As Rahm Emanuel Faces Runoff, a Rundown of His Corrupt Record
Corrupt to the very end...
Rahm Emanuel is Mayor 1%. He speaks a politician's words to entice many Chicagoans to vote for him, but his actions are on behalf of his friends and colleagues in the business world.
Snubbing the Needs of Average People
The author of Mayor 1%, Kari Lydersen, tells the story of Helen Morley, a resident of the southwest side of Chicago and a regular patient at one of the mental health clinics closed by Mayor Emanuel. At Chicago's 175th birthday party in 2012, Morley pleaded, "Mayor Emanuel, please don't close our clinics! We're going to die...There's nowhere else to go." Emanuel ignored her. According to Lydersen, Morley and others believed that the mayor "didn't understand the role these specific clinics played in their lives and the difficulty they would have traveling to other locations."
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Cozying Up to Cronies
According to the Chicago Tribune, "The mayor regularly courts his benefactors behind closed doors.." Nearly 60 percent of his 103 donors received "contracts, zoning changes, business permits, pension work, board appointments, regulatory help or some other tangible benefit."
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Making Deals that Send Our Tax Dollars to Wall Street
Rahm Emanuel has made Chicago look good for tourists, sprucing up the downtown (Loop) business district, adding retail stores and office space. But the funding comes at the expense of average citizens. The mayor's plan for a South Loop hotel and basketball arena is using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds (our tax money, meant for blighted neighborhoods), and stands to enrich a hedge fund that contributed to Rahm's campaign fund and then invested in the hotel as the deal was being finalized.
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His Legacy
The mayor claimed credit for a minimum wage increase, even though he didn't act until the State of Illinois began putting the plan in place. He took credit for a longer school day for the kids, but he didn't provide the necessary funding. He took credit for coal-burning power plant closings that resulted largely from neighborhood activism.
more: http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/rahm-emanuel-symbol-of-a-sick-america
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Enjoy sore winning at the expense of working Chicagoans.
We shafted the little guy! We awesome!!!!
about Detroit, much new upscale urban investment by financiers for flashy new commercial centers, hotels etc. Good and bad, but I wandered about the regular people and their communities. Couldn't finish the show knowing some of the reality.
I think... our major cities...are becoming...Republican!
