Since becoming mayor in 2011, Mayor Rahm Emanuel for the most part has ditched his famous affinity for combativeness and profanity — at least in public.

Not so much in private, according to multiple accounts the past six years, perhaps the best known of which came early in Emanuel's tenure during a meeting with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis.

The most recent example comes from Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, who's locked in a dispute with Emanuel about how to spend nearly $15 million in leftover property tax rebate funds. Lopez said the mayor used a conjugated form of the F-word during a one-on-one discussion over the spending issue.

Unlike Lewis, who expressed shock and used the incident as something of a rallying cry in the lead-up to a teachers' strike, Lopez is more matter of fact about the incident. The alderman had to be coaxed by reporters Thursday to discuss his mayoral encounter, which was first reported by the Chicago Reader.

Sluggish tax rebate program leaves Emanuel millions to spend Bill Ruthhart and Hal Dardick

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and aldermen offered a property tax rebate program last year to try to ease the financial pain of their record tax increase, but it failed to gain traction, leaving the mayor with millions to spend on other programs of his choosing.

On Wednesday, Emanuel announced his latest...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and aldermen offered a property tax rebate program last year to try to ease the financial pain of their record tax increase, but it failed to gain traction, leaving the mayor with millions to spend on other programs of his choosing.

On Wednesday, Emanuel announced his latest...

(Bill Ruthhart and Hal Dardick)

"He just said, 'Why am I f------ with him?' with what he was trying to do," said Lopez, recounting a conversation he said he had with Emanuel in the City Council anteroom before last month's meeting. "I don't think he was anticipating me coming up with my own ordinance to try to spend the money differently."

Lopez, who dismissed the mayor's profanity-laden question as "just how he talks," said the initially heated conversation went on to focus on the issue — Lopez's plan to spend all of the unclaimed tax rebate money on programs to combat the city's rising tide of violence, which has affected the West Englewood, Gage Park, Back of the Yards and Brighton Park neighborhoods he represents.

And Lopez said he wasn't immune from using such language. He said he responded by telling the mayor that "I'm not f------ with you. I've got people dying in the streets. What do you want me to do?"

"And then it was just a longer conversation after that," Lopez added. "We obviously have two different viewpoints trying to address the same problem. Now it's up to us to see if we can work together to make it happen or if it's going to be some sort of unfortunate showdown next week at budget. And we'll see."

He was referring to next week's Budget Committee meeting, where the mayor's plan for spending the money is expected to be on the agenda.

Emanuel extends property tax rebate sign-up after few apply John Byrne

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is giving Chicago homeowners another month to try to get a bit of money back on their property taxes after just a fraction of those eligible took advantage of a rebate program he pitched as a way to alleviate some of the pain from his recent massive tax hikes.

Property owners...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is giving Chicago homeowners another month to try to get a bit of money back on their property taxes after just a fraction of those eligible took advantage of a rebate program he pitched as a way to alleviate some of the pain from his recent massive tax hikes.

Property owners...

(John Byrne)

Emanuel "doesn't recall the conversation, although he doesn't deny a flair for colorful language either," Emanuel spokesman Matt McGrath said.

Lopez described the encounter after holding a second City Hall news conference to push his plan, which calls for all the money to be spent on youth jobs, connecting private security cameras to the city's emergency surveillance system, street-level violence prevention programs like CeaseFire and mentoring for fifth- and sixth-graders.

The mayor's plan calls for the bulk of the money to be used to upgrade city park infrastructure, equip all police officers with body cameras by the end of the year, rehab vacant homes and support after-school programs. Lesser amounts would be spent on a new cyber-security training program at City Colleges, a test program to create crime-fighting intelligence centers, planting 1,000 trees, setting up a small-business incubator on the West Side and creating a call center on the South Side.

"The trees, the parks, they're all great, but right now is not the time to invest in parks when my kids can't even walk from one end of the block to the other," Lopez said during his news conference, noting the recent shooting death of 12-year-old Kanari Gentry-Bowers at a West Englewood elementary school in his ward.

Emanuel property tax rebate options costly, provide limited relief Hal Dardick

Homeowner property tax rebate options Mayor Rahm Emanuel is considering would put even more pressure on already strained city finances and only provide partial relief to a limited number of homeowners across the city.

The rebates would cost the city $10 million to $50 million. The average checks...

Homeowner property tax rebate options Mayor Rahm Emanuel is considering would put even more pressure on already strained city finances and only provide partial relief to a limited number of homeowners across the city.

The rebates would cost the city $10 million to $50 million. The average checks...

(Hal Dardick)

Molly Poppe, a city spokeswoman, said the mayor's spending plan is designed to address violence and other community needs at the same time.

"By investing in parks, this gives kids options," Poppe said. "They have a playground to go to. They have programming at the parks. This is all about a holistic approach to investing in our community."

"We've been having conversations with Ald. Lopez and we'll continue to have conversations with Ald. Lopez," Poppe added.

hdardick@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @ReporterHal

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