Clifton Roscoe has a post at Glenn Loury’s place on what Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson will need to do to “save Chicago”. It’s full of statistics. Here’s the conclusion:
Brandon Johnson will become Chicago’s mayor on May 15. He will have to strike a balance between the demands of several groups of stakeholders. Progressives will want him to address the various forms of inequality—income, wealth, life expectancy, food deserts, violent crime, poverty, etc.—that exist within Chicago. They’ll also want him to stay the course when it comes to reforming CPD and the criminal justice system. Others, including business leaders, will want Johnson to keep his promise not to raise taxes. They’ll also want him to boost public safety, to restore a sense of order in the city, and to reform the public schools. Public sector unions will expect Johnson to be responsive to their needs since their efforts helped elect him.
Mayor-Elect Johnson has to stop the population losses if he wants to put Chicago on a better path. This issue stymied his recent predecessors, Lightfoot, Emanuel, and Daley. It’s not clear that Johnson will embrace the kinds of policies needed to right the ship. To be fair, transformative change is difficult in Chicago, given its political environment. Much of Johnson’s base strongly supports the policies that created Chicago’s problems. There are also entrenched interests that support the status quo, since it works for them. Mayor-Elect Johnson may be facing “Mission Impossible.†Time will tell whether he’s up to the job. More than one term will be needed to turn Chicago around, even if he over-performs.
Does Mayor-Elect Johnson actually want to “turn Chicago around”? Or does he want to benefit his patrons? If experience is any gauge, he’s there to benefit his patrons. I don’t believe he can do both.
In the comments to the linked piece, one of the commenters declaims that Chicago voters need to vote for Republicans. What Republicans? There has been no Republican candidate for mayor in nearly 20 years. For there to be Republican candidates they need to self-finance as Bruce Rauner did.
Johnson is a hard left Progressive. Chicago voters just increased the numbers of socialists on City Council, so Johnson will be encouraged to move as far to the left as he can. The result is going to be higher taxes, more violent crime, and further population losses.
Elections matter. Chicagoans have shot themselves in the head, yet again.
PS. Why are you still in Chicago?
Your observation in comments is of course correct, Dave. Running as Republican is a fools errand.
But it just reinforces my position that the voters are ultimately to blame. This goes for all the big cities. They are almost, as Bob says, shooting themselves in the head. I can shake my head in sorrow, but Chicago gets what it deserves. Good and hard.
If you don’t run, people can’t vote for you. Republicans should stop complaining that Chicagoans won’t vote for them. They can’t have it both ways. That’s just nihilism.