CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The voting did not go Mayor Brandon Johnson's way on the Bring Chicago Home referendum, but he is not giving up on finding new revenue to help the homeless.
The real estate industry seemed to prevail on the Bring Chicago Home ballot referendum by using ads that asked if voters would like to trust Mayor Brandon Johnson with $100 million of their tax money.
Political analyst Mike Flannery noted that Johnson last week said — regardless of the outcome — he will not abandon his mission to help and house the homeless.
“The mayor said he’s going to keep organizing, going to come back, he said he’s going to get it, and he denounced the opposition using a strange word,” he said. “He called the opposition ‘cowardly’ for their focus on him.”
A.D. Quig, with the Chicago Tribune, said Johnson has even mentioned the $1 billion-plus bond issue he’s proposed in his budget as something that could help raise some of the money.
“There’s that, and then there’s whether he tries to raise the real estate transfer tax, specifically, again,” said Quig. “Either if they try to do a reworked referendum, maybe in November, maybe later than that, or if he goes down to Springfield, which is his other option, to have legislators down there raise the real estate transfer tax.
“He said, ‘I’m going to keep fighting back, keep punching.’”
The mayor said the issue isn’t him; it’s the tens of thousands of people without homes.
Beyond Bring Chicago Home, Johnson has an active political season coming up, with the first elections for the Chicago School Board approaching and the Democratic National Convention arriving in August.
Quig said the dynamics among local Democrats bear watching.
“The back-and-forth between more progressive and more moderate Democrats, I’ll continue to watch how the mayor and governor together handle the migrant crisis — whether that migrant crisis … picks up in advance of the DNC,” she said. “Basically, how folks get along and move forward here.”
Flannery said the city wants a smooth Democratic convention. The question, though, is whether the gathering will be more like the celebrated 1996 convention or the more infamous one in 1968.
“If you talk to some of the pro-Palestinian folks, just to give one example, people angry about what’s happening in Gaza,” he said. “They favor the 1968 model, with lots of protesters, lots of demonstrations in the streets.”
A hearing officer has refused requests from several protest groups to march near the United Center, where the big convention activities will take place. Some have taken the city to federal court over the matter, and some have vowed to march nearby anyway.
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