Afternoon Edition: How low voter turnout affects Chicago property taxes

Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶

We’re one week away from Primary Election Day, when thousands of Chicagoans will hit the polls and cast ballots for President, Cook County State’s Attorney, U.S. Congress and other public offices.

Voters also decide on important ballot questions, which often concern matters such as property taxes, during the primaries.

But turnout is often low compared to November general elections — meaning a slim minority ends up making referendum decisions that can affect all of us.

In today’s newsletter, we’re highlighting a recent study that looks into this.

Plus, we’ve got reporting on CTA’s spring cleaning plans, the end of Darnell Mooney’s Chicago story and more. 👇

⏱️: A 7-minute read

— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)

TODAY’S TOP STORY

Low turnout lets slim minority decide ballot questions hitting voters’ wallets

Reporting by David Struett

Low turnout, high impact: Voter turnout is typically low in primary elections. It’s even worse for end-of-ballot referendums. Since many voters skip those questions, a slim minority often decides the fate of referendums, which often raise taxes, according to an analysis by the office of Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.

Study findings: An average of less than 30% of registered Cook County voters determined the fate of 75 property tax-related referendums between 2020 and 2023, the study found. Turnout was so poor that nearly half of those referendums were decided by less than 25% of voters.

Bottom line: The study shines light on the importance of voting, even during lower stakes primary elections, since these referendums have a direct impact locally.

Key quote: “Voters are given the power to make these key decisions, but most don’t bother to vote,” Pappas said in announcing her office’s study. “And when their taxes go up, they are the first to complain.”

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WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Pat Nabong and Mitchell Armentrout/Sun-Times

• Sanders endorses state Senate candidate: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has endorsed Chicago Teachers Union organizer Graciela Guzmán, who is vying for the seat that state Sen. Natalie Toro was appointed to last year in the 20th District on the Northwest Side.
• CTA announces spring cleaning: Several rail stations and bus turnarounds will receive repairs and improvements this spring, the CTA announced. But transit advocates are raising concerns that the program doesn’t go far enough. See the list of stations here.
• Pride Parade set: The 53rd annual Chicago Pride Parade will step off Sunday, June 30, in Uptown and end in Lincoln Park. This year’s theme: “Pride is Power.”
• Storybook rise ends: Wide receiver Darnell Mooney, one of the Bears’ best recent success stories, is headed to the Falcons on a three-year, $39 million deal. Mooney quickly became a key part of the Bears’ offense after being drafted in 2020, but his production plunged over the last two seasons.
• 3.5 stars for ‘Wipeout’: Three women share the laughter and tears that come with surviving seven decades of all that life can dish out in Aurora Real de Asua’s poignant drama, writes Catey Sullivan in a review for the Sun-Times.

OUR CITY IN COLOR 🎨

Robert Herguth / Sun-Times

People are going nuts over this North Side mural

Reporting by Sun-Times staff

A few years ago, the Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce was commissioning a mural.

Andersonville artist John Airo submitted two ideas — one he thought they’d like and the other, featuring a squirrel, mostly as a joke. “They picked the squirrel,” Airo told the Sun-Times.

Airo — an artist who crates paintings and sculptures and has a studio in his garage — said that, initially, he wasn’t very good at drawing squirrels.

After a friend tapped him to illustrate a children’s book about a squirrel, Airo got better at drawing the rodent.

Not long after, he was painting a squirrel mural on the side of Celtic store Celtica Gifts at 1940 W. Montrose Ave., complete with a pile of nuts and “Taytos,” chips popular in Ireland.

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BRIGHT ONE ✨

Bob Chiarito/For the Sun-Times

Jon Langford art exhibit at Tony Fitzpatrick’s studio a full-circle moment

Reporting by Bob Chiarito | For the Sun-Times

Last month’s opening of an exhibition of musician and artist Jon Langford’s paintings at The Dime, 1513 N. Western Avenue, is a full-circle moment for Langford and artist and gallery owner Tony Fitzpatrick, who hosted Langford’s first exhibition back in 1993 — five years after meeting him for the first time.

Langford, who is from Wales in Great Britain but calls Chicago home, said Fitzpatrick instilled in him the confidence that art could be more than a hobby for the punk rocker.

“There were a few walls in my head that I had to break down,” Langford said. “Tony handed me the sledgehammer.”

Fitzpatrick said Langford’s art has grown a lot from when he first met him but has always had an edge to it. The two artists work well together because, as Fitzpatrick said, both “never really fit in to the blue-chip, wine-and-cheese art world.”

The show opened February 16 to a packed house and runs through April 1.

Langford said the 15 new pieces are “very much informed by the processes I learned with Tony back in 1993,” which he said he has thought about a lot over the last few months.

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YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

What do you think should be done with Illinois’ abandoned or declining malls?

Email us (please include your first and last name). To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!

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Editor: Satchel Price
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore