#chuy2015

If you are not clear why we must #DumpRahm. #NoRahmLove and Vote #Chuy2015

I received this letter from a friend, neighbor and colleague (for attachments, see comments)

There are many reasons we should vote for Garcia and not Emanuel in the upcoming election. For instance, political writer Don Rose detailed in the attached 1/20/15  article entitled “ Patronage, Politics and Charter Schools ” how Emanuel’s practices have profited key supporters of his connected with charter schools, thereby benefiting him at the expense of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS).  Similarly, as noted in a the attached 3/20/15 article in the Chicago Business Journal entitled “Magic Johnson drawn in to Chicago Public Schools custodians controversy” reports that a year after the contract privatizing custodial services for CPS " 90 percent of principals who responded to a survey believe their schools are dirtier than they were before those deals." and also noted in the same article that the Chicago Tribune reported that a Magic Johnson company got a $80,000,000 portion of the contract and in return made a $250,000 donation to Emanuel's campaign.

Additionally, numerous articles have been published in the Reader about Emanuel's use of  Tax Increment Finance (TIF)--(which allows designation of  certain areas of the city as "blighted" and freezes Real Estate Freeze Taxes that go to any local taxing entities --such as the Chicago Public Schools--at the time of such designation  and further allows future increases in property taxes in those areas to then go into a TIF fund controlled by the Mayor to bring improvements for those "blighted areas")--to fund such projects as: using $55 million to buy land in support of building a new Marriott hotel and a basketball stadium for DePaul University near McCormick Place; and 60 million for street improvements and CTA track repairs in the river south area near the loop.  In fact, as pointed out in the most recent article in the 3/26/15 edition of the Reader entitled "Who wins and loses in Rahm's TIF game?” "...about 48 percent of what he has committed to spend in TIF funds over the last four years has gone to the same favored communities, an area stretching roughly from the Gold Coast on the North to McCormick Place on the South and from the United Center on the West to the Lake." and that “roughly $900 million in property taxes that could have gone to the public schools over the last four years if the TIF districts weren’t collecting the money.”

Finally,  the attached  3/5/15 article  by Curtis Black entitled  “Get real’ about Emanuel and Garcia records on finances”  lays out in detail the disastrous  effect that Emanuel's fiscal policies have had on both the City's and the CPS's financial positions (on top of very poor fiscal decisions by the prior administration).  As stated in summary by Curtis Black "The reality is, Emanuel has a record of fiscal recklessness, and Garcia has been a key member of the two most fiscally responsible administrations in recent history. Emanuel is posing as the mayor who got Chicago’s fiscal house in order.  The record says otherwise."  Black, in part of the article, details the disastrous effect of the use of "interest rate swaps" on the future financial condition of both the City and CPS and how Emanuel continued this practice began by the Daley administration which benefitted mainly the securities companies that sold the contracts. Black also details how other administrations that Garcia was a part of dealt with municipal debt in a different and far less disastrous ways.  Similarly, a second article (also attached) published on 3/17/15 by DAVID DAYEN   entitled “ Not true and they knew it”: What Rahm Emanuel’s Wall Street craze cost Chicago ” provides even more information about these swaps , such as how their contract requires the City and CPS to pay a prepayment penalty--which  is all the interest under the contract rather than all the money borrowed at the time of the payoff  (a provision that was frequently challenged as a "predatory" provision in  many home mortgage loans) and how challenges to them could be but are not being raised by Emanuel who instead claims there is nothing that can be done and refuses to try any challenges that might be available.  

Jesus “Chuy” Garcia stop by The Boys and Girls Club at Little Village, house of Yollocalli. Some students from Music Production Class and Your Story, Your Way Class got the chance to take a picture with him. 

Also, Joseph Mora, one of the students from the journalism class, interviewed him about after school programs regarding music and art and how to improve them.