1 week Ago By Jeremy Gorner
SPRINGFIELD — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson met with Gov. J.B.
Pritzker and state lawmakers on Wednesday to make his pitch for more state funding for critical city operations such as the public schools, and to discuss the Chicago Bears’ $3.2 billion domed stadium proposal. Johnson is backing the Bears’ proposal, while Pritzker has labeled it a “nonstarter” in large part because of its large public funding component.
Meeting with reporters late Wednesday afternoon, Johnson said conversations are ongoing but stressed the need to replace Soldier Field. “You have a 100-year-old building that is millions of dollars in debt. And so you have this asset that is not getting the full benefit for the people of the state of Illinois,” he said.
“And as the Bears continue to have these conversations with leadership, as well as the rank-and-file members, that’s the case that they will have to make, but understanding that we have a structural, damaged situation that really needs a solution.” Johnson’s budget requests at the Illinois State Capitol came on the same day a state Senate committee approved legislation opposed by the mayor’s key ally, the Chicago Teachers Union, that would extend a school closure moratorium for all of the city’s public schools by two years. The CTU has labeled the measure, initially drawn up to protect selective-enrollment schools, as “racist,” as the union presses to invest more money in neighborhood schools.
“We want an equitable s.
