WBEZ to broadcast Emanuel speech tonight
Thursday, Sep 22, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Fran Spielman lists eight things to look for in Mayor Emanuel’s speech on violence tonight…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has a lot of ground to cover in his speech Thursday night on Chicago violence.
How many questions will he answer, and what elephants in the room will he ignore?
We’ll know more starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, when he delivers his speech to what is likely to be a supportive crowd — it’s invitation-only — at Malcolm X College.
Here are some things to look for:
1. The price tag for his plan to bolster the Chicago Police Department is about $138 million over two years. Will the mayor be any more specific about how to pay for that? He’s ruled out increases in sales, property or gas taxes — but you can drive a truck through that loophole. There are plenty of other taxes and fees he could increase.
Monica Lawton at WBEZ just e-mailed me to say that her station (91.5 on your FM dial) will be carrying the speech live. So, click here to listen and let us know what he says. I’ll be in yoga class.
- frisbee - Thursday, Sep 22, 16 @ 3:57 pm:
=== I’ll be in yoga class===
At least use Oscar or the pontoon boat as an excuse…
To the post,
Did Chicago have lots of violence when alcohol was illegal? Didn’t the 21st Amendment curb most of that violence. What are the odds of Rahm mentioning ending the War on Drugs as a way to curb most of the current violence in Chicago?
- Dave Dahl - Thursday, Sep 22, 16 @ 5:38 pm:
== I’ll be in yoga class ==
I can’t unthank that.
- Henry Francis - Thursday, Sep 22, 16 @ 6:06 pm:
Rahm’s not doing this on Facebook? Lame
- DuPage Dave - Thursday, Sep 22, 16 @ 7:39 pm:
I listened to most of the speech in my car. In my mind Emanuel comes across as a completely insincere hustler. If he cares so much about helping the poor communities of Chicago and having an open administration, why did he withhold the Laquan McDonald shooting video until after his re-election? That was, like his entire tenure as mayor, wholly self-serving.
Yes, he apparently shed a couple of tears late in the speech. But overall he sounded as tongue-tied as his predecessor and was completely unconvincing.
Parts of the speech sounded like an outsider just running for mayor, not someone who has been, in fact, the mayor for over five years.
My suggestion is to go back to Wall Street if they will take him.
- striketoo - Thursday, Sep 22, 16 @ 8:50 pm:
What frisbee said. Prohibition is at the heart of the violence as it was in the 20’s. Unfortunately, our leaders know nothing of history.
- crazybleedingheart - Thursday, Sep 22, 16 @ 8:54 pm:
Would be nice if someone did an actual transcript.
His adlibs were even worse than the written text.
- Payback - Thursday, Sep 22, 16 @ 10:33 pm:
This is the Chicago Mayor whose legal department fought to keep the words, just the words, “code of silence” from being used in a police abuse lawsuit.
Meanwhile C.P.D. detective Jon Burge is collecting his police pension, and the beat(ings) go on…
- AlfondoGonz - Friday, Sep 23, 16 @ 9:17 am:
Very unimpressive speech, and I (1) really liked Rahm from the jump and (2) was hesitant to dismiss him, even after some huge blunders. The content of the speech was poor, the delivery was miserable, and the point was unascertainable.