For most of the year I rant and rail about the really bad ideas and behavior of our elected officials—and, trust me, I’ll get to Mayor Rahm’s $800 million or so Lincoln Yard TIF handout in a subsequent column real soon.
So, good job, Illinois voters. And, J.B., if you come through on your promises regarding legal reefer, progressive taxes, an elected school board in Chicago, and more money for education—you can buy as many horse farms in Florida as you want.
Troy LaRaviere, for speaking out against Rahm’s wasteful ideas over the last eight years, long before such outspokenness was politically fashionable. Troy recently dropped his campaign for mayor because he didn’t have the money to compete and he obviously hated making those fund-raising calls. But we could always use a little more political courage in Chicago. Speaking of which…
The folks at the Reader, including two of the new leaders, Eileen Rhodes and Tracy Baim, who took me out for a delicious breakfast at Chef Petros restaurant and invited me to stick around while they took over the paper. And to editors Kate Schmidt, Aimee Levitt, Sue Kwong, and Philip Montoro, who kept the Reader going during the dark days of the summer when I feared we might go out of business. And to Edwin Eisendrath, my old owner (stick around long enough, and you’re going to get a whole bunch of different owners), who put together a team of investors in 2017 that snatched the Reader and Sun-Times from being purchased and then swallowed up and out of existence by the Tribune. And, of course . . .
