Something seems shady at City Hall. It’s not the first time a Chicago politician is operating in the dark. But the actions of Mayor Brandon Johnson are conspicuous for the progressive union organizer who ascended to office on bold promises of cogovernance with the pantheon of Chicago’s political left who coalesced around him. Since taking […]
Tag: Brandon Johnson
Posted inNews & Politics
Brandon Johnson’s first hundred days as Chicago mayor
“Today the dream is alive,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told a crowded room of supporters at his election night party in April, invoking the words of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in his victory speech. “Tonight is the beginning of a Chicago that truly invests in all of its people.” Johnson’s resounding victory was […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Lessons from Harold and Rob
Editor’s note: Robert Mier (1924-1995) was a professor of urban planning and public administration at University of Illinois Chicago and a leading expert on urban economic issues. Mier founded the University of Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development in 1978. During Mayor Harold Washington’s first term, Mier became the City of Chicago’s director of economic […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Does BDS solidarity lose elections?
On a Saturday evening in May, Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela, an elected member of the South African National Assembly and the grandson of Nelson Mandela, stood on stage at the Chicago Teachers Union and recited a chant from a South African tradition that echoed across the rooms of the hall. Mandela, invited to Chicago by organizers […]
Posted inOn Politics
High grades
In the aftermath of presiding over his first City Council meeting, Mayor Brandon Johnson gave himself the highest grade possible. “If you’re keeping score, I believe it was 41 alderpersons voted for it,” Johnson told reporters. “I would consider that an ‘A’ grade. I mean—I don’t know what a brother’s gotta do to get a […]
Posted inOn Politics
Lemming city.
Quick—name Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first chief of staff! You probably can’t—unless your name is Mick Dumke. I mention Mick (a Block Club Chicago editor and my former writing partner here at the Reader) because he actually knew the answer when I asked him about it the other day. Then he sort of apologized, apparently a […]
Posted inOn Politics
Karen’s plan
At the risk of making you think I’m weirder than you may already think I am . . . Sometimes when walking alone late at night, I talk to friends and family who have died. Been doing it for a couple of years now. Going back to the pandemic when the streets were so deserted […]
Posted inFeature
Brandon Johnson speaks with Black LGBTQ+ leaders
The day mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson descended upon Lighthouse Church of Chicago UCC was reminiscent of any other political season meet and greet between a hopeful candidate and an inquisitive community of faith. Except it wasn’t the same because Lighthouse is the only predominantly African American and LGBTQ+ -inclusive congregation in the city. The church, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Artists are all-in for Brandon Johnson
In the 2019 mayoral election, Lori Lightfoot stood out with her platform for supporting the arts in Chicago. Out of a crowded field of 14 candidates, she was the only one to hone in on the arts with a detailed plan. Not so this time around. Instead, candidate Brandon Johnson, who has recently surged in […]
Posted inMusic
Music Fest threw open the stages on the Logan Square strip
The festival abolished the usual gatekeeping to book more than four dozen diverse artists at three venues, all in walking distance of one another.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
The last bastion
Maria Pappas reveals the dirty not-so-secret inequity of TIFs.
Posted inMusic
Plugging into Chicago’s forgotten house venues
A tour and oral history of the long-gone spaces that birthed one of the foundational sounds in modern pop
Posted inArts & Culture
The printed relics of Chicago’s predigital gangland
The book Thee Almighty & Insane: Chicago Gang Business Cards From the 1970s & 1980s is a snapshot of the city’s street gangs during a period of transition.
Posted inBlogs
The school board’s moment of insight on charters
In the category of good news, Mayor Rahm’s school board punts on Noble’s proposal to open a new charter high school in Uptown—just in time for Karen Lewis and Troy LaRaviere to talk about it at next week’s First Tuesdays show at the Hideout.
Posted inBlogs
A party for Mayor 1%
A few hundred or so lefties get together to celebrate Kari Lydersen’s book and debate whether Chicago voters can save themselves from the mayor they elected.