Zopp's back... Rahm sustains the 'community leader' who helped close 50 schools and backed every corrupt move of Barbara Byrd Bennett while a Board of Education member from 2011 to 2015...
The seven members of the Chicago Board of Education proudly voted to close 50 of Chicago's real public schools at their May 22, 2013 meeting (above). During her years as a member of the Chicago Board of Education, Andrea Zopp (middle above) slavishly followed the anti-public schools policies of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who had appointed her to the Board in May 2011. Zopp's special contribution to Emanuuel's agenda was to provide regular lectures to the public about how she was representing the interests of Chicago's "Black Community" during her time as a member of the school board of America's third largest school system. She boldly voted for every corrupt proposal to come from Emanuel, or from Emanuel's hand-picked "Chief Executive Officers" of CPS. Zopp also supported the appointment of Barbara Byrd Bennett, and voted in favor of Byrd Bennett's corrupt no-bid SUPES contract. Substance photo by George N Schmidt. The City of Chicago may be broke, and the Chicago Board of Education may be more broke, but neither fact stopped Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel from appointing one of his most loyal cronies to the newly created position of "Deputy Mayor", a second one, at an annual salary (including benefits) well over a quarter of a million dollars a year. And Rahm's pick for the second "Deputy Mayor" position is the same person he appointed to the Chicago Board of Education back in 2011, Andrea Zopp.
Less than a half year after she was decisively defeated in her quest to become the Democratic Party's candidate for he U.S. Senate, former Chicago Board of Education member Andrea Zopp is back in the news. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has appointed Zopp to a newly created position at City Hall.
STORY UPDATE FROM DNA INFO CHICAGO...
Deputy Mayor Andrea Zopp Brings 'Unique Credentials,' Rahm Says, By Andrea V. Watson, May 13, 2016 6:45am, DNA Info Chicago
ROSELAND — Mayor Rahm Emanuel defended his new deputy mayor's credibility Thursday. During a media event announcing anew enhanced service to four bus routes and the two southern branches of the Green Line, Emanuel was asked if Andrea Zopp was the appropriate choice for deputy mayor.
“I have worked with Andrea Zopp and she brings a unique quality to Chicago," he said. "She can be very successful in the private sector so I’m fortunate that she’s here." He said that he's worked with her when she was the CEO and president of the Chicago Urban League and when she sat on the Chicago Board of Education.
Emanuel said he saw Zopp, of Morgan Park, "deliver many times.”
Above, Board of Education member Andrea Zopp hold her hand over the microphone so that the public can't hear what she and Board President David Vitale are joking about at the Board's May 2013 meeting. That day, Zopp and Vitale voted in favor of the unprecedented closing of 50 of the city's real public schools. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.By creating a second deputy mayor position, the city will now have one individual specifically responsible for making sure every city project and every city dollar expands opportunities for Chicagoans, the mayor's office said. While Zopp focuses on neighborhoods, Steve Koch, who has served as deputy mayor since 2012, will continue to oversee economic affairs for the city, including responsibility for the city’s financial team, economic policy, driving job growth and attracting corporate headquarters.
Emanuel said Zopp has the credibility and she's the right person to meet with CEOs of commercial retailers and encourage them to invest in South Side neighborhoods, neighborhoods they "would normally overlook."
He added that he didn't appoint her because he thought it would help his own credibility with the black community. Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) supports Zopp in her new position and said Emanuel doesn't need her to boost his own credibility.
"On the far South Side — he’s done things in our community," Austin said. "Can he do more? Every mayor can do more, we can do more, but you still have to have money to do more as well. So I think that the programs he has introduced, the infrastructure he has introduced, he has done well."
She said that wait times for buses and trains are a huge issue on the South and far South Side and she's pleased to see an investment being made to address the problem.
She also agreed with Emanuel that Zopp will work well with leaders in the private sector.
"She brings the expertise as well as the knowledge," she said.
Zopp said her primary focus is working closely with neighborhoods to help bring more jobs and contracts to the community.
"Chicago will only be as strong as our neighborhoods," Zopp said. "My job is 24/7 to sure all of this is happening."
