* Last week…

Ald. Nick Sposato, 38th, who is a member of the unofficial Chicago Police Department caucus and among the most conservative aldermen, said he is “very optimistic” about Johnson’s ability to maintain relationships with the City Council, but that the days of lasting super-majorities held by Chicago mayor’s “are over.”

“The lefty loons are going to be with him, and then you got people that are just against everything and everybody who are going to be against him and then you get some people that will be like, ‘OK, let’s try to work together and, and get some things done,’” he said, pegging the number that will be with Johnson on certain issues at 20.

* Fran Spielman last night…

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson has forged a compromise to shrink the number of City Council committees from 28 to 20 and replace Finance Committee Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd) with Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), whose endorsement of Johnson was a turning point of his mayoral campaign.

The plan will also install Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), chair of the City Council’s Democratic-Socialist caucus, as chair of the powerful Zoning Committee. […]

Jason Lee, a senior adviser to Johnson’s transition team, maintained that the mayor-elect’s goal was “not necessarily about stacking committees with our allies, because we think a lot of folks can become our allies.” […]

Instead of increasing the number of City Council committees from 19 to 28, what Johnson is calling the “Unity Plan” would retain the original 19 and create one additional committee: “Police and Fire.” […]

During an interview with the Sun-Times last month, Waguespack warned Johnson to “leave this alone” and make no changes to the City Council reorganization approved on March 30.

* Politico this morning…

Johnson has assigned Ald. Pat Dowell to be the City Council finance chair, bumping Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) from the high-powered position. The move upends Waguespack’s efforts to make the council a fully independent reorganization. Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) will now head the budget committee, according to a list obtained by Playbook. […]

Black aldermen who backed Vallas: Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) and Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) both backed Lightfoot in round one and Vallas in round two, but Johnson surprised and gave both of them committee leadership jobs. Harris will head Rules and Burnett is the vice mayor, a signal that Johnson isn’t holding a grudge.

The list is interesting. Ald. Brian Hopkins, who backed Vallas, will chair the new Public Safety Committee. Sposato will retain the chair on Special Events and Ald. Matt O’Shea keeps Aviation.

* More from Crain’s last night…

“There has been ongoing dialogue and collaboration between veteran City Council members, the mayor-elect, and those conversations have been fruitful and positive,” Ramirez Rosa told Crain’s.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, the chair of the Latino Caucus who was set to take over the Zoning Committee, will instead remain the chair of Committee on Economic, Capital & Technology Development.

Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, will also be left without a leadership position. A new tourism-focused committee he was set to chair will not exist in the new structure. He is also losing his position as President Pro Tempore to Ald. Sam Nugent, 39th, a moderate who backed Vallas in the election. […]

Ervin, the chair of the Black Caucus and another Johnson supporter, is set to take over for Dowell as chair of the Budget Committee. With Dowell at Finance and Ervin at Budget, Johnson will have two backers atop the two most influential committees, but both aldermen are more moderate than the progressive coalition that put Johnson in office.

Quite the maneuver.

* From a Sun-Times story about the progressive pragmatism of many of Johnson’s early decisions…

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), who endorsed Vallas, was equally encouraged.

“He’s trying to strike a balance. He’s clearly determined not to make the mistakes of the previous mayor and alienate people,” Hopkins said.

“Politics is a game of addition. So he’s trying to add to his progressive, Socialist base by appealing to the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party.”

* I just couldn’t pass this one up. The American Thinker post is entitled “Was the Chicago mayor victory of radical leftist Brandon Johnson an inside job?”…

Writing on John Kass’s website, Pat Hickey posits the theory that the moderate Democrat opposing the victorious radical teachers’ union candidate, Brandon Johnson, was undone by his campaign manager, Joe Trippi, a veteran Democrat campaign consultant. He makes a good case that a critical statement put out by the losing candidate, Paul Vallas, on the advice of Trippi, discouraged Republican and conservative voters from turning out for the runoff.

[S]omeone asked Joe Trippi to run the Vallas campaign. Who suggested Joe Trippi, the man who sent the screamer Howard Dean into oblivion? It was someone who wanted to please Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle.

She has no fingerprints on this, but I must believe it to be so. Toni Preckwinkle wields great power and remains a humorless racist with a penchant for political torture. It was Toni Preckwinkle who might have uttered, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome geek (policy wonk)?” One of Toni’s barons must have decided to do the old Thomas Becket on Paul Vallas. The broadsword used to hack Paul Vallas was California Techno-politico Joe Trippi.

Utterly hilarious.

* And for some odd reason, Crain’s gave Matthew Yglesias column space to come up with goofy takes like this…

I think it’s a little weird how invested Chicago is in having plentiful parks, given that the weather is trash most of the time, but on nice days they really are nice parks.

Why even bother with these people?

* Isabel’s roundup…

* NBC Chicago | Hours-Long SWAT Incident on South Side Related to Killing Of Off-Duty CPD Officer, Sources Say: Four people have reportedly been arrested in connection with the SWAT incident linked to the fatal shooting of off-duty Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston.

* Sun-Times | Center court? Early appointments show Johnson may turn out to be a pragmatic progressive: So far, Johnson has made four key appointments: Rich Guidice as the all-important chief-of-staff; state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas as Guidice’s deputy; John Roberson as chief operating officer; and Fred Waller as interim Chicago Police superintendent.

* NBC Chicago | ‘I’m Hesitant to Call It a Crisis’: Brandon Johnson Discusses Chicago’s Influx of Migrants: “We also have to be very clear that there are families in the city of Chicago have been ignored for a very long time. We have to admit that, and so I want to make sure that Black families who have been left out and that the Brown families who want in are not seen as divided space.”

* Block Club | A ‘Dire’ Shortage Of Lawyers Making Chicago’s Migrant Crisis Even Worse: Chicago is short hundreds of lawyers as migrants wait months to apply for asylum. The city has yet to help new arrivals get legal services to stay here, a nonprofit director said.

* Crain’s Editorial Board | As Guggenheim exits Chicago, who’s next?: Guggenheim Partners may not be as large as the Citadel market-making and hedge fund empire that pulled up stakes and left Chicago in 2022, the culmination of founder Ken Griffin’s longstanding policy squabble with elected leaders here — most notably his fellow billionaire, Gov. J.B. Pritzker. That said, Guggenheim’s expected exit, first reported by Crain’s on May 1, is almost as great a reputational blow to the city. And Guggenheim’s pending departure should be a wake-up call to Brandon Johnson’s incoming administration — as well as to the governor himself.

* Crain’s | Here’s how the City Council can lead the response to Chicago’s most urgent challenges: Then factor in a major transition in city government, with Chicago breaking in a new mayor, police superintendent and City Hall administration — not to mention 13 new members of the City Council. Add a collection of new police oversight bodies that are still finding their footing, and you get a city that’s not optimally prepared to meet a fraught moment.

* Sun-Times | Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson to meet with elite Democratic donors in North Carolina: In his first trip since being elected, Brandon Johnson, the incoming Chicago mayor, on Tuesday travels to North Carolina to speak to a national network of high-net-worth Democratic donors, the Sun-Times has learned. Johnson, who will take office May 15, will be in Charlotte to speak at a dinner for members of the Democracy Alliance, one of the most elite — and secretive — groups dedicated to bankrolling progressive causes.

* Sun-Times | Lightfoot’s development czar reflects on 4-year fight for balanced growth: “We need a modern approach and the business community, I think, is looking to find its voice in the post-pandemic era of what civic engagement is. There had been a definition of this. I think it was largely philanthropic based.” He said new approaches that align social goals with business opportunities are taking hold, citing investments in Chicago by Discover Financial Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Illinois Tool Works and Northwestern Medicine.

* NBC Chicago | Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to Give Farewell Address Monday: Her address, which is slated to begin at 3 p.m., will take place at BUILD on West Harrison Street.

* Block Club | Alderman-Elect Bennett Lawson Ready To ‘Hit The Ground Running’ When He Takes Over As Lakeview Alderman This Month: As Lawson succeeds Ald. Tom Tunney, his checklist from neighbors include reducing crime, attracting more small businesses and improving public transportation.

* Tribune | Hope Learning Academy parents push CPS to keep their school open after independent operator announces it will shut down: ‘We’re family’: Hope Institute — the Springfield-based operator of the contract school, which has around 240 students in kindergarten through fifth grade — abruptly opted this spring not to renew its operating agreement with Chicago Public Schools after it expires in June. […] Family members have launched an online petition demanding the school be kept open, signed by around 1,200 people. Several parents and grandparents — including at least one who experienced Chicago’s mass school closures a decade ago as a parent — mobilized to speak out at the April Board of Education meeting.

* Fox Chicago | Ald. Nicole Lee excited to represent Asian American community in Chicago City Council: Lee is the first Chinese American in City Council and first female ever to represent the ward. She is a second generation Chicagoan. “Just like my father, born in Chinatown and stayed in Chinatown,” Lee said.

* Axios | Chicago launches new election sign recycling program: Last month, commissioner Cole Stallard had his staff collect all election signs on public property, separate the plastic from the metal, and recycle it, he tells Axios. Department officials report it diverted 4.47 tons of waste from landfills.

* Block Club | Here’s How You Can Get Tickets To Brandon Johnson’s Inauguration: Tickets are free and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. You can reserve them online. The ceremony starts 10:30 a.m. May 15 at Credit Union 1 Arena, UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave., according to an email from Johnson’s campaign.