Chicago under Rahm is becoming a second-rate city
The loss of manufacturing combined with corrupt mis-leadership in Springfield and City Hall, is rapidly turning Chicago into a second-rate, parasitic city that produces little but where public space is reduced and insatiable corporate interests suck up more than their share of the resources.
The biggest victim of Daley's and now Rahm's post-industrial strategies have been Chicago's black community which has been shattered and dispersed, it's professional and middle-class practically "reformed" out of existence; it's poorest neighborhoods re-segregated and more isolated than ever; it's schools shuttered to make room for privately-managed charters and selective-enrollment schools for the new arriving white, young technical and professionals; and it's youth (it's future) incarcerated in record numbers.
The mass black out-migration (nearly 200,000 in the past decade) is Chicago's loss -- economically, culturally, politically and in many other ways. Ironically this push-out of a large section of the black community is being used as the rationale ("under-utilization") for the
How the D.C. charter hustlers play the game
Charter school hustlers in D.C. have come up with an innovative way to funnel public funds into their own pockets. In this case they used the services of a local news personality, J.C. Hayward. to divert millions from Options Public Charter SchoolAs the school’s board chairwoman, Hayward allegedly signed contracts and approved bonuses for the former managers. He was also a paid consultant” for Ex