From left, Alds. Bennett Lawson (44) and Bill Conway (34) attend a council meeting on Feb. 19, 2025. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council on Wednesday delayed the approval of an $830 million bond authorization to pay for various infrastructure improvements but voted down a reduction to Chicago’s default speed limit.

The council delayed a final vote on an ordinance (SO2025-0014841) authorizing the city to issue up to $830 million in general obligation bonds to finance myriad things included in the city’s 2024-2028 Capital Improvement Plan, such as bridge and viaduct work, street work, lead service line replacement, aldermanic menu spending and fleet vehicle replacement.   

Alds. Anthony Beale (9) and Raymond Lopez (15) used a procedural motion to delay a vote on the bond proposal after Ald. Bill Conway (34) motioned to send it back to the Committee on Finance, where it was approved last week.  

“It is downright ludicrous for us to borrow an additional $830 million with this proposed debt structure when our financial challenges are so evident,” said Conway, who has been outspoken about the bond plan and voted against it at the finance committee last week. “I support capital investments to our infrastructure. But the question before us is not the what, but rather the how. It is dishonest to suggest that there is only one way to finance road improvements.” 

While a final vote on the matter wasn’t taken, the council appears divided over the borrowing plan. Conway’s motion to re-refer the item to committee was tabled by Finance Chair Pat Dowell (3) in a narrow 27-23 vote. 

Conway and other opponents have criticized the bond proposal as “back-loaded” because principal payments would start after 18 years of interest payments, and payment of the debt would begin in 2027. 

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) said the specific structure of the payment schedule wasn’t revealed to alderpeople until after it passed the finance committee. He said that alderpeople should have known about the specific debt service proposal prior to the finance vote. 

“The problem is the lack of transparency, the lack of honesty and the lack of trust that came by sending this document after the fact,” Waguespack said. “That's been a hallmark of this administration.” 

The city’s general obligation bond rating was downgraded by Standard and Poor’s Global Ratings last month from BBB+ to BBB, which is likely to make it more expensive to borrow money.  

While Dowell said she recognized the “angst” over the city’s current financial situation, “this ordinance represents a continued commitment to the people of Chicago that we hold their standard of living paramount. Improvement projects that continue to keep our streets up to snuff, our streetlights lit, our bridges standing and our sidewalks walkable go beyond just daily maintenance.” 

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday evening, Mayor Brandon Johnson said “there's no debate around the infrastructure needs that we have.”  

Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski didn't explicitly say the ordinance could be tweaked before it comes back to alderpeople but said the proposal presented was the “most conservative financing plan.” 

Dowell acknowledged recent credit downgrades the city has received but said agencies have not cited borrowing for capital improvements as a driving factor for the downgrade. 

S&P said it downgraded the city because “the 2025 budget leaves intact a sizable structural budgetary imbalance that we expect will make balancing the budget in 2026 and outyears more challenging.” 

Budget Chair Jason Ervin (28) criticized his colleagues for making a fuss about the borrowing plan after many opposed measures to increase revenue in the recent budget process or opposed “deal[ing] with expenses.” 

“This is not irrational. This is not illogical,” Ervin said. “The way that this debt is structured, again, is dealing with the confines that we've set forth. Again, we don't want to raise revenue, but again, we still want to have the sidewalks, the streets, the streetscapes, the bridges fixed, all of those things.”

Ervin said the bond plan is “not scoop and toss. We're not borrowing and deferring. We're spending money in a way for the capital expenses that have been laid out.” 

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) attends a council meeting on Feb. 19, 2025. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The council also narrowly voted down a substitute ordinance (SO2024-0010990) from Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) that would reduce the default speed limit in Chicago from 30 mph to 25 mph for roads under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). 

La Spata’s proposal, which aims to reduce fatalities from car accidents, faced delays at the October and January council meetings, especially among Black alderpeople worried that the measure could increase racial disparities in traffic ticketing and disproportionately hurt minorities.  

Referencing that concern Wednesday, Ervin said “I've got people [in my ward] that can barely pay their bills, and a speed camera ticket at 25 or 30 miles an hour can be a vast difference for some people's budgets.” 

Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) echoed that.

“When we put speed cameras in — disproportionately put them in minority communities, particularly in the Black communities, it’s going to impact them financially,” Taliaferro said. 

La Spata has argued that in other cities where a slower speed limit has been tried, it resulted in fewer traffic deaths. 

“We are not so unique as to expect that we would experience none of the benefits of this,” La Spata said. 

“This is not going to have a negative impact on people's lives, it's going to have a positive one,” Ald. Maria Hadden (49) said in support of the measure. 

The new default speed limit would go into effect Jan. 1, 2026 for streets under CDOT jurisdiction, although the default speed limit only applies in areas without a posted speed limit, such as residential streets.  

Posted speed limits, such as slower speed limits in school zones, would still supersede the new default, and roads under Illinois Department of Transportation jurisdiction that have higher posted speed limits, like DuSable Lake Shore Drive, would also remain unaffected. 

Despite the defeat, La Spata told reporters after the meeting the issue was too important to give up on and he had zero regrets about calling for the vote. 

“I think it's important for people to show where they stand on an issue,” La Spata said. The next step, he also said, is speaking with opponents to better understand their concerns, and he said an equity working group established via resolution at the last council meeting is also intended to address disparities. 

Related: Council delays speed limit vote but creates equity working group  

Ald. Andre Vasquez (40) withdrew his intent to call a vote on an ordinance (O2024-0008387) that would require the Committee on Education and Child Development to hold quarterly hearings on the operation and performance of Chicago Public Schools. Vasquez said that after conversations with the mayor’s office and Ervin, he’d go through the committee process.  

Committee items 

Aside from the bond measure, the council approved all other items that were approved at last week’s Committee on Finance meeting, such as financial assistance and legal settlements. 

The council approved an ordinance (O2024-0010991) to provide up to $14 million in tax increment financing (TIF) funds to assist in the construction of a mixed-income housing development planned at 955 N. Larrabee St. in the 27th Ward that will partially serve public housing residents; an ordinance (SO2024-0014175) to issue a city loan and provide other financial assistance to Latin United Community Housing Association for an adaptive reuse of the Humboldt Park United Methodist Church at 2120-28 N. Mozart St. in the 1st Ward; and an ordinance (O2025-0014828) authorizing the allocation of TIF dollars to Franciscan Outreach to create a non-congregate shelter at 2508-2538 W. 21st St. in the 25th Ward. 

Related: Finance committee approves $830M bond issuance, delays vote on Dexter Reed settlement 

Alderpeople also approved items passed by the Committee on Housing and Real Estate, such as the sale of various city lots to support projects such as a community arts center and an industrial building and the acquisition of parcels for the Englewood Nature Trail project.  

Related: Housing committee delays approval of Low-Income Housing Trust Fund board appointments over diversity concerns  

The council gave final approval to an ordinance (SO2024-0010137) approved by the Committee on Transportation and Public Way last week that will expand the definition of vehicles affected under a ban on parking vehicles in public for the sole purpose of displaying them for sale.  

Related: Transportation committee approves changes to ban on parking cars solely for sale purposes, delays vote on measure to require nominees to lead CTA to testify  

Alderpeople gave final approval to myriad projects approved at Tuesday’s zoning committee meeting, including the $7 billion mixed-use development planned for the area around the United Center and a performing arts campus in Uptown. The council also approved the creation of an administrative adjustment to make ground-floor commercial-to-residential conversions easier and allowed in more places. 

Related: United Center development, Black Ensemble Theater campus among projects moved forward at zoning committee 

Finally, the council approved two appointments to Police District Councils approved by the Committee on Police and Fire Tuesday. Alderpeople approved the appointment of Marquinn McDonald, the co-founder and president of WatchGuard Chicago, to the 2nd Police District Council and the appointment of Keola “Keo” Jean-Joseph, a linkage manager for Chestnut Health Systems' Lighthouse Institute, to the 24th Police District Council. 

Alderpeople also approved an ordinance (O2025-0014824), which passed the police and fire committee, to authorize the city’s fire commissioner to apply for and accept grants on behalf of the city for the procurement of equipment, supplies, materials or other personal property when it’s for the purpose of “furthering fire safety.” 

Introductions 

O2025-0015583 - An ordinance from Ald. Matt Martin (47) that would make changes in response to concerns about the city law department’s alleged interference in investigations raised by the Office of the Inspector General in a recent memo. The proposal was punted to the rules committee by Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25). 

R2025-0015310 - A resolution that would direct the commissioner of human resources to “reject or disqualify any applicant for City employment who participated in January 6th [2021] riot at [the] U.S. Capitol.” It follows a similar order put in place last month by Gov. JB Pritzker for state jobs. It's sponsored by Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36).