Who’ll Stay in Chicago Now?
By John Kass
September 22, 2024
No wonder that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson continues to suffer those crippling panic attacks of his.
Chicago is falling apart. He’s completely out of his depth. He was unequipped for the job and his campaign was all about slogans, Marxist rhetoric from his allies in the Chicago Teachers Union, and race. Now those who can are in a rush to leave. He’s falling apart. His administration is falling apart. And the city is falling apart rapidly.
Forget the fake news “joy” of the Democratic National Convention that oozed out to promote Kamala Harris. She won’t help the city. And forget the corporate media cheerleaders who’ve tried to paper-over the city’s infected wounds to promote Democrat power. I spent 40 years covering the city’s politics.
Throughout all those years, the joke in Chicago was that any time things looked bad, at least we weren’t Detroit. But now that’s an insult to Detroit which is on the ascent. And the people of both cities know it. The city’s self-inflicted wounds are septic now.
Chicago, the city of my birth, the great city of great restaurants and earthy but realistic politics, is now a city that is unaffordable and unsafe. The public schools prepare Chicago schoolchildren only for prison, not success in life. Public transportation is dangerous and filthy and smells like a urinal. Only the poor use it or those who have no other choice. The city government is a billion dollars in debt. And the public schools are a billion in debt. Where’s the money? Johnson has no clue.
And now things will get worse beginning today. Chicago, already plagued by violent crime, will get worse beginning Sunday. That’s because Johnson let the contract for the revolutionary crime-fighting technology called ShotSpotter to lapse without a replacement. Although it alerted police to gunshots and helped police make arrests, Johnson derided it as “walkie talkie on a stick.”
Johnson campaigned against it, loudly insisting that it led to “over-policing” which is code used by leftist Democrats to refer to arrests of black youths by police. It’s a racial thing with him. And with all those who backed him politically.
Black aldermen, representing black residents who are most often the victims of violent crime, have tried to keep ShotSpotter alive, knowing that it could lead to more arrests of racial minority gang members, but Johnson has promised to veto any plan to save it. And corporate media types tie themselves up in knots trying to explain a simple, but terrible truth:
The mayor of Chicago would rather protect the violent over his citizens. He’d rather embrace repeat gang offenders than the people who need his protection. As the corrupt corporate media becomes anxious and defensive about Johnson’s self-destructive reasoning, like the clownish leftist fools mocked by Matt Walsh in “Am I a Racist?” a great city is dying.
Now Johnson’s approval rating is an abysmal 27 percent makes him the most unpopular mayor of a Democrat Convention city in decades.
He has lost allies in the Chicago City Council by not paying attention to what is important: The people of his city. They want to be safe as possible. But he wants to get rid of the ShotSpotter technology that helps police make quick arrests. Johnson apparently doesn’t like that and his political inexperience and buffoonery allowed the City Council to organize against him.
Johnson from happier days leading CTU strikes
Johnson is like an insect that has been pinned. He’s stuck between his political ideology, trying to serve his masters (or mistresses) of the Chicago Teachers Union, and political survival, hence all those panic attacks.
And obviously the schools don’t educate the children. They can’t even read or do math at grade level, a national disgrace, but now more panic attack news for the mayor: News reports that the schoolteachers were told to give passing grades to illegal migrant children who are squeezing the native born out of classrooms.
Violent crime on the increase—not decreasing as the liars of corporate media keep prattling on about. Crime is up 40 percent over 2019 levels. And we already know that Chicago is the murder capital of America.
Some of you may have noticed something about this column written by a longtime Chicago newspaper man. I’ve put in links to Wirepoints.org and the Illinois Policy Institute, but not the Chicago Sun Times or my old paper the Tribune. Why not? The Trib went woke and broke and neither paper covers crime as they used to.
Fran Spielman and Tim Novak of the Sun Times know what they’re doing. And the Tribune’s Jason Meisner and Ray Long understand political corruption and its corrosive nature. But street crime is as problematic for the papers as ShotSpotter is for Johnson. It is to be avoided politely lest they offend prominent and wealthy Democrats like Gov. Commodius Maximus.
But the website CWB Chicago does cover crime. They cover it very well. For example, CWB has documented another terrible truth: Since 2020, there have been 387 people arrested for murder and attempted murder while they were out on bail for other violent crimes.
And the establishment corporate media? Crickets.
Why do the metropolitan papers avoid street crime? My theory, they’d rather avoid dealing with repeat minority criminal offenders. And they’d rather avoid calling the architects of the chaos to account: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans and the Soros prosecutor, outgoing Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (D-Jussie Smollett).
The papers thunder on about ShotSpotter but leave Toni Preckwinkle alone? The political coverage by the papers is corrupt and embarrassing. But at least the people of Chicago now know where they stand–in the gutter.
Yet CWB Chicago and Wirepoints.org and Illinois Policy address the crime issue thoughtfully. And Blocklub Chicago. But the papers? Who reads the papers anymore? For the columnists? I don’t think so.
We used to read the papers on the el, remember? But who uses the CTA now? A city won’t last long if it doesn’t educate the kids or offer public transportation. Especially if that public transportation isn’t safe. Who takes public transportation? Not reasonably well off-old guys like me. And not the top CTA brass Poor women use it, poor people without options, kids who are trying to get home from school, and lost souls.
CTA boss Dorval Carter lives his protected life. The governor and the Chicago City council want him gone. But Johnson protects him. Johnson leaves Dorval Carter–who doesn’t take CTA–alone. Carter is still here drawing a fat salary, still playing the race card and not using public transportation and getting away with it.
Why?
You could also ask that of official Chicago:
Why?
They knew what had to be done–keep the public safe, keep violent predators behind bars, give the children a reasonable chance at an education, clean the urine and the smell from the CTA and make it safe, protect the downtown from the Black Lives Matter rioters of 2020. And they didn’t do it. Instead, they played race card politics and make speeches about guilt and in their world everyone is a victim.
The real victims? The taxpayers and the law abiding. The people who play by the rules are the victims.
Politicians knew what would happen. Success in the big-city political trade involves understanding and manipulating human nature. And yet they did nothing.
I can imagine the Democrat machine hacks out there, the new political hacks from CTU and SEIU tweeting up a hissy fit about what I’ve written here, but they can’t silence me now. Don’t they understand simple economics? Without graybeards who can pay for a decent meal and entertainment, those old guys going downtown taking their wives out on a weekend, would there still be restaurants or theater?
No.
A few years ago I spoke to some very nice people at a dinner engagement in the Gold Coast. These were people with real money. They loved Chicago and didn’t ever want to leave. Betty and I never wanted to leave, either.
But the others at the dinner were isolated and insulated from street crime in Chicago, and they also bought homes in Naples and Marco Island Florida and other civilized places. In my after-dinner talk dinner, I asked them if they planned on ever moving back to Chicago.
Just raise your hands, I said.
No one raised their hands.
So who’ll stay in Chicago now? Only those who are financially tied to it, and those who can’t afford to leave.
But others? They’ve got options, too.
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About the author: John Kass spent decades as a political writer and news columnist in Chicago working at a major metropolitan newspaper. He is co-host of The Chicago Way podcast. And he just loves his “No Chumbolone” hat, because johnkassnews.com is a “No Chumbolone” Zone where you can always get a cup of common sense.
Comments 38
” You can knock on a deaf man’s door forever!” Nikos Kazxantzakis
” As the corrupt corporate media becomes anxious and defensive about Johnson’s self-destructive reasoning, like the clownish leftist fools mocked by Matt Walsh in “Am I a Racist?” a great city is dying.” John Kass
Jeremiah is known as “The Weeping Prophet” for very much the same reasons.
Pat, it’s heartbreaking to see it happen. You and I have good friends there, good people, cops and firefighters and paramedics. The city workers who actually did their jobs and took away the garbage and killed the rats. But all have been overwhelmed by the barbarians and the Marxist enablers like Boss Toni who run government.
It is heart-breaking, but our friends and family yet within its city limit will continue to vote for BLM Brandon, because the the union, or the precinct captain or WGN tells them to do so. My son loves Mount Greenwood. I hope it does not break his heart.
Sadly, we were literally taxed out of our home, that, coupled with the Covid policies and BLM riots , we packed up and left Illinois in 2020 after 45 years of residency. I feel for the family members we left behind. We’re retired and could leave but they’re still raising their families. Thankfully it’s still relatively safe in the suburbs. What will it take to change the direction of Chicago politics? I can only pray.
Re public transit: I have been a proponent since toddlerhood, when one of my first memories is jumping off a street car on Augusta Blvd when we lived on Laurel Ave a half century ago
I have eschewed car ownership except for a few years when I had a job in Oak Brook and had to drive around the state for the hospital association. I have taken buses and Ls, often with frustration for all the years I’ve been an adult here. It is distressing now and I have seen and heard frightening events over the last several years including threats against me. The mentally ill acting out, the young men prying open doors, the verbal threats, the open masturbation – all wretched. I HAVE CHOICES BUT REFUSE TO GIVE UP ON PUBLIC TRANSIT FOR THE CAR CULTURE. I refuse to let the bad riders win. I clapped when a foul-mouthed screaming man and woman exited the bus this week and the woman came back and threatened me for doing that. I simply smiled. I take chances but I am STUBBORN.
And I am weary of the red-light running, speeding selfish car drivers who have multiplied at the same time. I stood on Bryn Mawr recently, waiting for a green light, and FOUR drivers sped through the red light. The last older guy smiled at me when he did it. Hollywood is a danger zone for the same reason.
Geraldine
Don’t be a fool and risk your life. We don’t want to read about you on CWB, Bcuz the papers wont cover your attack. As I write now, a woman had her car torched for not paying some hustler to park on a public street to go to Riot Fest.
The 1st time I took CTA bus was at age 7 to go to my parish grade school. My mother walked me to corner and we waited for bus. When it came, my mother told the driver that I’d be there every weekday at this time and to make sure I got off at the right stop. Try that today. I lived on the CTA. I went to medical school on the CTA. At 21 my parents bought me a car without me asking for it! Not bcuz they thought it would be a great 21st birthday gift but bcuz they thought something was wrong with me for NOT wanting a car! I protested. Why do I need a car.
I still use public transportation when going into the city. I carry bear spray and an electric cattle probe disguised as a cane/walking stick. Luckily I haven’t had to use it yet!
Stay safe, take no chances.
PS protests are trying to shut down theaters showing AM I A RACIST! SEE IT B4 ITS YANKED. BTW Walsh’s ‘What Is A Woman’ is even better!
Ms. Conrad you sound like an absolute sweetheart. You exemplify the best that this city offers. Good luck and please be careful out there. Best wishes.
Really too bad that the Sun Times and Tribune ignore the reality of the true situation in Chicago.
Well said! First Chicago, then Illinois will see the exits of wealth and talent.
Beware Francis, or Gov. Fat Boy and his political writers may denounce you as a “carnival barker”
Yes sir. At least we aren’t Detroit. Hah! Good column John.
This is all so true. I lived there for 60 years, worked in the Loop for 35 years, I could walk around the Loop and north side blindfolded. I loved that city as if it were a living thing.
But I had enough and left. It was not painful, it was a relief, like when you have a beautiful new car that you love driving, but as the years go by it starts breaking down and parts get expensive. When you finally get rid of it, you feel relieved, not sad. That’s how leaving Chicago is, good memories but relief at getting out and having it in the past. Never regretted leaving for a moment.
George, out here in green acres, where I don’t need a stick to go to the Walgreens, I feel the same way. Relieved.
It’s no longer “that Chicago” that we remember. It’s an entirely different place now. Nostalgia is fun for a while, but when the reality of what Chicago has become sets in, it’s a no-brainer to leave, and to leave as fast as you can.
We have not lived in the suburbs of Chicago since 1997 and I used to live in Chicago. I worked in downtown Chicago for that matter. I have ridden on both the CTA and Metra depending where we lived and with no problems or crime. We raised three sons and a daughter in Oak Park and Wheaton. We always wanted to move back to Chicago or the Suburbs. We have lived in Florida, since October 2000 where I was transferred from the Detroit area. I thought when I retired in 2006 we would move back to Chicago sometime in a few years, but the great reccession hit in 2008. I am so glad we did not move to Chicago area then. Two of our sons and their families have moved out of Chicago to Plainfield, IL and East Grand Rapids, MI., because of the schools. Our daughter and her husband have moved from LA to Boise, ID. My one son and his family spend $38,000 to send his son to a private school because a lack of educaton in the public scools. The Democrats have ruined Chicago and LA and the states their in. Crime, Democrats and the Educational opportunites have ruined once great cities. We visit our daughter and sons frequently. However, we are always afraid when we visit our son in Chicago!
I was born, raised and educated in Chicago. I loved the city and the close in suburbs but the city of my youth is no longer. I remember one vacation I spent where my wife and I ate at a different ethnic restaurant every evening. One of our dreams was to retire to a condo downtown. No more.
Almost two years ago I moved ( was driven out? ) of Illinois to a safe red state. Sad but a wise move.
How many people in the city don’t turn out to vote? If you can’t be bothered to vote, you have to deal with the consequences. .
Finally moved my daughter out of Chicago. As we left we stopped at at one her favorite restaurants for some lunch, had a nice fat rat run next to our table.
I fist-pumped as we drove under that “Welcome to Indiana” sign on our way out of Illinois. When we got to our new home in a mid-Atlantic red state, one of the first things I did was to join the local Republican Party and assure them that we were refugees, not missionaries and that our goal was to prevent our new home from becoming like the one we left. One of the gifts that I brought from Illinois was a deeper understanding on the sources of corruption and how they destroy a city and state from within. My new neighbors couldn’t comprehend how it works to destroy communities! The corruption in all politics, ultimately, begins at the local level. I am also grateful that the memories I took with me were of a Chicago when it was, in my opinion, America’s most beautiful big city. Were I to have left Chicago today, I fear that my memories would be heart-breaking.
I never thought I’d see the day when we’d be looking up to Detroit, yet here we are. I’m the only one in my cul de sac out here in DuPage County with a Trump-Vance sign in my front yard. As I ride my bike through 7 Bridges I see a smattering of Harris-Walz signs in front of some very expensive homes. I think to myself they must be Cook County refugees. I quietly loathe them even though I don’t know them. Is that wrong? I guess so but that’s what witnessing decades of stupid policies and resulting elections in Illinois does to an otherwise kind and compassionate person. You know what Chicago has really become? Boring! It is boring in its monotonous stupidity. I’m old enough to remember when the local media covered former Illinois AG Bill Scott’s scandal like a dog with a bone. Or Paul Powell’s shoe boxes full of cash in Springfield. Bring back Eddie V and Harold’s Council Wars ftom the city’s Beirut on the Lake Era. The Chi has become a national joke and quite the Bore! Might have been different if Paul Vallas had won. Embrace the suck, Chicago! I secretly loathe you.
Illinois:
Book Your Own Exodus Today.
Unfortunately, an accurate account of what was a great, safe city.
If there is blame to pass around the majority goes to the voters or more specifically the voters who didn’t.
Therein lies the problem.
Those with means decry the fall of the city from the safety of their own exodus or their cocoon made from their wealth. Those who cannot move are left to deal with the mess. At the end of the day, it is the voter of Chicago that is responsible. They had their opportunity to change and chose to double down on the same old crap.
I left Chicago in 2020. I lived downtown and raised kids in the city. They attended private school. I knew plenty of the people John wrote about. Many Chicagoans just stick their heads in the sand. On the other hand, Chicagoans are a loyal bunch and even when things are crappy they ignore it or figure out ways around it and stay.
I loved Chicago. I didn’t really want to leave but the crime and the threat of ever increasing taxes caused me to leave. I went to Las Vegas and it’s nice. My property taxes are less than they were in Chicago and my home is 3x the size and probably worth 10x the value. I look at the costs of HOAs in the city and that combined with the taxes are amazingly high. The unions and city regulations make those costs extremely high. Corrupt government taxes care of the taxes.
I miss some of the things there, and some close friends but frankly, Chicago voters get what they deserve and the champagne socialists and limousine liberals are pretty intolerable. They aren’t Midwestern nice.
At the Chicago Economic Club, they totally ignore the issues. It’s all happy talk and social justice bullshit. At a lunch in 2007 when the CEC actually did meaningful things, two executives of Illinois based Fortune 500 firms talked about the pension issue. The pushback from the audience was interesting. Madigan successfully kept the issue off the ballot, and into courtrooms he controlled with Anne Burke casting the deciding vote to secure the pensions for union members. Both of those gentlemen are retired in Florida now. Billions of dollars of wealth are leaving the state.
Even if the wealthy do not sell their Chicago places, they don’t occupy them. For many, the value of their home isn’t an integral part of their net worth. It is a lower-tier balance sheet item.
Crime keeps them away and will continue to keep them away. But one issue people might be wondering about is since the city is floundering and on the canvas, how does it issue debt to keep the shell game going and fund corruption?
First, the city knows the boiling frog theory and can slowly raise all kinds of taxes and costs. The corrupt politicians also intuitively know the elasticity of demand and supply when it comes to raising taxes. As long as they know that, they can keep the game going.
There will always be a market for Chicago debt, no matter how crappy the city is or how in debt it gets. Why? Why would a reasonable investor buy Chicago debt? It’s a great question.
Here is why.
On the revenue side, investors know that the city will continue to raise taxes, and they assume the state will bail the city out.
Then, there is the “buy side”. There are billions of dollars invested into muni bond funds. The managers of those funds have to be fully invested. They can’t “go to cash” like a single private investor might. The managers of those funds are always on the hunt for new issuance of bonds. They want to “ladder their portfolio” so it pays constant interest to their investors. At the same time, they look to buy highly rated debt and mix in some risky stuff like Chicago’s to juice returns.
What do they demand of Chicago so they will buy the debt Chicago issues?
If you answered “higher interest”, you’d be correct and that is funded by the taxpayer. However, it’s more than that. Here is a link to the bond rating from the City of Chicago website https://www.cityofchicagoinvestors.com/generalobligationbonds/ratings/i1398 They aren’t junk bonds just yet.
Bonds have legal documents attached to them. They are called covenants. In the covenants, the issuer of the bond states how the bond will be paid, how often and when it will be paid off. They also might guarantee payment of the bond, and talk about how they will go about it. In some Chicago bonds, they can unilaterally raise property taxes across the board to cover any shortfalls if they need to. Wirepoints had some articles about this years ago. They can raise sales taxes. They don’t need to go to city council or any other legislative body to do it. It’s built into the covenant of the bond to give some sort of security to bondholders that they will get paid.
The fine print of the covenants is what will crush Chicago taxpayers someday.
In short, there will always be a market for Chicago debt. But, it’s what the city gives up which flows downhill to citizens that allows there to be a market for that debt.
https://x.com/StuLoren/status/1837852313945272768 here is a link to the actual market for Chicago debt. The thing to notice on the distressed market where Chicago trades is the size of the spread between the bid and the offer. It’s wider than other spreads—and that is baked into the cost of the bond. Trading distressed debt can be a Roach Motel, you can get into the trade, but it can be hard to get out.
Mr. Carter,
I am happy that you mention bonds and their covenants. Also what each rating agency does is give an analysis of the ability of the municipality in repayment of their bonds by also adding in the ability to raise levies. SO not only does the issuer offer covenants, each reporting agency (Fitch, S&P, Moody, etc…) also makes light of that ability raise additional taxes in their issuance of ratings.
Great column but very sad. I was born in Chicago, raised in Cicero and for the past 3 years have lived in Chicago. I have always loved the city and loved the people and mainly Chicago’s history. I am a retired cop who reinvented himself as a Chicago historian because the city has such a wonderfully colorful history. The city was founded on corruption but the difference was that the corrupt still had one thing in common. They loved the city. They actually cared about the city and wanted the city to be attractive to businesses. They tolerated crime and many times were paid off by criminals but you didn’t bring attention or sully the reputation of Chicago. Even scarface himself crossed that line and was turned over to the feds. It was a time when people were proud of the city and proud to say they were from Chicago. Now if you say your from Chicago you get a look like you just told them you were dying from a terminal disease. Very sad.
Sorry, typo. For the last three years I have lived in DuPage Co.
With the White Sox on the verge of being the worst team in modern day MLB history (post 1900), they are truly Chicago’s team. Poor management, no care for long term fans, poor decisions, no future, asking for somebody else to pay for a new stadium and always threatening to leave. Who does that sounds like? Admit it, Chicago is not a Bears town, but a Sox town.
AMEN!
Seen this movie from several angles.
First in Gary, where I was born, then in Harvey where I grew up. In 2012, Stockton, CA, the location of our largest family business, went broke just before Detroit. Saw the devastation in downtown Detroit almost closing the iconic Detroit Athletic Club.
Chicago has been insolvent for years. But they don’t pronounce the body dead until you can’t pay your bills and that happens when you can’t raise or borrow more money or you can’t extend or suspend your debt. We are close to that point.
It is too late. The hole is too big.
Leave now while you can, if you can. It’s bad now, but it will get worse.
When the hammer falls. Don’t think that the Chicago stink won’t trash the suburbs too!
The mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois are both hypocrites and cowards. Law and order Democrat residents of Chicago are now unprotected by ShotSpotter. The Chicago Police are understaffed by thousands. The remaining CPD officers have their hands tied. There is no bail for most crimes. And yet, the mayor of Chicago is protected by well over 100 officers on his detail. He has protection. The governor of Illinois also has a large security detail. He has protection. Protection for me, and not for ye. So the criminals run free, and the law abiding flee Illinois. The citizens should only vote Republican in Chicago until law and order is restored. Stockholm Syndrome must end in my kind of town!
AMEN!
Another comment. If Chicago dies (and it will) those comfortable collar counties will go down also. Chgo is still an economic power house. But if major businesses pull out there is going to be a lot of North shore and Dupage county mansions that will but divided up into section 8 housing.
Finally, the Chicago of the past that we remember was great because of the people. What does that say of the current Co called citizens
Visiting this week from FLA. Love people there and love the City.
It is heartbreaking to see the shit show.
Can we at least go Vito and Nicks safely?
Please advise
Your da best John and Hickey
Will BE DIVIDED
SORRY FOR THE DAMN AUTOCORRECT
We moved to a suburb of Houston six years ago and were looking to make a brutal ride to Bush airport a little more manageable. We found a bus route that was not only easy but cheap. I was skeptical especially when my wife told me it was less than five bucks! We boarded near my home and were welcomed by the driver on an impeccably clean bus. No garbage, homeless or bedbugs for us to take with us on board. The driver assisted with finding our connection and it has become our preferred method of getting to the airport. I’m not slamming CTA drivers for being rude. If you had to basically fight for your life everyday at work you might get a little
apprehensive too….
Yianni,
I, too, was born in Chicago, in Englewood hospital on the south side, and lived on Jeffery Blvd until 1973, when our 2 flat was broken into and my mom’s jewelry was stolen while they were away. They caught the kids that did it, and guess what? No punishment, free as birds. That was it, we sold the place and brought the folks to the north side and eventually to the burbs to be near my sisters and me until their passing. None of my classmates from those south side schools dare to go south for a visit to the old homesteads, for fear of getting shot. And wait til Obama’s cathedral in the sky opens, and eventually goes broke. The city will have to support that catastrophe forever. Just wondering how the city will promote visiting that edifice – during daylight hours only perhaps? Or bulletproof motorcades from the loop? I’ll wait til a video is posted on YouTube! So now, the city is experiencing a fate worse than death – a slow death – torture of a thousand cuts – a few each day, until all the blood is gone, and patient expires. I really don’t see the city coming back, as its voters seem to continually elected inept and unintelligent suits with no managerial experience, that wear their wokeness as a badge of courage!! The last thing the city needs is another community organizer! Will the last one out the door please turn off the lights?