South Lawndale

Chicago’s food-cart ban costs revenue, jobs

By Michael Lucci, Hilary Gowins
09/09/2015
Chicago’s ban on food carts is costing the city jobs and revenue. The city has fallen behind its peers: Street vending from food carts is already legal in 23 of the 25 largest cities in the U.S. The Illinois Policy Institute conducted a survey of nearly 200 Chicago food-cart street vendors to assess the social...

Freedom, fairness for food carts in Chicago

By Hilary Gowins
09/01/2015
On Sept. 24, 2015, Chicago City Council voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance to legalize food carts, giving thousands of street vendors across the city the freedom to make an honest living and opening the door for the next generation of culinary entrepreneurs.

TAGS: street vending

Tamales y temor: The world of Chicago’s shadow chefs

By Austin Berg
07/15/2015
An ordinance that would immediately allow thousands of food-cart street vendors the freedom to serve their communities sits before Emanuel’s City Council, and along with it the potential for explosive growth in the industry.

Food-cart ban harms immigrants, new entrepreneurs

By Bryant Jackson-Green
08/25/2014
There’s no right more basic than the right to earn a living to support yourself and your family. And for decades, that’s what street vendors have been trying to do. From elote-cart owners in Little Village to ice-cream carts along North Avenue Beach, entrepreneurs – who are often recent immigrants – have supported themselves by...

TAGS: Chicago, food carts

Chicago Public Schools’ overcrowding dilemma

01/03/2014
Chicago Public Schools’ plan to alleviate overcrowding in schools on the city’s west and north sides is a costly, jumbled mess. Its initial decision to provide $20 million to Lincoln Elementary to alleviate overcrowding at the school, even though it’s the 17th most overcrowded school in the city, was met with fierce resistance. Teachers and...

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Forward 2026: A pro-growth plan to end city budget deficits

Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016