RIVER NORTH (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson made his case for a second term in February's citywide election to a roomful of elected, civic and business leaders, and sought to cast that campaign as a battle against billionaires and the politicians who represent them.
The mayor began Wednesday's speech at the City Club of Chicago's regular meeting at Maggiano's Banquets, 111 W. Grand Ave., by reflecting on his visit back in the spring with Pope Leo, and the values he says he shares with the Chicago-born religious leader: "Living a good life requires us to care for others - and to focus our care where it is most needed."
He talked about the city's reported decline in violent crime over the last three years in personal terms, saying the decades-low rates of homicides and shootings "doesn't feel like absence ... it feels like presence," referring to the lives saved through what he described as his administration's efforts to increase investment in areas of Chicago's West and South sides.
During his remarks on crime, he talked about missing the presence in his home of his oldest son, who started college this fall.
"I allow myself to imagine every parent in Austin and every parent in Chicago missing their kid because they dropped them off at college, not because they lost them to violence," he said, his voice growing thick with emotion as members of the audience applauded.
"When we talk about the presence of crime, we are really talking about the absence of investment," he continued before taking a jab at aldermanic opponents to his policies, "but the corporate caucuses just don't like to frame it that way." He went on to suggest that every time aldermen grant a tax break to a billionaire or don't force them to contribute more to the city, "they are causing an increase in crime."
He called the effort to redirect investment to people who he says need it the most a "generational" journey, one he pledged would continue despite "converging forces" he described as trying to stop him.
The mayor's comments are signaling what could be another rough-and-tumble budget season two weeks before the Johnson Administration is set to release its spending plan for next year. Members of the self-titled Budget Accountability Coalition have already sent a letter to the mayor calling for him to avoid property tax increases, any corporate "head taxes" or any additional state money that hasn't been allocated by Springfield.
The citywide election is set for February 23.
Johnson talks to City Club about crime, investment in neighborhoods
Johnson talks to City Club about crime, investment in neighborhoods
