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Afternoon roundup

Thursday, Sep 7, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Gov. JB Pritzker was asked again today about the unionization attempt among some House Democratic employees. Would he support a law that puts legislative employees under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Labor Relations Board to give them a pathway to unionizing?…

Look, I think these are decisions that will get made by Speaker Welch and by the legislators. It’s their chamber, and the General Assembly, in general, that have to make some decisions about this. … I’m not engaging in the discussion other than to say this is something that they’re going to have to work out.

…Adding… I asked AFSCME Council 31 for its response to the organizing effort…

As an affiliate of the Illinois AFL-CIO we echo the support previously expressed by the federation (https://twitter.com/ILAFLCIO/status/1653502000728887297) for the right of these and all workers to come together in unions and have a voice on the job.

* Background is here if you need it. WBEZ

The head of the Chicago Teachers Union is facing backlash for sending her eldest child to a private high school, a decision she says represents a stark statement about disinvestment in public schools and drives home why the fight to fully fund neighborhood schools is so important. […]

In an interview with WBEZ, Davis Gates defended her decision and said it was the result of “unfair choices” she and other South and West Side parents face.

“It was a very difficult decision for us because there is not a lot to offer Black youth who are entering high school” in Chicago, Davis Gates said. “In many of our schools on the South Side and the West Side, the course offerings are very marginal and limited. Then the other thing, and it was a very strong priority, was his ability to participate in co-curricular and extracurricular activities, which quite frankly, don’t exist in many of the schools, high schools in particular.” […]

Another big consideration: Her son plays soccer, and the South Side schools with good programs are in Latino neighborhoods far from her home.

Davis Gates said they looked at selective enrollment and magnet high schools, which tend to have healthy enrollments and fundraising that allows them to offer more complete programs. But that would have required her son to spend hours traveling.

This is basically an admission that the city’s public schools are not up to par. Gee, if only she was in a position to do something about that, or perhaps help others in similar situations to attend private schools who don’t have her personal financial resources. Just saying.

Also, she was not asked in the interview about her previous statements like this one...

“I’m also a mother,” Davis Gates said on March 6, 2022. “My children go to Chicago Public Schools. These are the things that legitimize my space within the coalition.”

…Adding… Press release…

The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago today named Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and Eric Smith, Vice Chairman of BMO Bank, as the new co-chairs of the Committee’s Public Safety Task Force (PSTF). The two Chicago business leaders are replacing the late James Crown, who led the task force up until his tragic death in June.

* Dave Dahl

[The Illinois Emergency Management Agency] is hosting more than 600 emergency planners from throughout the state for an annual conference.

[IEMA Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau] says a newer responsibility for the emergency professionals is election security. “Really thinking about the physical security of the poll workers who are out there,” she said. “Like anything, our job is to plan. That doesn’t mean that something is going to occur, but our job is to make sure that we prepare.”

* WMBD

Candidates are starting to declare their candidacy to battle for a seat in Springfield in the 93rd District of the Illinois House. […]

Travis Weaver (R-Edwards) is the incumbent, and is seeking a second term. […]

Weaver says he reached out to his first known opponent, Democrat Zoey Carter of Pekin, on Facebook after she announced her candidacy last week.

He says he wants to keep the race cordial and respectful.

“I think it’s important to have open lines of communication, because Zoey may say something at some point that I believe is untruthful or deceptive, and I’d like to be able to call that out,” Weaver said. “And I also empower Zoey to have that same relationship with me.”

Carter, who other media outlets have reported could be the first transgender person elected to state office, was not available for comment. But in a Facebook post announcing her candidacy, she says she’s running “because I know that we are not getting the proper representation that we deserve.”

The 93rd House District is overwhelmingly Republican. Darren Bailey won it by 26 points.

* Daily Wire

Democrat state lawmakers are more unified and committed to a leftist ideology than Republican lawmakers are to conservatism, according to a report from the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Republicans voted for conservative policies 77% of the time, while Democrats voted for liberal policies 87% of the time, according to the analysis of all 7,400 lawmakers in the 50 statehouses during last year’s legislative sessions.

The study by CPAC’s affiliated Center for Legislative Accountability concluded that Democrats were more likely to “stick together” on issues important to the party’s base, while Republicans “broke apart.” […]

The most-radical Democrats were in New Jersey, where they had a 0% conservative ranking, followed by Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maine, and Oregon, at 1%. […]

“The red states are actually the worst” when it comes to moderate Republicans, Andrew Roth, president of the State Freedom Caucus Network, told The Daily Wire in 2021. “A lot of Democrats know they can’t get elected with a D next to their name, so they put an R next to their name and then vote like liberals.”

Illinois ranked 37th in most conservative Republican legislative voting behavior in 2022, at 72 percent, which is about average and the opposite of what’s portrayed in the last paragraph of that excerpt.

* Mayor Brandon Johnson chafes at the suggestion that he’s moving too slow on appointments, but I don’t think it’s out of line to ask why CTA President Dorval Carter still has a job…


38 percent of Red Line trains ran? What the heck?

* Isabel’s roundup…

    * Illinois Times | Tough choices at Memorial Health: Illinois Times has learned Memorial Health’s recently announced layoffs totaled about 300 – with 120 involving people in leadership positions – and that the cuts will save the Springfield-based health care system an estimated $40 million a year.

    * Sun-Times | Toxic Acme site on Southeast Side picked for EPA Superfund cleanup: Cyanide and mercury are among the harmful chemicals and metals found through recent testing of the Acme soil and surrounding areas used for fishing may be contaminated as well, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said.

    * Center Square | Right-to-work group enters nursing home labor dispute: Officials from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Illinois had threatened to call a strike on Labor Day, but have since gone back to the bargaining table. If talks break down, employees from 11 Infinity Healthcare nursing facilities in northern Illinois will be ordered off the job. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens said workers don’t have to walk off the job if they choose not to.

    * Farm Progress | Illinois FFA to help spread the word on mental health: Following the success of a state-supported program to help Illinois farm families access mental health resources, Gov. JB Pritzker announced funding for up to 20 grants at $1,000 each to support FFA chapters implementing local initiatives that encourage access to such resources. All FFA chapters in Illinois are eligible to apply for the grant, and grant applications will be available from the Illinois FFA Foundation in fall 2023.

    * NBC Chicago | University of Illinois, 4 other Midwest schools rank on Forbes’ ‘Top 25 Public Colleges’ in US:“University of Illinois is home to more than 9,000 works of art, over 46,000 artifacts, four theaters and four cultural centers,’ Forbes wrote. “Students have the opportunity to be mentored by faculty members who have been awarded Nobel Prizes, Pulitzer Prizes and the Fields Medal in Mathematics.”

    * WMBD | Tazewell County files to intervene in CO2 pipeline running under central Illinois: “The Tazewell County Board is currently in the process of taking public comment from Tazewell County residents and the developer of the proposed (carbon dioxide) pipeline. The filing of this Petition to Intervene will ensure that Tazewell County will be a participant in all future proceedings,’ said State’s Attorney Kevin Johnson.

    * Sun-Times | Committee approves labor contracts for thousands of city workers: The deal’s prevailing wage portion covers 7,000 members of 30 trade unions employed by 16 city departments. Those workers also will now accrue half a day of sick leave per month and be eligible for 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

    * Chalkbeat | Chicago Public Schools is becoming less low-income. Here’s why that matters.: A decade ago, nearly 73% of students at the school, Helen C. Peirce School of International Studies, came from low-income households, according to district data. Last school year, that figure was just over 34%. […] Even though the number of students from low-income families has dropped, nearly three-quarters of the district’s student body is still considered “economically disadvantaged.” But if the downward trend continues, Chicago schools could continue to see fewer dollars than expected from the state, which funds districts in part by considering how many students from low-income families are enrolled.

    * WICS | Push for state funding amid learning loss: Illinois schools strive to bounce back post-pandemic: According to the 2022 Illinois Report Card, proficiency in reading and math for Illinois students is running below pre-COVID-19 levels. Federal and state dollars have been dished out to try to help students get caught up. […] Next year, Illinois won’t be receiving federal COVID-19 funds, which has helped pay after school programs. Pritzker said increasing state funds for education is key, along with targeting those in need the most.

    * NYT | Who’s really paying to bus migrants from the border?: No. In fact, the migrants boarding the Texas-funded buses represent only a fraction of the thousands arriving at the border each month, and some migrants are wary of accepting a free ride. The Texas busing program has sent about 34,740 migrants to other states since April 2022, enough to populate a small city. But that is a paltry subset of the hundreds of thousands who have crossed the border during that period, most of whom have probably also made their way to destinations outside Texas.

    * South Side Weekly | Larry Snelling Garnered Multiple Use-of-Force Complaints in the 1990s: As a beat cop in Englewood and Morgan Park in the 1990s, Larry Snelling was the subject of eight excessive force complaints, two of which resulted in suspensions. Some of the allegations describe Snelling slapping or punching people as young as fourteen in the head, while others detail verbal abuse. The allegations describe behavior that, if true, violated long-standing departmental rules that “prohibit all brutality, and physical or verbal maltreatment of any citizen while on or off duty.”

    * South Side Weekly | ‘Doesn’t Make it Wrong’:While he was a sergeant working at the Police Training Academy in 2015, Larry Snelling testified in a civil suit that a lieutenant who allegedly pressed his hand forcefully into a mentally ill woman’s nose because she would not submit to fingerprinting had used an appropriate amount of force for that type of situation, according to documents obtained by the Weekly.

    * Block Club Chicago | Migrant Barbers Arrested, Ticketed For Cutting Hair Without License Downtown: One of the migrants who was arrested, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told Block Club Wednesday police handcuffed all of the barbers and detained them for eight hours, informing them it was illegal to operate a pop-up barbershop without a license or permit.

    * Bloomberg | Chicago Area Faces 30% Transit Cuts Without New Taxes, State Aid: The area’s three transit systems, which average about a million daily rides combined in northeast Illinois, could see collective deficits expand to $1.19 billion in 2031 from about $730 million in 2026 after emergency pandemic funds run out and if no new money is allocated, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning said in a draft report this month.

    * Block Club Chicago | Judge Urges Feds To Review Whether Soccer Team’s Deal To Build On Public Housing Land Violates Civil Rights Laws: The advocates want the CHA to fulfill 20-year-old written plans to build hundreds of new homes on and around the Near West Side site. It was once part of the ABLA public housing development where 3,600 families lived. Instead, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot engineered a no-bid deal last year that would let the Chicago Fire lease 23 acres for at least 40 years. The team, owned by billionaire Joe Mansueto, plans to build a state-of-the-art training center on the property.

    * Crain’s | Stadium rebuild can’t happen without concerts, Northwestern insists: Until last night, it was unclear to the commissioners and members of Evanston’s City Council, who will have final approval after the Land Use Commission gives its recommendations, on what would happen if a proposal for the stadium was approved by the city, but the separate concert proposal was struck down.

    * Facing South | Illinois town offers solidarity to gender migrants fleeing far-right tyranny in Southern states: Right now, C.A.R.E is working with 16 “cases” through its organizational offshoot, Rainbow Refuge. They are mostly from Florida; others hail from Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, according to Carrie Vine, one of C.A.R.E.’s founders and volunteer case managers.

    * Tribune | Column: Sheriff ‘frustrated’ after recent fatalities on Kane County roads: While these crashes have all been in different locations and were caused by different reasons, they were “mostly due to the lack of awareness or attention to the surroundings of the drivers,” he said. And even if there had been deputies “on every corner of the county, most of these crashes would’ve still occurred.” […] “People need to stop blaming the sheriff’s office for failing to have a presence” when these crashes are often caused by “sheer negligence or ignorance of traffic laws,” Hain said on Tuesday.

    * Tribune | Chicago calls for safety as city prepares for Mexican Independence Day events following problems last year: “Car caravans that create a threat to public safety will not be tolerated,” spokesperson Mary May said in the statement. “We also remind everyone that drag racing and drifting are not only illegal, but dangerous. Anyone in violation of the ordinance will be held accountable.”

    * Crain’s | Inside and around the Obama Presidential Center as it rises in Jackson Park: Cement trucks roar around the 19.3-acre site and workers — 53% of them minority, according to the center — scurry about. The shell of the combination 425-car parking garage and Chicago Public Library branch is done, all to be topped with a landscaped green roof. The center’s central tower, which will house a digital presidential library and museum filled with memorabilia from Barack and Michelle Obama’s lives and time in Washington, is now several stories in the air and set to be topped off by April.

    * WBEZ | Three big questions, asked and answered, about Chicago’s move to an elected school board: The move to an elected board is the realization of a dream for many organizers who have long argued that parents and communities are shut out of important decisions affecting their schools. They think an elected board will ensure that parent and community wishes and concerns will be heard.

    * Farm Progress | Illinois FFA soils judgers win big at Farm Progress Show: The 2023 edition featured the largest participation ever, with over 120 students competing from Indiana and Illinois combined. Sixteen schools fielded around 30 teams combined for the contest. Illinois FFA members competed against other Illinois FFA members for bragging rights and cash awards, provided to the winners by Farm Credit Illinois, one of the contest sponsors.

    * Marijuana Moment | Illinois Concert This Weekend Will Be State’s First To Allow On-Site Marijuana Consumption: Kicking off Saturday afternoon, the two-day Miracle in Mundelein festival will feature complimentary rolling papers, lighters and grinders, as well as dab bars and rolling stations for use by attendees. Marijuana products themselves will be available for sale through a retailer located next door.

    * Block Club Chicago | ‘DMVs’ In Illinois? Secretary Of State Says So — But It’s Not Quite What You Think: Asked Thursday if “DMV” was part of an official change in terminology by his office, Giannoulias joked that he’s “not creative enough” to launch a rebrand. Instead, the acronym is just a way to specifically refer to the services offered at each location, he said.

    * NYT | Philanthropies Pledge $500 Million to Address Crisis in Local News: The initiative, called Press Forward, is spearheaded by the MacArthur Foundation and supported by organizations including the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

       

49 Comments
  1. - H-W - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:02 pm:

    === My children go to Chicago Public Schools. ===

    Oops.


  2. - Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:06 pm:

    So now we need another law to put them under the ILRB? I think it’s appalling that the constitutional amendment passed isn’t law enough.
    Let the legislative staff form a union.
    I just don’t get why it’s so hard for folks supposedly all in favor of the Workers Rights Amendment.
    Just because management doesn’t like it
    Can’t be an excuse anymore
    Is the Speaker and Governor being perfidious?


  3. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:14 pm:

    “Democrat state lawmakers are more unified and committed to a leftist ideology”

    That means anything Republicans oppose. Other than that, “leftist ideology” is meaningless, just another manufactured buzz phrase to trigger the base.


  4. - Hannibal Lecter - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:16 pm:

    === So now we need another law to put them under the ILRB? ===

    The ILRB has taken the position that they do not have jurisdiction over groups excluded under the Illinois Labor Relations Act. A legislative change is necessary for them to have jurisdiction.

    === I just don’t get why it’s so hard for folks supposedly all in favor of the Workers Rights Amendment. ===

    Because a lot of the messaging only stated that the Worker’s Rights Amendment would preserve existing law and prevent Illinois from becoming a right to work state. Apparently that is not all the Amendment did. Oops.


  5. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:18 pm:

    In response to “Gee, why not do something about it…”… Do you mean like testify at Senate and House education committees for equitable school funding, lobby at the federal, state, state board and CPS board level, slip bills and speak w policy makers, convene public meetings w stakeholders, give interviews in the media, partner w legislators to introduce bills, support candidates for office who support public education?


  6. - Livco - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:19 pm:

    === My children go to Chicago Public Schools. ===

    Children is plural. This story is about singular. Entirely possible one or more children are still in CPS schools.


  7. - Rudy’s teeth - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:20 pm:

    How do the parents who send their children to the top performing high schools in Chicago—Payton College Prep (on Wells), Northside College Prep (on Kedzie), Jones College Prep (on South State), Whitney Young (on South Laflin), and Lane Tech (on Addison) manage to transport their students and accommodate their extra curricular activities?

    Should academics not be the first priority and sports/extracurricular a secondary concern?

    Very weak sauce offered by Ms. Davis-Gates.


  8. - wowzers - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:21 pm:

    Public schools for me but not for SDG.


  9. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:23 pm:

    Unions don’t pass the budget. They may try to influence it, as do the Civic Federation, Chambers of Commerce, environmental groups, all sorts of public advocacy groups…but what could she have done about historic and inequitable school funding that she hasn’t done?


  10. - Excitable Boy - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:23 pm:

    - Gee, if only she was in a position to do something about that -

    It’s time for CTU to back a property tax increase. As someone who’s paid property taxes in Sangamon, Dupage, and Cook County, there’s a clear outlier on the low end.


  11. - Steve M - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:27 pm:

    The folks at Chalkbeat don’t seem to understand how the State Evidence Based Funding formula works differently than the old GSA formula. With GSA enrollment goes down funding goes down. With EBF the base funding minimum says you never get less than what you got last year. As CPS continues to hemorrhage students their funding from the State at worst stays flat in total, but grows on a per student basis


  12. - Sangamon Ty - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:29 pm:

    “Leftist ideology”= majority of the country. USA is majority liberal. Democrats have a high rate of passing legislation because citizens have given them a supermajority to do so. It’s disingenuous to use this phrase, & GOP knows it


  13. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:33 pm:

    ===but what could she have done ===

    Scroll down one comment from yours.


  14. - Dysfunction Junction - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:37 pm:

    ==How do the parents who send their children to the top performing high schools in Chicago==

    CTA. That’s the beauty of living in a big city.


  15. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:39 pm:

    The long term solution? Complete change in how state raises revenue and funds education. Isn’t the state supposed to supply the majority of funding for k -12? Yet they don’t. So local districts are left w little choice but to make up the difference w property taxes. And the inequity continues. If we want city of Chicago, high schools to look like new Trier, then they need to be funded. We also need to treat education and educators differently. So people remain in the profession. Make it a desirable sustainable career.


  16. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:41 pm:

    I think CTU has advocated for and been supportive of increased revenue. Certainly put their efforts into passing the fair tax.


  17. - Hannibal Lecter - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:41 pm:

    === If we want city of Chicago, high schools to look like new Trier ===

    CPS will never look like New Trier.


  18. - ANON - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:43 pm:

    The value proposition for those choosing to serve on legislative staff is that you gain experience and the professional contacts necessary to advance your career either in further public service in an agency or in the private or non-profit advocacy sectors. Staff positions have rarely served as career positions, so do your time, pay it forward and succeed as many generations of former staffers have done. In addition, AFSCME has crippled the ability of state government to function. The legislature certainly doesn’t need to be hamstrung by byzantine labor protection rules or worse, a strike when it is only in session for several months a year.


  19. - Dysfunction Junction - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:44 pm:

    ==CPS will never look like New Trier. ==

    And Chicago doesn’t look like Winnetka. Not all of it, anyway.


  20. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:47 pm:

    The demographics of the students (And socioeconomic status of the parents) in CPS will not look like New Trier.

    But facilities, access to programming, course offerings could.


  21. - Hannibal Lecter - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 3:52 pm:

    === But facilities, access to programming, course offerings could. ===

    How much extra money would be needed to make that happen and where would it come from. No generalities. I’m looking for specifics.


  22. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:02 pm:

    Good question Hannibal. I don’t know. Lots of extra money. But given the discussion we’ve been having - that’s the point. Not interested in equalizing access for city kids (85% at/below poverty level) to the education opportunities available to privileged students? That’s fine, that’s the choice. But there’s no making up the difference with a new testing regimen, a new reading curriculum, or changing school name, or firing the teachers and hiring new ones, organizing schools along business lines. All of these have been tried. These are the ‘school reform’ efforts that got us to where we are today. All of these were offered as the Silver bullet for education. Do you remember common core State standards? They were going to revolutionize K 12. Ridiculous ridiculous.


  23. - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:04 pm:

    Illinois has only the 4th most radical Democratic legislators?

    Come on Man we need a recount


  24. - Hannibal Lecter - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:11 pm:

    I think if we keep comparing CPS to the wealthiest districts as a starting point for reform, any efforts will fail. How about your average funded suburban school. That might be more of an apples to apples comparison. Many of those schools can’t compete with New Trier either, but perform better than most CPS high schools.


  25. - Rabid - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:15 pm:

    Staff wants to ride out the speakers term into the sunset ?


  26. - Thomas Paine - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:15 pm:

    === This is basically an admission that the city’s public schools are not up to par. Gee, if only she was in a position to do something about that ===

    But she is not, at least not yet.

    We have a school board appointed by successive mayors that were hostile to the CTU.

    Prior to that, a CTU leadership that was allied with Mayor Daley and largely silent on school quality. Karen Lewis wasn’t elected CTU president until 2010, when CORE defeated the Daleyites.

    Moreover, the things Davis Gates complains about: class offerings, extra-curriculars, etc are decisions made by the central office and by principals, not by teachers.

    It’s not an unexpected hit piece, but I thought she responded well.

    I would add that yes it’s true that Davis-Gates earns a good paycheck. It’s also true that paycheck would probably allow her to relocate her family to the Northside where - thanks to abundant fundraising by school PTOs, the offerings are much better. Davis Gates doesn’t congratulate herself for her neighborhood loyalty, but I will.


  27. - Steve Polite - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:22 pm:

    “AFSCME has crippled the ability of state government to function.”

    How? And provide specific examples to support your claim, because as an AFSCME member and state employee, I don’t agree. From my perspective, it’s legislation, administrative rules, or administration and management decisions that determines the function of Illinois government, not the AFSCME contract.


  28. - Frida's boss - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:26 pm:

    Why hasn’t CTU advocated or pushed to put on the ballot a property tax increase? I get they don’t want to be seen as pushing for a tax increase but it would help immediately. They have pushed for increased nurses, social workers, administrative staff, housing homeless students, and free meals year round this all costs money. Go to referendum. Add .5% to property tax bills and put it to a vote.

    School districts, library districts, fire districts, park districts, etc. all over the collar counties regularly run property tax increase referendums. The school district threatens to cut band or football then say they need an increase. “It’ll only be the cost of a cup of coffee per day” or “On a house worth $250k it will only be $35/month” are all catchphrases that everyone in the suburbs has heard over the past 25 years.


  29. - Ucci - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:36 pm:

    So SDG would rather send her son to a private school over a public school with Latino kids? What are her priorities then? Sounds more nationalistic than in solidarity with public sector labor values.


  30. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:42 pm:

    Apples to apples comparison would involve districts w roughly similar socioeconomics of students and families, and districts where the central office was purposefully neglecting certain school facilities, and discriminating against minority educators.

    Why not make big plans? Think a Marshall plan for Illinois’ neglected and impoverished communities. Then CPS high schools would look like New Trier.

    Why not spend $3 Trillion (the amount the US spent in Iraq, per …https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/true-cost-iraq-war-3-trillion-and-beyond …spend this amount on education, healthcare, infrastructure repair and updating, economic development. Yes, it’d cost, but we could bring US tax brackets back to where they were under President Eisenhower, and invest in our own nation.

    We don’t have to do this, of course. And that seems to be the choice, but there’s a price to be paid: we can live in gated communities, have blighted communities (city, suburban, downstate), rely on security cameras, private security, and then not be surprised when young disenfranchised kids from these communities have nowhere to go and nothing productive to do.


  31. - Frida's boss - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:44 pm:

    AFSCME contracts on who gets jobs have rules in place that require too much time to hire people for positions. In the past it had to go through a 90-day inside hire bid and then a 90-day outside bid. That’s 6 months to fill some positions. Not sure about the most recent contract? Maybe they bent a bit?
    Their contracts and political weight are what’s keeping prisons from consolidating that are antiquated or half full.
    Their union is preventing state facilities that have had nothing but problems, like Choate, from actually addressing employee issues and moving the facility to where there are more opportunities to get qualified people.
    AFSCME defended members all through the pandemic to not hold accountable or force their members, even the ones who worked in critical care facilities, to stay out of group settings when off work or get vaccines during the pandemic. 32 veterans died, and they didn’t get COVID-19 while isolated from friends and family. Wonder who could’ve brought it in?
    Shall I continue?


  32. - Shytown - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:46 pm:

    I’m guessing SDG isn’t crazy about having the tables turned on her, but when you spend years throwing stones and bombs at others to advance your agenda and go on the record over and over again to turn up the rhetoric as high as possible, it’s a lesson in being careful about how that can boomerang on you.

    The bottom line is parents should be able to send their kids where they want based on their needs, but that is not an option for all parents. And we should have a school system that has options for kids, especially in high school, that meets them where they are and their needs. But that’s not the reality either. That’s why parents sometimes up and move to the suburbs or to another neighborhood or put them in a private school - but for most, they don’t have a choice at all. Parents should not be shamed for making a decision that’s in the best interest of their child, but that has been a tactic that the CTU has played over and over again. You reap what you sow.


  33. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:47 pm:

    CTU had advocated for increases in revenue, and additional sources of revenue: financial transaction tax, tax on properties worth over $1 million, closing federal and state loopholes. They’ve slipped these bills, supported these efforts. Canvassed and GOTV’d for Fair Tax.


  34. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:51 pm:

    ===financial transaction tax===

    lol


  35. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 4:58 pm:

    Rich, I get that the financial transaction tax is a heavy lift, mostly because the financial trading industry doesn’t support it. But why should it be off the table for discussion? That millionaires and billionaires don’t want to consider paying 1 cent/$1000 traded says something. That’s good context for average working people to understand. That we’re all paying a lot of money in taxes, many of them regressive, while one of the uber-wealthiest sectors of our economy doesn’t want to contribute. That’s useful context for middle and working families to understand.


  36. - 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 5:04 pm:

    ===But why should it be off the table for discussion?===

    Because all the trading firms will simply relocate their computer servers out of state before the tax would take effect. So if we don’t pass it, we’ll get zero new dollars. And if we do pass it, we’ll get zero new dollars.

    That’s why it’s off the table. It’s a total nonstarter. Simple solutions are usually neither, and this is a fine example.


  37. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 5:11 pm:

    ===I get that the financial transaction tax is a heavy lift, mostly because the financial trading industry doesn’t support it. But why should it be off the table for discussion?===

    I don’t think it’d get close to 60/30, as far a lift goes


  38. - It's always Sunny in Illinois - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 5:13 pm:

    Why hasn’t CTU advocated or pushed to put on the ballot a property tax increase? I get they don’t want to be seen as pushing for a tax increase but it would help immediately. They have pushed for increased nurses, social workers, administrative staff, housing homeless students, and free meals year round this all costs money. Go to referendum. Add .5% to property tax bills and put it to a vote.

    $8.5 BILLION…with enrollment continuing to drop, which Ms Gates is contributing too…..we need more $$$$$ ….seriously….this is a cycle of doom. Starting with the head of the union.


  39. - Forest v trees - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 5:17 pm:

    You can always find one more tax or revenue that “CTU should have advocated for.” But really isn’t the big picture that CTU constantly argues for more CPS funding through lots of different means? I don’t think that’s disputable.

    If you believe the head of CTU must send their kids to public school, defend that position. But don’t argue that what she’s doing would be fine if she did more advocacy for CPS funding or that it’s bad because she opposes Invest In Kids which gives public dollars to private schools.


  40. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 5:32 pm:

    Yeah 47th, I keep hearing that the trading firms will move out of state. I get your point about not spending too much energy on a simple solution that isn’t going anywhere. My point is more that we have low - information voters, and seem to be suffering from poor civic engagement (38% participation in last chicago municipal?).

    Let average low participation voters know why this potential source of revenue is sacrosanct and off limits.


  41. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 5:38 pm:

    Wow Sunny. Cycle of doom. Kinda dramatic. And not agreeing w you - why numbers drop. Look at the US census over the last 25 years. Causes of drop in CPS: Chicago lost 250,000 Black residents since 2000; families having fewer children, changing city demographics. Similar losses in other big NE and Midwest cities.


  42. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 5:41 pm:

    https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2022/9/28/23377565/chicago-school-enrollment-miami-dade-third-largest?_amp=true


  43. - Sine Nomine - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 5:45 pm:

    The union is is a debate, but people forget so much how much has improved since the old regime. Comp time is no longer decided based on whether Mapes likes you or not. You do not have to worry about one man putting all your failings or his perceived failings of you in his Microsoft Contact files so he can remember them down the road. Yes, improvement is still needed but, progress is being made.


  44. - wowzie - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 6:07 pm:

    @ Shytown

    Incredibly well-stated. +1


  45. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 6:40 pm:

    So, follow privatization of public education to its logical conclusion. What will we see? Continued siphoning of public funds from state coffers to private schools, including religious schools which discriminate against LGBTQ teachers and students; continued diminishment of academic and extracurricular programming in traditional schools, continued lack of transparency in how privatized schools operate and spend tax dollars.

    Why not work towards creating a system in which parents don’t have to scramble, jumping thorough hoops to get into selective enrollment schools? Build these schools, open to all, in every neighborhood.

    Parents are and should be free to choose a religious or private school. But public dollars are better spent to benefit the most students possible, not just one student. More bang for public bucks.


  46. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 6:45 pm:

    ===So, follow privatization of public education to its logical conclusion.===

    The problem isn’t the premise. It’s not even logic.

    The problem is there are folks who want to end public education, and really don’t care what the aftermath or fallout is.

    That’s the problem.

    Their goal is to end public education. It’s other people’s problem what is going to replace it… but make sure there’s a way these anti-public school folks can profit from the collapse.


  47. - Steve - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 8:56 pm:

    -the financial transaction tax is a heavy lift-

    1) Congress must approve ( good luck with the GOP going along with it when they control the House)

    2) The state of Illinois legislature must approve it ( are the votes there?)

    3) Chicago’s City Council must approve it.

    4) The CME must agree to stay in Chicago (their share holders will demand they leave Illinois). The CME is an internet business now.

    Best of luck with your dream.


  48. - Ashland Adam - Thursday, Sep 7, 23 @ 9:50 pm:

    Steve

    You haven’t read my comments


  49. - Eire17 - Friday, Sep 8, 23 @ 5:40 am:

    Urban Prep is on the south side. Great track record of students going on to college and she supports getting it shut down. But then says no schools good enough for her kids in the area so she has to go private. Wow


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