If nothing else, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s initial budget proposal makes one thing abundantly clear: he is committed to following through on his campaign promise to push a progressive agenda. From re-establishing Chicago’s Department of the Environment, to allocating funding to open two new mental health clinics and support the creation of more youth jobs, Johnson has shown he’s willing to put the city’s money where his mouth said it should go during his campaign. That’s the good news.
But as a candidate for mayor, Johnson outlined an aggressive plan to spend $1 billion more annually on various initiatives that would “invest in people.” Unfortunately, he was only able to find the revenue to fund about $27 million in new spending on those initiatives in his budget proposal. The reasons for that are twofold.
