Teachers union marches against school closings
Protesters target board's Penny Pritzker in demonstration at Hyatt hotel
By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune reporter
As it girds for a battle over school closings, the Chicago Teachers Union is adhering to the strategy it employed during the September strike by framing the fight as one pitting regular Joes from the neighborhood against elitist big-money interests.
On Tuesday, school board member Penny Pritzker bore the brunt of the ire of protesters who marched along North Michigan Avenue, banging drums and blowing whistles before filling the lobby of the Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile on North St. Clair Street.
"We have fat cats like Penny Pritzker who take money from our schools and put them into the Hyatt," a CTU official yelled to the overflow crowd, which responded with enthusiasm.
The CTU and its allies charged that Pritzker, who sits on the board of Hyatt Hotels Corp., has taken tax increment financing development money to develop a new hotel in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood. Protesters attached an oversized sign made to look like a library overdue notice onto a pillar outside the Hyatt, demanding that Pritzker return the money to CPS.
A spokeswoman for Hyatt said in an email that the company has not received any money from the city for the construction of the Hyde Park hotel, which is being developed by outside