Good morning, everyone. Thank you all for being here.
Today I'm joined by our city comptroller, Chase Redwinkel, our chief operating officer, John Robertson,
and our deputy mayor for community safety, Gary and Gatewood.
My office and city council continue to have a very robust conversation.
In fact, we are having multiple conversations around the 2025 budget.
I'm happy to say that over the weekend, the budget negotiations were very productive.
That's a good thing for the city of Chicago as we continue to move towards a better, stronger, safer Chicago.
We have produced a number of ideas that has created a level of interest that has been humbling, and I'm very grateful.
We have reduced the property tax levy by $150 million.
And we hope this productive collaboration pushes us to find more progressive revenue sources
and more efficiencies that will balance our budget.
Our doors are always open for dialogue and partnership that will help us balance our budget
and maintain strategic investments in people while being financially responsible.
As I've said before, our budget is a statement of our values.
It's how we make progress in our city on behalf of all of our people.
And it's how we are able to celebrate achievements such as last week's groundbreaking at Malcolm X College's West Campus,
ensuring that space can transform students into health care professionals,
serve continuing education students, and ultimately bring the community together.
Tomorrow, we'll spend the entire day in the 25th Ward seeing the fruits of our investment, particularly in mental health, local businesses, and infrastructure projects throughout those neighborhoods.
My administration is determined to get this budget right so that we can continue celebrating groundbreakings, awarding grants, and securing equitable growth throughout the city of Chicago.
I look forward to continued negotiations between my office and the city council.
Thank you for being here again, and I'm happy to take your questions.
One question will follow up.
I'm glad to hear that negotiations are going well.
Can you describe for us what kind of personal involvement you have had in these negotiations?
Yeah, look, I have relationships with several alders,
and, you know, those conversations have been fruitful.
You know, there's constant communication between my office with city council members
and there are specific conversations with, you know, alders that have appreciated this new approach, right?
And so, as you know, for the first time in the history of Chicago, we have an entire subcommittee dedicated to revenue
and Alderman Will Hall has been, you know, a real champion.
in collecting those ideas.
So as we have made it very clear, my responsibility is to present a budget that's balanced.
Working with city council to actually pass that budget requires me to remain as collaborator-in-chief.
It seems that with this kind of quick progress being made that maybe there is more to be made.
Do you believe these negotiations could at some point get you down to zero property tax levy?
Well, as you know, this is not the final budget.
We've reduced.
We've reduced the property tax by $150 million.
There's an ongoing level of collaboration that I'm very encouraged by,
and I'm grateful that the city council has embraced this new process,
and I believe it's good for the people of Chicago to see this type of robust level of collaboration take place.
I believe it's going to help restore that much more confidence in government.
Well, you know, look, we're still negotiating.
Hi, Mayor.
Hi.
Was it a mistake for you to include those cuts to the consent decree positions in your proposal,
and will your revised budget proposal reverse those cuts as the Attorney General has demanded?
Well, the final budget will reflect my values.
That I can assure you, you know,
that a commitment to constitutional policing is one that is still of utmost importance for me
and my administration. It's important for the entire city of Chicago.
Proposals are just that. It gives us an opportunity to dig in a little bit deeper,
to see where there are opportunities where we can continue to make critical investments
while also responding to the structural damage that I inherited.
I believe that the mistake would be if we didn't have a collaborative approach
that allowed for multiple voices to weigh in.
I mean, so you don't just have city council members weighing in.
You have folks in labor, folks in business.
Now you have individuals at other levels of government.
That is how open this process has been, and I welcome that type of process.
What do you say to concerns that that proposal indicates a lack of commitment to the reform effort
and could expose the city to sanctions as ordered by the federal judge
if they are not reversed?
Well, look, hiring 200 more detectives is a part of my commitment
to constitutional policing and the consent decree.
I believe that this year we're at 54%, 58% of clearance rate.
It's the highest we've been since 2019.
Adding helicopters, providing better structure so that there's accurate supervision,
these are all measures within the consent decree that we have responded to
with expediency and with care.
Again, this is an open process that people get to participate in, and it's a process that I welcome.
Good morning.
It is still morning.
Good morning.
Are there alders who still have not been either approached or been included in some of these talks?
Because every once in a while we'll hear from someone who says, well, collaboration, but nobody's talked to me.
Well, everyone has been reached.
Everyone has been reached.
Now, look, I'll just say it.
There are some individuals that respond faster than others.
So we have an open process where every single alder has been reached, and this is unprecedented, and some of them know that.
I can tell you there's been other mayors who did not reach out to every single alder, as my administration has, and we will continue to do that.
And so if there's an alder that has not gotten back with us yet, they do have some responsibility to show up to this engagement.
This is not a one-way street.
It's a two-way street, and we fully expect all of the residents of the city of Chicago fully expect that when the mayor's office reaches out, that is an opportunity for them to engage.
And can you highlight one or two of the big ticket items that will make it possible or could make it possible to bring down that property tax hike?
And perhaps something that has been brought to you by the alders in the talks you're having.
Well, look, as I've said, we've represented a structure in a package that reduces the property tax by one hundred and fifty million dollars.
There are ideas that are coming in. There are a variety of ideas that are coming in.
Too many to name. And there are many of many of those ideas.
Well, I shouldn't say many. Some of those ideas have broader support outside of my administration.
Right. Because you have to keep this in mind. Me having some agreement around some of these ideas is just one step here.
Again, this new process allows for other alders to weigh in.
So there are some ideas that are coming forward that city council members are not on the same page.
Right. And so what I have to do is collect all of that information, come up with the right configuration that can be presented to the full body for full consideration.
And that process has been, quite frankly, I've enjoyed every bit of it.
It's an exciting time for the city of Chicago, and I'm not sure if I'll get a placard for being collected.
collaborator in chief, but we certainly have created a new precedent that I think will help
us build a better, stronger, safer Chicago together. Good morning, Mayor. Good morning.
You got here early. Impressive. Thank you. Yes, thank you. I do what I can. Sort of along with
that question, there's reportedly $128 million in new personal property tax lease on cloud computing
and also $10 million generated by raising the tax on streaming services. We've heard some
questions from people in the city about kind of what that would mean can you talk about sort of
the logistics of those proposals well look here's the bottom line is that for the first one in
particular it is an opportunity for us um to generate revenue from uh corporations or wealthier
spaces right because that's the ultimate goal is to have progressive revenue right we have a
structure in place right now that is flat statewide, and that is what has caused the
type of economic peril that you're seeing across the state of Illinois and really across the
country. So, you know, in terms of the impetus behind that particular one that you're speaking,
referring to, it's an opportunity to demonstrate again where our values are, that individuals or
spaces that have a greater ability to contribute to a better, stronger, safer Chicago, they have
to do more. I was wondering sort of if you have numbers about, you know, would people see an X
amount of dollar increase on their Netflix streaming, for example, or are there other
specifics that maybe our budget friends might have? You know, Chase could offer it up. I mean,
look, whatever we decide to do, everyone is going to be impacted. The goal is to make sure that
youth employment and workforce continues to grow. We have an opportunity to hire up to 30,000 young
people for summer jobs. We know that there's a direct correlation between those type of
investments and community safety. We're building more affordable homes. That's what's in this
budget. We've already built 3,400, many of them west and south sides of the city of Chicago,
particularly at a time when the depletion of affordability has just become exacerbated,
particularly for black Chicago. Everyone knows in the city of Chicago, the one group that has
not experienced growth, whether it's economically or just in physical space, it's black families.
And so that's in this budget.
Behavioral mental health services, that's in this budget.
Making sure that community safety remains a priority as homicides continue to go down,
as shootings can continue to go down, particularly at a time when we know that 38 percent of violence happens in 5 percent of the city,
primarily where black families live, right?
So where my family lives, quite frankly.
So making these investments, that's what's most important.
In terms of, you know, the sort of configuration of how it would impact individual taxpayers,
we're happy to provide that in the coming days.
Thank you.
Hello, Mayor.
You're welcome.
What's your name?
Good morning to you.
I'm Madeline.
Matt, from where?
I'm with Fox National.
We're at, maybe I shouldn't say that.
You don't know.
You don't have, I just, you know, when we get a new.
Separate from WFLD.
Okay, well, when we get a new person in the class, it's good that, you know,
at least you know that I pay attention to the class.
Yes, yes.
You know, when I was a teacher, by the way, my class was so popular,
sometimes students who were not enrolled in my class would try to sneak in my class, by the way.
Well, if you keep doing press conferences like this, I think we're all going to show up in the new year.
You want to have one five days a week.
That's great.
We'll be there.
I want to read this question.
Forgive me for that, but this is for a team, for my coworkers who are out in the field.
I want to make sure I get the essence of it correct.
So they're saying this is about the homeless tent encampment at Gompers Park,
and I think there's some concerns, some safety concerns over there from the residents.
There was a meeting, and the residents say that they were told that there is a plan for the next five years
with homelessness, tent encampments, these stubborn issues that are hard to fix, and everybody knows that.
The five-year plan was laid out, but what we're wondering is,
and they were told that there would be funding, there could be funding for this to help in a big way.
Is there no plan to deal with that sooner than the new year, than just vaguely sometime in the new year?
Yeah, look, first of all, thank you for the frame of that question, quite frankly.
Look, I continue to raise the question around what is it that we have to do as a society
to demonstrate that we actually care about individuals who have fallen on very hard times, right?
The accumulation of wealth in this city alone,
where black families have accumulated zero wealth over the course of now generations, right,
in that too many families are a paycheck or an emergency away from finding themselves homeless.
Seventy percent of the families who are unhoused in this city are black families.
So this is a critical dynamic that we have to address.
This is why we push for.
A measure, I'm not sure if you're familiar with this, but there's a measure called Bring Chicago Home.
That would have raised $100 million to respond to this issue yesterday, quite frankly.
Unfortunately, the same corporate interest that got in the way of the progressive income tax that was defeated a couple of years ago,
the same corporate interest that got in the way of this particular progressive revenue stream,
which would have increased incrementally a tax on transfer of property for individuals that have property that is worth more than $1 million.
So 97% of Chicagoans would have received a tax break.
Only 3% could have raised $100 million.
And so we have to continue that effort to find progressive revenue.
As far as how we are responding to it, look, the tent encampments are a problem, right,
because it's not just about the unhoused.
It's about the fact that it's an issue of safety.
And so, again, unfortunately, because there was significant pushback from corporate interests
that prevented this measure from being passed,
now it places a great deal of responsibility on local government
to create revenue to respond to this crisis.
And that's what this budget does.
So this five-year plan with increased resources for the unhoused and homelessness
will help us deal with encampments.
We're already addressing the one in Humble Park.
I believe that one is essentially almost cleared out.
Is that right, John?
It will be cleared out really soon.
And so these are measures that have gone ignored for a very long time.
My administration is not ignoring them.
And I'm grateful that the people in Gompers Park and that entire community, many of whom voted in favor of bringing Chicago home.
And so that's why this budget and these investments are so critical,
because if we were to cut the services that some aldermen are calling for, my chief operations officer is here,
the type of cuts that people are calling for in our corporate fund would make it impossible to respond to those measures.
That's why we need this budget passed.
That's why this budget will be passed with a balanced approach.
But that's why this budget includes critical investments to address that issue.
Thank you very much. And welcome to class. Thank you. Hi, Mayor. Hi. Can you talk a little bit about, if possible, what your budget might include to address the new Trump administration and what they might do in terms of immigration or health care, i.e., you know, COVID vaccination shots? Is that something that you're including in the in the budget?
Well, absolutely, we're including protections in this budget around a Trump administration.
And I would take it one step further.
I believe the question, if I could, would add what are we doing to protect public education in this budget as well?
That's why the TIF surplus, one of the largest TIF surplus in the history of Chicago to our community colleges,
to our Chicago public schools, to county government, to our parks and libraries.
libraries, I mean, these investments are absolute essential to withstanding any type of barrage from President Trump.
You know, his vision for America is antithetical to the vision that I have for the people of Chicago.
But in terms of immigration and health?
So I'm going to get to all of it, because you mentioned immigration, you mentioned health care.
I'm just adding a friendly amendment, if it's okay, to education, right?
As long as that doesn't count as my second question.
No, it doesn't.
Very clever.
check you out. Well, welcome to honors class. But look, you know, as we work to ensure that we have
small class sizes in the city of Chicago, that's a critical investment for black children in
particular. All the research indicates and tells us that small class sizes impact black students
than any other subgroup. Sports and recreation, sustainable community schools, making sure that
We find a diverse teaching force, hiring more black educators in particular.
We know what school privatization has done to the black workforce.
And so protections in our public education system are critical.
As far as for immigration, absolutely.
We're still a welcoming city.
That did not change on November 5th.
And it doesn't change based upon who's in the White House.
And whether you are seeking refuge from Central to South America or the continent of Africa,
this country has to remain a welcoming space for new arrivals and for immigrants.
Now, what we do need, though, is real comprehensive immigration reform policy.
That is without question.
If the president-elect is truly committed to transforming this country,
he would work with Congress to come up with a sensible piece of legislation
that would provide more border patrol, more judges at the border,
to be able to respond to asylum cases, what they have done has been the opposite of that.
They've tried to create chaos.
Keep in mind, you all, it's unprecedented.
There was an entire airplane that was sent to our city and sent to the city of Philadelphia,
filled with individuals who were asylum seekers.
That was one of the most reckless, irresponsible.
acts that I've seen in government since in a very long time, right? So we will still remain
a welcoming city. And same thing with health care. Health care is a human need, therefore it's a
human right. And so this budget certainly reflects those values. And we do have to fight collectively
as a state to generate more revenue to protect not just the city of Chicago, but to protect
working people. That's what this budget is about, protecting the interests of working people.
And that's what we have to do collectively as a city. But we also have to do that
collectively as a state. And if you could step back a little bit, what message do you take from
the fact that Donald Trump got a majority of the vote, got more votes in Chicago, closed the gap
to less than 10 percent? What message does that send to you about the electorate and what might
be happening in the country and the city? Well, here's the large message that I believe in this
moment, that there are more people in this country that believe that we have to make
investments in education, housing, health care, that we have to have immigration policy
that reflects our values, that doesn't pit poor people against other people.
You know, just bear with me for a second.
As a social studies teacher, I think about the shift West, where black folks left the
South in what was called at that time, I believe it was called Indian Territory, right?
And entire communities were developed out of this migration shift from the south of black families.
And they were not necessarily welcomed.
I think we all know the story of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
And so this country, unfortunately, has an unfortunate reputation of finding a particular group that they are going to decide to demonize.
The city of Chicago, we're not like that.
We see people for who they are, as human beings, as families.
And so the message really has to be, what is our commitment to ensuring that the city of Chicago remains the greatest freaking city in the world?
And you know how we do that?
By investing in people, youth employment and workforce, expanding opportunities at the community college level,
making sure that we're providing more behavior and mental health.
We're doing all of that.
And I'm glad that we have partners that recognize that the city of Chicago is leading the way.
We get to be the example for the rest of the world.
We don't have to cower or bend or break to tyranny.
We can invest in people, establish an economy that works for everyone while securing and protecting our democracy.
And that's what the city of Chicago represents, and I'm glad to be the leader of it.
Hi, Mayor.
Left turn from the budget really quick.
I have a question about the forthcoming.
Was that a political implication?
I like that, yes.
It wasn't, but I see where you're going.
I've been watching a lot of football lately, so I'll beeline from the budget.
On the forthcoming Quantum campus on the city's south side, will the city require a community benefits agreement as some residents are pushing for?
Look, I think that there's going to be ongoing conversations around how the community can benefit, how we actually codify that.
Those are conversations that we will continue to have.
As you know, that I've been a proponent of such activity, and I'm grateful that the community is stepping up, saying that this is something that is paramount,
particularly at a time when you have such an opportunity, right,
for around environmental justice.
I didn't mention that, too.
She should have the Department of the Environment protecting the Department of the Environment as well.
As you know, we reopened and reestablished that department,
and our chief operations officer is working with partners to secure a transition
into a full-throtted Department of the Environment, you know,
and a community benefits agreement and conversations as such I think are absolutely appropriate,
and I'm looking forward to having those conversations moving forward.
There are concerns on this project that the city is moving too quickly on rezoning and facilitating that project,
even as groups are pushing for more community involvement.
Is the city moving too quickly?
Can you address those concerns from residents?
Well, are we moving with expediency to ensure that there's economic development on the southeast side of Chicago?
Absolutely.
My chief operations officer, we just kind of looked at each other for a second because, remember,
I moved an executive order with the Cut the Tape initiative that would speed up the process so that we don't leave money on the table.
But I will allow my chief operations officer just to speak to why we are moving with that type of pace and what it means for our economy.
John.
Good morning.
John Robertson, chief operating officer for the city of Chicago.
You know, it's really important that, especially in challenging economic times,
that government acts as an enabler of economic development, acts as an enabler of the creation of jobs.
And so the cut-the-tape initiative that the mayor asked me to lead is all about trying to figure out within city government
how do we make things happen, how do we get it done.
And so we're working very closely with all of the stakeholders.
We're working very closely with the developer.
We're working very closely with the state and other partners to do everything possible to move this very –
Quantum leap in terms of technology and opportunity.
Look, this is the second quantum computer that will be, well, this is the first quantum computer that will be built in the U.S.
It has significant impacts and implications both in terms of health care, in terms of the financial sector,
in terms of solving some of our societal problems in very real ways by utilizing this technology as the foundation to accelerate learning and to accelerate solutions.
So we think that this is an extraordinary opportunity.
That's why we got involved in it.
That's why we were able to partner with the state and with the county to make this happen.
And so, yes, we are moving at the speed of light in order to get this project done and create the job
so that the people of the city of Chicago are the beneficiaries.
Thank you, John.
Hi, Mayor.
Hi.
I was wondering, you know, federal relief dollars, they've been under discussion to help lower the property tax hike.
is some or all of the $31.5 million in ARPA funds that were slated to do a second round of guaranteed income payments.
Are we going to see any of that money be taken away to lower the property tax hike?
Can we still expect a second round of payments?
Well, first of all, the whole point of the ARPA dollars was to essentially invest in communities that have been historically disinvested in.
And so that reflects our values, right?
And I've made it very clear from the very beginning, as a line of questions have come forward, am I going to spend those resources?
So I believe we've answered that question, right?
We're going to spend it.
Now, there are some alders who don't see it that way.
They don't necessarily believe or agree that these dollars should go directly to individuals that have been historically disinvested.
And as I said, the accumulation of wealth has been abysmal, particularly for black families.
So you have black families that have accumulated zero wealth.
Do you understand how crippling and debilitating that can be when you wake up every single day
and you hope just to break even?
You know what I'm saying?
It's like the song in The Wiz.
You can't win, child, and you can't get out the game.
Don't worry.
Just Google it.
Just trust me.
And so it's that type of desperate state and unfortunate set of circumstances that have left people and families behind.
Now, again, there are alders that don't necessarily agree with that sentiment or those values,
but I'm going to continue to remain and keep an open mind of how we can make those investments, GBI,
as well as develop an investment, I believe, Chase, for small businesses as well,
so those resources can actually touch the communities that they were designed to touch.
But, again, as I said from the very beginning, alders will come with ideas.
Some of them are one-time solutions, which, quite frankly, does not get at with what we need to get at,
which is repair the structural harm.
But we remain open for those type of suggestions and feedback.
And, you know, on the police budget, your administration is still budgeting less for police lawsuits than actual costs.
You're keeping the exact line item amount that former Mayor Lori Lightfoot had despite rising costs.
You know, what's the reasoning for that?
And what is your administration doing to try and help lower overall the cost of police-related lawsuits?
Yeah, my deputy mayor for community safety is here.
I'll let them just weigh in on some of our larger goals.
And, look, there's no secret that the amount of money that we're spending on settlement is astronomical.
And it highlights a couple of things.
It highlights, one, that constitutional pleasing did not exist.
And so now we're paying out settlements that, you know, were part of abuse cases before, you know, I was, you know, out of high school, right?
You know, so what our ultimate work is, our ultimate responsibility, one, is to make sure that moving forward we're doing a better job of policing in this city.
and I believe that transformation is happening, but also working earlier and sooner with some of these cases
to be able to not accumulate so much financial weight in order to settle these cases.
But unfortunately, you know, states' attorneys of the past were incredibly irresponsible and reckless and heinous.
and the city of Chicago has to do its part to offer up reparations in this aspect to black men in particular
who have overwhelmingly been targeted by wicked policing.
It's why I'm grateful that we've had eight years of our state's attorney, Kim Fox,
exonerating dozens and dozens and dozens of dozens of cases.
So that effort is ongoing.
Gary, would you like to add anything else to that?
Good morning, Gary and Gatewood, Deputy Mayor of Community Safety.
A lot of our work is, as the mayor has mentioned, is working to rebuild trust with police.
And this goes back to the choice in leadership that the mayor made, you know, appointing Larry Snowing to lead the Chicago Police Department and having a more partnership approach to how we look at safety, where in the past we have consistently asked police to do entirely too much.
Now you see different mechanisms of our work looking for different ways to work together
and building out their trust, not only with police but government across the board.
It is our hope and our goal that in building trust in those relationships,
we get out of a place where you need to have those settlements
because then you can start having transparent conversations
and we can stop some of the abuse and harm that we have seen historically
that is not the direction of this administration or the Chicago Police Department.
And so that's the work that we're doing, and that's the work that we'll continue to do.
Thank you.
Easing on down the road to –
That's what I'm talking about.
I know what you're talking about.
There we go.
There we go.
And I think Quincy Jones, Chicago native Quincy Jones.
There you go.
Nice.
Just see why we have an honors history class.
That's all I'm asking you all.
Good job, Perry.
Mayor, so the incoming president has vowed to deputize, quote, unquote, military assets to carry out his mass deportation plans.
And as mayor, if the president somehow deputizes military or National Guard on the streets of Chicago to assist in deportation raids, what do you do?
Well, first of all, you know, that would be just just a horrific measure to take.
It would be. And I hope that the president like reconsiders that approach.
there's no disagreement in this country that we need comprehensive immigration reform we need
real policy like that's what our focus should be on um we can do that right the the we could do
that now in fact right it's not too late so i know president joe biden has worked with the senate
he's he's attempted to work with the house of representatives to actually pass something of
substance, to provide border patrol, stronger border patrol support at the border, to hire
more judges so that we can see asylum cases in an expedited way.
There's so many other measures that we can take as a country.
One of the things that's important that the people of Chicago know, that we have partners
at the state level, at the county level.
We're all going to work together to not allow the president-elect to use such extreme measures
to respond to this moment.
We have to understand that as a society of people, we have to just treat people better.
And I'm not saying that it allows for just mismanagement.
Certainly we're not doing that here.
In fact, when the mission began, there was no plan.
We have not had a single bus arrive in the city of Chicago since last December.
You know, our population census is under 3,000.
50,000 people have come to this city without federal support.
What President-elect Trump can do is partner with mayors like me who see a pathway forward.
We're calling for reparations in Chicago as well as making sure that we create a shelter system that works for everyone and remain in a welcoming city.
We don't have to pit one group against the other.
And so we're going to work with our state partner.
We're going to work with our county partner to ensure that our entire region becomes a model for how the world can behave.
And let's not play into the fear and anxiety that, unfortunately, the president-elect is, quite frankly, profiting off of.
Just a quick follow-up.
You and the president-elect are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum on a lot of issues.
Would you want to meet with him if it meant some shared priorities for Chicago?
I'm the president of the United States of America.
You know, I'm not – look, I've had to deal with brother-in-laws.
I'm just saying.
You know, it's not a difficult dynamic to meet with the president of the United States of America.
We're not going to meet at Trump Towers, though.
All right.
Hi, Mayor.
Hey.
As you have described creating a more open, collaborative, and transparent budget process this year,
are trying to, what challenges and successes have you found that you will take into next
year's budgets that you'll hope to implement?
Well, first of all, the success is the fact that we actually have a process now.
That is a success, right?
Many of you all have covered, you know, city council for some time.
You know that there are unprecedented dynamics that are taking place.
You all know that.
And there are different conclusions that we can come to of why these actions are being
had.
The way the First Lady describes it, my wife says, I say, honey, you have all these people with all these different ideas.
And, you know, you're trying to corral people around a set of values that work for everybody.
And I'm like, many of them did not have that type of interaction with previous administrations.
And she said, well, honey, you inspire people.
You bring out the best of people.
And that is success.
Now, the challenge, of course, is what I was simply alluding to.
You know, you have, and I think, I don't know who brought this up.
One of your colleagues brought it up around, yes, about the sort of the configuration of which revenue ideas are you considering and which ones you're not considering.
Part of the challenge is that if a group of individuals support a particular revenue idea, that makes sense.
That's aligned with my values, but there are other alders on the city council that do not, even though that could be a good idea.
It's not just my office that has to be leading the charge.
Alders have to step up and have conversations with their colleagues that historically have not taken place.
And so that's where some of the triangulation has taken place, but that challenge will continue to work its way out.
As you've already seen, I've reduced the property tax by $150 million, and there are more ideas and more gains to be had.
And as you negotiate with Alders, many of whom probably share values with their own constituents,
how are you making sure that the results of the public engagement roundtables are not left out of the negotiations?
Yeah, that's an excellent question.
I'm glad you raised that.
And, you know, he'll let Chase jump into that as well because he has had to bear.
So it's like all of the ideas that come through, they start with me, but that's not where they end up.
So I will let Chase jump in.
But, you know, I think to your question, here's where there is a unique opportunity, right,
because we've had multiple community meetings and engagement around this budget.
Here's what they're saying.
They're saying that, Mayor Johnson, your vision to hire more young people,
That speaks to the values that exist around the city of Chicago.
I don't know if there's anyone saying don't hire more young people, right?
Behavior and mental health.
There is a real commitment in this budget to continue to expand and protect behavior and mental health.
The Department of the Environment and even the TIF surplus.
We have put more money in our public schools to the TIF surplus as a result of these community engagement meetings, right?
So they're already seeing their values reflected in my proposal.
So now it's a matter of just collecting those ideas that we can configure that, again, maintain our values,
but figure out ways in which we can negotiate the details.
But, Chase, you want to speak to just the plethora of things that are coming through your department?
Thank you, yes.
So as part of the roundtables and what's amazing about just getting community feedback is you get the entire gamut.
You have folks that are saying, I'm looking at trying to get better public safety, more youth employment, things like that.
all the way down to can this specific curb cut be removed on this day
because of an issue that I have with my neighbor.
So part of it is not just listening on taking a list of all the different suggestions,
but understanding holistically how those fit in together.
Are we talking about specific issues around safety on a specific street?
Or are we talking about public safety in general?
and would a commitment to a more holistic approach in certain areas alleviate some of the specific items as we come up?
And we're constantly thinking about that.
Most people, when they go to the budget roundtables, they aren't coming with, raise this tax for me, please.
But we have to keep in mind, hey, I need this service.
How does that fit into the larger budget?
And that's constantly a conversation that we have, not just internally, but with our aldermen partners.
Thank you, Chase.
Triangulation.
That's Bill Clinton.
Effort for extra credit there.
That's right.
Very good.
So I'm wondering if you could help us understand something, right, because we keep getting these calls from alders who say they're not part of the talks.
They don't know what's going on.
There's not, in fact, a deal to slice in half the property tax increase.
Who specifically are you meeting with?
Who's sort of leading this effort?
Who are the specific budgeteers?
Can you name names?
Yeah, well, first of all, I will say that every single alder has been contacted.
As I said, that there are some individuals that, you know, their engagement has been slow or slower.
And, you know, we have slowed things down for those individuals who are, you know, adjusting to a new process.
You know, as far as the budgeteers, we'll get you those names.
I'll get Aaron to send you those names, but that's very transparent.
The fact that we even have budgeteers, that debunks this sort of so-called assertion that somehow that I'm not collaborative.
Why would I create, you know,
Budget tiers, community process, providing a proposal, saying out loud they're willing to negotiate.
The fact that they know that $150 million is now off the table speaks to the fact that we've been in communication.
Now, I have not called that a deal, by the way.
So if they're referring it to a deal, it's helpful if they were to actually show up in these conversations so that they don't misrepresent something.
This is still a proposal.
It's an ongoing conversation, and we'll continue to have those with individuals who decide they want to show up for it.
One of the things I think you've made clear, you know, you've talked about not wanting to kick the can down the road
and making sure that your daughter's not mad when she votes for you in 25 years.
I said in eight years, knock it off.
You know, property taxes are a steady, reliable source of income,
and so far you've just not abandoned asking for it despite losing the vote last week 50 to nothing.
thing um will can you go along with a budget that doesn't raise property tax revenue well clearly
because i did it last year right so it's not it's this year well what i'm saying is you're asking a
question about whether or not i can do something where i've proven that i can actually do something
right so you know let me just say this though for the record the the vote that took place last week
was an additional step that was created by a small group of individuals.
It was.
Because you know that whatever they did,
they're still going to have to come back and vote something up.
Right?
So this is why it's important that we just keep context here.
This is not about the destruction or beating something down.
This is about lifting people up.
Now, here's what I said from the very beginning.
Cuts to services is a non-starter.
For the people of Chicago, there are some individuals right now that want me to lay people off,
lay police officers off.
They want us to lay off fires.
They want us to lay off EMT workers, streets and sanitation workers.
As Chase said and as John is responsible for, people want their trees trimmed.
They have these specific dynamics on their blocks that they want resourced and supported.
And then we have Alder saying no, don't offer that.
So this additional step that they created to do something that they're ultimately going to have to come back and do,
which is their job, which is to help us find a pathway to make sure that these critical investments and services do not go away.
Some of this you all know.
I'm just going to say this.
I know it's going to upset my folks in my comms team, but, you know, some of the steps and measures that are being taken,
these are some individuals are having tantrums right now.
It's time to grow up.
People in Chicago don't have time for that.
So I hope that answered one of your questions.
How are you? Welcome back.
Thank you. Sorry I was late to class.
I think you've got a chance to ask a question before people who were on time for class.
See how equitable I am and forgiving I am.
But go ahead with your question.
Appreciate it.
You've gotten a couple questions about immigration, migrants under the Trump administration.
We've heard that other mayors, you know, I think specifically Eric Adams in New York,
are kind of reconsidering their policies with ICE and collaborating with ICE or cooperating with ICE, I guess I should say.
Do you see the city of Chicago's policies on that changing at all under Trump?
Well, look, I believe that, as I said from the beginning, we ask police officers to do too much already.
I'm not going to ask the Chicago Police Department, under the direction of my superintendent,
Superintendent Larry Snelling, to make police officers now ICE and federal agents.
That's just, that's a non-starter.
In fact, it undermines the consent decree and constitutional policing.
This is about restoring trust in the communities, right?
And you place police officers in a position where now the local community can't trust them?
What type of society are we creating when we are exacerbating the disconnect between community and policing?
It's just not responsible.
Look, I understand that we have a challenge with immigration policy in this country.
Pass laws.
Don't make threats.
So here, check this out.
President-elect Donald Trump has the White House, he has the Senate, he has the House of Representatives, he has the judicial branch.
Right now, President-elect Trump has literally more power than any president has had probably in, oh my God, how far are we going to go back?
Decades and decades with that amount of absolute control.
And here's what he's proposing. With all of that power, he could change policy the moment he is sworn in.
He could actually create investments for the people of Chicago the day that he is sworn in.
in appropriating billions of dollars for reparations across this country.
He has the power and the authority to do that on day one.
He has the power to fully fund our education system,
to make sure that we are responding to the climate crisis.
He has that power.
He has power to pass legislation that will strengthen our immigration policies
so that there is a clear pathway for families to be able to find
and experience freedom in this country.
And the first thing that he's interested in doing, with all of that power, not addressing reparations in this country, not addressing public education in this country, not addressing climate change in this country, not addressing real substantive policies around immigration reform, he doesn't want to do any of that with all of his power.
He wants to create a structure and a system where there is upheaval and chaos.
It would be a waste of power if he were to go down that route.
In fact, it would be small and soft.
The president-elect should get big and large and strong like we are in Chicago.
To kind of piggyback off of that, how concerned are you for, you know, I think it's what, 52,000 migrants that have come to the city?
I want to say 17,000 have resettled here.
I'm concerned about everyone in this city.
He wants to dismantle public education.
a system that was built by descendants of slaves, particularly in the South.
He is a threat to everything that is sensible.
That's why, look, he could make a trip to Chicago tomorrow
and meet with black educators who lost their jobs under privatization.
That's what he could do now.
He could meet with the families on the Southeast side
to figure out how we actually, you know, expedite a community agreement
for a section of the city that's been ignored for, what, 32 years, John?
Like, he could come to Chicago and get to work right away.
Stop playing games with the people of this country.
We're certainly not going to let him play games with the people of this city.
He wants to work with us. He'll have a partner.
But if he wants to come and threaten us, then he has declared opposition to us.
Mayor, good morning.
Good morning.
How are you?
Terrific.
I want to take the teacher-pupil analogy to a slightly different place.
Come on, Willie.
Come on.
AP course now.
You're just past the first trimester of your term here as mayor.
I'm wondering, as a report card, as a progress report on yourself,
what areas for improvement would you put atop that list,
and what grade would you give yourself at the moment?
Yeah, so, you know, for areas of improvement, you know, I would say, here's what I hear, that there are people in this city that when they get a chance to meet me and hear me, you know what they say?
We never knew that that was happening.
Literally, I was on WVON the other day ago.
Perry Small, congratulations, Perry, on your retirement.
Started with the Harold Washington administration and has been an incredible journalist.
and another brother was there, Salim Muwakil, who is just an incredible thought partner and leader in this country,
one of the most brilliant minds right here in Chicago.
And I was talking to him about, John, we have put 3,400 affordable homes within our first 18 months in office.
And here's someone who was engaged.
He said, I never heard that.
We talked about we're the first administration since Mayor Harry Washington to not cut public health as it relates to behavior health.
First, he said, man, I didn't know that.
So I think in terms of an era of improvement, people, for whatever reason, they're not hearing that homicides are down, shootings are down, and that investments are up.
When I go to places, we talk about hiring young people, people clap.
They're like, thank you.
When we talk about building affordable homes, which we've had, people clap.
They say, thank you.
When we talk about behavioral mental health, they say, thank you.
We didn't know that.
So that's an area that maybe perhaps we all can work together to make sure that people in Chicago actually know that we've had two credit upgrades.
Violence is down.
Investments are up.
Right?
So I think in terms of the grade that I would give myself, you know, look, I still think it's too early for me to do that.
But I will say this.
I reflect on this job every single day.
I'm always thinking about how we can get better.
You know, and I think about just the loss that people have experienced over the course of decades.
You know, that's one of the hardest part about the job.
Every single morning I wake up to a report of how many people were shot or murdered the night before.
That weighs on me.
When I think about the amount of families who cannot afford groceries, that weighs on me.
I know what that's like.
You know, look, I don't mean to sound overly hyperbolic or if it comes across emotional, pardon me.
But when I was running for office and...
people begin to make fun of the fact that I had fallen behind in my water bill.
As much as I can get over that, I don't think people know how many people struggle just like I do.
People wanted to make that some sort of indictment on my character or my ability to lead
because I fell behind in my water bill.
Do you know I was one of, this is why Chase is working hard on this measure,
because there are working families that I know are struggling with every single day,
and that weighs on me just being able to make the ends meet.
So your grade again would be what?
So, again, as I said, I think it's too early.
Do teachers have to give grades when it's time?
Well, it's good that I'm the mayor of the city of Chicago,
and I don't have to do anything that you ask me to do, frankly.
So I appreciate you asking that question, but let me just be very clear.
Hear me, hear me well.
Until everyone in this city has everything that they need, no politician should grade themselves perfect.
No one.
And I'm not going to do that.
Again, people are struggling to make ends meet.
Regardless of what grade I give myself, until we satisfy the expectations of the people of the city so that we can have thriving communities,
Every one of us has a responsibility to do everything in our power to ensure that that becomes a reality
versus walking around patting ourselves on the back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Jake, do you have a question?
Hey, Mayor.
Following up on Taman's question, part of the reason it was so noteworthy that you proposed a property tax hike
is that you campaigned against it, of course.
So I want to understand why you're standing behind it now.
Why do you think that property taxes are still the best way to raise $150 million?
Do you view this as the best way to make a structural budget change?
Yes.
So I got all five of your questions, so pass the mic.
No follow-up.
All right, we've got to be fair, but that was smooth, Jake.
You know, look, this is about making investments in people.
That's what I promised I would do, and we're going to keep to that promise.
Look, the progressive revenue that we have to fight for as a state, that is I'm going to help support that charge.
Because that is the pathway, right?
It's not just the city of Chicago.
It's cities all over America that are struggling right now.
As ESSER dollars run out, as there is instability at the federal level right now and uncertainty,
I made a proposal, and I made this very clear, a proposal to balance the budget,
to respond to the structural damage that exists while also making critical investments,
and there were losses that we experienced that we did not anticipate.
The personal property replacement tax, Chase, if you just want to speak to that,
that was, what, $160 million that we lost in there?
Chase, why don't you come speak to that quickly?
Yeah, you know, we control only a portion of the revenue.
I tend to say, you know, things flow downhill.
Federal government controls a lot of their revenue, state a little bit less, city even less than that.
And one of the main issues that got changed during this period was the PPRT, which had a cap on, which is basically a corporate income type tax and had a cap on what could be filed as losses for corporations.
When that cap gets removed, there's a decline in that revenue source.
And it was even to a greater extent than when we have conversations with the Department of Revenue on the Illinois side.
So we are continuing to have conversations with them,
and that certainly put us in an area looking for additional structural needs.
Thank you.
In terms of your follow-up question, which I heard, of whether or not this was the best pathway,
look, there are pathways to progressive revenue that we have to continue to fight for.
This was just a proposal.
I did have a follow-up.
So your first five questions?
It was one question.
No, it wasn't.
You asked me about I campaigned for something, and then I did not do that,
and then you ask whether or not that was the right call to make, that's what you did.
That was two questions, Jake.
I'm just saying go ahead with your follow-up,
but I'm saying that if we're going to hold to the rules in this space for your colleagues, just stick to it, okay?
Go ahead.
You can get a follow-up this time.
Your chief of external affairs reportedly insists you have 26 votes on this proposal.
Who did she say that to?
That was reported in the Sun-Times.
Who did she say it to?
I believe Fran Spielman, the reporter of that story.
But you're not sure.
Is that true, is what I'm asking.
Okay, so is it true that I have 26 votes on this proposal?
Is it true we are still in the process of negotiating?
Mayor, on the quantum campus, I understand yourself and John are talking about this.
speed to get the quantum campus itself going, right?
I know the developer wants that.
There's a lot of alignment with the governor and the quantum, PsyQuantum, right?
But the size of the plan development that's actually up for approval this week at Plan
Commission, presumably if it gets approved there, city council next month, is much larger
than that, right?
The quantum portion of this is like, I believe, 25%, 33%.
And there are other industries that could break out as a result.
Yep.
Right, but Related Midwest, the developer, has not shared what they do want to do for the rest of the site, right?
There's some allowable uses within that plan development,
but we have not seen what they want to do with the rest of that site.
Why allow this entire campus, this entire development to move forward
when we really only know about a small fraction of what's going to happen?
Thank you.
John?
So, Justin, you're absolutely right.
As you know, the plan development is written in a way that encompasses a broad number of uses.
But one of the things that's also really important is not just sci-quantum,
but it's all of the ancillary businesses that are associated with that.
It's all of the potential supply chain vendors who could potentially also be a part of that site.
So what we don't want is to piecemeal this.
We don't want to do it today and then have to come back six months from now and then have to come back a year from now.
We want to take a very comprehensive, holistic approach, knowing that this campus,
the PsyQuantum on this campus is going to serve as the anchor.
And as that anchor, it's going to help to amplify exponentially the number of different businesses that potentially will come there,
as well as other uses, because as you have employees there, there are going to be needs for places to eat.
There are going to need to be any number of things that we will look at in the surrounding community
as it relates to building affordable housing, other commercial development as well.
But for this specifically, while PsyQuantum is the anchor, it's really important that we have a campus effect
so that we can make sure that we can attract the types of businesses that are going to serve
to augment the initial investment that they're making.
Do you have a follow-up?
Yeah, it's kind of to John's point.
I mean, either of you can answer it, but, you know, you mentioned potentially building affordable housing there.
Related Midwest is not asking for residential to be part of this planned development.
I didn't say on the campus.
I said in the surrounding area.
Okay.
I meant not the quantum campus but the entire development, right?
But that kind of gets to my point, right?
We don't know what can happen on the rest of that.
I don't want to get it wrong.
I think it's a lot of acreage, right?
I don't have it in front of me.
Friends of the Park has called for this to be slowed down, not to be approved at the plan commission.
Do you think the zoning portion of this is moving too fast?
No, I don't think that it's moving too fast.
Look, I can tell you as a former building commissioner,
one of the biggest complaints that I would always get is that the city takes too long.
It takes too long to get a building permit.
It takes too long to get through planning commission.
It takes too long for the city to enable development.
And here is an example where we are actually getting it right.
We're doing the very things that are necessary to enable job creation.
We're enabling the types of things that are going to enable economic development in an area of the city that has long since seen underinvestment and underdevelopment.
And so I think that there are going to continue to be checkpoints throughout this entire process that will provide the city as well as stakeholders to understand exactly what the other development elements are going to be on this particular site.
But it is absolutely critical for us to move forward in getting the zoning in place
so that we are able to recognize the benefits for the citizens of the city of Chicago.
All right. Thank you all very much. This was great. See you all next week.
You're welcome.