Aldermen are set to take up a proposal in committee on Wednesday to loosen rules for charity food vendors as well as a resolution calling on credit agencies to go easier on Chicagoans. And a City Council committee meeting was postponed on Tuesday due to a lack of quorum.

Chicago Department of Aviation Comm. Jamie Rhee speaks to members of the City Council Aviation Committee on Monday.

Aldermen voted unanimously Monday to advance a land deal designed to smooth the path for a new expressway along the west edge of O’Hare Airport, a decades-in-the-making project one key official said has “national significance.”

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) speaks during a committee meeting on Monday.

A proposed ordinance that cleared a key City Council committee on Monday would bar people who are charged with or convicted of hate crimes and treason from doing business with the city.

City officials hope a new ordinance partnering with the Cook County Land Bank Authority will help speed efforts to rehab long-vacant and neglected properties. [Eric Allix Rogers on Flickr]

A proposal that would empower city housing and planning officials to work with county officials to reclaim and rehab long-abandoned properties is set for a vote in the City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate Tuesday. The committee is also set during the 10 a.m. meeting to approve a city-backed loan for an Englewood affordable housing complex and the sale of an Austin city-owned lot to a neighboring church.

A key committee is set on Tuesday to consider eight appointments and reappointments to various Special Service Area commissions throughout the city. And aldermen moved to force a special City Council meeting in a push to get city health officials to consider “natural immunity” in its vaccination calculus.

Left: Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez (25) at a City Council meeting. Right: The Giant Penny Whistle in 2019. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago; Mauricio Pena/ Block Club Chicago]

This article was first published in Block Club Chicago.

Pilsen’s alderman and neighbors are suing the city and the former alderman, alleging officials wrongly issued a liquor license to the Giant Penny Whistle despite city rules prohibiting taverns in the area.

Trump Tower in the city’s River North neighborhood

The City Council Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity is set on Monday to consider an ordinance that would bar people who are charged or convicted of crimes of treason and sedition from doing business with the city.

A map and timeline of road construction projects planned as part of the Elgin O’Hare West Access Project [Illinois Tollway Authority]

A $3.4 billion plan to open western highway access to O’Hare International Airport is set to vault forward on Monday as aldermen weigh a land transfer deal that would allow the Illinois Tollway Authority to begin construction on a new roadway along the outer edge of the airport.

A group of aldermen penned a letter on Friday demanding the city commit to not disciplining police officers who remain unvaccinated by a Monday deadline. And nearly 8,000 derelict properties were scooped up in the biennial Cook County Scavenger Sale.

Members of the Latino Caucus and other aldermen in December submitted paperwork for their map to be placed on the June 28 ballot. [Justin Laurence / Block Club Chicago] 

A group of aldermen who already submitted their proposal for a new ward map to be placed on the June 28 primary election ballot want to make tweaks to their proposal to accommodate a potentially powerful new ally as the campaign ramps up. But amending the map, which has already been approved for the ballot by the City Clerk’s office, will be virtually impossible without a complex web of legislative maneuvering. 

Police misconduct claims cost Chicago taxpayers more than $40 million in 2020, a tally that is likely to more than double for 2022, city records show. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago taxpayers shelled out more than $40 million in 2020 for plaintiffs and their attorneys who alleged misconduct against the Chicago Police Department, according to a report published by the city’s law department last week. And early indications show the city’s police-related legal costs have only risen since. 

City and transit officials on Wednesday announced new efforts to increase private security and the presence of police officers at CTA stations and on buses and trains. City housing officials confirmed they will push to extend a demolition fee pilot in gentrifying neighborhoods. Aldermen will make appointments to the Advisory Council on Cultural Affairs and Special Events. And a watchdog office credited the Chicago Department of Transportation for improving its management of the city’s traffic signals but said the department still has more work to do. 

Aldermen have begun interviews applicants to serve on the interim Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability. [Erin Hegarty / The Daily Line]

A working group of aldermen has begun interviewing the dozens of people who applied to serve on the interim Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, and a list of nominees could be sent to Mayor Lori Lightfoot for consideration in April, officials said Tuesday.  

From left: Frank Avila, Rick Garcia and Cristina Nonato are running on a slate together for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners. Elizabeth Joyce is also running on the slate for a two-year term.

An ousted commissioner of the $1.2 billion agency responsible for treating Cook County’s wastewater is leading an insurgent slate of candidates to reclaim seats on its board this year, setting up a test of the Cook County Democratic Party’s power in down-ballot races. 

The Congress Theater, taken Feb. 24, 2020. [Mina Bloom/Block Club Chicago]

This article was first published in Block Club Chicago.

A plan to free up a big chunk of city funding for the long-delayed redevelopment of the Congress Theater is headed to the City Council for final approval.