Chicago is not broke, says public interest defender Tom Tresser

Tom Tresser

 Chicago’s latest budget, resting as it does on a variety of regressive taxes, and increased property taxes might have made Mayor Rahm Emanuel happy, yet for many there is more than simply dodging the bullet on pension payment backlogs and higher taxes than the 2017 budget does. For so long, and for so many, the mantra, has been that the city was broke, and beyond repair.

But others wanted to take a creative and imaginative approach to city finances, infrastructure and financing. Leading the pack is Tom Tresser who has brought together a collection of opinions into one slim volume titled, “Chicago is Not Broke”, an analysis of why and how things went wrong, but also prescriptions for how it can, and should get better for all residents. I spoke with him in a rollicking, anecdote filled, and impassioned interview; one that had me in thrall with his commitment, and vision for a better Chicago.

First on the table was the 2017 budget that was recently, and unanimously passed by the City Council, which pleased the mayor to no end. While Tresser ruefully acknowledges the ability of the mayor to pass a budget with no dissents, he feels that “it really supports 5 or 6 wards; 45 out of 50 are not doing that great. Look at the  unemployment figures among African American youth; and look at the 160 schools where there is no library, or no librarian, that is not investing wisely.”
For many progressives and community leaders, especially those on a grassroots level, the election of Donald Trump has caused concern if there will be continued support, for the more vulnerable members of society, and Tresser too is concerned, whether there can be “justice and equity” for civic projects.

Tresser stresses that “in the civic imagination, we’re broke, but we have no ideas to solve our problems,and we tend to run around like hamsters.” And, one of the things that makes him angry is that all too often Chicago has been hellbent on “creating debt to enrich the insider that [in turn] enriches the bankers, but not for the rest of us.”

The book is divided into five sections; the first is an introduction to the budgetary process by local economist Ralph Martire,and an overview of the Chicago budget.and an examination of some of the steps that can be taken.  In the second, section, there is an examination of the cost of corruption -- since Chicago is frequently cited as one of the most corrupt cities in the nation.

Martire’s detailed breakdown of the city budget is must reading for everyone concerned about city finances. For the 2.7 million residents it reads like a Rosetta stone for the series of documents that make up the entirety of the budget, and one whose complexity, can make such an examination daunting.

Looking at what are essentially six separate budgets, Martire acknowledges that there is “no one element a citizen can review to analyze the city’s budget,” and asserts that this complexity hinders transparency. Not included in the $9.32 billion budget, for 2016, were amounts for Chicago Public Schools, the police department, the Chicago Housing Authority, the CTA, and the city’s community college system; with amounts ranging from $ 5.7 billion to $696 million.

He leaves the readers with one salient point:  the budget is essentially a political document, and “rarely highlights controversial decisions.”

Dick Simpson, former aldermen, and now political professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, and coauthor Thomas J. Gradel, notes that  corruption costs [the city] about $500 million a year,” say Tresser and also cites, as an example, the enormous cost to the city of the Barbara Byrd Bennett debacle where she was charged, as Chicago School Board Superintendent, with ripping off Chicago Public Schools for over $2.3 million in kickbacks to her former employer, in exchange for a $2 million bribe from them.

The end result was more monies lost to the nation’s third largest school district, and also a huge loss of confidence. Most importantly he notes that “Political corruption in Chicago is extensive and persistent,” but so are the “tax dollars, in lives ruined or lost and in the loss and faith in government.”

While this may not be news to many city residents, and observers, the costs for other scandals, when tallied, add up to even more: $500 million per year, with the Jon Burge monies at $100 million and counting, and from the past, $100 million in 10 years, for the Hired Truck scandal.

As Simpson states, “All these forms of graft and corruption, large and small add up. To paraphrase U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen, a million stolen there and a million stolen there, and sooner or later it adds up to real money.”

Next up, says Tresser, is Jackson Potter with high finance, some would say hijinks, of toxic interest swaps from the hands of former Chicago Board of Trade, CEO, David Vitale, to deal with abandoning old-school budgetary practices. As he told the Chicago Tribune, a fix was needed and with that in mind, he suggested a new method that, would trade one liability for another, or “whatever the market would bear in return for cash up front.”

The end result was that the school district would pay a fixed interest rate, and in return the banks would pay a variable interest rate to bondholders, a move that Vitale felt would save the district a lot of money. But, it was a gamble that didn’t bargain with the collapse of the global market, in 2008, and “the CPS could not longer cover the interest on their bonds for the swap.”

Unfortunately, banks have not been held accountable, and the loss of $582 million, spent on payments, could have “filled the entire $480 million budget deficit and avoid devastating classroom cuts that include 5,000 teacher layoffs and cuts to special education.”

Perhaps no story of 2016 got more media attention than that of the Laquan McDonald case; and those of the by now, infamous, and tragic, shots that killed the black teenager, as he was walking away from police. The aftermath, the suppression of the dash cam video, the alleged  collusion between the mayor’s office and that of former Cook County State's Attorney, Anita Alvarez, who received a punishing defeat at the hands of Kim Foxx  in the primary leading to the municipal election.

For Tresser the cost of this police abuse, and the lies of police officers, again hits the cost of corruption, this time “the nearly $600 million in settlement to the victims families for wrongful convictions and paying Jon Burge’s bills, for consistent patterns of abuse; what does it take to move beyond these patterns of abuse?”, says Tresser.

The amounts spent have proven to be a never ending loop of payments that could have been used citywide for a variety of debts, and costs.in social and human capital, for the aleintatin of communties - especially those of color, in asking for protection, and seeking redress of police abuse.

But, the kicker, the standout problem of Chicago finances, for Tresser, is that of TIFs Tax Increment Financing  - a program designed to freeze taxes in poor areas, for a specific period,and then use those monies to build resources, both commercial and community, in low income, often blighted, neighborhoods.

As with so many things that look good on paper, ,the practice soon became one that enriched posh neighborhoods, for such building as the posh French Market, in the West Loop, hardly a blighted area, and a cash cow for investors and construction companies.

They also, as Tresser notes, became a slush fund for Chicago mayors, that they could dip into as needed. As he claims,”there are 164 TIF districts with $1.4 billion, and one of my goals is to educate the public on what is a TIF.” He  feels that the average citizen needs to know where they are, and all politics being local, that this information is vital. He held a grassroots meeting this past February, at the Chopin Theater, in the 27th Ward and there was record attendance.

Some numbers: a diversion of $7 billion in taxes to questionable projects that are “off the books,” so to speak, and $850 million to the city’s business district, the Loop, and not to blighted sections, as designed. It’s important as Tresser notes, that “TIF dollars are gifts, not loans.”

He has also begun the TIF Illumination Project to address the issues of what can be done, if anything to renegotiate some of these deals, identify the profits and maybe change the “process of bonding” for “capital costs, such as infrastructure or city buildings.”

These are but some of the most salient chapters of “Chicago Is Not Broke”, for a copy of the book, go to the book's website,  or through Amazon, for a Kindle version only, and select local bookstores in Chicago..

2017 Chicago budget pleases Mayor Emanuel, but tax increase may cause further population decrease

Last week’s unanimous vote on the 2017 Chicago city budget pleased Mayor Rahm Emanuel to no end. Wreathed in smiles, he said, of the $8.2 billion budget, "You can say Chicago tomorrow is better because of the work you have done over the last five years," Emanuel told aldermen.

With the 48-0 vote, the $8.2 billion package is a heady combination of many things, but mostly dependent on things that were previously passed, such as four years of property tax hikes. Next year, City Hall property taxes, will go up by $109 million, following this year's $318 million increase. The money is earmarked for police and firefighter pension funds; raided in previous years when money was scarce,  or underfunded for the benefits promised during more robust years.

Emanuel’s unenviable task was to put much of this debt to rest, in whatever way that he could, and the property tax increases seem to have been his solution. Yet, as many aldermen noted, coming back, hat in hand for future increases is not entirely out out of the picture. As The Chicago Tribune noted, “That won't be the end of the pension-related property tax increases. Total property tax increases of $106 million for the police and fire pension funds are slated for 2018 and 2019.”

Add to that another line item: “Chicago Public Schools property taxes will increase by $245 million in 2017, with most of that money going into the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund,” and the die is cast for even more hikes..

A significant chunk of the budget are a host of, what economists define as regressive taxes..A leading example is that ”Emanuel's budget includes a new 7-cent fee for each store-provided disposable bag, designed to raise about $13 million next year. It replaces a city ban on plastic bags that was deemed largely ineffective. People can avoid paying that tax by bringing reusable bags to the store,” noted the Tribune.

But, there is more much more - here is the breakdown:

• New parking meters, with 460 in the Loop and surrounding business district and 225 in neighborhoods. The $5.4 million raised by the new meters would partly offset the $12 million the city estimates it will pay to Chicago Parking Meters LLC for meters that are out of service.

• Parking rates at O'Hare International and Midway airports would rise, with the daily fee going up by as much as $12.25 under a complex system that varies by the type of lot used. The proceeds will be plowed back into city airport improvements and operations.
• A new so-called surge pricing to $4, from $2, at 820 parking meters near Wrigley Field, starting two hours prior to a game or event.
• Drivers also would pay to use “commercial loading zones with hourly parking rates set at $14 downtown and in two nearby wards. Once fully in place, the administration expects to collect $13 million to $18 million a year.”
• 545 new cops to be added in 2017; and $36 million over three years spent on expanding teenage mentoring programs.
• $994 in property tax hikes for City Hall and CPS. That's based on a $250,000 home.
• $50.40 for the 911 phone tax passed in 2014; based on a total of three phone lines, cell or land.
• $355 from water and sewer fees doubled from 2011.
• $134 from the water and sewer tax passed in September. That's for metered service. Those lacking meters can expect to pay $229.
• $25 from a 2011 city vehicle sticker hike. The increase was $10 per car and $15 for SUVs.
• $19.40 from a cable tax hike approved in 2014, based on an $80 monthly bill.
• $114 a year for garbage pickup approved in 2015: on $9.50 per unit a month for a single-family home.

Even the 2016 City budget had a lot of these types of taxes, including the property tax increases. When I interviewed David Fernandez, a New York based public finance attorney with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney last year, for my now defunct Examiner column, he said in an emailed statement, ”Perhaps it is time for Chicago to look back at NYC in the ‘70’s and find a way to create its own Municipal Assistance Corporation.  The restructuring of debt within the constraints placed by the courts and utilizing creative ways to provide access to the markets while preserving both the requirements of the existing obligations and the reserves being held by the City are going to be paramount in allowing Chicago to avoid the drastic measures of increased property taxes.”  Prescient words, yet the deed was done.

Also, culprit as the New York Times has noted, “Improvements in the housing market aren’t yet offering significant relief,” and, “on average, collections of local property-tax revenue trail changes in home prices by three years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.”

Regressive taxes are a weak way to shore up city finances, most economists feel, including municipal tax lawyers, and they take more not only from from lower income people, but also are easy enough to get around, and eventually will offer substantially less revenue.

They could lead to even greater, or dramatic turns. Resident, even corporate entities could simply leave Chicago. For the former if the above taxes are added up, then a mythical “owner of a $250,000 home can expect to pay about $348 in additional property taxes next year. Throw in the $53 in estimated new water and sewer taxes for the typical homeowner, total additional taxes next year would come to about $400” calculated the Tribune.

"More money. That's all the city wants, more money. More money. They don't fix the streets, they don't fix anything else. And they give us more taxes," said Melanie Pizano to ABC7 reporters.

Still others defend these taxes --- "These are the same people who want their garbage picked up and their graffiti removed and their trees trimmed. We have to pay for them," said Alderman Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward).

With population growth abated, fleeing residents is not an unrealistic prospect with the increased taxes. Earlier this year, reports showed U.S. growth a little less than one percent in  2015. And, while many cities saw declines, “the biggest loser in the latest demographic analysis is the city of Chicago. Of all the metropolitan areas that lost population in the last year, it lost the most—more than the greater Los Angeles area, more than Boston, more than Minneapolis.” cited a blogster at Reason.com.

While the amount lost was smaller - in thousands compared to millions of residents - “The City of Chicago itself lost 6,263 residents. Nevertheless, the Chicago Tribune notes that this is the first decline in population for the city since 1990.

“By almost every metric, Illinois' population is sharply declining, largely because residents are fleeing the state. The Tribune surveyed dozens of former residents who've left within the last five years, and each offered their own list of reasons for doing so. Common reasons include high taxes, the state budget stalemate, crime, the unemployment rate and the weather.

”Studies from 2013 also saw trouble on the horizon when Steven Greenhut noted, "Chicago has high taxes and punitive regulations, large and bureaucratic government, and surly public-sector unions.

With the election of Donald Trump the presidency, and a tax plan that has faced its fair share of criticism, as well as uncertainty, and that promises “made during the campaign were big but vague,” as Tribune columnist Gail Marksjarvis noted. And, certainly his tax plan might make Chicago residency even less attractive with most planned savings going to high earners and in one example, “a single parent earning $75,000 would face a tax increase of $2,440.”

“But the depth of the city's problems is mind-boggling, and the results of a fiscal disaster there will be far more spectacular than bankruptcy in more obviously decrepit cities. Noted Greenhut.

“Chicago's metropolitan statistical area, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes the city and suburbs and extends into Wisconsin and Indiana.The Chicago area lost an estimated 6,263 residents in 2015 — the greatest loss of any metropolitan area in the country. That puts the region's population at 9.5 million.,” reported the Tribune.

Normally departures can be offset by birth and migration -- but that has also lessened and many residents are leaving Chicago for southern states such as Texas and Arizona, where they face less taxes and political battles like that between Gov. Bruce Rauner and Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan.

A firewall, of sorts, for population control, is supposed to be Mexican and especially newly arrived Mexicans, but that has slowed to a trickle; and with the election of Donald Trump as president, might show even more, if he builds the proposed wall between the two countries; but, is also affected by a rapidly aging U.S. Mexican population.

As the Tribune notes, “More than any other city, Chicago has depended on Mexican immigrants to balance the sluggish growth of its native-born population, said Rob Paral, a Chicago-based demographer who advises nonprofits and community groups. During the 1990s, immigration accounted for most of Chicago's population growth. The number of Mexican immigrants rose by 117,000 in Chicago that decade, according to data gathered by Paral's firm, Rob Paral and Associates.”

There are things that can be done in coming years to mitigate the further exodus of residents from the state, said Michael Lucci, of the Illinois Policy Institute. He recommends refocusing on manufacturing jobs in the state and curbing property taxes.

"We're never gonna have Colorado's mountains or California's beaches," he said. "But we have historically had an attractive business and job market. The problem is that we don't have that anymore."

Late in the election,Trump perhaps wanting to be more compatible with House Republicans, Trump wants to lessen itemized deductions on Schedule A of both individual and married filers,  and with increased standard deductions of $30,000 for joint filers and $15,000 for singles, “how many will want to file for mortgage interest or property tax write-offs, as they do today,” noted nationally syndicated real estate columnist Kenneth Harney, thus decreasing the incentive to own homes, in even a moderate market like Chicago.

An outlier in the decrease of residents has been the exodus of African Americans from Chicago, especially those with children seeking better schools and an escape from the violence which has reached a crisis stage in 2016 alone; with shootings and homicides, much of which affects their own communities.

The 2010 census reported a 17 percent drop in the city's black population over the previous decade. That number declined another an additional 4 percent through 2014, to 852,756. White people have left the state for years," Paral said. "But African-Americans? That's the one-two punch.”

Chicago teachers ratify agreement, but money problems still linger

Karen Lewis

In a 72-28 vote, 25,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union voted on Tuesday to ratify the tentative agreement reached between them and Chicago Public Schools. While this was not a nailbiter, in the strictest sense of the word, there was some concern among those that were dissatisfied at the changes for special education students, might be able to rally a rejoinder and reject the agreement, valued at $8.9 billion, some say, over four years.

Cooler heads prevailed and in the end, there were benefits that saved the teachers, say some, from virtual extinction, professionally speaking; and the contention of the pension pick-up was solved with a two-tier system where long-term employees will continue to get the 7 percent paid by CPS, and newer teachers not.at all

This loss by  Mayor Rahm Emanuel and school CEO Forrest Claypool, a creation of both a “stay put” for current teachers and a “pick-up” for new hires, seemed simple enough. But, there could be problems later on. As was noted, at the time,” Perhaps more importantly, the two-tier system would set the precedent of a different structure for compensation for new employees, potentially giving the city a tool to drive a wedge into the union’s ranks in future negotiations.”

The district also agreed to obtain outside funding to pay for as many as 55 "community schools" — at an annual cost of at least $500,000 per school — while creating a task force to select those buildings and determine how they could include community health care, after-school activities and support for homeless or chronically truant students.

Losses were felt with a reduction in ratio of social workers to students, far less than the National Association Of Social Workers recommends. "That was one of the last things to be dropped," said Vice President Jesse Sharkey, who concedes, "Those things cost a lot of money."

“Preliminary results show 72.33 percent of CTU members voted to accept the agreement,” said CTU President Karen Lewis in a statement. “This has taken nearly two years to reach a fair contract settlement. Now educators can focus their full energies on their classrooms as we continue to fight for equity throughout the district. I want to commend the rank-and-file for their leadership, commitment and hard work over the course of several months. This contract goes a long way in protecting our profession and our classrooms.”

Statements from Claypool, have been exuberant, where he actually bragged that the new deal is saving the city money. But, not so fast, says Greg Hinz of Crain's Chicago business, where he noted: "The fact is that by 2019, CPS, by its own figures, will be spending another $110 million a year on teacher compensation and benefits. This in a system that can't afford what it has now. CPS's sales job came in a briefing today [Thursday] during which it borrowed a page from Emanuel's book of exaggeration and bragged that the new deal "will save CPS $400 million compared to the previous contract."

Now, he notes, that “compared to the one entered into in 2012, [it] is not as rich. There will be no cost-of-living pay hikes for two years (one of them already past), but they'll get 2 percent in fiscal 2018 and 2.5 percent in fiscal 2019. Beyond that, pay hikes for longevity and obtaining an advanced degree, known as a "step and lane" hike, will be reinstated immediately after a one-year hiatus. CPS argues that's better than the old contract. Had its terms merely been extended—including COLAs and step-and-lane hikes every year, CPS would be paying an additional $400 million more over four years.”

A matter of semantics or fuzzy math, say critics.

The School Board is next to vote its approval and also the now revised school budget; public hearings are also scheduled in advance of the decision. CPS officials are still mum on the pricetag, and the $8.9 billion is a guesstimate from inside observers.

This is spin at its best, and careful observers are also wondering about what happens next with the still $1 billion shortfall, and the constant borrowing to improve and maintain the physical plant. The current votes and the expected ones from the State, while celebratory, are premature, with a look long down the road of fiscal responsibility.

Chicago teacher delegates approve tentative agreement with high stakes say critics

CTU President Karen Lewis

Wednesday evening the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates will decide whether or not they will accept the tentative agreement -- the “not perfect” one that was hammered out in the wee hours of the morning last Tuesday. While the agreement did prevent a repeat of the strike of 2102, it also left Chicago teachers with, if not a less perfect agreement, but one that leaves them open to future problems, with its two-tiered pension structure, for existing and new teachers, albeit one that is evened out with progressive raises.
Set against a background of acrimony from Mayor Rahm Emanuel still stinging from 2012, the lessons he learned from that time proved to give him more ammunition, and firepower as he and school CEO Forrest Claypool fired off salvos, soto voice, and warning signals with layoffs, that the teachers had to sacrifice, and that anything less would result in total chaos for parents in the nation’s third largest school system.  The scapegoating and psychological assault were game on for the sharp-elbowed second term Emanuel.
While CTU can claim a victory in securing $87 million dollars from the TIF surplus, there was a palimpsest, to the proceedings when it was revealed that the 2017 city budget had a line item for exactly that amount, well in advance of the “concession.”
In a game of chicken, or almost chicken, the politicization of education has become part of the package in the city’s economic woes as it attempts to battle both the budget and win the war, in one that has been largely mismanaged for decades by previous mayors, who all but dissolved, goodwill, and good city management, at will, depending on the situation.
As those on the left wrote: “Emanuel and Rauner thought their tough-guy routine would get the teachers to cave. But Emanuel was the one who blinked first — and moreover, he’ll have to dip into his slush fund of siphoned-off tax revenue, destined for his developer pals, in order to meet the teachers’ demands,” noted the socialist press.
Yet, that item was there all along noted The Chicago Sun Times, who reported this: “Emanuel’s 2017 budget book, printed days before that deadline, included this line: “The 2017 declared TIF surplus of $175 million provides $87 million to Chicago Public Schools and $40.5 million to the city of Chicago.” That means Emanuel kept teachers and parents guessing until the very end, knowing full well the price he was prepared to pay to avert a strike.

At issue is “when and how a militant union like the CTU can forge ahead in struggle at a time when most others remain in full retreat. If Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials, despite all of their tough talk, were prepared to retreat part or most of the way on the most important contract issues, could a strike have forced them to come up with even more?”
There were significant gains: the step and lane raises for seniority and advanced education was unfrozen and there was $10 million to $27 million to help with counseling and mentor programs. As DNA Chicago reported, “to “wraparound” social services for between twenty and fifty-five schools in neighborhoods struggling with poverty and youth violence. School counselors would have the option to turn over case management tasks to administrators in order to spend more time with students.
Losses were felt with a reduction in ratio of social workers to students, far less than the National Association Of Social Workers recommends. "That was one of the last things to be dropped," said Vice President Jesse Sharkey, who concedes, "Those things cost a lot of money."
The most salient issue of pension obligations - and the current pick-up of 7 percent -- was lost by Emanuel and Claypool, but in its place was a “stay put” for current teachers and a “pick-up” for new hires. But, and this is significant:  “Perhaps more importantly, the two-tier system would set the precedent of a different structure for compensation for new employees, potentially giving the city a tool to drive a wedge into the union’s ranks in future negotiations.”
While over 75 percent of Chicago teachers voted to strike, faced with the agreement before them, would or could they reject it and strike anyway? The idea is tantalizing and some are no doubt wondering if, it could be done. That would also endanger negative publicity, and TIF paychecks, in other words no long term solution  And, it might also generate a phone call from the Hillary Clinton campaign, who must have given her thoughts on the spectre of a strike on the eve of the upcoming presidential election.
That move would also create another wrinkle in the ongoing friction between blue state Democrats and Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, who is also adept at scapegoating those who he does not like, or who want to stay in the game. In previous speeches and talks with the media he has suggested that giving money to Chicago, without passing his so-called “turn around agenda” is nigh to impossible. Secondly, the use of TIF monies does not address a weakened budget that has not prepared for an unanticipated shortfall, with no ready solution.
According to the Chicago Tribune, “The district's $5.4 billion operating budget assumed savings of $31 million through renegotiated contracts with unions including the CTU. That budget also assumed it would take in $32.5 million from TIF districts, but that figure would now increase to $87.5 million. It does not appear that they are going to get that savings, although the (TIF) surplus that they have declared will help pay for some of it," said Laurence Msall, head of the nonpartisan Civic Federation budget watchdog group.’”
Another idea in the works are planned buyouts to ease the pains of a fragile budget, yet "In this case, definitely, the new teachers who are replacing them are going to be paying more to the pensions," he said. "They are going to see a lesser pension benefit than existing employees, but we have to see the value of the lump sum that is being added before we can make a determination of how much savings or costs are associated."
There are also brighter days ahead, when “The union would see one of its biggest victories in negotiations start to take shape in the second semester of the 2016-17 school year. That's when kindergarten through second grade teachers with 32 or more students in their classrooms become eligible to receive an assistant to help with instruction, according to the tentative deal. Sharkey estimated that agreement would cost about $10 million a year” according to the Tribune.
What the CTU delegates will analyze, and process anyone's guess, but the agreement while providing much, also creates unhealthy gaps that might come back and haunt those that it proposes to serve.
Late breaking news: The delegates in a 2-1 decision approved the four year agreement. On Oct. 27th, the full rank and file will vote on the agreement. Sharkey noted that there were definite victories that were achieved.

Rahm Emanuel takes different tack with possible Chicago teachers strike

For the second time, as mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel faces the very real possibility of another Chicago Teachers Union strike --- the previous one, in 2012, earning him not only the enmity of his well-established opponents, but also an expansion of them. This time around, Emanuel, battle-scarred by overdue pension payments and a city budget awash in red ink, and high crime, is in no mood to play the bad guy.

Now, he has placed the blame on the teachers, but has also reached out to parents to protest the supposed greedy, non-compliant, and self-serving teachers, and that he cares about the kids. It’s a gamble City Hall sources say that he must do, to try and prevent him from being further mired in negative publicity, and calculated, his advisers say, to keep him above the fray, as he grapples with other pressing problems. Statements such as “strike of choice” and “totally unnecessary,” play to the core of his intended audience, parents.

For many residents this concern rings hollow, after the by now, historic closings of 50 schools, in predominantly black neighborhoods that forced many children to walk, in anticipation,  through drug-infested neighborhoods; which Emanuel was forced to acknowledge with the hiring of a civilian watch force to guide them safely, to and from school.

Education, especially public education has been politicized as an outsized football to be used, or misused, as the occasion demands, and for Chicago, which has the nation’s third largest school system with 396,641 students, the problem becomes enlarged as the district with a junk-bond rating, and facing a debt of over $1.1 billion, is in serious financial distress. So much so that Republican Governor Bruce Rauner said that bankruptcy was not off the chart, although these charges were later refuted by education experts.

Adding more fuel to the fire in contract negotiations, are over 40 alderman, members of Emanuel’s city council, presumably loyal, who have demanded that the city use its Tax Increment Finance  funds, not already committed, (where taxes are frozen for a specific period of time, with anything beyond going into a designated fund, and at the mayor’s disposal) to be used to shore up the ailing district. There are currently 146 of these areas, but some reports give a higher figure of 151. Changes to redirect these monies to CPS would require a change in city law

“Ald. George Cardenas, 12th, has led efforts in the City Council to push Emanuel to use TIF money to help shore up the CPS bank account. Cardenas said he met late last week in Emanuel's office with CTU representatives and the mayor's top aides in a bid to hash out an agreement on using surplus from TIF funds to prevent a walkout, reported the Chicago Tribune.

"We want to avoid a strike, of course, and a (TIF) surplus could give a win to everyone. I want to find a win-win," Cardenas said. "The mayor can claim a victory on avoiding a strike, the CTU can claim victory on the finances of the (school) district and we can all move forward."

In addition, five Illinois State Reps have lent their support to this idea, and addressed their concern, in a letter to Emanuel, where they urged him “to support Chicago Public Education Revitalization Ordinance, which would release necessary TIF surplus funds of $460 million for 2016.”

Those that signed were Ann M. Williams (11th), Barbara Flynn Currie (25th), Will Guzzardi (39th), Sara Feigenholtz (6th) and Jamie Andrade (40th).

Emanuel has countered that the District already has received monies in the past and that in any event it would not be enough, and how could future demands be met, and that their proposal is not a long-term solution. His spokesperson Molly Poppe has said that $32.5 million dollars in surplus is helping teachers and existing school budgets. Yet, critics note that if that were so, then why would principals have to scrape for the current budget cycle, to meet minimum standards?

Eager to turn the tide of public opinion to the teachers, the CTU is just as eager to return the favor back to money. "The settlement hinges on money coming from a development slush fund into the public school system," CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said last week. "That's what the settlement hinges on. It's about the money."

Contract negotiations also hinge on teacher layoffs -- with another round of 250 -- less than two days ago, (due to lowered enrollment), budget cuts, pension cut payments, the loss of “step and lane” increases and increasing healthcare costs, and longer school days. Of utmost concern for the CTU is the loss of the 7 percent pension contribution by CPS, which chief Forrest Claypool says is no longer affordable, and which the union says is actually a pay cut, which CPS denies, even as it says that there will be a 13 percent raise.

Donna Kiel, director of De Paul University’s Office of Innovative Professional Learning said, on that school’s news website: “I’m not sure (strikes) are the best solution, that’s for sure,” Kiel said. “But I think given the current situation, I don’t know what other recourse Chicago teachers have (…) last time it was all about the teacher evaluation system and job security, and now it’s all about just being able to exist.”

Some object to the use of TIF monies saying that the loss of revenue, from the surplus would be a decrease in road work, construction, and development of vacant properties, to name but a few. They also point out the newly opened Whole Foods in the Englewood neighborhood, one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the city, as the good that TIFs can do.

Critics counter that the funds have been grossly misused, over the years, especially by former mayor, Richard M. Daley, for such trifles as the posh French Market; but Emanuel has also continued in that direction with plans for a hotel and a basketball arena for De Paul University, near the convention center..

The ideological divide between public perception of teachers and the public may be the greatest hurdle, particularly in a large metropolitan area, where teachers have to be teacher as well as counselor, social worker. Parent, and in some schools purchasing agent.  And, then they have to counter the oft quoted, and dreaded statement, “those that can’t, teach,” which says a lot about how the profession is viewed by some residents, and the none too subtle message that the mayor is hinging his argument on: that they don’t as a group, really deserve more than he is willing to give.