The Chicago City Council is back at full strength after a nearly six-hour meeting. [Follow our minute-by-minute account via our Twitter feed: @TheDailyLineChi.]

A resolution from Comm. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-7) that decried President Donald Trump’s policy of child separation brought impassioned testimony from public health advocates and elected officials Wednesday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointment of former Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (A2018-53) to the Chicago Public Library board sailed through the City Council’s Budget Committee, and is set for final approval by the full City Council Wednesday.

Aldermen on the Rules Committee approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointee to fill the 23rd Ward vacancy left by retiring Ald. Mike Zalewski. Silvana Tabares has represented the city’s Southwest Side 21st House District in the general assembly since 2013 and is cleared for a vote from the full City Council Wednesday.

The City Council will gather Wednesday for its June meeting, where aldermen are expected to ratify Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointment of Silvana Tabares to replace retired 23rd Ward Ald. Mike Zalewski and amend the city’s anti-loitering ordinance for the first time in approximately 20 years as part of a crackdown on prostitution.

Aldermen are also set to scale back their recently adopted “Hands Off Pants On” ordinance (O2018-173) to only require hotels to provide employees who work in guest rooms with panic buttons to protect them from being sexually assaulted or harassed.

The City Council is also expected to act to approve higher limits on raffles to clear the way for the 40th drawing in the raffle at McNally’s on Western Avenue in Morgan Park, where the jackpot in a raffle benefiting St. Cajetan School has reached $1 million.

The proposal would increase grand prize in a raffle from $500,000 to $2 million and the total value of all prizes in a raffle from $1 million to $4 million at the request of Ald. Matt O’Shea (19.)

In addition, aldermen are expected to agree to put three non-binding resolutions before voters on the November ballot:

• ln the event marijuana is legalized, should the City of Chicago appropriate revenue from the sale of marijuana to increase funding for Chicago Public Schools or mental health services?


• Should the City of Chicago ban the use of plastic straws within the corporate city limits?


• Should the City of Chicago seek that the State of Illinois create a homeowners property tax exemption for families in municipalities of over 500,000 that have lived in their home for over 10 years and whose income is under $100,000?

The Finance Committee is set to meet before the full City Council meeting to consider two largely symbolic resolutions condemning President Donald Trump’s immigration policy that resulted in the separation of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Other Items Slated for Approval:

• 606 Trail grants — (O2018-4109) A mayoral initiative would offer those who own single-family homes and apartment buildings of up to four units near the trail grants of up to $25,000 for masonry repairs, porch and roof improvements, tuckpointing, door and window repairs and other exterior upgrades. [Our coverage.]


• Police Misconduct Settlements – Aldermen are set to settle two lawsuits alleging police misconduct totaling $6 million. [Our coverage]


• Water, wastewater improvement bonds (O2018-4641; O2018-4552) — $900 million in bonds to fund ongoing work.


• Year-round sidewalk cafes (O2018-4138) — Backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, sidewalk cafes could operate during December, January and February as long as they provide city officials with proof of insurance coverage. [Our coverage.]


• Police Board appointment (A2018-40) — Paula Wolff, the director of the Illinois Justice Project, will fill the seat let vacant on the board by former Police Board President Lori Lightfoot’s resignation to run for mayor.  [Our coverage.]


• Chicago Housing Authority board appointments — Three new members are set to join the Chicago Housing Authority board: Bill Thanoukos (A2018-49); Debra Parker (A2018-50) and James E. Matanky (A2018-51.) [Our coverage.]


• City Colleges of Chicago board appointments — Three appointments cleared the committee for the City Colleges board: the reappointments of Clarisol Duque and Elizabeth F. Swanson (A2018-44), and a new appointee, Rebeca Nieves Huffman (A2018-44.)


• Chicago Park Board appointments —  Two new members are set to join the Chicago Park Board: Avis LaVelle (A2018-47) and Donald J. Edwards (A2018-48.)


• Library board appointments — Alexi Giannoulias (A2018-53) is set to join the Chicago Public Library board, while Denise Gardner, Linda Johnson Rice and Lynn Lockwood (A2018-54) have been reappointed by the mayor. [Our coverage.]


• Bid incentives for diverse workforces — (O2018-4173) Championed by Ald. Sophia King (4,) the new rules would give companies with diverse management teams a boost when bidding for city contracts.


• Road widening for The 78 — (O2018-4151) A plan for a road and pedestrian connection between the South Loop and Chinatown “to extend Wells Street south from Roosevelt Road through the recently announced ‘The 78’ project and connect to a new section of Wentworth at 16th Street on the north side of Chinatown.”


• Chicago River bridge — (O2018-4620) A new easement agreement to allow improvements along the Chicago River near the Lathrop Homes.


• Special Olympics Drive — (O2018-4791) An agreement to change the name of Museum Campus Drive near Soldier Field to Special Olympics Drive between 18th Street/Burnham Harbor Drive to McFetridge Drive.


• Nurses contract — (O2018-4148) An agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 743, which represents nurses employed by the Chicago Department of Public Health through 2022. [Our coverage.]


• Tax breaks — Paasche Airbrush Co. (R2018-36); Phoenix Bean Tofu (R2018-498) and Meeting Tomorrow Properties (R2017-118) are all set to get breaks on their property taxes, pending approval from the Cook County Assessor. [Our coverage.]


• TIF for Edens Collection —  O2018-4527) – The $58 million Edens Collection project in Mayfair is set to get a $13 million from the city’s newest tax increment financing district.


• Goodbye Wrigleyville Taco Bell — (O2018-1003) The haven for some Cubs fans would be transformed into a new climbing gym at 1101 W. Addison St.


• West Side affordable housing — (O2017-3807) Heartland Alliance plans to build a 78-unit supportive and affordable housing development at 1519 W. Warren Blvd. [Plan Commission coverage]


• More Development Near North and Clybourn — (O2018-3787) A $27 million development at 750 W. North Ave. that will feature 92 units and just 10 parking spaces would reshape the area around the famed Steppenwolf theater. [Plan Commission coverage]


• New life for former West Side YMCA — (O2017-7019) — The old Salvation Army Freedom Center would be transformed into 260 units as part of a $30 million redevelopment at 1515 W. Monroe St. in the 28th Ward. [Plan Commission coverage]


• 13th Ward home-sharing bans (O2018-4030, O2018-4031 and O2018-4759) — From Ald. Marty Quinn (13), the trio of measures would ban new Airbnb or home-sharing services in the 5th, 19th and 9th precincts of this Southwest Side ward, where 90 percent of residents live in single-family homes.


• Two transit-oriented developments — (O2018-3987, O2018-1885) in the 40th and 47th wards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The City Council’s Zoning Committee voted 7-5 Tuesday to kill a seven-story, 297-unit luxury apartment complex near the Cumberland CTA Blue Line station.

Cook County commissioners meet bright and early for a finance- and contract-heavy day. A smaller subset of commissioners will vote to appoint new and recurring faces to two of the county’s transit boards, and will take on a resolution condemning President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel tapped an alderman without an airport in his ward to oversee the city’s Aviation Department, and aldermen brokered a deal to honor a Civil Rights icon by renaming a street that now honors the U.S. Congress. Chicagoans who earn the minimum wage will get a raise starting Sunday.

Commissioners approved language and fee changes in the county’s medical examiner ordinance, pushing back against criticism that those changes weakened the office after a Sun-Times investigation said the office “routinely fails to abide by a requirement that it send an investigator to the scene of every suspicious death, including all homicides and suicides.”

Cook County commissioners meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday for consent calendar items, including honors for the late judge George N. Leighton and union organizer Edward Sadlowski. Three committees meet later in the day to consider new financial reporting measures, a “watered down” medical examiner’s ordinance, and court cases over false confessions and inmates who expose themselves at county lockups.

Aldermen have a full slate of committee meetings on tap Tuesday, including a Zoning Committee session that promises a renewed fight over apartments on the Far Northwest Side. The City Council’s Rules Committee will consider Emanuel’s appointment of Silvana Tabares as 23rd Ward alderman — and placing three non-controversial questions before voters in November. While traveling in Washington D.C., Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the latest in a string of initiatives designed bolster the city’s stock of affordable housing. Cook County Clerk David Orr, who will retire at the end of his term, formed a political action committee.

Aldermen will once again consider approving a seven-story, 297-unit luxury apartment complex near the Cumberland CTA Blue Line station Tuesday — nine months after they shelved the project because of objections lodged by 41st Ward Ald. Anthony Napolitano, triggering a lawsuit.

The budget committee meets at 10 a.m. to consider former Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’ appointment to one of the city’s most coveted boards, to mandate city buildings are equipped with nursing rooms, and weigh bid incentives for firms with diverse workforces.

The City Council’s Finance Committee put off considering most of the high-profile items that had been on the agenda for its Wednesday meeting, including a ban on the sale of flavored nicotine cartridges designed to be smoked with an electronic cigarette and an effort to close a loophole the city’s ban on puppy mills.

Ald. Ed Burke’s (14) continuing efforts to crack down on tobacco use in Chicago will once again take center stage at City Hall Monday morning, with the Finance Committee set to consider a ban on the sale of flavored nicotine cartridges designed to be smoked with an electronic cigarette.