a process for voters picking the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education

Below the fold is a draft process for picking a school board for Chicago Public Schools. The map is to divide Chicago into manageable pieces as part of the process.

Below the fold...

building community in Chicago by hiring Community Builders

Proposal: Chicago citizens should be empowered to elect Community Builders for their community areas. (Chicago has 77 community areas.)

Assumption: Increasing connectedness will benefit communities in various ways. While Alan Mills comments on crime was the catalyst of this idea, I see more connectedness benefiting Chicago communities in various ways. As Rudy Lozano, Jr. said, there's no alternative to defending communities other than organizing communities.

Where?

Each community area would decide whether to implement this plan by vote.

Who can run? 

Anyone (irrespective of citizenship) who lives in the community sixteen years or older 

Who can vote?

Everyone age twelve & up who lives in the community area, including homeless people who identify with the community

What will the duties of Community Builders be?

The nominal duties will be to get to know people in the community and broker introductions between people in the community. But the duties will get defined by the Community Builders and the members of the community.

How much will Community Builders be paid?

$1,500/month (proposed)

How many Community Builders will each community area have?

Two plus one per every 3,000 residents in the last census

How will it be paid for?

Property tax increase for the community area

building community in Chicago by hiring Community Builders

Proposal: Chicago citizens should be empowered to elect Community Builders for their community areas. (Chicago has 77 community areas.)

Assumption: Increasing connectedness will benefit communities in various ways. While Alan Mills comments on crime was the catalyst of this idea, I see more connectedness benefiting Chicago communities in various ways. As Rudy Lozano, Jr. said, there's no alternative to defending communities other than organizing communities.

Where?

Each community area would decide whether to implement this plan by vote.

Who can run? 

Anyone (irrespective of citizenship) who lives in the community sixteen years or older 

Who can vote?

Everyone age twelve & up who lives in the community area, including homeless people who identify with the community

What will the duties of Community Builders be?

The nominal duties will be to get to know people in the community and broker introductions between people in the community. But the duties will get defined by the Community Builders and the members of the community.

How much will Community Builders be paid?

$1,500/month (proposed)

How many Community Builders will each community area have?

Two plus one per every 3,000 residents in the last census

How will it be paid for?

Property tax increase for the community area

ideas for improving the integrity of elections in Chicago

Last night, a group of people met to discuss the how to make Chicago elections more "free & fair". This blog entry contains some ideas I have. I have ranked the ideas (roughly) by how many votes they seem like they would affect (based on my intuition).

Outline:

1. Everyone in polling place has to be clearly identified.
2. FBI hotline for situations where someone has already voted for a voter.
3. Precincts with large numbers of provisional ballots should be audited.
4. Require Chicago Board of Elections to report on the adequacy of the resources provided.
5. Or get federal courts to assign a monitor, like Shakman did for City of Chicago hiring.
6. Rules for ballot pick-up.
7. Independent election judges: create a process for people to become judges at specific precincts without going through either the Democratic or Republican committeeman.
8. Pass law that allows judges to penalize campaigns that violate the law.
9. There should be a conference held in Chicago on how to best protect seniors & the disabled from being controlled or abused in elections.
10. To make a nominating petition challenge, the plaintiff has to be a candidate in the race to have standing. 
11. There should be a penalty for failed nominating petition challenges.

See details below.

creating an elected commission to deal with airport noise

One thing I've learned from knocking doors: for the people who have airport noise as their #1 issue, it's their #1 issue. And not everyone is equally sensitive.

I live in Albany Park. With the new approach pattern, we get airport noise. But it doesn't bother me that much. But I met a woman in Albany Park equally far from the airport, and for her it's a huge issue.

I've also learned: airport noise is not just an issue for Chicago's northwest side. In addition to O'Hare generating noise, Midway generates noise complaints. And that new helicopter business going into Bridgeport is going to generate a bunch of noise complaints.

Proposal: create an elected commission to make suggestions about airport/aircraft noise that is elected from all precincts where airport/aircraft noise is a problem.

To defeat Rahm, get more people (you plus 347,860) to vote against him

Today, Monday, February 9, 2015 is the first day of early voting in Chicago’s municipal elections.

Whether Rahm Emanuel is re-elected as Mayor of Chicago turns on something simple: how many people vote?

There will be 250,000 Chicagoans who vote against Rahm no matter what. If 350,000 Chicagoans vote against Rahm, he will be forced into a run-off with the strongest not-Rahm candidate. If 350,000 Chicagoans vote against Rahm in the first round (February 24 election), the not-Rahm candidate will be the favorite to win the second round (April 7).

If you want to beat Rahm, your mission is simple. Get a list of the registered voters in your precinct and contact them. Make sure they vote.

Below the fold for analysis.

Ward 33 election: who does Deb Mell see as "us" & "them"?

Letter found in snow. Shared by email January 28, 2015.

Elections are about framing the elections between "us" and "them". This is the line Alderman Deb Mell uses:

I will take on the difficult decisions facing Chicago and fight for what is rightfully ours.

According to Grassroots Illinois Action Mell voted with Mayor Rahm Emanuel 100% of the time 2011-14. So, a more truthful way of Mell saying it would be,

"I will take on the decisions Mayor Emanuel wants decided and vote the way MRE tells me to vote."

But I would rather focus on the second half of Mell's statement.

1. Who is included in "ours"?
2. What is "rightfully ours"?
3. Who or what is the threat to us getting what's "rightfully ours"?

I voted. Here's how I voted and why:

I encourage others to make their own recommendations on blogs and social media. If you make your own recommendations, I will re-Tweet from CarlNyberg312. Email a link to CarlNyberg116@gmail.com.

Let me start by registering my annoyance with Chicago Board of Elections. The website does not provide sample ballots as of Friday, October 24 and the list of write-in candidates is for the March, 2014 primary, not the November, 2014 general election.

Endorsements below the fold:

Using elections to end the perpetual war

The American people have become weary of the open-ended, blank-check war initiated in response the 9/11 attacks over twelve years ago.

My sense is that people vaguely suspect three things about the conflict:

1.       The actual perpetrators have either been caught or killed;
2.       The war has become a self-perpetuating bureaucratic entity that has made itself immune from accountability;
3.       The national security state has taken power granted in response to the 9/11 attacks and used these powers against the American people or reserves the right to use them against political dissenters, like the Occupy movement.

I propose forming a coalition to end the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) passed after the 9/11 attacks.