Yahoo News has posted a Chicago Tribune editorial giving unsolicited advice to incoming Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Here’s the meat of it:
We expect Johnson, who strikes us as an honest man, to continue his predecessor’s campaign against corruption and conflicts of interest of all kinds, including his own at negotiating tables. We similarly anticipate a vast improvement in a commitment to transparency, not one of the previous administration’s strongest suits.
We remind him that most Chicagoans are political moderates, that nobody elected the Chicago Teachers Union to run the city, and that warmed-over Marxist or racially divisive rhetoric, for which Johnson has shown a certain affinity, will alienate far more Chicagoans than it inspires.
Most Chicagoans look to their mayor to improve their everyday lives — to clear the snow, keep the CTA safe and reliable, keep the roads free from potholes and bring them together across racial and other divides when times are hard.
Johnson is an inspiring speaker and we trust he will put that to good use when it comes to the inevitable funerals, and also the good-news moments when he can help Chicagoans rediscover their sense of unity and civic pride.
We urge him to take an international view and use his gifts to promote the city’s attributes far and wide. We remind him of the importance of arts and culture, the things that make the city unique. We point out that the suburbs are neither hostile territory nor irrelevant to his quest for success. Pride in Chicago does not stop at the city limits and nor does investment in the city’s future. He should talk to Highland Park, Waukegan and Naperville. And he should not tax them for coming downtown for work or play.
Chicago’s downtown and its storied neighborhoods all will vie for Johnson’s attention, and we point out again that their economic fates are intertwined. This is not a zero-sum game. The city’s struggling areas need entrepreneurs more than they need handouts. They need new, dynamic residents and their existing local businesses need support. And kids need functioning schools that teach the necessary skills for success. The task is one of continuous improvement, not changing the measurements to protect an entrenched bureaucracy.
We also remind him that most Chicagoans are all Chicagoans by choice. They have the ability to get up and go if they feel like their new mayor has his hand unduly in their wallets or is failing to provide a safe environment for them to raise their children or walk their dog.
They go on to provide advice I suspect will go unheeded: not to allow his administration to become an echo chamber.
I think it’s all pretty good advice as far as it goes. We will probably know soon if it falls on deaf ears.
