# Budget Engagement Lakeside Chat 2.4.25

- Date: February 5, 2025
- Type: Video
- Length: 1:00:33
- Topic: Budget
- Video: [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB8QR-voN60)
- Transcript: Machine transcription, 9,212 words ([text](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/files/transcripts/youtube/NB8QR-voN60.txt))
- Mayor: [Brandon Johnson](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor)

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=0) Opening and introduction
- [3:56](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=236) Budget engagement roadmap
- [10:29](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=629) Stakeholder perspectives
- [17:19](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1039) Mayor's opening remarks
- [20:46](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1246) Budget priorities and strategy
- [31:06](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1866) Revenue and fiscal sustainability
- [38:16](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2296) Housing, transit, and environment
- [49:53](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2993) Q&A and concluding remarks

## Legislation

- [R2026-0023372: Call on Mayor Brandon Johnson and his administration to implement Year 2026 budget package](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/matter/R2026-0023372-call-mayor-brandon-johnson-his-administration)

## Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson participates in the Budget Engagement Lakeside Chat.

## Transcript

[1:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=60) All right, everyone, if you can take your seats, we're going to get started. I'm talking to you guys up there in the front, having a private conversation. All right, important things are happening, I know, important things. Hello, everybody, welcome. Thank you for joining us tonight for our budget engagement lakeside chat. This is a really important evening that we're having here. We're going to be discussing the budget, a bit of the budget engagement process,

[1:31](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=91) and then we're going to hear from some folks that helped us during the planning stages of our budget engagement process last year, and then we'll hear directly from the mayor and budget director, Annette Guzman. I'm going to introduce myself right now. Sometimes I forget to do that. My name is Sarah Mathers. I'm the first deputy of community engagement, and I see some familiar faces in this audience because I know you guys came to my budget roundtables, right? Yes. Okay, that's what I'm hearing. Let's get a little more energy in the room, okay? Yes, we did that, right?

[2:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=124) That's right. We are the civically involved people that show up on a cold Tuesday evening, that show up at our community colleges and sit and talk at roundtables, and that, you know, love this kind of stuff. So I appreciate you guys all for coming tonight, And I'm very pleased that you all are here. So we asked you guys to give us some questions beforehand to submit your questions because we're going to try to weave those in throughout the evening. But don't worry if you didn't get an opportunity to do that

[2:34](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=154) or if you didn't see that form to sign up and ask questions. You should have seen some index cards upstairs where you could also ask a question. You can leave it. We're going to do a little bit of question and answer tonight. We're not going to come up to Mike's and do it because this, again, is a lakeside chat and not a town hall. But don't worry because we are starting budget engagement early and we're doing it often and there's going to be a lot of opportunities for you to do that. So as a reminder, tonight we're talking about the budget that was built for 2025.

[3:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=189) That's this year, right? But we built it last year in 2024. So a lot of the questions that came in were questions about next year's budget. That would be 2026. And we are going to start building that again soon. But this tonight is sort of the tail end of our budget engagement from last year, right? If you recall from the roundtables that you came to, we said at each one of those that we wanted to have a report back and to discuss what made it into the budget from the conversations that you were having this evening during those times.

[3:45](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=225) So that's what tonight is. We are going to do this report back, and we want to discuss some of this stuff with you. Now, so there's our agenda for the evening. When I started with Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration, we heard that the budget engagement process and the engagement process wasn't very robust. It wasn't very rich. And so we thought, what are some guiding principles that we're going to use, some framework to change this process?

[4:16](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=256) So we worked through this with a variety of stakeholders, and we figured out that we wanted them to be more participatory. We wanted there to be more equity. There needed to be more education and more transparency and accountability. And this evening, as well as the way we designed our roundtables, are all a part of that process. Next slide. There we go. This is also what we heard in the first year. Now, when it says 2024 engagement feedback, that's from 2023.

[4:47](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=287) That's from when I first started. Okay? What we heard is people wanted to start earlier, engage more, increase inclusion, improve access and knowledge. develop models of co-creation and increase transparency. And I'll tell you, that was a big bill to do in our very first year. So we didn't quite accomplish it in that first year. But last year, I'm very proud of the process that we began and the work that we started with that. So I'm going to go into a little bit of that, about what that looked like.

[5:20](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=320) Let's see. There it is. So this is our budget engagement overview. view. As you can see, this is the road that we took to get here, and this has been in a couple of our presentations. I think that we shared it at the roundtables also, but as you can see, we did a phase one. That was a survey collection that was started. Then we produced an interim report. Raise your hand if you read it. Oh, liars. Very lies out there. I think it was clicked like

[5:53](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=353) six times, but we were very happy for those six clicks. Then we went into our phase two, which was a co-design method with aspects of our public engagement roundtables. And those happened in like May and June. We started the survey process in April and May. We produced that report in May. Then we started to co-design with a group of stakeholders to talk about what those budget roundtables would look like so that we could get those guiding frameworks built into them.

[6:23](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=383) Then we had the public roundtables. Now, all right, now raise your hand if you went to the public roundtables. All right, or clap or something. Give me something. Okay, yes. Right. Okay, we went to the public roundtables. We participated in those. They were a big change from previous years. We allowed people to engage longer and more often and stick around and talk about the subjects that they wanted to. We also produced a report from that. Now, I linked that in every single thing that I sent to you guys. Did anybody check out the engagement report?

[6:58](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=418) Okay, we got one hand. We got two hands. All right, well, this is the homework for tonight, okay? Afterwards, after you feel very inspired by this conversation, you can go home and you can read it page to page to page. It's like 100 and something pages, and it's got every single Comet that people put on paper at our four public roundtables, okay? So you can see that we were capturing that information, and we're trying to work that in to everything we do. Then the budget

[7:28](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=448) process happened. That happened with the Alders. That happened with the mayor. That happened with a lot of drama, but it happened, and the budget was passed, right? And this is where we are now, having our Lakeside Chat, our report back. Because the things that we heard is that people wanted to know that their feedback was important, that it made it into the budget, that what they say when they go to these things matters to people. And so that is our goal, and that is our effort, and part of that is reporting back to people.

[8:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=480) So this is where we are right now. We're at the Lakeside Chat. This has been with us since the very beginning, and we've followed this roadmap. So let's give a round of applause for the roadmap. That's right. Because I need energy when I'm up here, folks. All right. As I said, the first phase is the survey. We invited our task forces, our working groups, our delegate agencies to participate in this survey. It was long. It wasn't for the general public. It literally took people around 20 minutes to do it, right?

[8:30](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=510) So we had to talk to folks that had some familiarity with the city. But we asked them to look at the survey and help to whittle down some programs that we could talk about during the budget roundtables so we could have more focused conversations, because that was also a priority of it. We had 193 respondents, 181 of those were in English, 8 in Polish, 3 in Spanish. We did a really good job with our engagement councils to get those translated into other languages. And then we left an online public comment section open for several months so that people could put that.

[9:05](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=545) Those are also in that engagement report also. So after we had our first round with those surveys, we whittled it down so that we could focus our conversations on programs that we knew needed more engagement and that we wanted to make sure kind of the budget that people felt excited about talking about. We held phase two, and we invited some stakeholders to come and help with our public engagement part. So we did an in-person three-hour meeting, and then we did a 1.5-hour virtual meeting,

[9:39](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=579) and then we met weekly until the roundtables happened. Now, people didn't have to come to all of them all the time. The first one, we really needed them there, that three-hour one. We asked them to make a lot of decisions. Those decisions were what the roundtables ended up looking like. pleasure tonight to introduce to you a couple of the folks that were at the roundtables. I see a couple more in the audience, and we appreciate that. I'm sorry that we're part of the stakeholder

[10:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=609) co-design group, but I'm going to bring them up here right now and ask them about the process and how they felt about it, okay? So let's give them a round of applause, give them some energy to get up here. We've got Carlos, Carlos Fernandez, and Eugenia Oleson. They are members of our budget crew, and so we're going to hear from them this evening about the process and about what that felt like. So thank you for joining us. As all of you heard, they were part of the stakeholders group that partnered with the city to co-design public engagement.

[10:44](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=644) And these folks got to think about what programs people would discuss and the format, materials that were provided, how long people were going to talk. if we tried to have everyone talk about every topic or if we were going to whittle it down and if they could choose what they wanted to discuss. So it was a really long process to come up with all of that information. So my question to them this evening, and feel free to answer the question that you would like to answer, but it is, what was the most challenging thing

[11:15](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=675) about co-designing budget engagement for the entire city of Chicago? Well, thank you so much for having me. I think one of the things that come to mind for me whenever you are tasked with developing a group of stakeholders or engaging the community for anything, opinions, right? So there are a lot of different opinions, a lot of different perspectives. People come from different backgrounds, different neighborhoods, different abilities. And so understanding that that was going to be a challenge, I think, was important. And it felt like to me that you all did a great job of creating different avenues to which people could respond, whether it's video, handwriting, engaging in a virtual meeting or in-person meeting or coming to the round table.

[11:59](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=719) So the most challenging part for me was thinking about all the different needs that the city of Chicago faced and prioritizing them, right, and looking at how we can dive deeper into having conversations about specific areas. So for me, homelessness and housing was like the number one on my radar because that's the work that I do. But I also realized that there are so many different other stakeholders in the room when there's so many other issues or so many other things that require money and funding to operate in the city of Chicago

[12:29](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=749) that we had to take a step back to say, look at the big picture, look at the city of Chicago and how we can influence how people can respond back. So I think the most challenging part for me was prioritizing what was important to dive into. Thank you. And I think from my perspective, the most challenging thing is making that engagement, the input on the budget, meaningful, right? And I think that there was some progress, and there's still some progress made and some progress to make, right?

[13:02](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=782) So when we got the stakeholders group that very first meeting, I think we heard that. Some people said it, that we felt that our communities wanted to have a meaningful input, and that's something that had been missing in the past. You know, at the Grassroots Collaborative, we work with dozens of community groups, different areas like homelessness, but housing, you know, education, other issue areas, right? So definitely hearing from the diversity of people, but also giving them an avenue to really have a say in the budget.

[13:37](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=817) And my thoughts on that challenge, how we did this time, is, A, really a positive step forward, right? Having this budget engagement design, co-design process was a step that I haven't seen in the past budget processes. But, you know, there's still a lot more work to do, and that's my other part of the feedback, right? That it felt like, you know, we could have a lot more meaningful input on it at a community level, right?

[14:11](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=851) And I know there's limitations. So the challenge is how many meetings can you have, how many people can you get, how much education you have to give people, right? All of that is part of giving people meaningful input on the budget. But I think that the challenge for something as important as a $5 billion budget is really, you know, that's a challenge that you all have stepped up to, but we all need to keep stepping up to. So I'm hopeful. I feel like we're turning the corner on that, and I want to make sure that the city, the mayor's office, city council, and all of our communities keep turning that corner and having more input on the budget going forward.

[14:52](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=892) That's really helpful, and I really appreciate it. If you could expand on that just a little bit, both of you, if there are some concrete things that maybe you've thought about that could help drive us towards a more meaningful process of budget engagement, I'd love to hear them. I think something that resonated with me the most in this process was the ability to understand what the budget means. So when we see the city of Chicago, generally, if you're not in this space, you just say, the city should do this, the city should do that, the city should do that. So I think you all created a video, like a 10-minute video, where you kind of break down, you know, what the budget is and why it's important.

[15:31](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=931) But maybe this year coming up, spend a little bit more time in smaller groups explaining what the budget is so that people understand that, yes, this is a vast issue. There's so many different moving parts. There's so many things happening in the city of Chicago. But this is the amount we have to work with. So help us narrow that down. So I think just a clear, very rudimentary explanation of budgeting, I think, will motivate people to be more engaged and more inspired to contribute, because if I know what I'm talking about, I'm more likely to raise my hand.

[16:01](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=961) Awesome. Oh, I heard some people liking that one. All right. Carlos, do you have something to add to that? I just want to say ditto. Like, I think education, the city can do a lot more. We could all participate more, but the city could do a lot more on education. what goes in a budget, right, because we're being asked to make tough choices and to dream big together, which is good, but also make tough choices. Both are important ways of building community. So ditto and help us, help groups in communities, educate our communities, right?

[16:37](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=997) Awesome. Let's give them a round of applause. That was really, really great. I love it. They've given me a lot more work to do, so thank you for that, but I appreciate it also. And just a quick question. Do people remember the 10-minute video? Oh, blank stares. Another homework assignment. That's great information on it. We had our staff members, too, watch it and said, dang, that's good stuff.

[17:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1029) So go home and watch it. It's on our budget engagement website. Very good stuff. All right, so thank you to our stakeholders. We appreciate that. Next in the process came the roundtables. You've heard me talk about them a lot tonight. I know there were a lot of people that were there. I appreciate it. Here's where they were. We held them in July. July, we had three for the general public and then one for the youth. Again, that youth one is something that was added by this mayor.

[17:39](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1059) I thought it was really important to make sure that the youth voice was heard on that. So, without any further ado, you guys have heard about the budget engagement process. You have a handout that talks about what was from that process and what was added into the budget. You also submitted questions. And so I'm going to bring up Mayor Brandon Johnson. And we are going to bring them up in just one moment, it sounds like.

[18:11](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1091) So they are coming, I promise. We're coming now. I was going to think of something like, should I do an audience call and response? Like, how much time do we have here? What are we doing here? But nope, we're just going to stand up here, and we're going to say a round of applause for Budget Director Annette Guzman. Here she comes, looking beautiful as always. And we've got our Mayor, Brandon Johnson.

[18:41](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1121) Big round of applause. Thank you very much. All right. Hi, everybody. Thanks for coming out on a Tuesday night. We really, really appreciate you coming out. We know a lot of you were instrumental in putting together our budget engagement this last year. And so we want to make sure that we come back to you and we have conversations with you about not only that process,

[19:13](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1153) but how what you brought to those budget engagements made it into our budget this year. So I am very honored to have joined with me today, Mayor Brandon Johnson. Do you want to say hi? Hi. Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Budget Director Guzman, for your leadership. And I think it just is appropriate for me just to acknowledge the space that we're in today as we celebrate the history of black folks here in America and what this institution means.

[19:47](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1187) and What the city of Chicago means to the rest of the world as, again, a black Haitian immigrant, a Pottawatomie woman, fell in love, established this amazing city. Mayor Herra Washington, of course, who just imbibes the true essence of black history as someone who understood his responsibility as a black leader and what it means to be a black leader in a global economy, establishing sanctuary here in the city of Chicago And as we fight the forces who clearly have not accepted the results of the Civil War, I'm grateful that we are standing on the shoulders of so many great leaders in the city of Chicago.

[20:29](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1229) So I think we should just offer up a moment and just hear, hear to the life and the legacy of black leaders and hear, hear to the future of America through the lens of black liberation. Thank you for that. So tonight we're going to I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. And then we're going to take some questions from the audience because we know that, you know, you are a big advocate of co-governance, of hearing directly from residents, those who participate in that economy that you just talked about in the city of Chicago,

[21:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1264) and how they're shaping and influencing your thoughts on the budget. So my first question for you, you know, when I came into this position, when you hired me, You and your first deputy of community engagement, Sarah, made it very clear that expanding the engagement to broaden and bring in more voices was critical and very important to you. So my first question for you is, can you share some insights on how residents' feedback directly influenced your thinking about key investments in the 2025 budget?

[21:38](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1298) Well, thank you for that question, and you're absolutely right. Coming from the organizing space and constantly pushing city hall, city government to respond to the needs of people, I've always desired to see government show up on behalf of the needs and interests of people. And two things that I'm very proud that the community really challenged us to uphold in this budget. One, youth employment and workforce.

[22:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1329) Twenty nine thousand jobs for summer for young people this summer, a 50 million dollar commitment because of this room. And that's that's also a part of our full force of government, holistic approach to drive down violence in the city. The other one that I'm very proud of coming from residents was really pushing us to respond to homelessness in the city of Chicago. And so we have a one-system initiative, a $40 million investment, and right now there's not a single child that's on a waiting list who is unhoused that needs housing.

[22:50](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1370) And I don't know whenever that has happened before, but certainly the first time in a very long time that we have literally cleared out the 3-1-1 calls of families who have been looking for shelter. Every single child who needs shelter, who have called for shelter, has someone to lay their head tonight because of this room. And I remember, you know, when you first came to me and said that that was one of your major priorities and, you know, me shaking my head and saying how I'm going to make it work, and we made it work.

[23:29](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1409) There was a lot of voices in this room, a lot of voices at the budget engagements who said this is one of the biggest priorities. We live in a city that for six months of the year is cold. We live in a city that doesn't have enough affordable housing, right? And so making sure that that was something that we made a priority, not only from you, but made it a priority for a lot of members of city council. I thought that that was something that came from this audience, and we appreciate that feedback. And Director Guzman, if I can just say one other thing about what you've just offered up, how we would ultimately respond and deal with it.

[24:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1444) And I know we'll likely get into this a little bit later, but I just want to encourage everyone here today that there is still an ongoing effort to secure resources so that we can continue to grow these investments. And I just hope that no one in this room gives up on any of those opportunities to generate the type of revenue that's necessary to continue to make these critical investments. So, you know, as someone who has to sit at the kind of at the divide between how do you make, you know, things a reality fiscally, but then also address the needs that are very directly coming to us from the community.

[24:41](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1481) My next question for you is, you know, from a fiscal perspective, how did you balance? responding to community needs with maintaining fiscal sustainability for the city's budget? Yeah, that's a great question. So first, let me just say there are many there are a number of aspects of this executive space that we have pushed to do for years. And many executives prior to me arriving said we could not do it. And it is evident, however, that there are some aspects of the role of the executive that have the ability to make significant changes in people's lives that we were able to tap into.

[25:27](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1527) And it is reassuring and comforting to know that our organizing wasn't wrong. And with that being said, I've always have expressed the need to show up in our most authentic way. So we present our values and we're clear about those values. And many of you have affirmed and reaffirmed those values. And what I said and what I will continue to say is that we don't compromise those values. Now, having to work through the details and negotiating the details of the value system that we have,

[26:02](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1562) That was a challenge. I'll be very vulnerable and honest with you all. And you can see in this budget, we were still able to maintain the core value system of investing in people, negotiating the details around how much we can contribute. Look, 29,000 jobs for summer youth employment over the course of my first 20 months in office, it's a 43% increase. But I wanted 30,000 jobs, right?

[26:33](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1593) I mean, there are 1,000 young people that, unfortunately, were not able to be accounted for in this budget. Now, it doesn't mean that the organizing ends or the fight stops. But, again, that's just one example of we knew we needed to increase in youth employment, but we worked with city council to negotiate details around what those investments will look like. In all fairness, we were able to increase our dollars for gender-based violence support.

[27:05](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1625) So there were other areas in which we were able to respond to, even though we didn't get to the 30,000 positions that I wanted. And we never compromised our value system. We negotiated the details around this budget so that there was a fiscally responsible balanced budget. And we did that in large part because we have a company of witnesses that understand the importance of those investments, and we were able to hold and maintain the line of increasing and certainly not decreasing.

[27:36](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1656) And even in some cases, keeping the status quo is just as problematic. We didn't do that. We were able to increase it, kept our values, and we did it in a fiscally responsible way. You kind of touched on something that I know a lot of people have talked a lot about during the budget season was, you know, I think a lot of people think the budget is solely the mayor's budget and the budget is, you know, you present it and it gets passed, right? So you come to the budget engagements, you tell the mayor what you want, and that's what happens, right?

[28:08](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1688) But what we saw was a pretty democratic process of, you know, diverse opinions. We have 50 alders, diverse opinions about what the priorities should be, right? I'm curious of your thoughts on, you know, how that played out, how, you know, we continue to make sure that the voices that we heard from are the priority and what ultimately gets passed by city council. It's certainly encouraging to know that there are alders who are committed to a democratic process

[28:44](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1724) to ensure that voices from every single section of the city are actually heard. Now, my own personal value system is that those who are closest to the pain and those who have experienced historic disinvestment have to remain as an intricate part of our prioritization. There's a tremendous amount of value in the public space to debate these measures out loud.

[29:16](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1756) What I will say, there is an opportunity for the community engagement that I'm doing directly with you all this evening and what we would do throughout the year to strengthen you all's awareness around, to your question, Director Guzman, that it is my responsibility to present a budget. So your values, our values that are aligned, we present that budget, we present those programs. present the line items to support those values, it is the city council's responsibility to pass

[29:52](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1792) that budget. Now, the negotiations that played out loud as we negotiated from one end to the other end to be able to satisfy the expectations that you all have in this room while also meeting the expectations and the demands of the legislative branch of government, where there are opportunities for us to sharpen our presentation so that the responsibility that is ultimately on city council to pass it, once that budget is presented, based upon the feedback that I received from you all,

[30:25](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1825) we have more work to do to help strengthen those relationships on city council so that that presentation doesn't just get seeped into some political debate that is absent and void of this room. The debate was city council versus mayor of Chicago, where the debate really should be city council's responsibility to pass a budget based upon the feedback that comes from this room.

[30:56](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1856) I want these battles to be the people versus versus some fake battle of Johnson versus. So something else you touched on just briefly a minute ago were the conversations around revenue sources and how we're still fighting for progressive revenues. We know, and we got a few questions from both those online as well as people in the audience about the search for new revenues. And we know that's critical for the financial health of the city, for us to continue to be able to provide services.

[31:31](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1891) And so if you were to give any encouragement to those who are here with us today, as well as those who are watching online, about how they can champion efforts around revenue sources, more progressive revenue sources, what would that encouragement be, and why is that part of the conversation so important? So all of the ideas that come out of these engagements, I don't know if I've ever seen an idea that I thought was ridiculous.

[32:08](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1928) You know, we talk about rapid rehousing, $28 million for rapid rehousing. That's because of the feedback that came from this engagement. $23 million for broadband support, $100 million for violence prevention. These are real dollars that are going towards the critical areas that ultimately are designed to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago, a more inclusive economy. And the the real frustration that I experienced as mayor of Chicago or the thing that people ask what keeps me up late at night.

[32:43](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1963) And it's really centered around. People not knowing what's available and that which we can expand people giving up on that possibility. So my encouragement to people in this room, think about what we've been able to accomplish in two budgets. Think about your experience with previous administrations. And then put that side by side and you tell me where the hope should be.

[33:16](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=1996) I was there with many of you in this room when the demands that we are seeing a clear manifestation of where other administrations said it's not possible. We've demonstrated otherwise. The hope that I have, the encouragement that I have is we are not where we were 20 months ago. Not. I don't know if we appreciate enough, like how much we've accomplished in 20 months.

[33:47](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2027) And I get it. And I've shared this story with my with some colleagues earlier. My father, you know, will be 83 years old on the six that Thursday. Right. Don't let me forget. Yeah. 83 years old. Good. That's right. And when I was younger, Annette, he would always talk about, you know, we would come home from work or working with him and, you know, we'd be all tired. My father was a general contractor, plus he had his third shift job as a public employee. So he would work, you know, at the mental health facility overnight.

[34:18](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2058) And then he would, during the day, he would go and rehab homes and he would sign me and my brother up, not sign us up, he would take us. And, you know, we would just be so frustrated and tired. And he would look at us and he would just say, it's just work. That's all it is. It's just work. And I think I understand what he was ultimately getting at, that no matter if you are a general contractor or mayor of the city of Chicago, it does require you to actually put some work in. You know, the investments that we are making, especially around affordable housing, I want this room to know that whether it's the real estate transfer tax, whether it's the progressive income tax or any other form of revenue, we have to be incredibly sure and confident that we are not where we were 20 months ago.

[35:11](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2111) We have legitimate receipts that we've been able to make these critical investments without the type of revenue that's really required. How much more can we do collectively if we stay strong and vigilant and committed to this work? If we do that, you all, the people who said that we would never be able to run City Hall, we made them out to be liars. Let's also make people appreciate that our hard work can lead to the type of transformation that working people across this city deserve.

[35:46](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2146) Black, brown, white, Asian, young, old, north side, north, south, east side, everywhere else in between, that we have the ability to continue to organize, to fight for the revenue that's necessary to continue to make these critical investments. That's a really good point. So, you know, you forecasted, even before you came into office, the trajectory of the city's finances from $500 million, a billion, and so forth. And when we came in, we quickly found that those forecasts were pretty accurate.

[36:21](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2181) So I was faced with a very daunting task. You were faced with a very daunting task. Just as those who helped develop our budget engagement found when they had to prioritize what are we going to focus on in these budget engagements, you know, solving a billion-dollar budget gap leads to difficult decisions. So how did you approach and how did your team approach the challenge without compromising essential city services that a lot of our residents rely on every single day? Yes.

[36:51](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2211) Simply put, we told people the truth, right? We told people that it would be very difficult. We did put forth ideas that were difficult. And I know individuals in this room know how difficult it was for us to consider a property tax increase. It's not something that I wanted to do. And I did not want cuts to services. Now, we were able to, working with city council, working with other community stakeholders, we were able to, again, make these critical investments,

[37:27](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2247) sure up efficiencies where we could find them, while also ensuring that we didn't have any cuts to services. I will say this, and I know you're probably going to blush or not appreciate me putting you on the spot here, but I just want this company to know, as organizers, we could not have asked for a better finance team, and we could not have asked for a better budget director than Annette Guzman, because we made those investments, we did not raise property taxes, and we did not have to cut services.

[38:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2284) That was some hard stuff, y'all, and I'm very proud that a black woman led the way in doing that. Thank you. So we had some questions that came in from those who registered for tonight's events that I want to make sure that we get to as well. So this is, again, Democracy in Action, where we take questions directly from you. Um, so I'm going to touch a little bit more on the housing because I know that's a big area for you.

[38:39](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2319) Um, you know, one of the questions that we got from online is, you know, how does the city plan to house over 76,000 Chicagoans and prevent us from being displaced due to high housing costs? Yes, thank you for that question. whoever raised that, you know, I've made it very clear and I believe everyone in this room knows that every single human need is a human right. And that certainly means housing. And

[39:13](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2353) having housing stabilizes our economy and it reduces in every single category of trauma and frustration, it reduces those elements. So one of the things that I'm very pleased that we were able to do last year was pass this $1.25 billion bond investment for housing and economic development. It's the largest investment in the history of Chicago, you all. And that is the direct result of you all pushing on this issue.

[39:46](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2386) The largest investment for housing and economic development ever. And we're already seeing clear examples of how those dollars help us build more units because that's what we have to do. The way we ensure that we do not have people unhoused, you have to build more homes. You have to build more affordable homes. We have $115, $130 million investment around building more affordable homes just in this year's budget.

[40:16](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2416) We're also looking at this revolving loan to build more social green housing and particularly affordable rental units as well. I believe we're almost at 4,000 affordable housing units that we've built thus far. We're going to continue to make these investments. If there's ever a question that you all get and someone asks what is Mayor Johnson's primary motivation, it's to repopulate Chicago and particularly on the west and south sides of the city.

[40:49](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2449) The one group that we have lost population, we've only lost population within one group, and that's black Chicago. Every other people group in the city has increased. And that's why I don't apologize around our investments on the south and west sides of Chicago. We have this program called The Missing Middle that's being ran through our Department of Planning and Development and Department of Housing, where we're looking at large swaths of land where there are multiple lots that are vacant,

[41:21](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2481) where we can build multi-unit affordable homes using developers who look like the community in which they're building in. Those type of incentives and investments are critical to the repopulation of the city of Chicago. The last thing that I'll say is we're going through a transformation right now with our public housing leadership. We talk a lot about affordable homes. That's important. And we cannot lose sight of the opportunities that we can support families by building more public housing and transforming our public housing so that it shows up better for people.

[41:59](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2519) When I taught in Cabrini Green, Jenner Academy, many of you all know, I talk about the stories of my students waking up every single day with these bulldozers staring them down with the hope and the promise that these units would be returned. We have to do that. And these programs, missing middle, making sure that there are vacant lots that the city owns, that we can turn over to developers, especially if they're committed to doing and building units on the southwest sides of Chicago, Inglewood, North Lawndale.

[42:34](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2554) These are the things that I believe are critical to the repopulation of our city while also meeting a very basic human need, which is housing. So this registrant actually had a kind of a different question going in the way of efficiencies. So how do you plan on making cuts to the city budget and using resources more efficiently?

[43:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2584) OK, so that's a great question. And that's hard for me. I'll be honest with you. Efficiencies and consolidations, you know, those are triggering for me, to be perfectly frank. You know, consolidations and efficiencies and cuts were used as rationale and justification to close 50 schools. So when I hear efficiencies, I hear it through the experience of individuals saying we need these efficiencies, it's going to save us money, and it turns out it doesn't. What we have done, and again, working with you, Annette, and our partners and city council members,

[43:43](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2623) One, working through the modernization of city government, there are ways in which we can do government better through upgrades of just technology. We did ask city government to look at where there's overture and excess. This year, I believe we asked every department to cut 3% from their budget. We were able to do that without having to lay anyone off. So we're going to continue to work with forms of technology to modernize how we do work, ways where there are opportunities where we can find where there's duplication that could live under one entity.

[44:29](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2669) And so instead of two departments doing the same thing, perhaps there are ways in which we can consolidate those efforts where we can save resources. So it is top of mind. I mean, I don't think anyone in this room would disagree that there are likely places where we can be far more efficient in how we deliver services. You know, and I still believe that the ultimate goal is is not just to show responsibility in terms of how we execute and deliver government. We still do need more resources. But that's a great question. Thank you.

[45:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2704) And I think I handled that without being overly triggered. Thank you. I agree. So you've talked about the youth employment program as being really critical to how you want the city to move forward, how we invest in people. And so one audience member asked, how do they gain access to the youth opportunity programs, their initiatives, resources, internships, the jobs and other aspects of the budget that's been allocated for you? Yes. So thank you for that question. Right. Because I said this earlier, the number of people who do not know what's available.

[45:38](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2738) That is frustrating for me. So one of the things that we do have is this brand new app, the MyShi, MyFuture app, the QR code. I believe we will make that accessible and available this evening. Share that with with youth organizations. Last year, I believe, roughly 51,000 young people applied for summer jobs, of which, again, almost 28,000 were hired. So we still have a little ways to go to meet the demand.

[46:10](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2770) But that app also connects young people with all of the services that are available for them at the city level. So one more question. Do we have time for one more question, Sarah? Okay, perfect. So this audience member asked, my biggest issue is our long-term financial health, such as fixing the pension crisis, avoiding downgrades, so we're not borrowing off of future debt. Second biggest issue is transportation and safety. How might the 2026 budget continue funding work on transportation and safety while getting our debt and pension funding finally under control?

[46:51](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2811) So thank you for that question. And I mean, seriously, Annette, you spoke of this earlier. I was the only person running for mayor at that time that told people the truth about our fiscal narrative. And the structural damage to our budget has been created over time. And so that's why it was important. It's not something that gets a whole lot of news coverage. But the fact that we have provided this addition, well, I shouldn't even call it additional, the payment to our pension obligation to ensure that by the next four to five years, one, we don't have to pay that additional or that supplemental, but it's going to save the taxpayers two, three billion dollars over the course of the life of this effort.

[47:42](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2862) And so we're already moving in the right direction to deal with the structural damage. It doesn't mean that the pension fund is going to be 80 percent solvent. However, we won't be treading water and we're certainly not kicking the can down the road. So in other words, as mayor of the city of Chicago, I believe it's important that we meet those obligations and we will continue to do that. As far as the budget is concerned around transportation, we're going through some leadership change now. I'm grateful that we were able to finally secure the $1.97 billion from the federal government to extend the red line out to 130th.

[48:17](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2897) So shout out to the far south side of Chicago. That is good news, right? 5.3 miles of additional tracks is going to create more jobs. We do have some financial challenges, though, that we're going to need Springfield's help with. So our team, we've already met with the Senate president. We met with the Speaker of the House, Director Guzman. You know that we've had conversations with the governor's team as well around the need to ensure that there's an equitable distribution of state resources to the largest contributor to our transportation system.

[48:56](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2936) There are some efforts, though, that we are working with the Chicago Police Department to have safer transportation. Last year, almost 90 days, we finally got our ridership over 1 million. We are hiring more workers. I will just say this one last thing. The number of people who are signing up to become train operators and bus operators is quite impressive, and we still have more vacancies there. So, in other words, the more we fill that workforce, the more our transportation system will run more effectively and more regularly.

[49:33](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=2973) We can do those things at the same time, organizing in Springfield for our proper equitable share. of the resources, and we continue to hire people, we will have a transportation system that is far more affordable, that is more predictable, and, of course, and safe. And that's what my ultimate goal is. Perfect. And so we now have questions directly from our audience here. Perfect. Thank you. All right. I think this question is prime for you. So, Douglas, I hope that you're still

[50:07](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3007) here asked the question, and it's about the Department of Environment. So first, thank you for restarting the Chicago Department of Environment. What efforts are underway to make it as strong or better than in the past? Thank you for that question, Douglas. This was important to me when I talk about, again, Black History Month, housing, education, transportation, jobs, and health care. Those are the demands of descendants of slaves as we went into reconstruction era, I've added this friendly amendment that environmental justice is very

[50:37](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3037) much tied to the solvency and the long-term sustainability of our planet and particularly neighborhoods that have, again, have been historically disinvested in. And so Angela Tovar has done an amazing job. We're looking in quarter one, I believe our legislative agenda is centered around the cumulative impact study so that we can begin to deliver the type of distributive resources and services to communities like on the southeast side of Chicago, west side of Chicago, where there's an uptick of asthma, asthmatic individuals, and the lack of natural rain barrels, which are trees.

[51:13](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3073) So this cumulative impact really is going to be our focus within the first quarter here so that we can begin to move closer towards our goal of having, you know, again, a long-term sustainable economy as well, and not just environment. Let me just say that I'm very proud, though. On January 1st, I just hope everybody knows this, all of our public buildings are now powered by renewable energy, electricity, including both of our airports. That's a big deal.

[51:47](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3107) And under your leadership, you know, we have now instituted a working group with the Department of Environment to look at all of the departments in the city of Chicago and start to bring the more regulatory focus that was spread out when the Department of Environment was first disbanded, bringing that back under the umbrella of the Department of Environment over a multi-year process with the first stage, hopefully in the 2026 budget.

[52:18](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3138) So it's under your leadership. And thank you for lifting that up because, I mean, look, it's a sore topic. I get it. But there were decisions that were made that were environmentally harmful because the decisions that were made did not come from the expertise or the lens of environmental justice. And there are a number of permits and other elements that were approved because that department didn't exist. And the hope, of course, and the appreciation of this department is so that that type of regulatory effort lives in one space.

[52:49](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3169) So that is important. Thank you for reminding me of that. So I would be remiss if I didn't ask you a question from a CPS student, and I don't know who it is because you didn't write your name down. But I'll ask it anyway. I'm going to have to take points off your paper because you didn't write your name. No, I'm teasing. You've got to get recognized. You've got to put your name on. Oh, is it you? Okay, all right. Okay, perfect. So if this is your question, we need to know your name. And it goes back to CTA. So as a student at CPS, a CPS high school, my friends, especially in the south and west side,

[53:20](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3200) I'd say they feel unsafe riding the train. What have you passed in the budget for CTA, safety, and upkeep? Well, again, thank you for that question. Too many of our – first of all, let me just acknowledge that too many of our young people in the city of Chicago have to travel too far to go to school. And that is an injustice in and of itself. I talk about Kenwood Academy. That's where my son attends. He's a junior. But the primary reason why he's at Kenwood Academy is because, quite frankly, he plays the violin and he plays soccer.

[54:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3240) And, you know, the curriculum there is strong. We appreciate that. And the last I checked and my son included, you know, everybody doesn't get excited about school to go to their social studies class. Right. I got excited about the students coming into my class as a social studies teacher. And it's important to have, you know, well-rounded first curriculum. So we have to do more to invest in our public school system to ensure that our neighborhood schools are fully supported. You know, and again, working with the police department to make sure that there's a presence on our CTA.

[54:36](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3276) So that's something that's important, but more importantly than that, the way that we create a safer transportation system is that we have to get more riders, just to point blank. And the way you get more riders is that you have to have more workers. And so, as I said before, we are working hard to encourage more people to apply for these positions to have better pay so that the buses, we have a whole program around safe street for buses initiative to move our buses a lot faster through the city, particularly where there aren't connections with our L.

[55:15](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3315) And, again, what I've pushed for, and we've seen some good results in 2025, 2024, rather, of our workforce increasing. And as we continue to hire more people, as we continue to make these necessary investments, as we continue to work with Springfield to ensure that our funding is equitable, we can hire more people, create faster, more reliable, more predictable train and bus services. So I think this is going to be the last question. And you did just mention Springfield. This person also didn't leave their name, but a great question.

[55:52](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3352) You know, with these CPS students not putting their names on their paper, I'm going to have to have a talk with you all tonight. Outside of state funding, which sources of funding would the city of Chicago rely on for supporting programs in the budget when we may not get any federal funding from a dictatorship? Wow. As you. OK, what's going on, man? What's going on, TJ? You know better than that. That's it's tough. You all. I mean, look, 30 percent of our revenue, the city of Chicago has the ability to dictate 30 percent.

[56:30](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3390) I'm just going to tell you all this, and I get your question, that we have to do whatever we have to do to satisfy the desires that are in this room. And we have to challenge the state of Illinois to do its part. All right, let me just say the loud part out loud. Or the quiet part out loud. The quiet part out loud. Thank you. It's late, y'all. It asked me this extra question tonight. The quiet part out loud. The state of Illinois needs the city of Chicago to be successful in order for the state of Illinois to be successful.

[57:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3429) So since we all know that to be the truth, then let's not come out with our hand and hat in hand. Let's not do that. This budget proved that we were willing to do a lot of different creative things to make sure we didn't have to cut services. And if we think that we are, if we claim to be the bastion of progressive politics, the blue wall, the city and the state that stands up for working people, can't just quote that in a social media post.

[57:44](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3464) Matthew 621, where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. So if your heart is with the working people of the city, then show me through your treasure. Thank you all very much. I know that sometimes budget conversations can be boring, but there is nothing boring about that now. And I just really want to appreciate everybody that came out here this evening to this and participated.

[58:19](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3499) And I just checked online. We got a lot of viewers online. So I think give yourselves a round of applause. Really appreciate that. Oh, so I've got one last little thing for you. OK, I need you to pull out your phones. All right. If anybody needs help with this, we can help you out. But there's a QR code here. OK, we're going to go to a minty meter where we're going to take a little poll on how we want to engage going forward. OK, so I know that the mayor's got places to go.

[58:52](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3532) So let's clap him out while we do this last piece. And thank you all again. Thanks so much, guys. Looking at you. See you all. Thank you all. Great job. Thank you.

[59:42](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3582) Oh, because they're doing, yeah. There it is, the QR code. Oh. Yeah, thank you.

[1:00:18](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60?t=3618) Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, go.

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Source: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/NB8QR-voN60 · Chicago Politics, an independent tracker of the Chicago City Council. Guide for agents: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/llms.txt