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jamesgierach · 1 year

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THE GIERACH MESSAGE TO CHICAGO’S WEST AND SOUTH SIDES

by James E. Gierach

I earnestly want the violence on the West and South Sides of Chicago STOPPED. As a former Cook County ASA, violence prosecution was my job. For more than 30 years I have advanced the idea that drug prohibition (the War on Drugs) causes endless violence, feeds the gangs, buys the guns, tempts the young and fills the prisons. I advanced that idea as a political candidate, writer, and international speaker. The choice is drug prohibition or safe communities, one or the other but not both.

Drugs can do, and often do, terrible things to individuals and their families. As a consequence, our intuitive, reflexive nature leads us to believe that drugs are “bad,” and therefore, should be outlawed (prohibited). We believe the politicians’ spiel, because we want to save our kids, save one another, and save society. But, unfortunately, outlawing drugs supports gangbangers, drug dealers and tempts an endless supply of new recruits (kids) to see drugs as a way to support themselves.

Like Al Capone supported the prohibition of liquor, drug dealers and drug cartels support prohibition of many other drug choices.

WE, THE PEOPLE, must stop supporting gangs and drug dealers; WE, THE PEOPLE, must stop supporting drug prohibition. We must defund the gangs, not the police.

It’s easy for politicians (aldermen, state reps, senators, congressmen and U.S. senators) to condemn violence and drugs, but then support drug prohibition that feeds the gangs, buys the guns, invents and imports the drugs, drives immigrants to our southern border, funds terrorists, and causes unending violence, cultural decline and value erosion.

Even now with record amounts of public and private funding for stop-the-violence initiatives (violence interrupters, job opportunities for kids, community investment, …), the violence continues as if the mayor, the private donors and the do-gooders have done nothing.

The reason these initiatives have failed, and will fail, is because all stop-the-violence initiatives must be taken with the poison pill—drug prohibition.

So, how do we END DRUG PROHIBITION TO STOP THE VIOLENCE?

Oh, no! Not that! Not DRUG LEGALIZATION!

Violence like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre ended when alcohol was legalized. Why shouldn’t we expect the same when other drugs are legalized?

The Silver Bullet Solution is difficult to swallow but swallow it we must, if we are serious about STOPPING CHICAGO VIOLENCE.

I’m afraid if I say these things, again, as I did as a candidate for state’s attorney and then Illinois governor (1992 and 1994), the West and South Sides of Chicago, again, will not hear my message. But the message must be heard and acted upon, if violence is to dramatically decline.

Therefore, I message ALL readers. Will you help me carry my unwelcome “Silver Bullet Solution” to your community?

I have written “The Case for Ending the War on Drugs.” Will you help me promote the ideas in my book on the West Side and South Sides of Chicago? I stand ready, willing and able to help.

But public policy change requires changed public opinion regarding how we deal with drugs. Without public opinion supporting drug legalization, politicians, who have the power to continue or end the War on Drugs, will not act to end it. Please help.

Here is information about the book, I’ve written. Please spread the word.

https://histriabooks.com/product/the-silver-bullet-is-it-time-to-end-the-world-war-on-drugs/

Thank you for listening.

Palos Park, Illinois

1-708-951-1601

[email protected]

http: [email protected]

June 6, 2023

#drug legalization #violence #gierach #drugprohibition #chicago #mayor brandon johnson #CRED #INCB #cnd #overdose #fentanyl #drug policy #law enforcement #harm reduction #trauma #healthcare

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robinlynnemabin · 1 year

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Chicago's homeless population is currently estiated at 3,875 people, including 2,612 residing in shelters and 1,263 wo are unsheltered. This condition led to much of the outrage from Chicagoans when migrants were bused to Chicago from the border states and deposited with no resources for housing. Police stations remain the temporary shelters while the Chicago City Council prepares to vote on whether to house them in some of the closed school buildings on the city's South side. But what about the plan for the chronic homeless popuation that already is struggling to survive? Today the City Council, which delayed voting on the issue last week, will again meet today to decide who gets housing and financial resources and whether the crisis can be resolved without pitting groups of people livng under desperate circumstances against each other. We'll talk to a few media commentators to get opinions on how this crisis may affect the city and its residents.

#homeless #mayor brandon johnson #migrants #south shore

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worldwide-blackfolk · 1 year

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#brandon johnson #Chicago mayor #first family Chicago #4/4/23

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tearsofrefugees · 3 months

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#refugees #migrants #migrant shelter plan #chicago #illinois #chicago mayor brandon johnson

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 5 months

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Shortly after wrapping up an inaugural legislative session in 2019 that included hiking the state’s minimum wage, legalizing cannabis and passing a historic $45 billion statewide construction program supported by expanded gambling and a host of increased taxes and fees, Gov. J.B. Pritzker sought to reassure a group of Chicago business leaders that he wasn’t just another tax-and-spend liberal.

Addressing the Executives’ Club of Chicago, Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune and a prominent tech investor, said he would pursue a “rational, pragmatic, progressive agenda” that ultimately would pay dividends for the state budget and Illinois’ economy.

“I’m a businessman. I’m a progressive. I’m a believer in growing the economy and lifting up people’s wages,” Pritzker said at the time.

Now in his second term and preparing to play host to this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, while also eyeing his own future White House run, Pritzker’s identity as a self-described “pragmatic progressive” is being put to the test. The state faces its most challenging budget outlook since the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governor continues to grapple with controversies over his handling of criminal justice issues and leaders on both sides of the political divide say Pritzker’s approach sometimes falls short of fully addressing the state’s biggest problems.

The latest assessment of Pritzker’s strategy will undoubtedly play out in Springfield in the coming weeks.

With March primaries come and gone, work is underway in earnest on approving a state spending plan for the coming budget year before the General Assembly’s scheduled May 24 adjournment. The proposal Pritzker laid out in February attempted to build on past progressive successes — such as last year’s expansion of state-funded preschool programs — without overpromising and potentially jeopardizing the state’s hard-won credit upgrades, a core accomplishment the governor guards jealously.

It’s a balancing act that’s key to Pritzker’s political persona as he builds his national profile, and one that will hinge on the governor’s ability to satisfy Democratic lawmakers who want more money for their legislative priorities while not resorting to the kinds of budgetary gimmicks that created the state’s long-running fiscal instability.

“Obviously the governor and his administration carry forward sort of a number of elements of the core progressive banner in terms of policy and program, and that’s a part of an identity,” said Joe Ferguson, president of the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan budget watchdog. “What is not usually coupled with that identity is fiscal responsibility. … This sort of fiscal responsibility is a kind of kryptonite against the narrative that would usually come from conservatives.”

‘ISN’T ROOM FOR OTHER SPENDING’

While Pritzker promotes the “pragmatic progressive” agenda publicly, he also pushes it privately. In a February text to state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, the top budget negotiator for the House Democrats, the governor noted that “almost all of the few new things” he was introducing in his budget plan were at “no cost (or very low cost).”

“There is a bunch of stuff focused on the Black caucus, including addressing maternal mortality,” Pritzker wrote to Gordon-Booth in the message, obtained through an open-records request. “But there really isn’t room for other spending this year.”

Indeed, Pritzker’s plan both dabbles in progressive priorities — a child tax credit and a sales tax measure that will skim some funds away from big retailers — while also keeping an annual increase in school funding to the minimum amount required by law and steering clear of more structural tax changes pushed by progressives.

A few points the governor made in his proposal seemed tailor-made for bipartisan appeal: a $12 million child tax credit for low- and moderate-income families and the elimination of the state’s 1% sales tax on groceries.

While also popular with Republicans, elimination of the grocery tax has progressive appeal because Pritzker has framed it as an effort to abolish a regressive tax that hits those on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder the hardest. It’s also a tax cut that is easier on the state’s bottom line in a tight budget year because revenue from the tax flows not into the state’s coffers but to local governments.

The day after Pritzker’s budget address in February, state Sen. Donald DeWitte, a St. Charles Republican, said he was “thrilled” Pritzker proposed scrapping the grocery tax, but he said the governor should also be devising a way to ensure local governments don’t pass the burden of the lost revenue onto residents. While it’s possible Pritzker could be trying to appease the GOP, the proposal doesn’t go far enough, DeWitte said.

“Any opportunity to take stress off of Illinois families is a good thing,” said DeWitte, a former mayor of St. Charles who also serves as one of the Senate GOP’s budget negotiators. “But there are always ramifications that have to be dealt with, and so far, I don’t think the administration has been willing to deal with the ramifications of simply removing that tax without considering the other side of that revenue equation, which is the hit that will go to local governments.”

The Civic Federation still is evaluating the governor’s budget proposal, including the idea of eliminating the grocery tax, but Ferguson said it’s important to look at that idea in the full context of all the state funds that flow to local governments.

“You have to do the math on what additionally has been sent to the local level with what is essentially being taken away with the grocery tax and see what it amounts to,” Ferguson said. “It amounts to a far less dire situation than the localities appear to be projecting.”

Another idea with the potential to attract Republican support is the child tax credit. But both DeWitte and some progressives find themselves in the odd position of agreeing with each other in supporting the idea but also thinking it could be more ambitious.

“The governor has allocated $12 million for this, and that just doesn’t get you very far,” said state Rep. Will Guzzardi, a Chicago Democrat who co-chairs the House Progressive Caucus.

Democratic state Sen. Mike Simmons of Chicago has introduced a more robust tax credit than the one pitched by Pritzker; it would cover families with children up to age 17, rather than age 3.

Negotiations for the credit, as well as the rest of the budget, are ongoing.

“It was a win that the governor put this in his budget. It allows us to have this discussion at another level,” Simmons said.

TIGHT FISCAL REINS

Several of the governor’s belt-tightening measures — from increasing school funding by the bare minimum to cutting back on state-funded health care for immigrants who are in the country without legal permission — have drawn scrutiny from his political left.

While Pritzker speaks frequently about the importance of education funding and brags about boosting funding for elementary and high schools by more than $1.4 billion since taking office, the reality is that he’s only kept up with the minimum target of increasing state funding by $350 million per year.

Advocates long have warned that those increases are not enough to meet the state’s goals of adequately funding public schools under a state aid formula signed into law in 2017 by his predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Failing to go above the minimum increase has been a long-running source of frustration for Rep. Will Davis, a Democrat from south suburban Homewood who was one of the sponsors of the 2017 school funding overhaul and chairs the House Appropriations Committee that oversees K-12 funding.

“We tried to put a trajectory out there to try to get to full funding. And the reality, I don’t think we’ll ever actually get to that,” said Davis, who for years has pushed for at least a $500 million increase annually. “But we have to make bigger strides to at least show that we’re trying to get to what we would call full funding.”

Although Davis notes the education funding formula was crafted when Rauner, not Pritzker, was in office, the Democratic lawmaker said that doesn’t alter his overall message to Pritzker.

“Governor, why not work with us? Let’s make sure that we find the resources so that we can ramp up the funding in a different way,” Davis said a few days after Pritzker pitched his budget.

This year, Pritzker and state lawmakers will face added pressure to boost school funding from the politically progressive Chicago Teachers Union, which has signaled it will be looking to Springfield for more money for Chicago Public Schools as it negotiates a new contract with a City Hall run by its strongest ally, Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Tensions between Pritzker’s progressive ideals and his pragmatic approach also have arisen over state-funded health insurance for older Illinois residents who are in the country without legal permission.

The debate over how to deal with ballooning costs in the program delayed passage of the state budget last year, a dispute between Democratic factions — including Black and Latino lawmakers and moderates and progressives — that was only resolved when Pritzker agreed to a deal that gave his administration the power to rein in the program’s costs.

His moves to close enrollment for younger participants, begin charging co-pays and, more recently, to stop offering the program to green card holders who are in a five-year waiting period for federal Medicaid benefits, have drawn the ire of immigrant rights and health care advocates and some progressive lawmakers.

Last month, for example, Rep. Norma Hernández, a Democrat from Melrose Park elected in 2022 with the backing of progressive stalwart U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, criticized the latest move as a “short-term cost-saving measure, not a long-term” solution.

In his proposal, Pritzker suggested spending on the program from the state’s general fund be reduced to $440 million, which is $110 million less than what was committed this fiscal year. But the administration is also proposing spending nearly $200 million more on the program from other funding sources, with much of that money coming from a federal match to emergency services funding.

The maneuvers have created some dissonance between Pritzker’s actions and political rhetoric. In a news release touting the expansion of eligibility to those ages 42 to 54 in 2022, he declared: “From day one of my administration, equity has been — and will always be — our north star. Everyone, regardless of documentation status, deserves access to holistic health care coverage.”

‘GROW THE PIE’

In the longer term, some progressives are looking for additional moves that would bring in more revenue from the richest Illinoisans and large corporations, Guzzardi said.

A tax change for retailers was one example that made it into the proposed budget, Guzzardi said. Pritzker proposed capping the money retailers can keep from sales taxes, essentially resulting in higher taxes for those businesses and more revenue for the state.

Beyond that, progressives have other ideas “about how we could grow the pie,” Guzzardi said.

“The governor’s introduced budgets don’t include those ideas, that’s true. But working within the framework of the dollars that we have, I think the governor has done a really strategic job of investing those dollars in our shared progressive priorities,” he said.

Since Pritzker’s boldest progressive proposal to change the state’s tax structure — a state constitutional amendment to create a graduated-rate income tax — was resoundingly defeated at the ballot box in 2020, thanks in large part to efforts by the state’s business community, the governor has focused on more arcane ways of boosting state tax revenue.

Aside from the retailer sales tax change for next year, an idea that’s been proposed and rejected previously, Pritzker is also suggesting limiting an inflation-based increase in the personal income tax exemption, essentially increasing taxes on individuals by $93 million.

PRISONER REVIEW BOARD TUMULT

The state budget isn’t the only arena in which Pritzker at times has had to triangulate his progressive policy positions with pressures from the political center and the right.

Recent tumult at the state Prisoner Review Board brought the spotlight back on the Pritzker-controlled institution that decides which state prisoners are paroled.

The makeup of the Prisoner Review Board has changed noticeably during Pritzker’s time in office — early on being labeled by Republicans as too liberal and later being criticized by some prisoners’ rights and criminal justice reform advocates for taking too hard of a line and preventing older inmates from getting the paroles they sought, moves conservatives applauded.

But in March the review board became a focus yet again when parolee Crosetti Brand was charged with stabbing 11-year-old Jayden Perkins to death and seriously injuring his mother, with whom Brand used to be in a relationship.

Released on parole in October for a separate crime, Brand was back in state custody in February after he allegedly tried to break into the residence where Jayden and his mother lived. But a three-member review board panel decided to release Brand after determining the panel didn’t have enough evidence from Jayden’s mother’s allegations to keep him behind bars.

Days after the attack made headlines, the board’s chairman, Donald Shelton, and another member resigned.

In announcing one of the resignations, Pritzker said it was clear “that evidence in this case was not given the careful consideration that victims of domestic violence deserve” and suggested reforms could be made to the way the board functions.

For Pritzker, the resignations should be “a feather in his cap,” showing that he’s willing to admit there was a grave mistake within an agency that falls under his purview, said Christopher Mooney, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

But Mooney also said the board’s actions in the Brand case could entice Republicans or any other detractors to politicize Jayden’s death and use it against Pritzker if he tries to run for president.

It’s been done before, Mooney said, referring most notably to the 1988 presidential election when Republican George H.W. Bush used the early release of Willie Horton, a Massachusetts murderer who went on to commit other crimes, to paint Democrat Michael Dukakis as soft on crime.

Already, Senate Republicans have used Jayden’s death against the governor.

Illinois Sen. Jason Plummer, a Republican from Edwardsville who sits on the Executive Appointments Committee, blamed Pritzker in two lengthy social media threads about the board’s shortcomings, criticisms he echoed at a news conference and in an appearance on Fox News.

Although Pritzker called for additional training for review board members on how to handle cases where domestic violence is involved, the Senate Republicans are pushing for broader changes.

Their proposal includes requiring that appointees to the board have 20 years of experience in the criminal justice system as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, judge, probation officer or public defender. The GOP plan also would require victims be immediately notified of a prisoner’s release under certain circumstances and increase transparency requirements for the board.

While Senate Republicans were previously successful in 2022, when crime was a key campaign issue both statewide and nationally, in pressuring Democratic colleagues to oppose a couple of Pritzker’s appointments to the board, it’s unclear whether the GOP’s superminority will be successful again.

But Mooney and other observers have questioned how effective the Republicans will be.

“As it stands right now, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to go very far,” Mooney said the day after the board’s resignations were announced. “No. 1, because Pritzker’s all over it.”

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homoqueerjewhobbit · 1 year

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Let's go, Brandon! (Johnson, Chicago's progressive new mayor! 🩷🩷🩷)

#We've had the shittiest string of mayors. Republicans in Dem clothing.#brandon johnson #Chicago #Fuck Paul Vallas and fuck Lori Lightfoot #post o' mine #homemade memes

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blackstar1887 · 7 months

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Are Black Politicians useless?

#black politics #Black Politicians #black leaders #black leadership #atlanta mayor #karen bass #eric adams #andre dickens #brandon johnson #black atlanta #black power #marcus garvey

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cafffine · 2 years

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Chicago !!!!

Our Mayoral election is a mess and so is this post, but please vote for Brandon Johnson if you’re eligible.

Yes, Johnson is walking back his previous goals to defund the police, but he's doing it because we're going to a runoff, and Paul Vallas - the voice of our police union - is the frontrunner.

To point, here's an update on Vallas' stance on policing from the most recent debate. This is dangerous, and this will get people killed:

“Smart policing is not defunding the police. // Smart policing is filling the vacancies and pushing the police officers down to local beats, so they can respond in minutes to a 911 call,” Vallas said. (Chicago Sun Times, March 16th, 2023)

Meanwhile, while not perfect, Johnson is still pushing to cut millions from the police budget, invest in community-based emergency response, and remove the deeply harmful and racist gang database. He's also explicitly pro-abortion, plans to protect queer and trans Chicagoans, he's backed by the teachers union, supports the rights of the disabled, and so much more (this is a source to nearly all the points in this paragraph, the rest is in the sun times article linked above). We need him.

Lightfoot did terrible damage to our city, and if Vallas wins, I can only see things getting worse, or at best, staying the same. Chicago's police and the system of violence and white supremacy that they uphold have done enough damage, please, please vote for Brandon Johnson if you can.

#yeah soory this post is all over the place.#im very upset and scared for what vallas and his pigs will do to my city #ESPECIALLY our Black and Mexican neighborhoods #chicago #chicago mayoral election #brandon johnson #defund the police #double shot

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nonnynonny99 · 1 year

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🎉🎉🎉

#chicago #mayor #runoff #brandon johnson

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ausetkmt · 9 months

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson calls for reparations funding to reduce violent crime

Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson insisted to CNN that funding for reparations in his new budget will help get to the root of the city’s record violent crime epidemic.

While speaking to network anchor Poppy Harlow on "CNN This Morning" Wednesday, Johnson acknowledged the high crime rate in Chicago and declared that the "full force of government" is required to solve it, including the city throwing $500,000 at reparations programs.

Harlow prompted his answer by citing Chicago Police Department statistics revealing that although "the murder rate is down from 2022," "all other forms of violent crime, Mr. Mayor, are up from a year ago, up 17% overall."

ACTIVISTS DEMAND HIGHER PAYMENTS FROM CALIFORNIA REPARATIONS TASK FORCE: '$200 MILLION' PER PERSON

"Are Chicagoans going to be safer in 2024?" the anchor asked.

Johnson, who has been mayor of the Democrat-run city for about seven months, claimed the solution to the problem lies with a major government response, and the "full out community safety plan," he claimed, "not only gets at the root causes of violence in the city of Chicago," but makes "critical investments."

He listed the investments: "A quarter of a billion dollars to address homelessness, $100 million for violence prevention. We added 80 million more dollars to our youth employment program of which we hired 25,000 young people just this summer. That’s a 20% increase from the previous year."

Johnson also touted his proposal "to hire 4,000 additional young people this summer," adding, "We have stood up an entire office dedicated to re-entry. So individuals who are returning to our communities who have been incarcerated because of failed policies will have a welcoming space for them."

He then spoke about city funds being diverted to providing reparations for its African American community. "I’ve added a half a million dollars for restoration and reparations to address, again, the cycle of violence, which looks like school closings, closing of mental health facilities, of which I’ve invested in now. We’re going to open up two mental health clinics that were closed from two previous administrations ago."

CALIFORNIA REPARATIONS PANELIST BLASTS WHITE MEN AS A ‘DANGER TO SOCIETY’: THEY'RE ‘SHOOTING UP SCHOOLS’

"And so, in order for us to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago, it requires investments," he reiterated, "and that’s what this budget has done – a $16.77 billion budget without raising property taxes, and we’re just getting started in the city of Chicago."

Johnson also described being personally affected by the city’s struggles, telling Harlow, "Look, my wife and I, we’re raising our three children on the West Side of Chicago. It’s a beautiful part of the city. We love it. But it also has been the side of the city of Chicago that has experienced gross disinvestment, from school closings, from lack of transportation, from lack of investments; and so, I wake up every single day in one of the most toughest parts of the city."

"And so, there is no one in this city that thinks about public safety more than someone like me, who is raising a family on the West Side of Chicago," the mayor added.

Johnson’s reparations plan is the latest in Democratic Party leaders pushing the controversial policy. Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., signed a bill this month creating a state commission "to study the history of slavery in New York state" and examine its impact on African Americans throughout the state’s history.

Earlier this year, California's Reparations Task Force proposed Black Californians receive up to $1 million in payment for the state’s treatment of their ancestors.

Original article source: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson calls for reparations funding to reduce violent crime

#Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson calls for reparations funding to reduce violent crime #chicago #Reparations

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