My Blog

Author: Jimmy

  • CPS racial disparity grew under Daley

    A study by two University of Illinois at Chicago professors Thursday dumped on the idea of a Chicago Public Schools “miracle’’ under Mayor Daley and pushed for an elected — rather than appointed — school board to move city schools forward. The disparities between black and white students, and between Latino and white students, have…

  • Tomorrow’s Email Today

    The following email is scheduled to go out at 5:00AM CT 02/09/2011 Dear Friends and Neighbors, I don’t like being over-dramatic but this may be one of the most important emails you’ll read this month.  Please give me 1 min of your time on two topics concerning the upcoming aldermanic race. First Topic: Genita Robinson,…

  • The Supreme Court Decision

    I realize this is now old news but it is worth mentioning that the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court placing Rahm on the ballot is going to have far reaching consequences.  Justices Freeman and Burke appear to be the only members of the court with any vision: Suffice it to say, therefore, that this…

  • Yes it’s been a few days

    Yes, I realize that it has been several days — and a lot has happened — since my last posting. About a week before snowpocalypse I ran into a buzz saw and I’m just getting caught-up.  Everyone gets busy from time to time and this blog on occasion takes more time that it should.  But…

  • The Rahm Situation, Part II: The Sword

    He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. — Matthew 26:52 Surely it is folly to suggest that Rahm is getting any less than he fully deserves.  When you live your life in politics and have so playfully toyed with so many peoples lives as he has, things just have a way a…

  • The Rahm Situation, Part I: Enforce the Law

    The surest way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. — Abraham Lincoln While editorial boards, talking heads, and policy wonks from near and far are condemning the recent Appellate Court decision removing Rahm from the ballot based on emotion, there has been little discussion in the media as to what…

  • Wall Street Partying in Davos, We Suffer

    I realize this is not a local issue but I can’t help myself: JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s profits last year were the highest in the bank’s history, and Citigroup Inc. returned money to the U.S. Treasury and reported its first full- year profit since 2007.  Governments have so far opted against breaking up or levying…

  • SEC Launches Inquiry Into IL Pension Fund

    The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an inquiry into public statements by Illinois officials about the state’s underfunded pension fund, the state’s governor’s office confirmed Monday night. (Full story here.) Well it’s official!  The Springfield cabal has so poisoned the well that now the SEC is asking questions.  We can only hope that they…

  • Position on TIFs

    Well it took some doing, but I have completed my policy on TIFs. This is critically important to the sustainability of the city moving forward.  We cannot survive continuing to go further and further into debt year after year while our schools are failing and the TIF funds are growing bigger and bigger.  We need…

  • Bankruptcy an Option

    From yesterday’s NYT: Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.  … Unlike cities, the states are barred from seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court.  … But proponents…