# Protecting Chicago Budget Address

- Date: October 17, 2025
- Type: Video
- Length: 44:06
- Topic: Budget
- Video: [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0bDbwniItM)
- Transcript: Machine transcription, 5,945 words ([text](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/files/transcripts/youtube/X0bDbwniItM.txt))
- Mayor: [Brandon Johnson](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor)

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=0) Introduction and gratitude
- [0:47](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=47) Federal interference
- [3:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=180) The economic impact of cuts
- [5:08](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=308) Investing in public schools
- [7:40](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=460) Wealth inequality and unity
- [10:35](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=635) Fiscal responsibility reforms
- [12:44](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=764) Collaborating for change
- [14:35](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=875) Corporate tax proposals
- [17:06](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1026) Mental health and revenue
- [21:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1269) Property and land management
- [23:34](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1414) Community safety strategies
- [30:01](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1801) Community Safety Fund
- [35:10](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2110) Corporate safety surcharge
- [36:43](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2203) Defending against federal cuts
- [38:41](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2321) Housing and infrastructure
- [40:36](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2436) Closing and call to action

## 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 delivers his 2026 Budget Address to Chicago City Council on October 16th, 2025.

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=0) You're going to hear a lot about the great things that we have accomplished for the city over the last two and a half years. But whether it's mental health, affordable housing, community safety, economic development, or youth jobs, or flood relief, none of that would be possible without the champions that are here today. In fact, I think I would be remiss if I did not offer up a really strong thank you.

[0:31](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=31) Because we don't get here without the council members. And thank you for delivering for the people of Chicago. This year's budget, it's the Protecting Chicago budget. It acknowledges a harsh reality that I think that we all can agree on. We are living in unprecedented times. As I speak this morning about our budget, we have National Guard troops from the state of Texas

[1:06](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=66) that are waiting on a court order to deploy to our streets. Our federal government is in a shutdown with no end in sight. Masked men with long guns, armed vehicles, who have shot residents with no transparency and no oversight. We have ICE agents harassing Chicagoans, shooting pepper balls at faith leaders, and detaining journalists.

[1:36](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=96) We had Chicagoans in South Shore who were awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of Black Hawk helicopters and doors being busted down. We had a Border Patrol detain a member of our city council for simply asking to see a warrant. We had another mother screaming, pulled from her car while she was in line to pick up her children from school.

[2:07](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=127) One resident told the media that they put black people in one van and immigrants in another. That gets at the core of the issue. When they come for any of us, they come for all of us. They are pitting law enforcement against law enforcement.

[2:38](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=158) these unaccountable federal agents have tear gassed our police officers on two separate occasions the president of the united states of america called for my imprisonment along with the governor because we disagree with him now they are trying to militarize and occupy our city but it's not just the boots on the ground you all what is even more devastating is the economic attacks. The Trump attack on our city is an economic attack on our city. The harsh reality is

[3:16](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=196) we're dealing with the Trump cuts. The Trump cuts to public health, the cuts to public safety, to Medicaid, to SNAP, to services that address homelessness and drug addiction, his cuts to to violence prevention, his cuts to public education and transportation. This is not rhetoric. This is a reality. In fact, all of the cuts that he has declared on the city of Chicago are the very things that descendants of slaves fought for post the Civil War.

[3:48](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=228) Trump's budget cuts, $1 trillion from Medicaid. The Trump administration is enacting the largest cut to SNAP in our nation's history. And Trump's tariffs are driving up the cost of food. That's why we are not including the grocery tax in our budget proposal. Billions were cut from housing, from the unhoused, putting 170,000 Americans at risk of homelessness.

[4:22](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=262) In Chicago, we still believe that the solution to homelessness is housing. And that's why you will find an increase in funding for homelessness services and our rapid rehousing program, which has already connected thousands of Chicagoans from street encampments to long-term stable housing. $2.1 billion withheld from the Red Line extension.

[4:52](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=292) Now, look, I don't have to tell you all how hard the Southsiders fought. for this investment 50 years they fought for this transformative investment and trump just cut it without a second thought with the expiration of esser funds and the funds that were withheld by trump over our black student success plan our public school system is losing more than 1.8 billion dollars that money this money the money that should be going to our public schools is

[5:24](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=324) instead going to border patrol and billionaires. That's why this budget proposal includes the largest city investment in our public schools in the history of Chicago through a historic $1 billion TIF surplus. These funds will ensure that we are protecting our young people from

[6:02](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=362) the Trump administration's attempt to dismantle and privatize our public education system, that we are protecting special education teachers, restoring funding for our black student success plan, and making sure our lowest paid workers receive their pensions. The city will do its part while we continue to work with our partners at the state to deliver on the $1.6 billion promise of evidence-based funding for CPS.

[6:38](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=398) These funds will also provide additional revenue for city colleges, our libraries, and our parks so that Chicagoans can continue to pursue their educations and enjoy our city no matter their zip code. We are making these historic investments because the Trump cuts will have, you all, real impact on the poor and working people of Chicago. And they will degrade the quality of life for all Chicagoans. And that is what we must understand more than anything else in this moment.

[7:12](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=432) We are all connected. We all have a shared destiny as a city. We will prosper together or we will flounder alone. As Dr. Martin Luther King warned us 60 years ago, he made this point very clear. Whatever affects one directly affects us all indirectly. As long as there is poverty in this world, no man can totally be rich, even if he has a billion dollars. And here's the reality, you all.

[7:42](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=462) There's never been a better time to be a billionaire in America. There's never been a better time to be a large corporation in our country. The president's budget, the OBBA, represents the largest upward transfer of wealth from working class and middle class to the ultra-rich in our nation's history. We are talking about a trillion-dollar windfall in tax cuts for corporations while low-income Chicagoans are facing higher costs.

[8:15](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=495) Look, Chicago, you all, is the 10th wealthiest city in the entire world. 127,000 millionaires, 290 hundred millionaires, and we have 24 billionaires. But at the same time, at the very same time, one in four Chicagoans under the age of 18 lives in poverty. Tens of thousands of our Chicago public school students do not have stable housing in some of our neighborhoods.

[8:47](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=527) On the south and west side of Chicago, we have a poverty rate that's over 50%. The intense and growing wealth inequality is not sustainable, you all, for our city. We cannot separate the immense wealth of the few for the poverty and insecurity of the many. What happens in O-Town, what happens in O-Town, it affects me and my neighbors in Austin.

[9:20](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=560) What happens in Auburn-Gresham affects the families that live in Rogers Park, whatever happens, you all, in downtown affects our neighborhoods. And what happens on the far northwest side can be felt on the far southwest side of Chicago. And I'll take a moment here for the southeast siders who endure that torture and torment and terrorism. We stand with you. all over this city. We stand with you. We see you, Autumn and Chico. We stand with you, brother.

[10:12](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=612) Make no mistake about it, we are one city. We can be broken down into sides, you all. Y'all know how much I love the West Side. Okay, don't y'all leave me hanging up here. We can be broken down into wards and neighborhoods, but we can never be truly detached from the responsibility that we have one to another. That is why this budget, as I've said for months, will be asking large corporations to put a little more skin in the game. This

[10:42](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=642) is not out of spite. That is because our city as a whole will benefit if we can maintain our investments in the face of these attacks from the federal government. The protecting Chicago budget protects Chicagoans from Trump's cuts and his attacks on our city. It protects the services and programs that Chicagoans rely upon, and it protects the low-income and middle-class Chicagoans from being even more of having to deal with the tax burden and to protect the programs that Chicagoans use every day.

[11:16](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=676) We established our budget working group in April, bringing together a cross-section of our representatives from business to civic and to our labor unions, our community leaders, all coming together with ideas and recommendations. Nothing was off the table. And of the more than 80 different recommendations that were put forward, many of them are incorporated into this budget, saving taxpayers more than $200 million in cost reductions.

[11:46](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=706) These savings are not decisions that we take lightly. Even as our headcount has declined year over year, we are calling for a targeted hiring freeze so that we can protect the programs that we are currently funding. We also work closely with our city vendors to achieve significant contract savings in the budget. We met our goal this year, and we expect to do even better next year. We went through all of the city's real estate holdings and found opportunities to consolidate office space,

[12:17](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=737) to sell properties, and to terminate leases to save millions of dollars in this budget. And the savings that you will find in this budget are not quick fixes. They are not cheap accounting tricks. In fact, this budget contains more structural reforms than one-time fixes. We take our fiscal responsibility seriously because it is that discipline that will allow us to continue to make critical investments in the years to come. Now, this budget is also heavily informed by the grassroots from the bottom up.

[12:50](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=770) Both our community budget roundtables, where we heard directly from Chicagoans from every walk of life and from our informal budget town halls on the south and west and north sides, where we heard from community groups and neighborhood leaders, this budget is also the product of their work. I'm talking about decades, you all, decades of organizing that put forth these demands and brought us to this moment. But here's the harsh reality. Here's the truth. is that many of the most transformative recommendations that we got from our budget community roundtables

[13:21](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=801) and our working group requires approval at the state level. Many of the proposals in our budget wouldn't even be necessary if the progressive demands for billionaires and millionaires and tax on services that are used by the wealthiest, the elimination of the corporate tax loopholes, if we actually met those demands at the state level, many of the things that we're doing now, we wouldn't have to. But we will continue, and I promise you all, we will work with our coalition of community and labor

[13:54](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=834) and elected allies in Springfield and with Governor Pritzker, the Speaker of the House, Speaker Welch, and President Harmon, Senate President Harmon, to move our agenda for Chicago at the state level. We will work side-by-side with anyone across the state who wants to champion real progressive revenue. Just know that you have a partner, the city of Chicago, with the courage and with the fortitude to take on that fight with you. We will continue to fight to move our agenda for progressive revenue, to fund public transportation, public education,

[14:30](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=870) and to fight back against these federal attacks. And we will do that together, even with the limited authority that we do have. We have found new and creative ways of making sure that the tax burden doesn't fall on poor and working people. Our budget proposal asks the large corporations and the ultra-wealthy to chip in a little bit more so that working families are not burdened with higher property taxes or grocery taxes or garbage fees. This year, it's likely that the new assessment will be raising property values and the taxes that will go along with it.

[15:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=909) And that's why, as I promised, my budget proposal will not include a property tax increase. Instead of asking our residents to sacrifice even more, we are asking large corporations and big tech companies that have made trillions of dollars to pitch in a little bit more.

[15:43](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=943) Instead of asking Woodlawn and Englewood and Uptown to pay more, We are asking Google, Amazon, and Meta to put more skin in the game. Instead of asking seniors living on fixed incomes in Austin or South Shore to sacrifice, we are asking big business to chip in a little more. And we are doing that in a few ways. We're doing that in a few ways. First, we are proposing raising the PPLT, or the Personal Property Lease Tax Transaction Tax.

[16:19](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=979) The personal property lease transaction tax. This is our tax on the cloud computing companies like Salesforce and Amazon. With the rise of artificial intelligence, this industry is growing exponentially. And these big tech corporations, mind you, got hundreds of billions of dollars from the Trump tax cuts. We are proposing that they invest some of those profits into the people of Chicago.

[16:55](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1015) We are increasing the rate by just a few points to raise hundreds of millions in new revenue to fund critical services for all Chicagoans. The second method we are using to raise revenue from these big tech companies is a new innovative tax that we will be introducing as a special revenue fund, which we are calling the Social Media Amusement and Responsibility Tax. In other words, the smart tax.

[17:28](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1048) Because for too long we have allowed social media companies to collect our data and sell it for profit. They've implemented more and more aggressive strategies to get Chicagoans addicted to their apps. As a result, we have seen significantly higher trends of depression, anxiety, and mental illness, especially in our young people. This has become a serious public health issue, one that was acknowledged by the Surgeon General. And just like we tax other addictive vices that are bad for our health, like nicotine and tobacco,

[18:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1084) it is far past time we treat social media companies the same way. That's why we are putting forth this new tax, the first of its kind in the nation, that will tax social media companies to fund our network of city-run free mental health clinics and our mental health crisis response team. That revenue will go towards the mental health clinic that we reopened in Roseland on the far south side of Chicago.

[18:41](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1121) It will go to our clinic in Pilsen and the mental health professionals that we added to the Legler Library on the west side. I would also make sure that we are clear. I would allow us to continue, you all, to maintain and expand our mental health network throughout the city so that every Chicagoan, no matter where they live, can truly have access to adequate mental health care.

[19:13](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1153) You see, mental health is an issue where it costs us more to not to invest. When prior administrations shuttered mental health clinics a decade ago, it didn't just impact those who were being directly served by these clinics. The impact is felt in the families who lost loved ones to suicide and drug overdoses. I know firsthand the pain that families experience when they lose a loved one to addiction and untreated trauma. You see, all Chicagoans paid for that decision in their everyday quality of life.

[19:50](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1190) Residents who should be getting the care they need from a trained mental health professional were instead falling into homelessness. They were now on a train or on a train platform or in Cook County Jail. Well, every day we see Chicagoans who are clearly in need of a mental health crisis response, but past administrations have failed to find the revenue to properly fund these services. Well, we are not afraid. We are not afraid.

[20:21](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1221) In fact, we are not afraid taking on big tech to fund free mental health care for all Chicagoans. To protect these services, moving forward, we are moving funding for our crisis response teams off of the federal ARPA funding stream and into the corporate fund so that they can form a permanent part of our yearly budget process.

[20:54](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1254) This is how we protect these funds from federal clawbacks and grant terminations. No more can a single administration determine the health care of the people of Chicago. The fees in this budget are targeted at those who can afford to contribute more to our city. We are establishing also a yacht tax, because we think that it's only fair to ask Chicagoans with the means to pay for their maintenance required to dock these boats in our harbors.

[21:26](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1286) The yacht tax will bring the rate closer to its historic rate, and we will go up, depending on the size of their boat, with an additional fee for those who live outside of Chicago. Because one issue that we have heard time and time again is that the problem of absentee and out-of-state landowners and vacant buildings and lots sitting dormant for decades. I've heard this over and over and over again. Our special collections unit, which was established under our Department of Law, is taking on the banks and financial entities that are buying up vacant land for speculation.

[22:06](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1326) and the slumlords who allow their properties to fall into despair. At the beginning of this year, some of you may remember this, that we took on the worst landowner in Chicago, Susie B. Wilson. We took her to court and we won back millions of dollars for taxpayers and more than 800 lots on the south and west sides of the city of Chicago. because Chicago, the days of the vacant buildings and lots sitting dormant for decades

[22:42](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1362) while taxpayers foot the bill for inspections and maintenance, those days are over. We are going to be even more aggressive in reclaiming and redeveloping these vacant lots. And that's why we are increasing our vacant building renewal fee in this budget. Our message is simple. The land in our communities is not for private equity speculation. It's for the people.

[23:15](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1395) You either build something or we will take it over and build something for the community. And that's why, again, this important fee is critical to the life and blood of our city. And so we are asking big tech to chip in. We are asking corporate landlords and yacht owners to chip in. but we are also asking the larger corporations to step up in this moment. We are asking them to chip in specifically to fund community safety

[23:49](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1429) because there has never been a more important time to invest in safety in the history of our city. Our investments in safety have been working, you all. It is these critical investments that have allowed us to make this past summer the safest summer that Chicago has experienced in 60 years. Our investments in our detectives in particular,

[24:20](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1460) overhauling the division, restructuring the teams, strategically deploying our officers, utilizing new technologies that allow us to actually solve crimes. But with all of the progress, All of the progress that we have made, we still have the Trump cuts to public safety threatening to undermine our work. Check it out. 468 million in proposed cuts to ATF. CPD has worked hard to get more than 20,000 illegal guns off the streets since I've taken office.

[24:52](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1492) And the president is cutting the very agency that's responsible for stopping the illegal endless flow of guns trafficked into our city. Another $800 million he cut from violence prevention and community violence intervention, including more than $30 million from organizations that are right here in Chicago. $51 million from UASI, the grant that has been awarded to the city of Chicago. Those are cuts to police, fire, and emergency management. That's going to have a real impact on our city.

[25:22](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1522) This is a moment that asks us to be strategic and judicious with our resources As part of the effort to conserve resources across the board, we are also modernizing important aspects of our police department. The superintendent is taking concrete steps with our full support to rein in overtime costs for our officers. He has managed to bring down the number of hours of overtime year over year, but there is still more work to do. Two, we will be freezing vacancies unlikely to be filled to save roughly $30 million in this year's budget.

[26:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1560) Importantly, this will not cut the number of officers in our neighborhoods, though. We will also protect our positions, all positions that are critical to the continued progress to full compliance of the consent decree and constitutional policing. We are civilianizing more positions, which will save us upwards of $100 million in the coming years, and it will free up our sworn officers from administrative duties. Let's be clear, you all. Policing should not be about paperwork.

[26:31](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1591) So all of our reforms are about getting our officers into the community and away from their deaths. We will modernize. We will make smart, targeted adjustments where needed. We will work with our Department of OPSA to get to more officers, to get them back to the street. But we simply cannot afford to reduce our investments in safety. Look, with all the progress that we have made this year, I am the first to say that we still have a long way to go. And we have to move with urgency.

[27:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1624) When we have a historic decline in shootings of almost 40 percent in one year, When we double the national trend in crime reduction, when we cut homicides by almost a third, that is not the time to pat ourselves on the back, but this is the time when we double down on what's actually working. We need to support our officers on the streets. We need to add more community violence intervention workers, more mental health professionals, more funding for youth jobs, and more of everything that works.

[27:35](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1655) We can save lives. We can save hundreds of lives every year if we get this right. If we decide to take a step backward, though, if we defund the programs that have helped us make this past summer the safest summer in a generation, we will not only reverse the progress that we have made, but we will also play into the hands of the far right who want to paint our city as a dangerous and lawless destination and a place to live. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. If we fail to invest in community safety in this budget at historic levels,

[28:08](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1688) the federal government will try to use that as justification for military occupation of our city. Never have the stakes been so high, and yet never has the opportunity in front of us been so great. We believe in real community safety. We believe that every single resource should be expanded towards building sustainable, safe communities, but not with a military occupation, but with fully resourced communities. When I say that one shooting, one homicide is one too many,

[28:39](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1719) I mean that every single act of violence is unacceptable because of the trauma that it causes the victim and their loved ones. It ripples out in our community. It impacts our young people for the rest of their lives. For those of us who have lost friends and loved ones, we know that that pain never really goes away. Our goal as a city should be zero shootings, zero homicides. We owe it to Chicagoans who have lost loved ones to gun violence, to solve this challenge once and for all. We have had this crisis for six decades.

[29:12](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1752) We cannot use the same strategies that got us here in the first place and expect different results. We must be bold. We must try things that have not been tried before. We must continue the progress that we have made. And frankly, you all, we must go much further. And we have to do it with real urgency. I have complete faith in our police leadership. Superintendent Snelling has done a tremendous job of rebuilding the morale of the force, and they have done incredible work.

[29:44](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1784) But the solution is never going to come from policing alone. The safest communities do not have more police. They have more resources. And that's why I'm proud to announce the establishment of a brand new fund. It's the Community Safety Fund. It's permanent. And it's $100 million that will fund to ensure that we have the resources to continue to invest in the strategies that work.

[30:19](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1819) The Community Safety Fund will fund a number of programs that are critical to building a much safer city. First, we need to invest in mental health resources for our police officers and all of our first responders. Every day they meet Chicagoans on their worst day. They show up after shootings. They spend time with the victims and families. They put their lives on the line and their arms around Chicagoans, wracked by grief. The psychological toll that it takes, it's real.

[30:52](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1852) Officers who are struggling with mental health challenges are a danger to themselves and to our communities. We have lost too many officers to this trauma because this problem has not been treated with the seriousness that it actually deserves. And that ends today with the Community Safety Fund. And secondly, if we are serious about solving gun violence, we must invest in prevention. We cannot show up after the fact. We need to be there before violence erupts and build the relationships and community ties necessary to keep our people safe.

[31:24](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1884) And that's why we are establishing one of the largest permanent funds for violence prevention of any city in the country. Got me sweating like my Baptist brother on the west side of Chicago. we will be able to deploy street outreach workers and community violence intervention workers targeted on the blocks that see the most violence to help us drive down shootings and de-escalate

[31:58](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1918) and, of course, disrupt the disputes. Research has shown us that violence prevention workers have driven down shootings by more than 40 percent in some of the most difficult blocks in our city, and we need to build on this progress and go further. Third, this fund will also direct resources to our gender-based violence programs. Federal funding for these programs, they have run out, and our federal government has abandoned victims and survivors. So the city of Chicago is stepping up, particularly now, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

[32:32](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1952) When we see an alarming rise in gender-based violence in our city and in our country, we must meet this moment with sustained investment. Survivors deserve our love and support, but they also deserve our financial resources, and this fund will do just that. And finally, funding the Community Safety Fund will go towards a wide array of youth programs, our diversion programs, our youth activations, and most of all, our summer youth jobs programs.

[33:02](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=1982) These are programs that help our young people get on the right path. We cannot raise our children in detention centers and in jails and in poverty and expect them to be successful. Our young people need structure and accountability, of course, but they also need opportunity and resources to set them up for success. Look, I know you all remember that we set an ambitious goal last year to hire 29,000 young people.

[33:35](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2015) Well, today I am pleased to tell you that we blew past our goal and hired 31,119 young people for summer jobs, a 50% increase since taking office. I'm proud that this budget dedicates even more funds to our summer employment programs, which will allow us to pay our young people at a higher rate than last year.

[34:08](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2048) We know this makes a difference because we hear it directly from the young people who are in these programs. I'm thinking about Alanda Morris, who told us her experience with our summer employment programs. Helped her build her character and her confidence. The skills that she developed led her directly to a full-time job as an aviation mechanic today. Or you can ask Darion Wiley, who participated in our pilot program with Streets and Sanitation and Labor.

[34:42](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2082) And that pilot program led to a full-time job with Streets and Sands, and he said it allowed him to contribute to his family and his community. And his dream one day is to become a commissioner. So look out to all of the commissioners. Darian Wiley is coming. Mental health services, community violence intervention, victim services, gender-based violence, youth programs. We are paying for all of this with a fee on the largest corporations in Chicago.

[35:16](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2116) Ninety-seven percent of businesses will not be impacted by this new fee, which we are calling the community safety surcharge. Our mom-and-pop stores, our local restaurants, our small and medium-sized businesses will not pay a penny more in taxes. But we are asking the top three percent of the absolute largest corporations in our city, Those who have seen tremendous success and exceedingly high profits to chip in so that we can build a safer city for all of Chicago.

[35:50](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2150) And some parts of our business community have already voluntarily put tens of millions of dollars into our violence prevention programs. The county, the state have made significant investments in this work. This fee will make sure that large corporations contribute to their part to building a safer city. We have heard time and time again from the business community that safety is their number one priority. Well, it's mine as well. And that's why to those who say this is a fee that is anti-business, I say that investing in building a much safer city is the most pro-investment that we could possibly make at this time.

[36:32](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2192) A safer city will attract more talented young people. It will attract additional investment and jobs. It will improve the quality of life for all Chicagoans in every neighborhood. But in closing, you all, let me just say that this budget is based on the premise that the programs that Chicagoans rely upon are worth protecting. We can't respond to Trump's cuts and the attacks on our city with speeches and press conferences. We must take concrete action.

[37:04](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2224) We must respond to his tax cuts for the ultra-rich with new taxes on billionaires and large corporations. We must respond to the illegal attempts to strip funding from our city with a strong and persistent legal effort. And that's why you will find additional funding for a Department of Law in this budget. They stole billions from our public transportation system and our public education system because they're saying that it benefits black Chicago.

[37:38](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2258) We have never violated the law or discriminated against anyone. but let me also be very clear there is nothing wrong with making sure that the communities that have been historically excluded from city contracts have a fair shot at participating in the wealth of this city today this is not discrimination this is just basic fairness

[38:14](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2294) and justice so we will use our investments in our department of law to fight until every federal dollar that has been illegally stolen from Chicago by the Trump administration is returned in full. We will be relentless until every single penny is restored. Our investments in affordable housing and our neighborhoods are also worth protecting.

[38:46](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2326) We have cut ribbons across the city. We have put shovels in the ground. And more than anything else, we've cut the tape of the bureaucracy that has slowed down business in the past. Out of 107 recommendations that were put forward to make it easier to build in Chicago, ranging across 14 city departments and agencies, I am proud to say that 90% of those recommendations have either been completed or are in the process of being completed today.

[39:20](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2360) It is critical, you all, that we make Chicago as easy as possible to build because it is that dynamism, that endless pursuit of innovation that keeps our city vibrant and economically strong. We are doing our part as a local government. We have built, rehabbed, and preserved more than 4,000 affordable units already with another 1,600 under construction, almost 5,000 more units in our pipeline.

[39:51](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2391) We are converting our vacant office spaces downtown into affordable units and our vacant lots into owner-occupied housing while welcoming billions in new investments from across our city. But as we develop our city, it's critical that we take steps towards the protection of our environment and continue the fight for environmental justice that started right here in Chicago.

[40:23](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2423) This budget delivers on the promise to rebuild the Department of Environment by expanding its staff significantly while continuing to invest in programs that reduce emissions. In this moment, we must be intentional about responding to the targeted attacks by the Trump administration against those that are most vulnerable with additional protections for our people.

[40:54](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2454) And for Chicagoans who are at risk of falling into homelessness, we have our first dedicated position to advocate for renters' rights and additional investments in our shelters. And for Chicagoans with disabilities, we will continue investing in our home modification program. And for our seniors, we are protecting our investments in our satellite senior centers so that our elders have access to resources and a real sense of community. And for the LGBTQ Chicagoans, we are hiring the first-ever dedicated city staff to advocate for the queer community.

[41:31](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2491) And for our returning residents from incarceration, we are earmarking our cannabis funding to support our Office of Reentry and Job Training Programs. And we will continue to build and expand on our Know Your Rights campaigns and strengthen our protections in our immigrant communities in Chicago.

[42:02](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2522) I want to take a moment to thank Beatrice Ponce de Leon, our Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, Migrant, and Refugee Rights. We will protect every community, every community that is under attack in Chicago, because we are one city. And what happens to one of us, it affects all of us. Chicago is worth protecting. This is our city.

[42:34](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2554) We bend to no one, and we cannot be broken. I know the storms have rattled us, and people are drowning in the despair of hopelessness. But Chicago is alive. A revival is here. They chose the wrong city to pick a fight with. We are Chicago. We've been through a lot worse than this. We will come out of this, you all. We will come out stronger and more united as a city. We will be stronger than we've ever been before.

[43:05](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2585) I can literally see the dawn of a new day. I can see the hopes and aspirations of our ancestors that dream that black, brown and white and Asian folks from all over the city can come together united to beat back against tyranny, but also to ensure that we build a city that works for everyone. No matter what corner of the city you live in, no matter where you come from, whether you are a descendant of slaves or you are an immigrant, you belong in the greatest freaking city in the world, the city of Chicago. This is our time, Chicago. We will stand up for

[43:38](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM?t=2618) justice. We will put forth a budget that protects us from tyranny. I'm committed to working with your city council to ensure that every single Chicagoan can live justly and can live prosperly. Thank you all. God bless you. Thank you.

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Source: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/mayor/videos/X0bDbwniItM · Chicago Politics, an independent tracker of the Chicago City Council. Guide for agents: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/llms.txt