If anyone's wondering why it's so hard to pass a budget, it's because I'm not trying to nickel-and-dime working Chicagoans. When the process was "quiet and easy," we were getting hit with regressive fines and fees.
"I recently had to call 911 only to find out that when I received my telephone provider bill they charged me five dollars each time that I called the police. When I called them and I asked them why am I being charged they said that we have to pay for the call center and my question to you is why if we're already paying taxes. I'm not trying to just pick on the previous previous administration but he was notorious for implementing fines and fees and other charges to basic services. If anybody is wondering why it's so hard for me to pass budgets because I'm not trying to nickel and dime the people of Chicago. When it was quiet and easy we were getting screwed over. Don't let the noise make us believe that that's indicative of the lack of progress. Why are people working so hard to stop me from raising a tax on the largest corporations but somehow they find ways to find a five dollar fee for a person called 911? In order for us to be able to overturn those type of fee structures we're going to have to fight hard for progressive revenue y'all because we want services right? We want quality services. You have to pay for those quality services and that's not just trash and potholes and trimming trees. That's about services for our schools, services for our department of family support services to deal with homelessness in this city. All of these things that we want to see they cost. What has happened historically is that you've had administrations and city councils that find the least resistance to being able to get a budget pass. So in other words you're not wrong and we need the revenue. The best place to get the revenue is from those who have the means to stop nickel and diming everyday people in Chicago."
💬 Discussion
If anyone's wondering why it's so hard to pass a budget, it's because I'm not trying to nickel-and-dime working Chicagoans. When the process was "quiet and easy," we were getting hit with regressive fines and fees.