While celebrating the midpoint of his term,
sat with Dr. Byron Brazier of Apostolic Church of God and predictably doubled down on his divisive race rhetoric while challenging the audience to name a condition in Chicago he had caused to become worse. Mr. Mayor, here are 10 ways you have worsened life for Chicago residents: • You ignored poor residents by giving special treatment to illegals, spending $600M on housing, and healthcare to sustain them and allowed CPS schools to spend $210-400M more. • You denied poor students a better chance at an education at the CTU’s bidding by deliberately working to destroy public charter and magnet school alternatives to failing neighborhood schools. • You denied Supt Snelling enough officers to respond all High Priority 911 calls (only half are responded to), to clear cases (major crime arrest rate is 6%) and protect witnesses and victims. • You left residents in a lurch by cancelling ShotSpotter. To date, more than 42 Chicagoans have been shot — a majority Black — for which there was no emergency CPD response. • You neglect riders who use the CTA, denying adequate police protection on an increasingly dangerous transit system. Mayor’s police detail has almost as many officers as the CTA. • You have taken no action to improve drinking water for poor families with simple water filters to remove poisonous lead and “Forever Chemicals” from unfiltered water. • You have hurt Chicago businesses, by imposing costly and needless business mandates. • You have disregarded the housing needs of city residents, so far preferring to award connected developers with $324 million in subsidies and producing a meager 505 housing units. • You have ignored the needs of Chicagoans who suffer from mental illness by reopening only 3 of the 12 mental health facilities closed by Rahm Emanuel. • You have provided no relief from the Speed & Red Light Camera & Parking Ticket system, that disproportionately punishes the Black community and has bankrupted thousands of families, while adding more speed cameras. Chicago's population is its smallest in 100 years, the biggest exodus the last 20 years being Blacks, overwhelmingly middle-income families with children. They left because of high taxes, lack of quality schools and crime, for which CTU leaders are in part responsible.
