Chicago Politics

46th Ward Day in the Ward Press Conference 9.17.25

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the 46th Ward Day in the Ward Press Conference.

Transcript

0:16 Senator and all of you for being here today. Welcome to the 46th Ward Day in the Ward series. My name is Ugo O'Kerry. This is a series brought to you by Mayor Brandon Johnson's external affairs team. Today we had a wonderful day in the 46th Ward talking to neighbors and businesses. And I wanted to just make sure that you all had an opportunity to hear directly from the folks who were there with us today, the elected officials and so I'm without further ado I will just go ahead and pass it to

0:46 Senator Mike Simmons. Senator. Thank you. Thank you so much Hugo. Hello everybody. Good afternoon. I'm State Senator Mike Simmons and it is the privilege of a lifetime for me to represent the 7th District which includes Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park and several of the surrounding communities. You know, I think it's so important what Mayor Johnson is doing here today, being here in Uptown with Alderwoman Clay and our family, our community in Uptown,

1:21 we consider the community our extended camp, at least I do as a senator. And so it means a lot to me to have the mayor here and a community that I think has so much history for Chicago in terms of it being an integrated community. It is a community that is one of the most diverse in the country. And, you know, it is the community that gave us Illinois' first Ethiopian American state senator, that is I, and Illinois' first LGBTQ state senator, that is I, and has given us Angela Clay, who is a child of this community

1:54 and represents one of the many gifts that Uptown has to offer the city and the world. So I'm proud to be here with you today on this historic day. I think it's so important for us to spend time with our small businesses, for us to spend time in this facility, the Clarendon Park Community Center, which took years, and I was proud to help secure some state funds to help make this happen with our city partners. This is what we'll mean when we talk about investing in communities. It looks just like what we have here, and the people that work in this building,

2:26 the artwork that's in this building, and certainly the youth that can come here and can be themselves. So with that, I would like to to bring to the microphone, my always will be my Alderwoman, Alderwoman Angela Clay. All right. Good afternoon, good people. Happy 70 degree in September. I appreciate everyone for being here. What a beautiful day it has been in the 46th Ward.

2:58 And I'm so proud to have spent it alongside Mayor Brandon Johnson and his incredible team, including our amazing DPD Commissioner, Sierra Boatwright, our DOH Commissioner, Lissette Castaneda, and also our Deputy Mayor. We also are super excited to have our elected official, Senator Simmons, here joining us in because this truly shows the collective energy around our ward.

3:28 We have had an amazing time walking our streets, meeting our neighbors, and seeing firsthand the heart of our community. I want to give a huge thank you to the neighbors, business owners, community organizations, the Uptown Chamber of Commerce, who joined us today to share their love and appreciation for our award. We started the day off at Nabala Cafe, where Ied Zied shared house city support through a small business improvement fund, helped fund his small business and allow it to grow.

4:01 Nabala Cafe is an amazing melting pot full of taste and culture that reflects the commitment to bridging our ward with community and activism. It was a perfect reminder that when we invest in local businesses, we also invest in neighbors to have safe spaces in their community that feel like a piece of home. Then we stepped inside the historic Uptown Theater, a true gem for a rare behind-the-scenes tour with iconic owner Jerry Michelson of Jam Productions and the author of The Uptown, Chicago's Endangered Movie Palace.

4:35 The granddaddy, as I affectionately call The Uptown Theater, just celebrated a 100-year-old birthday and were deeply invested in preserving and revitalizing this legendary entertainment gem to be a tourist destination and a communal hub. We also made a stop at the newly reopened Lawrence Redline Station to talk with our partners over at CTA about the success. the Red Purple Modernization Program. I want to thank the Interim CTA President Nora Learson

5:06 for joining us. Thanks for brainstorming with me about making our transit safer, more accessible, and surrounded by vital development that benefits all of our neighbors. Thank you to the Chief Dental Officer at Broadway Youth Center, Robin Gay, and the Director of Policy and advocacy, Tim Wang, for hosting us at the Broadway Youth Center, one of my favorite places on the planet. We had an opportunity to meet incredible staff who are creating safe, welcoming spaces for youth, and especially youth experiencing homelessness. Making investments, especially in

5:42 health care that understands and meets the needs of our young people, results in a healthier and safer future for all, and I'm extremely thankful to have them here in our ward. Right now, we're closing out at Clarendon Park, another historic and newly remodeled staple in our ward with a community conversation that was honest, heartfelt, and full of next steps. We talked about health care access across our ward, especially after the recent tragic closure of Weiss Memorial

6:14 Hospital's inpatient services, including the city's upcoming budget priorities and how we can protect our community from the impact of looming federal funding cuts. Most importantly, we listened, and we heard from the people who called this ward home. Today showed what's possible when we come together via city leaders, community partners, and neighbors to dream big and build a stronger, healthier future for our children to thrive and our elders to enjoy their golden years. So, again, the 46th Ward is full of brilliance, resilience, and love,

6:48 and I could not be prouder to welcome you into our home today to show a reflection of our values. I appreciate everyone for being here, and I want to introduce our mayor, Brandon Johnson. Thank you, Alderwoman Clay, for your leadership. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Senator Simmons, for your presence and for your leadership and your bold stance and commitment to the people of the 7th District. Today, my administration continued our Day in the Ward series here in the 46th Ward,

7:23 an uptown neighborhood, visiting local businesses and community leaders. And I want to thank all of the community leaders that are here today, individuals who are on the ground every day ensuring that we are building the safest, most affordable big city in America. And through our Day in the Ward series, we aim to visit all of Chicago's unique community areas. We want to engage with people, stakeholders. Ultimately, the goal is to chart out our path to a safer and a more affordable Chicago for everyone. As the older woman indicated, the Nabala Cafe this morning was an impressive space.

7:58 This cafe is owned by Mr. Ead Zid, who has an incredible story about going from software and data sales career to doing mutual aid work and now creating this community space. At the cafe, we discussed Citi's Small Business Improvement Fund, which Nibala Cafe is a recipient of. The City of Chicago awarded NABALA $75,000 in city grants to support the interior build-out of their new cafe as part of our commitment to supporting and the launch of the growth of local businesses.

8:35 Next, we went to the Uptown Theater, and what a remarkable jewel we have here in the City of Chicago, an historic theater. Our investment in arts and culture in our city is really critical to ensuring that we remain the most dynamic place on the planet. This theater is a crown jewel of the neighborhood in our city, and it's clear that the uptown community is determined to restore this theater to its former glory. I do want to give a special thanks and a great deal of gratitude,

9:06 and I commend Jerry and Andy for the resilience and fighting for this theater to reopen it and the hope that they bring to Chicago. Our next stop, of course, is at the Red Line, the Lawrence Red Line Station in particular. These are investments that we are making to improve our public transportation system. The CTA celebrated four reconstructed Red Line stations. Edgewater and right here in Uptown is part of our $2.1 billion red and purple line modernization program.

9:38 This is phase one of this project. We do know that having a well-funded and a robust public transportation system that's modern and is fully accessible to those individuals with elevators and escalators is critical to moving our economy. We're going to continue to advocate for these critical investments. in our transportation system. And then, of course, many of you all know my commitment and love for our young people. And so visiting the Broadway Youth Center and having a chance to talk to Tim Wang and his entire team

10:12 was clearly a full example of what it means to invest in people. And we explored this welcoming space, particularly for the LGBTQ youth and young people who are experiencing homelessness and housing instability. They serve as individuals between the ages of 12 and 24, providing medical, social, mental wellness services, regardless of their ability to pay. The sitter embodies the best of who we are as a city, extending compassion to our young people and strengthening our entire community.

10:44 As you all know, my commitment to our young people is front and center. Of the 31,000-plus young people that we hired for summer jobs this summer in our one-summer Chicago program, over 300 of them came from this very community. Our last stop, that's something worth celebrating. And then here at Clarendon Park, I just think it would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that it was in 2014, 2015,

11:18 when the late, great president of the Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis, had a community meeting here as we worked to address the critical issues that she was prepared to lead when she was exploring a run for mayor, and now to come full circle in this recently remodeled, restored space where community organizing has always been front and center here. And that's why the conversation today around not just the revitalization of these spaces,

11:51 but making sure that we have quality health care that's available and accessible to the people of this community. And finally, I just want to highlight that we invested over $50 million in infrastructure projects throughout the 46th War. My administration looks forward to making these continued investments in small businesses, infrastructure, organizations serving young people, and all of the community development that's happening here. I'm grateful for the Uptown community leaders, the spaces that they hold, and for hosting us today,

12:23 engaging in very productive conversations. We are dedicated and committed to building the safest, most affordable big city in America, which is the greatest city in the world, and I have to say the most dynamic community in the entire city of Chicago, Uptown. Congratulations, you all. With that, we'll take a question. Good afternoon, Mayor. It's all you today. Good afternoon. Very excited to have the exclusive. I'll start on topic with the Uptown Theater.

12:54 You all correctly identified as a crown jewel of this neighborhood. You all know that it has been closed for decades, and you mentioned Jerry Mickelson and the folks at JAM have been trying to get some help for years to try to restore it to its former glory and maybe reopen it one day. I know it's a tough budget process. What can you offer the folks at JAM and the folks at Uptown and the people who live around it who very much want to be able to see a show or a movie there again one day?

13:25 First of all, let me just again give a special thanks to the individuals that are involved in keeping this hope and this dream alive. Today we had our Commissioner for Development and Planning, Commissioner Boatwright out here today, we're taking this venture serious, and we're going to explore some options to figure out how the city can be supportive of this effort. Now, there's a lot of work to be done there, but this is really an international movement, quite frankly. There's no space like this space anywhere in the country and arguably in the world.

13:59 I mean, we're talking about, you know, the architecture alone, the seating, the acoustics, the lighting. I would encourage more people to see what this magnificent facility holds. So we're taking this seriously. It's why I was a part of my stop here today to work with the alder, our state elected leaders, the philanthropic community, and, of course, local city government to figure out how we can restore this crown jewel

14:33 and get people back in there to be able to see concerts, shows, and get people working. Excuse me. All right. Okay, so speaking of money, there's been a lot of talk about the budget. Obviously, there are hearings going on down at City Hall. The working group that you convened in April and also your budget people have talked about the importance of city council approving, and you... signing off on a continuation of the grocery tax,

15:04 and the state says if we don't do it by October 1st, the city has to worry about collecting it on its own. Do you believe that the council will act in a timely manner to get that done? And I'd actually like to ask the alderwoman as well how she feels about that. Sure. Well, look, the first thing is I put together this working group to bring solutions to the conversation, right? And this is not the only group that we've convened. We've had budget community engagement. Our community engagement team is here. We're bringing every single entity as well as perspective to the table to address the structural damage that we're going to fix.

15:43 We know what we inherited. We knew what we got ourselves into when we ran for office, and we made a commitment that the ills of the past that we're going to provide the necessary response so that we can continue to build safe and affordable communities. There are a number of things that are within that report that I do believe that we should take a closer look at, and there are some things that I don't necessarily agree with. But what I can say is that the report did reveal something that I've said repeatedly. We don't have a spending problem in Chicago. We have a revenue problem, and that's why my budget is going to reflect the values of working people,

16:17 where we're going to challenge the ultra-rich to pay their fair share in taxes. Now, as far as the grocery tax is concerned, look, this has been a tax that's been around for over 30 years. It's been collected. I don't believe we should raise the number of that particular tax, but this is something that the city council will explore. But, again, the ultimate goal is to make sure that those with means put more skin in the game. Alder, you want to add to that? I think that's an awesome question because it prepares us for what we're going to be asking during budget, which are some tough questions.

16:48 However, I agree with the mayor that this is something that's been around for decades that we don't have to politicize. We have to understand that this is a revenue source that the city needs, and how do we also make sure that we are looking at other revenue sources as well so that we are not just trying to put the burden on working-class families. A quick follow-up to you thinking you and your colleagues will pass it in time. You're saying me and what colleagues? There's 50 of us. There's 50 of us.

17:19 I think that's the beauty of city council is even when we come together, We have so many ideas, so passing it is just a matter of getting in a room together to have some real deep conversations about the impact and the effects that it's going to have on our communities. Thank you all. No problem.

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