Johnson must break two campaign promises to get budget passed, City Council critic warns

Mayor Brandon Johnson must break two campaign promises — by renewing a ShotSpotter contract he canceled and raising property taxes he said he would freeze — to get his 2025 budget through the City Council, one of Johnson’s most outspoken critics warned Thursday.

Southwest Side Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) is one of 34 alderpersons who tried twice to force the mayor to keep the gunshot detection technology. Johnson ignored both votes, not even bothering to veto either ordinance, despite saying he would.

The mayor has argued he, alone, has contracting authority and that his executive power cannot be snatched away by the legislative branch or reassigned by the Council to Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling. In his stubborn stance, Johnson has all but dared the Council to sue him.

Even if the mayor has a winning legal argument, he still needs 26 votes to pass a budget he admits will require “sacrifices” all around to erase a $1.2 billion shortfall this year and next.

“The mayor is going to … have to break two campaign promises to get the budget over the finish line. … If I’m advising the mayor, I would tell him to be prepared for that. Be prepared to put ShotSpotter on the table in order to get your property tax increase,” Quinn told the Sun-Times.

“I don’t see other revenue streams filling the hole that’s needed. So I think a property tax will be on the table. And in order to get to that point, ShotSpotter will be negotiated. … I don’t think there’s a big appetite to take on a budget if ShotSpotter is not on the table. …ShotSpotter is going to have to be part of the equation.”

The mayor's office has no immediate comment on the warning from Quinn, who earned his political stripes as a top-notch operative. He became known as "The General" who master-minded pivotal legislative races that helped now-indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan hang onto his Democratic majority in Springfield for decades.

Further complicating the political equation is Johnson’s decision to use a former Illinois National Guard Armory to store and maintain police vehicles, aircraft and other equipment. The state is selling the armory to the city for a dollar — but on the condition that it be used as the station for a new Southwest Side police district that would be carved out of the Chicago Lawn District.

The mayor has argued the shuttered armory, on Midway Airport's southern edge, is too close to the airport to comply with federal air traffic safety regulations. Three Democratic members of Congress claim to have assurances from the Federal Aviation Administration that a police station can occupy the building at 5400 W. 63rd Street.

Quinn is one of seven alderpersons whose wards are served by the Chicago Lawn District, which struggles to serve the second-largest geographic area with the fewest officers per capita.

He said he plans to vote against the mayor’s budget unless it includes a “line item” for the new police station to speed response times in a district serving 250,000 residents with 259 sworn officers.

He noted the Gresham and Englewood Districts combined have 170,000 residents served by nearly 500 “blue shirts.”

“How is that equitable? We hear about neighborhoods being overpoliced. The 13th Ward southwest portion of the 8th [police] District is underpoliced,” Quinn said.

Quinn acknowledged the building's cost is only part of the battle. It’ll take millions more to staff a new police district as Johnson likely faces pressure to reduce the Chicago Police Department’s $2 billion-a-year budget.

Already, Johnson has canceled recruit classes at the police academy until December at the earliest. At an emergency meeting of the mayor’s Cabinet this month, department heads were told to cut an additional $75 million and told to develop lists of employees who could potentially be laid off.

None of that moves Quinn, who persuaded the General Assembly to donate the $6 million building to the city.

“How did the mayor find $150 million for migrants? It’s all about priorities. If the mayor wants to make this a priority to do right by residents of the Southwest side who are begging for a new police district, it’s there. It’s a tremendous opportunity for him,” Quinn said.

“The mayor is going to have to start making some decisions that are popular with Chicagoans. His job approval rating is 20% favorable, 60% unfavorable. So the window is closing on the mayor in terms of making good decisions to give him an opportunity to get reelected," Quinn added. Turning the armory into a police station is "a tremendous opportunity for him to reset his politics [and] do something right for the city.”