Johnson's performance with migrant issue is below subpar
The administration must stop being tone deaf to residents and alderpersons
Even though Mayor Brandon Johnson met with former Mayor Rahm Emanuel a week ago, the two apparently didn’t discuss what has come to be known as “Rahm’s Rule;” and that “rule” is never let a serious crisis go to waste.
The former mayor, congressman, and White House chief of staff has explained that a crisis allows one to do something they wouldn’t do ordinarily. It is what worked for President Joe Biden in the early stages of the pandemic.
Mayor Johnson is facing a crisis of unpredictable and epic proportions but chooses to take the ostrich approach and bury his head to avoid dealing with it. That crisis is the ongoing housing/shelter debacle regarding asylum-seekers who have been bused to Chicago from Texas.
In fact, instead of addressing the situation head on, Johnson tweets about “a green deal for Chicago,” “decarbonization",” and hosting a forum for people too young to vote, but attended in hopes of winning a Lalapalooza raffle. While he is generating feel good moments the migrant crisis mounts and leaves department and division heads to fend for themselves in front of ill-tempered city council members.
He is even treading over old ground and discussing the Chicago Bears staying in the city. Hopefully it is just a stubborn streak and Johnson really believes he can convince the Chicago Bears to stay. If it is not that, then his hubris is beyond comprehension. Instead of putting more time in on the migrant issue, Johnson meets with the Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren.
Surely, Warren is taking the meeting(s) a courtesy. It is likely that even the casual NFL fan understands the league operates as a monoply so the Bears are not dealing in a vacuum. Some of Johnson’s advisers should have explained to him that the league is in the midst of a building boom. In the past 12 years 10 new stadia have been built.
The average age of those replaced was 31 years. To put Soldier Field in perspective, it was built 62 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation-making it 99 years old next year. No other NFL stadium is close to that age; but Johnson would prefer to deal with that as opposed to the crisis at hand.
Politically, Johnson is digging a hole for himself as not one Black alderperson has sided with him in handling this asylum-seeker issue. That hole would be less deep and Johnson could possibly redeem himself by stepping up and admitting this challenge is beyond his scope of understanding, and ability to address it alone. A lot fewer people would fault him for being honest as opposed to personally failing to addressing the crisis.
From his first day it was clear the migrant matter was only going to grow. The mayor like so many other elected officials around the country acted as though his new chair had some magic problem-solving power. It didn’t and it doesn’t.
The smartest move he could have made was to turn to those who might be considered detractors and seek their counsel. It is not unusual in the business and/or nonprofit world to ask those who are critical of an action or idea to suggest a better one. Two city council members who many see as outspoken or contrarian fit this bill. Ninth Ward Alderperson Anthony Beale and 17th Ward Alderperson David Moore. Beale has been in office since 1999, and has been a member of the council’s budget and government operations committee. That is an institutional memory that should not be ignored.
Johnson chose a city hall veteran with 30 years experience as his chief of staff, and an alderperson, Walter Burnett, who has been on council since 1995, as his vice mayor. As an observer it is clear he is not involving either man in developing a solution regarding where and how to house the new migrant population - which now numbers approximately 11,000; or how to fund any plan.
Since he began running for mayor, Johnson has droned on about bringing city residents together, however; the abject failure to involve the citizenry is having the opposite impact. They may not be daily headlines, but there is growing discord between Black Chicagoans and the migrants. In some instances, it spilling over to the Latinx community at large. How can the mayor not see this?
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It is likely Johnson can’t take advantage of Rahm’s Rule as he doesn’t seem to have a policy change he can implement, and apparently is not willing to ask friend or foe for one.
Budget talks are looming - just a couple of months away. Given the current performance of the administration it is not likely the migrant issue will be close to being resolved. Granted, the mayor has a cadre of financial people to craft that document, but it will need his undivided attention once it is presented to council. The reality that the administration has done zip to alleviate the deficit, or address the underfunded pensions; budget hearings are going to the ugliest we have witnessed in many years.