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* The announcement…
Meet my Transition Committee and Subcommittee Co-Chairs!
I’ve long said that in order to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago, we need everyone who can help at the table. That’s what’s reflected in these appointments. https://t.co/hxuai10lOx pic.twitter.com/lxnN9V4NPS
— Brandon Johnson (@Brandon4Chicago) April 27, 2023
* Let’s start with public safety. Brendan Deenihan is a member of the transition committee. Deenihan was CPD’s Chief of Detectives until he left the department earlier this year, apparently for a job with Google…
Insiders have speculated that Deenihan was likely among a shortlist of candidates to replace the top cop.
Deenihan joined the police department in 1997 and earned a reputation as being a meticulous and collaborative leader as he rose in the ranks. He notably led the implementation of technology centers in the city’s police areas that police leaders have framed as vital for cracking cases and reducing crime.
Johnson also appointed three co-chairs to his Public Safety Subcommittee, including Sen. Robert Peters, a top defender of the state’s SAFE-T Act. Other members include Robert Boik, a CPD veteran administrator who served as chief of staff to two superintendents and then took over the CPD’s much-criticized effort to comply with the federal consent decree until last year when he was apparently fired after a disagreement with the superintendent over proper staffing of that effort. And Dr. Kathryn Bocanegra, a UIC assistant professor with more than “15 years of experience in community mental health, community violence prevention, and criminal justice reform work.”
* The transportation subcommittee co-chairs are heavily weighted toward mass transit. Rep. Kam Buckner, a full-throated mass transit supporter who ran for mayor is a co-chair, as is former state Sen. Kirk Dillard, who chairs the RTA. Elevated Chicago director Roberto Requejo, who previously worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, The Chicago Community Trust, and the Metropolitan Planning Council, is also a co-chair.
* Martin Cabrera, of Cabrera Capital Markets, is on the transition committee, as is Richard S. Price, the Executive Chairman of Mesirow, Charles Smith of CS Insurance Strategies and Margaret Stender, Minority Owner and Founding CEO of The Chicago Sky. The Economic Vitality & Equity Subcommittee Co-Chairs are Michael Fassnacht, the President & CEO of World Business Chicago; Lynnette McRae, the Program Director for Connecting Capital and Community at Chicago Community Trust; and Grow Greater Englewood Executive Director and Woods Fund Chicago chair Anton Seals.
* Jim Connolly of the Chicago Laborers’ District Council and Dian Palmer of SEIU Local 73 are also on the transition committee. The Workers Rights and Labor Subcommittee co-chairs are Shabatayah Andrich of SEIU HCIL, Rev. C.J. Hawking of Arise Chicago and Sophia Zaman of the Raise the Floor Alliance.
* Emma Tai of United Working Families had a huge impact on the campaign and she’s on the transition committee. US Rep. Delia Ramirez is on the committee as is Kennedy Bartley of the People’s Unity Platform, Jitu Brown of the Journey For Justice Alliance and Rev. Dr. Marshall Hatch, Sr. of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church.
* Education & Youth Subcommittee co-chairs include CTU Vice President Jackson Potter and Jesse Ruiz, who was Gov. Pritzker’s Deputy Governor for Education and has had a host of other positions in education. Jay Travis, the executive director of the Needmor Fund who led the CTU-allied Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization and lost a bitter House primary to Christian Mitchell, is also a co-chair.
* A roundup from Isabel…
* Tribune | Aldermen who supported Paul Vallas look to mend fences with Brandon Johnson yet stay true to themselves: The tough sledding might not just be on Johnson’s side either. A few of the aldermen who backed Vallas represent wards that Johnson won, including receiving more than 78% of the vote in Beale’s 9th Ward and more than 80% of the vote in Moore’s 17th Ward. “Sometimes your children believe that not going to school is best for them,” Moore explained in a metaphor for his constituents. “You have to do what is best for your residents, and that’s what I did in supporting Paul Vallas. Not what was best for David Moore.”
* ABC Chicago | Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson names transition team: Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson outlined his transition team Thursday as he attended his final Cook County Board meeting. A resolution was read in his honor talking about this childhood, and work for Cook County. His fellow commissioners took their time talking about Johnson’s successes and their pride in his work.
* Crain’s | Civilian oversight commission hires recruiting firm for new CPD chief search: The commission enlisted the help of Public Sector Search & Consulting, according to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, to aid the ongoing search to replace former chief David Brown, who retired in March.
* Sun-Times | Search firm hired to find Chicago’s permanent police superintendent: Gary Peterson, president, chief executive officer and founder of Public Sector Search & Consulting, is a former police chief in Martinez, Calif. Trish Peterson, the firm’s co-founder and executive vice president of operations, is a former trial attorney with the San Francisco Bay Area district attorney’s office.
* Crain’s | The window to open a temporary casino in Medinah Temple is shrinking: Bally’s said it wanted the temporary facility up and running in the second quarter, which ends on June 30, while it continues to pursue the permanent $2.2 billion casino in River West. But to do so it needs approval from the board, and once again the item is not on the agenda for the board’s monthly meeting tomorrow.
* Tribune | Influx of migrants living at Chicago police stations as city, charity groups scramble to find them shelter: Across the city, migrants overwhelming the city’s social services have been living at police stations while awaiting placement at shelters, raising health and humanitarian concerns among police and community organizations. People seeking asylum have been placed at more than a dozen police districts around the city, sleeping in the lobbies and waiting — often with children — for days.
* Jeff Tischauser | Prohibiting extremists in CPD ranks is key to rebuilding trust with communities: Today, across the city, around 13 officers who are known associates of hate and extremist groups are patrolling the streets. One of those officers lied about his association with the Proud Boys, an allegation sustained by CPD’s bureau of internal affairs (BIA). In another case, according to the Chicago inspector general’s office, an officer told Police Department investigators about his membership in the Oath Keepers. Both officers remain on the force.
* Chalkbeat | Chicago adopts new policy for evaluating how schools are doing: The new policy, named “Continuous Improvement and Data Transparency,” formally replaces the district’s controversial school ratings system, which had long come under fire for overemphasizing standardized test scores and unfairly labeling high-poverty campuses.
* Center Square | Chicago’s Little Village residents form patrol group to address rising crime: According to WGN News, working in packs of up to seven individuals, the groups’ aim to be out and about in the early hours of the morning as part of a plan to help protect some of the community’s most vulnerable workers as the attacks against them grow more common.
* Hyde Park Herald | Museum of Science and Industry workers demand end to alleged union-busting: “My coworkers and I are forming our union to ensure that our workplace is healthy and safe. We are forming our union to get the fair pay and benefits we need to live comfortably,” said Marcus Banks, a guest engagement representative whose work involves selling tickets and facilitating field trips. “We should have the freedom to do that without management interference.”
* Sun-Times | A tree older than Chicago is about to be cut down: This tree, among the oldest living things in the city, will come down Monday — if all goes according to plan. The bur oak, believed to be 250 to 300 years old, is dying, say staff at Lincoln Park Zoo, where the tree sits cordoned off just west of the Helen Brach Primate House.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 12:03 pm
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Seems reasonable and well-thought out, all around.
A medical doctor as a co-chair of the health and human services sub-committee. Johnson clearly knows the most important part of leadership is to find responsible and knowledgeable people in their field to inform public policy. Seems like a no-brainer, but just one county over from here we had an anti-vaxxer on our public health and safety committee.
I shudder at what the makeup of these committees would have been under a Vallas win.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 12:14 pm
Where did they find Kirk Dillard?
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 12:33 pm
“I shudder”…rightly so.
Comment by Dotnonymous Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 12:33 pm
How on earth could the Mayor elect appoint a business development team that doesn’t include anyone who actually worked in the private sector building a business?
Comment by Lucky Pierre Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 12:43 pm
==I shudder at what the makeup of these committees would have been under a Vallas win.==
Would he be suing half of them?
==Where did they find Kirk Dillard?==
At the Adam Kinzinger Institute for Dudes the Republican Party Has Abandoned?
He’s a good choice, though. I’m sure he can tell you a lot about what’s gone wrong at the CTA.
Really, several unexpected, impressive names on this list. Sends good signals.
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 12:46 pm
LP - I get it. The whole run government like a business thing you will stick with no matter how many times it fails. But this isn’t Rauner. Johnson has clearly appointed people *in government* to run government - like a government.
Their job is to listen to businesses and make recommendations up the chain accordingly, not be part of some regulatory capture scheme.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 1:05 pm
sadly, the entire disability community appears to be shut out. What is up with that?
Comment by education first Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 1:26 pm
==How on earth could the Mayor elect appoint a business development team that doesn’t include anyone who actually worked in the private sector building a business?==
Fassnacht ran essentially the largest advertising agency in the world.
Comment by de Gaulle Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 1:29 pm
Cabrera and Price are the only Finance people?
Comment by low level Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 1:35 pm
“I shudder at what the makeup of these committees would have been under a Vallas win.”
A man with that kind of ego would be very hesitant to share the spotlight with other leaders. Mr. “I Alone Can Fix It” wanted all the credit and none of the blame.
Comment by NIU Grad Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 1:44 pm
education first- yes, I noticed the lack of disability representation. Too often disability gets subsumed under DEI efforts. Not sure if that was the intention here.
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 1:45 pm
==How on earth could the Mayor elect appoint a business development team that doesn’t include anyone who actually worked in the private sector building a business?==
Well, of course, he didn’t, because “business development” isn’t the name of the team, but moreover, neither Johnson nor anyone else in city government will be “working in the private sector building a business”.
For most people, when we need a plumber, we call a plumber, not a hydrologist. But of course, when you need a plumber, you complain that Democrats aren’t acting like Bruce Rauner, so different strokes, I guess.
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 1:46 pm
Sadly, Friendly Bob Adams, it is because disability gets subsumed under DEI efforts that I feel like I find myself reminding progressives time and time again that disability as a civil right is being ignored.
Comment by education first Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 2:16 pm
LP@ 12:43…who actually worked in the private sector building a business?
Maybe because so many private business people have such a bad record of serving the public versus serving themselves…like Rauner, ComEd, red light companies, towing companies?
Comment by froganon Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 2:37 pm
**sadly, the entire disability community appears to be shut out. What is up with that?**
Candace Coleman is a person with a disability that works at Access Living. She’s a co-chair of the Human Rights, Equity, and Inclusion committee.
She’s wonderful.
Comment by JoeMaddon Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 2:44 pm
Cosign on Candace Coleman being A+
Comment by de Gaulle Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 3:06 pm
this committee is so different from ones in the past. so many names that regularly appear are not on the list. refreshing. but Crain’s seems miffed.
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 3:24 pm
The guy who brought us the short lived “Chicago Not in Chicago” tourism campaign among several other marketing masterstrokes is sticking?
Comment by ChicagoBars Thursday, Apr 27, 23 @ 6:09 pm