Good afternoon.
The committee on the budget and government
operations will come to order.
Uh, we'll do a roll call to establish a quo.
Uh, vice Chair Lee, president Alderman La Spotter.
Alderman Dow. Alderman Robinson. Alderman Yancy.
Alderman Mitchell. Alderman Harris Altman.
Bill Ottman Ramirez. Derman Quinn. Ottman Lopez.
Ottman Moore. Alderman. Osha. Ottman. Mosley. Alman.
Rodriguez Altman. Scott Altman. Cche Lopez.
Alderman Burnett. Altman Farrell. Derman. Cardona.
Alderman Rodriguez Sanchez. Artman. Conway Ottman.
Cazada Ottman. Viegas. Ottman. Mitt Emis.
Spaza Ottman Nugent.
Ottman Vasquez Ottman Napolitano Auman. Riley Ottman.
Knudson Ottman. Martin t Manhattan.
Altman Silverstein. We have, and Chairman Irving is present.
We have 19 members. We do have a quorum. Thank you.
Who is that? Altman Mitchell is present.
All right. We have, uh,
six members who've requested
participation remotely via roof.
59. Those are Alders, Hatton, Silverstein, Talia, Farrell,
Rodriguez, Harris, and Robinson.
Um, I see we have Talia Farrell. Your present
alt mat Farrell Altman Robinson
gave you a motion to accept, uh, those six individuals,
uh, participation remotely.
So moved. All in favor signify by saying aye.
Any opposed any appear in the chairs?
The ayes have it, and those als as they come on,
we will, uh, recognize them.
Altman, CTO Lopez, we have you, uh, as well.
Okay. Uh, public comment.
Uh, we have just a very short order business today.
It's a couple transfers and that's all.
Um, we're gonna Sophia James for public comment.
Chairman, do you have me as Rule 59?
Sorry, it's Alderman Silverstein.
Uh, yes, I do. Uh, and, uh, I'll recognize you.
Thank you for, thank you.
All right,
Sophia James, you have three minutes.
I'm sorry, ma'am.
Phone on Microphone, sir.
Okay, thank you. Okay. Okay.
Okay. I'm Sofia.
I'm, I'm Sofia, founder
and cultural architect of Black Girl fia.
I am here today to point out the hypocrisy.
Chicago's Mayor office for people with disability
is a ancy branch, Chicago,
as the most successful city in the world.
Yet Excess Living filed a 2018 class at your lawsuit
for disability housing discrimination.
It has been reported that Chicago has spent an estimate
of $4.1 million.
Defendants suffer against this lawsuit in 2024.
A federal judge ruled that Chicago is an above the law.
Chicago must abide by the A DA Americans with Disability Act
and the Fair Housing Act.
Now it is time that we acknowledged
that the a DA is only 36 years old.
I a 21 year traumatic brain injury survivor.
At the age of 13, I was in a life-threatening car accident.
Doctor said that I would die if I didn't make it
through the night or be paralyzed from the neck down.
I stand before you today, not flatline, but as a founder
and someone who has to file multiple disability housing
and discrimination complaints with HUD
and Illinois's Commission for Human Relations
that was ultimately left, unresponsive
or dismissed Chicago only that
that led me to becoming homeless
Chicago only managed homelessness.
It doesn't reduce it.
Black Girl Fire is building a newer,
a newer inclusive housing
and tech ecosystem filling gaps no one else is
addressing. Thank you. Hello.
Yeah, you in the building? Hold on a second.
Thank you for your comments. Uh,
next we'll have Dennis White,
followed by George Blakemore.
Hey, are you in the office? I'm looking for Terry
and Uren and nobody's answering the phone.
Tell 'em to hurry up. Yeah,
because we started, yeah, whatever they had, just bring it.
At least pick up the damn phone.
Saturday was a perfect example of common sense budget.
CTU and the liberals were throwing a fit when Alderman
Gardner spoke up against the budget
that Brandon Johnson wanted to propose.
Now, the alternative budget is not a perfect budget,
but you know, you all the alderman guy
work on the make it better.
But the thing about Brandon Johnson
and half of the alderman, they didn't say how
to cut unnecessary spending.
So if you cannot cut the spending, the only thing you know
how to do is tax the people.
And then you use tax, the rich as a old Democratic playbook
to try to get more money out of the black community.
We ain't talking about the Brown community
because wins Jessica Fuentes, central Lopez.
And then Ultimate, uh, Vasquez was saying, well,
the small business in the,
in their community will be affected with the alt
with the alternative budget.
So the question of reality is,
if the vote was in Brandon Johnson favor,
it would affect the small business in their ward.
So it's all about common sense budget right off hand.
Now, I really urge the committee
and the chairman, you gotta find a way
to cut all these unnecessary spending
that the mayor has been doing for the last two years.
And then you gotta figure out how to cut more spending.
When the previous mayor Lori Lightfoot had
made a disastrous plan.
Now everything need to be cut.
If you all, and two things that I believe need
to be cut is these funding for these illegal aliens
that still occupying the city of Chicago.
And then you gotta find other budgets
that Brandon Johnson has been doing
because now it's like a, a, a child spending money
for no reason around here.
So I really encourage
that the committee find a way to cut spending.
That's what need to be done,
because CTU cannot get everything
what they want when it comes down to them
because they spend our tax dollars.
But our kids cannot either pass the basic reading
and math skill test Ralph Hand.
And then if you, if Brandon John veto this,
you have the power to over veto his, uh, decision
because you all are the legislature.
He's the executive.
If you write the rules
and the laws here to benefit the city of Chicago,
then he had to oblige.
But he's not because he's too much of a bedside fellow
with this, the Communist Teacher Union Ralph Hand.
And another thing is if Brandon Johnson continue on
with this unnecessary, uh, budget proposal for 26,
and we don't know what's gonna happen at 27, SE seven,
he deserved to be impeached.
That's how I feel about Brandon Johnson
on this budget proposal.
Thank you for your comments. Next up is Mr. George
Blakemore, followed by Apostle Sandy Norman.
A picture I'm gonna give each one of you all a picture
of the first black mayor of the city of Chicago.
Well, I was, wait a minute,
now my minute gonna do that.
That my, my train of thought.
The first black mayor of the city of Chicago.
I was so elated.
If the black community was just elated,
that was the first turn.
The second time he ran and won, he didn't have enough.
He didn't have the 28 votes.
So he allies himself with tourism Garfield,
the, uh, Hispanic, Mexican, and Puerto Rico.
And then this is where the nightmare began to come with
that sanctuary, the nightmare began to come.
A selfish man.
A selfish man willing to to go there
for his own selfish interest.
And then the state's attorney daily.
And then they becomes the mayor.
And all of a sudden, Harold Washington was gone.
They, some people say they killed him.
So when I brought this up here, it's to show that
what I think the first term, the second term,
he sold our people out, out.
And now we're witness this sanctuary mess
because of he was so selfish.
And Lou Palmer and the black leadership began
to turn against Harold Washington.
We loved him at first until he,
Why He wasn't.
That's my paper. That's my paper Now.
Get away from me taking nine minutes that belong to me
and I can tear it up now.
So I will give you all a a, the others that didn't receive
a picture, I'll give it to you.
This sanctuary has not been good for our people.
Our people don't have the number.
We don't have the jobs, the goods,
the contracts and the service.
Uh, however they bring in another group in that,
that benefits from his decision.
And you have that desk to tell me that. Don't tear it up.
That wrong to me. I do what I want with it.
You better stay away from me. I'm not the one.
So my minutes is up. And, and the others that they,
Thank you for your comments.
Uh, we want to add for quorum purposes, I see
that Alderman Robinson is here with us in person.
He'll be 22.
Uh, alderman Mosley, miss anybody else, anybody else?
Alderman, uh, Riley and Alderman Harris.
Alman Lo, hold on, I'm gonna get you one second.
Alderman Harris. Alderman Riley and Alderman Moore.
Alderman Riley. All right. Alderman Harris.
Alderman Harris is here. Okay. At Alderman Silver.
So Alderman Farrell. Alderman Farrell's here. Got it.
Alder Cazada. I saw he's here.
Alderman Knutson.
Okay. Alright, apostle, uh,
Sandy Norman, followed by Pastor David Carillo.
Praise, praise the Lord. Good morning everyone.
I honor the mayor in his absence
and all the, um, alderman
and everybody here are the
organizations that are represented.
I am Apostle Sandy, a Norman, and again, I'm here today.
Um, as we know the situation that's going on with our city.
And so I've been here, um, advocating
and speaking out, uh, for organizations such as my own,
uh, chain Breakers.
V-I-P-V-I-P stands for Violence Intervention
and Prevention.
And so I wanna say, um, even today, one of the issues
that I have brought, um, to the council is funding.
Um, there are organizations like mine
where we are actively present in some of the most, uh,
crime ridden, uh, neighborhoods in the city of Chicago.
Uh, we do a lot of work on Springfield
and Madison, which is a part of, um, alderman Irving's Ward.
Uh, we're in Lawndale
and we specifically ask the Chicago Police Department
to give us the areas where no one will go.
And we go and we produce results.
But even in our, our work that we have done,
our commitment in the city of Chicago,
we have not been funded.
We have not been able to get resources.
We have not been able to get anything.
And so my organization is woman led.
I am the person that leads the organization,
but as a leader, I lead by example and out of experience.
And so I come from, again, the Lawndale community.
I've lived in Ida B.
Wells housing projects,
and I've also had a son
that have been shot in the city of Chicago.
And so I have a heart and comp
and compassion for young men
that are being murdered on the street.
And we normalize violence.
And so we come, you know, to these meetings
and we say that crime is going down,
but I want y'all to know that we know that crime pays.
We know that as long as the killings
and the shootings are happening,
and you know, other individuals, churches
and organizations are getting funding, we know
that there's a bandaid that's put on the problem.
But the problem is never really solved.
And the problem that I have is a lot of the funding is going
to these organizations that are nowhere to be found.
And the response that I get from the police, the response
that I get, uh, from even the politicians
and people in the community is where are these people
that you guys are giving all the money to?
We're in a crisis here in Chicago.
We have all of you guys, the alderman,
the mayor that are here.
My question is the pastors that you guys give all this money
for development to, uh, the organizations
that you guys give the millions of dollars to,
are they in the building?
Are they anywhere to be found during this crisis?
I don't see many of them here,
but I wanna put it on record that Sandy Norman is here
because I care about my city.
I care about young, black and Brown.
Thank you for your comments, apostle Norman.
Next we'll have, uh, pastor Carillo, followed
by a final speaker, Ron Rurik.
Well, it's an honor to be here with, with you
because you are all laboring for our city.
And I've been a resident for over 60 years
and pastoring for 25 years.
And one of the things that I wanted, I felt unction
to come here, not because it's Christmas,
but we, we need you to all work together.
We need you to be on one accord.
Because what's happening is the division is costly.
It's costing lives, it's costing, uh, budgets.
I'm glad I'm here at the budget meeting,
but it's, it is time to come.
Agreed. And I'm so glad that
what you did on Saturday says there's some agreement here.
And that's a good start. And I applaud you for that.
But what I really wanna tell you is there's such a need.
We, we pay each and every one of you so much money.
We pay, not, maybe not everybody pays their taxes,
but we pay into the system.
And the system is broke
because of what the people are enduring.
They're broken lives, they're broken schools everywhere
around the city is broke.
And yet we have enough money to put a, a,
a new library in, in Hyde Park.
That doesn't make sense to me.
We're, and I'm coming here to pray that there's no more
mismanagement of funds
because what's happening is that lives matter.
I see 'em in the hospitals, I see people in the streets.
And I can attest that Apostle Sandy is truly,
uh, working the streets.
I've been a part of that as well.
So I just wanted to come here to say to each
and every, every one of you, you're all accountable at,
at serving this city.
Yes, this great city that we live in with a, a great suit,
a football team, a great city.
And I just wanna encourage you to consider the lives
that are not being reached.
There's some, a lot of unreachable people and, and,
and they need your assistance, your agreement.
You are willing to put, uh,
I can't even say your politics aside
'cause we're a one political party city.
And that, and that.
And that's the, that's the old democracy
of one, one party city.
And I, I believe that there needs to be more voices
that will come and, and, and be recognized and respected
because we truly respect you enough to elect you
and get you in your offices.
Let's get the job done. Lives matter.
Thank you, pastor. And our final speaker is Ron Rurik.
What an honor and privilege just to be in front
of the all you servant, said the Lord.
And I know law and order ordained by God,
and I do stand up here with the fear of God in my heart.
And, but, but I, I salute every one of you.
And you know, just like that preacher who stands
behind the pulpits, every one of your offices, it,
it's just dripping with the anointing oil of God.
So it, I I love servanthood.
And if you wanna be great, you become servants.
And I'm speaking to servants today,
but one servant, I do wanna, my, my,
my apostle Sandy, I love this woman.
And, um, one in honor
that they call me the white man in the black neighborhood.
And, and it's such an honor, this woman,
she feeds the people.
And, and a lot of people, they're just so far gone.
You know, their, their minds.
But you don't know how many times we hug them.
The tears had to just dripped over me.
And we do share the love of Jesus.
You know, we feed him, we clothe them,
and you know, we, we got a fire pit.
We take a fire pit out there and, and, and,
and just celebrate the, the people.
And, um, yeah, I, I'm just believing you know,
this Christmas season, you know, this miracle,
the greatest miracle of the birth of Jesus, that,
that this whole city, you know, will just, just,
all our needs will be, be met
because we ask Father in Jesus' name,
meet all the needs in our families, our homes,
on the street, all the ministries.
And yes, Lord, we just pray for unlimited funds
to be released and the budget
and everything comes in divine order with heaven and earth.
And may God bless you all in Jesus' name. Love you all.
Thank you for your comments. Uh hmm.
Alderman Rodriguez, I'm here.
All right. We got you down. Uh, anybody else?
Uh, only don't have spotters on in Bill Ramirez.
Everybody else is accounted for.
Um, we just got a real short agenda here before,
before we move on, uh, are there any other
transfers that need to occur?
I've got two that came in from our last meeting
that we're subbing in this time.
'cause this will be our final, uh, meeting
for the year to get those done.
So everybody's good. Alright. Alright.
We just, just, just wanna, wanna be sure about that.
Alright. So we'll now move to consider items four
through eight on of our agenda,
which are transfers of fund ordinances.
Substitutes have been proposed for three
of the five ordinances for ward 6, 7, 9, 28,
and 37, which have been distributed to committee members.
Can we get a motion to accept the substitutes? So moved.
Bald. Alden Martin, all in favor signify by saying aye.
Any opposed? And appear in the chair ayes habit.
Unless there is any objection,
we'll vote on these items together.
Uh, motion to pass items
4, 5, 6, 7,
and eight, which are all fund, uh,
ordinance funds, transfers.
So moved by Chairman Dowell.
All in favor signify by saying aye. Any nays?
Any opinion Chair ayes have it.
And this motion passes and this ordinance will
be reapproved the matter.
Report out our next regular meeting on December 29th, 2025.
No further business of the committee. Motion to adjourn.
So move. Alright, all in favor saying aye.
You can have your roll call. Aye.