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AUSTINWEEKLY news ■
Vol. 33 No. 4
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Pritzker signs gun bill at West Side school,
January 23, 2019
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austinweeklynews.com
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Important SNAP info, page 3
A different kind of pledge of allegiance
Mayoral candidates promise free college tuition, free transit, and more By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
The local community organizers of a Jan. 16 Chicago mayoral forum, held at New Mount Pilgrim MB Church, 4301 W. Washington Blvd., forced the five candidates who showed up into what may have been the tightest corner any have been backed into so far this election cycle. The organizers gave the candidates virtually no room for rhetorical maneuvering. Before a standing-room-only audience of nearly 1,000 people, candidates were each asked if they would sign a pledge that would tether them to “Reimagine Chicago,” the platform created by the forum’s host, the Grassroots Collaborative — which comprises more than two dozen local, progressive community organizations across the city, including West Side organizations like the Leaders Network and Westside Rising. Lori Lightfoot, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, Amara Enyia, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and businessman Willie Wilson attended the forum. All of them, except for Wilson, signed the pledge. If elected, the candidates who signed the pledge promised, they would meet with the Reimagine Chicago coalition before Inauguration Day to discuss priorities, include a representative from the Reimagine Chicago Coalition on the transition team See FORUM on page 10
The content of her character
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Dorothy Gaters, the head coach for Marshall’s girls basketball team, watches one of the games from the sidelines on Jan. 21 during the MLK Dream Classic basketball tournament at Marshall High School in Chicago. Story on page 4.
Aldermen want city to explore reopening mental health clinics By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
Aldermen Chris Taliaferro (29th) and Emma Mitts (37th) recently expressed full support for a task force that would look at how to better serve Chicagoans’ mental health needs and whether reopening at least some of the 6 city-run mental health clinics Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed in
2012 should be part of the discussion. The Chicago City Council’s Commission on Health and Environmental Protection unanimously approved the proposal during its Jan. 16 meeting. It is expected to go before the full City Council for final approval on Jan. 23. In 2016, the Cook County Health and Hospitals system took over the management of Roseland clinic, bringing the number
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down to five. Through it all, the only health clinic located anywhere near the West Side — the Lawndale Mental Health Center, 1201 S. Campbell St. — remained open. The city closed six of its 12 clinics — four on the South Side, one on the North Side and one on the Northwest Side. At the time, the action was described as a See CLINICS on page 6
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