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Chicago Tribune
27-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Neighborhood ties still propel violence in a changing Cabrini-Green
Julia Tate was headed to bed a few weeks ago when her daughter burst into their rowhouse screaming. Tate's cousin, Devon LaSalle, had been shot. The family had urged LaSalle to not come around the neighborhood so much, but he grew up in a now-closed part of the Cabrini-Green rowhouses. He still spent a lot of time there in spite of how much had changed since he was a kid on Mohawk Street. At 41, LaSalle was one of many people who stuck around the rowhouses even as development exploded around the now-vacant lots where the infamous high-rises once stood. Old relationships persisted too, for better or worse. When LaSalle and another man were killed days apart on the same block in what's left of the original public housing development, authorities said both had known their alleged shooters for years. It's been two decades since there were slayings so close together in the Cabrini-Green rowhouses, a patch of 146 public housing units ringed by new construction in the well-heeled River North area. Chicago Police Department sources and neighborhood violence interrupters say the killings likely came from personal history and were not tied to wider gang conflicts. And they came at a time when a leader with his own links to Cabrini-Green is seeking to run the Chicago Housing Authority. Now-former Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., who stepped down from his City Council spot while angling for the post, grew up there and has long decried people's tendency to hang out in their old neighborhoods, Sue Popkin, a researcher who has tracked the impact of the CHA's Plan for Transformation across a number of now-demolished housing complexes, including Cabrini, said old residents and people with ties to the developments keep coming back and maintain social lives in their old neighborhoods long after they've moved away. She offered another CHA development, the Ida B. Wells Homes, as an example. It took years for the homes to be dismantled, she said — 'but until it was entirely gone,' former residents returned. 'People go back to places after disasters,' Popkin said. 'You can't get people to move away from the edge of the ocean, even after there's a flood. There's a very powerful pull of home.' That pull was true for Devon LaSalle, his family said. He came back often to spend time with his girlfriend and his cousins, who are Cabrini residents. LaSalle made an excellent plate of Spanish rice, they said, and would set up in a nearby park to cook and sell plates with a few friends. He had a lot of history on those blocks. Court records show he was arrested last year and charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm after he allegedly fired a gun down Cambridge Avenue into a group of people. That case was still pending at the time of his death. More recently, LaSalle had started working as one of 21 peacekeepers through the organization Near North 3.6.5, and meant to use his own close street relationships around the neighborhood to prevent further violence. The group's leader, the Rev. Randall K. Blakey, said LaSalle had been considered 'one of the best and most promising' men to work with the program, which started in April of this year. He had not been on duty the night he was shot, Blakey said. Just after midnight on July 13, Assistant State's Attorney Mike Pekara said, LaSalle spoke to a man, Maurice Timms, briefly in one of the courtyards that separate the banks of rowhouses. After LaSalle turned away, Timms allegedly shot him once before he approached and fired again. A citizen called 911 a few hours after the shooting to report that Timms had returned to the area and he was asleep in a nearby pickup truck, Pekara said. Officers arrested Timms after a group of residents identified him as the alleged shooter, according to police records. Eight days earlier, 46-year-old Darrin Carter was killed about 50 yards down the block, authorities said. Obbie Sanders allegedly approached Carter as he sat in his car, took out a gun and shot him multiple times. Carter then sought help from a nearby squad car before he lost consciousness, Pekara said. Sanders — who wears leg braces and uses a cane to walk because he's been shot so many times — was allegedly captured on surveillance video fleeing the shooting scene, and police arrested him after he crashed a car near Wacker and DuSable Lake Shore drives. Both Sanders and Timms had been in the neighborhood's social mix days or weeks before the slayings, Pekara said. LaSalle's father, Ralph LaSalle, has been trying to think what could have pushed someone to allegedly 'execute' his son, particularly someone who they'd all known personally. 'That guy, I knew him,' he said of Timms. 'He called me 'Pops.' I wouldn't have figured he would do (anything) like that.' Now 64, the elder LaSalle spent 10 years in prison as a young man after he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. He has thought about the man he killed decades ago often over the last several weeks. 'The pain I'm feeling, now I know what his parents went through and how they felt,' he said. He doesn't plan to return to Cabrini-Green ever again. Burnett said the killings highlight issues the area has faced for years, even as the area has seen crime plummet and development take off around what's left of the rowhouses. A native of the Cabrini-Green rowhomes, Burnett may soon assume control of the CHA this summer. He said former residents of the rowhouses often return to the area after moving away or being released from prison, reigniting old conflicts. 'All these outside folks coming to the neighborhood, I think it's a detriment to the neighborhood,' Burnett said. 'It's hard to stop those incidents when folks are drinking or getting high and they get into it.' His comments largely echoed those he made five years ago when the killing of 9-year-old Janari Ricks jarred the city. Then, too, Burnett called for nonresidents to keep out of the rowhouses and 'do dirt' elsewhere. Residents of Cabrini-Green were critical in helping CPD officers find a suspect in that case, too, police officials said at the time. One man was charged with murder in the boy's death, and court records show that case is still pending. Janari's mother later filed a lawsuit against CHA, the security firm that patrolled the rowhouses and the property management company. That lawsuit, settled in 2024 for $7 million, alleged that the shooter who killed Janari was well-known in the neighborhood as a violent person, as was his intended target. The target of the shooting, it was alleged, was included on a CHA 'exclusion list' of people who were not to be allowed within the rowhouses. Burnett said CHA could do more to ensure that only those named on a lease are residing in a unit, though he said he couldn't say whether rules related to the list need to be strengthened. 'We need to check these places,' Burnett said. 'We've got a lot of folks harboring in apartments that (aren't) supposed to be there.' The CHA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Burnett told the Tribune that fostering a sense of community and respect for current residents would help deter behavior that can lead to violence. 'So I think the challenge is, one, the people in the neighborhood who may be related to these folks don't demand respect for their houses,' Burnett said. 'Your cousins, your brother, your baby's daddy, you don't demand that they respect your neighborhood.' In a statement, a CHA spokesperson said that all public housing residents needed to adhere to the rules laid out in their leases. According to the statement, the agency 'works hard not to perpetuate stigma for past, present, or future public housing residents' and is making it a priority to offer public gathering spaces where people with ties to the area can return and celebrate their history there. The intersection of Cleveland and Oak streets is known as Dantrell Davis Way, in memory of the 7-year-old boy slain by a sniper's bullet in 1992 as he walked to school through the high-rises with his mother. Scores of children were shot within the Cabrini-Green high-rises, and Dantrell's death catalyzed momentum for the structures' eventual demolition, which researchers like Popkin found led to dramatic dips in violent crime. Along the west side of Cleveland is a vacant lot, still owned by the CHA, where Dantrell's former school once stood. To the north, a new apartment building is under construction. A set of cubic gray and white rowhomes stand on the east side of the street behind a black fence, where people on a recent morning were watering their lawns and walking their dogs. South of Oak Street stand blocks of boarded-up rowhomes and the 800 block of North Cambridge Avenue. People lined the street on a recent afternoon, chatting in twos and threes as they leaned on cars and against fences. A teenage boy rode a motorbike up and down the block, revving the engine every time he turned around. Rodnell Dennis stood at the far end of her block with his arms folded. A group of kids rounding the corner stopped for hugs and fist bumps before scattering into several rowhouses up and down Cambridge. Others dressed in swim gear waited on the steps or hurtled back and forth across the street, where a fence blocked off more boarded-up units. Dennis, 46, grew up in the high-rises and spent 20 years behind bars before he was paroled in 2012. He recalled finding a dramatically different Cabrini-Green upon his return — 146 of the original rowhouses surrounded by new construction. A CHA spokesperson said the agency had erected 4,000 units of public housing around the neighborhood since 2000. Another 4,000 units still planned for around the area will house people with a range of incomes, as part of the CHA's 'Cabrini Now' plan. The agency's ombudsman lets residents living in mixed-income communities offer feedback and voice concerns with community-building, a spokesperson said, and CHA works with several organizations in the Near North Side area on events where residents can get to know one another. But for Dennis, who now works as a peacekeeper through Near North 3.6.5, the distance between the old neighbors and the new feels vast. 'They don't know us,' he said. 'They just know the stories they've heard about us. They form opinions that have no relevance to who we are.' Dennis, who pleaded guilty to the murder of a 9-year-old boy when he was just 13, said he had come a long way from contributing to the violence that gave Cabrini-Green its notoriety. 'It goes to show you a level of growth from then to now,' he said. But he said it's hard to impress that on people who avoid the rowhouses despite living so close by. 'How do you communicate with people who live 15 feet from your front door but don't want to walk through your neighborhood?' he asked. Just behind Dennis, Julia Tate's rowhouse still had stuffed animals and a wilted flower from LaSalle's memorial gathering next to the front door. He left behind 14 children and had just welcomed his first grandchild, relatives said. On Wednesday afternoon, Tate's air conditioning was blasting and the blinds were drawn to keep out the start of the latest heat wave. Her phone rang every few minutes with relatives calling about funeral arrangements. Now 56, Tate has lived in the rowhouses all her life, on Iowa and Mohawk streets and now in a unit on the southern edge of the neighborhood. She remembers her mom growing cucumbers and cantaloupe out front, trips to Rainbo Roller Rink in the Uptown neighborhood and singing in the Sunshine Gospel Choir. Tate mentioned the 1970 murders of two police officers in nearby Seward Park as an example of the kind of violence that gave the housing projects their notoriety. Cabrini-Green 'had its day,' in her words. But the rowhouses had been another story. 'This area was always a safe haven for people,' she said. 'We had a childhood life, even though things might have been happening during the time when we were growing up.' People come back to the rowhomes because that's what's left, but also because they were considered a less risky place to be, she said. 'The people that come down here now are the people that used to be in the high-rises,' Tate said. And while crime has dropped sharply in the area since those towers were demolished, Tate feels that kids growing up in the last of the rowhouses today don't have as much access to the kind of programs that sprang up to help kids who lived in the high-rises. Some anti-violence workers said the new development in the area has actually made it harder to secure funding. City and state dollars often are allocated based on median-income in a particular ZIP code, making kids from struggling families less likely to stand out on paper in a wealthier zone. A CHA spokesperson said in a statement that the agency was always looking for ways to offer more options for youth activities. Currently, organizations like After School Matters and By the Hand Club for Kids run no- or low-cost programming for families in the area along with the Chicago Park District. Stacie Wade, LaSalle's second cousin who pounded up the stairs screaming the night he was killed, remembers programs from her youth in the rowhouses. Now 31, Wade doesn't recall worrying about shootings growing up. 'I used to like it down here,' she said. But LaSalle was like an older brother to her, and his death has made her reconsider the neighborhood where he spent so much time and she's lived most of her life. He was with people he trusted when he came back, she said. And still he was taken away.
Axios
25-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
Chicago Housing Authority may soon name new CEO
The Chicago Housing Authority could have a new leader in the coming weeks. Why it matters: CHA, the largest single owner of rental housing in Chicago, continues to grapple with finding affordable housing for the thousands of residents who were displaced after the city demolished more than 80 buildings starting in the mid-1990s as part of its "Plan for Transformation." State of play: 16,000 people are on the waiting list for CHA vouchers, but the agency has declared 2025 its " Year of Renewal," with a goal of being more transparent and accountable to residents. CHA has recently moved forward on some long-awaited developments. This week, it broke ground on new affordable units at the site of the former Robert Taylor Homes in Bronzeville, one of the most notorious public housing developments in the U.S. that was torn down during the transformation plan. Catch up quick: Angela Hurlock took over last October as interim CEO after Tracey Scott, a holdover from the Lightfoot administration, resigned amid controversy over the city's decision to lease CHA land on the Near West Side to the Chicago Fire. CHA had promised to build more than 2,000 units near the site of the former ABLA Homes, but at the time of the agreement with the Chicago Fire, only about half were finished, Block Club reported. Last month, the agency unveiled more than 200 new units at the site. The latest: Ald. Walter Burnett is angling to be the next CEO as he wraps up his tenure at City Council at the end of the month. The West Side alder grew up in the Cabrini-Green rowhouses, next to the high-rises that were leveled as part of the "Plan for Transformation." As alder of development-rich West Loop and Fulton Market and chair of the zoning committee, Burnett has been at the forefront of big changes in those neighborhoods. How it works: The mayor picks the CHA head, but the agency's Board of Commissioners has to approve the choice. What they're saying: CHA's Central Advisory Council opposes Burnett as the agency head, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday, expressing concerns that Burnett is too chummy with private developers. The other side: Burnett says his relationships with developers would be an asset to CHA. "I built a whole neighborhood in the West Loop during the time that we tore down the buildings in public housing that haven't been built back," Burnett said this week on Fran Spielman's podcast. "CHA has to do more to leverage the private-public partnerships. I have all of the private partnerships from dealing with them in my ward." Between the lines: Burnett regularly references his Cabrini roots. "This is my neighborhood. These are my people in this neighborhood," Burnett said last year at a groundbreaking for the new Bally's Chicago Casino in River West. What we're watching: Johnson's office did not respond to Axios' questions about who he plans to select as the agency's new leader and when, but told reporters last week that Burnett is "a strong contender." "There are, of course, a couple other candidates that are in consideration, but Alderman Burnett is certainly at the top of that."
Associated Press
24-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
CHA, Chicago City Officials, and Development Partners Celebrate Latest Phase of Legends South
Legends South A3 Will Bring 52 New Affordable and Market-Rate Homes to Bronzeville CHICAGO, ILLINOIS / ACCESS Newswire / July 24, 2025 / Yesterday, city, state, and federal officials joined the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and executives of The Michaels Organization and Brinshore Development for a ceremonial groundbreaking to mark the start of Legends South A3, a significant milestone in the ongoing transformation of the former Robert Taylor Homes site in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. 'Today we're turning the page on the legacy of disinvestment which has for too long left spaces like this vacant in the heart of our communities,' said Mayor Brandon Johnson. 'This project adds a new and dynamic development to this neighborhood. It's proof of how critical investments like this can uplift, revitalize, and empower a community. We are taking steps towards rectifying the mistakes of the past while building the safest and most affordable big city in America.' 'We're proud to be a part of a partnership that's bringing long-term investment and revitalization to this historic neighborhood,' said Andrea Keeney, Vice President of Development for The Michaels Organization. 'This latest phase of Legend South will continue to build vibrant, inclusive communities rooted in opportunity and progress.' 'With each new phase of Legends South, we're not just building housing, we're helping to restore and reinvest in a historic community that has been a cornerstone of Chicago's identity,' said Richard Sciortino, Co-founding Principal of Brinshore Development. 'This next phase continues our commitment to creating high-quality affordable housing that supports families, promotes stability and reflects Bronzeville's resilience.' 'This is our Year of Renewal, and we are working with more intention, transparency, and accountability, which are translating into meaningful progress,' said Interim CHA Board Chairman Matthew Brewer. 'This year alone, we've celebrated grand openings at Edith Spurlock Sampson and Sheffield Residences, Canvas at Leland Plaza, the National Public Housing Museum and Roosevelt Square-projects that reflect and affirm our commitment to expanding housing, honoring our history, and strengthening communities. Together with the latest phase of Legends South, which includes 21 new CHA apartments and its first retail space, these efforts are powerful examples of what's possible when we lead with purpose, persistence, and partnership. Congratulations to all.' Designed by LBBA and Brook Architecture, Legends South A3 will offer a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, across two separate buildings: a four-story elevator building with 40 apartments and a three-story walk-up building with 12 apartments. The development will also include 3,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and various community amenities. Of the 52 apartment homes set for Legends South A3, 21 units will be designated for Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) residents with rents set at 60% of area median income (AMI), 3 units will be designated as affordable housing at 50% of AMI, 18 units will be designated as affordable housing at 60% of AMI, and 10 units will be available at market rate. 'This development represents more than bricks and mortar - it reflects our city's continued commitment to equitable investment and housing justice,' said Lissette Castañeda, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Housing. 'By supporting mixed-income communities like Legends South A3, we're helping longtime Bronzeville residents stay connected to a neighborhood with deep cultural roots, while expanding access to safe, stable, and affordable housing.' Complementing the apartment homes will be a small plaza at the intersection of State Street and 45th Street, designed to foster community gatherings and enhance the neighborhood's public space. The development also includes 47 parking spaces. Financing for Legends South A3 includes 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credits awarded by the City of Chicago Department of Housing, RAD (Rental Assistance Demonstration) Project-Based Vouchers, a CHA MTW (Moving to Work) loan of $6.72 million, and CAA (Consolidated Appropriations Act) loan of $850,000 Tax Increment Financing (TIF) loan of $10 million. The project also benefited from various other public and private funding sources. In a separate, but related transaction, Chicago-based homebuilder Greenline Homes will be developing 8 affordable homes along this same site. Collectively, these developments will help Chicago families live well and create community. Previous phases of Legends South, which Brinshore-Michaels first began developing in 2005, include Mahalia Place, Hansberry Square, Savoy Square, Coleman Place, and Gwendolyn Place. Combined, these communities currently offer residents over 600 mixed-income apartments, green spaces, and a variety of amenities. Following the groundbreaking, The Michaels Organization Educational Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of The Michaels Organization, celebrated 33 Chicago-based scholars at Savoy Square. Michaels' Chicago Scholars were awarded a total of $255,500 in scholarships for the 2025/2026 academic year. The awards are a part of the greater $2.4 million awarded by the Foundation, which was announced in June as benefiting residents of Michaels' military and affordable communities. In total, the Foundation has awarded $19 million across Michaels' portfolio, and it is monumental to Michaels' mission of Creating Communities that Lift Lives. ### About The Michaels Organization Michaels is a national leader in residential real estate, offering full-service capabilities in development, property and asset management, construction, and investment. Serving more than 200,000 residents in more than 600 communities across 39 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Michaels is committed to crafting housing solutions that jumpstart education, civic engagement and neighborhood prosperity, and to creating Communities That Lift Lives. About the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) CHA is the third largest public housing authority in the nation and the largest single owner of rental housing in Chicago. Through its public housing and voucher programs, CHA serves 135,000 people in 65,000 households across all 77 of Chicago's community areas. CHA's mission is to create and sustain strong communities where seniors thrive and everyone can unlock their economic power, ensuring that every neighborhood in Chicago has quality affordable housing and everyone feels welcome. For more information, visit About Brinshore Development Brinshore Development is a national leader in the development and operation of affordable housing. With more than 31 years of housing experience, Brinshore excels at creating diverse teams to transform the most complex development challenges into beautifully designed, vibrant communities. Brinshore's portfolio includes more than 12,000 affordable rental housing units, representing $4.8 billion of investment in sixteen states and the District of Columbia. For more information on Brinshore's community investments, visit Contact Information Laura Zaner Vice President, Michaels Corporate Marketing [email protected] 856-988-5983; 856-630-1540 Domenica DeSorte Corporate Marketing Communications Manager, The Michaels Organization [email protected] (856) 396-8532 SOURCE: The Michaels Organization press release
Axios
17-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
Burnett's City Council era set to end, but his legacy still unfolding
Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) wore sunglasses and clutched a box of tissues Wednesday as his colleagues in the City Council bid him farewell after 30 years in office. The big picture: Burnett, the longest-serving alder in the council, is stepping down this month with his eyes set on taking over as CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority. What he said: "I hope I made you proud," Burnett, holding back tears, said in his farewell speech. Zoom in: The 61-year-old also serves as vice mayor and chairman of the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks, and Building Standards. Burnett grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing development, which he believes makes him a natural to lead the CHA. Reality check: Burnett's story may make him a suitable candidate to run public housing in Chicago, but his record with housing issues is more complicated. Flashback: Earlier in his career, Burnett, who has always been a staunch supporter of whoever is mayor, served as a cheerleader for Mayor Richard M. Daley and the CHA's Plan for Transformation. This plan was to demolish public housing high-rises like Cabrini-Green and the Robert Taylor Homes and rebuild new mixed-income public housing. While Burnett helped usher in building new complexes like Westhaven Park on the West Side (replacing Henry Horner Homes), tens of thousands of residents who were displaced never returned. The plan was supposed to be finished within a decade, but most of its initiatives have still not been completed. Burnett's 27th ward includes the West Loop, which has had intense private development leading to affordability issues over the past decade. Some neighborhood advocates have accused Burnett of cozying up to developers, although Burnett countered by telling developers they had to hire minority workers if they wanted projects in his ward. State of play: Mayor Brandon Johnson will appoint Burnett's successor in the 27th ward, and Burnett's pushing his son to replace him. It's unclear if Johnson will select a successor for Burnett as vice mayor, but he will appoint a replacement for the chair of the Zoning Committee, and it hasn't been easy for him to get council confirmation in the past. The intrigue: Burnett's exit will make Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) the longest-serving lawmaker in the City Council. Beale began in 1999. The bottom line: Burnett will be remembered for his role in several City Councils over his 30-year career, but his legacy on how he has impacted the city is far from finished.
Chicago Tribune
13-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Ald. Walter Burnett and the divine right to bequeath your political office to your progeny
For the second time in his long political career, Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. is maneuvering to find employment for one of his grown children in the 'family business.' Burnett has been in the news lately as Mayor Brandon Johnson's preferred choice to lead the Chicago Housing Authority. The 27th Ward alderman, 61, who serves as Johnson's vice mayor and Zoning Committee chairman, has said he will resign his aldermanic seat at the end of this month whether he gets the CHA job or not. And, in true Chicago political tradition, he has someone in mind to succeed him as alderman following his 30 years in that post: That person, naturally, just happens to be a blood relative. Burnett wants his 29-year-old son, Walter Burnett III, appointed, and Johnson has signaled he plans to follow Burnett's wishes. If all goes as expected, Walter Burnett III will be the second of Burnett's grown children to be appointed to elected office without first winning an election. In 2019, Burnett worked to get his stepson, Jawaharial 'Omar' Williams, appointed as Illinois House representative for the West Side's 10th District, succeeding Melissa Conyears-Ervin when she won election as Chicago treasurer. Back then, in justifying his push for his stepson, Burnett let forth one of the Freudian slips for the ages when it comes to Chicago politics: 'I don't know of any other family business — I shouldn't say family business — but if your kids work hard … that's what I work for, to promote my kids, help my kids if they do well.' 'I shouldn't say family business.' No, Ald. Burnett, you shouldn't. And you knew at the time that wasn't the right thing to say, even though it revealed precisely how you and so many others (as you repeatedly emphasize) who've won elected office in this city view what's supposed to be a public trust — as an enterprise transferable by birth or family relation. Like some kind of medieval baron. The effectiveness of appointing people to open seats (in this case, left open deliberately by Burnett to pass onto his son) is undeniable. Williams, Burnett's stepson, faced opposition in the first Democratic primary following his 2019 appointment. But he ran unopposed in both primaries after that. The seat presumably is his as long as he wants it. Assuming he's appointed 27th Ward alderman, Walter Burnett III will be in an even better position than his stepbrother. He'll have the same name as the guy who preceded him for three decades. By all means, we'd have no problem with Burnett's son running on his own for the seat, and his name likely would give him a distinct advantage in that scenario. But handing the post to him in this fashion would confer an almost insurmountable edge. That's by design. We should say here that we believe Walter Burnett Jr. has served the city well over his three decades. He's a voice of reason on the City Council and someone who has earned respect from people on both the left and right. We don't agree with him on everything, of course, but we consider him an asset to the council. We strongly disagree with his views on the divine right of family members to enter the 'family business,' however. Burnett naturally references families with names like Daley to justify his unapologetic nepotism. Fair enough. There are plenty of other families that have done the same — the name Jackson comes to mind. So does the name Stroger. Burnett points, too, to the same dynamic in private enterprise. Certainly in family-owned businesses, preference given to the next generation for leadership is a feature. But here's the difference: Those businesses are owned by the families. As in any other line of work, the owners are the ultimate decision-makers. In politics, officeholders are supposed to be strictly occupants of a seat. They aren't owners of their offices, instead owing their professional allegiances to taxpayers and constituents, even over and above their families. At least that's how it's supposed to work. That brings us to Burnett's namesake son. What are his qualifications? His father points to experience with Goldman Sachs. According to the LinkedIn profile for Walter Burnett III, he worked at Goldman for four years in New York but left the company nearly three years ago. There is no professional experience listed on his profile since then. Ald. Burnett put us in touch with his son, who tells us he's been consulting for developers in the hospitality and retail worlds, as well as rap artists, and has done some consulting work for nonprofits. Walter Burnett III says he wants to give back to the community and sees a role for younger people like himself to get involved in politics. And, confirming our misgivings about this whole affair, he said of politics, 'That's my family's business.' 'He's very attentive, he's very well-read,' the elder Burnett told Tribune reporters, referring to his son. 'It's not about money for him, because he gave up a lot of money to come back home and be connected to his neighborhood.' We understand both Burnetts' arguments, but these are not compelling qualifications to be appointed to the City Council. Let's be honest: The younger Burnett's qualifications to be alderman are his first and last names. That's not sufficient for this plum. The old school of Chicago politics has gotten a well-deserved drubbing of late, with powerhouses like former Ald. Ed Burke and House Speaker Michael Madigan, once viewed as untouchable, convicted of felonies in the conduct of their offices. Read the room, Ald. Burnett and Mayor Johnson. It's no longer appropriate — if it ever was — for influential local pols to treat their offices like personal heirlooms to bestow.
