Fran Spielman Show
Veteran City Hall reporter Fran Spielman’s interviews with Chicago’s movers and shakers.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, briefed on the Related Midwest plan, told the Sun-Times “pretty pictures” building public interest are not enough. “If they’re trying to do something in this legislative session, they need to start educating and informing people relatively soon.”
Days after announcing his departure from the job growth agency known as World Business Chicago, Michael Fassnacht urged City Hall and the two major carriers to work out their differences on a massive project that started at $8.7 billion but has ballooned to $12.1 billion.
Podcast
The Fran Spielman Show
“Absolutely not. I do not want to be the mayor of Chicago. ... I have no interest in that job right now,” said Jackson, CEO of Hope Chicago, a non-profit that funds post-secondary education for urban students. “I’m an educator.”
“If we are really trying to change these problems that seem intractable ... you have to go to students who haven’t traditionally taken advantage of these opportunities,” former Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson told the Sun-Times.
Billionaire Ken Griffin has pumped $20 million into the gubernatorial campaign of Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who’s seeking the GOP nomination. And Lightfoot could face a challenge from Arne Duncan, the former U.S. education secretary.
“It’s a huge political problem for President Biden, because we’re already feeling the effects of inflation related to the pandemic,” David Axelrod told the Sun-Times. “As [Winston] Churchill did in Britain, [Biden] needs to explain to people why that sacrifice is necessary.”
Jonathan Jackson’s older brother, Jesse Jr., once was seen as heir apparent to the civil rights legacy of their father, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. But Jesse Jr. and his wife were convicted of looting $750,000 in campaign funds.
Taste of Chicago once lasted 10 days, including the July 4th weekend. But with hundreds of CPD vacancies, it’s hard to justify a long summer showcase that requires taking police officers from neighborhood districts.
“It worked this time. It doesn’t work all the time,” said local Ald. Mike Rodriguez. But “like Melissa’s mother, I have hope. I refuse to be the victim of just the thoughts of doubt and despair. ... I believe in our community. I believe in us.”
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates wouldn’t say if she’ll challenge Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whom she has said is on a “kamikaze mission to destroy” Chicago Public Schools. But she offered a blistering critique of Lightfoot’s tenure.
Two days before Christmas, Bilaal Evans was driving through Englewood with his wife and kids when a car pulled alongside and someone started shooting. Evans was hit in the back of the head but only grazed.
Late last year, the former Chicago Public Schools CEO told reporters he loved his violence prevention work and was “not interested” in challenging incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot. On Thursday, Duncan started to change his tune.
“There’s a sense of no plan,” Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce chief Jack Lavin said. “Our businesses .... They want to know how are we’re gonna solve the violence and the public safety problem this week. This weekend. Tomorrow.”
“The biggest problem for all of us is that our leaders who need to sit down … and work on it are pointing fingers at each other as opposed to working constructively with us,” said Rob Karr, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association.
Greg Harris noted much of his career has been shaped by living for decades after diagnosed as HIV-positive. “I’m one of the few friends from that era that actually survived. … A lot of the stuff I do today is to honor them and the things they would have done if they had been here.”
“I am not at all ... happy with CPD and their leadership. They need to step up in a big way and stop this crime pandemic themselves,” Ald. George Cardenas (12th), the mayor’s deputy floor leader, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Lightfoot promised to create an independent commission to draw new ward boundaries to coincide with the 2020 Census, but has taken no steps to honor that promise.
As the head of Chicago’s foremost taxpayer watchdog group, Laurence Msall might be expected to urge fiscal caution. But Msall said losing the Bears would be a blow the city should try hard to avoid.
Escareno acknowledged a housecleaning and a culture change are needed in the Beaches and Pools Division, and she has carte blanche to do both.
Newly appointed Commissioner Cole Stallard told the Sun-Times that bottle deposits “work in other locations” to boost recycling and “shift responsibility to manufacturers ... [to] use plastics that are sustainable.”
After his first week on the job, Martinez sat for an interview with Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman.
Pedro Martinez’s deal to lead Chicago’s schools is longer than his predecessor’s and likely to be far more lucrative.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said preliminary data shows 327,000 students enrolled at CPS this year, about 14,000 fewer than last year and nearly 30,000 less than the year before the pandemic.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas said 5,000 of Chicago’s neediest families could have been getting $500 monthly checks since spring had the mayor not dragged her feet. Dozens of U.S. cities and towns already have such programs.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said it’s “not a gimme” she will seek a second term. If Lightfoot does run again, she’ll have a powerful ally in her corner: Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), chairman of the Chicago City Council’s Black Caucus.
Banks designated as “municipal depositories” have long been accused of investing far more in majority white neighborhoods than they in communities of color. City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin is trying to change that.
World Business Chicago CEO Michael Fassnacht said the stay-at-home shutdown that forced many employees to work from home has created an appetite for remote work that will survive COVID-19 and all of its variants.
“Given what they’re working through this summer, we’re trying to support the police department in their operational needs,” Budget Director Susie Park said Thursday.
Former mayoral challenger Paul Vallas, a lead contract negotiator for the Fraternal Order of Police, said there are 1,000 vacancies among rank-and-file officers — and that 143 budgeted positions at the rank of sergeant remain unfilled.
Ald. Roderick Sawyer, among the Council’s prime backers of civilian oversight, predicted if things are so dire a no-confidence vote is needed, “that person is pretty much out the door anyway” and might even be fired before aldermen weigh in.
Escareño, whose widowed mother of six brought her to Chicago from Mexico at age 8, says she is simply ready for the next chapter in her life after the emotional roller-coaster of her final year on the job.
Instead of adding ambulances to the Chicago Fire Department’s fleet, Annette Nance-Holt will buy smaller vehicles, each staffed by two paramedics, to respond to less serious calls that do not require transport to a hospital.