Quick mayoral roundup
Tuesday, Dec 18, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
…Adding… Corrected…
* Oh, for crying out loud…
* Good move…
* Onward…
* Press release…
This morning, Susana Mendoza addressed the City Club of Chicago, laying out her bold vision to shape Chicago for the next generation and put the city’s neighborhoods first. During the speech, Mendoza unveiled her 50NEW Initiative to rebuild public schools as strong academic centers and hubs of community activity that will also help address violence in Chicago’s neighborhoods.
50NEW is a comprehensive plan that would use extra space in existing neighborhood schools to offer daycare, supper for students, family services, job training, and more. Instead of closing schools, 50NEW would help transform them into community hubs where Chicago families can access a quality public education alongside the support services they need to thrive.
50 represents the community schools that will be created within existing, underutilized school buildings over the next eight years. NEW stands for Neighborhood Education Works reflecting the program’s steadfast commitment to building a strong public education system for the next generation.
“We have to think boldly and transformationally,” said Susana Mendoza. “Instead of asking which 50 schools we should close next, I’ll be focused on which 50 underutilized schools we should be doubling down on, turning them into true community hubs and stronger academic centers. I’m ready to get to work on our schools at every level, from the neighborhood school my son attends, to implementing my 50NEW Initiative to transform the most under-resourced neighborhoods in our city. I’m excited to work with all Chicagoans to shape our future together – a future based on a vision for the next generation, not just the next four years.”
* And I totally agree with Laura Washington…
“Ja’Mal Green needs to fix his pacifier,” replied former state Sen. Rickey “Hollywood” Hendon, Wilson’s political consultant and a lifelong Machine pol.
I agree with Hollywood on this one. If you want to play with the big boys and girls, you’ve got to be one.
Yes, the system is unfair. Yes, it was set up to favor those who know how to play the game. But those are the rules. If you aren’t tough enough to surmount a pile of paperwork, you aren’t ready for City Hall.
In 2019, Chicago will need a mayor with the muscle and moxie to take on the bullies and blowhards.
Weak, whiny politicians seem to be in vogue these days, although Illinois just rid itself of one of the prime local examples of these self-made victims.
* Related…
* What Does the Next Chicago Mayor Have in Mind for Affordable Housing?
* Preckwinkle vows to dump Police Supt. Eddie Johnson for denying code of silence: “It’s very important that police be accountable for their conduct. And if you won’t even acknowledge that there’s a code of silence in the Police Department, how can you possibly do that? . . . If you start out by saying . . . we have never condoned or covered up bad police behaviors, I don’t think that’s a characteristic of an effective leader.”
* Emanuel, Johnson fire back at Preckwinkle for targeting superintendent: Without mentioning Preckwinkle by name, Johnson accused the county board president, now running for mayor, of misconstruing or misinterpreting what he had to say about the code of silence in a deposition.
* Mendoza Calls Preckwinkle a ‘Bully’ Over Petition Challenges
* Lightfoot: Give Preckwinkle a ‘bag of coal’ for bad-faith petition challenges
* Susana Mendoza on Her Battle to Become Chicago’s Next Mayor
