Housing in Chicago is getting more expensive by the day. Apartments.com estimates that the average one-bedroom apartment in the city costs $1,893 a month. Meanwhile, under the city’s current minimum wage, a person working full-time will bring home only $2,808 a month.
This situation puts working Chicagoans in an impossible position. Developers set the agenda for our housing, and we have few legal tools to protect ourselves.
In Chicago, previously affordable neighborhoods are being swallowed by developers who hide behind innocuously named LLCs.
In Logan Square alone, multi-family apartment buildings are being targeted for conversion to “luxury” units, one after another. Families who live in these buildings are faced with the devastating prospect of displacement at a time when consumer prices continue to squeeze working people.
Some will fall through the cracks and wind up without homes; city data suggests a stunning increase in homelessness over the past few years. These families are suddenly consumed with the dread and panic of having to move — quickly. And for what?
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Residents in my Logan Square building paying $1,200 to $1,500 must vacate for remodeling. After that, rents could go up to $2,400 or more.
So residents of our building locked arms in December and formed the Belden Sawyer Tenant Association — a tenants’ union. And we have been fighting to stay in our homes ever since.
As in a labor union, a tenants’ union harnesses the power of numbers to stand up to the boss or, in the case of an apartment building, the landlord. We are demanding new negotiated leases and have gone on a rent strike.
Unlike a labor union, there is no formal process for starting a tenants’ union. A tenants’ union runs on nothing more than the simple, elegant power of community. It is yours for the taking.
Our group believes that corporate greed is the root cause of the housing crisis, and that the only way to stand against corporate greed is through collective power.
Housing is a human right, and everyone deserves a place to call home — a place where they can feel safe and secure, a place that offers the stability to raise families, pursue passions and create strong community bonds. That is what the Belden Sawyer Tenant Association is fighting for, in our building and for the good of the whole city. Join us.
David Amato, Belden Sawyer Tenant Association Local 1
Driver’s sensible talk about police reform
After spending 33 years as a Chicago cop and more than three years as a Marine, I know leadership when I see and hear it. I’m not taking sides in complaints by Anthony Driver Jr. and the Fraternal Order of Police against former Civilian Office of Police Accountability head Andrea Kersten. But I like what I hear from Driver, the head of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.
Driver is on the mark when he says this is not a “system issue” but a “personnel issue.” Leadership starts at the top, no matter what organization one belongs to. Leaders are accountable for the actions of subordinates, and any breakdown in that chain of command is a failure of the entire organization.
The Chicago Police Department, as Mr. Driver stated, is just a part of a system that is touched by many other city agencies. If the leadership in any of those agencies is not on board, we vividly see the results.
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, in my opinion, backed the right leader to head the police department in Supt. Larry Snelling. Now the search is on for a new COPA leader. A police department is without question in need of oversight, but the key to that is the word “fair.” Mr. Driver and his commission are a new breath of fresh air in a city that is in dire need of strong leadership working together.
Bob Angone, retired Chicago police lieutenant, Austin, Texas
A ‘dirty’ Chicago has never been a secret
Anthony Driver Jr., president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, was surprised to find a dirty city instead of just a dirty police department in his investigation of COPA. My only question to him is what rock have you been living under? Are you that naive?
Joe Revane, Lombard
EV drivers do pay the price
Hold on a second with all this “electric vehicle owners don’t pay for the roads” nonsense discussed in your “taxing by the mile” coverage. We most certainly do.
In 2019 when the Illinois Legislature raised the gas tax, they also slapped a $100 fee on EV registrations to cover lost gas tax revenue. Not only do we pay for our use of the roads, we pay it all upfront.
Don Anderson, Oak Park
Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest is a fascist act
The arrest of Mahmoud Khalil is a transformational act in this country. It is reminiscent of Nazism or fascism. We don’t do that here!
I am not personally sympathetic to his cause, but I will fight nonstop for his right to protest. He has not committed a crime and yet, without a warrant, he was summarily picked up, taken out of town, and would have been deported, if others hadn’t interfered. As Neil Steinberg states, “The given reason was to combat antisemitism. The actual result is to begin acclimating the public to people being arrested for what they say.”
This is blood-chilling. What’s next? Being arrested for criticizing Trump? No due process for the arrest? Can we just be picked up off the street? As Steinberg states: “It could be me next. … Or you.”
We must be outraged and we must speak out and we must act. This cannot be ignored.
Carol Kraines, Deerfield
Bagging on Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is making a terrible mistake. They have so many loyal customers because of the two free checked bags policy. Now they are losing that advantage, and there’s no reason to choose them over another airline. For years, my travel policy has been to favor Southwest outbound, but always fly Southwest coming back home. Why? Because I often make purchases and I can have two free bags on the way home.
Now I don’t have that possibility anymore, and Southwest has no advantage over other airlines. In fact, because I am miffed about the change, I am less likely to fly them. I am sure thousands of other customers feel the same way.
I predict that several months from now they are going to realize how the revenue has dropped and they will reinstate their claim to fame. They would be better off to add $10 to everyone’s ticket and drop the baggage fees, which would probably result in greater revenue. Maybe if we all flood them with complaints they will change their minds.
Joyce Porter, Oak Park
Avoiding the gun control factor
In the Sun-Times’ coverage of a recent shooting, “Shooting outside Streeterville theater leaves wounded tourist — and community — on edge over violence, loitering,” there is discussion of arresting unaccompanied minors, barring them from movie theaters and implementing curfews. There is blame cast on the movie theater’s security and on the parents of the children. But there is no discussion of gun control. How did a child end up with a gun in their backpack in the first place? Have we as a society given up on addressing the systemic issue of gun violence, and decided we’d rather just criminalize being a teenager in public?
Aidan Kaplan, Hyde Park
IRS cuts would do major damage
As a law-abiding taxpayer, I e-filed my tax return to the IRS in early February, which included a substantial amount that I owed to the federal government. After about a month, I actually received a refund and an explanatory letter clarifying that I had made a mistake and had paid too much.
This was a pleasant surprise, but not shocking because despite challenges faced by the IRS, I have always found the IRS to be efficient in its role as the government’s accounts receivable. So it unnerves me when people in government propose cuts, which would gut the agency and hinder the IRS’s ability to collect revenue and provide services to the public.
Currently, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is recommending that the IRS workforce be reduced by about 20%, which would ultimately close offices and make it extremely difficult for taxpayers to contact qualified personnel at the IRS for assistance.
If the purpose of DOGE is to save money and make the government more efficient, it is making a serious mistake. Services will be eliminated and according to the Budget Lab at Yale the government would lose tens of billions of dollars. If taxpayers decided to be non-compliant due to IRS shortages of auditors and resources, the Budget Lab estimates that our country could lose $2.4 trillion over the course of a decade.
For those who willingly pay the IRS what they owe, there is an understanding that in order for the government to function and provide what a modern industrial state needs, it is essential that people in our country pay their fair share. Unfortunately, there are others who are chiselers only interested in their own illicit gains even though it will ultimately hurt their fellow citizens and our country.
Larry Vigon, Jefferson Park
America is a real life Bizarro World
If you read DC Comics in the early ’60s, you may remember Superman episodes placed on Bizarro World. What happens in Bizarro World is the opposite of what would happen on real Earth. The Bizarro Code states, “Us do opposite of all Earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World.”
After vacationing in Europe for a week or so, where we lost track of U.S. politics for the most part, coming back to the U.S. makes me feel like I’m actually in Bizarro World, ruled by a Bizzaro Trump and his Bizzaro friend Elon Musk. Thanks to Donald Trump, our world is upside down. Only a broad coalition of Democrats, independents and Trump voters who are experiencing buyer’s remorse can right the ship. Let’s get going.
Richard Keslinke, Algonquin
Trump’s language barrier
Call me old-fashioned. but shouldn’t someone who proclaims English as the official language of a country be fully proficient in speaking and writing English?
Michael Gorman, River North
Oh, Canada
Dear Canada: I’m sorry.
Mark Sikora, Riverside
Elbows up
President Donald Trump continues to dwell on the notion of Canada becoming the 51st state. Given that quality of life polls consistently have Canada ranked higher than the U.S., arguably the more perfect union, at least for Americans, would be the U.S. becoming the 11th Canadian province.
Gerald Weisberg, M.D., Lake View
Follow the money
This might be a good time to remember that the current occupant in the White House is a convicted felon. He was convicted by a jury of his peers for business fraud.
Does anyone know the amount of the alleged savings that is supposed to come from the recent executive orders eliminating government waste? And where is that money now?
I’m grateful to live in a state where we put our convicted elected officials in jail. Perhaps the Supreme Court should follow Illinois’ example.
M.L. Koranda, Romeoville
Eggs and coffee
Why are people who gladly spend $6 for a cup of coffee so upset about the price of eggs???
Sheryl Gallaher, Palos Park