Question of the day
Friday, Oct 6, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A Bloomberg reporter yet again repeated the falsehood that Mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed a financial transactions tax within a story about CME Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy. In the story, Duffy reiterated his threat to pull CME out of Chicago. More…
As for the mayor, Duffy said he’s met with Johnson once since he was elected in April and is willing to throw his arms around him to help him succeed. But “we don’t agree on anything,” Duffy said.
This following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What would you have done if you were Mayor?
I’d be doing things a lot differently. You can’t walk outside and not have commerce in one of the largest cities in the world. Who’s going to pay the taxes on these large buildings that are now vacant? You need to figure out ways to get people back into the cities. Can you imagine trying to convert everything into residential? It’d be unattainable. And that cost would be extraordinary.
I’d like to see us go away from some of the taxes that we already have in place. Let people not pay a sales tax and compete with online. If you want to sell it online then you pay a tax, and in the store where you’re employing people, you don’t pay a tax. But let’s think logically about how we’re going to get people back into work and into a society. We don’t have a society right now.
As usual with corporate types, he didn’t say how he’d make up for the loss of all that state and local sales tax revenue.
* The Question: Do you think state and local government should play a role in moving people back into offices, or should that be on employers? Explain.
…Adding… Something you may want to consider from Crain’s…
According to a new analysis prepared exclusively for Crain’s by the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation and the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago, the property tax bill paid by the average Chicago homeowner could rise hundreds of dollars a year as office tower owners pay less because of the depressed value of their property. Homeowners effectively would pick up a bigger share of the tax load.
For instance, if the tax value of downtown office buildings drops 20% — a figure that’s substantially lower than actual reality, according to some industry experts — the bill for the typical Chicago home would rise from $5,244 to $5,424. If there’s a 40% decline, the average residential bill would go up almost 10%, from $5,244 to $5,723, assuming taxing bodies don’t change their gross levy, the study found.
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Friday, Oct 6, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* ICYMI: Mayor Johnson is exploring backup plans for his migrant tent cities idea. Summary of a Tribune story…
- Winter is fast approaching with no start date on tent encampments.
- Pritzker told reporters Thursday that more state funding is unlikely.
- Johnson’s administration has been meeting with individual state legislators to ask for additional support.
* Related stories…
* Isabel’s top picks…
* Time | State Legislative Staffers Across the U.S. Push to Unionize: “We’re not going to negotiate for anything crazy. We’re not going to ask for million-dollar salaries,” says Kelly Kupris, a policy analyst focused on K-12 education and a member of ILSA’s organizing committee. “We just want to be treated what we’re worth, listened to, and know that we have a safe workplace that is able to put food on the table at the end of the day.”
* Tribune | Almost 1,000 migrating birds die Thursday in Chicago after crashing into McCormick Place Lakeside Center, a 40-year record: “It was just discouraging as can be,” said [David Willard, a retired bird division collections manager at the Field Museum]. “You’re looking at a rose-breasted grosbeak that, if it hadn’t hit a Chicago window, would have made it to the Andes of Peru.” Willard blamed the worst day in 40 years of bird monitoring on an array of factors, including weather patterns, badly timed rain and lit windows at Lakeside Center.
* Tribune | ‘He was Chicago’s son’: Dick Butkus, the Hall of Fame Bears linebacker known for his toughness, dies at 80: “After football, it was difficult for me to find what I liked second-best,” Butkus once told the Tribune. “Football was always my first love. That certainly didn’t mean I couldn’t find something else. And the proof of the pudding is where I have ended up today. “I guess I could have been one of those guys who didn’t prepare to quit. But things happened and through hard work I found out that, hey, there are other things besides football
* Last year I met Jessica Handy from STAND for Children Illinois at a reception and we talked a bit about her love of creating crossword puzzles. Jessica told me yesterday that STAND now includes original, Illinois-themed crossword puzzles in its legislative newsletter. Click here to check them out!
…Added by Rich… Save the date!…
Illinois Third House Annual Holiday Party
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Palmer House Hilton
17 E. Monroe, Chicago, IL
* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…
* Tribune | lllinois presidential primary process starts Saturday with petitions for candidates and delegates: While Illinois in recent general presidential elections has been flyover country due to its solid status as a blue state, the preparations necessary ahead of the March 19 primary still provide an organizational test for campaigns. The nitty-gritty details of the presidential primary process start Saturday, when candidates’ campaigns can begin seeking signatures from voters to place both the presidential hopefuls and candidates for national nominating delegates on the ballot.
* WJBC | McLean County Zoning tables CO2 sequestration drilling impacting Mahomet Aquifer: “Drilling a well that goes through the aquifer is not a good idea. Beyond that, they want to store liquid CO2 beneath the aquifer. And we know that leaks happen, especially over time,” said Julie Prandi. Danielle Anderson, Public Relations Manager for Navigation CO2, the company pushing for the drilling said the well would protect the groundwater.
* WTTW | CPS Suspended 2 Security Guards Last Month. Both Were Previously Fired Police Officers and Named on Chicago’s Do-Not-Hire List: One man, who has been working as a security guard at Lane Technical High School since 2021, was terminated in 2019 by the Chicago Police Department following allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor, records show. He was suspended on Sept. 11. The other is a Kenwood Academy security guard who the police department ousted in 2012 because of a string of domestic violence incidents, according to CPD disciplinary files. He was also suspended on Sept. 11.
* Crain’s | Johnson to join UAW picket line on Saturday: Johnson will join Fain and other union leaders, including Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, according to a UAW press release. Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter confirmed to Crain’s he’ll also be in attendance.
* Crain’s | Why Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg are spending $250M on science in Chicago: Chan praised “the tenacity, the grit, not incidentally the enthusiasm of the city’s leadership” today when she visited the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub’s home being built out at Fulton Labs. It was her first visit to Chicago since the biohub’s announcement in March. She also noted that Gov. J.B. Pritzker “showed up at the applicant interview day as the top cheerleader of the team presenting their case for a biohub” a year ago. He also offered $25 million in state support.
* Sun-Times | Secret recordings cite ties between Berrios relative, Chicago mobster: ‘Jimmy and Frank were good friends’: “Jimmy and Frank were good friends,” Joseph Weiss said in that recorded conversation, according to federal prosecutors. “And some Russians were muscling Jimmy, but Frank was on the run. Frank was in hiding, and Jimmy called Frank and said, ‘Hey,’ ’cause they were partners. And Jimmy says, ‘Hey, man, these guys just busted up my f—ing store. Scared the f— out of the girls, this and that, you know, I need your help, where the f— are you?’ ”
* WAND | Cresco Labs settles with employees for back wages: As part of the job, Emperor was required to pick up personal protective gear at the company storage shed and walk to a changing room to put it on — before clocking in. “It was another coworker of mine, who changed behind me, and he brought to my attention that ‘you know we should be getting paid for this time’,” Emperor said. He was let go in 2022 and realized those 15 minutes here and there added up, and he was owed thousands of dollars in back wages.
* SJ-R | Bringing home the bacon: What do top 10 paid Springfield, county officials make?: The only official to make more than $250,000 is Doug Brown of City Water, Light and Power. His 2022 base pay was $253,844 according to public records. Brown serves as Chief Utility Engineer, where he is tasked with oversight of the Electric, Water and Finance divisions and Regulatory Affairs. He has worked for the utility since 1994, previously serving as the Major Projects Development Director.
* WCIA | U of I Extension urges caution as risk of farm fires rises for harvest season: Equipment fires, especially combine-related fires, are one of the most common and costly types of farm fire incidents. Trent Ford, state climatologist with the Illinois State Water Survey at the U of I, said this season’s increased risk is due to severe drought conditions in parts of the Midwest. A lack of precipitation, low soil moisture and dry vegetation paired with hot running farm equipment could increase chances of a fire.
* WBEZ | Chicago Public Library unveils public art piece taking on banned books: The newly-installed permanent Altar for the Unbanned by Theaster Gates sits in the middle of the third floor of the Harold Washington Library main branch. It features spiral shelves of books that have been banned in different periods of American history — titles like Antelope Woman by Louise Eldirch and The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood are part of the current piece. Atop the stacks of books sits a bright, neon sign that reads “Unbanned” in all capital letters.
* AP | Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, a rising political star, crosses partisan school choice divide: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — a first-term Democrat seen by his party as a rising star nationally — forcefully put his weight behind a Republican-backed proposal to send $100 million to families for private school tuition and school supplies.
* Sun-Times | Joyce Chapman, Far South Side community activist, a Lori Lightfoot Chicago Board of Ed appointee, dead at 67: Ms. Chapman’s appointment last year to the Chicago Board of Education was a momentous day for her, having spent years coming before the board to push for better education policies. “To sit on the other side of the podium, she knew she had a chance to make a difference, and she was proud to be there,” Amina Brooks said. […] Ms. Chapman left the board this year after Mayor Brandon Johnson was elected.
* Sun-Times | Dick Butkus a Bears legend for all generations: Butkus was a Chicagoan who played football like all of us wanted to — with grit, ferocity, anger and relentless aggressiveness. Through all those losing seasons, he played the game as if he felt our pain.
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* Background is here if you need it. From Shaw Local…
An $8.6 million state grant awarded to Joliet Township for asylum seekers would fund services now being provided to migrants already coming to the area, Township Supervisor Angel Contreras said Wednesday. […]
He said asylum seekers being bused into the Chicago area already are finding their way to Joliet and other suburban areas. The Spanish Community Center in Joliet has done casework for 2,200 asylum seekers since August 2022, Contreras said.
The grant would be used to fund services already being provided to asylum seekers by the Spanish Community Center and Will-Grundy Medical Clinic, the two organizations named as grant recipients.
“I envision it (the grant) just stabilizing the work that the organizations are already doing so that they don’t go under,” Contreras said. “The people are here already, and we don’t want our systems to go under.”
Contreras’ full letter is here.
* From the township’s grant application…
Shelter and nights of stay are currently provided at the Mainstay Joliet hotel off of the Larkin exit at Interstate 80 in Joliet, Illinois. A Memorandum of agreement will exist with the hospitality owners to continue utilizing services for socially vulnerable individuals and providing guidance to triage, resources and services through direct continuity of care planning. This agreement provides protection to vulnerable clients that are experiencing acute or chronic stages of disease, and/or health and social vulnerability. […]
Spanish Community Center (SCC) will be opening and operating an Illinois Welcoming Center (IWC) program at its 309 N Eastern Ave location, which will be able to provide services to asylum-seekers. The IWC program will have the capacity to provide in-depth case management to 700 clients, crisis intervention services to 350 clients, and resource and referral services to 3000 clients, with a total funding award of $350,000. […]
In the last two years SCC also doubled the size of its legal and immigration programs, greatly increasing client capacity. So much so, that a secondary office location had to be opened in Joliet to house the expanding programs. Due to this growth, there have been several successes in the legal programs. In the current fiscal year, every employment authorization filed by the program has been approved, a family that filed for VAWA recently received their social security cards, and in FY23, the program surpassed its intake and case acceptance goals, conducting 145 screenings and accepting 63 cases.
* But, as you know, Joliet’s mayor claimed he and the local fire department were blindsided…
A state grant awarded to Joliet Township to provide services for migrants is raising concerns from elected leaders in Joliet.
“The decision maker in the city did not have knowledge of the grant request made by the Joliet Township with community partners and organization,” said Mayor Terry D’Arcy.
Mayor D’Arcy at a council meeting Tuesday night told the public his office and the Joliet Fire Department did not sign or approve any memorandum with the township as submitted to the state.
The township’s grant application not only featured the logos of the City of Joliet and the Joliet Fire Department at the top of its front page, the application itself more than just implied support from the mayor and cooperation with the fire department…
Joliet Township Government, with partners Will Grundy Medical Clinic, The Spanish Community Center, and The South Suburban Immigrant Project, with support from the City of Joliet Mayor’s Office, will work through memorandum of agreement alongside local safety net providers to offer temporary, rapid, and responsive support services to those individuals that are, under definition, seeking Asylum in the United States. […]
Working with the local Fire Department, to provide immediate on-site services through community paramedicine, and reciprocity through Joliet Township Government programs such as trauma informed services to violence prevention, non-emergency transportation, housing and shelter, food and nutrition access, and economic development.
If the township doesn’t have that cooperation, the entire program could founder.
* And there are clearly some proposed expansions in current efforts, including this one…
Will Grundy Medical Clinic Health Housing and Hope program has provided health care, shelter, medication and transportation, for over 800 individuals and families that reside unsheltered and within the emergency shelters, Morning Star Mission and Daybreak in Joliet, Illinois. This program will expand to offer a “Welcoming Clinic” for individuals and families seeking Asylum
*** UPDATE *** The City of Joliet’s interim city manager says the city was aware of the grant but it provided no input on the grant application and continues to oppose the proposal…
This statement is being released to provide clarity on the City’s position regarding Joliet Township’s application for asylum seeker funding. The City of Joliet routinely shares grant funding opportunities to other local government and social service agencies that support Joliet residents. We do this to help offset the financial impact to these agencies.
The City of Joliet received a notice of funding opportunity regarding this grant on August 9, 2023.
As standard practice, City staff reviewed the funding opportunity. A link was shared with Joliet Township and Spanish Community Center to attend a statewide zoom information session hosted by the grantor on this funding opportunity. On September 1, 2023, City staff met with Joliet Township, Spanish Community Center and Will Grundy Medical Clinic. A general discussion was held regarding the current pressures placed on these agencies from asylum seekers currently in the community and whether this grant would help stabilize the financial burden placed on the community.
City staff was aware these three organizations intended to have additional conversations regarding this grant opportunity and its applicability to meeting the current needs in the community. The City of Joliet provided no input in Joliet Township’s grant application.
The City did not receive a request from Joliet Township, nor did we authorize Joliet Township to include the Mayor’s Office and Joliet Fire Department as collaborators. In fact, the City did not receive a copy of the grant application until October 2, 2023.
The extreme amount ($12.1M) that Joliet Township requested does not correlate to any conversation City staff had regarding the current needs within the community.
As Interim City Manager, I do not support Joliet Township’s grant application. In the future, the City will continue to partner on funding opportunities with our governmental and community partners that benefit the residents and businesses of Joliet.
The Mayor’s strong request that Joliet Township withdraw the application stands.
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* Tribune…
In a post-City Council meeting news conference Wednesday afternoon, the mayor said Chicago was now expecting at least 14 — and as many as 22 — buses that day
* From last week’s city council hearing…
Representatives from two volunteer-led organizations at Friday’s meeting said that volunteers haven’t gotten any financial support from the city. In a presentation, a representative from the mutual-aid Police Station Response Team estimated volunteers have spent about $2.4 million on food and water for migrants and nearly $1 million on supplies. They’ve also supplied about $2.9 million in free labor, according to the estimate.
* Chicago Ald. Nicole Lee told Mayor Brandon Johnson that her 9th Police District volunteers are simply overwhelmed after providing what looks like a remarkable level of comfort and goods for asylum-seekers. Lee is right that volunteers shouldn’t be expected to indefinitely carry this heavy of a load…
Dear Mayor Johnson:
I’m writing to you today on behalf of the residents of the 11th Ward, the mutual aid volunteers and roughly 298 migrants currently in the 9th District and the officers who work there. As a community, we have welcomed thousands of migrants who have come through the 9th District as they awaited shelter space. Our mutual aid volunteers, donors from the ward including residents and nonprofits, and police officers have provided food, clothing, blankets, suitcases, toys and more for more than a year now. My office works closely with the mutual aid organization for D9 and together, we operate a free shop where donated items are sorted and organized so that new arrivals can shop with dignity for basic items they need.
We’ve worked with our park district and community partners to provide showers which means the other citywide resources can be sent to other locations where they are needed. Our community has handled the pressures of this crisis as well as anyone could ask and thankfully, we have so far, not had any major incidents between migrants, residents and police. The number of ‘minor incidents’, however, are beginning to accrue and frankly, the situation has become untenable: last night, 25 asylum seekers were essentially “evicted” from D9 due to capacity constraints. Moreover, our mutual aid group has made gargantuan efforts to welcome asylum seekers but we can no longer sustain these efforts with the numbers we currently have. We need citywide equity across the police districts for placement of migrants. Our district has regularly ranked among the ones with the greatest number of people being “staged”. In fact, based on yesterday’s figures alone, Area 1 has 142 more migrants in its districts than the next highest which is Area 3. Area 1 has more migrants than all of Area 2 and Area 5 combined.
Mr. Mayor, the 9th District cannot handle any more migrants at this time. With the number we have currently, we know it is unsafe and unsanitary for the migrants, the police and our community. Our volunteers have done an incredible job, but, as you know, they have full time jobs too. I recognize the challenge of finding solutions and while we cannot control the flow of buses, and the use of migrants as ‘political weapons’ by the Republican Party, I would love to have a conversation about how we can better manage the situation on the ground specifically around:
1. Having full-time staff at our police districts to perform intake and conduct oversight
2. Leveraging technological tools to help process migrants and inform them of the resources at their disposal to better set them up for success for their new life in our city
3. Hiring a team of canvassers from Chicago to travel to border states to combat false information about what services and resources are available here.
4. Developing a playbook for this response with processes and protocols that should be followed at every location new arrivals are being staged, sheltered or housed.
Seems like she makes some good points and has decent ideas. The mayor should listen. Volunteers are of course essential (and the mayor ought to shower them with praise), but they just can’t handle all these tasks on their own. Especially going forward.
* Meanwhile…
Far and away, the best option is to come up with a solution at the source, in Venezuela. But until that happens, one thing the state, city and county can do is get tough on these bus companies. Yes, some of them have cooperated by tipping off officials about arrival times and places and other intel, but obviously that bus company did not cooperate.
* Bottom line: Since the federal government is not providing much assistance and the city is flailing without a plan, the state needs to step up and take at least temporary command.
…Adding… Something posted in comments that some of y’all need to keep in mind…
=== Why is there a presumption that everyone arriving in the city has some type of legal status.===
Because if they weren’t legal, Abbott wouldn’t be able to put them on the bus without breaking the law. Federal law – 8 USC 1324
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