| Reprint from BSTA <beldensawyer1@gmail.com> |
CHICAGO – On Monday, the Belden Sawyer Tenant Association released the following statement:
“Alderman Gil Villegas is pushing forward with his regressive, anti-tenant F.A.I.R. Ordinance this Tuesday. The ordinance would roll back existing tenant rights and empower corporate landlords. Media reports indicate that Villegas may have enough support within City Council to push the ordinance through, which should horrify anyone in Chicago who does not own their housing.
“This is a tragic situation for Chicago tenants and a black mark on Villegas’s legacy, as well as the legacies of any alderpersons who choose to join him on Tuesday. This ordinance, written by lobbyists and backed by landlords, would harm over a million Chicago tenants.
“Villegas’s statements on the Council floor that he would spend the next few weeks working on a compromise with the P.R.O. coalition were lies. He is a bad-faith actor who does not deserve the distinction of public office. Tenants do not want his ordinance, which is why they booed him mercilessly at the most recent meeting of the Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
“If F.A.I.R. is passed, we call on Mayor Johnson to immediately veto it. Villegas and the real estate industry will attack him for doing so, but the alternative would strip away rights for the majority of Chicagoans. That is unacceptable. Villegas is in the pocket of the real estate industry, which is the most unethical, greedy group of people in the whole city. He is a con artist who is not capable of negotiating in good faith.
“BSTA is closely monitoring who supports the F.A.I.R. Ordinance. We remind City Council that tenants are over half of Chicago’s population, and an election is coming.”
For more information, contact info@beldensawyertenants.org.—
