Chicago Politics

Lakeside Chat with Bishop Brazier 5.18.25

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends a Lakeside Chat with Bishop Brazier.

Transcript

0:00 to be able to be available, and to be able to express what is going on in the city, what is going on in our nation. I do have your questions. I have my own set of questions. I do have some other questions, and we'll try to move through this. But I absolutely want to thank you for everything that you've done and for being here on this afternoon. And so when I come back and when we go live, which will be about a minute, and I say praise the Lord

0:30 I want you all to give God a great hand praise. Amen. Y'all let me know. Let me know when we go live.

1:20 Praise the Lord everybody. Good to us. We just finished our 10 o'clock service. We combined our two services and we thank the Lord for you. And for those who are watching

1:52 via live stream, let us give our live stream audience a big hand. I told the congregation this morning that I woke up on 10. I'm ready to go. I am fired up. And the Lord has just been a blessing to us. I thank the Lord that we have our mayor here with us on this on this morning, this afternoon.

2:26 And this is a special broadcast that we have so that the the mayor has an opportunity to speak directly to congregants, directly to citizens of Chicago. We are live streaming this as well. And it's important that pastors like myself and others make room for a conversation like this so that your questions, you might have a question, your questions get answered, asked and answered.

3:00 And so we're thankful for him. And so without further ado, I'd like you to give the mayor of the city of Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Apostolic Church of God welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. It is truly a blessing to be with you this afternoon.

3:35 Dr. Brazier for your incredible leadership. I am so grateful to be in the house of the Lord. I know this is a lakeside chat, but I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And of course, as the band was playing, I just felt that in my spirit, every praise is to our God. Every form of worship. You all know I'm a church, you know, at a church boy at heart.

4:08 So if you just stay with me long enough, Dr. Brazier has officially given me my ordination. So if I feel my help coming, just hang in there with me. But I'm grateful to all of the work that has been done, not just for the woodlawn community by this faith institution, but the influence that Dr. Brazier has across this city and across the globe. the city of Chicago, we have something and someone special in Dr. Brazier.

4:43 I say the world has something special in Dr. Brazier. I have relied upon him for counsel, and since the beginning of my administration, I've had the chance to visit churches and businesses and community organizations and senior homes around the city

5:19 to have a very explicit conversation around what is needed for my administration. And Dr. Brazier has been with me every single step of the way. And it's through these conversations that has allowed me to begin to accomplish many great things for our city over these last two years. We recently announced the launch of our Build Better Together operation. It's a comprehensive citywide economic development strategy that is focused on quality and affordable housing for everyone.

5:53 businesses and innovation and job growth and neighborhood investments and to ensure that we have more vibrant communities. We've also begun to expand our people's plan for community safety. This initiative is working to protect those who have been impacted by violence while also preventing future violence through investments in our people and in our communities. And we are already seeing the fruit of that labor. the month of April was the fewest amount of homicides since 1962.

6:33 We are working to provide more assistance and resources and support to our unhoused residents through our One System initiative, where we increased the number of shelter beds by 126%. For the first time in a decade, families seeking shelter in the city of Chicago, there's no longer a waiting list. We are making it easier for residents to rent and buy homes, making it faster and more efficient to build and renovate homes through our programs and initiatives like the Cut the Tape initiative.

7:10 We've also passed green social housing. We just did this. It allows us to expand affordable housing and upholding green building standards. We are also addressing mental health. We've expanded our treatment, not trauma across the city so that when individuals who need support, who are struggling with their mental health, no longer does a police officer show up for these crises. Now we have paid mental health professionals across the city to respond to mental health.

7:46 And we promised to reopen mental health clinics. When Mayor Herrick Washington was taken away from us, we had 19 mental health clinics that were publicly funded. When I was sworn in, we were down to five. Well, we reopened three mental health clinics in Roseland, the lower west side, and the west side of Chicago, because our mental health matters. and we're making tremendous strides in investing in our young people, this summer we will have 29,000 jobs available for young people,

8:22 a 45% increase since I've taken office. The Bible says if you cause a young person to stumble, you're better off tying a millstone around your neck and jumping into the river. And so we are not going to stand in the way of our young people. And I want you to know that if you know any young person that is seeking an opportunity, we have those jobs available. In fact, one of the programs that I'm most proud of, last year we hired 75 high school seniors in Chicago to participate in a pilot program in our streets and sanitation program.

9:01 Of those 75, 55 of them are currently still working for the city of Chicago, making $50,000 a year, and in three years they will earn $90,000. And this summer, that same program has been offered to 100 high school seniors. Now, as we prepare for this conversation, know that my heart beats for the people of this city. I believe that in order to be an effective leader, you have to be a collaborator.

9:33 But most importantly, you have to be an effective listener. And so today I'm looking forward to all of your questions that will ultimately get us closer to building what I believe is possible. The safest, most affordable, big city in America. The greatest city in the world. The city of Chicago. God bless you.

10:15 They have to adjust our packs to make sure that we're positioned right for it to go online. Okay. They want us to switch seats. That's what happens. You've got a good staff, Mr. Mayor.

11:09 Let's give our crew a big hand. Mr. Mayor, thank you for being here. And the congregation thanks you for taking the time out to have this conversation with us. Yeah, you're welcome. Thanks for having me. It is so important for constituents, congregants, or whoever, to really be able to hear from you and to answer the questions, you know, what has really taken place that we have not heard? What are the good things that have taken place in your administration that you want to lift up today?

11:45 Well, thank you. And again, you know, these first two years in office have been just an incredible journey for my wife and I. And she sends her greetings. My wife and my middle child were in Kansas. He was in a baseball tournament. Unfortunately, they're coming back home early. They didn't do too well this morning. But they represented Chicago very well. And, you know, I was talking with my wife the other day ago, and it allowed me to be a little bit more reflective of what's happening in this city.

12:20 And let me just say that everything doesn't have to be perfect in order for it to work. And she shared that and she used her being married to me as an example. You know, it's nothing like a black woman to keep you humble. But one of the things somebody said, hallelujah. But one of the things that I think is incredible that we are experiencing right now.

12:54 When I ran for office, there were many people who were fear-mongering, saying that if you elect Mayor Brandon Johnson, there would be blood in the streets and that our city wouldn't be safe. It's the same tactic that they used against Mayor Harrell Washington. It's the same tactic. And since I've been in office, and this year in particular, violent crime as a whole is down 23%. We are leading every major city in the country, big city. And there's a lot of work to be done there.

13:26 And we are moving in the right direction. Not only is violence down in the city of Chicago, our investments are up. Just last year, we secured over $11 billion of new development, which attributes to 37,000 construction jobs. Why is that important? Our city colleges, the enrollment for our city colleges is up 11%, 12% since I've taken office. The number one subgroup of registrants in our city colleges are young black men.

14:03 And I'm lifting this up because it's important that we give people hope, that the investments that we are making into our respective communities, 4,000 affordable homes that we've built, 1,800 under construction, another 4,600 within the next 18 months in office, as we build business and economic opportunities for our communities, And it's critical that we share what's available because the thing that I believe is most frustrating for me is that the number of people who are not aware of what's available and what's happening, that's something that I know I have to be more effective at getting across.

14:42 And so investments are up, violence is down, and we're just getting started. Amen. Amen. Amen. And we know that there are three major areas that every mayor has to deal with, education, safety. economic development. What can we, in these three areas, what can we expect in the next 18 months? Well, let me just start off with our public education system.

15:12 You know, if you've been attached to politics in Chicago over a period of time, we know how difficult it has been for there to be a real focus in our public schools. And I am so focused in on our public schools because public education was a benefit to me and my family. I was a public school teacher here in Chicago, benefited from public accommodations. My children actually attend the public schools in Chicago. I'm the first mayor in the history of Chicago to actually send their children to the public schools.

15:48 That's how much I believe in them. And I can tell you that what is happening across the city, there are signs of real progress. So one of the first things that we had to do was ensure that we had a teacher's contract that reflected my values and that we could settle a teacher's contract without a strike. Thank God that you actually have a teacher's contract that did not require a strike, a strike authorization in the streets of Chicago

16:21 just to convince the administration that we have to invest in our schools. And what does it look like now? We finally have real regulations around class sizes. We can't underestimate the value of small class sizes. If you know anyone who sends their children to suburban schools, they'll tell you that class sizes are far more manageable in the suburbs than they've been in the city, right, because we have faced so many different challenges. Well, now our kindergartners will be in classrooms with support with no more than 22, 23 children in that classroom.

16:59 That's a big deal for our early learners. But we've also made sure that we are protecting veteran teachers who have overwhelmingly been black. Let me just say this emphatically. The disdain and the animus towards black educators in this city historically have been reprehensible and, quite frankly, ungodly. We've had administration after administration blame black women for societal failures.

17:33 Well, in this contract, we protect black veteran educators, because if there's one thing that I know for sure, if you put a child in front of a black woman, that child has no choice but to find their purpose and be successful. That's what this contract does. And then finally, there's a large initiative to build sustainable community schools. Why is that important?

18:04 Here's what administrations have done before. Some administration said, let's build more schools. And then we saw how that became reckless and out of control. And then another administration said, let's close schools. We saw how reckless that was. How about we just keep it simple? How about we just invest in the schools that we have? And through Sustainable Community Schools, it provides additional support and resources for neighborhood schools to allow for community-based organizations, faith-based entities, businesses to work directly with the community to design curriculum, to prepare for more beneficiary outcomes that are unique to the community.

18:52 I am so tired of everybody believing that they know what's best for our communities. My administration is committed to make sure that the community elevates what's best for the communities. And that's what the Sustainable Community Schools model does. And then it also protects black history. I'm going to say that one more again. Black history is American and world history. And if you eliminate us from the school books, then you eliminate all history.

19:43 I don't want you all to think that I'm doing this for selfish reasons to make sure that the schools study Mayor Brandon Johnson. I'm just saying that there are a lot of people within the city of Chicago's proper that our children and every other child needs to know. The city needs to know how we have established and created infrastructure in this city that is second to none. It was Dr. Keene that came to the city of Chicago on the west side, by the way.

20:15 Come on, I can't get no help up in here. I mean, I know y'all got Keene Drive, but he did live on the west side. But Dr. Keene came to the city of Chicago establishing the daily administration, and he challenged that administration to focus in on public accommodations, schooling, and housing. But here's the thing that I think is so profound and why black history is so critically important. And as the federal government works to wipe us out of history, make no mistake about it is, about this, black doesn't just crack.

20:55 We don't go away. Black folks will be here in this city and in cities across America protecting this democracy, protecting humanity, because that's what black people have always done. This country owes us a big thank you for the evolution of this democracy in protecting humanity across the globe. It was Chicago that stood with South Africa. It was Chicago that stood against the war in the Middle East. And we will continue to stand firm.

21:26 And what was your question again? But Dr. Keene said that if we can figure it out in Chicago, we can do it anywhere in the world. That's why I am working hard to live out the hopes and aspirations of our ancestors. They didn't get it wrong. They just got blocked. But doggone it, with everything inside of me, we're going to push back against every single opposition that wants to undermine us building more affordable homes.

21:59 educating our children, having economic development, you asked in your frame too, not just about education, but you talked about economic development. Reverend Jackson always talked about the number one employer of our people is our people. And so that's why this $1.25 billion bond investment for economic development and housing, I mean, it is the largest economic housing development infusion in the history of Chicago.

22:31 We're not going small. We're going big because our people need it. If there's one thing for the people of Chicago to understand and know what my motivation is, I am going to work to repopulate the west and south sides of Chicago come hell or more hell Because our people have been displaced from this city. There's been malfeasance, economic malpractice. We're going to ensure that our people are seen and loved and heard.

23:04 And so when we put forth this economic development investment, it's also to grow small businesses. We can grow up to 500 small businesses over the next five years that will infuse the commercial corridors like 79th and Ashland and what what Pastor Hannah is doing on Cottage Grove. I see a few of Hannah's members snuck in today. And what we're doing along Madison Avenue as well. And so the educational piece, along with the economic piece, is tied hand in hand.

23:39 And figuring it out in Chicago allows us to set the precedent for how the rest of the world gets to operate. You know, it has been met with some difficulties. Don't misunderstand me. And just because something is hard doesn't mean it's not worth fighting for. In fact, the harder it is, that gives me just that much more confidence to know that we're doing something right. If everybody in this city was praising me, I would see myself as not as effective.

24:11 The fact that there is clear opposition against what we're building, it is proof positive, Dr. Brazier, that we're heading the right direction. There is a $10 million pact right now that is being formed by millionaires and billionaires to stop me from hiring black children, building more affordable homes, making sure there's economic development. If there is something in this city that I have caused to get worse, name it, because I can't think of anything. If there's something in this city that I inherited that we're making better, I can name those things.

24:46 Youth employment, more housing, crime is going down. We're going to set our city up for success, but it's going to require all of us to ensure that what Dr. Keene envisioned, that we can see manifest. if we continue to come together. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In the area of economic development, certainly we're talking about housing, and this congregation is aware of the developments that are taking place by the church called Woodlawn Central.

25:21 But it also, as we take a look at jobs, and we take a look at jobs during this time where businesses are looking to try to not hire, since we have the highest unemployment rate. And then small business, how we address both those become very important. So expound on and give us some ideas as to how we address business as well as entrepreneurship.

25:52 Yeah, thank you for that question. For entrepreneurship, I'll stout there. There are so many different lanes for our people as it relates to entrepreneurship. And whether it's construction, professional services, whether it's any type of service, one of the things that's coming out of our economic bond is I'm going to start with small developers. So we have something called, in my administration, it's called the missing middle. You know, when you move through our communities, the vacancy is so vast that these one-off projects are just not enough, right?

26:30 And so we have something called the missing middle where we are encouraging developers to take upon multiple swaths of land in vacancy and build owner-occupied multiple units. The reason why that's important is because the missing middle allows for us to build at scale, but it also allows for us to build generational wealth. And so our missing middle, we have six developers that have received the first $30 million for investment.

27:03 Six developers. Of those six developers, five of them are black and three are women. And what they're doing is they're building owner-occupied multiple units. And the reason why that's important, as I talk about generational wealth, there was a study that was released, and I'm really grateful for Karen at the Urban League. She does just a wonderful job. And the study released indicated that the average cumulative wealth for white families in Chicago is roughly $200,000.

27:34 It's about almost $230,000. The cumulative wealth for the average black family in Chicago is zero. it's the quintessential example of working every day to barely break even it actually reminds me of the song in the whiz you can't win child and then you can't even get out the game and only a black mayor could quote that by the way I'm just saying for the record it's a benefit of having a mayor that grew up watching the whiz

28:12 And by having this Missing Meadow program, we begin to address the cumulative wealth impact, right? Building more affordable homes is one thing. Are people building those homes? That's a game changer, right? And that's what the Missing Meadow operation is about. And then the other element is the infusion of just small business grants that we are putting into the city of Chicago.

28:42 From child care workers to small manufacturing companies, many of the small businesses in Chicago struggle because they just don't have that initial seed money. And it's not unique to us, but if I can just give you an example. Think about how many families have sought to purchase their first home, and then we had to call other family members to get a little bit of money in our account to demonstrate to the bank.

29:16 Am I the only one who had to do this? Okay, I feel like I'm by myself all of a sudden. But, you know, we had to use other resources within our family makeup to prove to the bank that we could actually take on this mortgage, right? And just because we didn't have the wealth passed down to us, we had to, you know, finagle a little bit. And so to take that responsibility off of small business owners, they may have a project that's $4.5 million. dollars they may have three million but they need this city to close that gap right for that

29:52 development that's what my bond investment and through our other grants that we're doing and as i said it's not Just the big corporate deals, those are important. We have PsyQuantum on the southeast side of Chicago, the first mayor in 32 years to bring major development to the southeast side of Chicago with PsyQuantum. And then we have the other big development on the west side,

30:23 the 1901 project, which is about $7-8 billion of new development. But it's also, again, the smaller businesses that we have to infuse dollars in. And that's what my administration is doing. One of the things that, you know, I thought a lot about when I was running, like how much access does the mayor truly have to resources to help our people? And there are certainly, Dr. Brazier, some restraints there. But there are a lot of levers that we can use to ensure that our people are taken care of.

30:57 We just need a little more time for some of the work that we've done to really sink into our neighbors, into our neighborhoods. But, you know, creating pathways for entrepreneurship and development, that is key to long-term sustainability. I'll give you another example. There's a gentleman who runs BOA Construction, Brother Nosa, just an incredible leader.

31:29 And we did some expansion at the airport, particularly in the cargo. And do you know there's never been a prime construction company that has led growth for an airport, particularly in cargo, anywhere in the United States of America? But Boa Construction received the prime construction contract at O'Hare under my administration.

32:00 It's the first black prime construction company to have a prime contract anywhere in the United States of America. And that's critical not just for Boa Construction, but for the lives that he's going to transform because he's hiring them. But it's also critical for other major construction companies or midsize construction companies that are black owned to know that there is a mayor who sees them and is going to work hard to ensure that whether you're developing homes, whether you are looking to help take advantage of the opportunities through aviation, whether it's entrepreneurship to provide a service, that there are resources available for you in the city of Chicago.

32:45 And one thing that I know for sure that I have to do over these next two years, every single dime that our people have been robbed of, I want to make sure that that is returned two, threefold. Because I believe in something called press down, running over. That is what we have to make sure that happens within our communities. Mr. Mayor, let's go back to education. And I have another question on economic development. Now, we do know that you've got, there's another election coming up for another 10 or so board members.

33:24 We know you've got to hire another CEO for the public schools. You've got a contract, and there's probably any number of other things going on inside CPS. I believe that most of us want to know, okay, with all those institutional things taking place, what's the vision for our kids? what's the what's the vision for that education of our kids because we're in the middle of this turmoil and so i want to vision out just a little bit tell me a little bit about that

33:56 so you know when i talk to young people around the city and i've visited multiple schools in chicago and having taught in our schools what i know about our children is that our children want to know that that tingle in their heart, that's their purpose. They don't always identify it as such. They want to know and they want some certainty that whatever that God-given gift is, that our education system not just responds to that God-given gift, but we create a pathway

34:32 to allow for the full exploration of that gift. What I have found in our public schools is that we narrow our children's dreams. And we do it from the very beginning. When you have five-year-olds taking standardized tests, I actually find that to be quite cruel. And it doesn't mean that we should not assess children. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that if you're trying to capture someone five-year-old's dream on a Scantron, to me, I actually find that to be quite ridiculous.

35:06 I'll give you an example. My oldest, he's 17. He is a proud Kenwood Bronco. He spends so much time on the south side, I think I might lose a west side of it, you know. But I remember when he was 10 years old, and he shared his dream with me. I'm sorry, he was about eight years old, and he shared his dream with me. Now, this boy is now in honors trigonometry. I can't even help him with his math homework. He's in AP government, just a highly intelligent kid, and I'm very proud of him.

35:41 But when he was about eight years old, he looked me in the face and he said, Dad, I know what I want to do. I want to be a Power Ranger. It gets really good, though, because he goes, I want to be the black one. And I was like, yes. That was him at eight years old. Right now he's thinking about financing and accounting. And the reason I'm using that as an example is that the more we can create a full rounded education system for our children, of course, all your core subjects.

36:24 But I'm talking about exposing our children earlier to the trades, making sure that our children know that there is a pathway for their discovery through arts and through speech, right? We have narrowed education to the point where we have sucked the life out of our children. I'm saying that my vision for our public education system for our children is to have a well-rounded, full curriculum that allows them to explore the arts, to explore the humanities, to explore the trades.

36:58 And eventually, I believe that that tingle in their heart, their purpose, that they can find it along the way. I had teachers who came to me and said, you know, as a young student, you know, my love for history, my love for the humanities, my love for culture, where they begin to help find a pathway for me along the way. My father, father, who was a general contractor, he wanted me so bad to be in the trades, Dr. Brazier. And it just wasn't my thing.

37:30 You know what I'm saying? And I think the more I was exposed to all of those elements, I certainly was exposed to the trades. But I also had a chance to be exposed to all the other things, the richness of education. When we talk about a full rounded education system, what I'm saying is that we have to make sure that children enjoy learning. And the more they enjoy learning, they can go from a Power Ranger career to a career in finance and accounting.

38:00 as well as making sure that my middle child, who is more, he thinks like an engineer, but he understands the trades, he's just as sharp as his brother, but goes a little bit deeper into the analytics of how things are built. I want every single child to have access to a fully funded school that allows them to be who they are, to be the very best of who they are, and it sets them up to be the very best for their future. Going back into economic development, and I appreciate the BOA example, but down through the histories of all of the mayors, back to even Mayor Washington who first initiated the affirmative action elements in purchasing,

38:51 It has never seemed to, regardless of the mayor, never seemed to actually get past 5%, 6%, that kind of thing. Help us understand if, in fact, we're a business people and we're looking for, we're not looking for a free hand. We're just looking for somebody to do business with us. Just do business, right? It's not about affirmative action or whether I'm black or not. Just do business with us. If you do business with black people that have the competence to do it, right, then do business.

39:27 Don't look for somebody else just because we're black. We want to be there. In your administration, what are we doing to ensure that there's multiples across the industries, there are multiple advantages that are not limited to 2%, 3% of a billion-dollar spend for the city? That's right. That's a great question. And it goes back to what Reverend Jackson would always share with me. Our people hire our people. And so one of the ways in which we're ensuring, let me back up for a second.

40:00 So when we say our people hire our people, I just want to name this. Two administrations ago, 70 to 75 percent of the administration was primarily made up of white and white men. In my administration, 45 percent of my administration is black, 25 percent is Latin A, 30 percent is white, 8 percent is Asian. It is the most diverse administration in the history of Chicago.

40:31 And here's why I'm naming this is because there are some detractors that will push back on me and say, you know, the only thing that the mayor talks about is the hiring of black people. No, what I'm saying is when you hire our people, we always look out for everybody else. We are the most generous people on the planet. I don't know too many cultures that have play cousins. That's how generous we are. We just make somebody a family member, right?

41:02 This is how we are. And so business and economic neighborhood development, the deputy mayor, is a black woman. Department of Planning and Development is a black woman. Infrastructure, deputy mayor, is a black woman. Chief operations officer is a black man. Budget director is a black woman. Senior advisor is a black man. And I'm laying that out because when you ask, how do we ensure that our people get a chance to grow their business?

41:39 Having people in my administration that will look out for the interest of everyone, and everyone means you have to look out for the interest of black folks because that hasn't happened. That's how we ensure long-term sustainable growth, because the BOA construction as a prime, now he has control of all of the subcontractors as well. I'm going to bring up something that's a little... Let's take a look at technology.

42:11 Construction is where affirmative action really had taken place initially under Mayor Washington. But a lot of our businesses are in the tech industry or in the support industry and legal and consulting kind of things. How is it that they're breaking in? What are we doing for them? That's a very good question. And so I'm going to give a lot of credit to John Rogers because this is his lane. John Rogers has done a lot for black professionals.

42:43 And he always talks about how professional services are another way in which our people can benefit from our economy. And so we're talking about whether it's legal teams or whether it's technology. And one of the things that we're doing now, there are three areas of growth that I believe that our economy will begin to experience. Life sciences, manufacturing, biotech. And so it starts with ensuring that our young people know that these are pathways for the future, but it also starts with my administration, and we're doing a better job at this, as we look to innovate our government to streamline services, that we are using the technological firms that reflect our people.

43:35 And there will be multiple ways in which our folks will be able to take advantage of this. I put together a working group to respond to the financial challenges that I've inherited, and it's my responsibility to fix moving forward. And the individuals that are at the table are people like Jim Reynolds, who understands the value of these professional services because, you know, he has done quite well at Loop Capital. And there are other smaller firms just like that, that we need to ensure that they're getting an opportunity as we innovate our economy, that these firms are at the table.

44:13 And let me just say one thing to that point. It's not a separate table for our people. I want to just make this point clear. I'm not separating our people out where they get to sit at a kiddie table where we actually offer up maybe a handful of things. The table is designed for our people to sit at, the main table, the main course, the main investments, to ensure that these professional services, that our people get a chance to participate in them.

44:43 Yeah, it's a great question. In public safety, there's always been the question about how, I guess we call it the, there's a rate, I can't remember the name of it, the closing rate is what they call it. that when a police officer is killed, we find the people real quick. Clearance rate. When black people get killed, it becomes, you know, well, you know, they're still at large.

45:14 Nobody seems to know. How do we close the gap on that? So when it comes, let me just say this first part. Community safety, it's the thing that I wake up thinking about and it's what I go to bed thinking about. So I get a call every morning at 8 o'clock in the morning from my chief of staff. And she provides me with a situation report of everything that happened the night before.

45:48 And around 7.55 every single morning, I'll be honest with you, Dr. Brazier, my anxiety starts to build up. If there's ever time to pray for me around 7.55 in the morning, because it is so unnatural to hear death every morning. Whether it's covered or not, I get the report of how many people were shot, how many people lost their life, how many people were in a car crash, people drowned.

46:21 I mean, just everything that happened the night before, and community safety is such a priority for me because, you know, look, and I say this with humility, I really do, hear my heart, raising my family in Austin, we love it. My wife and I, we love the Austin community, but I know everybody in this room, everyone in this city knows that the Austin neighborhood is one of the most severely underfunded community. And as a result, it leads in pretty much every single violent category.

46:55 Like it is literally like block to block in Austin. And when I put forth my community safety plan, I brought all of the stakeholders together. My police department, Department of Family Services, streets and sanitation, public health. I wanted to understand where it was happening, violence, and why it was happening. We discovered that there are 35 beats in Chicago that are the most violent beats.

47:28 It's where the hyper-concentration of violence happens. It's a real severe number where the vast majority of violence happens in about 5% of the city. And in those beats, we noticed that those beats are where schools were closed, where homelessness was higher, unemployment, et cetera, et cetera. And so we begin to concentrate our efforts in those 35 most violent beats. And we just begin to show up. It's not just with policing.

47:59 is policing and housing, policing and jobs, policing and mental health support services, policing and investing in our entrepreneurs. And what we've seen, those beats, the 35 most violent beats, is where we've seen the greatest reduction in violence. It turns out, if you just show up for people, demonstrate that you care, not a handout, but a hand up to give people opportunities, It's not a coincidence that for every job that we create, we actually create safer communities.

48:34 But one of the other things that we did was I made sure that we invested in our detectives division. We hired 200 more detectives and we revamped the entire detective division. And so now our clearance rate is now 56% and continues to grow. So when there is violence that's happening in Chicago, we are solving violent crimes, particularly homicides. Now we're going to take that same operation and apply it to shootings because it's not enough to just solve crimes of homicide.

49:07 If you shoot in this city, whether you hit somebody or not, I want to make sure that we have a police department that finds that individual, apprehend them and hold them accountable. Anyone who shoots in our city is a danger and a threat to the lifeblood of our city. And, you know, we have a little ways to go, but, you know, our clearance rate continues to grow. Because to your point, Dr. Brazier, one of the ways in which we can engender more confidence in our police department is when our police department is able to close these cases.

49:45 There's the greatest deterrent to violence is opportunity. But another way to ensure that we deter people from committing violent acts is the catch to people. who commit them, right? It's stopping it, it's preventing it, but it's also, if you come to harm our people in this city, we're going to hold you accountable. It's just that simple. Okay. Mr. Mayor, are you familiar with something called One System Initiative Program?

50:22 I am. Very proud of it. There's a $300 billion. The question is, it's from one of the audience members, we have a $300 billion budget deficit. I'm not sure if that's the case. It's not that bad. Right, right. I don't think so. How does your administration plan to fiscally sustain your One System Initiative Program? Yeah, so the One System Initiative is an initiative that we built around building more shelter beds. Seventy percent of families who are unhoused in this city are black families.

50:55 Twenty-six thousand, I believe, or almost 20,000 homeless children in our Chicago public schools. And so we built this One System Initiative. We increased the number of shelter beds by 126 percent. We receive support from the state of Illinois. It's in the governor's budget. Our work has been to keep that in the state's budget. And as much as I'm proud of this One System initiative,

51:28 and I mentioned this in my opening remarks, where when people call 311 looking for shelter, families, there's no waiting list. And so families who are unhoused, we can support them. The ultimate goal is to create a pathway to their own home, and that's why we're building more affordable homes. But I was disappointed that we were not able to pass Bring Chicago Home. And I know that was a decision that voters decided not to support. Not overwhelmingly, but it didn't pass.

52:01 And the amount of revenue that we would have generated from Bring Chicago Home would have been $100 million to go directly to the unhoused. Now, there could be an opportunity in the future for us to bring Chicago home and to raise the real estate transfer tax just for people who have property valued over a million dollars. That's less than 3% of Chicagoans. Ninety seven percent of families would have received a reduction if they were to transfer real estate that they own.

52:35 Ninety seven percent. Three percent would have had to pay a little bit more incrementally over a million dollars. It wasn't a substantial tax. In fact, in fact, the person to initiate it the first time was actually Cook County Board President John Schroeser. President John Schroeser wanted to implement a larger rate so that he could build more, you know, provide more health care. Right. When he proposed it, it changed the approach of how you can raise it.

53:09 And what Springfield did, it said that once Schroeser tried to do this, another black man who was pushing for more resources and revenue in our community, Springfield made it a requirement for it to be a ballot initiative. And then here's the other thing. The law states that the chief executive can't campaign for it. It was very intentional to silence board president John Stroser, and that law is still in effect today. And so with all the work that we've done to build this one system initiative to create more housing for those who are unhoused,

53:44 There is $100 million that's available to us if we were to just raise the real estate transfer tax on less than 3% of the population, and even their tax would not be significant. 97% of us, and if you do own property that's worth a million dollars or more in this home, see me afterwards, and I'm happy to have a longer conversation with you. But the ability to raise 100 million more dollars so that we can respond to families that are overwhelmingly a part of our communities, it's a small incremental investment for a larger gain.

54:18 Now, we are going to work hard to keep the funding as is, even with the $1.1 billion deficit that I'm facing in the next fiscal year. But making sure that we're building homes and we're creating opportunities for those who are unhoused, that is the work of ministry, quite frankly. And everything in me, I'm going to work hard to preserve it. Well, one last question, Mr. Mayor, and then I'll have, we'll leave the stage and I'll have Dr. Hayes come up and dismiss the congregation.

54:53 there was a member who wrote what is your vision for the future for the remainder of your term as mayor of the city of Chicago Yeah, thank you for that question. You know, for the next 729 days, I think it's 29, 728, something like that. I take every day seriously. I do. I don't take it for granted that I'm in this position. And growing up in a working class family, father, grandfather, both pastors, the middle child of 10, I never dreamed of this moment.

55:25 I do want to just recognize, you know, one of my favorite ancestors, that's my mother. Before she left the earth, she was getting dressed for the pastor's anniversary, my father's anniversary as pastor. And it's like we just knew that was the last time we were going to see each other alive. And she looked me in the face and she said, she said, she knew she was leaving.

56:03 And she said, don't worry about your father. Don't worry about your siblings. She said, I need you to take care of yourself because you're going to help a lot of people one day. See, I thought one day I would take over my father's church. And she just knew that that's where my heart was. And she said, I don't want you to think about that. I want you to make sure that you're whole because I know that God's hand is on your life. And I wish she would have just said, you're going to be mayor of Chicago one day.

56:38 And I could have, you know, maybe prepared another way. But I'm only lifting that up in context with this question is because, you know, I know that so many people are hurting and they're frustrated. And transformation is not happening as fast as I know many people want it to happen. I know that our people have been harmed and hurt and overlooked. And that's not the case with my administration. I had to respond to a really difficult crisis.

57:09 And in responding to that crisis to make sure that people weren't sleeping on floors in police districts, I know that our people felt that I forgot them. I didn't. That's why these investments are so critical for housing and youth employment and education. Our park district workers that are overwhelmingly our people got raises. the pay time off ordinance, giving people days off, the most substantial pay time off ordinance in the country,

57:39 we abolish the subminimum wage, which has its ties to the vestiges of the Pullman porters in slavery. And so my ultimate goal is, as I think about just my mother's words, I really believe that we can be the safest, most affordable big city in America. If you look at the other major cities, The average price of a home is $1.1 million, $900,000. What good is it to have a safe city if we can't afford to live in it?

58:16 Our population is growing in Chicago. We just had a report from last year where $20 billion was infused into our region just from tourism. That tourism was up in this city. That there are more people moving into this city. I'm going to just say something that's probably going to make my communications director cringe. This notion that this city is unlivable is not only a false, demonic lie.

58:52 It is meant and designed to keep our people from staying here. Because every other community group is coming to this city, and if it was that unsafe, they wouldn't be moving here. But in closing, what good does it do to have an affordable city and we're not safe? And we are moving in that direction as we continue to see the investments go up and violence goes down in this city.

59:25 If I didn't manage that crisis from the border, they would have said a black man can't manage a crisis. And then by managing the crisis, they say, well, why did he spend money to manage the crisis? We got no help from the federal government. When 30,000 Ukrainians came into this city, nobody said a mumbling word. Not one word. And there were millions of dollars spent on those families. And so my vision for the city moving forward, we're going to repopulate the west and south sides of Chicago. We're going to educate our children. We're going to create opportunities for entrepreneurial growth.

59:58 We're going to build the most affordable. safest, big city in America and we're going to do it together. Thank you. Let us give the mayor a big hand. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much. God bless you. We're praying for you. God bless you. Thank you all. Thank you.

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