Page 38 - March 2021

Tune In
Lodge 7 YouTube reports are must-see for members to be plugged in ■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Tune in here
To view Lodge 7 President John Catanzara’s weekly YouTube updates, log on to:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCsgF4xK6bMBq-skO86I-mHw
Lodge 7 YouTubers have been bookmarking a Friday night broadcast that passionately and succinctly expresses their de- mands, perspective and frustrations. Clicking that play button tunes them in to an unfiltered, unedited and unabashed Pres- ident John Catanzara providing a weekly address to members, the public, elected officials and even the mayor about vital de- velopments within the union and the work it is doing to fight for better resources, benefits and working conditions.
If you know your Lodge 7 president, this is not a fireside chat. He looks into the camera with all that fire and intensity that members demand and delivers what doesn’t always get into the mainstream media: the truth.
Lodge 7 Communications Committee Chair Michael Carroll likens Catanzara’s weekly YouTube discourses to how Donald Trump used to pour out messages to the masses via Twitter. Fri- day Night YouTube features the real John Catanzara articulating information that is infectious and everybody needs to get.
“It’s something that a lot of people, not just myself, com- plained about, lack of information and lack of something differ- ent,” Catanzara explains. “And not that mine have always been different, but I know you can’t always just rail on Facebook or even the Lodge website. The goal is to reach out to members
38 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2021
with a video where you can see emotions, facial expressions, etc.”
The YouTube reports further Catanzara’s 2020 Vision ticket platform of being a voice for the members and framing issues that should be on their radar. The video taped on Feb. 26 show- cases the intensity of the messages.
The Lodge 7 president began the broadcast spotlighted in the dark by the memorial wall in the FOP Hall courtyard where names of officers lost in the line of duty are inscribed. Four names were surrounded by bright blue tape, officers who were killed by criminals about to be released with the help of a new law passed by the Illinois General Assembly.
Catanzara wanted to emphasize how politicians are further stacking the deck against law and order and civilized society. He walked through the courtyard, then the video cut to him in his office, a presidential setting to be sure, where Catanzara made