Chicago aldermen defer vote on added debt, reject lower speed limit

[February 20, 2025]  By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Chicago’s city council has tabled consideration of an $830 million bond issue favored by the mayor.

Mayor Brandon Johnson wanted the bond money for infrastructure projects, even though the additional debt would cost taxpayers millions of dollars in the future.

The city council met Wednesday and deferred a potential vote on the issue.

Chicago resident David Mason opposed the mayor’s borrowing proposal. Mason said there are two ways government can keep spending without raising taxes.

“It can either borrow money, like he did with the $40 million line of credit he pulled out, or they can print more of it. Both actions lead to more inflation,” Mason said.

Mason said inflation is not happening because people are living extravagantly.

“It’s because the government is living beyond its means. We need policies that prioritize fiscal responsibility and accountability. It’s time for a change for the sake of our wallets and our future,” Mason said.

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Chicago’s general obligation debt rating last month, soon after the city council approved a $17.1 billion spending plan for 2025.

Alderman Anthony Beale opposed the bond issue and pushed to defer the vote.

“We say it’s all for infrastructure. That’s fine. You may have the prettiest streets and the prettiest sidewalks with a city that’s falling down the you know what,” Beale said.

Beale noted that the first bond payment would not come due while the current mayor is in office.

Aldermen also decided not to change Chicago’s speed limits.

By a vote of 28 to 21, the city council rejected a proposal that would have lowered the speed limit on city streets from 30 miles per hour to 25. The measure would have reduced the speed limit in alleys to 15 miles per hour. It would not have affected roads controlled by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Alderman Daniel La Spata substituted language in his proposal before asking his fellow council members to approve it. He said the ordinance was about safety and not revenue.

“Even that five mile-per-hour difference cuts in half the likelihood that your vehicle kills the person that it crashes into,” La Spata said.

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La Spata suggested that IDOT would collaborate with the city to reduce costs if the council approved the proposal.

Alderman Ray Lopez addressed aldermen who sought to reduce traffic stops by police officers and said lower speed limits would lead to more pretextual traffic stops.

“To stand in here today while on one side of your mouth saying we have to end pretextual stops while on the other saying, ‘Let’s have another one?’ Pick the lane you want to drive in, whether it’s your bike or your car, but choose a lane, because the hypocrisy of this argument, the duplicity of it, is insulting. Who’s going to be the one enforcing a lower speed limit?” Lopez asked.

The 15th Ward alderman said it was hypocritical for his colleagues to propose lowering the speed limit in the name of safety when they opposed keeping gun-detection technology.

“The same people who want a new tool to save people’s lives had no care in the world about taking away a tool that recorded 268,000 bullets being found in the city of Chicago that save a thousand people from bleeding to death in the streets,” Lopez said.

Also Wednesday, the council approved the 1901 Project, which involves development of land around the United Center on the city’s west side.

Council members discussed Beale’s proposal to once again require aldermen to attend meetings in person instead of allowing them to participate remotely. Beale agreed to table the measure to allow for further collaboration on the issue.

During the public comment period before Wednesday’s meetings, three city residents urged officials to clear a homeless encampment in Gompers Park. The residents cited drug use and lewd behavior near a baseball field used by local Little League teams.

Last summer, shortly before the Democratic National Convention, the city cleared a longtime homeless encampment located between the two primary DNC sites.

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