Zakat Foundation executive director Halil Demir [left] and Chicago Ald. Matt Martin (47).

As a result of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, more than 100,000 brave Afghans who put their lives at risk to work with American military and civilian personnel need urgent resettlement.  Expectations are that a minimum of 500 Afghan refugees will settle in our state, many of them in Chicagoland. We believe that the City of Chicago — its government, its people and its institutions — should embrace these refugees and take steps to ensure they receive the care, services and support they need.

The Cook County State’s Attorney has a Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). It was set up years ago by Anita Alvarez in response to the revelation that hundreds of mainly Black and Latino men and women had been framed and tortured by dirty cops like Joseph Miedzianowski, Reynaldo Guevara, Ronald Watts, Kenneth Boudreau, Michael Kill, and John Halloran, to name just a few of the 150 Chicago cops implicated in such cases. It has been continued by Kim Foxx.

Kim Foxx and the CIU have probably exonerated more people wrongfully convicted than all her predecessors combined. But all of them have been victims of obvious frame-ups by dirty cops Ronald Watts or Reynaldo Guevara. None of them have been people tortured into false confessions by the torture cops such as those working under the notorious Jon Burge.

While the pandemic has shined a light on the growing need for more affordable housing around the Chicagoland area and across the state, there has also been a renewed focus on the remarkable effort exerted by the essential workers in the residential rental property management industry. Even in the face of exceptional challenges, maintenance technicians, property managers, leasing consultants and support professionals never stopped their dedication to keep tenants safe and comfortable in their homes.  Our industry boasts an incredible workforce of hard-working individuals striving to keep our communities running smoothly for our residents.

In a highly-anticipated decision issued in mid-June, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Fulton v. Philadelphia that the City of Philadelphia violated the constitutional rights of a Catholic-affiliated social service organization when the City stopped working with the agency for foster care and adoption services for children in the government’s care. The decision was very narrow, based solely on the specifics of the Philadelphia’s contracting practice. In short, the City’s system allowed officials broad discretion to grant exemptions from non-discrimination obligations contractors otherwise would have to honor. No exemption was granted to the Catholic-affiliated organization who wanted to take the public funding but not consider LGBTQ+ couples for adoption and foster parenting.

With COVID cases dropping, Chicago is fully reopening and preparing for the return of tourism, indoor dining and summer events that support retailers and businesses throughout the city. But with crime on the rise, attention must be given to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors, and this includes addressing an age-old problem that has gained new prominence: illegal trade.

With Illinois set to create 110 new recreational marijuana dispensaries to address some of the equity issues surrounding the state’s initial licensing rollout, some of the challenges that had stopped dispensary licenses from being distributed are now on their way to being resolved.

Unfortunately, similar problems are already cropping up in the process to award craft grow licenses around the state. And lawsuits will follow.

From left: Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22), Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33), Ald. Silvana Tabares (23) and Ald. Andre Vasquez (40).

At a time when states across the U.S. are implementing unjust restrictions on the right to vote, we believe that we have an opportunity and obligation to expand the franchise in Chicago and Illinois. In the short term, we need a fully elected school board in Chicago. And in the only slightly longer term, we need to create a method for non-citizens to vote in school board elections across Illinois. 

Ethics and lobbying reform is on the minds of many in Illinois. This is a good thing. But reforms must be developed and implemented carefully and carefully respect the structures and progress made in local home rule communities. And certainly, in the search for uniformity, the General Assembly would not wish to appear to weaken rules for which it perhaps cannot yet gain consensus on a statewide basis.

On March 24, Illinois amped up the state’s fight to prevent a COVID related housing crisis by passing HB2775 out of the Illinois House of Representatives’ Housing Committee. HB2775 will amend the Illinois Human Rights Act to prohibit landlords from discriminating against individuals solely because they use non-traditional sources of income (aka “SOI” discrimination) and, in turn, will aid in the state’s efforts to reduce and prevent homelessness through the many rental subsidy programs assisting households with low incomes. Non-traditional sources of income can include benefits through the VA, Social Security (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)), or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In other words, a diverse group of individuals, including families, seniors, veterans, and those with disabilities, rely on non-traditional sources of income to pay their bills.

Chicago is consumed in shock and grief after the police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo. It is an unfathomable tragedy that demands answers and accountability from police.  We expect that accountability, but will we get it?

“Consider another example. A family is playing in their own front yard in rural southern Georgia on a warm summer day, when a group of police officers arrive suddenly in pursuit of a suspect. After apprehending the suspect, who is unarmed, the police inexplicably order the family — at gunpoint — to lie face down on the ground. They comply immediately, scared and shaking. For no apparent reason, a Coffee County Sheriff’s deputy fires two shots at the family dog, who posed no threat. The deputy misses the dog, but his bullets strike a 10-year-old child in the back of his knee.