(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is downplaying recent conflicts with the city council and others.
Mayor Johnson doesn't deny that passing Chicago's 2025 budget was a contentious battle with City Council members. But, he stresses, they "got it done."
As he also does with any conflicts with Gov. JB Pritzker, the Mayor chose to focus on successes. He cites passage of Paid Time Off, Affordable Housing and Violence Prevention among other things.
“Yeah, well, we got it done, you know, that's the important thing too. It's a fair question. I will say this – that, you know, the city council working with me, we passed pay time off, you know, one of the most substantive ordinances that provided paid time off for 1.1 million workers,” the mayor said.
“We got that done. We did it together.”
He calls that progress.
The mayor also addressed the recent issue regarding the sale of hemp products.
Despite apparent differences with the governor and some city council members, Mayor Johnson says he believes everyone wants the same thing when it comes to sales of intoxicating hemp products.
Next week, the full Chicago City Council could vote on an ordinance to ban the sale of Delta-8 and other hemp products in neighborhoods around Midway Airport.
Mayor Johnson and others want to regulate and tax such sales. And he shrugs off the unanimous Licensing Committee vote for the Southwest Side ban.
Earlier this week, the mayor's allies thwarted a bill in Springfield to regulate hemp sales that Gov. Pritzker backed. The mayor says his team is working out language that better protects young people from the products.
“Here's what's most important – that we have to make sure that we're protecting people and keeping them safe. And so my team is gonna work with city council members and the general assembly, to ensure that we are maximizing safety for our young people in particular.
“We don't want them to be harmed by any particular substance that could be detrimental to their life and to their existence.”
Gov. Pritzker backed legislation to regulate the now unregulated hemp industry, stressing how the products that can get people high need to be kept away from children. But Mayor Johnson's allies in the legislature blocked its passage.
Mayor Johnson says he'll continue to talk to every alderperson and work with the council, the county and the general assembly.
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