CapFax: Illinoisans should not have to live this way

 I found this interesting on Capitol Fax, yesterday

* One of my top complaints about Democratic rule in this state is the super-majority party’s unwillingness to firmly step in to help some small Black-majority suburban and Downstate towns find their way to fiscal solvency. East St. Louis is just one of many…

What caught my eye is that there is a complaint about Democratic rule in Illinois. The bad news is there's no serious opposition in this state.

It won't solve all problems, however, the right politician could use this. Hopefully this theoretical politician would be serious about getting this done. 

ILL gubernatorial election 2022

 I haven't done a very good job of following the election since the June 28 primary. For the Governor's race it will be state senator Darren Bailey for the Republicans vs incumbent Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Rich Miller on his blog on Wednesday showed some polling numbers Pritzker is ahead. Not too surprised there isn't much noise of note coming from the Bailey campaign aside from him moving to the former Hancock Building so that he can get a feel for Chicago.

Poll! Illinois Governor’s Race!! pic.twitter.com/9OdW1EDkGO

— Tahman Bradley (@tahmanbradley) September 28, 2022

We're approaching almost a month before the general election and my gut tells me this race will be close. I will legit give Gov. Pritzker the edge although this is how I can boil this election down at this point crime vs abortion.

Over the summer Roe v. Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court so there will be a faction of the American electorate that will be energized in that fight. Also the issue of crime across the country has gotten the attention of the media. Americans want safe streets and the headline seems to be that politicians are handcuffing police from doing their jobs and elected prosecutors are unwilling to enforce the law and prosecute crimes.

Incidentially another piece of analysis is that Mayor Richard Irvin who ran in the June 28 primary portrayed himself as very tough on crime. Some might say in the Republican primary crime wasn't the primary issue although Irvin unfortunately got hit with charges of being very disingenuous as far as what he believes in on issues of abortion or even who he voted for in 2020 or even support for BLM. So I suppose if crime didn't motivate voters to choose Mayor Irvin then what motivated them to choose downstate state senator and farmer Bailey.

Almost a month away! General election is November 8, 2022 and early voting according the Chicago Board of Election (assuming you're in Chicago) will commence October 7, 2022. I hope you're registered to vote!

CapitolFax: Rewriting history

Rewriting history https://t.co/fYPcfkzozc

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) October 29, 2021

This post is actually about our former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He was impeached and removed from office in 2009 because of a corruption scandal and later served time in federal prison until President Donald Trump commuted his sentence.

How did 2021 start?

 First and foremost happy new year.

2021 has definitely started off with a bang, and unfortunate we didn't go a whole week into the year until a major incident took place. And we're still going through the fallout. Let me be clear I don't care about the politics of anyone involved in the property damage and the breach of our US Capitol in Washington, DC. All involved must be prosecuted.

Regardless the fallout so far includes the impeachment of the outgoing President - incidentally the Capitol was breached just as the US Congress met to certify the electoral votes for the 2020 race. I don't think this will help unify America it may further divide and certainly conflict with the incoming president's calls for greater unity after a very tumultuous year.

Anyone who went to a rally before the breach of the Capitol are suffering their own consequence which is why I'm sharing this article with you. A teacher in Wisconsin had been suspended because allegedly he shared a video with regards to the 2020 race. The video disputed the 2020 election as President Trump had up until the events of January 6, 2021. What you will see in that article is that the claims of the outgoing President Trump are largely considered baseless or debunked and is considered controversial politics and also note he allegedly attending this rally in D.C. on the 6th. He had a passion about election integrity.

As stated we're going to see a lot of fallout for a while as Trump gets impeached again although he will be leaving office on January 20th. I want everyone to remember America has a history of free speech and expression. And the fallout of this will also challenge the rights to free speech and expression. There are plenty who believe this election was "stolen" or otherwise there were some irregularities that tilted the election in a certain direction.

President Trump and his team had attempted to lawfully challenge the election results so far no court has been willing to hear the challenges. The S.C.O.T.U.S. even has a hearing with regards to the results in Pennsylvania scheduled for after the January 20th inauguration. Either way most of us have heard what was said by Trump as far as his election loss, and we know the media's response to it. It's too bad that a well stated sentiment became a basis for more division when we should get at the truth.

Either way I try to maintain my optimism and hopefully a divided America will heal and unify. I'm not happy about the last two months to be honest, however, after seeing the issues with this pandemic I can't wait to see a nation finally settling down.

Started a new project

 I started another blog Ninth Ward Chicago I imagine it will have a shelf life on some level, however, its a way to keep track of some local politics better than I had over at The Sixth Ward which I feel needs a new direction at this point.

I've decided not to allow comments there unfortunately, however, if you have any feedback feel free to share here.

At one point this blog was intended to become a Ninth Ward blog, however, I've since changed my mind on this.

A streetcar near 79th & Western #tbt

Streetcar at 79th & Western via Chicago History Today

On June 16, 1956 streetcar service ended on Western Avenue. Over 64 years ago according to this post from back in June at Chicago History Today. I wanted to show this south side scene provided in that same post. I could show another near Western and Pershing Rd. during that period of time.

Either way streetcar service was on the wane here in Chicago and by 1958 something I shared last year all streetcar service in Chicago was eliminated. If there was to be a revival of streetcars or light rail in the city I'd say Western Avenue is one main thoroughfare that could use it.

As far as transit planning in Chicago, however, there has been emphasis on this idea of bus rapid transit. However, these plans haven't been implemented as of yet.

98th & Cottage Grove #fbf

Via Chicago History Today

It's amazing to see how this part of Cottage Grove which is basically Pullman looked in 1954. As you check out the blog Chicago History Today you see how much differently this part of the city looks today. Of course we no longer have a streetcar running in the city at all just about 70 years later. And there's a lot more brush and trees covering up the railroad right-of-way these days.

Seeing old photographs of this city just blows me away...

The Mayor breaks up a gathering on the north lakefront this past weekend

This tweet from over the weekend from Mayor Lori Lightfoot showed up on Instapundit. And I see a number of tweets on twitter that took her well intended post in a bad way.

It's called a pandemic, people. This reckless behavior on Montrose Beach is what will cause us to shut down the parks and lakefront. Don't make us take steps backwards. pic.twitter.com/FHxeYfH7Wf

— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) August 8, 2020

CWB Chicago shared this image of the Mayor at Montrose Beach crashing the so-called party along with her photographer on fb

Furthermore Ed Driscoll at Instapundit noted: "Curiously, none of the articles this weekend by the Chicago Sun Times, ABC’s Chicago affiliate, CBS’s Chicago affiliate, and NBC’s Chicago affiliate mention the July protests or Lightfoot’s blessings."

I admitted to an out of state friend that I miss Rahm Emanuel. He was unpopular as time went on but some of what's been going on in the city it wouldn't have been tolerated with him as mayor. However, the crisis going on he wouldn't let go to waste.

In addition, 2nd City Cop has an interesting post if you go to the bottom of the post about the various machines that exists in Chicago. In a fit of perhaps disrespect they refer to the mayor as Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, perhaps the Mayor will only have one term. We have a while before '23.

Capitol Fax: Move beyond the slogans to focus on what works

I've been wanting to share this once I saw it on CapFax on Monday. So I share this with you now.

It's a good story and a way to make our schools safer. Of course each school will need their own solutions, but you want to hear about successes. In this case Fenger High School in Roseland once had a principal that turned around the school. Especially as far as behavioral issues.

Move beyond the slogans to focus on what works https://t.co/NRihRoTupc

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) June 29, 2020

While I wanted to share the link from Capitol Fax, I also want to share the link to the Sun-Times' Mark Brown column on which it references. As Miller, states in his headline move beyond slogans to focus on what works. With that I agree, back to reality and roll up the sleeves

Chicago Board of Ed. continues CPD contract

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (Ward 6) discussed this issue last week and I would say he made some good points as far as why police are in CPS schools and what CPS could replace police with in their schools. It's interesting that even the 2nd City Cop blog seemed to support removing police from CPS schools at one point.

Then Wednesday's Board of Education votes and the contract continues [VIDEO]

And 2nd City Cop discusses this some more

The obvious answer is that the four votes don't want to face the political fallout when schools become uninhabitable for the good kids along with the three or four hundred teachers who would resign instantly should their last modicum of safety was removed. That makes them reasonably intelligent....for public school employees that is.

Also from the above video, Miguel del Valle noted that LSCs can make the decision as far as whether they want police officers or school resource officers in their individual schools. I suppose if each school can make that choice then so be it as opposed to making this a system wide mandate. It was noted in this article that Minneapolis' schools made their decision to end their contraction with Minneapolis police. They also voted to abolish their police department.

I wanted to show you this video of the protest on Wednesday in downtown Chicago. I drove right through it at least before Dearborn Street got shut down. Even saw a car with "Defund the police" in big letters and a huge figure of a pig on top of it - fill in the blank on that one though no need in this case I know their point. In this 1 min 30 sec video I don't see that car but we do see the protest. [VIDEO]

Your Daily Dose of Internet

[VIDEO] Over at The Sixth Ward blog, I've been pretty heavy with the updates regarding the coronavirus here in Illinois and certainly in the city.  Sometimes it pays to take the load off, and especially if many of us are at home adhering to this stay-at-home order to keep people safe from a contagion.

Yes we have streaming services whether Netflix, CBS All Access (which airs my latest favorite Star Trek series ST: Picard) and another favorite of mine the WWE Network. Meanwhile we can always take our Daily Dose of Internet which are often live on Monday's and Thursday's every week. Many of these vids are of an entertainment, informative, topical, or scientific interest.

It's one reason I enjoy sharing those videos here. Hopefully you've learned something new when you see them here.

"Springfield" project postponed...

IL State Capitol - Daniel X. O'Neil

I've been wanting to do a project for this blog. No real angle to it other than to document that one time I set foot in Springfield, Illinois - the state capital. One thing I wanted to do was to check out the Illinois General Assembly in action and see both chambers the House of Representatives and the Senate in session.

Well the coronovirus outbreak has slowed down my plans temporarily. I learned that a young lady who was studying abroad in Italy - which is heavily affected by the coronavirus outbreak - came back home with the virus. She took an Amtrak train from Chicago to her home in St. Louis and that became a big thing.

Now that I've learned that there are 105 cases of this infection in Illinois as of Monday. Since schools in this state have been shut down and now dine-in restaurants and public gatherings of over 50 people have now been canceled I'm seeing how serious this pandemic has been. Our normal lives have been disrupted by this.

With this being said once we're in the clear of this virus I hope that I can truly restart my plans to visit Springfield and hopefully when the General Assembly is in session. Hopefully I can document for your enjoyment on this blog and on YouTube through The Sixth Ward our state's legislators in action.

Hopefully when I'm ready to do it I won't put it off and only think about it when that time comes. Plans will be made and it's going to happen. Time will tell.

Be safe all! 

CapFax COVID-19 roundup

Here's a round of news from around Illinois around coronavirus aka beerflu aka COVID-19 via CapFax.

COVID-19 roundup https://t.co/GPFfzkRoRi

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) March 9, 2020

Black Chicago at mid-century - Chicago History Today

It's amazing that as John R. Schmidt notes on his blog last month that Chicago's Black population was growing during the first half of the 20th century. Now as we just about halfway through the first half of the 21st century the Black population of the city is going down.

At least during the first half of the 20th Century for the most part Blacks were restricted to a particular part of the south side and housing increasingly was becoming an issue. These days Blacks have spread out to the point that many are leaving the city.

Either they're living in the suburbs or they're moving back to the south since during the first half of the 20th century many came from the south looking for better opportunities north. Of course if there is a reverse migration back to the south, perhaps the reasons are somewhat different.

Capitol Fax: CPS receiving about three adult sexual misconduct complaints per day

Rich Miller writes in today's post about this: "Sounds like it’s time to revamp the vetting process." Referring specifically to 4.7% of CPS security guards.

CPS receiving about three adult sexual misconduct complaints per day https://t.co/raOqJ3b5cT

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) November 21, 2019

CTA Red Line extension update

Rendering 103rd Street Red Line station - CTA 

Over at The Sixth Ward on Tuesday I shared a tweet to a Curbed Chicago article with regards to various upcoming transit projects throughout the city. One project that many who live near the 95th terminal is the planned CTA Red Line extension. One reason that Curbed article was of interest to me is the seeming progress in which case is to merely fund engineering & design work.

Of course the reason for this interest is mainly the safety and activity of the area. The 95th terminal is one of the busiest of the CTA. The CTA Red Line connects with not only CTA and Pace suburban bus routes, also intercity bus services with Greyhound and Indian Trails buses. So there's definitely a lot of activity there especially during the week.

The main thing is building this extension further south to the city's southern limits might mean less activity at 95th. Or perhaps hopefully for local leaders in the community less opportunities for criminal activity. Either way another stated and important purpose for this extension is to cut commuting times for those individuals who must use public transit who must travel to other parts of the city.

Capitol Fax: Must-see CPS strike videos

[VIDEO] The first video you see above was shared Friday on CapFax is of strike teacher's mocking Michael Jackson's thriller. I' giving them credit for making this strike entertaining at least. That video among other teacher's strike fun.

Must-see CPS strike videos https://t.co/T1IP3tuIXz

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) October 25, 2019

Chicago Teacher's strike updates

I haven't done a great job at keeping up with the strike so far on this blog. Classes have been cancelled all week for CPS students due to this impasse between the city and the teacher's union. Here are some items that might interest you from during the week via CapFax.

No resolution to the teacher's strike yet...

Rich Miller shares a quick response to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's attempt to end the strike and get teachers back in classrooms.

CTU to Lightfoot: Nope https://t.co/Ahlx0zDSOw

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) October 21, 2019

Teacher's strike: Small number of Chicago voters oppose strike

I'm posting this now although this is a late 9:00 AM post because it's important. Rich Miller posted about a poll with regards to whether or not Chicagoans oppose a teacher's strike. Only 38% oppose a teacher's strike.

Poll: Just 38 percent of Chicago voters oppose CTU strike https://t.co/A14GZCDUq4

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) October 15, 2019

How does Lori Lightfoot as Mayor of Chicago settle this?