Chicago Politics

Community Grand Opening 8.14.26

Chapters

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the Community Grand Opening.

Transcript

0:04 test test one two three good afternoon everyone and welcome what a great feeling when you see the mayor of chicago with us here my name is mohammed abdullah i'm the owner of the washing car wash and it truly is an honor and a pleasure to have all of you here with us today first i

0:36 want to give a very very special welcome to the mayor of chicago brandon johnson mayor brandon Johnson thank you for being here you have done an amazing job supporting and promoting the small businesses through our great city we encountered you a few years ago if you recall at an event at the room and you did not hesitate as usual you showed up that says a lot about you used to you stay close to

1:09 people you listen and you support our communities mayor Johnson thank you for being close to us. Thank you for your humility, your leadership and your continued support of Chicago's small businesses community. I also want to recognize and thank all the City of Chicago officials and employees who helped us throughout the permitting process. Opening and growing a business takes a lot of work and we truly appreciate everyone who

1:44 help make that process easier for us well to all of the officials congressman Davis Mike Aldo and my only Scott Commissioner Michael Scott mr. John real minister brother Muhammad okay yeah thank you for all for you coming here Okay. And of course, our finalists. In just a few minutes, one of you will be driving home a brand new 2026 Salvation. You're going to have the title, you're going to have the paperwork, and you're going to be going home with this new car. Okay. It's not a joke. It's real. How does that sound?

2:46 Congratulations to every finalist, and thank you to everyone who participated and supported Wash & Car Wash. Now, I want to recognize someone very, very special to me, very special to me, our Alderman of the 24th Ward, Monique Scott. She has been an Alderman, a community leader, and a friend, and a family, and someone who has always given us encouragement and support.

3:20 Thank you for dedications and energy you bring to serving the people of the 24th world and and I cannot forget my coach my coach and I think I think you are the coach of the 24th world the chief of staff and believe it or not we've been known each other I don't know your name I only know your name that's because we just called you coach okay coach my friend thank you for

3:54 everything you do. Thank you for your guidance, your friendship, and for always being there when we need you. And I also want to thank my family, my friends, and my team of the Washing Car Wash. Can you please stand up? And everyone who helped us to leave this moment. A business does not grow because of one person, of course. It grows because of people who believe in it. It works, support and give to give it a chance from the bottom of my heart thank you

4:27 very much okay I just want to tell you I love Chicago Chicago is a city of neighborhood families entrepreneurs and people who work hard every day and everybody have a story to tell in the American when I came to this country back in 1987 okay and work out my life my education and get to this point but this is a Chicago give us the chance to grow not like any other city in the We are proud to be part of the story, and we are proud to serve this community.

5:00 I am honored to introduce a strong leader and a great leader to our community, the Alderman of the 24th Ward, Munez Scott. Thank you. Not just a car wash, but an investment in the 24th Ward. Each investment is critical to a community that has been disinvested in for over 60 plus years.

5:32 If you are a resident and you live on this, and you live in the 24th Ward, you know that Roosevelt Grove has been desolate for our entire lives. And if you look from the growth from Costner, no, from Kilbourn, we're working our way back. We're going to work our way back all the way to downtown if we can with economic development. So an investment like this is not just that it's a car wash. We have created jobs. If you look around, the people that he has hired are people that are from our community, and that's important.

6:05 because when you bring an investment to a community, you want to make sure that you hire from the community as well because that's investment. That keeps stability in our community. And so I want to thank you a lot because you trusted in our office. You trusted and believed that, you know, from the security that you have to the people that are working here, that we can do the job and we can earn income in our homes to make sure that, again, that that is stability within our homes. So I want to thank you. I want to thank the city of Chicago for believing in this site and what can be done.

6:41 He also owns the lot next door, something that we also work together on. And I think that that's important because, you know, we look at nationalities and we say, oh, why are they doing this in our community? Because they've invested into our community. So investments are – a community grows because of the people in it. And so I didn't even look at my speech because I have to preach this. You know, as a community, we say, oh, the government dropped the bill to hit. No, government don't. It's investors.

7:11 And Mohammed is an investor into North Lawndale. And so everybody don't come here and just say, I want to build in North Lawndale. We have to go out and seek investors. Mayor Johnson, the governor, they can't just drop businesses in our war. It takes people like you investing in your own community. And so we have to do a better job with investing in ourselves and investing in our community. So we don't wait for somebody else to come build something for us. We have 3,000 vacant lots. Build it for yourself.

7:43 And so if you don't believe me, we have, I'm going to repeat this again, Londell 6 won 3,000 vacant lots. We're not landlocked. We're not building lots. You have the power to invest in your own community. You say you don't have cleaners? Build one. We didn't have a car wash. We talked. He built one. Come into my office. If you're willing to make the investment in your community, I am willing to support you. Thank you. Not further ado, I want to introduce the mayor of the city of Chicago, Brandon Johnson.

8:31 Well, good afternoon, North Lawndale. What's up, West Side? Thank you to Alderwoman Scott for her leadership. Thank you to Commissioner Michael Scott, to our congressman, and, of course, to the community. It is such an honor to be with you all, to celebrate with you. It's always a great day when a new business opens in Chicago, and especially on the west side of Chicago. And on behalf of the city, I want to congratulate Washington's owner,

9:01 Mohammed Abdullah, as well as his entire family, for this incredible milestone. Let's give it up for our brother and his family and all of the workers here today. I also want to thank you for your belief and investment in our city. and this isn't your first venture. I had the pleasure as you said before of attending the ribbon cutting at your gas station and convenience store The Room in 2022. It takes conviction and

9:33 encouragement and courage to invest in yourself and your dreams and we in this city are deeply appreciative of that because small businesses are the backbone of our city's neighborhoods and commercial corridors, and it's really the heart of our communities, because they create jobs, they enable our residents to build lives and to have stability. They spur economic activity that's... our neighborhoods, and of course they attract further investments and visitors that will

10:05 ultimately help grow our city. They also bring the people of Chicago out into our neighborhoods, helping the areas to grow into safer and more affordable communities. And knowing their vital importance, my administration invests in our local businesses and entrepreneurs. I do this to ensure that they have the necessary resources and funding and knowledge to run a successful business. And through our Cut the Tape for Small Business Initiative, the city of Chicago is working to reduce the barriers

10:38 that slow down or hinder economic growth in our city so that we can celebrate more grand openings like this. In closing, that work is allowing us to modernize and streamline and to digitize the process for licensing and developing clear guidance that helps owners to understand the required steps, documentation, and criteria for a city inspector. We are committed to creating an environment where entrepreneurs and their ventures don't just survive, but they thrive.

11:11 Today is a sign that Chicago is truly open for business, and I want to again congratulate and thank Mohammed for this investment. I look forward to seeing this business flourish and contribute much more to our city. And I'm also saying congratulations to whoever wins this raffle today. A big congratulations to the winner of this card. And if you want to just pick up my son or my daughter or just want to swing by and we can ride together, this is an open invitation.

11:45 so god bless you all god bless the best side and god bless the greatest city in the world chicago okay the next program we just want to we want to walk to that do a ribbon cutting right now then after that we do that with

Sources and methods: how we get and count this data · report an error