David Greising

With a mandate for reform and evidence of a deeper-than-realized budget hole, Mayor Lori Lightfoot could push Springfield for action on pension reform.

If she continues leveraging the capacity of civic and business leaders, without abandoning the progressives who helped elect her, she could have the formula for a lasting impact on economic equity in a city that badly needs it.

Once she takes office as Chicago’s next mayor, Lori Lightfoot will face her first test: shoring up power among the City Council members.

Lori Lightfoot served on the BGA board from December 2013 to July 2015. The BGA intends to hold Chicago’s new mayor and her administration accountable for upholding our core standards of good government.

So long as the governor is considering a change to the Illinois Constitution, he should not stop with just one.

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot’s first priority must be wrangling the city’s fiscal mess.

Flyers that cropped up last weekend, featuring broadsides against mayoral finalist Lori Lightfoot’s sexuality, reflect the tradition of dirty politics in Chicago. But in comparison with the ugly race baiting that surfaced during Harold Washington’s 1983 mayoral run, maybe we’ve come a long way.

The Millennium Park experience shows the cost of moving too fast. There is a better deal to be gotten at Lincoln Yards than the one on the drawing boards right now.

To be an effective leader, mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot says in an interview with BGA president David Greising, “You have to have a very clear sense of where your North Star is.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has talked a lot about taking a bipartisan approach to governing Illinois. He’ll do well if he puts it into practice.