CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson took office as an outsider, vowing to shake up the city’s notoriously flammable politics. But nearly two years into his term, he has become increasingly isolated and alienated even some of his ideological allies as he struggles to implement progressive policies.
The most notable recent example is the development of controversy over his heavy-handed efforts to overhaul the city’s school board. Seven members of the board resigned en masse, rejecting Johnson’s calls to remove the CEOs of each school who rejected his request to take out short-term, high-interest loans to cover budget shortfalls. did.
In an interview with POLITICO from London on Friday, Johnson aggressively defended his tenure, saying he was focused on economic development and getting Chicago Bears games in the city.
“Some people may be concerned about how bold our vision is,” Johnson said, listing major investments in affordable housing among his accomplishments. “Some people are having a hard time adapting. But for the public of the city of Chicago, they’re very aligned with the vision.”
The school board fracas is just the latest drama to unfold on the fifth floor of City Hall. Before that, Mr. Johnson reorganized his intergovernmental affairs team and brought in executives who have worked closely with the Chicago Teachers Union, an influential group that helped elect Mr. Johnson as mayor. He has repeatedly clashed with the City Council over his efforts to eliminate the use of controversial gun detection technology. And he failed to win approval as his first and second choice to head the city council’s powerful urban planning committee.
All of this comes ahead of the mayor’s delayed announcement of a proposal to address perhaps the city’s most pressing issue: a $1 billion budget shortfall for 2025.
Many City Council members support Mr. Johnson’s progressive policies for the city, but are outraged by how he plans to achieve them. His unilateral moves to rebuild the school board, in particular, have angered city officials like Councilman Bill Conway.
“I appreciate that Mayor Johnson is a principled person, but we also need to understand that city government is not a dictatorship,” Conway said.
Nearly two years ago, Johnson, a former social studies teacher and CTU organizer, unexpectedly won the Chicago mayoral race.
He rose through the ranks as an activist and once led a hunger strike to keep South Side schools open. He became a county commissioner with support from the teachers’ union, and a few years later the CTU nominated him as its mayoral candidate.
But Johnson’s challenge began soon after he was sworn into office. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has begun sending buses full of immigrants to Chicago to draw attention to the country’s immigration problem.
Mr. Johnson embraced Chicago’s reputation as a welcoming place for immigrants, working with the state and county to devote significant resources to providing housing and other services to new immigrants. But some black Chicagoans felt slighted. They wondered why the mayor was trying to find housing for immigrants when there were so many people in their community who needed help.
The immigration crisis created tension Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the city’s mayor have repeatedly criticized the state for not doing more, even though Illinois paid more to help with relief efforts.
Mr. Johnson has touted efforts to build up struggling neighborhoods in this diverse city, which has a roughly equal population of blacks, Latinos, and whites. And he has been methodical in recruiting black staff to key positions.
But the mayor’s focus on expanding opportunities for Black residents has also drawn criticism.
“He wants to address legitimate issues that affect the African-American community, and you can’t do that by focusing solely on that,” said Bill Singer, a former city councilman and veteran City Hall watchdog. he said. “You have to focus on the whole city, you have to focus on the whole support system of the city working together. And that’s not the case right now.”
Mr. Johnson dismissed the criticism, saying he would invest in programs that he claims have helped reduce crime rates, bond investments that boost small businesses and expand affordable housing, and $1 billion for a quantum computing campus. He argued that the administration’s initiatives, such as the business investment program, are benefiting the city as a whole.
“I promised to do things differently, and that’s what I’m going to do,” Johnson said. “If people have a problem with black youth being the top group enrolling in community colleges, they probably have a problem with black youth being enrolled in schools that are being disinvested and closing. These are the same people who didn’t care.”
Recent tensions between the mayor and the City Council reflect the turmoil of the 1980s, when Mayor Harold Washington was under constant scrutiny from a group of City Council members. However, there are notable differences. Whereas Washington’s opponents were a narrow group of white city council members, Johnson faces a backlash from all sides, including some progressive allies and black city council members.
“He’s absolutely right to draw attention to areas of the city that have long been ignored and disenfranchised, but he needs to bring the City Council along,” said Elmhurst College political science professor and co-editor of the magazine. says Constance Mixon. book “Chicago in the 21st Century”. “He can’t do it himself.”
Johnson came to office with the support of progressives and minority communities who want change from a system allegedly dominated by white corporate elites. For decades, all of Chicago’s mayors had ties to Richard J. Daley, who was first elected in 1955.
“They all came out of the Daley Machine,” said Delmarie Cobb, a political consultant who was inspired to work on the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign. He mentioned Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot, as well as Johnson’s Prime Minister Paul Vallas. He lost the mayoral election last year. “This was our chance to beat the machine once and for all.”
Despite some recent successes, concerns about crime continue to persist in Chicago. Significant reduction in murders. Black communities have debated whether the ShotSpotter gun detection system, approved during the Emanuel administration, is the best way to protect gun-infested neighborhoods. Mr. Johnson vowed to terminate his contract with the company, arguing that it was merely a surveillance tool and of little use in solving crimes, as many progressives have argued.
But some Black communities and their city council members believe the tool has saved lives. ShotSpotter identifies gunshots so police and emergency personnel can get to crime scenes faster.
Nevertheless, the mayor stuck to his campaign promise and scrapped the program, urging his opponents to: consider legal objections.
But Mr Johnson’s biggest challenges are around finances and the school system. The city is facing a nearly $1 billion shortfall and the Chicago Public Schools system is grappling with mounting debt.
The mayor wants to avoid an economic storm. He is trying to divert teacher pension payments from the city to Chicago Public Schools, and he wants the schools to take out $300 million in short-term, high-interest loans to pay for it.
When the school board’s CEO, Pedro Martinez, rejected the idea, Johnson became frustrated that his elected school board would not support him. All seven ultimately resigned. This is a surprising move considering the board is in the midst of contract negotiations with the powerful teachers union.
The disruption comes just weeks before the November election, when Chicagoans will vote on their first elected school board. Critics say Mr. Johnson fired Mr. Martinez and appointed a new board of 21 members (10 elected and 11 appointed by the mayor) to meet CTU’s contract demands. They claim they are trying to evade the board.
Many elected officials and civic leaders have warned against taking out loans, and Mr. Martinez’s ouster is especially important given that the school appears to be improving under Mr. Martinez’s watch. I’m worried that it might be a mistake.
Earlier this week, Johnson likened people complaining about the city’s financial problems to Confederate slave owners, a reference that has angered civic leaders who own businesses in town.
“They said it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate black people,” the mayor said. “And now we have detractors who are making the same claims as the Confederacy when it comes to public education in this system.”
The controversy threatens Johnson’s ability to operate in the short term, as he seeks to get the City Council to approve a budget, and in the long term, as he seeks reelection to a second term.
Councilman Andres Vázquez, co-chair of the council, said, “We need to understand that the legislative and executive branches are equal branches, and that tension and excitement over whose authority is in place are not helpful.” ” he said. progressive caucus.
Singer, a veteran alderman who has studied Chicago City Hall for years, said he thinks the city will be able to weather the turmoil.
“The bones are great. The institutions are great. They’re not going away. But at this rate, the city is going to shrink even more than it’s already shrinking,” Singer said. “I think I can last a few more years.” [Johnson]but not in the second period. ”
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