The New Year began in much the same horrifying way the old one unfolded—with stories of murder splashed across the pages of our papers.
I realize the economic gap between haves and have-nots isn’t the only reason for the incomprehensible violence, most of which is concentrated in, as Mitchell notes, several impoverished, largely black south- and west-side communities.
“We must invest in these communities to eradicate poverty,” added state senator Kwame Raoul, “and in eradicating poverty, we will eradicate violence.”
Our greatest source of discretionary economic development money, the TIF funds are largely spent in wealthy neighborhoods even though the program’s intended to eradicate blight in poor neighborhoods.
In 2011, Rauner, then a private citizen, tried to use his clout with Mayor Emanuel to block a hotel tax hike that would fund services, according to the mayor’s recently released private e-mails. And yet as governor, Rauner signed on to a massive hotel tax hike to fund the DePaul basketball arena/Marriott hotel project on a high-rent corner of the South Loop.
State senate president John Cullerton and house speaker Michael Madigan aren’t much better. They let the mayor do what he wants, so long as he stays out of their business in Springfield. Things pretty much operated the same way with Mayor Daley.
