Stumbled upon this article from 2023. The only mistake the city made was not closing MORE schools. I don't know why so many people consider it sacrosanct to close a school. Back in 2019 ALL Pilsen schools (including the ones in your story) were grossly under utilized; averaging 51% BEFORE THE PANDEMIC. However, your story didn't include that nor provide any context to the lies Byron spews. Interesting! Even if you build 1000 housing units today, we're NEVER going to repopulate these schools by 100%, it's impossible. Meanwhile, we have schools on the southwest side that are over crowded and a school on the west side with 39 kids and 32 staff members. How is that equitable? How is that fair to minority kids to sit in overcrowded schools or 100+ year old, half empty buildings? How can you defend such wasteful spending on empty schools when you know (or should) that increased property taxes is what pushes out minority families from Chicago and leads to gentrification? It's indefensible. Byron is a political opportunist and like CTU, he uses any person, cause or war to portray himself as the savior, fighting against the "machine." Except now, he and the CTU IS THE MACHINE and suburban-raised, "justice warriors" are only making matters worse for the communities of color they claim to stand for. All while living, often in the burbs with yard signs that claim "this household stands for fill-in-the-blank justice cause." It always seems like we have these group of people (like Byron) coming down to the bottom of the canyon to tell the indigenous people, "you've been oppressed and I'm here to SAVE YOU!" But seldom do they accomplish anything and sadly, they get to go home (often to their suburban bubble) and not deal with the repercussions of the disaster they created. God help this city.
Funny to see people still believe he's against developers. A cursory glance at his campaign contributions from the first 6 months tells a very different story... he continues to take corporate and developer money:
Troy, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you reading and commenting, even though I don't quite see the connection between your 2019 blog post and the 2013 school closings. It appears you ran against the alderman that year according to your blog post. Do you have any memories of the school closings from 2012-13 to share? I'd love to hear them.
“Of course there were developers talking about turning schools into condos—and it was connected to the charter schools and privatization….The politicians didn’t care."
If praising a blatant liar doesn't give you pause and reconsider what else he's saying isn't true, I don't think I can help you:
> we did it all without accepting political contributions from developers...
Hi Troy, I appreciate you pointing out that the word "developer" does appear in this post. The statement you cite is actually a fact, not a lie. And I praise the alderman then as now for the work that he did and does on behalf of public schools. I am happy to see that he will be able to continue addressing the same needs and concerns. Again thanks for reading and commenting.
Thanks for acknowledging that he continues to lie about his campaign financing and that it doesn't bother you as long as it benefits the majority white CTU.
Friend, this is a place to talk about public schools. I don't want any name calling or irrelevant posting. I'm sorry you're unhappy with your alderman. I hope you are very involved in making your community as good as it can be. As for the CTU, this isn't the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last, that someone "accuses" me of being in the union. I'm not a teacher. I'm a parent of former students and a community member.
Stumbled upon this article from 2023. The only mistake the city made was not closing MORE schools. I don't know why so many people consider it sacrosanct to close a school. Back in 2019 ALL Pilsen schools (including the ones in your story) were grossly under utilized; averaging 51% BEFORE THE PANDEMIC. However, your story didn't include that nor provide any context to the lies Byron spews. Interesting! Even if you build 1000 housing units today, we're NEVER going to repopulate these schools by 100%, it's impossible. Meanwhile, we have schools on the southwest side that are over crowded and a school on the west side with 39 kids and 32 staff members. How is that equitable? How is that fair to minority kids to sit in overcrowded schools or 100+ year old, half empty buildings? How can you defend such wasteful spending on empty schools when you know (or should) that increased property taxes is what pushes out minority families from Chicago and leads to gentrification? It's indefensible. Byron is a political opportunist and like CTU, he uses any person, cause or war to portray himself as the savior, fighting against the "machine." Except now, he and the CTU IS THE MACHINE and suburban-raised, "justice warriors" are only making matters worse for the communities of color they claim to stand for. All while living, often in the burbs with yard signs that claim "this household stands for fill-in-the-blank justice cause." It always seems like we have these group of people (like Byron) coming down to the bottom of the canyon to tell the indigenous people, "you've been oppressed and I'm here to SAVE YOU!" But seldom do they accomplish anything and sadly, they get to go home (often to their suburban bubble) and not deal with the repercussions of the disaster they created. God help this city.
Funny to see people still believe he's against developers. A cursory glance at his campaign contributions from the first 6 months tells a very different story... he continues to take corporate and developer money:
https://troyhernandez.com/2019/09/25/alderman-sigcho-and-the-real-estate-industry/
Troy, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you reading and commenting, even though I don't quite see the connection between your 2019 blog post and the 2013 school closings. It appears you ran against the alderman that year according to your blog post. Do you have any memories of the school closings from 2012-13 to share? I'd love to hear them.
You can Ctrl+F "developer" in your blog post:
“Of course there were developers talking about turning schools into condos—and it was connected to the charter schools and privatization….The politicians didn’t care."
If praising a blatant liar doesn't give you pause and reconsider what else he's saying isn't true, I don't think I can help you:
> we did it all without accepting political contributions from developers...
https://twitter.com/SigchoFor25/status/1630779383215529984
Hi Troy, I appreciate you pointing out that the word "developer" does appear in this post. The statement you cite is actually a fact, not a lie. And I praise the alderman then as now for the work that he did and does on behalf of public schools. I am happy to see that he will be able to continue addressing the same needs and concerns. Again thanks for reading and commenting.
Thanks for acknowledging that he continues to lie about his campaign financing and that it doesn't bother you as long as it benefits the majority white CTU.
Friend, this is a place to talk about public schools. I don't want any name calling or irrelevant posting. I'm sorry you're unhappy with your alderman. I hope you are very involved in making your community as good as it can be. As for the CTU, this isn't the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last, that someone "accuses" me of being in the union. I'm not a teacher. I'm a parent of former students and a community member.