Andre Vasquez
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Andre Vasquez
Andre Vasquez (born May 21, 1979) is a Chicago politician, community organizer, and former rapper. He is the alderman of the city's 40th ward. He won election to that office after defeating incumbent Patrick O'Connor in the 2019 Chicago aldermanic elections. Vasquez is a member of the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early life, education, and career Vasquez was born in Chicago on May 21, 1979, and attended Lane Technical College Prep High School. He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he studied English/Language Arts Teacher Education, but did not graduate. He later earned an associate degree in business administration and management from Kaplan University in 2014. As of 2019, he held a position as a cell phone account manager at AT&T. Hip-hop career During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Vasquez performed as a hip-hop artist under the stage name Prime, a reference to the fictional character Optimus Prime. He first became involved ...
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Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is gaveled into session regularly, usually monthly, to consider ordinances, orders, and resolutions whose subject matter includes code changes, utilities, taxes, and many other issues. The Chicago City Council Chambers are located in Chicago City Hall, as are the downtown offices of the individual alderpersons and staff. The presiding officer of the council is the Mayor of Chicago. The secretary is the City Clerk of Chicago. Both positions are city-wide elected offices. In the absence of the mayor, an alderperson elected to the position of President Pro Tempore serves as the presiding officer. Originally established as the Common Council in 1837, it was renamed City Council in 1876. The Council assumed its modern form of 50 wards electing one alderperson each in 1923. Composition T ...
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Chicago City Council Progressive Reform Caucus
The Progressive Reform Caucus of the Chicago City Council is a bloc of aldermen in the Chicago City Council that was formed in 2013. Its stated mission statement is "creating a more just and equal Chicago, combating all forms of discrimination, and advancing public policies that offer genuine opportunity to all Chicagoans, especially those who have been left out of our society’s prosperity." It currently has 18 members, out of the council's 50 aldermen. History The caucus was founded by nine aldermen in 2013, after having informally collaborated since 2012. There had been a "loose amalgamation of self-described progressives" in the council prior to this, but it had not been a formalized organization. Members of the caucus had historically been less aligned with Mayor Rahm Emanuel than average aldermen. The day after the formation of the Progressive Reform Caucus, a group of other aldermen who self-identified as progressives formed the Paul Douglas Alliance, with the goal of wo ...
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Maria Hadden
Maria Elaine Hadden is an American politician and community activist from Chicago. She is a member of the Chicago city council, serving as alderman for the city's 49th ward. She won election to that office after defeating 28-year incumbent Joe Moore in the 2019 aldermanic elections. The 49th ward includes most of Rogers Park and portions of West Ridge. While Hadden is affiliated with the Democratic Party, she has said she would be an independent alderman. She is a member of the Progressive Caucus, Black Caucus, and LGBT Caucus in the city council. Early life and education Hadden was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1981. She earned her bachelor's degree in international peace and conflict studies from the Ohio State University, and subsequently moved to Waukegan, Illinois to begin a job with the AmeriCorps VISTA program in 2003. She moved to Chicago in 2004. She later earned a master's degree in international public service management from DePaul University. Early activist and p ...
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Matt Martin (Chicago Politician)
Matt Martin (born March 5, 1984) is a Chicago politician and the alderman of the city's 47th ward. He won election as alderman in 2019 and took office as a member of the Chicago City Council in May 2019. The 47th ward includes all or parts of North Center, Lincoln Square, Lakeview, and Uptown. Early life and career Matt Martin was born in Arizona and attended Northwestern University on a music scholarship, where he majored in jazz studies and political science. He later graduated from Harvard Law School. Martin later worked as a civil rights lawyer in the Illinois Attorney General's office, and co-founded the Heart of Lincoln Square Neighbors Association. 2019 aldermanic campaign Matt Martin's campaign emphasized funding public schools, maintaining affordability in the ward, property tax relief for homeowners, and police accountability. He was endorsed by the ''Chicago Tribune'' which noted that Martin "has an independent streak and shares our determination that a new Ci ...
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Byron Sigcho-Lopez
Byron Sigcho-Lopez (born July 7, 1983) is a Chicago politician and community activist. He is the alderman of Chicago's 25th ward, having taken office as a member of the Chicago City Council in May 2019. He won an open race to succeed outgoing alderman Daniel Solis in the 2019 Chicago aldermanic election. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He was elected as 25th Ward Democratic Committeeperson in 2020. Early life and education Sigcho-Lopez was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador. Sigcho-Lopez earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Mathematics from Cumberland University in Tennessee, and a Master's in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is pursuing a PhD in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Political career Sigcho-Lopez unsuccessfully challenged Danny Solis in the 2015 Chicago 25th Ward aldermanic election. In 2019, Sigcho-Lopez was elected to succeed outgoing 25th Ward al ...
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Michael Rodriguez (politician)
Michael D. Rodriguez is a Chicago politician. He is the alderman of Chicago's 22nd ward and took office as a member of the Chicago City Council in May 2019. He was elected in the 2019 aldermanic election, in an open race to succeed incumbent alderman Ricardo Muñoz. Early life and education Rodriguez earned a bachelor's degree from DePaul University and a master's degree from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. He worked as an executive officer at the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office and was the executive director of the non-profit Enlace, an organization founded by Congressman Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, that worked on social issues in Little Village. Rodriguez ran for 22nd ward alderman in the 2019 election for Chicago City Council, in an open race to succeed incumbent Ricardo Munoz. Facing three other candidates in the first round of the election on February 26, 2019, he won 64% of the vote and became the alderman-elect. On April 10, ...
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Daniel La Spata
Daniel La Spata (born February 26, 1981) is a Chicago politician. He has served as the alderman of Chicago's 1st ward since May 2019. He won election to that office after defeating incumbent Proco Joe Moreno in the 2019 Chicago aldermanic elections. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early life, education, and career La Spata was born in South Plainfield, New Jersey in 1981. He moved to Chicago in 1999 to attend North Park University, where he later received a bachelor's degree in psychology and music. In 2019, he completed his master's degree in urban planning and public policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was a member of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association for 10 years, including a stint as vice-president, where he worked on issues of equitable housing and community development. He has also worked as a community organizer for the Jane Addams Seniors Caucus, a policy and planning associate at Friends of the Parks, and policy intern at ...
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Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago Tribune''. The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of the ''Chicago Sun'' and the ''Chicago Daily Times''. Journalists at the paper have received eight Pulitzer prizes, mostly in the 1970s; one recipient was film critic Roger Ebert (1975), who worked at the paper from 1967 until his death in 2013. Long owned by the Marshall Field family, since the 1980s ownership of the paper has changed hands numerous times, including twice in the late 2010s. History The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' claims to be the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city. That claim is based on the 1844 founding of the ''Chicago Daily Journal'', which was also the first newspaper to publish the rumor, now believed false, that a cow owned by Catherine O'L ...
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The 78
The 78 is a development in Chicago that will consist of several office and residential towers, high-rises, and will also include a riverwalk. The name "The 78" refers to the existing 77 community areas in Chicago and the mega-development is to increase that number by one. Related Midwest will develop the site, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the project's master plan. Related Midwest acquired the land in 2016. The 78 development will be located on a 62-acre parcel of land just south of Downtown Chicago and north of Chinatown. The area is bordered by Roosevelt Road to the north, Clark Street to the east, 16th Street to the south, and the South Branch of the Chicago River to the west. The 78 will also include a $1.2 billion research center called the Discovery Partners Institute, which will be operated by the University of Illinois. In April 2019, the Chicago City Council approved The 78 development, including a tax increment financing agreement. Several other mega ...
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Lincoln Yards (development)
Lincoln Yards is a mixed-use development project located on the North Side of Chicago between the Lincoln Park and Bucktown neighborhoods. It consists of several towers and high-rises that will include apartments, condos, office, retail, and entertainment. Lincoln Yards will occupy more than 50 acres of land located on both sides of the North Branch of the Chicago River. It will be bounded by Webster Avenue to the north, Clybourn Avenue to the east, North Avenue to the south, and the Kennedy Expressway to the west. History A. Finkl & Sons Steel operated a mill along a roughly 22-acre lot along the eastern portion of the Chicago River in the Lincoln Park neighborhood from 1902 until it was demolished in 2012. The Lincoln Park location was Chicago's oldest steel mill. In 2006, it bought the site of the former Verson Steel on Chicago's South Side. It was purchased by a German company in 2008, and has since operated from that location. Since the demolition, there have been var ...
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Tax Increment Financing
Tax increment financing (TIF) is a public financing method that is used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure, and other community-improvement projects in many countries, including the United States. The original intent of a TIF program is to stimulate private investment in a blighted area that has been designated to be in need of economic revitalization. Similar or related value capture strategies are used around the world. Through the use of TIF, municipalities typically divert future property tax revenue increases from a defined area or district toward an economic development project or public improvement project in the community. TIF subsidies are not appropriated directly from a city's budget, but the city incurs loss through forgone tax revenue. The first TIF was used in California in 1952. By 2004, all U.S. states excepting Arizona had authorized the use of TIF. The first TIF in Canada was used in 2007. This model has been heavily criticized by Libertarian-Conservat ...
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