WCPT 820 Interview: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson

0:00Mayor Johnson, you back with us? I am back. I hope you this is a little clear for you. A little clearer. I made a little bit closer to the mic and I think we should be a little bit good to go. So give us a state of Chicago. What's going on with safety? CPS, CPD, the budget. I want to give you the opportunity just to check a little bit about that and then we'll get into some more specific items at the time that we have. Yeah, well thank you for the question as well as just the opportunity to provide the people of Chicago with the state of Chicago and look three and a half years ago, I made a commitment to build the safest, most affordable, big city in America. And the way we do that is by investing in people. And that's exactly what we've been able to accomplish. Now there's obviously certainly a lot more work to do but we are a lot further along as a city than we were three years ago. And in fact, despite what happened over the weekend

1:00with that mass horrific shooting in Washington Park, this summer saw again a record low the fewest amount of homicides in over 60 years. And last year, obviously we were double the national average in the reduction of violence and saw an overall reduction as high as 30% the fewest amount of homicides in 60 years. And so with that being said, still working hard every day to make sure that we remove guns off the streets of Chicago and provide opportunities for Chicagoans. This summer we also broke another record, 32,500 young people with summer jobs. That's the largest investment for Chicago youth works in the history of Chicago. And more people are visiting our city than any other time in the history of our city. Last year was $20 billion of economic income from visitors, our hotel occupancy rate is at 90%. And so our city is certainly moving closer

2:02towards the vision that I have for it to have safe and affordable communities where people and working folks can thrive. Right now the question that comes up with so many folks we're back in school and we've got a lot of conversation around this billion dollar bond deal that recently and we're not talking about James Bond folks, we're talking about the city bond. Walk us through as succinctly as you possibly can on such a big item, what that means to the city of Chicago. Uh oh. Mayor's on the move today. So hearing him is a little challenging, but when we get him back on, we'll be able to talk a little bit about that particular item. But you know the numbers don't lie. I mean I've looked at them and a lot of people looked at them from different ways. But okay, Mayor Johnson, sounds like you're back. Are you there? Going too much today. Open Mike, so be careful, Mayor.

3:02Yeah, all right. Let's not put him in a situation where his frustration is broadcast over the year. Let's make sure we can get him on cleanly before we bring him back. Maybe we're better off with a phone call than on the, on the other connection because I don't want to just try one more time and receive if he's there can hear. No. Yes, yeah, there you are. Okay. Yeah, we're working through it. Just like I do every day. There we go. We sent out a search party. We found you and there we go. The $1.25 billion bond, talk a little bit about that. That means the city of Chicago, Mayor Johnson. Yeah, that economic development bond for housing and economic development is the largest investment in the history of Chicago. And it was really designed to not just develop Chicago, right?

4:04It was also designed to attract corporations to participate in that development. And so what does that look like in three years? A total of $2.6 billion on the south side of Chicago alone, $2 billion on the west side of Chicago. And with those investments, we've been able to build an unpaced to build over 10,000 affordable units. One of the projects I'm really excited about is the 19- and one project outside of the United Center. It's going to be a state of the art, you know, 6,000-seater auditorium plus housing of which 30% of it is committed to being affordable. We've used that economic development bond to repurpose old office spaces downtown. And we've converted them into housing of which 30% of those units are affordable. There aren't too many places in America, really the country where you say downtown and affordable, right? So now security guards and individuals

5:06who clean the windows can actually afford to live downtown. A brand new hospital on the south side of Chicago, African Health, that also includes the wellness center in Garfield Park that along Madison had not had development since the uprisings after Dr. King was assassinated, a pediatrician and mental health facility on the west side of Chicago and Chicago Avenue in partnership with the Lori's Children Hospital. But that also includes a $70,000 down payment and closing cost assistance for first time home buyers, right? So that economic development bond has been used for a range of things, $300 million dedicated to 15 projects that will provide over 1,200 affordable units. We've also used those dollars to insert resources into our small businesses so that the economic corridors or these economic enclaves are being invested

6:07in near places where we're building affordable homes. And so that $1.25 billion economic development bond has been a tool that attracted Foundry Park, private dollars to develop link in yards where it's that death that through multiple administrations, we were able to jumpstart our economy to attract corporations to actually want to bet on Chicago. In the South Loop, we're obviously built a brand new football stadium there where the Chicago Fire Club will play, which is evident we can build football stadiums in Chicago if we work with one another. That's a double in Tundra. I'm sure you got that idea. So the point being is that that economic development bond has attracted corporations. And that's why we're the top relocation for corporate headquarters 13 years in a row voted the best big city in America. Look, Chicago, we have nothing to be ashamed of. Are we perfect? Of course not. Nothing is ever always perfect. And I'm a living witness of that.

7:09It doesn't have to always be perfect in order for it to work. And my wife will certainly testify to that. And we've been married for 28 years. Striving for excellence is more important than striving for perfection, I think. And it's also more realistic because it forces us to keep working to get better. I mean, I say this oftentimes, Mayor Johnson, we can criticize our team because that's about helping our team get stronger and better. And so the criticisms that you received warranted and you said this yourself, but at the end of the day, there ones that are going to force you to work harder to make the city better. Let's take a quick break, Mayor Johnson. When we come back, I want to talk about sure a quick story with you that I experienced yesterday. And it ties to something that you've been talking about in terms of investment in our communities. The number is 777-736-39278. I'm Richard Schoo. Keep it locked in. We right back with more of our interview with Chicago's Mayor, Brandon Johnson. All right, guys. Welcome back to Schoo's views. Thanks for being with us this morning. I'm interviewing and talking with Chicago's Mayor, Brandon Johnson.

8:10Mayor Johnson, yesterday I was at the car wash, got my car wash real quickly, came through the cycle, pulled over to the side, dried off in vacuum, and a young teenage African American man, young boy, walked up to me and said, excuse me, sir, could I help you vacuum? And I'm going to dry your car. I looked at him, I said, I'll vacuum you dry. He had his little backpack, his little square bottle, had his rag, and he went to drying off my car. I gave him some cash when I pulled away, and then I went around the block, and I said, you know what, I've got some towels in the back of the car. I went back, I gave him the towels. He thanked me, sir, thank you so much. Why is this relevant? Invest seeing a young, and he had his school shirt on and everything, was after school, seeing a young cat doing this, out there hustling, making some money, and then I thought, I can't lie. I thought about you as it relates to the importance of programs for our children in the city of Chicago. That young man is going to be out there hustling and make those dollars. He's not going to be snatching Granny's purse.

9:10He's not going to be a child that's out there not doing something. But the more we put out to our kids that we care, and we will invest in you, there's going to be more young men like that, and young ladies doing the same thing. What say you, Mayor Johnson? Yeah, look, making sure that our young people can one discover their purpose, to fulfill their purpose. I believe is the best opportunity that we can create for them. As someone who was raised in a family, I've won less person in the house. We have four of your older, 14-year-old, and almost 19-year-old. They want direction. They want parameters and boundaries. But they also want to make sure that they're seen. And so that's why I've been very intentional about expanding opportunities for a young people. There's a program that we don't give a lot of attention to. But three years ago, I introduced a pilot program through streets and sanitation, where we hired graduating seniors for the summer to work for streets and fans. And if they liked it, they could stay.

10:12If they didn't, we didn't take a personal. They can move on with their lives. Well, we're in our third cohort, and by the end of next year, that first cohort, they will be 22-years-old, earning over $90,000 a year. A union job would have been chin working for the city of Chicago. Right now, we're up to 150 participants. These are the type of opportunities that if we make available, young people will respond. As much as I'm glad that we were able to break a record through Chicago Youth Works, 32,500 young people, 57,000 of them applied. So this is proof positive that young people want to engage. They want to take advantage of opportunities if we present them. And that's why, of course, I've repeatedly called for progressive revenues so that we can continue to make these necessary investments to build the safest, most affordable, big city in America. Yeah, I mean, it takes investment. And you've caught a lot of flack from folks that say, you're only investing in black communities and your communities of color and so forth. But those are the communities that have been disinvested in throughout, not just in Chicago,

11:14but the country. And so until people have a reckoning with that reality, we won't see young folks prospering, moving forward. We have to invest in them. We can't just say that they're going to all be fun. And obviously, zip codes and districts do have an impact on that. So I wanted to share that story because it did make me think about making sure that our programs for children are there and that they continue to be funded. Here's a flip side question. One of the recent stories it came about was this pushback from the alders on the world business Chicago's recent advertisements. And I thought about this. And I said, are these the same alders that won an ethics review that don't want to have the billion there's tax on companies that need on the ballot? And I don't know if you know who those alders are, but let's talk a little bit about that whole concept right now.

12:16Yeah, well, look, I mean, there's no secret that there are corporatists on the city council. They are more aligned with the interests of corporations than they are with working people. I'm not simply saying that they don't have any desire to support working people. I don't know if that might be a stretch, right? But it's evident, however, that they are more aligned with corporate interests. And that's one of the reasons why our city has struggled financially. Look, between pensions not being paid for working people to police settlements from Miss Conda that goes back 30 plus years, these are real economic strains on our budget. And world business Chicago provides us with a platform to attract business to highlight the work that's being done so that the people inside and outside of Chicago see the worthwhile investments that are improving

13:17the quality of life for people. And since I've been in office, I've had a chance to connect with business leaders all over the globe, many of whom have expressed a desire to do business in Chicago. And we're seeing a proposal with high speed rail to get folks from downtown to the airport in 15 minutes. Like, you don't think of these things if you don't see the city of Chicago as a global city. And Chicago ones get to participate in the global nature of what's happening right now. So yeah, I mean, you have all those that are more willing to look at the spec in my eye through the log jam in theirs. And... And... Say that, Regionson. Okay, hold on. Say that one more time for the folks in the cheap seats. Well, look, I don't claim to be perfect. I'm flesh and blood like everyone else.

14:18And so do I have a spec in my eye? It's likely, right? But those who have log jams in theirs should not try to get the spec out of my eye, right? I mean, if you want to talk about corruption, is bad as mayors have been in Chicago, none of them have ever gone to jail. Now, when you think about city council members, however, there are more city council members that have gone to jail than the total of mayors we've had combined throughout our city's history, right? So if there's any introspective that should be done, it should be done within city council. And look, I know that there are great progressive leaders who are representing awards across the city, who see it through the lens that, of course, I look through. But unfortunately, we have some messages of the past who were also responsible for one of the worst, if not the worst municipal deal in the history, the worst government in the history of the world, which was a selling off of parking meters.

15:18And the diverting of the dedicated revenue stream to pay into retirement for our public employees, these were decisions that were made by individuals who are mad at me for highlighting the development that's happening in the city through an arm world business in Chicago that's designed to do just that, right? And so look, we have the busiest airport in the world. More people visiting our city than any other time in the history of our country, the most diverse economy in the entire country. The average price of a home is $1.1 million in New York, $900,000 in Los Angeles. And I know those leaders are working to resolve that, but that's not who we are in Chicago. And so that's why we have turned the page on the past practices that have failed working people. And as we work towards excellence, as you said, not allowing our strive for excellence, and sometimes when it gets disrupted,

16:19to be a deterrent from furthering our costs. I was just in with this. I was just in with this. And just because it's noisy, it doesn't mean that we're stagnant. Because the last time I remember, when city council was quiet, a whole lot of bad things were happening. It's kind of like when in my home, it was 10 of us. And if we were too quiet, that's when my mother got most suspicious, right? And so having a little bit of noise to make sure that young people have opportunities, that our schools are fully funded, that were building affordable homes, reopening mental health clinics, making sure that our first responders have the tools that they need, please and fire, CVI workers, EMT, making sure that that begins to really shape the future of Chicago. I would much rather have noise and progress and quiet and harm. Yeah. Mayor Johnson, I'm gonna ask you this question real quick,

17:20as we wrap up, a neuro-connects is a little bit crazy. Are we gonna have a Mayor Johnson 2.0? That certainly would be a really nice Netflix series, wasn't it? That look, I made a commitment to the people of Chicago to build the safest, most affordable, big city in America. And I believe we're well on our way to do that. And I'm incredibly humbled by this opportunity to serve and to go from teaching middle school in Chicago, to an organizer, to run one of the largest economies in the world. It's living proof that anything is possible when working people band together. So I'm gonna make that decision in the coming days. But I will say this with all the work that we have done, I know there's much more work for us to do together. Without a doubt, thanks for being with us today, Mayor Johnson. We appreciate your service. Stay safe and we will talk to you again soon. Be well. You as well. Thank you, thank you, Richard. All right, bye now.