Breaking: Lori Lightfoot is officially out as Mayor of Chicago. As Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson advance to a runoff. (camping, living)

[vegasrollingstone]

Originally Posted by aga412

He didn't go negative like Brandon, or talk in soundbites. The campaign was too cerebral - people that paid attention understood he had good ideas, but flashy he was not. I think he was afraid to go negative for many reasons.

His core message was crime and safety, I don't think that was to cerebral. The way to win in Chicago is to help alderman win their election and they return the favor - it's the Chicago way. I agree Vallas need to go more negative but I think he was over confident as the front runner.

[Grlzrl]

Originally Posted by Robert9

They can still vote for Trump. Who is going to know.

I think he meant speaking.

[Tombstoner]

Originally Posted by BRU67

I mean, I don't know if this will add any levity here but I feel I've a unique perspective. When I moved to Berwyn back in ’03, it was experiencing rapid white flight and a big influx of minorities (mostly Mexican but some blacks as well) from Chicago’s west side. Many called me insane for moving there. Some expressed concern over my safety. One other actively threatened my safety via creepy and disconcerting direct messages for putting others in danger by saying the city was safe (ironic but ok).

Well, I survived, and my property value turned out ok. And Berwyn is really doing pretty good, saving the school test scores and a likely progressive takeover similar to what we just got in Chicago. Moral of the story? Don’t believe everything conservatives say.

Will they be right here? I don’t know. Maybe. Time will tell. But don’t take what they say as gospel. There are some personal and political motivations for them to want bad things to happen to progressives. As I said, I don't like Johnson's views on pretty much anything, and defunding the police is about the stupidest idea ever. But talking and implementing are different things, especially since we do have some conservatives on our City Council.

I share your sentiments. There's a lot of RIDICULOUS posting in this forum about how "everyone is terrified to go downtown," "no one wants to go downtown," "my cousin's sister-in-law said that her father's aunt refuses to go downtown" blah, blah, blah. That gives me a good sense of many of the posters/poseurs in this forum. I live downtown and while, of course, it is not crime-free by any stretch of the imagination (and there are corners I don't spend much time in after 10pm which is a shame), it is far from a crime-ridden hellhole. Most cultural institutions are packed (to the point that I won't go to the Art Institute on weekends--it's just too crowded to enjoy), reservations at good restaurants are hard to get, etc. This routine trashing of downtown in the forum just reveals how out-of-touch/right-wing dogmatic the posters are and makes me not take their points very seriously.

I voted for Vallas and like others, I worry that Johnson's not up to the job. He seems immature as a politician and some of his racial dog-whistling is very amateur-hour. But I think hard realities of governing will make him put on his big boy pants very soon; he can't afford to be as one-trick-pony as he sometimes sounds. And to give him is due (gasp) I also wonder if his experience living in a bad part of town and having his children in public schools there might not actually give him some genuine INSIGHT into crime and the concrete problems of--and possible solutions to--disinvestment (rather than lip-service on the fluffier end of "structural racism") that other mayors lacked. Maybe. Not holding my breath but... maybe.

So as I think BRU67 noted earlier, maybe we should give him a chance to show what he's made of. Being a product of the CTU isn't a promising start, in my view, but he's going to have advisors and some of them are going to be savvy, creative and "progressive" in the positive sense. I wish Vallas had won (despite his own baggage), and am willing to get behind him when he says let's get behind Johnson until we have reason not to.

[Grlzrl]

2,500 of 9,000 Chicago cops are retirement eligible. Let's see how that plays out.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Tombstoner

I share your sentiments. There's a lot of RIDICULOUS posting in this forum about how "everyone is terrified to go downtown," "no one wants to go downtown," "my cousin's sister-in-law said that her father's aunt refuses to go downtown" blah, blah, blah. That gives me a good sense of many of the posters/poseurs in this forum. I live downtown and while, of course, it is not crime-free by any stretch of the imagination (and there are corners I don't spend much time in after 10pm which is a shame), it is far from a crime-ridden hellhole. Most cultural institutions are packed (to the point that I won't go to the Art Institute on weekends--it's just too crowded to enjoy), reservations at good restaurants are hard to get, etc. This routine trashing of downtown in the forum just reveals how out-of-touch/right-wing dogmatic the posters are and makes me not take their points very seriously.

I voted for Vallas and like others, I worry that Johnson's not up to the job. He seems immature as a politician and some of his racial dog-whistling is very amateur-hour. But I think hard realities of governing will make him put on his big boy pants very soon; he can't afford to be as one-trick-pony as he sometimes sounds. And to give him is due (gasp) I also wonder if his experience living in a bad part of town and having his children in public schools there might not actually give him some genuine INSIGHT into crime and the concrete problems of--and possible solutions to--disinvestment (rather than lip-service on the fluffier end of "structural racism") that other mayors lacked. Maybe. Not holding my breath but... maybe.

So as I think BRU67 noted earlier, maybe we should give him a chance to show what he's made of. Being a product of the CTU isn't a promising start, in my view, but he's going to have advisors and some of them are going to be savvy, creative and "progressive" in the positive sense. I wish Vallas had won (despite his own baggage), and am willing to get behind him when he says let's get behind Johnson until we have reason not to.

Thank you. Motion seconded and approved, at least by us LOL!

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by Grlzrl

2,500 of 9,000 Chicago cops are retirement eligible. Let's see how that plays out.

[Josef K.]

Originally Posted by Tombstoner

I share your sentiments. There's a lot of RIDICULOUS posting in this forum about how "everyone is terrified to go downtown," "no one wants to go downtown," "my cousin's sister-in-law said that her father's aunt refuses to go downtown" blah, blah, blah. .

These comments about how nobody wants to go downtown remind me of Yogi Berra's comment about a restaurant that nobody goes to anymore because it's too crowded.

I don't live in the city anymore and I wouldn't have voted for Johnson if I did. However, with regard to his record of radical statements, it's worth bearing in mind that politicians routinely lie, flip-flop, and betray their constituents. I think it's likely that the realistic challenges of exercising power could have a moderating effect on him.

In short, I would wait a while before heading to the hills.

[RowingFiend]

Originally Posted by Josef K.

These comments about how nobody wants to go downtown remind me of Yogi Berra's comment about a restaurant that nobody goes to anymore because it's too crowded.

I don't live in the city anymore and I wouldn't have voted for Johnson if I did. However, with regard to his record of radical statements, it's worth bearing in mind that politicians routinely lie, flip-flop, and betray their constituents. I think it's likely that the realistic challenges of exercising power could have a moderating effect on him.

In short, I would wait a while before heading to the hills.

Why wait? Even if Johnson does “flip” or change, you are still living in a place where half the voters are Marxist morons. Get out now if you’re sane.

[aga412]

Originally Posted by BRU67

That is definitely happening now. But, if you accept that conservatives in general are job and tax producers, and that progressives are advocates for tax consumers, then over time, jobs will concentrate in red areas and progressives, and the tax consumers they champion, will ultimately follow them. That is especially grave given that most modern high paying jobs require a college education, and colleges, again in general, teach progressive ideologies. One drawback of conservatives abandoning higher education!

That is kind of how we got here. We can go back to the inception of this forum in 2005 or whenever and read many posts bragging about and feeling fine about gentrification. And it was good, for awhile. But now, we're seeing the dark side of it - mainly the progressives from the north and northeast side who just voted in Johnson! Remember how I used to lament the focus on the "Emerald City" and the lack of focus on good paying manufacturing jobs? Well....there was a reason I was concerned.

All of these are correct - conservatives really need to get back into the fight with higher ed. You also raise a good point, and interesting when you brought up Nashville - lots of tech jobs moving there with many residents (transplants and natives) seeing it as a "curse," as those folks will likely bring the progressive ideologies and try to turn it into a place that it isn't (lamentable for "escapee" transplants and natives).

[vegasrollingstone]

Originally Posted by Tombstoner

I share your sentiments. There's a lot of RIDICULOUS posting in this forum about how "everyone is terrified to go downtown," "no one wants to go downtown," "my cousin's sister-in-law said that her father's aunt refuses to go downtown" blah, blah, blah. That gives me a good sense of many of the posters/poseurs in this forum. I live downtown and while, of course, it is not crime-free by any stretch of the imagination (and there are corners I don't spend much time in after 10pm which is a shame), it is far from a crime-ridden hellhole. Most cultural institutions are packed (to the point that I won't go to the Art Institute on weekends--it's just too crowded to enjoy), reservations at good restaurants are hard to get, etc. This routine trashing of downtown in the forum just reveals how out-of-touch/right-wing dogmatic the posters are and makes me not take their points very seriously.

I voted for Vallas and like others, I worry that Johnson's not up to the job. He seems immature as a politician and some of his racial dog-whistling is very amateur-hour. But I think hard realities of governing will make him put on his big boy pants very soon; he can't afford to be as one-trick-pony as he sometimes sounds. And to give him is due (gasp) I also wonder if his experience living in a bad part of town and having his children in public schools there might not actually give him some genuine INSIGHT into crime and the concrete problems of--and possible solutions to--disinvestment (rather than lip-service on the fluffier end of "structural racism") that other mayors lacked. Maybe. Not holding my breath but... maybe.

So as I think BRU67 noted earlier, maybe we should give him a chance to show what he's made of. Being a product of the CTU isn't a promising start, in my view, but he's going to have advisors and some of them are going to be savvy, creative and "progressive" in the positive sense. I wish Vallas had won (despite his own baggage), and am willing to get behind him when he says let's get behind Johnson until we have reason not to.

Mayor of Chicago is one of the toughest jobs in government, no questions about. I honestly don't think that either one of them is up to the challenge. Constant pressure from unions (CTU, FOP, Fire, City) all wanting more with limited resources to increase revenue and limited options to cut spending because of the union pressure. They have already taxed themselves into oblivion and prior administrations outsourced revenue streams and spent all the money. On top of that their is no control over county government which impacts the city especially when it comes to the DA's office. It's a very tough job, I wish Johnson the best.