#Chicago politics

[copperbadge]

Do you have any insight to the Chicago mayoral election?

I...wouldn't say insight. I mean, I obviously am aware of it and did a bit of research because I voted in it, but I don't have any information one can't get from the news coverage or candidate websites. I'm glad Lightfoot's out, partly because she was super pro-police, partly because she was so popular as a meme during COVID that I had to have a lot of conversations about "Yes it's very funny but she's not, like, a good person, you know that, right?" with non-Chicagoans.

I voted for Johnson in the election and I'll be voting for him again; I do think that the last thing we need is someone whose entire identity seems to be "tough on crime" in office, particularly a white guy who really loves cops, so I'm hoping Johnson devastates Vallas in the runoff. Believe it or not, Chicago has bigger issues to deal with than crime, and none of them including high crime rates are going to be solved with more cops.

So yeah, I wouldn't say insight, but I know who I'm supporting. If you do want a peek into real hardcore local Chicago politics, the Girl, I Guess guide is a great way to start. I don't agree with Skora about everything, but she's very solidly knowledgeable and pretty accessible in presenting that knowledge.

[iowadream]

The most fucking frustrating thing about this most recent round of migrant crisis political decisions in chicago is that the solution to the crisis is so fucking obvious, and yet the current "progressive" mayoral administration seems to obtusely be considering only the most expensive, abusive, and dehumanizing solutions. The Chicago Housing Authority still owns much of the land that SO MANY now demolished housing projects once were on, such as Cabrini-Green, Ida B. Wells, and Robert Taylor Homes. Most of that land is currently empty lots that the city CANNOT SELL without attracting tons of political ire, because with a lot of these housing projects, the city HAS MADE PROMISES to rebuild them.

By rebuilding these housing projects on land that LITERALLY ISN'T BEING USED FOR ANYTHING, the Johnson administration has a golden opportunity to do the extremely popular tasks of both tackling the migrant and homelessness crises in one fell swoop. Do whatever temporary housing measures necessary to house people until the construction is complete. Do all the construction admin shit in-house; fuck public-private partnerships, fuck mixed-income housing, that shit is stupid expensive for no reason. But NO, instead we get fucking TENT VILLAGES managed by private security firms with ties to war crimes in syria and 60-day limits before you get evicted from shelters

[gudamor]

I wish I was seeing more action on this in the US. In my city of Chicago, there's not even data more-recent than a couple years back--the last news post from the Forestry Department is dated 2019!

Articles like this one sound good and then you get to the numbers and they're anemic: 7.5k trees planted/year. Mayor Brandon Johnson needs to do a lot more in the face of climate change.

"With “green corridors” that mimic the natural forest, the Colombian city is driving down temperatures — and could become five degrees cooler over the next few decades.

In the face of a rapidly heating planet, the City of Eternal Spring — nicknamed so thanks to its year-round temperate climate — has found a way to keep its cool.

Previously, Medellín had undergone years of rapid urban expansion, which led to a severe urban heat island effect — raising temperatures in the city to significantly higher than in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Roads and other concrete infrastructure absorb and maintain the sun’s heat for much longer than green infrastructure.

“Medellín grew at the expense of green spaces and vegetation,” says Pilar Vargas, a forest engineer working for City Hall. “We built and built and built. There wasn’t a lot of thought about the impact on the climate. It became obvious that had to change.”

Efforts began in 2016 under Medellín’s then mayor, Federico Gutiérrez (who, after completing one term in 2019, was re-elected at the end of 2023). The city launched a new approach to its urban development — one that focused on people and plants.

The $16.3 million initiative led to the creation of 30 Green Corridors along the city’s roads and waterways, improving or producing more than 70 hectares of green space, which includes 20 kilometers of shaded routes with cycle lanes and pedestrian paths.

These plant and tree-filled spaces — which connect all sorts of green areas such as the curb strips, squares, parks, vertical gardens, sidewalks, and even some of the seven hills that surround the city — produce fresh, cooling air in the face of urban heat. The corridors are also designed to mimic a natural forest with levels of low, medium and high plants, including native and tropical plants, bamboo grasses and palm trees.

Heat-trapping infrastructure like metro stations and bridges has also been greened as part of the project and government buildings have been adorned with green roofs and vertical gardens to beat the heat. The first of those was installed at Medellín’s City Hall, where nearly 100,000 plants and 12 species span the 1,810 square meter surface.

“It’s like urban acupuncture,” says Paula Zapata, advisor for Medellín at C40 Cities, a global network of about 100 of the world’s leading mayors. “The city is making these small interventions that together act to make a big impact.”

At the launch of the project, 120,000 individual plants and 12,500 trees were added to roads and parks across the city. By 2021, the figure had reached 2.5 million plants and 880,000 trees. Each has been carefully chosen to maximize their impact.

“The technical team thought a lot about the species used. They selected endemic ones that have a functional use,” explains Zapata.

The 72 species of plants and trees selected provide food for wildlife, help biodiversity to spread and fight air pollution. A study, for example, identified Mangifera indica as the best among six plant species found in Medellín at absorbing PM2.5 pollution — particulate matter that can cause asthma, bronchitis and heart disease — and surviving in polluted areas due to its “biochemical and biological mechanisms.”

And the urban planting continues to this day.

The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners like Pineda, who come from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds, with the support of 15 specialized forest engineers. Pineda is now the leader of a team of seven other gardeners who attend to corridors all across the city, shifting depending on the current priorities...

“I’m completely in favor of the corridors,” says [Victoria Perez, another citizen-gardener], who grew up in a poor suburb in the city of 2.5 million people. “It really improves the quality of life here.”

Wilmar Jesus, a 48-year-old Afro-Colombian farmer on his first day of the job, is pleased about the project’s possibilities for his own future. “I want to learn more and become better,” he says. “This gives me the opportunity to advance myself.”

The project’s wider impacts are like a breath of fresh air. Medellín’s temperatures fell by 2°C in the first three years of the program, and officials expect a further decrease of 4 to 5C over the next few decades, even taking into account climate change. In turn, City Hall says this will minimize the need for energy-intensive air conditioning...

In addition, the project has had a significant impact on air pollution. Between 2016 and 2019, the level of PM2.5 fell significantly, and in turn the city’s morbidity rate from acute respiratory infections decreased from 159.8 to 95.3 per 1,000 people [Note: That means the city's rate of people getting sick with lung/throat/respiratory infections.]

There’s also been a 34.6 percent rise in cycling in the city, likely due to the new bike paths built for the project, and biodiversity studies show that wildlife is coming back — one sample of five Green Corridors identified 30 different species of butterfly.

Other cities are already taking note. Bogotá and Barranquilla have adopted similar plans, among other Colombian cities, and last year São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South America, began expanding its corridors after launching them in 2022.

“For sure, Green Corridors could work in many other places,” says Zapata."

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, March 4, 2024

[mysharona1987]

They have turned the Palestinians into actual Guinea pigs for the military industrial complex.

We will see the robots and miserable remote controlled dogs at the next big BLM protest on American soil soon enough.

[animentality]

[lordnot]

His opponent keeps putting out attack ads saying he wants to Defund the Police

and it's a real

moment.

Do You Promise ?

[marzeydoze]

One of my alder candidates has his ads on here........ feels illegal

[freshupdates]

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will lose reelection bid

2023 Chicago Mayoral Elections Chicago has a long history of mayoral elections, dating back to 1837 when William B. Ogden was elected as the city’s first mayor. Since then, there have been many notable mayors, including Richard J. Daley, who served for 21 years and is credited with transforming Chicago into a major economic and cultural center. Other notable mayors include Harold Washington, the…

[relaxedstyles]

[copperbadge]

So like. I'm definitely voting Brandon Johnson over Vallas in the Mayoral runoff. but like. speaking of corruption and vice. did you realize that Johnson has been so excessively funded by the Chicago Teacher's Union that he might technically be violating campaign funding laws? I mean, I'm rooting for the guy. But it does mean that if he wins, things are going to get interesting, politically. (I mean. Aren't they always.)

Yeah, I don't think anyone is over the moon about Brandon Johnson, but I'd much rather have him than most of the alternatives, and certainly rather than Vallas. Johnson's not popular among certain segments of the activist community, which surprised me, although having read up on why it turns out to be real inside baseball and I don't think actually reflects approbation of Johnson's political or social stances (I also think Vallas is selling some of them a real strong line that he can't and won't deliver on).

I'd say both are at least Not Lori Lightfoot but realistically Vallas kinda is. He's just more palatable to white male voters.

I mean...I've lived in Chicago long enough for my literal demographic to change from young hourly-wage blue-collar apartment-renter to middle-class, middle-age homeowner in a firmly white-collar salaried job, which does change one's attitude towards the level of corruption in the Chicago government; I pay more taxes now and different ones, and they're actually impacted by the nepotism and nonsense that goes on locally. You'd think I'd take a less distantly amused view than I did when none of it impacted me personally.

But at the same time, it's so entrenched and unchanging that corrupt Chicago politics is basically a year-round sporting event. I take it seriously in the sense that I research my ballot thoroughly and vote an extremely liberal agenda, but I can't take news coverage of it seriously outside of elections. (Also holy shit this election cycle's advertising. Like fifteen flyers a week for various causes and candidates, sometimes multiple flyers a week for the same candidates.)

[iowadream]

also i've crunched the numbers in the past. the amount of money that chicago is spending on the GardaWorld contract could literally be used to rent out 1-2 bedrooms around cook county for every single migrant family and still have enough money left over for a stipend for each family. These are people who have enough wherewithal to abandon everything they've ever known and coordinate migration to a brand new continent (in most cases, that is. most of the immigrants are venezuelans). all they really need is a house, a job, and minimal integration support (night classes to learn english, social services to help them navigate the bureaucracy that makes up every day life in america, etc)

[drdarine]

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Thanks cousin Nada ❤️🙏❤️🙏

✅️Vetted by @gazavetters , my number on the list is ( #15 )✅️

⬇️⬇️ Donate here ⬇️⬇️

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[reasonsforhope]

It was a really, really good political news day today in the US (4/4/23)

For anyone who hasn't heard, not only did Trump get arrested, but also:

-We found out that the legal case against him in this prosecution (stormy daniels hush money case) is SIGNIFICANTLY stronger than people had speculated. Like, wow do they have receipts.

-In fact, the evidence was so entirely there that the new question on prime time news (well, at least on msnbc lol) is "Hey, why didn't the federal courts prosecute him for this already???)

-Trump FAILED UTTERLY in his attempts to rally mass protests and demands for "death and destruction" if he was arrested. There was no violence at the arrest at all, and as for Trump supporters? They failed to show up in any kind of numbers--reportedly only about a hundred people were protesting the arrest

-We (aka Judge Janet Protasiewicz) WON what is widely considered to be the most consequential election of 2023, a Wisconsin state supreme court election that handed control of the state supreme court to the left

-Because of that election win, it is now extremely likely that abortion will be legal in Wisconsin, and that Wisconsin won't be able to throw out electors in the 2024 presidential election

-ALSO bc of this, Wisconsin, the most gerrymandered state in the country, will probably get nonpartisan, accurate maps, which COULD FLIP THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES in 2024

-In Chicago, Brandon Johnson, union organizer and former teacher, won the election for mayor, in a decisive win progressives, esp for meaningful criminal justice reform and investment in mental health (whereas the other guy was campaigning on hiring hundreds of new cops and being super tough on crime)

[gudamor]

Effort to Crack Down on New Dollar Stores in Chicago Advances | Chicago News | WTTW

to ensure they don’t become magnets for trash and criminal activity, according to the proposed regulations.

Can't have any crime if you prevent stores from opening 🧠

The regulations also give city officials more authority to shut down stores that violate city rules. Any store found to have caused a nuisance, as defined by the Chicago Police Department and the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, twice in 12 months, can have its license revoked, according to the proposed regulations

You don't have to be psychic to see how this could be misused

[mysharona1987]