New report says minimum wage workers cannot afford modest housing

With all of the joyous news that greeted the May Jobs Report, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and the much heard, phrase, of “this is a tight job market”, the issue of wages, or more accurately, wage stagnation, was often politely shoved aside to preach the good news of job growth.

There was only a slight increase in wage growth from the prior month, a gain to some eyes, from the previous moribund reports, it seemed a gainsay, for many economists, bankers and other spokespeople for the American financial industry. But, 2.7 percent wage growth seemed tepid, and with job growth coming in strong with lower skilled jobs, that require little more than a high school education, the economic base seems constructed on a new paradigm.

“This is the last shoe to drop in the labor market,” said Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank. “It’s just a matter of time before wages start going up more strongly, but there’s frustration that it hasn’t happened yet, even though unemployment is the lowest it has been in almost 18 years,” he told The New York Times.

Another facet  was that many of these jobs are entry level and many paying minimum wages, and despite liberal voices asking and, in some cases, demanding a guaranteed minimum hourly wage of $15 dollars, being able to find affordable housing, on that income has become a challenge.

In Illinois, the challenge has become even greater, than in previous years as “renters in Illinois must earn more than $20 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment,” stated a new report from Housing Action Illinois, the state chapter of a nationwide organization, the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Starting July 1, there will be an increase in the new Chicago minimum wage to $12 per hour; and that's a 45 percent increase since 2015, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office.

Currently, that wage is $11 per hour. According to the local ABC affiliate, “the increase is part of a plan to raise minimum wage in Chicago to $13 per hour by 2019.The mayor's office said about 367,000 workers will get a raise by July 1, 2019, as part of this plan.”

While many have lauded the good news from CIty Hall, the challenge to housing in Chicago is greater than ever and the report notes, that “In order to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment in Illinois, renters need to earn $20.34 per hour. This is Illinois’ 2018 Housing Wage, revealed in Out of Reach 2018: The High Cost of Housing, a national report jointly released in Illinois by Chicago-based Housing Action Illinois and DC-based National Low Income Housing Coalition. This means that to afford a two-bedroom home without paying more than 30% of their income on housing costs, a person earning Illinois’ minimum wage ($8.25 per hour) must work 99 hours per week just to make ends meet,” they said in a statement heralding the bad news.

Looking even more closely, “a household must earn $3,525 monthly or $42,304 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into an hourly Housing Wage,” of the aforementioned, $20.34.the calculated cost for a modest two-bedroom apartment, it became obvious that the wage challenge proves to be nearly impossible to meet for minimum wage workers.

Going even further, we see that two-and-a-half of full-time jobs at minimum wage “are needed to afford a 2 -Bedroom Rental Home at Full Market Rate.”

“In Illinois, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,058. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — For a modest one-bedroom apartment, at $8.25 an hour the prevailing state wage, it would take a worker 83 hours to meet the cost.”’ their research showed.

With the upcoming national mid-term elections getting closer and closer, both the  statewide and local elections, and especially, for mayoral and gubernatorial campaigns. The report authors make this point::

“Every legislator should be talking about the fact that nowhere in Illinois can a full-time minimum wage worker afford rent,” says Sharon Legenza, Executive Director of Housing Action Illinois. “And every candidate seeking an elected office should have a plan for how to change this. Housing should be a source of stability, not insecurity. Voters deserve to know how our elected officials intend to make sure that every one of their constituents has a good, affordable place to call home.”

“Out of Reach 2018 finds that average cost of rent and utilities for a two-bedroom apartment in Illinois is $1,058 per month. In order to afford this, a household must earn at least $42,304 annually. Assuming a 40-hour workweek, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into a Housing Wage of $20.34,” they also noted..

With varying statewide rents, “there is no place in Illinois where a minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom apartment. Rental housing is the most expensive in Kendall County, where the Housing Wage is $23.56, followed by the Chicago metropolitan area, where the Housing Wage is $22.69. The lowest that the Housing Wage gets for an average two-bedroom apartment in Illinois is $12.88, which is still more than 1.5 times the minimum wage.”

The Chicago Metropolitan Area, with its glut of low-wage workers, often laboring in fast food restaurants, hotels and sanitation crews are the most inevitable workers that try to meet the challenge, And, in our interviews, most of them are trying for this Herculean task, by working two and even three jobs.

To say that this is a crisis, is an understatement, and statewide there 1,635,043 renters, reperesting 34 percent of the state as renters.

In October of last year, Sen. Dick Durbin’s office released some good news: “U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that Northern Illinois communities will receive $3,880,550 in federal grant funding through three programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  In total, Northern Illinois communities were awarded $2,957,019 through the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program, $182,521 through the Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program, and $741,010 through the HOME Investment Partnerships program.”

What is needed, is a targeted program to marry money with deliberate development to address the needs of minimum wage workers.
.

Also helping to identify local and national lawmakers to press in this area, especially during the challenges of the Trump administration, and identifying and helping educate them on the issue would be of prime importance.

Increasing the vouchers and subsidies are essential , but how much could even the most modest bump help those workers in targeted areas across Chicago and Illinois, would be a necessary adjunct.

Pessimists suggest that the slim boost, in wages, about one percentage point above that of April suggest that this may be a no-win situation, for the present time.

Lastly, what efforts, if any, can those that are most affected by the need, do to let local and national lawmakers that they need to do more?

These and other questions were addressed to Housing Action Illinois, but by press time, there was no response, or from the office of Sen. Durbin.

For the full report go to: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/OOR_2018.pdf

Will Lori Lightfoot's crusade lead to being Chicago mayor?

Holding an elected office in Chicago has become akin to either death by a thousand blows, or sheer masochism, and those are during the good times. Certainly, the job of mayor falls under that category and into the already crowded fray, of decided, and even undecided, a crusade of sorts has entered the melee, in the form of Lori Lightfoot, attorney and most recently president of the Chicago Police Board, and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force, has plunged into the race for mayor of the nation’s third largest city with an equally crusading spirit.

She has taken two issues on, the appearance of an ethical violation with Chicago School Board president making a public advertisement for school performance improvements, and paid for by a group of heavy financial backers for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Secondly, the sex abuse scandal in Chicago Public Schools that has not shown either proper oversight, or even the appearance of protection, to a system that has been burdened with debt and weak test scores, before the recent improvement.

All of this seems part and parcel of the work that the 53 year old attorney has done, and often under the proverbial bushel basket as many have not known of her intense work on behalf of the city, and especially in the unenviable task of police reform.

“She’s got a long track record on police reform. She’s not viewed as being part of the establishment. She has positioned herself to be a change-agent,” said Victor Reyes, the former Daley political operative who ran the now-defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization at the center of the city hiring scandal.

As the Chicago Sun-Times reported, in their profile of the candidate, “Lightfoot could probably make it into a runoff in a fractured field with just 30 to 35 percent of the black vote, 25 to 30 percent of the white vote and 35 to 40 percent among Hispanics.

Citywide the black population of Chicago is 32 percent, with 45.3 percent white, according to the 2010 census; a significant statistic that cannot be ignored.

Getting votes is a numbers game, and having the other five black candidates remain in the race, as she, or any other candidate, can harness both the black and Latino votes, is paramount.

“It would definitely help to [narrow the field], but having them take votes helps her, too. As long as they’re subtracting from Rahm, they’re helping her,” Reyes said.

“Greg Goldner, who managed Emanuel’s 2002 congressional campaign, advised Lightfoot to follow the playbook that carried County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to a landslide victory during a 2010 campaign master-minded by Ken Snyder, who just happens to be Lightfoot’s political consultant.”

He noted, that “She unified the African-American community to a large extent, and she was able to get white progressives,” Goldner said of Preckwinkle.”

Matching the crusading spirit with political acumen may make the grade, not only if it makes her the city’s second black mayor, but also the first lesbian, in a city with a strong, and supportive gay community.

Her idealism may be her strength, as she noted, when announcing her candidacy and said, “In order for Chicago to remain a world-class city, we need to forge a new path, in which equity and inclusion are our guiding principles. By almost every measure, we currently are headed in the wrong direction,”

 “All over Chicago, people feel the effects of the us-versus-them style of governance. Investing here, but not there. Providing advantages to some, but not others. Listening to a few, but ignoring far too many. That mentality and style of governance ends the day I am sworn in as mayor.”

Hearing that, former alderman, and now, professor of political science, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dick SImpson, said that he “believes Lightfoot has the potential to “assemble a progressive coalition similar to Harold Washington’s.”

“The police issue is the hottest and most important issue of all. … She has a very strong record on the police issue. That will have a lot of appeal in the African-American community,” Simpson said.

He also “advised Lightfoot to turn up the heat and make it uncomfortable for aldermen to stick with Emanuel, no matter how much money he offers to drop into their campaign coffers.”

“She needs them to choose sides and she needs to get somebody to choose her …Some group needs to mobilize behind her and really push her candidacy. The ideal would be to get a number of the minor candidates to drop out and endorse her,” Simpson said.

The police problem, along with the violence, has become one of Chicago’s more durable problems, as epitomized by the Laquan McDonald shooting, and the coverup of the video that showed the discrepancy between what happened, and what was reported, with the searing result that the states attorney lost her bid for reelection, with accusations of a cover up, and loud demands and angry street demonstrations for Emanuel’s resignation.

In a city with a long history of racial segregation and police brutality, no issue could command more of a crusader’s attention, for reform.

Recently during a local radio appearance, she noted that the vast majority of police are in their jobs for the right reason, but also that there cannot be “abuse of the power that they’ve been given.”

That abuse was the problem with the suppression of the McDonald tape, but also reaches back to the days of Cmdr. John Burge, who was convicted of brutally torturing black male prisoners.

Even later was an expose by a British newspaper, The Guardian, (which I explored in a column for my now defunct Examiner column), that resulted in a lawsuit that describes a facility in Homan Square as an “off the books police detention, interrogation, and intelligence gathering center where the CPD unconstitutionally detained many thousands of predominantly, and disproportionately, African American and Hispanic citizens without probable cause and without access to lawyers and family.”

They also reported “from August 2004 to June 2015, nearly 6,000 of those held at the facility were black, which represents more than twice the proportion of the city’s population. But only 68 of those held were allowed access to attorneys or a public notice of their whereabouts, internal police records show.” 

When the Guardian reports first surfaced, local activists demonstrated demanding that the facility be closed, but police denied the accusations, according to The Chicago Tribune.

Much of the anger - especially that of Chicago’s black community has centered on Emanuel, who in 2013 closed 50 schools in the city’s black neighborhoods forcing grammar school students to cross gang-infested neighborhoods to reach their new schools, a move that prompted the temporary hiring of citizen guards to protect them.

It is this type of occurrences, systematic, at times, that she would confront as mayor.

Lightfoot has the types of rags to riches story that America loves --- worked seven jobs for her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, and had a grandfather who was a sharecropper ---  a similar profile that propelled Oprah Winfrey to stardom, and power, on the small screen.

When she earned her J.D. at the University of Chicago, “she organized campus protests against the discriminatory hiring practices of Baker McKenzie, the multinational law firm. Although Baker McKenzie was one of the university’s biggest benefactors, the protests culminated in the firm being banned from recruiting on the U. of C. campus.”

Taking on big boys, and even bigger projects, shows that Lightfoot is not afraid of tackling an issue and the importance of discipline ---- as how she financed her university degree, shows discipline and the campus protests at University of Chicago, reveals the profile of a fighter for a seemingly impossible cause.

The charges of sexual abuse at Chicago Public Schools, and Lightfoot’s handling also are part of a crusading campaign, where with over 430 charges, there were 230 of them convicted. And, as she noted, getting in front of the issue, we have to “build an infrastructure to protect our kids . . . this is the sad and sick reality.”

Going back even further “In 2005, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley asked the team of Lightfoot and Mary Dempsey to clean up a minority contracting program disgraced by scandal. In the course of cleaning house, Lightfoot and Dempsey made waves by taking on powerful targets. They included Tony Rezko, the now-convicted former chief fundraiser for now-convicted ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich; Elzie Higginbottom, Daley’s chief fundraiser in the black community; construction giant F.H. Paschen, and the O’Hare outpost of O’Brien’s restaurant, an Old Town institution.”

Now, the biggest boy to take on is her former boss, who has shown, much like Daley, father and son, that he knows how to keep the City Council under his thumb.

As Paddy Bauler famously said, “"Chicago ain't ready for reform yet" and if it is, and the reform begins with a black woman, of modest means, then the city is long overdue.

As Illinois budget approaches, most are nervous of another impasse

Updated June 2, 2018 at 2:46 p.m. (CSDT)

With an overwhelming bipartisan effort, for the first time during the tenure of Gov. Bruce Rauner, a budget has been passed: 97-18 in the House and 54-2 in the Senate, this past Wednesday.

The  $38.5 billion budget contains no new taxes, since there are true leftovers from last year's tax increase, and does not include the "turn around agenda" that promoted term limits and changes in workmen's compensation, and judicial abrogation.

"The plan is based on an assumption that the state will bring in about $38.5 billion in the budget year that begins July 1, including $300 million from the long-stalled sale of the Thompson Center in the Loop. The total revenue estimate was boosted this year by the higher state income tax rate and changes to tax policies in Washington, D.C., plus unexpected spikes in investment returns" reported the Chicago Tribune.

What remains are $6.6 billion in unpaid bills and the nation's highest unfunded pension debt, as we outlined below. Problematic is that "Moody’s Investors Service analysts warned that the state’s fixed costs for debt service, retiree health care and pension contributions are on track to consume 30 percent of the money it brings in and that “a failure to adopt mitigating strategies soon will greatly increase the state’s risk that these rising costs will become unaffordable without severe public service cuts," added the Tribune.

Public colleges and universities get  $56 million or a 2 percent bump; and $350 million extra for K-12 education.

"Caregivers who primarily work with the developmentally disabled will experience a 50-cent hourly wage increase under the budget, but other social service providers continue to wait for their rates to go up." and one provider "said her organization is pleased with the General Assembly for passing a budget, but the threat of noncompetitive compensation still persists.

According to a news release from FVOAS, the Legislature has not raised the reimbursement rate for adult day services, which are regulated by the state, in more than a decade."

The Daily Chronicle  also reported "Although Rauner introduced a phase-in proposal during his budget address for school districts to start covering their own Teachers’ Retirement System obligations, a move that would add millions of dollars in expenditures to some districts, no such provision was included in the budget bill."

What is left is an imperfect bill, but one that did show that partisanship could be put aside to do what is crucial to the livelihood of any state's finances. -- DG

For those whose memories are not imperiled by the Midwest’s extended cold weather, it’s budget time for Illinois, and with it brings all manner of anxiety, worry, and some justifiable concerns that this state constitution mandated effort could end in an impasse between the majority Democrats and incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner, much like the absence of one that held the state hostage for nearly two years.

Some lawmakers are saying that it can’t and won’t happen since the tax increase of last year, that stopped the stalemate, still has enough reserves to stem the tide of another fiscal disaster for the Land of Lincoln. That might be so, but it has still given many observers, lawmakers and economists pause, or should we say cause for concern, as Rauner, who was described by The National Review, as the worst Republican governor in the country, has waged war with the opposition, in the form of longtime nemesis and Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan, and who he said in one ill-advised statement that it was not he, but Madigan that was in charge.

The Chicago Tribune reported recently that “The blame game is likely to accompany any budget standoff again this year. This time, though, lawmakers already enacted an income tax increase last summer, so Rauner doesn’t have the prospect of a new one to rail against or leverage to achieve his legislative goals. Rauner has campaigned on a pledge to roll back the new income tax rates and told voters Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker will raise them. But he hasn’t made lower taxes a condition of budget talks.”

With this budget that all are not looking forward to negotiating, Rauner has proposed that the pensions of public school teachers be redirected to the local school districts; a move that many educators and principals across the state say will destroy any gains from the new school funding proposal last year, that the he signed, under “duress” claiming that he did not want a bail out for Chicago schools, that he once described as crumbling prisons. And, while he later apologized for making it, the die was cast for him as a Scrooge for Chicago schools.

His recent stall on the budget until the tax credit program --- i.e. vouchers - was later wordsmithed to include all private schools; a move that showed a strong reserve of ill-will from the fact that it  was passed over his veto.

Against this drama lies the specter of over $15 billion dollars in unpaid bills from the impasse, and still underfunded pensions, that threaten to eat whatever leftovers can be reheated from the last deal.

A closer look at the details shows that there is more than one sword of damocles hanging over the heads of the governor and the legislature. As Bloomberg News reported in February: “$2.3 billion of deficit spending in the form of unappropriated liabilities held at state agencies as of Dec. 31; $8.4 billion of unpaid bills as of Feb. 7; $1.03 billion of late-payment interest fees incurred as of Dec. 31, 2017 (Note: At least $143m has been paid); and, a $1.7 billion general fund deficit, according to the governor’s office of management and budget.”

‘Still, many of the factors that complicated the budget negotiations of the past remain at play. Even with the extra tax hike money, the state is projected to run a $3 billion deficit . . . . and cutting spending can be difficult because much of what the state pays out is for programs required by law and education funding that neither side wants to reduce,” they also noted.

Still problematic, is that “Illinois also is struggling with $129 billion of unfunded pension liabilities as of June 30 across the state’s five retirement systems, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Illinois had $26.3 billion of general-obligation bonds outstanding as of July, according to Moody’s Investors Service, and the state sold $6 billion of general-obligation bonds in October to pay down some unpaid bills and $750 million of bonds in November for capital projects.”

The overall budget goal is to save$1.3 billion dollars.

Brian Mackey of NPR Illinois asked the question of another impasse by questioning lawmakers recently, and this is what some of them  had to say:  "That is the question," says state Sen. Chapin Rose, a Republican from Mahomet. And, he said, "'No' is the short answer to your question," Rose says. "But I think the next question you should ask is: 'Will it be a 12-month budget?' And I'm less convinced of that."

Talking the offense, “Rose and some of his Republican colleagues have been repeating this message — accusing Democrats of wanting only a short-term spending plan. The idea, Republicans say, is that Democrats hope to retake the governor’s mansion this fall, then pass the kind of wild tax hikes and spending that Republicans say Democrats would love to do”.

For the Dems, the response is a strong negative: “"No. We've been consistent in saying we need a full-year budget," says Rep. Greg Harris. He's from Chicago, and he's one of the House Democrats' top budget negotiators.”

Wresting away the steam from the GOP prediction, Harris says, "I don't know why the Republicans keep fantasizing about a six-month budget, but they do," or ,"Maybe it's wishful thinking on their part. I don't know."

To further complicate the process, there are other issues, as the Chicago Sun-Times noted, in a recent editorial, when they wrote: “House Speaker Michael Madigan told his caucus last week that he believes the governor wants an overtime session so he can blame the resulting gridlock on the Democrats. But Madigan told his House Democrats that he believes voters will blame both sides. This was taken by some of his members as a sign that Madigan finally realizes he needs to get something done one way or another. We’ll see. That assessment could be overly optimistic.”

Let’s take a closer look, as of this writing, at the following numbers: the nothing to sneeze at $16 billion dollars in unpaid bills that piled up from the impasse, and the aforementioned $129 billion in underfunded pension, a debt that must be met, by the state constitution’s standards and which looms large, and in Rauner's proposed budget is taken care of, in part, by deducting $470 billion in cuts from union negotiations.

Returning to the school pension funding proposal, there are some, like the editors of the Belleville News-Democrat, who agree with the governor, and say: “Rauner is right that school districts should be responsible for their own pension costs. The current system separates responsibility for paying a teacher's salary from paying most of a teacher's pension costs. That leads to inflated final salaries paid by districts encouraging teachers to retire in their 50s so they can bring in younger teachers and pay them less. Then the state pays the retired teacher an extra decade based on that higher salary plus another 4.4 percent bump if the teacher has two years of unused sick leave.”

The skies darken above Springfield when one looks at the impact of the pension change proposals, but especially in contrasting with the long sought school funding bill.

“The shift would cost school districts $490 million in fiscal 2019, with a $228 million hit to the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools. The Illinois Association of School Boards said this would revoke the promise of higher funding under a school financing law enacted last year.

Ralph Martire, Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a bipartisan think tank, said last month on “At Issue”, a radio program on local CBS radio affiliate WBBM that he does not think that this will have a chance of passing, but most importantly that Rauner's label of a balanced budget is fantasy and this it will increase the deficit from $9 billion to $10 billion. And, furthermore that these pensions are protected by the State Constitution, and that there might be a resort to higher taxes, or classroom cuts to pay the pensions.

“With the new pension burden, hundreds of school districts will be receiving a cut in education funding under the governor’s budget plan,” the group said in a statement,” reported Reuters, also in February.

With the bill, that received praise, from many educators across the country for the equal footing that it gave to lower income students, the die seemed cast for a new paradigm.

But, now, that could change.

‘Rauner's nemesis, House Speaker Mike Madigan, backed a similar plan in 2012 that ultimately failed. Rauner's plan calls for moving the cost of pension payments from the state to universities and local school districts over four years. However, the proposed pension shift is a non-starter for some in the governor's own party. State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, joined with the Illinois Education Association to gather widespread support for a resolution opposing any shift,” reported the Illinois News Network.

State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said he’s confident lawmakers will come to terms on various aspects of the governor’s proposed budget before the May 31 deadline. He also said Rauner’s budget tactic is on better footing than previous proposals. "It’s a large moving part of his proposal,” Manar said. “It involves several hundred million dollars and is, of course, very controversial.”

On Friday, in a developing news story, Reuters reported that “The junk-rated Chicago Public Schools (CPS) on Thursday more than doubled a planned bond refinancing issue to $561 million and accelerated its pricing amid rising rates in the U.S. municipal market.”

CPS said it moved up the sale due to market conditions that allowed the debt refunding to meet savings targets.

“Today’s successful bond sale, which will save CPS $30 million next year and reduce debt costs in all years, is yet another product of the historic funding reform that our families and elected leaders worked so hard to achieve last year,” Janice Jackson, the school system’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Meanwhile looking at the tax-credit voucher program, a state legislator recently announced a plan for equitable distribution of school funds. State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) continues to push for proper funding of Illinois’ schools.

“A bill she sponsors will continue that effort by prohibiting the diversion of public funds to scholarship tax programs in any calendar year unless the state has appropriated the $300 million in added education funding required annually by the new school funding formula.”

“The state has a constitutional responsibility to fund public education, and this will do so without hurting private schools,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “The state must meet the minimum funding formula before we hand out tax credits to wealthy donors and corporations.”

Bertino-Tarrant introduced the bill in response to a 5-year tax credit scholarship pilot program which allows individuals and companies that donate to private school scholarship organizations to receive tax credits up to 75 percent of the amount donated.

Senate Bill 2236 prohibits those tax credits in any year the minimum funding level is not met. Bertino-Tarrant stressed this bill does not eliminate the Invest in Kids Act, it simply holds legislators accountable and increases transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars for rebates to wealthy donors.”

In a strongly worded statement on her website she said: “As a mother, educator and a product of Catholic schools, I am a fierce advocate of giving our children the best possible educational opportunities, but we should not be working toward weakening the infrastructure of public schools across our communities,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “This scholarship program, as it stands, is not a tax credit for working families to send their children to private schools – it is designed to incentivize donors.”

In an attempt to harness the unpaid bill, State Sen. Heather Steans proposed that debts 90 days old be paid to clear the state ledger and have the monies transferred back to to the communities that need then; the vote passed by a wide margin and went onto to the House for approval.

Despite these measures, Illinois still suffers from the fate of being rate by the bond agencies with the label junk meaning that any monies raised through bond ventures may be doubtful, at best.

The greatest threat said the Wall Street Journal is the political gridlock that led to the financial debacle, identified as Illinois.

Illinois bonds are considered risky, at best, and Moody’s gave them a shaky Baaa3-, and S+P Global gave them just above junk status at BBB- and BBB-; more than a go slow, a red flag for would be buyers.

Chris Brigati, of Advisers Assets Management said this: “It’s Illinois, and things don’t go easy.”

For local observers, this is understatement, and the state will have, if there is a repeat of last year, or even a budget passed again over his veto, as Martire noted, Gov. Rauner “will never have been able to negotiate a budget with the general assembly in for four years.”

Luis Gutierrez says to NEIU grads to fight bigotry and discrimination

For much of our nation’s history, one of the most inexpressible questions that has been repeatedly asked, is this: “What is an American?” In his commencement address to the 900 graduates of Chicago’s Northeastern Illinois University on Monday,  U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, perhaps gave the best answer, when he described his fifteen year old grandson, who shared his transnational identity by saying, “Grandpa, on this side I am Mexican, and on this side, I am Puerto Rican, and here - pointing to his heart - I am American.”

There was barely a dry eye in the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion, after the sixty-four year old Congressman, related this story. And, indeed, much of the nearly hour long speech was filled with references to identity; identity as an attribute, as a verb, and most importantly what being an American means to this fearless defender of immigration reform and the need to unite, not to divide, not only the Hispanic community, but for all citizens in helping to redefine what being an American means now, and in the future.

Is America, a melting pot, or has it become a mosaic? For the latter, the hope behind this, as many a graduate school class would debate, and even eulogize, was that identity, and its cousin, identity politics could be taken into a new context, or even a new future paradigm.

For Gutierrez, a 1977 alumni of the school, this was a homecoming, but also a farewell as he has announced his retirement from Congress,(in November of 2017), and his speech was also, largely, a biography; an atypical trajectory for many Hispanic families, who, unlike Gutierrez was not born in the U.S., but instead traveled to the mainland, for financial security, and other opportunities lacking in their home countries.

He has been a major force in immigration reform and has chaired the Democratic Caucus Immigration Task Force since 2009; but has also made a name for himself, as well as an advocate for LGBT rights, Native American, and worker rights, so much so that his influence with the Illinois Congressional House delegation has given him the official title of dean, of that delegation.

A tag line for the speech, which resonated with his convictions, was to “hold the door open, wide, for others to come in,” a phrase not frequently heard in these divided and partisan times, and as advice for the graduates to also “open the door a little wider for the next person.”

This acknowledged crusader cited his own example, as he exhorted the graduates with the following: “do not allow bigotry and discrimination without raising your voice,” and to once again, remember to “open the door wider to let those in that pray differently, and love differently.”

On the other side of town, ready to fulfill this legacy, was his daughter Jessica, who announced that she is joining the race for Chicago's 30th Ward alderman seat. Local ABC affiliate, Channel 7, reported that “Her father watched teary-eyed as she launched her first campaign and promised to be an independent voice.”

She will face Ald. Ariel Reboyras, an ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Determined to be her own person, it was also apparent that she took the family pride of hard work as her father also acknowledged, that he relied on the hard work of his mother and father.

In closing, he pledged, to thunderous applause, that he would “not rest until the job is done and you have your U.S. citizenship,“ and showing, for the rest of us, that his leaving Congress is really only the beginning of the journey.

A feisty Bridget Gainer considers a run for Chicago mayor

Despite the perils of what may be the least enviable job in America, being mayor of Chicago, America's third largest city, is very much on the mind of a field of contenders, from all manner of professions:  educators, business people, school administrators, and perhaps even more as we write.

Waiting on the sidelines is Cook County Board Commissioner, Bridget Gainer, the flame-haired, and outspoken scion of a working class Southside family, whose forthrightness seems a shoo-in for this city of strong shoulders, and even stronger opinions.

“Who else is in the race is irrelevant . . . It’s not about who is in the field and who is not in the field in this incredibly growing field. Pretty soon, we’ll have to rent a bus if the candidates have to go anywhere but it’s a big field. That’s not the reason. The reason is the motivation to have an impact,” Gainer told the Chicago Tribune, proving that she comes by that red hair honestly.

Taking on the top job means handling an economic crisis - albeit inherited -  that has at its basis, meeting mandated pensions, and a public school system, mired in debt, and where both the pensions, and the budget hole, have been met by borrowed funds, ensuing thousands of dollars in interest payments.

Take the added weight of a long legacy of racial intolerance, and segregation (some say the most in the nation) is often the source of some of the city’s more glaring problems with equity.

An example is the huge gap of distrust between the police force and many of the black communities Taken together, the die is set for a job that most would shun, as even tackling one problem creates another one, much like the proverbial Russian stacking dolls.

The incumbent, Rahm Emanuel, has been seen as out of touch with most residents, especially in the aftermath of the shooting of a black teenager, Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times, by a white police officer, who said he was fearful of being attacked.

The video showed the exact opposite but, only after it was ordered released by a local judge, which caused a public uproar and demands for his resignation, and the defeat of the states attorney.

In a revealing interview with Chicago magazine last year, as rumors began to swirl about her interest in becoming mayor, Gainer, seemed to set the stage as a scrapper, when she said: “I’ve thought about it. It’s something I’ll continue to think about. It’s still a couple of years in the future, but I love the city, I grew up here and I’m going to live here until I die, so I want to be a part of whatever is going to make it better.”

No one ever said that redheads are not feisty, and this note of spice may be just what the city needs, and also seems to be consistent with the recent entry of more women in state and local races; which some attribute to the #Me too movement, and to others the well augered defeat of Hillary Clinton for the White House.

The fact that Jeanne Ives came within three points of defeating incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner, for the GOP nomination, speaks volumes for the strength of female candidates.

With a resume that includes work in New York City as a community organizer it seems that alone might be a ticket for admission, considering another famous Chicagoan who had this on his resume.

That work led to intensive boots-on-the-ground labor, getting schools to be open later for low income people of color for much needed activites, and as she noted, “I did a year of volunteer work with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I made $400 a month, lived with five other people in a rectory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. One of the people I worked for was Geoffrey Canada, who has gone on to do the Harlem Children’s Zone and Waiting for Superman. I was trained in Alinsky-style organization.”

As was Hillary Clinton.

For a white woman from the Southside, this may give her some cred in the black communities, whose need is just as great, right here in Chicago. Gainer has also showed some creativity as she adapted a program for abandoned properties to be sold for reuse in these same communities.

“So I’m reading through stuff one day, and I found this example of the land bank, started by a man in Flint, Michigan, when he was the county treasurer. I found money in my budget and I asked him to consult on how to create a land bank in Cook County,” as she described how the Cook County Land Bank was created.

Using examples from the land bank she said, in the interview, that she gained a lot from working with African Americans on bread and butter issues, and “from sitting together looking at neighborhood maps and determining how many young people we could employ if we bought 20 houses and used them as job sites. People and communities have most of what they need to help themselves. The role of government is to challenge the things that get in their way—whether it’s government, the court system, or the free market.”

Helpful also is her Catholicism, in a town where the Roman Catholic Church has long held power in politics, and her open admiration for Pope Francis gives her points with progressive Catholic liberals with whom she self-identifies.

“As a woman who’s a progressive, the Catholic church can test your faith sometimes. I am pro choice. At mass at the Vatican, I looked around and thought, we have a really universal church. Every corner of the world is represented, and the pope is up there, and he has done and said wonderful things. . . .I don’t talk about my faith a lot, but when you think we have this call to mission, to serve the poor, you realize we’re part of something that has lasted for centuries.”

Lest this all sound too perfect, Gainer has had to take it on the chin for missing a lot of Cook County Board meetings, and after some initial sparky comments, such as this one in January: “Have I missed some meetings? Sure,” Gainer said. “I’ve missed some of my kids’ games, too. And that bothers me more.”

She later tempered them - somewhat -  in an interview published in the Chicago Sun-Times, ““Being a working mother is part of who I am. Like starting the land bank is part of who I am. Just like encouraging women to run for office is part of who I am. I don’t think it’s something to hide behind,” and also added, “Sometimes, I have commitments in the neighborhood with constituents doing what I think to be a lot of work of the county board. As far as attendance goes, everyone can always do better. I can do better.”

Another sticking point: her admiration for the Daley's, père et fils, may cost her some votes, should she run, as many residents blame them for the pension holidays and parking meter privatization deal that cost the city millions of revenue that could have stayed locally, rather than in the coffers of New York bankers.

As we saw in the recent primary money means a lot, in modern political races, and as the Tribune reported, “If Gainer enters the Feb. 26 race, she will have a leg up on the competition. She has $804,142 in her campaign fund, second only to Emanuel’s revised total of $3.8 million after a flood of contributions reported Friday.”

Let’s wait and see what the lady decides.

After weeks of speculation and hopes, the last Saturday in July, Gainer decided to not enter the mayoral race, despite high hopes that in the year of the woman,  she would get those votes, "as well as residents of both the Northwest and Southwest sides," noted the Sun-Times, as well as the cash that she had, $843,265, second only to Emanuel's Midas Fortune of $7.56 million.

She will continue her focus on the Aon's Chicago Apprenticeship Network for young adults, as well as the Cook County Land Bank. She has told the media that "no deals were made to get her to drop out," the Sun-Times also reported.

Updated 30 July 2018 at 7:19 p.m. (CSDT)

Troy LaRaviere's passionate run to be Chicago mayor

If someone could determine the three ills facing Chicago, then they would be: crime, city finances, and the public schools. For the latter, it has become the cause that most residents want to see change the most; from fixing a bad physical plant (what Gov. Bruce Rauner described as “crumbling prisons”), to underfunded pensions, first, negotiated in good faith, and later subject to being de facto state government piñatas, to competition with charter schools, to mandated testing, to provisions for opting out of them.

Within this maelstrom, there was one central figure that famously battled the system, as principal, and community hero, and that was ousted Blaine Elementary School principal Troy LaRaviere, who has recently announced his candidacy for mayor in 2019.

During his tenure he took what was once a lackluster North side Elementary school and increased test scores, and worked tirelessly on behalf of students, as well, as parents to give students an equal footing with their suburban cohorts.

With an enrollment just under 900, Blaine was recognized by Chicago Magazine in 2010 as the 16th best elementary school in the city, and also the 6th best “neighborhood school.” But there were obstacles he said that prevented it from reaching the number one slot. And, in this struggle, public enemy number one, at least according to him, was Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose tenure has been marked by what he has often failed to do: keep city schools open in neighborhoods that need them and shore up the finances and the physical plant required for daily instruction.

When he resigned, or some say, was forced to resign, LaRaviere was the one to publicly condemn those he felt were responsible for not allowing the school to earn even higher accolades.

In his open letter of resignation, posted on his personal blog, he cited politics as his nemesis as he turned around Blaine during his five year tenure; LaRaviere also noted, in his resignation, the fingerprints of the mayor, when he said ,“In a word, the biggest obstacle to Blaine becoming the #1 neighborhood school in Chicago was politics. And while many people contributed to this problem, nobody in our great city is more responsible for that political obstruction than you.” 

Taking the mayor head on, with a pointed figure, albeit a virtual one made him, a leader in many quarters outside of City Hall. And, as we wrote, then: “While the mayor has touted charter schools as having the best test scores, the opposite has been true, and the former principal  has “published research that revealed public schools produced significantly more academic growth in students than charter schools; exposed filthy conditions in Chicago schools that were the result of botched custodial privatization deal; and uncovered the manipulation of charter school test score data by CPS officials.”

LaRaviere’s support for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders cost him dearly, with Mayor Emanuel, and the Illinois School Board of Education, who felt that these activities were an ethics violation. But, his true sin may have been giving voice to many that the “emperor has no clothes.”

To put the mayor on a path of accountability, many have wanted an elected school board and two years ago local lawmakers held a series of town hall style meetings to address the concerns, and the mounting debt that had cost many schools, staff reductions and program cuts, and what was thought to be at least $8.7 million in looming cuts.

Chicago Teachers Union Kurt Hilgendorf, noted at one of those meetings, which in an earlier advisory referendum 37 wards voted for an elected school board, “more than for Rahm Emanuel [to remain in office].” He also noted that Chicago’s appointed board had been in place since 1995, and that it “is bad for policy making,” and “has limited participation for parents,” but is ultimately “bad for policy making,” especially with “the rapid decline in neighborhood school enrollment,” which are being drained by the charter schools favored by the board.

There are certainly those that want a board, but in a perfect storm, it would not offer as much shelter as thought, and probably not provide much needed debt relief, if any, despite the great need. But, those that feel that Emanuel’s dictatorial hold on the board and his disastrous chiefs, the now felon, Barbara Byrd Bennett, and the disgraced Forrest Claypool as two examples.

Adding to the mix is a racial component that has a system that is mostly African American and Hispanic, and an elected board could tip heavily in favor of whites, and disenfranchise students of color; but some are leaning towards a proposed district election rather than a citywide.

Fast forward to now and LaRaviere is still bashing the mayor, not only for incompetence, but his cosy relations with wealthy individuals and corporations. As the Chicago Tribune noted, “LaRaviere, who is president of the Chicago principals association, also charged that Emanuel's office is "corrupt" because "wealthy investors, bankers and corporations have seized control of city government to make it work for the few at the expense of the masses." LaRaviere pointed to a pair of Chicago Tribune reports from 2015 and 2017 that found that up to 70 percent of the mayor's top donors have benefited from actions at City Hall, from contracts and zoning approvals to appointments and personal endorsements from the mayor.”

All things being equal it became a showdown between the two and “In April 2016, the Emanuel-controlled Chicago Public Schools removed LaRaviere as principal of Lakeview’s Blaine Elementary amid allegations of insubordination for opposing a standardized test and ignoring warnings about engaging in on-the-job "political activity."

“LaRaviere insisted his firing was "politically motivated," and the move drew a rebuke from then-U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who slammed Emanuel for having an "unhealthy obsession with taking revenge." The mayor said he had nothing to do with the decision.”

With most of the city in the red, in the not too distant past, Emanuel borrowed heavily, despite a historically huge property tax, in the city’s history, plus a trail of regressive taxes, and “LaRaviere also takes aim at Emanuel’s financial management of the city, pointing to a Tribune report from March 2017 that found that the mayor’s short-term budget solutions would cost the city $1 billion in interest, much of it coming due after the 2019 election. On his website, LaRaviere predicts Chicagoans will pay for the debt with increased property taxes, dubbing it “Rahm’s Debt-Tax.”

“As mayor, I will be upfront about the cost of good government, end the practice of indebting taxpayers to big banks and raise enough revenue to adequately fund city services,” LaRaviere says on his website. He did not specify, however, what taxes he would raise or institute to come up with enough money to wipe out such debt, bringing a stinging rebuke from Emanuel’s office that he had no plan.

It may be too late for interest relief payment, but tax burdened Chicagoans could use an advocate for better fiscal oversight, and at the very least, find creative solutions, that stay within the strictures of the state constitution; and some ideas flouted have ignored that.

Long burdened by racial divisions, the school system is a symptom of that legacy, and racial equity, a plank in LaRaviere’s platform is a much needed effort to hit it head on.

He will have a harder time, as a person of color, in battling the machine, and the tenure of Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington is indicative of the courage, and vitality needed to cross that hurdle. The powers that be will not move easily, as all who remember the Council Wars can attest.

His test, as the campaign heats up will be for details on how he can effect transformation, as well, and how he can make the transition from educator to politician and we will be watching, and waiting to see how he fares.

Contenders to replace Chicago Mayor Emanuel, say he's a disaster

With the Illinois Primary behind us, all eyes have turned to the announcements of the mayoral challenges to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, in 2019, and many feel that after his increased unpopularity after the 2012 teachers strike, and the closing of most of the city’s mental health clinics plus over 50 schools that served primarily black, or brown, students, that it’s time to give him a shove from the top job.

Chicago has struggled to meet pension obligations ($36 billion during Emanuel’s first term) for teachers, firefighters, and other public servants, and Emanuel’s response was a series of property taxes, the first was the highest in the city’s history, coupled with a litany of regressive taxes that were disguised as necessary maneuvers, such as a shopping bag tax, that most have worked around, by bringing their own; often those eponymously labeled cloth bags for sale, from stores, like the locally owned Jewel Supermarket.

Next up is the violence that has become known nationwide, in predominantly two areas of the city, but also that has spread, often, to others, much like the story of a woman that was recently stabbed on a city bus, leaving pricey Michigan Avenue, by an unknown assailant, to an increase in robbery along that same area; frequented by tourists and residents alike.

There was good news this quarter where there was a significant decrease in violent shootings, with the aid of technology; yet the fear is still there with the inevitable rise in both crime and shootings with the arrival of warmer weather.

Emanuel faced fierce criticism in another area of concern: police overreach and abuse that has historically been directed at mostly black men (such as that of the notorious John Burge), but has also extended to Latino men, creating a disheartening legacy; but one that has seen justice with the recent release of many black men accused of crimes, they did not commit, (often by forced confessions), aided by advances in DNA and other diagnostic evidence.

The mayor sailed into office in 2011 with the support of many black wards, but now with the aforementioned school closings, especially, but mostly, with the suppression of the video tape of 16-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot walking away from police, when police said he was armed and coming towards them. But, the tape  showed otherwise, and the outcry from that community resulted in demands for his resignation, with the support of many non-blacks.

With a hand-in-glove act, the then State's Attorney, Anita Alvarez, who most say helped to suppress the tape - it was an election year -- the die was soon cast for accusations of a cover-up.

According to the archives of the Tribune, “The mayor has emphatically denied keeping the shooting video under wraps to get past the election. But he acknowledged he “added to the suspicion and distrust” by blindly following the city’s long-standing practice of withholding shooting videos to avoid compromising criminal investigations.”

Police abuse, and demands for accountability, reached a peak after a decades old pile ups for a Department of Justice investigation in late 2016, that resulted in a blistering report by then Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and a recommendation for a consent decree; but with the incoming administration of President Trump, and his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, that call was not supported.

Now, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has issued a lawsuit, to have the decree, to force reform, a slow burning wick, especially, for communities of color.

Since then, nothing has been quite the same for the 58- year- old mayor, and being forced into a runoff, in his effort for a second term, he broke history, with a first for Chicago.

Added to the heady mix in this morass, is poor city financing, and violent crime, there is the public school system, tainted by scandal, and the sentencing, and jailing, of former school superintendent, Barbara Byrd Bennett -- who was found guilty of a kickback scheme, with her former employer, in a scheme that also involved questionable training for school principals.

Her successor, Forrest Claypool, a longtime “go-to” guy for previous mayors, resulted in an ethics scandal and a tainted reputation, not only for the city as corrupt, but also for its leading officials.

The school system, increasingly debt-ridden, and facing pubic revelations such as a recent sanitation neglect, in a blitz inspection, mostly in black schools, it has underscored like the city’s long legacy of racial segregation, which has forced generations of blacks into inferior schools, along with  substandard housing, creating a maelstrom of its own design.

Coupled with economic disinvestment and crippling crime, which has led to a downward cycle that has blighted these neighborhoods. and now their residents are a force to be reckoned with, in the voting booth.

The Corporation for Enterprise and Development, in a report released last year, noted that “about 65 percent of African-American, Latino and Asian households in Chicago have so little savings and other assets that a sudden job loss, medical emergency or other income disruption would throw them into poverty within three months.”

With accusations in the recent primary that Emanuel had intentionally led a disinvestment of black communities, by gubernatorial candidate, Chris Kennedy, to lead a wholesale gentrification of the city, coupled with even more closings, this time in the poverty ridden Englewood, race will be a considerable factor in the 2019 mayoral election.

Most observers have designated out of a crowded field, three leading contenders, among them Paul Vallas, a financial guru, and a former CEO of the schools, who has also had considerable support among black residents, when he held that position.

Saying that he is in it to win, Vallas, as well as one of the better known of the contenders has also faced a number of withering criticism from the Emanuel camp, and among them was this, after the former criticized his handling of the $36 billion pension crisis:  ““This is a person who is the architect of kicking the can down the road  – from skipping pension payments, eliminating direct-line revenue support for teachers pensions to Chicago’s corporate account . . . It took the city seven long, hard years to fix what he broke,” Emanuel said.

Of Chicago’s foremost ills, the economic challenges are the most headline grabbing and have garnered the tax increases, bemoaned by many.

Vallas said, criticized Emanuel’s actions, in a report by the Chicago Sun-Times, “You had Quinn as governor for four years. You had a veto-proof House and Senate. You could have addressed the pension issue. You could have addressed school funding reform. You could have passed a permanent increase in the income tax.”

“They punted for four years and, after the election, suddenly the sword of Damocles comes crashing down. What’s gonna happen in the next four years? The long-term structural problems . . . have not yet been addressed. They’re talking about major post-election tax increases . . . Who are you gonna trust to navigate the city through those troubled financial waters?”

Rounding the bend is former top cop, Garry McCarthy, who Emanuel fired after the McDonald scandal, who told the Chicago Tribune, in an interview, that he wanted to save “a great American city,” but who lacks the cash, and the will to fund raise, and lacks personal wealth (seemingly a given now, in Illinois) in order to donate to his run,

“Between the taxes, our economy, the schools and the crime rate here, we’re a laughingstock in America,” McCarthy said. “The prevailing thought about Chicago is we’re on our way down in all those areas, and they all infect each other, and nobody seems to get that. It’s almost like a ‘Wake up, Chicago’ moment.”

Getting to that point may take more than good intentions, as the road to being at least nominated is now fueled by cold, hard cash; and at last report, in 2017, Emanuel had over $1.6 million, as seed money to make a third term.

McCarthy’s Achilles heel is that he “will have to address the Laquan McDonald police shooting scandal that occurred on his watch,” but also face his lack of experience “on issues outside of crime and. Plus, his entree into politics will be for one of the toughest public jobs in America against one of the country’s most seasoned politicians.”

In the third spot, as of now, is millionaire businessman, Willie Wilson, whose deep pockets allowed him to donate $100,000 to his own campaign chest to fight Emanuel, who he has said, is “the worst mayor the city has ever seen,” and who wants to shore up city finances, and get money flowing to the neighborhoods, not just downtown.

Most notably, in a nod to fairness, the businessman has crusaded on the issue of bail reform for misdemeanors and low level crimes, that impact the city’s black residents, disproportionately, but also a national one, and in January, he said: “This is a moral issue for our country, when we can take away people's freedoms because they are unable to post bail for nonviolent crimes and misdemeanors.”

The legislation is being sponsored by U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.)

Looking at the spotty legacy, that Emanuel has left, and even his deep pockets, Wilson says: “But all the money he has ain’t gonna do him no good. He’s done so wrong for the citizens of Chicago. He doesn’t have the base that he used to have. He closed down schools. He’s been unfair with contracts. He’s raised taxes eight times in the past few years. People have lost their homes. And Laquan McDonald is a major issue. He covered up that situation.”

“In Round One of the 2015 mayoral race, Wilson got 25 percent of the black vote — 10.6 percent overall. That helped force Emanuel into Chicago’s first mayoral runoff,” noted the Trib, and it’s important to keep that number in mind, when looking at the contenders, and that Emanuel ponied up $24 million to leap over the fence to stay.

It’s also notable that these men are playing hardball and Wilson invited both Vallas and McCarthy to establish a gentlemen's agreement that they would lay off each other, and spend their time to force Emanuel, into another runoff.

Next time, we take a look at the other contenders, for it’s not over yet, even one year out.