Alex Nitkin is The Daily Line’s reporter covering Cook County and Chicago land use policy. He came to TDL from The Real Deal Chicago, where he covered Chicago real estate news. He previously worked at DNAinfo, first as a breaking news reporter, and then as a neighborhood reporter covering the city's Northwest Side. Nitkin graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with a bachelor’s degree.
Bio
Solutions reporter, @IllinoisAnswers/@BetterGov. Formerly of @thedailylinechi, @trdchicago & @DNAinfoChi. Amateur baker. Tips: [email protected]
Aldermen gave a nod on Tuesday to a proposal allowing the city’s Department of Family and Support Services to open temporary homeless shelters at two Chicago Public Schools buildings, acknowledging in the process that the city’s Covid-19-related housing crisis is only beginning.
South Side school buildings converted to temporary shelters to ‘decompress’ homeless population
A proposed ordinance to ban the sale of flavored tobacco faces stiff backlash from store owners, law enforcement and some aldermen.The sale of most flavored vaping products will be banned under a compromise ordinance advanced by aldermen on Friday intended to crack down on teen smoking without opening a new black market or inflicting too much pain on businesses.
Flavored vaping ban, police misconduct settlements, firefighters union contract approved during week of committee hearings
A 15-story condo tower proposed by Sulo Development at 19 N. May St. is scheduled to receive zoning approval on Tuesday. [Chicago Department of Planning and Development]West Loop, West Town development proposals set for zoning approval
Chicago Department of Housing Comm. Marisa Novara showing a map of the Woodlawn neighborhood in relation to the planned site of the Obama Presidential Center during a meeting of the City Council housing committee on WednesdayAldermen on Wednesday celebrated a new ordinance aimed at protecting Woodlawn residents near the future site of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, touting the plan as a potential blueprint for stemming displacement in neighborhoods all over the city.
Woodlawn ordinance spurs call for ‘proactive’ anti-displacement policies citywide
Department of Business Affairs Comm. Rosa Escareño and Ald. Michele Smith (43) during a meeting of the City Council Committee on License and Consumer Protection on TuesdayA new ban on single-night stays in Airbnb and other short-term rental properties could be temporary, according to language inserted into a sweeping update to the city’s home-sharing regulations hours before the ordinance was approved.
Updated home-sharing ordinance softens single-night stay ban, expands precinct-level prohibitions
Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20) speaks during a press conference in February. [The Daily Line/Heather Cherone]
Woodlawn housing preservation ordinance set to take leap forward Wednesday
An Airbnb listing in Chicago. An ordinance set for consideration on Tuesday would tighten local regulations on home-sharing platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway. [Airbnb]
Home-sharing crackdown ordinance would ban single-night stays, fine hosts up to $10K for loud parties
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) during a Friday City Council meetingThe City Council voted on Friday to shelve two proposals and ignore a third posed by critics of Mayor Lori Lightfoot during a special meeting designed to force the mayor’s hand on the city’s mounting financial and public safety crises.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), Ald. Anthony Beale (9), Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) and Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) invoked a rarely-used rule to schedule the meeting, saying they were being left in the dark about the city’s plans to tamp down crime and fill a $700 million gap in this year’s budget.
Lightfoot quells City Council rebellion on budget, policing as critics demand details
Chicago Deputy Planning Commissioner Kathy Dickhut gives a presentation on the “We Will Chicago” plan during a meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission.
Chicago city planners of the mid-20th Century hardened lines of racial segregation by dividing neighborhoods with expressways and demolishing others under the guise of “slum clearing.” Now city officials are hoping a new plan can undo the damage.
Leaders of the city’s Department of Planning and Development on Thursday pinned high hopes on the “We Will Chicago” plan, a master document intended to “guide future budgeting, policy, and development decisions citywide” for decades to come. Once adopted in late 2022, they said it could unite a fractious city toward a more just future.
Multi-year ‘We Will’ plan could draw roadmap to future desegregation, officials say
Chicago planning officials under Mayor Lori Lightfoot will formally kick off a multi-year process on Thursday to create a centralized plan intended to guide the city’s construction, transportation and greening priorities for decades to come.
Leaders of the Department of Planning Development are scheduled to open Thursday’s meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission by giving a presentation on the “We Will Chicago” plan, a long-range document envisioned as a “framework to justify and guide future budgeting, policy, and development decisions citywide.”
Lightfoot to pitch first citywide plan in decades as ‘guiding vision’ for post-pandemic development
Ald. Anthony Beale (9) and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) [Block Club Chicago/Colin Boyle; Facebook/Alderman Raymond Lopez]
Four aldermen including two of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s loudest City Council critics invoked a rarely-used rule on Wednesday to schedule an impromptu meeting they say is needed to address recent looting and violent crime, in part by demanding the deployment of National Guard troopsto the city.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), Ald. Anthony Beale (9), Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) and Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) announced in a press release Wednesday that they had written a letter to Clerk Ana Valencia requesting that she schedule a virtual meeting at 10 a.m. Friday “to address some of the safety concerns businesses and residents and vote on possible solutions moving forward.” Notice of the meeting was posted to the clerk’s website on Wednesday.
Aldermen force special City Council meeting on public safety; Lightfoot dismisses as ‘grandstanding’
Budget Director Susie Park shows a breakdown of the $4.4 billion needed for maintenance of city infrastructure over the next five years, including $2.7 billion the city has not accounted for.Chicago is billions of dollars short of the money needed to bring the city’s aging streets, water pipes, traffic lights and public buildings up to par with modern standards, leaders of multiple city agencies told aldermen on Tuesday.
City must find $2.7B for aging infrastructure, $10B for lead pipe program, officials say
City budget, transportation officials to face City Council grilling on infrastructure spending
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot [City of Chicago]‘Redefine’ policing but don’t defund it, Lightfoot says in nationwide report on police reform
Republican former Judge Pat O’Brien is challenging State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for reelection in November.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has found herself increasingly on the defensive this summer as Chicago reels from a historic spasm of violence and racial unrest, culminating in the widespread looting of downtown businesses early Monday morning.
Now, former Judge Pat O’Brien is hoping the backlash against is fierce enough push Cook County voters to a once-unthinkable feat: electing a Republican to countywide office for the first time in nearly three decades.
Republican O’Brien seizes on looting, violence in longshot bid to unseat Foxx in November
Former Cook County Board of Ethics member Juliet Sorensen during a virtual town hall; Cook County Board President Toni PreckwinkleCook County leaders are vowing to press forward with a series of revisions to beef up the county’s ethics ordinance in the wake of a controversial shake-up in the appointed board that crafted the changes.
New Cook County ethics rules due for September resurrection as appointed board nears 6-month hiatus
Revenues from the special taxing districts jumped inside the city by more than 10 percent since last year, according to a report published Thursday by Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough. When including money from districts scattered across the Cook County suburbs, TIF revenue topped $1.3 billion. Those numbers represent values assessed for the 2019 tax year, which property owners are paying this year.
Chicago to reap more than $900M in TIF this year as budget crisis looms
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s office is scheduled to assume the duties of the Recorder of Deeds’ office, currently led by Ed Moody, in December.Representatives of Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough predict being able to save the county up to $1.1 million next year by assuming the staff and responsibilities of Cook County Recorder of Deeds Ed Moody, more than doubling earlier expectations. However, the offices still face significant hurdles, including a historic budget crisis that may force more cuts and convincing a court-appointed monitor that they can purge patronage from their hiring practices.
Imminent merger of Clerk, Recorder of Deeds offices will save county millions, officials say
Offices under Preckwinkle score mixed grades under self-published ‘performance dashboards’
Commissioners debate the “Justice for Black Lives” resolution during a meeting of the Cook County Board of Commissioners on Thursday.
County resolves to ‘redirect’ dollars away from law enforcement, labeled a ‘failed system’
Bio
Solutions reporter, @IllinoisAnswers/@BetterGov. Formerly of @thedailylinechi, @trdchicago & @DNAinfoChi. Amateur baker. Tips: [email protected]
