Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants his city’s struggling residents to approve a massive tax hike to care for illegal migrants.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is even looking to pull Chicago Public Schools students out of class this Friday to vote for his $100 million real estate transfer tax increase referendum, according to Austin Berg, vice president of marketing for the Illinois Policy Institute.
Brandon had other options than to burden Chicagoans with the cost of caring for the migrants who have overrun the city.
He could have taken the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago up on its offer to house migrants for free in one of more than dozen closed churches, schools, and other buildings it has listed for sale or for lease.
But, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, City Hall “has yet to agree on any such offers from the archdiocese, instead renting private shelter spaces at high costs.”
“Of the 23 shelters the city uses to house migrants, many are in city-owned or Chicago Park District buildings,” the Sun-Times states. “But these sites hold only around 2,300 of the 11,400 migrants in shelters, leaving the vast majority in private properties the city is paying tens of millions of dollars to use, a Sun-Times analysis shows.”
NEW: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is asking voters to approve a $100 million real estate transfer tax hike in the March 19 primary election. But a new report from @Suntimes @mchael_mchael reveals Johnson never took up the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago on their offer to house… pic.twitter.com/XhZVsLDV4n
— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg) March 14, 2024
Eric Wollan, chief capital assets officer for the archdiocese, “confirmed last week that providing the spaces for free was always the plan, though the costs of operating the shelters would need to be covered by the city,” the Sun-Times reports. “The archdiocese also asked that the city cover any renovation costs to accommodate the migrants, a source said.”
In an email obtained through an open records request, Wollan listed “a dozen properties ‘that could be utilized for migrant housing,’ including the school, church and rectory of St. Kevin on Torrence Avenue in South Deering and the St. Thomas of Canterbury building on Kenmore Avenue in Uptown,” according to the outlet.
“This list focuses on the larger-scale church properties,” Wollan wrote. “Again, we recognize the urgent needs of our new arrivals, particularly in light of the impending seasonal changes and look forward to expanding our assistance in the ways deemed most helpful by the city and county to address these critical needs.”
However, the Sun-Times writes, “city officials appear largely unresponsive to the offers.”
Meanwhile the push by the teachers union — in partnership with Bring Chicago Home, a group that aims to “restructure the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT)” to “provide permanent affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness,” according to its website — to get students out to vote “seemingly violates provisions of the Chicago Public Schools Code of Ethics,” according to IllinoisPolicy.org.
“In an email announcing the event, CTU Vice President Jackson Potter noted the union is ‘partnering’ with Bring Chicago Home, culminating in a ‘Parade to the Polls, where students will march to an early voting site,’” Illinois Policy explains.
“Bring Chicago Home is the leading political advocacy organization campaigning in favor of” Brandon’s proposed hike, Illinois Policy states, and the union “and its affiliates are Johnson’s largest campaign financiers.” What’s more, “the union is his former employer.”
“Do you think students will hear a diversity of viewpoints at this event, which is being held during the school day at Chicago Teachers Union headquarters?” asked Berg of the planned student event. “How is this legal?”
NEW: The Chicago Teachers Union is planning to take Chicago Public Schools students out of class this Friday to vote for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $100 million real estate transfer tax hike.
To do this, the union is partnering with @BringChiHome, a political organization spending… pic.twitter.com/DoMCA08foq
— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg) March 11, 2024
According to the CPS Code of Ethics, it isn’t.
“Employees are permitted to engage in Political Activity on a voluntary basis during non-work hours, vacation, or personal time. Employees are not permitted to engage in Political Activity during any other Board compensated time,” Illinois Party notes.
“By asking teachers to prepare for and organize students to participate in the Student Power Forum, which is occurring during school hours and organized in part by a political campaign (Bring Chicago Home),” the organization states, “it is clear the union is asking its members to violate the CPS Code of Ethics and possibly other state or city provisions.”
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Author: Melissa Fine
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