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Grassroots Collaborative
PI Original
by Ashlee Rezin
3:59pm
Fri Jun 7

Walmart Workers Call For A Living Wage, Better Work Conditions (VIDEO)

Labor

When Larry Born’s privately-owned retail business closed its doors during the recession in 2009, he sought employment at Walmart. He said he didn’t know it at the time, but he walked into a “predatory employer” that pays “slave wages.” Born was one of nearly 100 people who protested outside Chicago’s Walmart Express store, at 570 West Monroe St., to demand better wages and improved working conditions for the employees of the world’s largest retailer.

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
8:03pm
Tue May 7

Community Activists Say Bank Of America Is A 'Destabilizing Force' In Chicago (VIDEO)

Bank of America (BOA) serves as a destabilizing force in Chicago’s blighted communities, according to approximately 50 protesters who took their message to a downtown branch on Tuesday.

Organized by the Grassroots Collaborative on the eve of Bank of America’s shareholder meeting in North Carolina, demonstrators rallied against policies that, according to protesters, has led to Chicago school closures and community devastation.

“We have schools that are closing, homes that are abandoned, and neighborhoods falling apart; this is a time when we need our neighborhoods to be built up and not destroyed,” said Amisha Patel, executive director of the Grassroots Collaborative. “It’s time for Bank of America to do everything they can to strengthen our communities.”

Read more »

PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
5:36pm
Fri Apr 26

A Look At How Charters May Fare If CPS School Actions Are Approved

Education

The Chicago Public Schools’ plan to shakeup and shut down a record-breaking number of neighborhood schools in June will likely lead to further charter school expansion in the city, education policy experts and activists predict.

PI Original
by Ashlee Rezin
5:07pm
Tue Apr 2

Major Infrastructure Needs Along Mississippi & Illinois Rivers Prompt Bipartisan Legislation

Congress

Outdated and deteriorating locks and dams along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers have contributed to a backlog of projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), amounting to $60 billion in unfunded, but necessary, upgrades. Prompted by this statistic, Illinois congressional delegates sponsored bipartisan legislation earlier this month that would encourage private investment in improving the nation’s water infrastructure.

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
5:43pm
Wed Mar 27

Rumored Koch Brothers Buy Of Tribune Company Raises Red Flags For Local Community Groups

The ultra conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch reportedly have their eye on purchasing some or all of the Tribune Company, which includes the Chicago Tribune and other major urban newspapers — and that has some local advocacy groups worried.

“It’s hard enough to get our stories covered in mainstream papers from the perspective of working families and communities of color,” said Amisha Patel, executive director of the Grassroots Collaborative, a community-labor coalition focused on racial and economic justice in the state.

The Koch brothers, who Patel said are known for dismantling the rights of workers and working families, would only be interested in purchasing the Tribune Company and its assets so they can “pass something off of it.”

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PI Original
by Matthew Blake
5:52pm
Fri Jan 18
1 comment

No Movement On Chicago Infrastructure Trust, Yet

Politics

Proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel last March and approved by the Chicago City Council in April, the Infrastructure Trust outlined a way to finance infrastructure projects in the city during a time of prolonged federal and state budget crises and near absolute political aversion to tax increases. Its polarizing central concept of private companies investing in public infrastructure and then receiving some undefined return on their investment was alternately seen as a revolutionary way to improve Chicago and a nefarious step towards private investors opaquely dictating public policy. We take a look at what has come of the controversial Trust thus far.

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
6:27pm
Wed Oct 10, 2012

Why Is Emanuel Touting 'No New Taxes'?

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel presented his 2013 budget to the city council today, profusely emphasizing that the budget contains no new taxes.

“This is a budget that allows us to make critical investments by reforming government instead of raising taxes,” Emanuel said in a statement. “As I pledged, we will not raise sales taxes; we will not raise the fuel tax; we will not raise the amusement tax.”

So are no new taxes a good thing? Read more »

PI Original
by Matthew Blake
6:32pm
Wed Sep 19, 2012

Teachers Strike Over But Budget Problems Have Only Started

Education

The Chicago Public Schools management team breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates voted to suspend the CTU strike and let their membership consider a new contract. But while teachers are expected to green light the deal, CPS does not know how to pay for it.

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
11:40am
Wed Aug 8, 2012

Chicagoans Rally Against $29.5 Million River Point TIF Subsidy (VIDEO)

Chanting “TIf money’s our money,” and carrying signs that read “Corporate Welfare is breaking Chicago’s back,” more than 100 protesters marched through downtown Chicago yesterday to protest the allocation of $29.5 million in tax increment financing (TIF) for a corporate tower in the West Loop.

“This money is cut right off the top of our property taxes, and we need to reinvest it in areas other than the Loop,” said Rita Pope, a resident of Evanston who was born in North Lawndale. Pope volunteers for the Organization of the North East and helped pass out flyers during Tuesday’s protest.

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