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*** UPDATED x1 *** Lightfoot again says she’ll have to raise property taxes unless Springfield helps

Friday, Oct 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller

Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged Friday she will have no choice but to raise property taxes — which were more than doubled by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel — if her agenda falls flat in the General Assembly’s fall veto session.

Lightfoot’s heavy-lift requests for a graduated real estate transfer tax and a casino gambling fix — either through city-state ownership of a Chicago casino or a revised tax structure — face long odds in Springfield amid a blockbuster corruption scandal that has spread from Chicago and the [west] suburbs to Springfield. […]

“It’ll be very difficult to avoid a property tax increase if we do not get help from Springfield. … There are limited tools that a mayor can use to generate substantial revenue. Property tax is really chief among them,” the mayor told the Sun-Times.

“It’s certainly my hope to avoid a large property tax increase. I’ve heard that message loud and clear — whether it’s people coming up to me on the street, our budget town halls, people who filled out the surveys. They don’t want a property tax increase. That has become a real sticking point for people. But if we don’t get those two things, our options are severely limited.”

There’s more so click here.

*** UPDATE *** Greg Hinz…

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is aiming at another group to help her close a yawning city budget gap: restaurants and their customers.

A few hours after unveiling a $40 million tax on rides from Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing firms, Lightfoot’s office confirmed that she’ll also seek a $20 million new tax on restaurants.

The quarter-percentage-point levy would apply to all food and beverages sold at retail establishments. Combined with levies by other governments including Cook County and the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, the tax on restaurant bills would rise to as much as 11.75 percent.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** WBEZ: Feds raid Jay Doherty’s City Club office, John Hooker cut loose as Kasper lobbyist

Friday, Oct 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WBEZ…

Federal investigators are looking into allegations that Commonwealth Edison hired multiple politically connected employees and consultants in exchange for favorable government actions, including electricity rate increases, WBEZ has learned.

A source involved in the investigation said authorities believe many of the clout hires at the state’s largest electric utility got paid but did little or no work, and some of them have ties to Illinois House Speaker and state Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan of Chicago.

In another previously undisclosed development, agents investigating those hires are also probing the role played by Jay Doherty, a longtime lobbyist for ComEd and president of the City Club of Chicago, the source said. The City Club is a prominent public affairs speaking forum that’s a regular stop for Illinois’ top politicians. […]

On Thursday, the lobbying firm of Michael Kasper, a top legal aide and advisor to Madigan, informed the state that it had ended its relationship with John Hooker, a lobbyist with decades-long ties to ComEd.

Go read the rest.

Hooker crafted ComEd’s Statehouse comeback from the abyss with Mike McClain. He later lobbied for ComEd through Kasper’s firm. He has no other listed affiliations on the state lobbyist list.

Doherty is still listed as a registered ComEd lobbyist as of 1:58 this afternoon.

*** UPDATE *** Attorney General Kwame Raoul is scheduled to speak at the City Club next week. I asked his press office if he still planned to attend in light of today’s WBEZ report…

Yes, we still plan to speak before the City Club on Monday. We are looking forward to the opportunity to share updates from our office with attendees, as well as the media.

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CTU strike bits and pieces

Friday, Oct 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Did Tribune photographer Abel Uribe capture this year’s version of the “Rahm Emanuel likes Nickelback” CTU strike sign? Judge for yourself…

Hilarious.

…Adding… With a hat tip to Chicago Bars, here’s the answer from a candidates debate…

Marin also asked the candidates if they drink Malort, a booze that’s popular with some millennials and hipsters. None of the candidates stood up for the liquor.

“Only under duress,” Lightfoot said. “That is the worst-tasting alcohol ever.”

* Meanwhile…

Sources said the two sides met for a few hours and broke for a CTU rally. The mayor’s frustrated forces were also told CTU President Jesse Sharkey had a dinner to attend and union officials had a conference this weekend.

As subscribers know, that conference would be the Illinois Federation of Teachers convention in Rosemont, which starts today.

But…

“I’m concerned that there’s not a sense of urgency to get a deal done,” Lightfoot said Thursday in a joint interview with CPS CEO Janice Jackson on “Chicago Tonight.” Lightfoot said CTU cut short bargaining Thursday morning after about three hours.

Responding on “Chicago Tonight,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey strongly refuted that claim and others.

“I lost track of the falsehoods,” Sharkey said about Lightfoot and Jackson’s interview. “It’s riddled with things that are not true.”

Sharkey says he spent all day at the negotiating table until he left for a rally, and even then, the CTU had its “entire rank and file negotiating team working on proposals. We had our lawyers there trading proposals back and forth,” he said. “We put in a hard day at the table.”

* Politico…

While thousands of Chicago Public Schools teachers took to the streets Thursday to strike for a contract that meets their demands, negotiators from both sides of the table tell Playbook they’ve made progress on one important issue — class size.

CPS has agreed to identify “schools in crisis in class-size needs,” according to a source within the Chicago Teachers Union. The school district also called for a joint CPS-CTU committee that would identify class size numbers regularly — maybe monthly — in schools with a greater need. On the table is about $9 million to cover such an effort, “a drop in the drop of the bucket” of CPS’ proposed $7.7 billion budget, the source said. “It’s the beginning of a discussion… It’s huge.”

But this is from the Sun-Times…

Both sides said small steps were taken as negotiations continued through Thursday evening

* Nice touch…

Protestors come to ⁦@chicagosmayor⁩ home, she leaves them doughnuts #CTUstrike ⁦@CTULocal1⁩ ⁦@ChiPubSchools⁩ pic.twitter.com/OQapV2p7cO

— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) October 18, 2019

But a clever riposte…

Teachers marching past Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s house. The mayor has a table out across the street with coffee and donuts with a note that reads “I hear you.” One of the teachers handwrote her a message in response to the offering: “Smaller class sizes not donuts” #PutItInWriting pic.twitter.com/yeLjIdDpuZ

— Micah Uetricht ???? (@micahuetricht) October 18, 2019

* More thundering from the man who yells at clouds…

No matter how this strike ends, and it will, eventually, the Illinois political class should read another book to the people of Chicago, its suburbs and the rest of the state:

“The Road to Serfdom,” by F.A. Hayek, about free people losing liberty to authoritarian control.

And just who are the serfs in Illinois?

The property taxpayers, who are the serfs of the new Democratic machine. Because we serfs live to serve the masters, don’t we?

* This same lone teacher crossed the one-day CTU picket line in 2016, so I’m thinking he probably wasn’t too difficult to locate. Just sayin…

So I found him, the CPS teacher who crossed the picket lines. He’s in school today with students, not outside with colleagues. Here’s his story: https://t.co/02mOam97YX

— Kristen McQueary (@McQuearyKristen) October 18, 2019

* Keep up with the strike news today via these posts…

* Sun-Times Live Updates

* Tribune Live Updates

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Lightfoot unveils congestion tax

Friday, Oct 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tribune…

Mayor Lori Lightfoot will seek to more than triple the tax charged on most solo ride-share patrons heading in and out of downtown Chicago as part of her plan to reduce congestion and raise much-needed money to shrink a massive estimated $838 million shortfall in the 2020 budget.

Lightfoot’s plan to bring in new revenue and curb traffic congestion would hike the tax on solo riders using services like Uber and Lyft elsewhere in the city by 74%. That’s despite the fact most outlying neighborhoods don’t face nearly the heavy traffic problems seen in the downtown area.

* From the mayor’s press release…

Based on peak congestion locations and times, the City is proposing a new variable Ground Transportation Tax (GTT) structure. Under the current GTT, a flat rate of $0.60 is assessed per trip citywide, and a $5.00 flat rate is assessed per trip in special zones (the airports, Navy Pier and McCormick Place). As part of an effort to incentivize shared rides to combat both congestion and rising vehicle emissions in Chicago as well as encourage use of higher efficiency modes of like transit downtown, the City proposes the following progressive structure:

Decreasing the GTT on all citywide shared ride-hailing trips from $0.60 per trip to $0.53 per trip.
Increasing the GTT on all citywide single ride-hailing trips from $0.60 per trip to $1.13 per trip.
Assessing a downtown zone surcharge, placing an additional $1.75 per trip for single rides and $0.60 per trip for shared rides.

No changes are proposed to the current $5 special zone fee, the $0.10 per trip accessibility fee or the $0.02 per trip administrative fee. […]

Representing areas among the highest density of trips citywide, the proposed structure will target ride-hailing trips in the downtown zone, a map of which can be found attached, during the hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, when congestion is most prevalent. To ensure continued, reliable access for customers citywide—particularly for the south and west sides—the city’s progressive structure will offer a discount on shared trips in the neighborhoods. Shared trip requests on south and west sides can range upwards of 50 percent of all requests, in comparison to less than 30 percent on the north side and downtown.

The mayor’s congestion study is here.

Thoughts?

…Adding… From comments…

“Lock Box” doesn’t interfere with putting the revenue into the general fund?

That’s a good question. Checking now.

…Adding… From a rideshare spokesperson, here are what $10 rides will look like after added fees…

Chicago Central Business District $13.00
Chicago Transit Deserts $11.25
Seattle Proposed $10.75
Rhode Island $10.70
Washington DC $10.60
Boston $10.20
Los Angeles $10.10