Hopeful Candidates Announce Bids to Become Chicago’s Next Mayor

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Political veteran, Robert Shaw, a former Ald. (9th Ward) and former Cook County Commissioner, announced in March that he is in the race to become Chicago’s next mayor, the first individual to publicly do so via a press conference in March of this year.

“I’m running because I love Chicago,” Shaw told the Chicago Citizen Newspaper. “Chicago has been going down-hill, particularly over the last three years …that must be reversed.”

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Political veteran, Robert Shaw, former Chicago Ald. (9th Ward), former Cook County Comm.

Shaw’s Platform Includes:

· Addressing current Chicago Public Schools issues for example, restoring Truant Officers as way to raise and maintain student attendance rates.

· Addressing Chicago’s crime problem, in particularly gun violence.

· Hiring more African American homicide detectives to potentially more effectively solve cases in the African American community neighborhoods.

· Using TIF money as a possible solution to solve the city's pension crisis.

· Reviewing the city’s parking meter contracts.

Civil rights attorney and Ald., Bob Fioretti , (2nd Ward), is the latest candidate to officially announce his candidacy for Chicago's upcoming 2015 Mayoral Elections. Fioretti made the announcement during a Sept. 13 rally and press conference held at East West University, 829 S. Wabash Ave. this month.

“I’m a proud native of Chicago, born and raised on the far South Side of this great city and today I am here to announce that I…no we…are running for Mayor of the City of Chicago. I can’t stand by while the current mayor looks out for some of us, but ignores the real struggles some families face – for good jobs, for good schools, for safe streets,” said Fioretti, 61, during his announcement speech.

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Chicago Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd Ward)

Fioretti’s Platform Includes:

· Increasing the $8.25 an-hour minimum wage at both the city and state levels and requiring businesses making more than $50 million a year to pay their employees $15 an hour.

· Requiring the 600,000 people who commute to work from Chicagoland suburbs into the city to pay a commuter tax so that they pay their fair share for city services because they utilize and rely on city streets, the police, the fire department, and other city services like snow removal. A one percent tax, could generate $300 million annually,

· Tap into the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) surpluses to address Chicago's short term financial issues.

· Finding new ways to fund improvements to Chicago Public Schools, rather than close them.

· Auditing city government to expose waste, fraud and abuse.

A sense of urgency to address Chicago's crime problem, the troubled Chicago Public Schools system and the city’s unemployment rate, inspired Dr. Amara Enyia, 31, the youngest challenger in the race, to challenge Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The daughter of a Nigerian activists who immigrated to the United States, Enyia earned a PhD in education policy studies and a law degree simultaneously from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and served as a public policy fellow under former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Currently, Enyia works as a municipal development consultant and is the executive director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

“What’s driving me to run is that we’re living in an historic time in this city with all the crime and violence, the school closings and the rate of unemployment. There’s a sense of urgency to addressing these issues and I see an opportunity for people to begin to ask critical questions to bring about change and transform the ‘status quo’ machine driven, politics. It’s time for us to elect leadership that reflects our values and that will only happen if people are not afraid to get involved, Enyia said in a previous Chicago Citizen Newspaper interview.

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Dr. Amara Enyia

Dr. Enyia’s Platform Includes:

· Creating fully funded neighborhood schools and putting a freeze on charter schools.

· Hiring more police officers.

· Honoring pension commitments.

· Rebuilding community mental health services.

· Strengthening the Inspector General’s Office, (which deals with misconduct by City officials).

Chicagoan Frederick Collins, 45, has more than 20 years of public service as a Chicago police officer. He is also a and community activist, mentor and volunteer and announced in Jan. this year, that he is running for mayor.

“I’m running for mayor of Chicago because I love this city,” Collins said. “I was born here and grew up in Henry Horner (Chicago Housing Authority, Public Housing) and I’ve always loved public service. It was something I grew up with because both my parents were very active with the community. My father has passed on but my mother is still very active. The next mayor has to move all of Chicago forward. You can’t just govern for the rich and take care of the city. Public safety is my number one concern.”

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Chicago Police Veteran, Frederick Collins

Collins’ Platform Includes:

· Generating revenue by implementing a $1 city tax on each transaction that takes place daily at the Chicago Board of Trade, which currently pays no taxes, a measure he said would generate $3.5 -$5 billion in revenue for the city.

· Address crime by hiring more police officers, investigate how the guns are coming into Chicago and put a city ordinance in place that requires serial numbers on all bullet casings, something he’ll push for at the city, state and federal levels.

· Creating more afterschool programs so that youth have ways to engage in positive activities.

· Bringing on new city engineers and architects to build a modern, technologically advanced hospital with a Level 1 trauma center, owned and operated by the City of Chicago, located on Chicago’s south side and named the Barack Obama Hope Medical Campus. Collins also wants to build a state-of- the-art, clinical facility for children to be named the Hadiya Pendleton Youth Research Center.

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Chicago Teacher's Union President, Karen Lewis.

Chicago Teacher's Union President, Karen Lewis, has not yet declared herself as a candidate in Chicago's upcoming 2015 Mayoral race, however Emma Tai, Lewis's Exploratory Committee spokesperson issued the following statement to the Chicago Citizen Newspaper:

"Karen Lewis is considering a run for mayor and has launched her exploratory process. Even though she has not declared, Karen has already received a tremendous outpouring of grassroots support from voters ready for change. As part of the 'Conversations with Karen' series, Karen has heard from working families across the city who are fed up with Mayor Emanuel's track record of cutting vital city services, laying off workers, closing schools, raising regressive taxes, and failing to stop violent crime. Hundreds of volunteers are collecting petition signatures for Karen across Chicago, and over a hundred grassroots donors have already made contributions to her exploratory committee."

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