Protesters blocking Loop traffic demand rent control, elected school board
Acoalition of community groups on Monday stopped lunch hour traffic outside City Hall to amplify their demand that Illinois Senate President John Cullerton “stop doing the mayor’s dirty work” by blocking an elected school board and rent control in Chicago.
State Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago, introduced a bill that would have established rent control boards empowered to limit annual rent increases to 1 percent above the consumer price index. But it went nowhere during the spring legislative session.
For years, bills calling for an elected Chicago Public Schools board have drawn overwhelming support in advisory referendums but stalled in Springfield amid opposition from Emanuel and his predecessor, former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
On Monday the two issues came together as the Chicago Teachers Union joined forces with representatives from: Action Now; the Pilsen Alliance: Good Kids, Mad City and the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization.
“Schools are being closed. . . . We’re being pushed out of our homes. Ten thousand Latino families pushed out of Pilsen. Twenty thousand families pushed out of Logan Square. You’ve got 250,000 black people pushed out of this city. Why? Because Rahm, Cullerton want to turn this city into a white, rich city,” said Jawanza Malone, executive director of KOCO.
Malone referred to Mayor Rahm Emanuel as the “puppet master pulling strings” in Springfield.
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the “real legacy of mayoral control” of CPS is a steady stream of scandals — and a revolving door of schools CEOs — culminating in the biggest one of all: the sexual abuse of students.
John Patterson, a spokesman for Cullerton, Emanuel’s closest ally in Springfield, said the portrait of Cullerton as the legislative roadblock is unfair and inaccurate.
In fact, the Illinois Senate approved an elected school board last year with only one change from the House- approved version.
As for rent control, Patterson said Hunter is “setting up a series of hearings on affordable housing” that Cullerton is “working with her” to arrange.
“The senator has acted on both issues,” Patterson said.
Emanuel’s communications director Adam Collins added, “Ten days after the legislative session ended is a strange time to focus on state legislation. Our focus is solely on continuing the achievement gains being made by students all across the city.”