Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Monday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“With less than two months until school starts and a massive hole in the Chicago Public Schools budget, officials are planning as much as $1.16 billion in long-term borrowing,” the Tribune reports.
Well, that’s just what Rahm Emanuel told us he’d do during his campaign last spring.
Heh-heh.


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Actually Rahm campaigned on getting pension relief and an expanded sales tax from Springfield. And they said Chuy Garcia had no plan!
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I would prefer Chuy about now, who would have already gathered all the city’s and schools’ stakeholders to come up with a plan together, in order to get buy-in to take measures such as raising property taxes, diverting surplus TIF funds to CPS, aggressively challenging banks’ bad behavior, and finding real consensus for real shared sacrifice. Couldn’t be worse than what Rahm is doing.
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Not that Chuy was great shakes. I was never under any illusion about that. But if you wanted more of the same, you got it. I would have preferred a different approach, borne of a different set of values and priorities. And I would venture to say a better relationship with the Chicago Teachers Union would have been for the better, not the worse, as Rahm’s campaign – and some members of the media – contended. Finally, David Vitale may be gone, but it’s still a Rahm-centric board. How well has that worked out?
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“Even as Mayor Rahm Emanuel has held the line on property taxes, revenue from other local levies has climbed nearly 20 percent since he took office,” Crain’s reports.
Rahm Emanuel, regressive Democrat.
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“CPS’ New Funding Formula Risks A Repeat Of The School-Closing Debacle,” Greg Hinz writes for Crain’s.
First, Hinz endorsed Rahm despite the school-closing debacle – which was hardly his only one. Doesn’t a debacle that large disqualify someone from a journalist’s backing, if not the voters’?
Second: “A policy in which money follows the kids, whether they go to charters or neighborhood schools, could put classrooms in the middle of an ugly, winner-take-all contest.”
You voted for it, Greg. And encouraged others to do so as well.
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Rahm’s vision: Pit schools against schools. Make them compete. Some schools will invariably lose. Sucks to be those kids.
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Beachwood Radio: It’s A Shame About CPS
Someone really ought to do something about it.
Plus: Donald Trump vs. Mark Kirk; and the Rock ‘N’ Roll Confederacy.
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The White Sox Report: Once (Or Twice) Is Not Enough*
Debunking the delusion.
*Featuring a staged Tribune photo!
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The Art Of Staying Out The Way
What the fuck you gonna do, except hustle?
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The 4 Lies Adults Tell The Most
Now including “I have a financial plan!”
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The Weekend In Chicago Rock: Pitchfork Plus
Featuring: Sleater-Kinney, Ex Hex, Courtney Barnett, Chvrches, Wilco, Vic Mensa, Chance the Rapper, Parquet Courts, Ought, The Sueves, Tweens, Future Islands, Shamir, Protomartyr, How To Dress Well, Caribou, Mac DeMarco, Rise Against, Panda Bear, Future Brown, A$AP Ferg, Ariel Pink, Freezepop, Super 8 & Tab, Machine Gun Kelly, Foghat, Whitesnake, and (sort of) Taylor Swift.
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BeachBook
* Ohio Capital Gives Redflex Red Light.
* The Misconception Of NBA Players And Free Agency.
* Sleuths Tracing 1st Black Male Slave Freed By Lincoln To Pekin.
* Blackhawks Say Anaheim Was Biggest Obstacle To Cup.
* Young Parents Learn To Love Chicago, Even With Toddlers In Tow.
* A Fresh Look At The Chicago Megacity.
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TweetWood
A sampling.


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The Beachwood Tip Line: More of the same.

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Posted on July 20, 2015