With tens of thousands of Illinoisans receiving their COVID vaccinations every day, it feels like we’re starting to see a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. For those in the restaurant industry, we can begin to turn our attention from simply surviving to growing and thriving. As we look ahead, we also have to recognize the changes our industry has undergone in recent months, with one major change being the prevalence of third-party delivery platforms.

The global pandemic has created an urgency in Illinois to ensure that housing is affordable and plentiful, but I’m not certain this next statement is widely understood: Advocacy groups from both the landlords’ and the tenants’ perspective absolutely agree there is a shortage of viable affordable housing options in many neighborhoods across the state.

Beyond the significant areas where we concur, our differences of opinion stem from how to accomplish our shared goals of increasing affordable housing, with rent control remaining as perhaps our widest disagreement.

Now that the final numbers are in on Illinois recreational marijuana sales for 2020, it is clear that the state should pick up the pace of approving licenses and opening dispensaries in 2021.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced on Jan. 4 that pot sales reached $669 million in 2020, the first year in which customers 21 and older could legally purchase marijuana. While the final sales figures were strong and beat estimates—an impressive feat, given the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on retail sales generally—the state continues to leave potential revenue on the table by not opening more dispensaries at a quicker pace.

In 1969, the story of Illinois’ financial picture was arguably as dire as it is today.

To put Illinois on firmer footing, then-Governor Richard Ogilvie, a Republican, advocated for the need to enact a state income tax. For passage, Ogilvie needed the support of local officials across Illinois who would be preempted by the state’s proposal that also limited local income taxing authority. Ogilvie sought the assistance of then-Mayor Richard J. Daley, a Democrat. They compromised for the good of all. Instead of the new revenue going solely to the state, a revenue-sharing agreement was established giving local governments a percentage of all funds the state income tax provided.

For a moment, let us sidestep the staggering statistics, the debates, and the studies like this one from the nonpartisan Urban Institute, which found that Illinois’ ban on rent control “constrained local housing policy responses to COVID-19.” First, let us be clear about the scenes we will bear witness to. They won’t include a UHAUL truck or friendly movers.

A baby’s crib thrown onto the front lawn. Precious family heirlooms picked over by passerby. A toddler crying into the arms of her humiliated parents, who have been evicted for the crime of losing their jobs during a global economic collapse. Most likely, the tenants will not move into a new apartment, but face homelessness and potentially suicide. Their community will destabilize a little further, and phenomena like unrest and looting will increase.

The proposed Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance (RTLO), which will go to a vote by the Cook County Board of Commissioners this week, is far from revolutionary. It creates basic floors for landlord conduct that have existed for more than 30 years in Chicago, Evanston, and Mount Prospect.

Landlords who foster good working relationships with their tenants are already doing what the ordinance requires: offering fair lease terms, making repairs, respecting tenants’ dignity and privacy, and ensuring safe, healthy living conditions in their units and buildings. For these landlords, the RTLO won’t make a big difference. By clarifying roles and responsibilities and establishing more uniform standards throughout Chicagoland, it will in fact make life simpler.

This month the Cook County Board is considering a Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO). Unfortunately, instead of protecting tenants, this measure unevenly protects problem tenants who impact the quality of life for everyone who lives in the building as well as the landlord. Cook County commissioners should consider four principles before adopting this new law.

First, judges should have discretion to weigh the facts of the case and the relative harm caused by any alleged violation when determining an appropriate punishment and whether to award attorney’s fees. In other cities where these local ordinances are common, these laws have been weaponized against smaller housing providers.

The defeat of the Fair Tax Amendment to the Illinois Constitution is a devastating blow to progressives who hoped to end the archaic and regressive tax system in Illinois that favors the rich.

However, there is still an opportunity to create a progressive income tax system through legislation without amending the Illinois Constitution. The Illinois Constitution prohibits anything other than a flat tax rate. But it does not prohibit changes in other factors such as the size of the personal exemption or a standard deduction, a factor that can have a similar effect on taxation. You don’t need a progressive tax rate in order to have a more progressive tax system.

The delayed half-measures that characterized the initial global response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate the catastrophic toll that denial and apathy can have in perpetuating and exacerbating a crisis. Governments acting quickly with proactive measures to contain the novel coronavirus are seeing slower infection rates and fewer deaths. Preparedness matters, and it saves lives. We have a collective responsibility to apply this lesson to another major global challenge: the climate crisis.

More than 30 years ago, I began ringing the alarm bell to Congress about the negative consequences of increasing greenhouse gasses for our climate. Since then, the world has taken some steps forward—and some backward. Without an immediate, visible threat, leaders across the world have been slow to act, risking the progress we’ve made toward securing the clean energy future our nation and world deserve.

The Covid-19 pandemic and Illinois’ Stay at Home order last March created a challenging logistical situation at many of Chicago’s 1,250 polling places—especially at the hundreds of sites that provided less than 1,000 square feet of voting space, often in senior housing apartment lobbies and poorly ventilated church basements.