Politics
The project team behind the national video blog I helped work on with AFL-CIO and ACORN, '7 Days @ Minimum Wage,' sent out this press release to celebrate successfully raising the minimum wage in six states on election day. Woo-hoo!
Politics
I had never picked up a video camera in my life before I interviewed Jessica, a low-paid mother of four, for the 7 Days @ Minimum Wage project. Her searing story and her quiet eloquence, both of which emerged absolutely spontaneously, blew me and the ACORN/AFL-CIO project team in D.C. away--so much
Politics
It's about to happen. On Monday, October 23, the national video blog I was invited to work on for ACORN and AFL-CIO goes live on the Net. Here is a list of the people who'll be telling their own stories--including Jessica, the amazing mother of four whom I had the honor to interview--and whose story
Politics
Last week I wrote that I was helping to produce a national video blog kicking off on October 23, 7 Days @ Minimum Wage, highlighting the hardships people go through when they're stuckat the bottom of the wage ladder. I thought I would just be doing Internet outreach coordination. Instead I was tappe
Politics
This summer, when I jumped head-first into Chicago's big-box wage debate, I repeatedly said that the best way to promote a wage increase was at the state level. Little did I suspect that, three months later, I would be selected for the national publicity team of a week-long, ACORN/AFL-CIO sponsored
Politics
Perhaps only with the opening of new big-box stores in Chicago's most challenged neighborhoods will suporters of the defunct living-wage law finally be able to see the stores as a uniquely good thing. Not appropriate for every city or even every Chicago neighborhood. But the best--and only--game in
Politics
Well, the Chicago city council exercised its will yesterday, passing the controversial big-box $10 wage bill by a veto-proof 35 to 14 margin. Previous discussion here on Chicago Carless examined both sides of the issue. Now, as the dust settles and the city holds its collective breath and waits to s
Politics
Several good points were made in the comments thread of Thursday's post regarding Chicago's proposed $10 big-box living-wage ordinance that deserve a fuller airing. Voices have been passionate on both sides of this issue, with the Chicago controversy being but a part of a truly national debate. Howe
Politics
Everyone has a right to a living wage. But just what that wage should be--or who should have to pay it--is a debate that has been raging through Chicago's city council this summer, possibly with disastrous consequences. On July 26, the council will vote on a bill to require big-box retailers doing b
Politics
Since 2001, many of the security tactics we've ended up with on our nation's transit systems in response to Homeland Security hype have been less than efficient. Now New York has implemented random bag searches at subway entrances. And how that stops terrorists from simply getting on at another stat
Politics
'A Day Without an Immigrant' in Chicago: 400,000 people in one place;no arrests. The tenor of the marchers? A small Mexican child throws his pop can onto the ground. His father runs over to pick it up. The police and the sanitation department both had little to do today. This is a community with pri
Politics
The Chicago City Council has finally passed a long-needed set of revisions to the city's noise regulations concerning street performers. After months of contentious debate, I guess as it turns out downtown residents really do have the right to be able to hear themselves think in their own homes.