Hey, Brandon Shite-for-Brains wishes you a Happy Start of "Construction Season" ! (Verbatim quote.)
Posted by osklister on April 21, 2026, 16:54:14
Kinda wonder who wrote this for him. City of Chicago press release:
Mayor Brandon Johnson Kicks Off Construction Season with Week of Events Highlighting Improvements Across Chicago
The Mayor will spend the week crisscrossing the city to mark the season by jumpstarting work on improvements driving quality of life improvements for Chicagoans while supporting equitable economic development throughout the city.
Today, Mayor Brandon Johnson is joining the City’s Departments and Sister Agencies to celebrate the beginning of the Construction Season 2026 by highlighting projects which are spurring economic development while improving the daily lives of Chicagoans through the Johnson administration’s Build Better Together initiative. Throughout the week, Mayor Johnson will join City officials, advocates, and residents at a series of events celebrating infrastructure and neighborhood development projects being led by City Departments and Sister Agencies.
“Build Better Together is about creating jobs, improving the quality of life for Chicagoans, and ensuring every community shares in the benefits of our investments,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “This week we will be out and about across the city, launching new investments which contribute to our work building safe communities while delivering tangible improvements for Chicagoans. As construction season gets underway, my administration remains committed to working in partnership with community while minimizing disruptions for our residents as we build a better Chicago.”
Construction Season officially beings today with a CDOT-led streetscape improvement project at N. Lockwood Ave. and W. Chicago Ave. in the Austin community. Mayor Johnson joined Ald. Emma Mitts (37th), Acting CDOT Commissioner William Cheaks Jr., and CDOT staff to begin work on the resurfacing project while highlighting one of the latest Complete Streets improvements which have contributed to decreasing traffic fatalities in Chicago.
15 wards—1, 3, 12, 15, 19, 20, 30, 32, 33, 35, 43, 44, 46, 47, and 48—experienced zero traffic fatalities during 2025, marking a promising step forward in road safety and a milestone in the Johnson administration’s mission to achieve Vision Zero across Chicago.
The milestone coincided with historic investment in Complete Streets infrastructure during 2025, including the addition of 26 miles of bikeways, more than 100 bus stop accessibility improvements, nearly 100 new pedestrian refuge islands, and over 740 curb extensions.
The full schedule of construction season kick-off events taking place city-wide throughout the week include: -Chicago Transit Authority | 51st Street Green Line Station Refresh and Renew Relaunch
Tuesday, April 21 | 10:00–11:00 AM | 319 E. 51st St.
-Public Buildings Commission | Malcom X College Hard Hat Tour
Wednesday, April 22 | 10:00–10:45 AM | 4624 W. Madison St.
-Department of Streets and Sanitation | Tree Planting & Trimming
Wednesday, April 22 | 11:30 AM–12:15 PM | 7344 N. Paulina St.
-Chicago Department of Aviation | Concourse D First Beam Signing
Thursday, April 23 | 12:00–12:45 PM | O’Hare Airport
-Department of Water Management | Sewer Replacement Project
Friday, April 24 | 10:45–11:30 AM | S. Loomis Blvd. & W. 83rd St.
Last year, the City completed significant infrastructure improvements across Chicago including the resurfacing of more than 170 miles of residential, arterial streets, and alleyways; modernizing street lighting across more than 380 blocks; repairing over 3,000 sidewalks; installing of more than 6,000 ADA ramps; and the completion of more than 50 blocks of green alleys to improve drainage in neighborhoods which are most impacted by extreme flooding.
Build Better Together is the Johnson administration’s comprehensive economic development strategy aimed at driving inclusive, sustainable growth in each of Chicago’s 77 diverse community areas while advancing improvements which make the city stronger, safer, and more equitable. The initiative is designed to expand opportunity, remove barriers to progress, and deliver meaningful, people-centered investments that help Chicagoans live, work, and thrive.
Chicago mayor links restaurant industry to ‘slavery’ as tipped wage fight intensifies
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson linked the restaurant industry to “slavery” Wednesday as he defended his push to eliminate the tipped wage, doubling down after surviving a City Council effort to block the policy.
Johnson’s remarks came after the Chicago City Council failed to override his veto of a measure that would have halted the city’s phaseout of the subminimum wage for tipped workers — a policy set to raise base pay to the full minimum wage by 2028 that is opposed by restaurant owners who warn it could drive up prices and cut jobs.
He called on Chicagoans to “challenge city council not to do stuff like take wages away from Black and Brown people,” saying that most workers in the service industry who rely on tips are minorities.
“You just watched the entire city council, in transparency, try to take wages away from the very people who are part of an industry that has its ties to slavery is hiding from that,” Johnson said. “I am boldly declaring that we need reparations in this city, and that’s why I’m funding it.”
City aldermen voted last month to end the wage increase for tipped workers, but Johnson vetoed it.
Restaurant owners and associations have pushed back on the city’s phaseout of the subminimum wage, saying it will shrink their already tight profit margins.
Chicago’s City Council failed to meet the 34-vote requirement to overturn the phaseout.
Johnson’s comments came in response to a question from a person who claimed that Johnson’s Reparations Task Force was not in compliance with Illinois state law, which mandates that all public bodies hold public meetings.
Johnson denied the assertion that his task force, which he launched in June 2024, was not being transparent with the public.
“I’m a black man in America calling for the reparations of black people,” Johnson said. “There is no hiding or escaping that. I’m taking a bold statement here.”
Johnson allotted $500,000 to the task force in 2024.
On Thursday, the task force and city kicked off a bus tour as part of “Repair Chicago,” a community engagement effort created to explore firsthand the “impacts of systemic harm faced by Black Chicagoans.”
A spokesperson from Johnson’s office doubled down on Johnson linking tipped wages to slavery, suggesting that it became common practice for “white employers in the South” following the Emancipation.
“Today, many Black workers, particularly women, continue to rely on tips and subminimum wages to support themselves and their families,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The institutionalized reliance on tipping remains a uniquely American phenomenon, and Mayor Johnson is proud to be a leader in the movement to ensure working people across the country receive the dignity and respect they deserve in the workplace, and have the ability to support themselves and their loved ones in a system that has historically denied them fair and stable wages.”
Chicago mayor links restaurant industry to ‘slavery’ as tipped wage fight intensifies
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson linked the restaurant industry to “slavery” Wednesday as he defended his push to eliminate the tipped wage, doubling down after surviving a City Council effort to block the policy.
Johnson’s remarks came after the Chicago City Council failed to override his veto of a measure that would have halted the city’s phaseout of the subminimum wage for tipped workers — a policy set to raise base pay to the full minimum wage by 2028 that is opposed by restaurant owners who warn it could drive up prices and cut jobs.
He called on Chicagoans to “challenge city council not to do stuff like take wages away from Black and Brown people,” saying that most workers in the service industry who rely on tips are minorities.
“You just watched the entire city council, in transparency, try to take wages away from the very people who are part of an industry that has its ties to slavery is hiding from that,” Johnson said. “I am boldly declaring that we need reparations in this city, and that’s why I’m funding it.”
City aldermen voted last month to end the wage increase for tipped workers, but Johnson vetoed it.
Restaurant owners and associations have pushed back on the city’s phaseout of the subminimum wage, saying it will shrink their already tight profit margins.
Chicago’s City Council failed to meet the 34-vote requirement to overturn the phaseout.
Johnson’s comments came in response to a question from a person who claimed that Johnson’s Reparations Task Force was not in compliance with Illinois state law, which mandates that all public bodies hold public meetings.
Johnson denied the assertion that his task force, which he launched in June 2024, was not being transparent with the public.
“I’m a black man in America calling for the reparations of black people,” Johnson said. “There is no hiding or escaping that. I’m taking a bold statement here.”
Johnson allotted $500,000 to the task force in 2024.
On Thursday, the task force and city kicked off a bus tour as part of “Repair Chicago,” a community engagement effort created to explore firsthand the “impacts of systemic harm faced by Black Chicagoans.”
A spokesperson from Johnson’s office doubled down on Johnson linking tipped wages to slavery, suggesting that it became common practice for “white employers in the South” following the Emancipation.
“Today, many Black workers, particularly women, continue to rely on tips and subminimum wages to support themselves and their families,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “ The institutionalized reliance on tipping remains a uniquely American phenomenon, and Mayor Johnson is proud to be a leader in the movement to ensure working people across the country receive the dignity and respect they deserve in the workplace , and have the ability to support themselves and their loved ones in a system that has historically denied them fair and stable wages.”
on April 21, 2026, 16:54:14
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