Mark Brown: Whether personal or philosophical, Quinn and Rahm lock horns on term limits

This is the truest portion of this column from last Friday:

I’m not a fan of term limits. If Quinn’s proposal makes the ballot, I’d probably vote against it. It seems to me that Chicago voters are going to have every opportunity to term-limit Emanuel in 2019 by electing someone else, if that’s what they want.

But I also know that voters like term limits, and they at least deserve an opportunity to vote on the issue when someone has gone to the extreme effort of collecting the necessary tens of thousands of signatures to put the matter before them.

In addition, the City Council shouldn’t be allowed to push such a referendum off the ballot by offering up the usual batch of three useless advisory referenda.

Meanwhile our former governor - who was defeated in 2014 by Bruce Rauner who this year in considered endangered - fights to get his term limits referendum on the ballot in November. I also know as Emanuel doesn't get along with Rauner now, he also hadn't got along well with Quinn when he was our governor. Just remember Quinn and Emanuel are both Democrats so what is the deal?

All the same, is it time for mayoral term limits? How many of you are ready to send Emanuel packing next year?

Ben Joravsky: Rahm makes a joke out of Quinn's term-limit push, but voters could have last laugh

I missed this from earlier this month from Ben Joravsky of the Chicago Reader. He talks about the former Gov. Quinn's attempt at a binding referendum on mayoral term limits in Chicago.

This year Rahm had to figure out a way to keep former governor Pat Quinn from placing a binding mayoral term-limit question on November's ballot.

If it passed, Rahm couldn't run for reelection next year.

Quinn has enough obstacles trying to round up the 50,000 valid signatures by the August 6 deadline.

But just to throw another roadblock in his way, Mayor Rahm had the aldermen place three nonbinding questions on November's ballot.

So voters will get to decide, among other things, whether they want to ban plastic straws or whether they want the state to give them a property tax break.

Hmmm, do voters want to pay less in taxes? That ought to be a real cliff-hanger of a vote.

On his WTTW show, Schutz pointed out that most people see this for what it is—a thinly disguised attempt to thwart Quinn by cramming the ballot with frivolous questions.

Goodness no, the mayor responded, as though he were horrified Schutz would even suggest such a thing. Instead, Rahm said he was just "seeking guidance from the voters."

Here is the Mayor's appearance from June 28, 2018 on Chicago Tonight. Watch it for yourself!

Capitol Fax: Quinn says “mighty” effort needed to get mayoral term limits question on ballot

I know Rahm Emanuel is unpopular as mayor, however, is mayoral term limits an idea whose time has come? Why stop at mayor why not direct term limits to other city elected officials especially aldermen? Why is our former governor just targeting term limits for mayors?

Of course this isn't new as well in addition to advocated for mayoral term limits in Chicago, he's also calling for an elected consumer advocate position. I hope he'll reveal more about that and what the duties for this proposed office entails.

Read on over at CapitolFax.com

Quinn say “mighty” effort needed to get mayoral term limits question on ballot https://t.co/Rkm4kkYStQ

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) June 7, 2018

Capitol Fax: Today's number 20,000

It has been in the news during the summer that Quinn - our former Governor who lost his re-election bid in 2014 - wants to put a ballot measure either this year's or 2018 election. This ballot measure would term limit the mayor of Chicago and give Chicago an elected consumer advocate.


Not sure about term limits even if many politicians in this state let alone Chicago have served too long in elected office. However a consumer advocate could get my vote. Perhaps something similar to NYC's Public Advocate.


Either way Quinn hasn't been too successful in getting the necessary 53,000 signatures let alone Quinn's own projected 100,00 signatures. Since 2016 is off the table he has another two years to get the job done.


Also bear in mind there's a possibility that the former Governor would run for his old job in 2018. He hasn't entirely ruled it out.

Sun-Times: Mariano’s gets $5M to build in ‘food deserts’

Credit: Mariano's Instagram

While on Thursday, the focus was on a groundbreaking for Whole Foods Market Englewood there was a story about Mariano's getting state money to open in food desert areas:

Mariano’s Fresh Markets will build five new grocery stores in “food deserts” — neighborhoods with no easy access to affordable, fresh food — with the help of $5 million in Build Illinois bond proceeds committed by Gov. Pat Quinn, the company and the state announced Thursday.

The funds will go toward capital construction in order to free up more money for job training.

It’s the first time that Build Illinois bonds will be used to boost healthy food choices in low-income areas, said David Roeder, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

One of those stores was already announced to come to Bronzeville at 39th/King Drive. The other one is rumored to come to the former site of US Steel near 87th/South Shore Drive. Of course that needs to be confirmed. I think people in South Shore are looking for this one even if it isn't coming to 71st/Jeffrey.

More about the jobs to come:

Mariano said the company must provide intense job training in underserved communities, including working with new hires on basics such as timeliness, proper attire, work preparation and communicating well with customers.

“In many cases, we’re going into places where people haven’t had jobs or haven’t had jobs in many years,” Mariano said. “We want to spend time on job training and job-preparation skills so that the employees and the store can succeed.”

Mariano aims to hire local residents for the food-desert stores. The company does so at existing stores because most people want to work 2 to 5 miles from their homes, Mariano said.

Each Mariano’s store employs about 415 people.

Mariano’s supermarkets emphasize food stations and fresh, prepared and ready-to-prepare foods — an approach that retail experts say work well in underserved neighborhoods.

According to the Sun-Times, the state money is for five stores to open in underserved areas. Four of those will open in the city limits. So there is one that's coming one that's rumored, so where would the other two go?

Here's one suggestion, the property that formerly contained a Jewel/Osco and the now demolished Halsted Indoor Mall located near Halsted/115th Street (here's a picture in fact). That should foot the bill for the state money Mariano's is getting.

Sun-Times: Why can't they just get along?

A few times I alluded to this on the blog. It has often been reported that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn aren't getting along very well. This is likely the start of how things started going downhill, apparently according to Fran Spielman they had a mutual friend in David Axelrod and used to play basketball on Saturdays.

How did two Democrats who need to work together to solve Chicago’s pressing problems become so distrustful of one another?

“One reason for the tension is that Quinn is in the weaker position … his job approval is lower than the mayor’s. He’s also in a difficult re-election fight while the mayor isn’t. And Quinn needs Rahm more than the other way around. So Quinn doesn’t appreciate the mayor forcing him to do unpopular things — like support property tax increases,” said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

No one in either camp will allow their name to be attached to a discussion of the tension for fear of making it worse. But both sides acknowledge that the enmity is real.

“There have been times that Rahm has gone into meetings with the governor and just laid into Quinn. That doesn’t serve as the basis for a good, warm relationship,” a source in the Quinn camp said.

“Rahm does a lot of things in closed court, pops it and wants people to roll over right away. That’s not the way it works. The governor feels the state does so much for the city in funding roads, bridges and schools, and that there’s very little gratitude by the mayor for that. Where there should be conversation, there is little. It’s, `We’re gonna do this’ and that’s it.”

A mayoral confidante acknowledged that Emanuel “doesn’t respect the governor’s political acumen and ability to get things done,” so he’s inclined to go around him.

Another would only say that Emanuel and Quinn are “very different people with different personalities.”

This is how Spielman's article started off:

One is a notoriously disciplined political hammer who doesn’t suffer fools and runs roughshod over those who stand in his way.

The other made his name as a somewhat disorganized political gadfly with a pushover reputation that belies his toughness.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn are personality opposites, even though they’re both Democrats.

Probably not the full explanation, but certainly one factor amongst many. I can only wonder if the Mayor of Illinois' largest city and the Governor of Illinois not getting along only hurts the city itself?

Return of the Red Line some politics with video on demand!

[VIDEO] ABC7Chicago took a ride on the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line before everyday commuters will be on Sunday. Today also many of our city and state politicians also took a ride and lauded this branch's return to service. As you see in the video above they also made some comments about the reconstruction project.

Capitol Fax: Quinn attends huge anti-Rahm rally

[VIDEO] Rich Miller shares this video of a rally that took place at the UIC Forum yesterday. He describes this rally as a "blatantly anti-Rahm rally". This rally was alluded to in a status from RAGE's FB page.

If you read Miller's CapFax at times you may have seen reports how Gov. Quinn and Mayor Emanuel seem to butt heads at times. Now that it's about time for re-election for Quinn next year and Emanuel in 2015, it was noted by Miller that while "He didn’t really say all that much, but his presence at that rally likely won’t go unnoticed by the 5th Floor." The Governor's remarks are at about the 1hr 28min mark in the vid embedded above.

NOTE: The original vid was taken down on YouTube at some point and I added the most recent uploaded vid of this event by CAN-TV.

A lot of quotes were taken by this Tribune article about the "Take Back Chicago" rally from yesterday. In RAGE's status this was described as a rally of "thousands of community & union members to launch a powerful shared economic justice platform!!". Furthermore they also noted that "We are full support of #takebackchicago - We continue our work because we want to #takebackenglewood too!!

Speaking of re-election for the Mayor in 2015 could two Alderman possibly be angling to run for Mayor in about 16 months. This WBEZ article explores that possibility, although I could believe Bob Fioretti (2nd) might be more apt for a run than Scott Waguespack (32nd) since Fioretti has been essentially drawn out of his near south side ward in the remap.

Curbed Chicago: Family housing for 73 veterans breaks ground in Englewood

This development chronicled by Curbed Chicago is called Hope Manor II located at 61st & Halsted. Not too far from the corner of 63rd & Halsted. Governor Pat Quinn dropped by to ground break this project and it seems appropriate since the Governor does care for our veterans. Primary purpose of this project:

That project has a focus on the needs of single veterans. Hope Manor II will offer on-site job training, family counseling, and health care. As depicted in the above rendering, the town homes and apartments will address the street while cradling a small park and children's play area.

According to the Hope Manor II page linked above this project is a partnership between "the City of Chicago and Alderman JoAnn Thompson of the 16th ward".

Illinois State Police: Wanted in the 32nd District

This past Monday November 5, 2012. there were some guest at the Park Manor Neighbors Community Council (PMNCC) meeting. A television reporting team and several reporters were present at the meeting due to the following document.

Press Thapedi Park Manor  After opening with a prayer, the meeting started out with Andre Thapedi, State Representative 32nd District. The 32nd district includes portions of Woodlawn, Greater Grand Crossing, Englewood, Park Manor and Chatham. Representative Thapedi updated his constituents on what was happening in Springfield as well as where he stood on several pieces of legislation.

The major portion of his time was spent on his proposal that he plans to submit to Governor Pat Quinn. Representative Thapedi stated that he was going to request that the Illinois State Police who currently patrol the Dan Ryan expressway expand their coverage area a minimum of one mile east and west of the expressway to assist the Chicago Police Department. There were some puzzled looks in the room, but Thapedi explained that the dan Ryan Expressway fell into the 32nd District and there are several street owned by the State of Illinois in the district, therefore he had a right to make this request. Also, he explained that the Illinois State Police patrolling the Dan Ryan is a result of an Intergovernmental agreement that dates back to the Harold Washington administration.

Representative Thapedi stated he could not stand back and do nothing for his constituents and felt that "out the box" solutions were necessary. He stated his office gets inundated with calls about crime and shootings. He further stated he could not see any reason why a parked State Police car could not assist the Chicago Police, He used a popular phrase "Really" several times to emphasize that this made sense. Some in the audience compared this to the calls several other State Representative have made to call on the Illinois National guard. Others called it the creation of a police state and others called it grandstanding and non innovative. Representative Thapedi stood firm that this was a quick fix but anything that saved the lives of young people was worth looking into. Also,he again reiterated that there is already cooperative between the two law enforcement agencies and the Illinois State Police have valuable resources that the Chicago Police Department does not have.

Representative Thapedi proposal overall was well received by members of PMNCC who have seen a spike in violent crime. He stated his office was researching all the necessary legalities and was open to input from the members. He office was also circulating a petition that he also plans to submit to the Governor. Lastly, he was asked did he think Mayor Rahm Emanuel would sign off on this agreement and he stated he is a State Representative, but could not see why the mayor would not welcome the assistance.