Ald. Michelle Harris (8) speaks during Tuesday’s public hearing on ward remapping.

With three weeks left until the City Council's deadline to vote on a new ward map, city officials this week rolled out a tool that lets residents draw their own ward maps and submit them to the City Council Committee on Committees and Rules.  

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) on Tuesday defended a proposal to create a new Special Service Area in West Garfield Park.

A West Side business group is crying foul over what it calls political favoritism in a city-backed plan to create a new special taxing district in West Garfield Park, saying the city’s planning department and the local alderman unfairly tanked the group’s bid to manage the district themselves. But city planners and Ald. Jason Ervin (28) hold that the right group won out.

The City Council housing committee approved an extension of an agreement for the city to use 175 rooms in Hotel Julian for congregate living. 

A key City Council committee on Tuesday unanimously approved extending a $540,000-per-month agreement for the city to use rooms in the downtown Hotel Julian to shelter homeless residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Chicago Department of Planning and Development officials showed a map of the planned future street configuration on the Bronzeville Lakefront site during a July City Council committee meeting.

A development coalition's nearly $4 billion proposed “Bronzeville Lakefront” mega-development is set to clear yet another regulatory hurdle on Wednesday — this time to lay the groundwork for tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades.

From left: Ald. Anthony Beale (9), Ald. Walter Burnett (27) and Rush Street Gaming owner Neil Bluhm speak during a City Council committee hearing on Monday.

A shadow war over the future of Chicago’s gambling revenues broke into the open on Monday, as proxies of the city’s pro sports teams tried to assuage city leaders’ fears that allowing sportsbooks at their ballparks and arenas could threaten earnings from a future Chicago casino.

Traffic crash fatalities have risen over the past two years, according to data presented to aldermen Monday by Chicago Department of Transportation Deputy Comm. Vig Krishnamurthy.

Traffic deaths in Chicago have been on the rise during the past two years despite a city initiative whose goal is to bring the number of fatalities down to zero, city transportation officials said Monday. 

A rendering of the main Regal Mile Studios building, looking south from South Chicago Avenue. [Provided via Block Club Chicago]

A Hollywood producer’s plans to build a seven-acre film studio in the South Shore neighborhood is set to take a leap forward on Tuesday as a City Council committee weighs selling a cluster of city-owned land to back the project.

The Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks are backing an ordinance that would allow them to accept bets at the United Center. [Facebook/United Center]

A City Council committee is set to test aldermen’s appetites on Monday to kickstart a stalled ordinance that would open the door to new sports betting hubs at Chicago’s arenas and ballparks. The measure has spent months on the shelf amid a behind-the-scenes battle between sports teams and a new round of would-be casino operators who are looking to consolidate control of sportsbook gambling.

A City Council committee is set on Monday to discuss Vision Zero Chicago. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety on Monday is set to hold a hearing on the city’s initiatives to eliminate fatalities from traffic crashes. 

With a budget allowing for 30 tree trimming crews next year, the city is planning to shift the way it handles tree trimming. [Joe Ward/Block Club Chicago]

By more than doubling the city’s brigade of tree trimming crews in next year’s budget, Chicago is set to begin shifting toward a block-by-block or “grid” system to trim its parkway trees, replacing its complaint-based program that has been widely blamed for months-long backlogs. 

Cook County Comm. Bridget Degnen [right] pressed CTA president Dorval Carter on Thursday for firmer commitments on decarbonizing the transit agency’s bus fleet.

Leaders of the Chicago region’s three major transit agencies promised on Thursday to purge fossil fuels from their systems’ trains and buses by 2040 — but they haven’t done enough yet to convince Cook County commissioners that they’re on pace to meet that deadline.

The City Council Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation approved $75,000 in Open Space Impact Fee funds to expand an urban farm. And public hearings on three Special Service Areas draw support for extensions. 

Aldermen were set to consider a property tax incentive for the developer of the property at 2017 N. Mendell St., but the item was pulled from the agenda on Wednesday. [Department of Planning and Development/Twitter]

A tax incentive for a developer looking to bring a “cannabis farm” or dispensary to a property along the North Branch of the Chicago River near the Lincoln Yards mega-site that aldermen were set to approve Thursday was pulled from the agenda on Wednesday.

An ordinance set for consideration on Thursday would attempt to salvage the county’s Firearms Tax, but it still may not pass legal muster. [ripster8 on Unsplash]

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is proposing to reshuffle the county’s tax on guns and ammunition in an attempt to save the revenue stream after it was struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court last month. But the patch would still leave the tax unconstitutional, according to at least one court justice.

The CTA is earmarking billions of dollars for extensions and upgrades to train lines in its 2022 budget. [CTA/Flickr]

The CTA is moving forward with an ambitious budget for 2022 despite still-cratered revenues and ridership from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some highlights of the $1.7 billion spending plan include a permanent slash in the cost of multi-day passes, the introduction of more electric buses and continued upgrades for stations, tracks and other equipment.