A few hundred education activists kicked off the last day of the Chicago Teachers Union's three-day march against school closings at William J. & Charles H. Mayo Elementary School Monday morning. Education activists also delivered a petition calling for a moratorium on school closings to City Hall this afternoon. Progress Illinois was there for the actions.
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.”
Dozens of community activists and angry CTA riders protested bank
deals which they claim take money from transit agencies in the lobby of a
Chase Bank at 10 S. Dearborn St. Thursday morning.
Pointing to a report released this week titled “Riding the Gravy Train,”
which details “toxic swap deals” between Wall Street banks and 12 state
governments, the group said nationally taxpayers are losing more than
$520 million a year.
That’s money that could be used to stop public transit service cuts or pay for infrastructure repairs, the protesters argued.
When we first reported on interest-rate swap deals in May, the advocacy
group National People's Action told Progress Illinois that it takes a
huge amount of pressure for big banks to renegotiate rates.
And
the Chicago Teacher’s Union is apparently taking that advice to heart.
The union is again ramping up their continuous pressure on Bank
of America and other big banks to re-negotiate interest-rate swaps with
the Chicago Public Schools system. The union is hosting a march and
rally Wednesday evening with 200 of its members after a cordial,
but not fruitful, meeting on Tuesday with bank officials. Read more »
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.
Dozens of community activists and angry CTA riders protested bank
deals which they claim take money from transit agencies in the lobby of a
Chase Bank at 10 S. Dearborn St. Thursday morning.
When we first 