What Chicago’s New Mayor Says About the City’s Biggest Challenges

It wasn’t way back that Brandon Johnson, 47, was a county commissioner and academics’ union organizer, unknown to many Chicagoans. On Monday he was sworn in as the town’s 57th mayor.

Mr. Johnson’s speedy ascent from political obscurity to the helm of America’s third-largest metropolis was fueled by an unapologetically progressive platform, a present for retail campaigning, and enthusiastic assist and cash from organized labor. He knocked out the incumbent mayor, Lori Lightfoot, within the first spherical of balloting in February, then beat Paul Vallas, a much more conservative and well-funded Democrat, within the runoff final month.

Now comes the onerous half.

Mr. Johnson inherits a proud metropolis that has not totally emerged from its pandemic funk. Chicago’s downtown is emptier, its public faculties have fewer college students, and crime charges stay far increased than earlier than the pandemic.

In an interview final week at his transition workplace alongside the Chicago River, Mr. Johnson mentioned he was cleareyed concerning the scope of the challenges awaiting him however assured concerning the metropolis’s trajectory.

Listed here are a number of the largest points going through Chicago, and what he needed to say about them:

Town wants a brand new police superintendent.

“It’s essential that the town of Chicago has confidence within the superintendent. That’s somebody who understands constitutional policing, however somebody who additionally understands that public security is an total aim that can not be confined to policing.”

The superintendent chosen by Ms. Lightfoot, David Brown, resigned after she misplaced re-election, leaving the embattled Chicago Police Division beneath interim management. Mr. Johnson, who earlier than operating for mayor expressed assist for eradicating some regulation enforcement funding, will quickly have to pick out a everlasting superintendent.

Mr. Johnson mentioned he would search somebody who understands Chicago and will earn the belief of rank-and-file officers, but in addition somebody who shared his view of policing as only one a part of a broader security technique. He mentioned the brand new superintendent should be keen to work with newly elected councils of residents created to supply suggestions and to make ideas on regulation enforcement in every of the town’s police districts.

Chicago has struggled to deal with an inflow of migrants.

“We’re a sanctuary metropolis. There’s an unbelievable historical past of the town of Chicago being a welcoming house for households throughout the nation and internationally.”

Mr. Johnson inherits an escalating disaster: the more and more massive stream of Venezuelans and different migrants arriving by bus and airplane from border states and in search of shelter in Chicago. Within the final a number of weeks, the variety of migrants getting into Chicago has multiplied, filling metropolis shelters and overwhelming police stations, the place migrants have been dropped off. With the lifting final week of Title 42, a federal coverage that allowed america to expel many individuals who crossed the southern border earlier than they may apply for asylum, much more migrants are anticipated to stream into Chicago.

The inflow is each an issue and a chance for Chicago, a metropolis that grew in inhabitants from 2010 to 2020, however then noticed these features erased in the course of the pandemic, when hundreds of residents moved out. Mr. Johnson mentioned that he supposed to assist welcome the migrants, however mentioned that he additionally wished to ensure that Black households who’ve been within the metropolis for many years usually are not lower out from metropolis sources.

Public schooling presents a formidable take a look at.

“There’s no higher establishment to rework on this second. Our public faculty system needs to be remodeled.”

A former social research instructor, Mr. Johnson most just lately labored as an organizer for the Chicago Lecturers Union, a progressive and politically highly effective group that engaged in repeated work stoppages throughout his tenure and was a chief antagonist of the newest two mayors.

Mr. Johnson has spoken repeatedly of investing in neighborhood faculties as a method to deal with the town’s broader challenges. He mentioned he envisioned “an schooling system that exposes our youngsters to as many industries as attainable in an actual, tangible approach,” with a far higher concentrate on connecting highschool graduates with profession alternatives, together with in trades that don’t require a school diploma.

Downtown nonetheless lacks its prepandemic swagger.

“I imagine it’s a singular alternative for this era to set a course that may very well be studied a century from now.”

Downtown isn’t going to look the identical because it did earlier than the pandemic, Mr. Johnson mentioned. However exactly what it would grow to be is much less clear.

Mr. Johnson mentioned he sees an opportunity to construct on present industries, particularly within the life sciences, a sector that has seen current development. Throughout his mayoral transition, Mr. Johnson has met with enterprise and civic leaders downtown, a gaggle that largely supported his opponent, Mr. Vallas.

And Mr. Johnson would be the face of the town throughout one in every of its latest and most divisive occasions: a NASCAR avenue race downtown this summer time. Mr. Johnson mentioned that he intends to hold out the brand new automobile racing occasion with “care and sensitivity,” but in addition hopes to construct on the slate of extra established festivals and actions the town provides, particularly people who attraction to youthful individuals.

Public security stays an enormous concern.

“Are you aware what secure communities do all around the nation? You understand what they do? They spend money on individuals.”

Mr. Johnson spoke on the marketing campaign path of creating deep investments in communities which have seen probably the most violent crime, particularly on the South Aspect and the West Aspect, the place he lives. Individuals will really feel safer, he mentioned, after they have sturdy neighborhood faculties, low unemployment and entry to psychological well being companies.

These objectives really feel long run, however Mr. Johnson additionally says he hopes to make quick modifications like doubling the variety of younger individuals who have work after faculty and in the summertime.