Chicago needs money from Feds to stay afloat

 

When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced recently that there was a $1.2 billion hole in the city’s budget that needed to be filled, the news was met with near disbelief, and with more than a bit of shock and awe; but close observers of City Hall have seen over previous administrations that Chicago finances have been in abeyance for some time, mostly riddled with mandated pensions that had been often ignored with pension holidays and raids on the funds to provide revenue to public transportation.

What makes his unique is the depletion of sales and tax revenue from COVID 19, and the damage that it has done to economy of America’s third largest city, and while not alone the parameters of Lightfoot’s dilemma is one that has faced a myriad of cities across the country, and with 1.5 million government workers laid off, her plea, and that of Gov. JB Pritzker’s for federal help is warranted.

Congressional help is separately needed to put food on the table and pay the rent and mortgages of millions of American households across the country, but President Trump seems determined not to help Democratic cities and states, for a “bailout” an often used term when the need for help comes from these cities, even if warranted.

While as The Brookings Institution has noted, “sizable reform is needed,” but the recent August Jobs Report showing that 1.4 billion non farm jobs were created has given a push not to give too much help, since the White House sees the report as proof that the economy has come roaring back, despite the view from most economists, including the Federal Reserve Bank, that the U.S. has a fragile economy, and one that has been devastated by the pandemic.

Now with the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, many are wondering if there will be even a measure of political will to negotiate with Nancy Pelosi, and the House of Representatives, even though she reduced what was once a $3.2 trillion bill, to a reduced $2.2 billion aId package; but, with the push to fill the seat as fast as he can, many are wondering if any aid will be forthcoming beyond the $300.00 of extended benefits, once the previously held $600 per week, benefit recently ended, leaving many families, as well as individuals, fearing that they might go underwater, and in some cases homeless.

In the time of growing racial unrest, across the country, laying off, or furloughing state and local employees, is also problematic, since many of these “safe” jobs, many held by Black and Brown women, (often head of household) are now threatening the family budget, already stretched thin since the March pandemic shutdowns.

Equally problematic is the threat to local infrastructures which is also threatening family income, in an area that was once, also thought safe, construction and trades. And, in Illinois, as The Associated Press reported, “first time claims for unemployment benefits totaled 23,339 last week, down from 25,478 a week earlier,” but still not at pre pandemic levels.

For Lightfoot the temptation to raise property taxes is a red hot rail that she does not want to touch, and as one local civic head noted, she can’t tax her way out of a budget deficit. But, earlier this month the mayor said, “"I can't take it off the table, but it is truly the last thing I want to do,"

While some feel that chicago should be more like other cities, for example Boston and its high property taxes as a stable source of income, then again their residents are already “educated” in that fact, but not Chicagoans.

Chicago Magazine opined that “Instead of a property tax increase, Lightfoot called for a new casino in Chicago. That’s not the most sensible solution: as The New York Times reported, “[i]n Detroit, one-fifth of the municipal budget typically comes from casino revenue. And casinos have just reopened, at reduced capacity.Detroit ranks 4th among cities whose budgets are vulnerable to the COVID-19 recession”

Lightfoot is also twining two solutions here; revenue and to regenerate, if granted, to put the casino in areas of the city that have been .underserved, and racially restricted.

Another plan is reaching out to labor leaders to allow volunteer layoffs or furloughs, seems to be naive at best, or fantasy at worst; two traits that do not fit with Lightfoot, but might be reflective of her advisers.

Overall, big cities like Chicago are taking the hit in more than one area, and the effects are near those of the Great Recession with the resultant drop in the nation's GDP has made the maxim that all politics, and money, are local.

To that effect, “A recent New York Times story ranked 41 cities based on how likely they are to suffer severe revenue shortfalls as a result of COVID-19. Using projections from National Tax Journal, Chicago ranked 11th, with an estimated decline of 11 percent. In last place (which is really first place) was Boston, with 4 percent.”

A recent report noted that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high figure that reflects economic damage from the coronavirus outbreaK,” reported The Associated Press.

That the U.S. Dept. of Labor said that the claims fell by 33,000 from the previous week, with 12.6 million collected standard unemployment benefits, “compared with 1.7 million a year ago,” seems scant consolation.

Lightfoot also, in the vein of Pelosi, added, “plans to seek authority to appropriate $1.3 billion in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act grant funding to help struggling residents, including the city's homeless, homeowners and those in need of mental health resources. Federal guidance dictates the money must be directed to COVID-related costs, including immediate health expenses and economic and social impacts, reported local station, NBC Chicago.

In an inevitable task list, this is just the beginning of relief for the city, since there is also as the state’s economic driver, Chicago has to also proved mental health services, help manage courts and law enforcement, and in these last few months meet the cries for police defunding, a source of frustration, for those affected by police brutality, but also a necessity and major line item in the city’s operating budget.

Unlike many cities, Chicago did get permission from the state to borrow money, especially to pay its pension debt, but this also proved to be a conundrum as it waged a might battle of the budget under Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, that made things worse, before they got better.

In that former enario, “Illinois passed a law allowing Chicago to issue debt under a far more complex structure than regular “general-obligation” bonds.

With the pandemic still in full force, but less so for the city, she has to raise revenue and cut spending, and only time, (which is in short supply) can tell how successful, this can be with little to no Congressional agreement, other than another round of stimulus checks, but with a White House that balks at “bailing out” blue states, things look rough.

By her own admission, Lightfoot says that she inherited indebtedness, both pensions, and the payment of interest from the aforementioned borrowing, yet in 2019, there was a mixed report that Emanuel had stabilized the budget.

But others noted, as we reported at that time, “All in all, the city of Chicago is in a better structural position than prior years,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, which monitors state and local finances, “but it will continue to face revenue and expenditure pressures resulting in projected growth in future deficits.”

We also quoted Budget Director Samantha Fields who remarked, before the mayoral election, that, “The city projects that spending for day-to-day operating costs will increase next year to more than $3.8 billion, an increase of nearly $50 million over budgeted spending for this year. That’s attributable to rising personnel costs and some expansions of city services.”

Of course, that is pre COVID, but what is past has become prologue, and at the time we noted that The Chicago Tribune said that Chicago “could find itself facing higher costs that were not included in the projected budget forecast. Those potentially include tens of millions of dollars for raises and back pay for police, firefighters and some other city workers whose unions are negotiating new contracts — as well as any costs added to the expense of running the Police Department as a result of a proposed federal consent decree aimed at restoring community trust in the long-troubled department.”

Those are now all on the table. And with a pending police contrat, Candidate Lightfoot said at the time complained of “the absence of costs in the report by the mayor; what she called the absence of  “specific dollars” and noting that the cost for the monitor (from the consent decree) alone might be as high as $2.5 million, with an overall price tag to implement the reforms would cost at least $10 million a year, insisting that those costs be written into the document itself.

Mark Muro writing for a Brookings blog, “The Avenue” emphasized, “If more specific numbers are desired, a new report from Moody’s Analytics warns that doing nothing to address the economic perils of state layoffs and [local] cutbacks could cost 4 million jobs in the next two years. According to Moody’s, at least $500 billion in combined state and local aid is needed.”

Something to keep in mind as voters head to the polls for the presidential election in less than 60 days.

Looting along Chicago's Mag Mile raises ire to mayor

 

Tuesday proved to be a cleanup day for downtown Chicago businesses in the aftermath of a well-coordinated looting that hit the smartest and most expensive shops in the city’s Magnificent Mile district, a result of the shooting of a young black man on the Southside, but many observers have credited it as an excuse to loot, and less concern about avenging what some saw as police misconduct, and misinformation, of what was believed to b a 15 year old boy, but in reality was a 20 year old.

Regardless of the reasons, the damage, estimated to be in the millions hit Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale, Yves St, Laurent and Gucci, and a clutch of pricey boutiques along side streets in the posh area, and a viable tax base.

It has also opened up a further discontent with the nascent administration of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who received a raft of bad press after the tailgating rioters on the peaceful protest in May after the George Floyd murder.

 ABC 7 News located at the corner of State and Lake streets, another area that was hit, had reporters and cameraman on the scenes as cars and vans gathered around the stores, disgorging crowds of people  to break windows and grab the goods; suggesting a well coordinated attack; and, in fact, another television station showed a screenshot of what appeared to be a Tweet saying the looting would begin at 12 midnight that Monday, and would avoid the South and West sides of the city, which are predominantly black.

While new police Chief David Brown said in a press conference on Monday that it was an attack on the police, the opposite appeared to be true, and while it was obvious that both location of the press conference and Brown leading with opening remarks, that the mayor is standing behind her man.

But, City Hall observers are wondering for how long, as this is the second attack, and many of the same damaged stores, had just recovered from the May attacks and are now boarding up again, and some including local Ald. Brian Hopkins are wondering for how long these stores and the resulting glamor will remain.

He also commented on the area’s residents, who have helped buoy the local economy after much of Chicago’s black middle class has left the city, and as he told the Chicago Sun-Times, “sense of security stolen from them. … They can’t walk out the door without risking their lives — even in the middle of the day.

Lightfoot and her team, or teams seem to be stumbling on how to handle scenes like this, and while they have been mum on who was part of the planning, it is a safe bet that she and others will face some damming and blaming in the near future, even beyond a local society columnist who in a community newspaper called her a Bolshevik.

In what was the opening salvo of words, Hopkins noted: “That is not to criticize the blue shirts on the ground. It’s to criticize the strategy and the tactical decision-making of the senior command who were unprepared for this. … They acknowledged they had intelligence that this was going to happen. Yet it happened. So, if there was an attempt to intervene at the earliest stages and to stop it, it failed. … And once it started, there was no stopping it,” the alderman said.

Most residents are beginning to acknowledge that there might be more truth than heat to his words as the mayor’s office has not acknowledged who was part of the decision  making in May that proved to be a debacle that reached the national media.

Lightfoot reacted, “Alderman Hopkins has a penchant for letting his mouth run before he actually gets the facts,” the mayor said. CPD “got the intelligence, acted on it quickly, brought 400 officers downtown. And what we need now is not Monday-morning quarterbacks and sideline critics. What we need is to come together as a city and have a united strategy and focus.”

Name calling aside, a city already battered by the endemic and in a state with growing numbers of COVID infections, plus a budget in deep arrears, and an economy that is struggling to recover, does not need images such as people hauling off armfuls of clothes, an ATM machine, and designer handbags, not to mention flat screen televisions, from a near Northside electronics dealer, that was also robbed.

 Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said that a “major course correction on resource deployment is necessary,” along with a “deep review of police intelligence-gathering capability.”

 “Caravans and U-Haul trucks. Stolen vehicles lining blocks. Divvy bikes scattered everywhere. ... All of this was pre-packaged and ready to go. All it took was an all-systems go on social media for this thing to play out,” Reilly said.

This also has political echoes from a mayoral election that had two back women running and where only 21 percent of the electorate voted, some saying because there were no white candidates in a city long divided by race. And, it will be easy fodder to day that local black leaders, including the mayor and the State's Attorney Kim Foxx may not be able to manage the city.

Foxx has been heavily criticized for lowering the financial threshold for felony shoplifting that some shop owners have said increased the raft of shoplifting, even before the Floyd murder, with bands of youths smashing and grabbing along Michigan Avenue.

Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, faced with the shooting of another black man, 16 year old Laquan McDonald, hid a damning video with the completeness of the former state’s attorney and got  widespread anger in the black community, and even with liberal lakefront liberals, and many say that the fallout was one reason he chose not to run for reelection.

Crime may be the new snow for Chicago mayors, (a reference to the blizzard of 1979 that cost Mayor Bilandic a chance to remain in office) ) that has political implications for a voting bloc that may, or may not stand behind Lightfoot if she and Brown continue to have an inadequate plan for what may be another targeted event in a city that is boiling over with dealing with the pandemic of the coronavirus, as well as billions of dollars of indebtedness, a legacy of poor race relations, and an increasingly high cost of living, and lacking affordable housing.

Adam Skaf, a spokesman for the Magnificent Mile Association in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, now known as WWD, “We need a more comprehensive security plan from the city. We need assurance for not only our stakeholders and for visitors — as many as are possible during a pandemic — but also for the 100,000-plus residents who live around the Magnificent Mile and Michigan Avenue,” Skaf said. “It is a very scary time for them as well.”

In a related event, police were attacked they said, during a protest at Millenium Park, where police and those wanting to defund the police department met in violent clashes, but news reports vary, depending on who is telling the story, but all things considered equal there seems to be issues on both sides, and with protesters protecting themselves from expected tear gas, and police saying that they were used to hide objects of attack, and it was also determined that one policeman was hit repeatedly in the head with a skateboard, matters more than appearances warrant in the court of public opinion.

Also there were reports that a nine year old boy was injured and in the aftermath, the move to defund has gained traction. On Tuesday there was a "coalition of community and labor organizations including Grassroots Collaborative, Black Lives Matter Chicago, SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana, and Black Youth Project 100 held a rally and car caravan ahead of city budget negotiations this fall," according to their statement.

As the demands grow louder, Chicago seems to be at the crossroads for change as they noted, and added, "At Grassroots Collaborative, we demand the City of Chicago defund the Chicago Police Department and invest in community services. We have seen that the police only serve to protect the property of the white and wealthy few while brutalizing protestors who march for change. We demand the CPD budget be defunded to fund life affirming public services such as health care, mental health, housing, good jobs, restorative justice, and more " said Amisha Patel, Executive Director, Grassroots Collaborative.

 Updated 18 August 2020, CDT

 

 

Chicago schools under pressure go remote

In a swift turnabout Chicago Public Schools announced on Wednesday that they were going to begin the new school year completely remote, rather than the hybrid version it had approved with input from local health officials and a poll of parents and caregivers.

The move has the support of many teachers that are fearing a return to the classroom; especially those that are older, or have pre-existing health conditions to consider, but some are also saying that CPS, as well as Mayor Lori Lightfoot caved under the threat of a threatened strike vote from the Chicago Teachers Union, that had already decided to present the issue for a vote in their House of Delegates.

Mayor Lightfoot

It’s no secret that CTU has no love for the mayor, and in turn, Janice Jackson, the school superintendent, the former because they backed her rival, Cook County Board President, Toni Preckwinkle, and the latter as being in cahoots with ousted former head, Forrest Claypool.

The resulting bad blood has spilled into the arguments on how and when to begin the new school year for elementary and high school students, and then there is the memory of the recent strike, where there were chants of “Lightfoot get on the right foot!” and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, coming to town and proclaiming, “We’re going to teach the new mayor a lesson!”

While those voices have receded into the background, the political winds have not abated and the harsh words of Stacy Davis Gates during the mayoral campaign also remain in memory..

To be fair, there were many understandable fears on both sides of the fence, but the specter of another teachers strike amidst the pandemic and its grip on public health, plus the increasing homicide rate would have created a public relations nightmare with the world watching, and President Trump sending in federal help, with a major tweet about the demise of a great city, for all to hear.

Sharkey’s own tweet seemed to secure the enmity: “. We have to strike or threaten to strike to be heard, but when we fight, we win.” 

Mr. Sharkey

The mayor on the other hand struck a more unified tone when she said, “The decision to begin the 2020-2021 school year remotely during the first quarter is rooted in public health data and the invaluable feedback we've received from parents and families,” said Lightfoot in a statement.

Politics aside, and that is only momentarily, Jackson has promised that the new remote learning model will be one that is vastly improved from the earlier effort in March, which faced a variety of technical and accessible issues, and that many families did not have the necessary hardware, or access, needed for remote learning.

This time there will be an emphasis on teacher training for remote instruction, plus the baselines seen with in-person learning: accountability on both sides of the desk and including attendance, to name but a few.

“CPS’ remote learning plan must vastly improve on student and family experiences from the spring, and experts on the ground — our members — must be equal partners with the district in crafting those remote learning plans,” Sharkey said.

With legitimate safety concerns, the city’s health commissioner, Allison Arwady, noted “we’ve added between 80 and 100 cases and not seen signs that turning around makes us concerned.”

Also concerned were many teachers who in a Chicago Tribune poll said some of the following in reaction to the initial news: :

“What if a student or educator dies? Or what if a 14 year old comes to school with COVID and is asymptomatic, passes it onto his best friend and kills his best friend's mom?”

“What people don’t realize, outside of actual classroom instruction, is there is a huge nurturing portion of pre K that outsiders normally aren’t privy to.”

“These students who are missing school right now will move past this. . . and may even benefit from experiencing this unusual time in history. The greatest education in the world will mean nothing to our students if they are dead.”

Many of those teachers may not have been comforted by the words of Dr. Anthony Fauci who told a collection of educators in a recent virtual town hall meeting, “In many respects, unfortunately, though this may sound a little bit scary and hard, I don’t mean it to be that way, is that you’re actually going to be part of the experiment of the learning curve of what we need to know.”

Dr. Fauci

Cross infections cannot be ruled out, and the emphasis on masks and social distancing might not have worked in the lower grades, and the probability of a hybrid model, still a possibility for Nov. 9, maybe a nod to that reality.

Of course, there are those that advocate for the role of social interaction in K through 5 classes to help them form social skills later on, and as a developmental tool, and this has been adopted by the American Pediatric Association.

The concern is still there and in some southwestern states there have been accusations that with in person learning, there might be blood on the hands of school administrators.

On the other side of the equation, a report from the National Academy of Sciences, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also underscores this point, but also said that “health risks to school personnel and students’ families,” should be take into consideration, but also that a partnership and task force should be considered to address the costs.

For Chicago with its racial, and financial polarization, not to mention that over 90 percent of the student body in its public schools are black and brown decreases the support that might be garnered in a whiter and wealthier city.

With a $700 billion deficit in the city budget, simply paying for the costs of cleaning alone, is problematic and one of the sticking points in the Congressional debate for another rescue package, is the size of the increase for state and local governments that the Republican Senate has balked at, and that the Democrats have advocated for, in situations, such as these, in dealing with the pandemic.

In a joint study the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and the University of Chicago noted that children under five years old, “with COVID-19 have a higher viral load than older children and adults, which may suggest greater transmission, as we see with respiratory syncytial virus, also known as RSV.”

Specifically, they noted that those children “with mild to moderate COVID 19 have much higher levels of genetic material for the virus in the nose compared to older children and adults.”

While they are careful to note that the study was no proof positive that children spread the virus as much as adults, “but it is a possibility.”

Chicago cops get to stay in schools

In one of those peculiar moments in local government, that seem endemic in this atmosphere, what some are calling the “new normal” world of  race and pandemics, the Chicago City Council decided to renew the $33 million dollar contract with the Chicago Police Department that places police in many of the city schools, despite ongoing controversy,and  where there have been more than 2,354 complaints against the officers, and a long history of hasty, and often violent classroom confrontations, that have pockmarked the schools, and given many students a criminal history. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, firmly, “yeah, we’re not going to do that” in response to questions from the local media, if she favored the city council ending the long held and controversial contract.

Uncharacteristically, she did not elaborate on the reasons why she held that position in advance of Wednesday’s meeting, only saying, ““Unfortunately, we need security in our schools.”

Left unsaid is that in Minneapolis, Denver and Seattle, these contracts have been suspended, or terminated in light of the abusive, and often deadly actions by their local police departments, including the death of George Floyd.

With violent incidents abounding, and the mayor usually so vociferous in her condemnation of violence in a school district that is predominately black, and brown; her silence is deafening, and many of her critics, and supporters alike, are thinking that she feels the CPD presence might save the lives of students in a possible Parkland, or Columbine like attack. 

Yet, she did not say that, and after her long tussle with the Chicago Teachers Union, over contract negotiations last fall, many are saying that both sides, but especially the CTU, is sharpening their knives for another bare knuckle fight, for some foreseeable fight.

But, as the “good book” noted, “all politics is local”, and with America on edge, over the murders of George Floyd and Rayshaard Brooks, in Minneapolis and Atlanta, nerves are on edge.

What is known since the program of School Resource Officers has begun, is that the once ideological underpinnings of an “Officer Friendly” program in 1966, which began even earlier in Flint, Mich. (in 1953), was designed to give a community focus has disintegrated into one where students have often been thrown into gulag like detention rooms for such “crimes” as wanting to retrieve a forgotten coat, from a classroom, or in a much publicized case, where officers threw a female student to the ground for refusing to give up her cellphone, after talking in class, that made national news with the airing of the videotaped confrontation..

This is clear indication that this is a huge problem, not just in Chicago, but in other cities as well, and it’s also painfully evident that these officers have been often improperly used by teachers not equipped to handle adolescent behavior, and have been too quick to call the school cops that are not trained to handle criminals, and not kids that are talking back and being sassy.

Historically, from 1990 to 1991 there were 9,882 arrests made in American Schools. And, from 2012 to 2016, there were $2 million in misconduct settlements, on or off school grounds noted the Shriver Center in a 2017 report.

Lightfoot has said that she wants the local school councils to decide for themselves, yet this Pilate like move, also belies that last year when the LSC’s, as they are known, voted in favor, they were offered no alternatives, and had very little information going into the vote.

Mayor Lightfoot

That action, from her predecessor, is an old Washington trick: give a short timeline to gather information, and then, without offering an alternative, say in effect, “C’mon we are giving you the freedom to vote, so do it.” and then, of course, there is the resulting announcement that makes the evening news.

With 72 out of 93 Chicago high schools that have two police officers assigned, and a student body that has 40 percent black and 45 percent Latinx students, contact cards are issued by the police to document the “contacts” with students, said the report and notably Chicago has had four times the amount of these documentations, than their counterparts in New York.

Currently, there are 144 school resource officers in Chicago schools,and 66 percent of the police contacts are with black students, but they are only 36 percent of the student population; and, with incidents involving black girls, several times higher than white girls.

What has been left largely unsaid is that these contacts can create a record of criminality, in combination with other student choices, that can further increase the pipeline from school to prison.

“Last year, a pair of CPD officers came under fire following an incident at Marshall High School where they dragged a 16-year-old girl down a flight of stairs and used a Taser on her. Police alleged the girl had attempted to bite one of the officers, but juvenile criminal charges against her were eventually dropped,” reported local station WTTW.

Furthermore the use of surveillance and record keeping that is not accessible to the public add to the fears of many parents, that their children will be easily marked for life.

While the Chicago Teachers Union  was firmly opposed, and held demonstrations outside of Lightfoot’s home, and that of Chicago School Superintendent Miguel Del Valle, plus a downtown protest march, the narrow vote of 4 to 3, was disappointing.

CTU as well as some members of the LSC’s wanted to take the money spent on the school police, and use them instead for more counselors, school nurses and case managers, was met by a firm no, from Dr. Janice Jackson, CPS superintendent, said, if that was done the money would go back into the general funds noted by WBEZ in its coverage.

Dr. Jackson

There appears to be some sense from City Hall as well as the school district,  of the need for change, and Jackson has said that there would be changes in officer training and teacher conduct training, plus an adjustment of roles and responsibilities in schools, or to use her words, “more critically evaluate” the role of the SRO’s.

Some of those opposing the SRO’s have suggested using Restorative Justice, which has shown some success, in area schools, and that involves  peer problem solving, the use of peace circles, and addressing unmet needs, among other techniques, that is not only cost free, but shown a 31 percent decrease in misconduct, and a reduction of school suspensions in half.

A possible solution might have involved a partial suspension, allowing for differences in schools, and an evaluation of the problems and input from the LSC’s and CPD, but this seems to never have been a part of the discussion between Lightfoot and Jackson, or not been released to the public, or parents.

Jackson has seemed to say, but not been specific on how changes can be met, critically, or otherwise, on an issue whose final cost has not been calculated.

In a 2-4 vote, the Chicago School Board voted to continue with the SRO program, on Wednesday, Aug, 26, but cut the budget to $12.1 million, and as an add-on asked the schools to draft alternative plans for school safety, that pleased almost no one; especially the students that demonstrated in the street outside their offices.

One of the dissenting voters, Elizabeth Todd-Breland noted that while deferring the decision making to a process using the LSC's that many of them, 17 in total, did not have enough members to have a quorum, and that some were barely extant.

As the Chicago Tribune noted, 73 percent of students arrested last year were Black versus 36 percent district wide, and many have noted that the "remain" votes seemed to be centered on the perception that black schools need more policing, but as we have noted before many of those arrested for minor infractions result having their names listed in police database records for gang members, giving a false mark against students whose behavior mirrors that of adolescent behavior.

For Brown students they compromise 23 percent of all arrests, but represent 47 percent of CPS students; and, as has been seen before the historical legacy of race and politics in Chicago makes for uneasy results.

Ald. Rosanna Rodriguez seemed to say it all when she noted to the Tribune if a decision as integral to the health of Chicago Public School students could be delegated. But, Jackson has said that the move is part of a "holistic approach to school safety."

Updated 08.28.20 2:30 p.m. CDT

Lightfoot and COVID19: Chicago at the crossroads

When we first offered our support to then candidate Lori Lightfoot, giving her kudos for her idealism and chutzpah, we asked the rhetorical question of why one would want the job of leading the nation’s third largest city, as it lay adrift in legendary corruption, legacy issues and historical economic problems. We could also ask that question again, as she deals with the Covid19 pandemic, and the myriad of problems that she has encountered in trying to tackle, the challenges of managing that, plus the pitfalls of merely running the daily operations of a city that needed to turn the corner.

Fresh from the last battle with the Chicago Teachers Union, and the subsequent strike, Lightfoot is grappling with a near Greek chorus of woes: not the least of them is the still enduring belief, among some African American residents, that the virus is a hoax and that the wearing of masks, and other personal protection equipment, are unnecessary, as the old adage, from the black community states, “When it’s your time to go, it’s your time,” and that wearing a mask, or other face coverings, is pointless, as death is all in the hands of the Almighty.

Ironically, it’s Chicago’s black community that was initially the one that was hit the hardest, but now, the Latinx community is leading in infections and deaths among the city’s minority groups.

Adding to the mix is the anger of many of the Chinese community who feel that the black community has blamed them,and their relatives, for bringing the virus to the US, and one self identified Chinese public transit rider was overheard saying, “if they are going to call me a Chink, then I am going to call them the N word.”

In a city of deep racial and economic segregation, these existing racial tensions have begun to worsen with the virus, creating even more tension; and the backlash from the black community is virulent, with some saying that, “no one will ever eat at a Chinese restaurant again!”

Worsening still is the protest from some residents of the stayathome order from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and who are saying that he has violated the US Constitution, by overreach, and that not only  are they illegal, but unconstitutional; a mantra that has been repeated over and over again, despite national infection rates of over 80,000 that far surpass that of Europe.

Some social observers,and public health officials, have seen this misunderstanding as a sad and unfortunate reality, that has made many Chicagoans feel that the regulations, and orders, to stem the thrall of the pandemic is no more than an inconvenience.

Also the political divide in a blue state has taken an unwelcome tone, and as one elderly NorthSide white woman told us, “this is all a plot by Pritzker and Lightfoot, who is in cahoots, with Bill Gates, and as Democrats, they hate America, and all it stands for.”

Continuing along the political divide was the sight of a middle aged white woman, walking along a major commercial avenue, again on the North Side, with a white paper plate pinned to the back of her winter parka, stating, “I admire and support President Trump.”

Next up on the dissatisfied list are two local churches who defiantly held Sunday services, despite the stay at home order, and newspaper photos showed them, at one service, without masks, and not always meeting the minimum 6 foot distance for the required physical distancing, in what seems a thumb nosing act toward Lightfoot, that said, in effect, not simply, “dare me” but “double dare me.” and in response Lightfoot fined them for their disobedience that continued on  Sunday.

Adding to the mayor’s woes was that proper test kits have only recently been acquired, and the still weak effort of contact tracing for those that are asymptomatic, making a course towards matching Pritzker’s phased in plan for reopening business, more of a minefield than a reality, despite all best intentions.

Chicago, like many older urban core cities in the US, faces a pandemic of its own with a backlog of pensions, and some mandated; not to mention the loss of sales revenue, and loss of convention and tourism dollars, especially from the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Center, known locally as the McCormick Center.

Reported loss of revenue was $11.3 million in March, according to Crain’s Business, versus $1.6 million in February, with expected revenue to drop by 30 percent, to $ 225 million in the future.

Current estimates are that there has been a $7 million loss of total revenue to the city.

Close on that same page is the loss of Cook County taxes that have been given a reprieve by board president, Toni Preckwinkle.

Crain’s noted that “Preckwinkle is waiving a series of county fines and fees and deferring tax collections, '' she said in a release, adding it "will assist our businesses in terms of cash flow to the tune of $35 million during these trying times."

The deferral will not stress the county's budget, Cook County Chief Financial Officer Ammar Rizki said. "We can provide this relief and delay of collection because we're in a relatively better financial position than most other entities. Our businesses can use this money now that would otherwise be coming to the county. They can use this to cover payroll, rent or just to keep the lights on."

Within the national framework, recent testimony to the US Senate by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell there seems to be a commitment to help cities and states like Chicago and Illinois, as he promised to provide whatever help the Fed could provide, but as economists have noted, he needs help from the Trump Administration, and the Congress to make that commitment a reality.

Joined to that was the passing by the US House of Representatives by the Speaker Nancy Pelosi of a $3 trillion bill that contained $3 million for local and state governments that would help to reach some of the goals from the Lightfoot administration.

The mayor is also facing some criticism for a slow response to the Latinx community, now 42 percent of all Covid19 cases, in Chicago, despite being only 30 percent of the population, reported the Chicago Sun Times last week.

They also noted that many members of this community are working in jobs that cannot be done at home, and often are working shoulder to shoulder that further exposes them to infection. And one local activist Jorge  has suggested that Lightfoot send the police to the various factories ringing the city to ensure that protective measures are being enforced.

Another glaring problem is that of the homeless, who cannot shelter in place and are often the only people on the streets, sitting in bus shelters, or sprawled on the sidewalk, with piles of shopping bags, and old suitcases of belongings by their side.

There was a suggestion by some that the Chicago Housing Authority house them in empty CHA units, but that suggestion was met with silence by the mayor’s office, as well as the agency, reported the local alternative newspaper, The Reader, who also quoted one official that said those units were not habitable, a statement that spoke volumes about the stock of units, but also a much troubled city agency, with less than a solid reputation.

Most advocates have said that homelessness is a public health problem, and now with the pandemic it is a twinned problem for the city. And, with most experts stating that a vaccine may not be seen until July of 2021, the problem for that population will only increase.

Rounding out the challenges in meeting the virus, and its effects, is the Chicago Transit Agency and the cleanliness of its trains and busses, all of which have faced a public relations test between what is shown  smiling sanitation crews with mops and suds, versus the reality of dirty seats, and an eternal bedbug problem that makes for some painful rides for essential workers.

Bus rides are now free, during the virus crisis, and with the drivers area roped off, passengers are required to enter the rear door, with the exception of seniors, the disabled and those with baby carriages; yet since those issues are enforced, or not, by drivers, as most seasoned riders know, there are glaring exceptions; for example, we have seen elderly women told by drivers that they must enter through the back, and some passengers, seemingly, in their 80s, attempting to haul themselves up the back steps as the driver stares straight ahead, ignoring all requests for help to allow them access through the front door.

The change in boarding and free rides seem to spring from an agreement to keep the bus drivers from walking out of their jobs, in protest of health concerns, and Lightfoot’s promise to keep trains and buses running.

Meanwhile CTA trains are, paradoxically, still suffering from thefts, stabbings, and general lawlessness, despite former interim police chief, Charlie Beck, along with the mayor, saying in March, that police would be riding trains, as well as staffing the platforms.

David Brown, the new permanent police chief, has not yet addressed the problem.

Within a recent 72 hour period CTA text alerts showed “police activity” up and down the red line, but also on the blue lines, crisscrossing North side stations as well as those on the South, and on trains going to and coming from O’Hare airport, making the trains an unsafe way to travel  for essential workers.

Chicago public libraries have recently reopened but with hour long visit restrictions, and only one hour long internet sessions for the public terminals,some have wondered why they bothered to reopen.

The racial and wealth gap has already stretched internet access to the limit, especially for children, and many residents see this as fostering the gap. Certainly the fact that the overwhelming majority of librarians are white, and in a city with a greater than 30 percent African American population, lacking an increase in black professional librarians further adds to the displeasure of many black residents.

It’s not over till it’s over is an old saying, and despite increases in flattening the curve for Chicago, the future can’t promise much, until the advent of a vaccine, and in the interim, Chicago, America’s most quintessential city, is struggling to maintain even a new normal during this pandemic. 

Updated 15 June 2020 at 1:05 p.m. CDT