Chicago Politics

Northwest Side Budget Report-Back Town Hall

Legislation

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson meets with constituents on the Northwest Side of Chicago to discuss the approved FY2026 City Budget.

Transcript

0:00 Good evening, everybody. Let's try that again, because when the mayor says that, everybody's like, good evening, when I say it. Good evening, everybody. There we go. My name is Ugo O'Kerry, Director of External Affairs in the mayor's office. I want to offer my deep thanks to all of you for braving the weather to join us tonight. And I want to thank Hairpin Arts Center and Melody for opening up their space for us tonight. Please give them a round of applause. Tonight, we are continuing our engagement around the city budget by hosting a city budget report back town hall.

0:38 It isn't enough just to bring you into the process of crafting a budget. It's not enough to just bring you into the process of fighting for a budget for the working class of Chicago. But now we want to ensure that we report back on what happened and the fight ahead. Tonight, you'll hear from our Chief Policy Director, Jung Yoon, our Office of Budget and Management Director, Annette Guzman, and of course, our Mayor, Brandon Johnson.

1:08 Chief Yoon will discuss what we've won and what we didn't. Director Guzman will discuss our concerns with the approved city budget. And then Chief Yoon will come back to share the steps we've taken to protect Chicagoans. After that, we'll have time for question and answer and public comment. Some quick housekeeping rules before we go ahead and get started. Bathrooms are down the hall, right on your right, and then you take a left, and you'll see both men and women's bathrooms. And finally, this event features simultaneous Spanish interpretation for all of our attendees.

1:44 If you need interpretation support, please get the interpretation device in the back over there. He's raising his hand if you need one. And I'll say this again in Spanish. Now, without further ado, your alderperson of the 35th Ward, Anthony Quezada. Alderman. You know, the joy of seeing Hugo present me is really beautiful because we're good friends

2:16 and we went to high school with one another. So that's the beauty of Lane Tech. Good evening and thank you all for joining us tonight for our City Budget Report Back Town Hall. I want to begin by thanking the Hairpin Arts Center for hosting us and to thank, yes, And to thank our many civic, cultural, business, and grassroots leaders, along with our neighbors from the 35th Ward and across the northwest side, for being here this evening. I also want to recognize Alderperson Jesse Fuentes for being here, the 26th Ward.

2:47 And I know that my colleague, State Senator Graciela Guzman, will be here shortly as well. And last but not least, I want to welcome Mayor Brandon Johnson and his team for coming out to the 35th Ward to host the first city budget Report Back Town Hall of the Year. Thank you, Mayor. The 35th Ward has a long and proud tradition of civic engagement and participatory democracy. We are grateful to host tonight's conversation, and I encourage everyone's active participation and respectful engagement throughout this evening. Tonight, we will hear from Mayor Brandon Johnson and his budget and policy team about the city budget that passed.

3:23 There is a lot to celebrate in this budget, but it is also important to take note of what's harmful and what challenges we will need to collectively navigate as a city. I want to be clear about my vote. I proudly voted no on the so-called alternative city budget proposal that passed because it shifts more economic burden onto working-class Chicagoans at a time when our communities are already struggling with the rising costs of living, including rising property taxes, rent, and groceries. Our city is also making these decisions in a difficult national context.

3:58 The Trump administration is stripping away billions of dollars in federal funding for health care, housing, education and food programs in order to deliver massive tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations, which is the largest upward transfer of wealth from workers to billionaires in our nation's history, while also enforcing a deadly and devastating mass deportation program across our nation. The context matters when we talk about how we fund our city and what we fund.

4:30 Instead of imposing a modest 3% corporate head tax on the largest corporations in our city, the budget that passed relies on expanding corporate advertisements on public property, including city bridges and light poles in your neighborhood light poles. It permits additional video lottery machines and neighborhood businesses, And it sells off resident debt, like for ambulance bills, parking tickets and camera tickets to private debt collectors. This budget was also developed in consultation with undisclosed experts and was not meaningfully shared with the public before being brought forward and hastily passed.

5:10 In the limited time the budget was available for review, several of my colleagues and I raised concerns about the projected $163 million shortfall, which we learned from the Office of Budget Management. The office warned that this shortfall could lead to mid-year layoffs and reductions in essential city services and programs like garbage pickup and pothole patching, all the things that our city needs and deserves. In contrast, the Protecting Chicago budget that was voted down was the result of an extensive citywide community engagement process that began in March of 2025.

5:48 That process included public roundtables, surveys, and 13 neighborhood town halls across Chicago. The vast majority of feedback my office received from 35th Ward residents supported the Protecting Chicago budget because of its investments in mental health care, homeless services, and community safety. Let me be clear. Government budgets are moral documents. They reflect our values, our priorities, and our political choices. But choosing to commodify public space and collect debt from working people instead of asking the largest corporations and most profitable corporations to contribute their fair share is a political decision, and it is one that makes life harder for everyday Chicagoans.

6:32 That is why I could not support the alternative unbalanced budget. At the same time, while I deeply disagreed with how this budget was funded, I am encouraged by the programs and services that our office, alongside grassroots organizations and advocates, fought to keep in it. These include youth summer jobs, green social housing, continued investment in the Department of Law's Affirmative Litigation Division to protect immigrant communities, and funding for the city's Rapid Rehousing Program, which helps thousands of unhoused Chicagoans move from street encampments to stable, long-term housing.

7:08 As your 35th Ward Alderman, I remain committed to building a city that protects working families, strengthens public goods, and puts people before profits. Thank you all for being here tonight. And now please join me in giving a warm welcome to our mayor, Brandon Johnson. Thank you, Alder Quezada. And good evening and happy new year, everyone. Thank you to Alder Fuentes for being here. Our state senator, Graciela Guzman, for being here as well.

7:41 And I'm so impressed that Alder Quezada is still wearing a tie after six o'clock. That's a hardworking Alder. You know, I'm glad that all of you are here this evening joining us for this update on the city's fiscal year 2026 budget. Tonight is a demonstration of my administration's commitment to engaging the community around each and every single budget that we will pass. Nothing great can happen in the city of Chicago without the support and partnership of our people.

8:14 Last summer in budget roundtables and town halls, we heard your feedback and incorporated it into my administration's budget proposal. We brought you into the process by canvassing and walking through the neighborhoods and, of course, convening all of you around this discussion. And now we are coming back to you with a past budget to talk about our path moving forward. I'm proud to say that no other administration has done something like this.

8:46 We are not just governing. We are bringing the people along with us, and we're going to do that every step of the way. I want you to know that this budget includes 98% of what we propose in the Protecting Chicago budget. A few examples. It includes the first of its kind, the smart tax, never before seen in the United States, to essentially tax the ultra-rich in these big corporations like Facebook, Google, and TikTok. This budget includes another year of investments into our mental health crisis response program

9:20 and our mental health clinics. It covers post-COVID-era gaps in funding for our domestic violence reduction initiatives. And it protects so many of our key investments that ultimately is ensuring that we can run and serve the people of this city. And while there are victories in this budget that many of us in this room fought hard to win, there are elements in this budget that we tried hard to avoid and, frankly, that will cause some harm.

9:50 There are leaders and forces in this city who would much rather go against the best interest of the people rather than equitably taxing the largest and wealthiest corporations in our city. And so now this budget goes after our most vulnerable by seeking private debt collectors on Chicagoans with no oversight. This budget attempts to balance itself on projections from sources the public has never seen or even heard of. A major accountability measure to ensure CPD overtime, that spending could be reined in to save taxpayer money, was removed.

10:28 In a few moments, you're going to hear from my office's chief of policy, Ms. Jung Yoon. And she's going to go into more detail about what we've won and what we didn't win in this budget. And our budget director, Annette Guzman, will give more details of the challenges that this budget does present. But I want to share just the silver lining that came out of this budget process. There's been a lot of talk about taxing the rich. That talk and that conversation has been ongoing for a very long time in this nation.

11:02 But few are actually bold enough to put forth real proposals on the table. We might not have gotten every single measure that we wanted and, quite frankly, every single measure that we needed in the 2026 budget. but we did finally move the conversation about what a more equitable and just Chicago will look like. It's not just a conversation, but it's a real movement to ensure that with the support of the alders that are in this room and as we continue to get more support around the state,

11:33 that the ultra-rich and these big corporations will finally have to pay their fair share in taxes. It's a pure, it's a simple truth that the wealth gap between the ultra-rich and working class in America has never been wider. And it's true that Trump's tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy are the largest in America's history. We're going to keep speaking the truth until the whole city can finally, finally put the people ahead of corporations. And let's leave behind Chicago's legacy of selling off public assets to balance one budget.

12:09 Let's stop giving tax breaks to corporations only for them to leave our city in a few years. Let's stop balancing the budget on the backs of Chicagoans who can afford it the least. I need your partnership and your support if we're going to not just tell the truth, but chart a new path in Chicago with the next fiscal year's budget. We've made progress this year, and I look forward to building the momentum with all of you in this room. So thank you again for joining us tonight and being a part of this process. And so without further ado, please welcome the Chief of Policy, Jung Yoon.

12:55 Good evening. So I'm going to review what we won, what we're still working towards, how that's going to impact the city's finances moving forward, and then where we go from here with some executive orders and next steps. So first, let's talk about the Protecting Chicago budget that was put forward and the progressive revenue options that this budget proposed. We proposed a community safety surcharge. This is often referred to as the corporate head tax, and I'll share more details here in a moment.

13:30 This was the thing that faced the most challenge and objection in the conversation. We increased taxes on big tech with the personal property lease tax. We increased the yacht tax or the boat mooring fee. We instituted the nation's first social media smart tax, again, to make sure that corporations are paying their fair share. We increased fees on vacant buildings that are owned by banks. We expanded the congestion surcharge network to the most congested census tracts of the city.

14:04 We instituted an online sports wagering tax to make sure that we're able to recoup the vast majority of sports betting in our city. Maybe I'll put some wagers on the Bears game this weekend. And we instituted the largest ever TIF surplus just to make sure not only our budget is funded, but our schools, our parks, our libraries are also funded. And so the community safety surcharge, as we proposed it in our final iteration, was a tax on the largest companies that had over 500 full-time employees.

14:43 They would pay $33 a month per employee. What this did was exempt $99.5 million. five percent of all businesses in Chicago. So we're talking about quite literally half a percent of the largest corporations in this city, this exempted non-profits, and there is no data to back up this claim that this is a job killer or that this impacts job growth. Unfortunately, this was the thing that faced the most intense opposition from wealthy donors.

15:15 And so a group of city council members created an alternative package to replace the community safety surcharge with doubling your garbage fees, selling $1 billion of debt to debt collectors, legalizing video gaming terminals in every establishment that has a liquor license, reducing funding to schools and parks and libraries by $100 million, dollars, cutting youth jobs, changing the liquor tax for off-premises, selling our public assets

15:53 for advertising space, and increasing the grocery bag tax to 15 cents. With your organizing and with the mayor's leadership, we were able to fight back on some of these proposals. We fought against any increase to a garbage fee. We protected school funding, and we protected youth jobs. And our budget director, Annette Guzman, will review kind of the implications of both the revenue projections

16:25 for these and the impacts they will have on our city budget here in a moment. But before we get to that, I do want to talk about the savings that we also instituted in this budget. The mayor instituted reducing vacancies from unfilled positions to save money, instituted a year-long targeted hiring freeze, increasing and entering our second phase of civilianization for the Chicago Police Department, instituting an early warning system for CPD to make sure

16:57 that officers who are demonstrating at-risk behavior, that there's intervention and support sooner to reduce misconduct, repair community trust, and reduce litigation costs. And as the mayor said earlier, we also proposed a cap on CPD overtime, which is a major strain on our city's budget. Altogether, these save over $200 million, but unfortunately, the CPD overtime cap was removed by city council, and we'll talk more about that in a minute as well. This budget makes critical

17:31 investments in our community. And this, I don't want to gloss over or pass by quickly. This is a major win for our city. So just a couple of highlights. $3 million to protect the care program, which was previously funded under ARPA, the federal COVID relief dollars. This will now be permanently funded and in future years has the opportunity to expand citywide 24-7 to make sure that if you're having a mental health crisis, a trained mental health clinician can come support

18:02 you, and we'll be able to expand this and reopen more mental health clinics with the smart tax. We're also continuing to protect Chicagoans who have been under attack, increasing the funding for our Department of Law to protect our immigrant brothers and sisters, to make sure we're going after bad corporations who are taking advantage of our city, like Glock, and making sure that we are recouping all of the funding frozen or withheld from the Trump administration. We're also able to protect the funding for survivors of gender-based violence and domestic

18:39 violence. Much of that programming was also funded through the temporary COVID funding. This will now be permanently funded moving forward. And a $5 million investment to protect our rapid rehousing program, which again was previously funded by the federal government, Trump cut that. And so we believe housing is a human right, and so that was a priority to make sure that that got funded. We're also continuing to protect the futures of our young people with a $50 million investment in One Summer Chicago, our Youth Summer Jobs program, which last summer we hired over 31,000 young people,

19:15 over $3 million for MyShineMyFuture, a $7 million investment to raise wages for early child care workers, and we're continuing to protect our neighborhoods. with expanding affordable housing, with programs such as the Green Social Housing, which will invest $135 million, we're developing vacant lots, so on and so forth. And so with that, I'm going to pass it to our budget director, Annette Guzman, to share a little bit about the impact and analysis of what was passed by city council.

19:50 Thank you. Isn't he wonderful? Like, thank you, Mayor. Yes. And a gentleman. I love that. Well, they're also on the clock if they hurt themselves. Workers' comp. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. I'm going to spend a few moments with you talking about the concerns we have of what was ultimately passed by city council. I do want to reiterate something that the mayor said, which is 98 percent, over 98 percent of what we presented to city council for evaluation, debate, discussion, scrutiny and intense scrutiny it got did end up getting passed by city council.

20:36 But roughly around $230 million was changed in the budget in what we call the alternative budget proposal. And those have a lot of concerns because one thing that I think a lot of people take for granted is what does $238 million actually pay for and cover when you think about a municipal budget? That's mostly what makes up our budget is people, right? the labor and the personnel costs for all of the services that we provide to everyday Chicagoans.

21:13 So of that $238 million that they put forth an alternative to the mayor's budget, about $216 million of that shifts the burden from corporations on to residents and our labor force. And so as Zhang outlined what they put forth, this is a sort of visual depiction of that breakdown. And so about 21% of what they propose are going to hit businesses.

21:45 So there is an element of businesses having to pay more. That was in the form of an augmented reality revenue proposal, which no city has done before. the advertising revenue that was mentioned by Alderman Cazado, where they want the city to basically brand public spaces with business logos, the benchmark ordinance for environmental reviews,

22:17 and the licensing of video gaming terminals throughout the entirety of the city. Um, what was replaced against 70% of that will hit business, uh, labor and residents in the form of a debt sale, um, to, um, collection agencies, um, uh, liquor tax, uh, increases to our shopping bag tax and efficiencies, um, that were unidentified by city council. They couldn't tell us what they wanted us to actually be more efficient in, but put a number in the budget that lowered the expenditures by a certain amount.

23:01 The neither 9% is essentially city council adding in about $20 million of prior year surplus to the budget, which is drawing upon the city's reserves to support ongoing expenditures. So one-time revenue source. So I'm going to go through these as quickly as I possibly can, because we're going to break these down a little bit further. If I can get this to move. All right, so efficiencies and revenue. So if you go back, and I'll be honest, the only thing we ever got from their proposal was a PowerPoint.

23:34 So essentially something like this, which is not how we craft a budget. But essentially $46 million in additional efficiencies and revenues on top of what was already included in the mayor's budget. So as you heard Jung say, over $200 million worth of efficiencies, cuts, and streamlining was already in the mayor's proposed budget. This would add another $47 million, and if you were to look at their proposal, it really just says you guys can choose where it comes from.

24:10 It could be additional vacancy cuts. It could be in additional revenue from fleets, selling fleet. It could be in anything that you guys, you guys come up with it. And, you know, when we craft our budget, we want to be realistic about what we can implement and what can be operationalized within a given year so that we don't fall short. On the revenue side, they want to add increasing fines for false alarms, burglar alarms, false fire alarms, and so forth.

24:45 So our projection was we could probably do about $6 million more in revenue through additional vacant land sales, because that's actually aligned with the mayor's vision of putting vacant lots in neighborhoods throughout the city back into productive use to get economic development into our neighborhoods. So $47 million to $6 million was our projection. So, again, starting off with the gap, $40 million gap.

25:17 Oh, no. I don't know what I did. Oh, okay. Sorry. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Next, video gaming tax. So for any of you that like to listen to city council hearings, not sure who those people are, but if you are one of those people, you will know that we had an entire hearing on video gaming terminals over the summer. And we hired a consultant that worked for many, many months examining the impact of video gaming terminals revenue to the city of Chicago in light of the fact that we are also at the same time building a permanent casino.

25:59 And I won't bore you with the details, but one thing that I will say is under state law, we have a revenue sharing agreement with the state that dictates how much we get from revenue that is accrued from slot machines that are at a casino within the state versus video gaming terminals. And I'm sure you can guess that for video gaming terminals, our revenue share is extremely low versus slot machines. And so it would take an enormous amount of video gaming terminals in the city of Chicago to approximate the revenue that the city will gain from having the permanent casino.

26:38 In addition to that, we also get $4 million from Bally's, who's the operator of the permanent casino, that goes towards things like community benefits around the areas where the casino goes. So pays for things like CPD, who have to patrol areas around casinos a little bit more than other areas of the city, goes towards beautification efforts in those areas to ensure that heavy foot traffic doesn't degrade our infrastructure in those areas.

27:11 That agreement for the $4 million goes away automatically with the imposition of a video gaming terminal ordinance in the city of Chicago. So we're already in a hole because with the passing of this video gaming tax, Bally's does not have to pay us that $4 million. But on top of that, the assumptions that are made within the city council projection are based on almost 80 percent of those facilities that are eligible to be licensed for video gaming terminals all being licensed within one year.

27:45 If you go look at the report that we put out on Video Gaming Terminal that looks at how video gaming terminals in other parts of the state basically were licensed and how long that ramp up takes, it takes a pretty substantial amount of time because the state is the licensing agent and they license for the entire state. And so based on our projections, we would be losing automatically from our budget $3 million. So while their projection is just under $7 million, we projected a loss of $3 million looking at the number of licenses we believed would be licensed within one year, 2026, as well as the loss of the $4 million from Bali.

28:34 Shopping back tax. So we actually did a lot of research on the shopping back tax, which is the. Currently, or before 2026, 10 cents per bag in the city of Chicago. Their projection from city council was about $12 million by increasing that from 10 cents to 15 cents, allowing a retailer commission so they would keep one sense of that, so 14 cents would come to the city. Based on consumer behavior, once you increase taxes of this type,

29:06 We have a much lower projection of increasing this to 15 cents. We would see an impact of about $2 million increase in what we currently collect in that tax. So, again, our projections are much lower and a bit more conservative than what city council put forward. I don't know why this isn't working for me. Jung did it so well. Liquor tax. So this one, the biggest difference here is the city's rate before January 1st was about an average combined effective rate of about 2.6%.

29:46 City Council passed an effective tax rate of 1.5% on off-site retailers, which is the largest majority of where our tax revenue comes from. So rather than seeing an increase in that tax, we are going to see a loss because of the fact that they effectively lowered the tax rate that we would get from liquor sales. So a loss of $4.2 million.

30:18 The item that Zhang and both the mayor mentioned earlier, the projection for fines for fridges and penalties, this would be increasing the fine and fine for the benchmark, environmental benchmark ordinance, as well as selling debt that is due and owing to the city. Due to the nature of how the benchmark ordinance works and the fact that we have reconstituted the department environment and they'll be reconstituting over the course of the year and they are responsible for implementing this ordinance,

30:51 we had a much lower rate forecasted for our collection on that ordinance. And because of the nature of how our debt is collected, It's unattractive to most buyers who would purchase that kind of debt because of the limited enforcement options. But more importantly, once we sell it, it takes it out of our hands for how we treat the collection of that debt, which we go about it in a much more equitable way than a debt collector would.

31:21 We know that they often engage in predatory practices and harassing people until their debts are paid, which we do not do. And when we did an analysis of where the debt is that's owed to the city, overwhelmingly the debt is in our south and west side neighborhoods for the city of Chicago. So, again, a gap of $92 million. And then, finally, the advertising, the augmented reality. This is essentially allowing companies to come in and do augmented reality on city property.

31:55 So if you ever heard of the Pokemon Go phenomenon where you can have an AR glasses and you walk up to a building to everyone else, it looks like a building to you. It looks like it's Pokemon Go. This hasn't been done anywhere in the country. And so thinking through how to do this, how to ensure the city's interests are protected would take time. And so our projection on having that within revenue for 2026 is actually zero dollars versus city council's projection of six million.

32:26 Finally, the advertising all over city-owned property, in neighborhoods all over the city, whether it's a flagpole, a bridge house, or our equipment, all of these, just so everyone knows, all of these have been done and tried in the city of Chicago before. Bridge house advertising, light pole advertising, advertising on equipment. In the past, these did not bring in a lot of revenue for various reasons. We have restrictions on how we can advertise on all of those things.

32:57 And so through our projections, we had a much lower projection of about 4.6, bringing that gap between city council's proposal and our proposal to around $25 million. This thing doesn't like me. And so when you add all of those things up, one, the city council proposal, took out a sustainable revenue source in the head tax that had been in the city's revenue sources in the past.

33:27 So we had to overcome the $100 million that they took out. They also added an additional $117 million, actually $120 million, through the increase to the additional pension advance as well as additional funding for certain programming. And so when you add all of that up and you then look at the reality of their revenue sources, the likelihood of achieving their revenue targets, what you get is a gap of about $163 million, which, as both Alderman Cazada and the mayor noted earlier, are really concerning given that as we get further and further into the year, our options for mitigating a gap of that size are very limited.

34:16 And the one that you turn to first because it's our largest expenditure in our budget is always going to be people because that is the easiest and largest expense for us. And so we'll be monitoring this throughout the year, trying to have our own early warning system so that we can mitigate against any cuts to our budget in the likelihood that these revenue sources don't actually come to fruition.

34:47 And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Zhang with some of the preliminary things that the mayor did at the beginning of this year to sort of start mitigating against some of what this budget did. Thank you, Annette. So given everything that we've laid out, the mayor immediately signed two executive orders to tackle and protect Chicagoans against the sale of medical debt and CPD overtime accountability.

35:19 So a portion of this our city debt does come from emergency medical care, the ambulance you take, and things of that nature. What we know from all the research is that when you sell medical debt to private collectors, that can lead to some really harmful practices and circumstances, like abusive debt collection practices, using lawsuits, wage garnishment, bank account seizures. And all of that can ultimately lead to housing and economic stability, which is not within our values, and we know very much that this is not what Chicagoans need.

35:54 So the medical debt executive order offers several key protections for residents to protect residents from those harmful debt practices. And it assures that we will not sell medical debt. It is not right. It is immoral. And we are not going to sell that to a debt collector. All the debt collection that City Council is demanding we do must be fair, transparent, and non-harassing.

36:29 And again, ensures that city medical debt will be kept under public control and not private collectors so that we can use equitable collection practices. The second executive order tackles police accountability around overtime, because overtime is a major expense and strain on our city budget. What this will help us do is keep public dollars focused on real safety needs. This will reduce the incentives for unnecessary stops or arrests, sometimes referred to as trolling,

37:01 which is an unfortunate practice of trying to extend your shift so that you can get overtime pay. This will help us support officer health and sound decision-making and ultimately protect city dollars and funding for violence prevention, mental health care, and community-based safety programs, all of which we know addresses the root causes of violence and make our city safer. And this strategy has led to Chicago having the safest year since 1965.

37:39 So the key protections of this second executive order ensures, again, that we are instituting some common sense guardrails around police overtime and mandates that CPD does need to stay within their budgeted overtime allotment. If they do need extra overtime, they will have to have advanced planning, clear justification, an identified funding source, and approval from both the mayor and city council. And, again, this will also address the harmful trolling practices.

38:12 And so with that, we have, as you've heard, we have a lot of work to do, and we are continuing and committed to getting your feedback and working hand-in-hand to continue to move this city along to make it the safest, most affordable city in America. So with that, I will pass it back to Ugo to help us facilitate some discussion. Thank you. Let's give a big round of applause to all of our panelists tonight, everybody.

38:44 All right. So this is now the time for the meeting dedicated to questions and public comment. The rules are as follows. Five people will be called up at once. The order doesn't matter. You will have at the most three minutes to give your question or your comment. Both are welcome. The only thing that we ask is that please be respectful of everyone's time and, you know, try to adhere. Please try to adhere to the clocks that folks want to get in their questions or their comments have an opportunity to ask. And, of course, our panel will answer as long as is necessary.

39:18 And so with that, I will call up the first five people, Matt Enloe, Mark Heller, S. Gronkiewicz-Dorin, one, two, three, four, Scullery, and Carlos Benitez. And whenever you're ready, we'll start the clock. Hi, Mayor Johnson. It's good to see you again. Thank you so much for coming to talk about the budget with us at Gritta Elementary before, unfortunately, the vote occurred the way that it did.

39:52 I asked you about progressive revenue then, and I was really happy to hear that the new revenue sources will be inflation-adjusted so that we don't have to have these fights going forward. But we do, it sounds like, have some fights that we need to have going forward this year and beyond. So my question is in the same vein but focused on this year. What can we do as a community, as organizers, as folks who care about our alders and getting people engaged, to talk about finding and funding progressive revenue sources for this year and beyond so that we don't encounter those gaps and don't have to deal with any layoffs or other cuts to our services?

40:23 Yeah, thank you for that question, and good evening again to everyone. It's so good to see so many people out tonight. I want to thank both of our alders. I see our commissioner has arrived, too. Thank you for being here. um so look this um ongoing effort to secure progressive revenue from the ultra rich and the corporations that fight doesn't end with this budget and so one one of the things that you can do and people in this room can continue to do is to share out with in your respective networks

40:53 what we've won what we've secured and why we still have to push for um corporations to put more skin in the game. So that's one. The second thing is, I know our state senator just left. I've made it very clear that the levers that we have at the municipal level are limited. And so we're going to need intervention at the state level. I've called repeatedly for a millionaire's tax. We've recently heard that the Speaker of the House is supportive of it as well.

41:24 I believe we need to have a conversation with the Senate president, the governor has expressed an understanding of why progressive revenue is needed. And so I think we have to continue to use this moment to mobilize in our particular communities. One, of course, to continue to push at the local level, but two, let's get the progressive revenue secured at the state level, whether it's through the millionaire's tax or whether it's through a digital ad tax. There are a number of options that we could look at into, But I just want this room to remain charged. Look, we secured 98 percent of what we needed in this budget.

42:00 People have been fighting for a budget like this for a very long time. Make no mistake about it. There's a lot more than we want in this budget than what's being narrated that we lost. And the last I checked, if the conversation is about losing 1.6 percent of our overall set of demands, it sounds like our movement is pretty strong. So let's continue that effort. Let's push the state of Illinois. Let's make sure that we challenge progressive revenue in this state, this city. Thank you. Good evening.

42:30 My name is Mark Heller. Parks, like schools, are pillars of community. That's why over two decades ago I proposed Logan Boulevard Skate Park, and the city and the park district were amazing. As part of the Logan Square Open Space Plan, the existing skate park under the Kennedy Expressway overpass on Logan Boulevard exists. It was promised to be succeeded by a permanent... Concrete Ramps and Bowls Skate Park, I encourage you to interface with Governor Pritzker,

43:04 because the Illinois Department of Transportation owns and controls that land, and they have been resistant to this, to make that happen. But my comment, which is budget-related, is about what funded the skate park, open space fees. Open space fees are the fees that developers pay for each for-profit new residential dwelling unit in the city. Where does over 95% of that development occur? The city's most expensive neighborhoods. The 1998 ordinance, which was flawed from the beginning for open space fees, said it's a citywide flat fee per residential new dwelling unit.

43:46 So the city's most expensive 500,000 condominium two-bedroom unit overlooking Millennium Park is assessed a fee the same as in Englewood or Austin where the valuation and land value is tenfold less or at least fivefold less. Just a quick analysis, 5,000 new for-profit dwelling units in the city's most expensive neighborhoods times $2,000 increased if it's indexed to the valuation in the city neighborhood where that new DU is being created is $10 million per year.

44:22 I've heard a lot about equity and justice throughout your presentation. That's equity and justice. A number of years ago, Park District Board President Brian Troubert, the Troubert Pritzker Foundation, that Brian Troubert, totally supported this common sense reboot. It's still waiting to happen. You need to lead on this. It's exactly what you talk about, and it hasn't happened, and I haven't seen leadership. Talk to Park District CEO Carlos Ramirez Rosa, former Ward 35 alder person, who knows about this effort and knows it's a good idea.

45:04 Make it happen. Ten million dollars is not a billion dollars, but it's a start. And it's not on little people. It's on developers who are already making a lot of money. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So thank you for the acknowledgement of our general superintendent that's here, and we're happy to have that conversation around this proposal. Thank you for that, Mark.

45:34 Good evening, everybody. Hi, Mr. Mayor. My name is S. Gronkowitz-Store, and I live in the 45th Ward in Jefferson Park, and my comment is directed to everybody else here. A lot of folks live in the 35th Ward. You are represented by an alder person who is ready and willing to tax the rich. A lot of us are not. And I want to highlight the piece of this opposition budget. All of their revenue ideas depend on extracting value from our communities and from us.

46:07 They're going to sell our literal debt. They're going to sell our attention to advertisers. They've already sold off the parking meters. They're going to sell off the bridges. I want all of you who are represented by an alder who didn't support the protecting Chicago budget to go back and say, what is your plan when you have run out of money to squeeze out of us on bag fees, on liquor tax fees, on selling our debt? This is not a sustainable way to prepare for our future. So I'm very, very pleased to see the fight for progressive revenue at the city level.

46:41 I'm super pleased to see Chris Welch take it up at the state level. We're all going to have to fight together. And that fight is going to include all of us going back to our city council people and saying, what is your plan? What is your plan for 10 years down the line as the rich get richer? And we run out of pennies to be taken out of our pockets. So thank you, everybody. Public comment to the public. Thank you for that. Thank you. Hi, Mr. Mayor. Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Carlos Benitez.

47:12 I live in the 31st Ward. And right now at a time when the ultra-wealthy are getting even richer, we know that our neighbors who are already at risk and at higher risk of housing instability, that instability will only increase and possibly increase the rate of homelessness in our city. What can we do as a city to raise more money to build affordable housing and to provide rapid shelter to people experiencing homelessness? Yeah, thank you for that question. And, you know, as what was presented in this presentation for Rapid Rehousing, we held the line there with, was that a $5 million investment there?

47:49 The green social housing, we hope to break ground on green social housing really soon. Look, here's the harsh reality. The number of units that we're building versus what we need, there's a sizable gap there that still exists. I believe the way in which we can expedite, you know, our efforts, again, it all comes down to we don't have, you know, a spending problem in my administration. We have been incredibly prudent. We have a revenue challenge. And a lot of the work that we're that we're building on around our vision to have the safest, most affordable big city in America.

48:28 It really requires the type of investments that can not only be sizable, but transformational. And so this this call to action around working with your state legislator, whether it's your state rep or your state senator, working with the governor's office as well. But it also really, I would encourage you all that what corporations and the ultra-rich fear the most is organized people.

48:58 They fear organized people. They clearly don't fear politicians. That's why they buy them. But they can't buy the people. And so if we can continue to remain vigilant, do not be discouraged in this moment. I'm not. We are stronger as a movement than we've ever been. This narration around, you know, sort of the weakness that folks are trying to describe. The last I checked, previous administrations never thought about declaring the largest TIF surplus.

49:28 We did it. Previous administrations did not talk about making sure that we have paid summer jobs, not interns. We've done that. Previous administrations did not see the value in mental and behavioral health. We talked we're talking about over 100,000 residents of this city received mental and behavioral health care that otherwise was not available. The work that we have done to expand environmental justice, this administration that we are in the midst of living through right now at the federal level is a severe threat to our overall desire to protect working people.

50:03 But make no mistake about it. The very things that people said was not possible. We're making it possible. Do not believe this false narrative that our movement is weak, that my administration is weak. Every single day we build towards a safer, more affordable city. They said that when the movement wins, we're not going to be able to drive down violence. Wrong. They said when the movement wins, we would not be able to rein in police accountability. Wrong. We're able to do that. They said when the movement wins, we won't be able to improve our public education system.

50:35 We're doing that. So continue the fight, continue to drive, continue to organize, and let's take this fight in the next couple of months. We have until May to get something substantive from Springfield. This session should not end without Democrats making a commitment for progressive revenue for working people. If that happens, on our watch, shame on us as Democrats. Thank you, Mayor Johnson. Good evening, good evening.

51:06 Good evening, Morehouse, brother. How are you doing? How are you doing? My name is Adam Callery. We've met before. I wanted to thank you for this meeting. It's the first time I've been to one of these town hall meetings to talk about the budget. And my question is centered on something very simple. I want to have a greater sense of what you see and what you have to deal with in the position that you sit in. We're talking about this particular budget, and in a way we sort of center on just this budget as though it's the only thing you do. What I would like to know, what are some of the other infrastructure challenges that you see in the city,

51:40 whether west side or south side or north side, and how will those challenges have to be addressed based on also seeing some of the gaps that you've already identified? And that shows us the entire picture of what you have to deal with and the challenges that you face. Yeah, thank you for that question. It's really good to see you again. And I'm going to ask our two dynamic leaders up here to also weigh in on this. Look, I think in terms of the big challenges that we still are faced with in Chicago is that we still have a considerable amount of vacancy in this city, you know, where the the absence of people is the direct result of corporations in the interest of the ultra wealthy being prioritized.

52:26 That challenge still exists because clearly there is a block of alders in this city that have more of an alignment with the very forces that have caused this vacancy than the very people who have been impacted by it. That that is a significant challenge. Right. When you think about what Alderman Quesada described of how this so-called very variation budget was presented.

52:56 I mean it was less than two weeks. Think about the parking meters. That deal was made in three days. We started this process back in March. And then they have the temerity to suggest that somehow we're surreptitious about the work that we're doing. You saw more of an operation of the daily era within those last two weeks than we've seen probably in eight years. I mean, look, I don't walk around giving a bunch of people compliments all day.

53:28 Even Rahm took his time when he passed a budget as bad as it was. What these individuals did was immoral. They hid behind these so-called experts, which this is the other sort of structural challenge that we're dealing with. There are millionaires and billionaires that want the seat back for themselves, and they don't want the people to hold it. I am in this seat holding it for the interests of the people. The fact that we have millionaires and billionaires that have already established an over $10 million PAC over a year and a half ago,

54:04 that's evidence that they have no interest in working with us. That is the bigger challenge, that we have people who have been so conditioned to operate in their silo that a room full of voters somehow is intimidating or problematic for democracy. Right. And so that's why this conversation and this effort is so critical, because one thing that I know about a good fight, you never go in it alone.

54:35 And so that's what we're counting on. Annette or Jung, you want to weigh in? Yeah, the only thing, other thing I would say, because you use the word infrastructure. I think the budget gets the most attention from not only the public, the media, city council members, anyone you can think about. The budget battle is what gets the most attention. But there's other things that impact our budget that are just as critical and crucial, right? So we fund our infrastructure through a whole host of different funding sources, primarily through the federal and the state government, but we also – we actually issue debt, right?

55:17 We have our own bonds that support critical capital infrastructure work, and this is the roads that you drive on. This is the buildings that you visit when you come to a city department because you might need a city service. This is the work that's happening out at the airports, the infrastructure. You might have a lead service line that you're trying to get replaced. We have bonds that cover all of that work, and that's really critical. That's really important because it keeps our city running. It keeps investment coming into our city when they know that our city works.

55:51 And you have budget battles over that happening, too. You have people that do not want bonds passed in order to get infrastructure into our communities, especially the communities that have for so long not received those bonds and that type of investment. And so I know that the budget gets the most sort of focus and attention from a public perspective. But even those city council meetings where they're literally going back and forth over whether or not to invest in our neighborhoods are just as important. Because if a bond isn't passed, if they decide to delay a bond, if they decide not to do a project, that's your communities that are being impacted by those roads not being surfaced, bridges not being replaced or cared for, which can have huge liability issues for the city.

56:41 Thanks, Annette. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you for this great question. I want to build off of something you said earlier. um illinois is the eighth most regressive state as it in terms of taxation in the entire country because of our state constitution our hands are quite literally tied from pursuing the most progressive forms of taxation and that is why the burden on everyday people is so big because we don't have other options and so there's major reforms that need to happen at the state and

57:14 And that's a major hurdle, because then the conversation does get limited to property taxes and fines and fees. And I think everyone here is sick of paying more property taxes and more fines and fees. And so we have to change. And like the mayor said earlier, we don't have a spending problem. This administration has done incredible amounts of work with very limited resources.

57:45 And at the end of the day, y'all, we could have nice things. Chicagoans could have nice things, but this is a political choice to continue to support and favor businesses. over residents. Other cities, other states, other countries have figured this out and they have a better quality of life. It's not so hard to pay rent every month because the burden is not so hard on your average person. And so we have major structural challenges in terms of that,

58:16 that really also limits the types of investments we can. We would love to build endless amounts of affordable housing to make sure that homelessness is rare, brief, and not reoccurring. But there are limitations in terms of the dollars. And I think what we've seen is when you do invest the dollars that we do have in evidence-based strategies like community violence intervention, like addressing the root causes of violence, that is why we had the safest summer since 1965. So the strategies we're doing are working, but the limitations of how we can generate that revenue to keep those programs going and expand those programs, that is where we have limited control.

58:59 And so that is going to take all of us, that is going to take the entire state to say enough is enough and we have to do a major reform. Thank you. Thank you so much for your questions. We're going to take the next five, and I'll call them out, Allison Pillar, Jonathan Nagy, Larry D. Williamson, Audrey Sekender, and Jess Litman.

59:33 Hi, Mr. Mayor. My name is Allison Pillar. I'm with United Neighbors of the 35th Ward. I want to thank you for coming to the 35th Ward, and thank you so much for your commitment to bringing the public into this process. I was wondering if you could speak on the threats that we're seeing from the Trump administration to cut funding to Chicago for being a sanctuary city and in what ways the city is planning to protect our essential services and programs that are being threatened.

1:00:04 This is something that's filling our community with a lot of fear and uncertainty at this time. Yeah, thank you for that question. And the, you know, the threats are real. And, you know, every single threat, however, that this administration has made against us, particularly in lawsuits, we have prevailed. We've beat them back. And every time this administration has brought a lawsuit again against us, we have prevailed. And every lawsuit that we have put forward, we have been effective. And the executive orders that Jung spoke of were not just designed to protect this particular budget,

1:00:41 but executive orders to ensure that the people of our city are not subject to the type of terror that this administration wants to promulgate throughout the entire country. The most recent lawsuit that we put forward was to essentially codify our executive orders. So one, you know, the ice free zones, ensuring that the federal government and its attempt to raid our city, that they cannot use public space or other vulnerable space.

1:01:15 But also, you know, making sure that this indiscriminate practice of releasing tear gas on residents, that this lawsuit, again, ensures that there's a real protection around how protesters are treated. The discriminatory practices of arresting and pulling people over because they have an accent or they look like they don't belong here. This lawsuit is designed to ultimately codify that protective measure that we put forth in the executive order.

1:01:50 I'll pass it to Annette if there's anything else you want to add, but I think the ongoing effort to ensure that our values are intact, that that effort is going to continue. I think the one moment that I can just reflect back on this year that I'm so proud of is when Tom Homan said that the people of Chicago are too educated. We've got to get out, which is good because there's no place for the type of ignorance

1:02:20 that this administration has put forward. I've said before, James Baldwin said that power and ignorance allied is one of the most existential threats to justice. It is a ferocious threat to justice. So, I mean, these lawsuits, these executive orders, and then finally the organizing on the streets of Chicago. You all have been doing the thing. I mean, these rapid responders protecting people, showing up for people.

1:02:56 In the face of tyranny, that's who we are as a city, and I'm proud to lead a city with a diverse set of people who recognize that this city will always be welcoming for anybody who chooses to call Chicago their home. I'll add from the financial side, because not only do we get funding to support the services that we provide to the community, But we also are either a pass through or we are also a funder for community based organizations that are the safety social net, social safety net within communities.

1:03:32 And so one thing that we did very early on when he got back into office is we organized ourselves internally, but we also organized ourselves with our peers across the country. So we met with cities across the country, Boston, Denver, L.A., just to understand how they were approaching, you know, going after the administration, ensuring that their funding would stay intact. And then I have a weekly meeting because my office manages all the grants in the city, whether it's federal or state.

1:04:03 I meet weekly with the Department of Law who has filed, I think at this point, 40 cases. And we have prevailed on every injunction that we have filed against the Trump administration. That protects the funding that we have been allocated by Congress, but more importantly, if we're a lot of times passing that money through to community organizations. The other thing that we did, which has been talked by Alderman Cazada, by the mayor, by Zhang, is we put in our own budget funding from our own sources to enhance certain things.

1:04:38 So the mayor talked about the funding that we put in our budget to hire more lawyers in our own law department, whose whole objective is affirmative litigation, going after the Trump administration, filing cases against them affirmatively, but also filing cases to enjoin them from taking funding from us and from community organizations. We increased our funding for rapid rehousing. We talked about the $5 million that was in this budget, but frankly, that was to stave off the reduction that we received because of the dwindling COVID funding that the city received.

1:05:16 It's over $30 million that we invest in rapid rehousing from the city's own funding to support getting people into more supportive housing over time. We increased our funding to mental health services and created a new tax so that that could be sustained going forward. So there's so many things that this budget is doing. Oh, yes.

1:05:46 The mayor talked about the historic TIF surplus. That was really important because, as you know, the Department of Education is basically defunct right now. And our city schools, you know, are in need of just sustainable revenue sources as they go through their own transition, but also because they still are depending on funding that they still haven't received from the state. And so the historic tip surplus was to provide them that funding, but also because they have seen their funding threatened to be defunded by the federal government, including the Black Success Plan that they have put forward and actually voted on through their board last year to ensure that those who've historically been left behind when it came to the approach in our schools are finding a pathway to success going forward.

1:06:42 So there's so many things that we're doing that we're doing in partnership with our sister agencies, and I see the superintendent in front of me. He also got a historic TIF surplus, which will help sustain our parks, which is a big part of how do we reduce violence in the city of Chicago. Park Districts, our public libraries, which also is a recipient of that historic TIFSOR plus, our community colleges, which is a huge pipeline and has seen the biggest growth in the demographic of black males under the mayor's leadership and the leadership of Chancellor Juan Salgado.

1:07:19 So these are the things we're using our policy framework in order to combat and mitigate against the harm that this federal administration is trying to have on our communities. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor. I'm John, Annette, Ugo. Thank you all for being here. I'm Jonathan Nagy. I live in the 35th Ward, also a member of United Neighbors of the 35th Ward. For those of you all who don't know us, we're a neighbor-led grassroots organization. Please get involved, UN35.org.

1:07:55 I want to thank you all for the incredible investments in mental health work. Our city had a very tragic history of cutting public mental health services, and thank you for reversing that history and investing resources. This past year, Chicago opened two public mental health clinics in a world where cities do not do this.

1:08:25 We're also investing in our CARE program, which is a non-police mental health crisis response service. If you call 911 or 988 and you need help, they are there to help. My question, though, is related to VGT terminals. There was just an article this morning correlating burglaries to VGT terminals. That's very scary, particularly because we know now 30 aldermen want to increase VGT terminals across Chicago.

1:08:59 I'm wondering what tools we have and how we can organize to prevent this expansion of this dangerous service that besides burglaries also incentivizes gambling in communities where we should be investing. And then lastly, should we find a solution to ban these terminals, what impact would that have on our budget?

1:09:31 Excellent questions. Thank you, Jonathan. So to talk about VGTs, this administration does not support the expansion of video gaming terminals for the reasons you stated. We're very concerned about the addictive behaviors of gambling and how that will become far more accessible to your average resident. One of the things that was most alarming to me when I read the consultant's report that Annette referenced earlier is that what we see in other cities that have legalized VGTs

1:10:06 is that household spending on gambling increases pretty significantly across the board. So that reduces other spending or, you know, the ability to pay rent and other things. And so it has actually a kind of secondary impact on the tax base. Again, remembering that we are like primarily a sales tax fees, property tax municipality because of the state. And so it does reduce other types of spending that could negatively hurt our budget kind of indirectly.

1:10:44 You know, I was also very alarmed reading that article this morning about the connection to increased burglaries. And I think that will put increased strain on our police department, who is already, you know, trying to keep the numbers down. And what that tells me is a few different things. But at the end of the day, crimes like robberies and such are economic crimes, which tells me that people are struggling to make ends meet.

1:11:17 And so how are we shaping and focusing our policies to make sure that people have living wages, right? This mayor passed the one fair wage ordinance to bring up minimum wage and eliminate the subminimum wage. And these are the types of policies we have to continue to to lean into and support in advance so that people do not resort to crimes of desperation of economic motivation. Right. And so there's just like a lot of things kind of wrapped up in this.

1:11:50 But at the end of the day, we don't think it's a great framework to expose our residents to, especially people who are feeling vulnerable, who are looking to win millions because they, too, are struggling to pay rent. That is not how our society or our city should be organized, and people should be able to have their needs met and have enough to thrive. Stuff like this are promises to have like kind of quick cash fixes for the city.

1:12:20 And like we've seen every time in the past, when the city pursues strategies like that, it typically doesn't help the city nor the average taxpayer or resident. At the end of the day, the people that are winning are, again, the same CEOs who are profiting off of our desperation. So, yeah, we're also very concerned about this. And in terms of what you can do, it is talking to your neighbors, talking to your older people, especially if, you know, your older person voted in support of expanding VGTs.

1:12:52 So in terms of the budget impact, if we were to, you know, remove that, that would actually help our budget because that is resulting in a net loss because of the community, host community agreement we get from Valleys and building the permanent casino. So that would be beneficial to our budget so that we wouldn't lose that $4 million annually. Thank you.

1:13:24 Hi, Mayor. How are you doing? My name is Larry Williamson, and I'm a resident of the 24th Ward. It's kind of far away from here. My first question is – I have three questions. My first question is, you had proposed to try to undo that parking meter fiasco, and the latest that I've heard on it, you kind of backed away from it. Why did you not try to pursue that? Yeah, well, we did. Thank you for that question. As you know, that's the worst deal in municipality, in municipal history, anywhere in the country.

1:13:58 And, you know, the deal was so bad that the restrictions and the limitations around, you know, renegotiating that deal is just nonexistent. And so as we looked into it, the cost and the benefit just did not, there was no, it didn't balance out, quite frankly. So it would have cost too much, one, and the return was just so far out. And most of what we would have had to do, we would have had to borrow, to take up debt, to be able to actually purchase it.

1:14:35 And, you know, we're talking decades before you see full return on that investment. So the deal was so bad that even trying to renegotiate it, it could end up being a worse deal. Not really. My second question is in terms of tax revenue, How come your budget directors don't, you know, propose a computer, I'm sorry, I'm wearing braces and it's scratching the side of my mouth, I'm sorry.

1:15:10 The computer, computer, commuter tax, how come you don't propose a, damn, you know what I'm saying? Commuter tax, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because a lot of the money is going out of the city, and you're making money in the city, and they're spending it elsewhere. Yeah, so one of the things that we have been looking into, and we've been working with CDOT over the last year or so, is the congestion tax. So the only other city in the country that has something like that is New York.

1:15:43 The only other city outside of that is London in a completely different country. So the two things that are very similar about London and New York City are that they're islands, right? And so infrastructure-wise, it's easier to put something like that in place where people can't then just avoid the tax by going on side streets or things like that. So it is something that we think is something that we should be looking at, figuring out if there's a way, if there's a zone within the city where that makes sense. What we did do in light of sort of the infrastructure challenges around that that the city of Chicago has is we expanded our commuter – I'm sorry, our congestion zone that TNPs have to provide.

1:16:29 So there's a congestion surcharge, and there's two zones now in the city of Chicago. It used to be really small. It used to be just downtown Chicago. Now it's a little bit bigger and in two places within the city. And we study pretty closely congestion patterns in the city where we see TNPs that are just creating congestion all over the city. And that's really important because the more cars you have in a zone, the more your infrastructure is degraded. So that is one thing that we did in light of not being able to fully implement something in the short term like a congestion tax like you see in New York and London.

1:17:04 Okay, and I have one more question. along Ogden Avenue on the west side you just did a completed Apartment building on, what is that, Holman and Ogden? You were there a couple months ago. What are your, Ogden Avenue, you know this is Route 66, and I think this is the 100th anniversary, this year is the 100th anniversary for Route 66. What do you have proposed along Ogden Avenue between Pulaski going all the way around to Roosevelt Road?

1:17:41 Do you have any plans for that? Because the 100, you got you doing fine. We're going to do one of these on the west side, brother, so you don't have to drive as far. And if you need a ride home, just let my people know. We can go back together. I'll let them know, and then I'll also do everything I can to support you financially and physically. Oh, wow. Check that out there. All right. But I have a couple vacant lots. Yeah, I can't imagine. Where are you at, Anton? See Anton. Anton, raise your hand. Is Anton here? Where's Anton? Look, all the way in the bag, Larry. See Anton. Seriously about that. Please see him. And he lives in the 24th as well.

1:18:23 But I think your question around – thank you for your questions and your final question here around just our plans for the 100-year anniversary. Those plans are in the works along with the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. But I think the larger plan around just North Lawndale, as you know, on the west side of Chicago, North Lawndale in particular, the vacancy is quite severe. And you're doing a lot of work over there, too. We have. There's a lot of construction over there. I'm really proud of that. You just keep encouraging me throughout the rest of this evening.

1:18:56 But I have some lots as well. I know where you're going. So we've got two more questions here. C. Anton, our Missing Middle program, we just broke ground. This is Missing Middle, which is a breakthrough for us where developers from the community build owner-occupied buildings where they can not only live in one unit but rent the other units, and I believe it's up to six units, I believe, for our Missing Middle. This is going to give us a larger footprint to deal with the vacancy so we're not just building one house or one lot at a time, but we're doing multiple lots.

1:19:30 But, Larry, your time is up, brother. All right. So I love you, man. I have 59 more seconds. I keep stopping your clock like this. But please see Anton. Anton, would you see Larry, please? Thank you. Okay. Hi. My name is Audrey. I'm a resident of the 26th Ward. Yeah. I am wondering what your ideas are about how we can reduce residents on the south and west side from incurring debt in the first place.

1:20:03 And I'm wondering what your thoughts are for solutions like within 2026 before it's time to pass on their budget. it. And one example is maybe the city could contract with more insurance companies or take a wider range of insurance plans for things like ambulances. Yeah, medical. Thank you for that question. Medical debt is the one that's most severe, particularly in a time in which premiums are going up. That's a good question. Our policy

1:20:35 director is here. We're happy to explore other ideas. I know at one point we were looking to expand the guaranteed income as a means to help families have their ends meet. I still believe that that is important for the future of our city. I think that's just one aspect. And then I think the overall quality of life is what we have to improve to reduce medical debt.

1:21:05 CBS World News came to visit us last week. We had this conversation around the life expectancy gap between the loop and West Garfield Park in particular. And we're talking on average, I believe it's 67, 69 years versus anywhere from 82 to 84 years old in the loop. And part of that gap is because of homicides and overdose. You know, by just reducing homicides and overdose, which we've done, we've reduced overdose in our city in the last two years by 40 percent, you all, 40 percent.

1:21:43 So I believe through, you know, our work to invest in youth employment, investing in education, investing in affordable housing, investing in mental health, but also, you know, revisiting how we can have guaranteed income because by doing that, again, most people's expenses that they accumulate through debt is usually through medical. So, yeah, help me continue to work on that. Thank you for that question. Thank you.

1:22:14 Good evening. Thank you all for being here and reporting back to us. My name is Jess Littman. I live here in the 35th Ward. Welcome. We've talked about care teams and public mental health clinics tonight. It's one of the things I was really pleased to see remained in the budget was the permanent funding for the care teams. At the same time, we only have those in a few wards right now, and you mentioned that they could be expanded and there's a desire to expand them. I would love to hear more about how those will be expanded as well as public mental health clinics.

1:22:46 Thank you for that question. Yes, so our office is working with the Chicago Department of Public Health currently to build out an expansion plan. So right now we do have a few police districts. It is time limited as a pilot program. So one of the things we'll be doing before the end of this year is expanding the vans who can go out and support people to be citywide. And I think up to two shifts by the end of this year.

1:23:19 Next year, we will have built up some reserves from the social media smart tax and are projecting to bring in at least $31 million annually. So we'll be able to grow and expand a program that's currently $3 million into tenfold. And so what we'll be able to do with that is also make that 24-7 citywide and reopen more of those shuttered mental health clinics that ROM closed and that the mayor has reopened a few. But we'd like to reopen all of them.

1:23:49 So that's our plan over the next few years. It takes time to build the infrastructure and the teams necessary to be able to deliver on that. But that is our plan over the next couple of years is to fully expand that. Thank you. Thank you. Perfect. Please give our panelists a big round of applause, everybody. Now, before everybody gets up and jets out of here to your warm homes, I heard a lot of people talk about one thing.

1:24:26 How can we help? What can we do to ensure that we support an agenda that works for working people in the city of Chicago? Well, I'm glad you asked. As I mentioned at the start of this, I'm the director of external affairs, and our team in external affairs is developing a new infrastructure in the mayor's office to make sure that we can bring the people power into the halls of city government. And so what we want to do is make sure that we can, you know, to take on your contacts, you know, your information and be able to keep up to date about fights like the budget

1:24:59 and other things that are part of a working class agenda for this administration. We want to bring you into how we fight for it, showing up for city council meetings, making your voice heard, talking to your older people, to your state representatives and senators to make sure that we can build and work towards a city that works for working people. And so you'll see a QR code here that will link you to a website where we can get some of your information so we can keep in contact with you and keep this fight going. So please, if you would, make sure to sign up. And if you don't want to use a QR code, in the back we have a laptop

1:25:32 where you can just put your information in there with Anton Rashida from External Affairs. And with that, I want to say again, thank you all so much for coming out tonight, and please go home in safety.

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