burke is introducing a city council resolution reaffirming "Chicago’s historic role as a place of sanctuary and refuge". Co-sponsors are Marty Quinn (13th) and Progressive Caucus member, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th). Should pass easily.

Ald. Waguespack

From Natasha Korecki at Politico -- 9:30 a.m. Progressive Caucus presser at City Hall. From a release:

"Members of the Progressive Reform Caucus will join Access Living Chicago in support of a resolution calling for hearings regarding the impact of financial cuts to special education programs in Chicago Public Schools. To date, Chicago Public Schools has cut approximately $32 million dollars in special education programs, and the budget cut announcements are not over."

-- Expect Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) to introduce a resolution calling for public hearings on special education funding cuts. "This resolution asking for hearings by the Education Committee will provide CPS an opportunity to clear the air and tell the public exactly what the state of funding and support for special needs students is at this point in time and throughout the year," Waguespack said in a statement. "The system supporting special needs students needs to be fully funded and CPS has an obligation to fulfill that duty today."

In case you missed the interview with Kim Foxx, candidate for Cook County State's Attorney on Chicago Tonight. Watch it here.

Chicago aldermen finally say 'no' to charter expansion

"The vast majority of aldermen oppose the opening of new charters this year, while we face a massive budget crisis and no path to adequately funding our neighborhood schools... The current system pits charters against neighborhood schools in a "zero-sum game." --Ald. Rod Sawyer (6th)

In a strong rebuke of current Rahm/Claypool school closing/charter opening policies, 42 Chicago aldermen have signed on to a resolution seeking a moratorium on new charter schools this year. 

Ted Cox at DNAInfo writes:

State law allows charters to open even if the local district doesn't want them. CPS has denied some charter applications, only to have them approved by the Illinois State Charter School Commission. At that point, CPS has to fund the schools, without having any say over their operation.

The resolution, submitted by Progressive Caucus member Roderick Sawyer, asks for a freeze on new charters both in the city and across the state through the Illinois State Board of Education. 

MORE SAWYER..."With so many neighborhood schools taking severe budget cuts, it is common sense that we should attempt to steady the ship before pushing forward with new schools," he added. "We need to slow this process down. Charter schools are also having problems filling seats, so the mission of these schools is becoming more about marketing than education. Let's deal with our current financial difficulties, see what is working and what is not working. and then do what is best for all our children."

Claudinae Hurt, Gage Park High School student, passes out information pamphlets after a rally against charter school expansion in Gage Park Tuesday. -- DNAinfo/Joe Ward

A previous attempt to pass a similar resolution back in 2013 was blocked in the Rules Committee ("Where good legislation goes to die") by Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) who asked for "more time and patience" and claimed the alders didn't have enough time to read it. I guess two years was long enough, even for this usually compliant crew.

Of course, the still simmering anger over mass school closings and anti-charter revolt in the neighborhoods on the north and increasingly on the south sides of the city, have plenty to do with speeding up the process. Not to mention, the recently-ended 34-day hunger strike by Bronzeville parents and activists, which forced Rahm/Claypool to reopen Dyett as a neighborhood public school, rather than a charter. 

The topper came this week during Rahm's budget speech when the mayor who had closed 49 schools for being "underutilized" complained about overcrowding. 

"Today, some of our schools are so overcrowded that children have classes in stairwells, in hallways – and sometimes even in converted closets."

Pushing Chicago's poor out of the city. Who will stand up to Rahm Emanuel's death budget?

At last night's Progressive Caucus community forum in Logan Square, Caucus members and community groups spoke out against Rahm's austerity budget and massive property tax increase. 

Will enough typically spineless Chicago Alders finally find their way out of Rahm's pocket to push back on his draconian budget proposal? Doubtful.

There are 11 members of the City Council progressive caucus who generally don’t side with the mayor on fiscal policy (including Arena); an 18-member aldermanic black caucus that plays nice with Emanuel but doesn’t back the garbage-fee proposal; and a handful of Hispanic aldermen, including Ald. Roberto Maldonado, who think the mayor’s budget proposal, as it stands, well, stinks. -- Mark Konkol, DNAInfo

Rahm's strategy, like his predecessor Daley's, includes selling off or privatizing everything that's not nailed down. Closing schools and getting rid of public space also weakens unions and public decision making.

His idea of privatizing the 311 call center came in his 2016 budget address, saying it would save the city "about a million dollars a year" to replace union workers with outside contractors. It was one of the few pieces of actual news Tuesday, after the mayor's administration had spent the past week dribbling out many of their financial proposals for the coming year. -- John Byrne, Tribune  

His budget proposal includes an unprecedented increase in property taxes and fees which will hit hardest on the poor (renters), the middle class whose incomes can't keep pace with increases on assessed home values, and those on fixed income (retirees and disabled). The wealthiest and the connected who pay the same tax rate as the working poor, will be fine.

How about a Mansion Tax like they have in N.Y., on sales of homes valued at over a million bucks? Fat chance.

As usual, it will be Rahm's cronies, his big campaign donors and downtown developers who will reap super-profits off the plan. The new budget represents another huge transfer of wealth from the poor to the wealthiest.

Planned DePaul basketball arena.

The [DePaul basketball] arena, which was announced about a week before City Hall closed 49 public schools in 2013, has been controversial since it was proposed. City Hall approved $55 million in tax-increment financing funds towards the Marriott hotel... -- David Matthews, DNAInfo

The net result is the continued the whitenizing of Chicago, (already the 7th most expensive city in the world to live in) and the continued push of the poor out of the city.