Despicable. This is the only appropriate descriptor for the obvious political ploy that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and his hand-picked Board of Education pulled off in the eleventh hour to fire Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez. Martinez is well qualified and was the right choice to succeed Janice Jackson, his equally qualified and respected predecessor. Let’s see how far the Chicago Teachers Union-backed budget, woefully unsustainable, unfolds. This mayor continues to make fiscally irresponsible decisions. It’s a little over two years until the next mayoral election. Those two years cannot go fast enough. — Roberta Goeters Kushen, Chicago Mayor’s recall warranted Is there a procedure in Illinois to recall Mayor Brandon Johnson? He has lost the support of so many citizens in short order and is putting Chicago in a terrible fiscal position that will take years to recover from. Two more years of his policies and outrageous behavior are more than most of us can handle. — Steven J Sherman, Chicago CTU editorial is unfair I’m writing in response to yet another editorial bashing the Chicago Teachers Union (“After Brandon Johnson’s shameful Friday school board travesty, Gov. JB Pritzker has to get involved,” Dec. 23). The Tribune Editorial Board has taken a tired and lazy stance that we teachers are greedy and that our contract fight is only about the money. Our negotiations, as they have been across the last few contracts, have been about building in more supports for our students to help them achieve more. Better working conditions for us mean better environments in which students can learn. When we have a CEO who continues to fail to address the nonmonetary issues of our demands, that shows a lack of willingness to negotiate in good faith. Where’s the outrage about then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s team giving Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez a golden parachute that will ultimately make removing him more costly to taxpayers (including all of us CTU members)? I’m done with the editorial board failing to present fair arguments. — Bryan Wilson, Chicago Taxpayers stuck with bill Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez was the only thing standing between financial common sense and taking out a $300 million high-interest loan to cover a new contract for the overpaid and underperforming Chicago Teachers Union. With him gone, the school board is now able to grant Mayor Brandon Johnson’s wishes and reward the CTU with huge, undeserved pay raises at a time when test scores are poor and our city is broke — once again sticking Chicago taxpayers with the bill. Bah humbug! — Mike Kirchberg, Chicago Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez speaks at the Daley Center on Dec. 24, 2024, after a Cook County judge granted a temporary restraining order against Chicago Board of Education members. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) Consolidation is needed The excellent Tribune series “Culture of Corruption” addresses so much that has become endemic in the state of Illinois. Some issues brought up in the most recent article, “The road to reform” (Dec. 22), are not just cultural but also structural, such as the high number of government units. Illinois has the notoriety of having the most units of governments of all the states in the country. Each government unit has some type of governance associated with it and revenues to fund that unit’s operations. Typically, funding comes from property taxes. Property taxes are our way to fund our schools, parks, libraries and multiple other layers of government, including more than 1,400 townships and 102 counties. Many government units, such as townships, predate municipalities and are leftovers from a time when townships were the only unit of government. All of these multiple units of government increase the weight of property taxes and contribute to confusion for taxpayers. While increasing costs to taxpayers, multiple government units increase the opportunity for bad behavior and fraud. An example brought up frequently is the stealing committed in Dixon, Illinois, by the city treasurer/comptroller. With so many government units listed on tax bills, local residents are confused by what that unit is and what it does. Multiple units of government have overlap in locations and populations. Township boundaries may overlap, increasing confusion as to which government unit has responsibility. There are at least three counties in Illinois with a population of fewer than 5,000 residents. Services offered to residents of some counties are very costly on a per-capita basis, or they are not offered because they are cost-prohibitive. It is time for Illinois to do the hard business of consolidating or eliminating government units. Neighboring states could be a model. There certainly would be a lot of pushback — not just because change is difficult but also because some people are invested in their turfs. Illinois needs to take seriously ideas to streamline services, improve efficiencies and decrease pressure on property taxes. Perhaps counties should have a minimum number of residents, or townships should have the statutory size removed or increased. Simplification in our government units would make it easier for residents to pay attention to what is going on and, hopefully, decrease opportunities for malfeasance and corruption. — Laura Davis, Inverness The Illinois state flag flies from a downtown Chicago building March 7, 2023. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) Where is fiscal sense? I thought it was just me! I was so glad to read a letter stating that developing a new Illinois flag is ridiculous (“State flag redesign a waste,” Dec. 14). The state is cash poor, but let’s spend a couple of hundred thousand dollars (just a guess) to develop a new flag. After that, let’s drop the speed limit from 30 to 25 in areas of Chicago; changing all the signs won’t cost much. For what? Giving out speeding tickets to someone doing 28 mph to fill city coffers. When is Illinois going to wake up and be responsible with my tax dollars? I won’t hold my breath. — Priscilla Virelli, Geneva Doctor’s COVID-19 claim In a recent op-ed (“Journalists failed to ask Fauci the hard questions during the pandemic,” Dec. 18), Dr. Cory Franklin attacks the coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic by science journalists. I agree with some of his critique. But Franklin also makes an astounding assertion that must be challenged. Franklin suggests that the 1.2 million COVID-19 deaths in America were unavoidable — that “nature is going to do what nature is going to do.” This statement is not supported by epidemiological analysis. Countries with restrictive policies, such as Vietnam and Australia, had vastly lower death rates; Sweden, which switched from a permissive policy to a restrictive policy, lowered its death rates; and counties in the U.S. that were Republican-leaning, a likely indicator of permissive policies, had higher rates of death. These all point to the conclusion that public health measures worked and deaths were avoidable, that tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives could have been saved with more adherence to public health recommendations. I agree with Franklin that more attention to ventilation would have been desirable; we could have allowed businesses to stay open if they had many windows and kept those windows open, for example. But Franklin’s assertion that the 1.2 million COVID-19 deaths were largely unavoidable is a fringe opinion. In an op-ed lambasting the purported negligence of science reporters, Franklin should have treated his own claims with more scrutiny. — Richard Hudson, Chicago Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].