Latest Chicago Inspector General's report raises more questions about Mayor Brandon Johnson's gift room
A new report out Tuesday from the Chicago Inspector General raises more questions about access to Mayor Brandon Johnson's gift room at City Hall.
The inspector's new advisory said her team was blocked from doing unannounced inspections of city premises twice this year, including the mayor's gift room. The report says that room wasn't even built until after investigators tried to get in.
"We or anybody else has no way of knowing, in an independent, confirmed way, what exactly was happening with that city property before the new gift room was built," Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said. "There's a real candor with the public problem, with the fact that the Mayor's Office certainly did not explicitly say that the gift room that was being made available to the public was a newly constructed one."
The mayor's office responded Tuesday, saying it acted promptly to modernize old practices, creating a large public viewing room, an online inventory and video updates. Johnson's office said since the launch only two residents signed up to view the room, but neither showed up.