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The [Wednesday] PapersChicago, in one tweet, from the city council meeting today:
* The council approved the construction contract for the proposed West Side police academy.
The council is expected to approve a zoning change paving way for the academy today, too, making the done deal done. * The new mayor can't take office soon enough. *
The election Ervin is referring to, via the Reader: In the west-side 37th Ward, notwithstanding a social media and community organizing campaign against her, incumbent alderman Emma Mitts won reelection with 54 percent of the vote and won't face a runoff. Despite #AnybodyButMitts, which targeted her for her steadfast support of the $95 million police academy planned for the ward, voter turnout dipped slightly compared to 2015, from 27 to 24 percent. Then again, on the same night that Mitts won re-election, two mayoral candidates opposed to the police academy also won, so are there no consequences from that? Now, Ervin might say, hey, it's Emma's ward - aldermanic prerogative, ya know! And Toni Preckwinkle might agree - after all, unlike Lori Lightfoot, she's not against aldermanic prerogative. So I don't know if elections have consequences in this particular instance. * To be clear, Lightfoot is not against a new police academy, she's just against this one: "The Chicago Police Department 'desperately needs' a new training academy, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to build a $95 million complex in West Garfield Park is 'ill-conceived,' Police Board President Lori Lightfoot said Monday," the Sun-Times reported a year ago. The newly-reappointed Police Board president said it's "undeniable" that the Police Department "desperately needs" a new training facility. The U.S. Justice Department report triggered by the police shooting of Laquan McDonald found CPD's training to be sorely lacking. I agree. I'm not necessarily against a new police academy, but I'm against Rahm's typically heavy-handed top-down approach in all its insensitivity to the actual community in which it will be placed. I also don't see a police training facility as an economic development project to brag about. The trainees will need some places to eat? That will lure new housing and other businesses? I dunno. * As for Preckwinkle: "Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says she'll halt plans to build a new police academy, dismantle the city's contentious gang database and create an office of criminal justice as part of her plan to create a safer Chicago if elected," the Sun-Times reported in January. "The plan to freeze the proposed construction of a new $95 million police and fire academy 'until further review' would allow the department to focus on overhauling police training because 'our highest priority is curriculum and content, not buildings and amenities.'" Is this possible? Can the new mayor really freeze the project? Wouldn't it take a new city council vote to reverse field? * As for Mitts, she said this in late February: "Every time I try to bring any project in I have to fight and fight. Do you want us to be black and stay back all the time? No, I don't," Mitts said. And, via Block Club Chicago: "You take care of your business, and I'll take care of mine," Mitts said, delivering a succinct defense of aldermanic privilege, which gives each alderman the final decision over projects in his or her ward. I get what she's saying, but I can think of several wards that probably wouldn't want the academy - especially in lieu of schools, businesses, tourist attractions, entertainment districts and all manner of housing. * And then there's Rahm's not-so-hidden hand: "Alderman Emma Mitts (37th Ward) took a $40,000 campaign donation from Mayor Emanuel two weeks before the city's planning commission approved funding for a $95 million police academy that will be built in her ward. The commission approved the funding two days after Mitts was elected to a sixth term," the Crusader reported last week. * Previously in Emma Mitts, via the Beachwood vault . . . The money Carothers pocketed might seem like small change, but consider: "Mitts' daughter, LaTonya Mitts, said she got the job on her own. "A Chicago alderman has thrown her support behind convicted former Ald. Isaac 'Ike' Carothers as he attempts to make a political comeback - and history - by becoming what one expert said would be the first area public official to return to elected office after doing time for corruption," the Sun-Times reports. "West Side Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th, said she has apologized to her constituents for not doing more due diligence on the McDonald case. Mitts said she was 'really just as shocked as everyone when we got briefed on' the McDonald video shortly before Emanuel publicly released it. "Motorists who park illegally in private lots and return to find their vehicles booted may soon have to pay a little extra for using credit cards to pay the $140 removal fee," the Sun-Times reports. George McKinley, 37th Ward Magically, all of George's petition signatures are identical to the ones for Emma Mitts, the 37th Ward Democratic committeeman and alderman. It seems that someone carried both a Democrat and a Republican petition down the streets of the 37th. Perhaps it isn't magic: George works in Emma's office. * And, finally . . . When Emma And Ike Stalled Police Board Reforms: "If it ain't broke, why are we trying to fix it?" Emma Mitts, everyone! - New on the Beachwood today . . . How The Rich Really Play, "Who Wants To Be An Ivy Leaguer? - ChicagoReddit Has anyone had issues with Ventra cards on the app from r/chicago - ChicagoGram - ChicagoTube R. Kelly Pranked At His Chicago Trump Tower Condo. - BeachBook Hal Blaine, Pop Music's Go-To Studio Drummer, Is Dead At 90. - TweetWood
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* — Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 13, 2019 - The Beachwood McRibTipLine: In our cups. Posted on March 13, 2019 |
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