If there’s still anyone out there who doubts that Chicago’s a divided city, I urge you to compare and contrast two mayoral endorsement sessions that happened to take place on the same day last week—one at the Tribune‘s downtown office, the other at a west-side church.
They distributed green and red pieces of paper for audience members to wave when they agreed (green) or disagreed (red) with what the mayoral candidate was saying.
Apparently, pensions for the middle class are a burden, but TIF handouts for the wealthy are an investment, at least from the perspective of the corporate boardroom.
I’ll say this for the Tribsters—they invited all the mayoral candidates to their endorsement sessions. The Grassroots organizers were more selective, limiting invitations to candidates who already appealed to their constituents. Onstage at the church were Amara Enyia, La Shawn Ford, Lori Lightfoot, Toni Preckwinkle, and Willie Wilson (Susana Mendoza was invited, but she sent her regrets claiming she was under the weather).
Dramatically speaking, the highlight came near the end of the forum, during the round of rapid-response yes-or-no questions. The candidates were asked whether they support committing at least $25 million to reopening the mental health clinics that Rahm closed; whether they support free tuition at city colleges; whether they support an end to CPS’s student-head-count-based funding (so schools don’t have to fire teachers if enrollment falls); and whether they’d delay action on the pending TIF projects until after the election. I was the guy in the back waving two green cards when they asked that last one.
