Rahm Reaps Another Town Hall Whirlwind
By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 1, 2011 4:00PM
The first thing I noticed when I saw the line for last night's city budget Town Hall meeting at Malcolm X College was all the purple. Members of SEIU Local 73 were there in a show of strength for the 72 traffic aides who were laid off by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
They were there for answers. They were there to hold Emanuel accountable.
SEIU Local 73 Communications Director Adam Rosen said, "the response to our call for attendance at these town hall meetings has been amazing. Lots of members have responded to the call."
Last night's town hall meeting followed the same script as Monday's at Kennedy-King College. (The two city community colleges were strategic selections by the Emanuel camp. Last night the mayor restated his position the city college system is "the backbone of the city workforce."
Emanuel repeated his intentions for these town hall meetings and the website Chicagobudget.org to "open a conversation" that would help solve closing a $635 million budget deficit. "I didn't get elected to be liked, I got elected to solve problems," Emanuel told the audience. “I want ideas, not insults. I want people to be constructive and not just complain. Insults don’t solve $635 million deficits.”
With WVON-AM morning man Matt McGill alternating between hype man and bulldog to keep the audience on point, who largely came to this town hall well-informed on the issues and insisted on direct answers from the mayor for what he had planned for the budget deficit.
They booed briefly but heavy when Emanuel said a Chicago casino was integral to the city's economic growth. The mayor repeated his claim the estimated $20-$25 million in revenue a casino in the city would generate could go toward rebuilding city infrastructure that's over 100 years old.
Emanuel also repeated his intention to not balance the budget with quick fixes such as dipping into reserve funds, TIFs or raising property or sales taxes. "(Those) are a one-time solution that masks the problem, rather than solve it," he said.
The audience was well-read on the issue of tax increment financing districts and believed Emanuel's recent announcement for oversight of the districts wasn't enough. University Village resident Ashley Wooten asked the mayor if he would commit to closing all the downtown TIF districts (she didn't get it). Rev. Steven Huntley echoed Wooten's request, asking why like United Airlines and Boeing who benefited from tax deals under Richard M. Daley aren't hiring local people.
Alexis Pierce, a 7th grader who lives in Lawndale, told the mayor of her daily walk to school. "I pass six or seven liquor stores," she said. "There are crackheads, dope heads and the aldermen are doing nothing." Pierce's mother told me after the meeting she and other neighborhood residents are lobbying to vote their precinct dry.
When Emanuel mentioned the recent foreclosure legislation passed by City Council requiring banks to maintain the condition of foreclosed properties, Wendy Weaver asked the mayor how the city will solve the foreclosure problem "when there are no jobs to be found and increasing layoffs." Elementary school teacher Claudia Pascente and Lindblom High School teacher Ed Hershey recounted their work days for Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard.
"I was at school until 5:30 this evening and wasn't paid to do so," Pascente said. "And it's because the children come first for me." She invited Emanuel to attend one of the "universal breakfasts" at Stockton Elementary in Uptown, where she works. Hershey wanted to know how Emanuel would pay for a longer school day. "We have janitors being laid off and my school can't afford Kleenex," Hershey said. "I caught swine flu in 2009 and people are already sick at school." Afterward, Hershey said he spends hundreds out of pocket each year for tissues. "We have to choose between textbooks or supplies."
But it was SEIU Local 73 who nearly blew up the meeting when it came time to ask Emanuel about the traffic aide layoffs. Emanuel didn't back down from the decision. "I don't relish this position," he said. "But I asked three things before I made it: Can we continue the service with the layoffs? Can we continue to collect the revenues? And can traffic still move downtown?"
Afterward, Dionne Farmer and Theresa Cozzo said they felt Emanuel unfairly targeted women in the layoffs. "the majority of the traffic aides who were laid off were single parents who are the sole providers of their households," Cozzo said. "and for the mayor to say it was justified is insulting."
Emanuel answered many of the questions collected from the audience using what Dawn Elmer-Payton of Chatham said was "talking in circles." Some have said Emanuel deserves some slack for what he has accomplished in his first 100 days as mayor. Even though he said he didn't run for mayor to be liked, he also didn't shake scores of hands at train stations on the South and West Sides to place second in the mayoral election.
The largely African American audience at Malcolm X College were there as much to hold Emanuel accountable for his campaign promises as they were to vent. That Emanuel at least took the time to answer questions was a marked contrast to his predecessor, who said nothing as he was barraged with complaints at these meetings. Emanuel, at his core, is a political beast and you can guarantee the reaction from residents at these town hall meetings will be remembered for future reference
They may not have gotten the answers they wanted but, for one night, they let their voices be heard. If only everyone in the city held its politicians as accountable.