Sun-Times file
Mayor Lori Lightfoot famously warned African-American aldermen who dared to vote against her 2021 budget, “Don’t ask me for s---t for the next three years” when it comes to choosing projects for her five-year, $3.7 billion capital plan.
Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) was so infuriated, she said it proved Lightfoot was “no better than Daley or Rahm.”
On Monday, that mayoral threat, coming before the closest budget vote Chicago has seen since Council Wars, was all but forgotten at a feel-good press conference launching the five-year capital plan at the start of the 2021 paving season.
There was no more talk about punishing recalcitrant aldermen. Instead, a City Hall news release distributed before the press conference talks about a capital plan that relies on “data to select and prioritize investments across the full array of public assets, address the worst first, along with an emphasis on equity and safety in order to create jobs.”