New Chicago mayor pledges commitment to progressive strategy, asks for unity

May 14, 2023, 9:13 PM | Updated: May 15, 2023, 1:52 pm

FILE - Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson speaks to supporters, April 4, 2023, in Chicago. Johnson...

FILE - Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson speaks to supporters, April 4, 2023, in Chicago. Johnson will take office Monday, May 15, 2023. He faces an influx of migrants in desperate need of shelter, pressure to build support among skeptical business leaders and summer months that historically bring a spike in violent crime. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, file)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Paul Beaty, file)

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson began his first term of office Monday, asking Chicagoans to set aside deep differences, confront challenges together and build “a city that works for everyone.”

Johnson, 47, whose victory was touted by progressives as evidence that bold stances lead to victory, must immediately confront an influx of migrants in desperate need of shelter, pressure to build support among skeptical business leaders, and summer months that historically bring a spike in violent crime. His first term leading the nation’s third-largest city will test the former union organizer’s ability to turn his proposals into solutions for stubborn problems worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, including public safety, economic growth and housing affordability.

“Let’s show the world, Chicago, where our heart is,” Johnson said in his inaugural address before a cheering crowd. “Let’s build a Chicago that is the economic marvel of our the state, the Midwest and this nation. Let’s build a Chicago that means our economy gets to grow by rerouting the rivers of prosperity to the base of disinvestment. So that no one goes thirsty.”

The former organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union was little known when he entered the mayoral race in 2022 and has no experience within city government. But the two-term Cook County commissioner gradually climbed atop a crowded field with the support of the influential union he once worked for, endorsements from Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and local progressives to knock off the incumbent mayor, Lori Lightfoot, and win a tough runoff in April.

Trying to appeal to those who didn’t back him in the election, he has stocked his transition team with familiar names from Chicago corporations and philanthropies beside leaders of organized labor and progressive groups. He selected a veteran of Chicago’s emergency management agency as his chief of staff and a retired police commander who is popular among rank-and-file officers as interim leader of the Chicago Police Department.

There is little doubt that public safety will remain the city’s top concern and Johnson’s response will shape his relationship with business leaders, elected officials, his progressive activist base and residents of every Chicago neighborhood.

“A safe Chicago means a safe Chicago for all, no matter what you look like, who you love, or where you live,” Johnson said Monday, promising a strategy rooted in more mental health care, violence prevention programs and police accountability.

Asiaha Butler, co-founder of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood on the South Side, said she hopes Johnson stays committed to his wholesale approach to crime — and that Chicagoans give it an opportunity to make a difference. Butler said improving safety on her block took up to 15 years of cooperation with neighbors and other community groups.

“Knowing the despair that our city sometimes faces, it will take a while to take that cloud away,” Butler said. “I wouldn’t put anyone up to that job in one term.”

Chicago has a higher per-capita homicide rate than New York or Los Angeles, but the most recent federal data shows it’s lower than other Midwestern cities, such as St. Louis and Detroit. Still, the number of homicides in Chicago hit a 25-year high in 2021 with 804, according to the Chicago Police Department.

That number decreased last year while other crimes, such as carjackings and robberies, increased.

Chicago business leaders overwhelmingly endorsed Johnson’s opponent, former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas, typically swayed by his pitch to strengthen policing, or Johnson’s various tax proposals affecting large companies and the wealthy.

The mayoral race was dominated by questions of how to address crime, and Johnson argued that a policing-first approach has failed.

Instead, he proposed increased mental health treatment, hiring more detectives, expanding youth jobs programs and increasing taxes on the sale of properties over $1 million to support more affordable housing. Johnson will also have the final say on naming the city’s next police superintendent, though for the first time an appointed citizen commission will select three finalists.

Andrea Sáenz, president and CEO of the Chicago Community Trust foundation, said she’s hopeful that Johnson can bring philanthropies, businesses, police and activists together to create a wide-ranging strategy to prevent violence now and chip away at the conditions that let it flourish.

“It feels like this is a moment — the moment — to have those conversations, for a mayor to bring everybody to the table,” Sáenz said.

Johnson has shown no sign of backing away from his campaign strategies. When violence broke out as teens flooded Chicago’s downtown streets in mid-April, he issued a statement asking that people not “demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”

Paying for his campaign promises, including the public safety response, hinges on a number of tax increases aimed at high earners and large companies likely to put up a political fight. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the state’s most influential Democrat, declined to back Johnson’s proposal to tax financial transactions, which would require sign-off from state lawmakers.

Johnson is also taking on a growing migrant crisis. Chicago is among the U.S. cities already struggling to provide shelter and other help to hundreds arriving from the southern border, with families sleeping in police station lobbies. The flow of arrivals is expected to increase now that pandemic-era restrictions on migrant crossings have ended.

Johnson said Monday that he is committed to welcoming all who arrive here, saying the strength of a city depends on how it treats the vulnerable. He provided no new details about his administration’s strategy.

Illinois state Rep. Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat who also ran for mayor, said Johnson will have to use the same strategy that won him the mayor’s office to achieve his many priorities.

“What Lori Lightfoot learned is that in Chicago, your defenders can very quickly become your detractors,” Buckner said. “We want our leaders to be authentic, have conversations with us about the future. As long as he continues to do that, I think people will give him an opportunity.”

United States News

File - Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses the Apple Watch at the Apple event at the Bill Graham Civic Aud...

Associated Press

Apple is expected to unveil sleek headset aimed at thrusting the masses into alternate realities

Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination. After years of speculation, the stage is set for the widely anticipated announcement to be made Monday […]

4 hours ago

FILE - A person, reflected in glass, walks near the Tropicana Las Vegas on May 16, 2023, in Las Veg...

Associated Press

Las Vegas ballpark pitch revives debate over public funding for sports stadiums

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Gov. Joe Lombardo wants to help build Major League Baseball’s smallest ballpark, arguing that the worst team in baseball can boost Las Vegas, a city striving to call itself a sports mecca. Debate about public funding for private sports clubs has been revived with the Oakland Athletics ballpark proposal. The […]

1 day ago

FILE - Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., speaks at an ...

Associated Press

Carter and the Kings: A friendship and alliance — but after MLK’s assassination

ATLANTA (AP) — The voice of Martin Luther King Sr., a melodic tenor like his slain son, carried across Madison Square Garden, calming the raucous Democrats who had nominated his friend and fellow Georgian for the presidency. “Surely, the Lord sent Jimmy Carter to come on out and bring America back where she belongs,” the […]

1 day ago

Last seasons plant stalks are seen at Seth Jacobs' marijuana planting field at his Slack Hollow far...

Associated Press

Slow start to New York’s legal pot market leaves farmers holding the bag

ARGYLE, N.Y. (AP) — Seth Jacobs has about 100 bins packed with marijuana flower sitting in storage at his upstate New York farm. And that’s a problem. There aren’t enough places to sell it. The 700 pounds (318 kilograms) of pungent flower was harvested last year as part of New York’s first crop of legally […]

1 day ago

FILE - Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions con...

Associated Press

Wisconsin Republicans look for rebound, Democrats stay on offensive as 2024 fights loom

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin once again be a battleground. Democrats, recognizing that four of the past six presidential elections in the state have been decided by less than a percentage point, are trying not to become overconfident in the face of recent gains. They are gathering for their annual state convention starting June 10 […]

1 day ago

Associated Press

Michigan wildfire prompts evacuations, threatens multiple buildings

GRAYLING TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A wildfire in Michigan burned more than 1,000 acres (1.5 square miles) and prompted emergency evacuations and road closures Saturday, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The wildfire located within Grayling Township, about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Grayling, is moving west and southwest and threatens multiple […]

1 day ago

Sponsored Articles

...

DAY & NIGHT AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING AND PLUMBING

Here are the biggest tips to keep your AC bill low this summer

PHOENIX — In Arizona during the summer, having a working air conditioning unit is not just a pleasure, but a necessity. No one wants to walk from their sweltering car just to continue to be hot in their home. As the triple digits hit around the Valley and are here to stay, your AC bill […]

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

5 mental health myths you didn’t know were made up

Helping individuals understand mental health diagnoses like obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder or generalized anxiety disorder isn’t always an easy undertaking. After all, our society tends to spread misconceptions about mental health like wildfire. This is why being mindful about how we talk about mental health is so important. We can either perpetuate misinformation about already […]

...

Day & Night Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing

Company looking for oldest air conditioner and wants to reward homeowner with new one

Does your air conditioner make weird noises or a burning smell when it starts? If so, you may be due for an AC unit replacement.

New Chicago mayor pledges commitment to progressive strategy, asks for unity