The Council’s License Committee will resume last week’s meeting to take action on a plan to amend the city’s licensing and application requirements for taxis, ride-share cars, horse-drawn carriages, and pedicabs.

The plan from the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection got shelved at last week’s meeting, after cabbies and taxi industry officials argued the proliferation of ride-share cars is pushing their business towards the verge of collapse. They have been demanding that the city require drivers for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing apps obtain a public chauffeur's license, which is required of taxi drivers.

The ordinance was drafted in consultation with a task force Mayor Rahm Emanuel put together in 2014 to “strengthen the taxi industry and create a fairer environment for taxicab drivers.” But several members of that Taxicab Driver Fairness Task Force testified the ordinance barely addressed their concerns.

Two council committees are holding a joint hearing on the city-run health program for senior citizens. Ald. Tom Tunney (44), chairman of the Council’s Special Events and Cultural Affairs Committee, and Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1), chairman of the Council’s Human Relations Committee, had introduced a resolution in January that called for hearings on, “the city’s ability to assist with senior residents’ stabilization program.”

In the preamble of the resolution, they note that according to the 2010 Census, 10.3% of the city’s population are 65 years or older, and that number is projected to double by 2040. It also cites a study from the U.S. Surgeon General that touts the health benefits of exercise for seniors as a way for reducing risks of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, and other ailments associated with aging.

Tunney and Moreno have asked the Director of the city’s Department of Family and Supportive Services and leaders of the city’s Senior Services Area Agency on Aging to appear before their joint hearing today to “discuss the city’s ability to help our Senior Residents ‘age in place,’” and promote programs that encourage “cultural enrichment, health and fitness.”

Chicago taxi drivers warn aldermen that their industry is on the verge of collapse with the proliferation of ride-hailing drivers flooding city streets. A plan to put the City Council in charge of approving new runways at O'Hare Airport fails in committee over the objections of North Side residents exasperated by the constant stream of planes over their homes. And U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin visits City Hall to lobby for a ban on chewing tobacco at Chicago ball parks.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin will pay a visit to City Hall tomorrow to testify in favor of Ald. Ed Burke’s (14) planned direct introduction of an ordinance banning smokeless tobacco at Wrigley Field, U.S. Cellular Field, and all sports venues–professional, collegiate, high school or at organized amateur sporting events–in Chicago.

A press release from Burke’s office says Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston have all implemented similar bans.

If it passes the full Finance Committee, the measure would join Mayor Emanuel’s slew of proposals raising taxes on tobacco products, instituting price floors, and hiking the smoking age in Chicago to 21. Emanuel administration officials have been lobbying aldermen ahead of the Council vote Wednesday. The measure was deferred and published by five aldermen last month, who argued it would hurt retailers (especially in border wards) and fuel the sale of loose cigarettes.

Other items on the agenda:

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  Three tampon tax related items from Finance Chairman Ed Burke: One is a resolution calling on the Illinois General Assembly to adopt legislation to reclassify tampons and sanitary napkins as medical necessities, so those products may be exempt from the state’s sales tax. Another calls on the Illinois Department of Revenue to do the same. The third item is an ordinance amending the city’s municipal code to exempt those products from the city’s 1.5% sales tax. Similar legislation exempting the same products from the county sales tax have been introduced at the Cook County Board. All three items on today’s Finance agenda note that feminine hygiene products such as tampons and sanitary napkins are currently taxed at the rate of 10.25%, which includes a 6.25% state tax; a 1.75% county tax; a 1.5% city tax; and a 1% Regional Transportation Authority tax. That’s because the Illinois Department of Revenue currently classifies tampons and sanitary napkins as “grooming and hygiene” products, not “medical appliances.”

  
  


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  A Resolution to Remove JP Morgan Chase Bank From City’s List of Municipal Depositories: (O2016-690) The ordinance from Ald. Jason Ervin (28) and Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24) that calls for removal of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. as municipal depository for both the City of Chicago and Chicago Board of Education, because the bank plans to close a branch in West Garfield Park, which the ordinance says is “one of the most underserved communities in the city.” The closure goes against City Council’s encouragement that “municipal depositories... act as good corporate citizens by striving to increase access to banking services and catalyze economic development in low-income and underserved communities.”

  
  


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  Establishment of Homebuyer Assistance Program: Mayor Emanuel introduced this ordinance in February to “encourage homeownership” by providing downpayment assistance to low- and middle-income families. Under the program, which will be administered by the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, qualified homebuyers could receive a grant for up to 7% of the total loan amount based on income. The city will invest $1 million toward getting the program off the ground.

  
  


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  A Redevelopment Agreement With Irving Park Property Holdings LLC: This ordinance makes available $2 million in TIF assistance for a mixed-use redevelopment of three vacant buildings in Portage Park’s “Six Corners” shopping district. The developer, Irving Park Property Holdings, LLC, managed by Charles Cui, an immigration lawyer, plans to purchase a vacant two story bank building (4901 W. Irving Park Road), the adjacent building (4925 W. Irving Park Road), a new construction site (4939 W. Irving Park Road) along with a parking lot behind the bank building. Once the TIF money is approved, Cui plans to undertake a $14.1 million dollar project that will transform the bank into a Binny’s Beverage Depot on the first floor, a fitness center on the lower level, and a 300-seat theater space on the second floor. The neighboring building will house an Elly’s Pancake House, and the third building will be a Culver’s drive-thru restaurant.

  
  


• 
  

  Legal Settlements: There are two legal settlements totalling $830K listed on the supplemental agenda. One suit brought forth by Caprice Halley, Tevin Ford, andWillie Douglas alleges illegal strip searches by eight Chicago Police officers. They’re seeking a $205K settlement. The other settlement for $625k was filed by Marlon Pendleton, who was wrongfully convicted in 1993 of a sexual assault. He was exonerated and released from prison in the fall of 2006, after DNA testing proved he was innocent. According to the Innocence Project, Pendleton “repeatedly requested DNA testing before trial, but Pamela Fish, a Chicago Police Department forensic analyst, falsely claimed that the amount of semen recovered from the victim was too small to yield a result.” Gov. Rod Blagojevich pardoned Pendleton in October of 2008.

  
  

After a rambunctious, three hour hearing that pitted the Emanuel Administration and a who’s who of city’s top lobbyists against North Side residents exasperated by the constant stream of planes over their homes, the Council’s Aviation Committee overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to put the City Council in charge of approving new runway construction at O’Hare Airport, with only one alderman, Anthony Napolitano (41), the main sponsor, voting in favor.

Attendance: Chairman Mike Zalewski (23), Pat Dowell (3), Raymond Lopez (15), Derrick Curtis (18), Danny Solis (25), Ariel Reboyras (30), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Pat O’Connor (40), Anthony Napolitano (41), John Arena (45)

“I kind of knew [the vote] was going to go that way. I don’t hold it against any of the other aldermen,” Napolitano said. Ten of his colleagues on the council rejected his plan, which would have called for the immediate reopening of a diagonal runway (32R) and transferred approval authority of new O’Hare runways to the council’s Aviation Committee. “I was elected because I have a spine. I have a soul. I’m going to look at these constituents in the morning and say, ‘Hey, I stood up for you, I fought for you. It’s not over. We just regroup and we go back and figure out what’s going to work.’”

North Side residents and executives with the city’s top business, hospitality and labor organizations crammed into a small room on the second floor of City Hall for the meeting. With nowhere left to sit or stand, the crowd spilled out into the hallway, where City Hall security set up chairs and a loudspeaker for people to listen in.  

But the ordinance was doomed from the start. Neither the Aviation Department nor the city’s Law Department supported the plan, and had said as much to aldermen during private briefings leading up to yesterday’s hearing. Top officials from both departments–Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans and Chief Corporation Counsel Jeff Levine–reiterated those concerns in an exhaustive powerpoint presentation that went on for nearly two hours.

COPY OF CDA’S POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

Even most of the members on the committee opposed the plan, and seemed to agree that yesterday’s hearing was more for show than anything else.

“I think that noise relief is the hidden agenda of this ordinance, the indirect agenda of this ordinance, but I think this ordinance endangers lives, not just in Chicago, but throughout the entire aviation industry and network throughout this country,” freshman Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), a former skycap for Southwest Airlines, said before the public portion. “This ordinance goes beyond that, above and beyond that. And having worked at an airport, I know that if I were to ask you, are the members of the City Council qualified to make decisions based on runway usage, what would your honest answer be? Probably not.”

A who’s who of business, labor and hospitality industry executives slammed the plan, calling it a job-killing, revenue-losing scheme that would devastate the city’s economy at a time when it is still rebounding from the recession. And it seemed that for every resident who bemoaned about jet noise, there was a business executive who warned that there was so much more at stake.

Sam Toia, President of the Illinois Restaurant Association, argued the ordinance would “hamper” future investments at O’Hare Airport and stifle the city’s burgeoning tourism industry. “We are on our way towards bringing 55 million visitors a year to the city of Chicago by 2020, and in order to do that, we need to continue to modernize and expand O’Hare International Airport.”

Jorge Perez, Executive Director of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA), the largest Hispanic-based trade association in the Midwest, expressed worry the ordinance would impact their members’ ability to bid on construction projects at O’Hare. “These projects represent a larger capital investment and opportunities for our members and other minority and women business enterprises from doing work inside the terminals with the airlines and concessionaires.”

Jack Johnson, Senior VP for Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism arm, argued passage of the ordinance would “put a chill through the investment community… send a chill through convention and meeting planners as they think about getting in and out of Chicago… and will send a bad message to leisure tourists who’d say, ‘You know, is it easy to get to Chicago?’”

“We’re not looking to run an airport, we’re not looking to use the buzzwords of ‘We’re going to destroy jobs and shut the airport down and no one is going to work anymore and they’re is not going to be more labor,’” Ald. Napolitano defended. But his and the concerns of those North Side residents who made the trip to City Hall did little to persuade anyone.

And residents argued that they’re just as important to the city as tourists. “I haven’t heard anything about the people of the city as an economic engine, as people who drive the economy with their property taxes, with their expenditures in the city, with their use of the transportation systems, without the residents we don’t have a city,” countered Loretta Galiardi, a resident of the 41st Ward, who said she lives “pretty much under 27L9R,” one of the flight paths.

“The amount of scare tactics I heard today, obviously people have been watching the presidential debates. I can tell you as a citizen, we’re not liking it,” said Suzanne Carbon, a resident of the city’s 39th Ward. “I am not against O’Hare, nor am I against progress, what I am against is the noise and pollution being forced on a concentrated segment of highly populated neighborhoods.”

“No” Votes: Chairman Mike Zalewski (23), Pat Dowell (3), Raymond Lopez (15), Derrick Curtis (18), Danny Solis (25), Ariel Reboyras (30), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Pat O’Connor (40), John Arena (45).

Yesterday the Chicago Board of Elections provided this absentee ballot report, in addition to early vote results:

UNOFFICIAL Early Voting - Day by Day - Citywide data thru 8:50 pm, March 9, 2016
Ballots           Date      Sites Open

190	Feb 17	1 site
194	Feb 18	1 site
194	Feb 19	1 site
48	Feb 20	1 site
36	Feb 21	1 site
192	Feb 22	1 site
192	Feb 23	1 site
159	Feb 24	1 site
173	Feb 25	1 site
198	Feb 26	1 site
114	Feb 27	1 site
65	Feb 28	1 site
9,477	Feb 29	51 sites
6,081	Mar 1	51 sites
6,616	Mar 2	51 sites
5,225	Mar 3	51 sites
7,040	Mar 4	51 sites
9,910	Mar 5	51 sites
1,413	Mar 6	14 sites
8,849	Mar 7	51 sites
10,395	Mar 8	51 sites
10,902	Mar 9	54 sites with UIC, NEIU, CSU
	Mar 10	54 sites with UIC, NEIU, CSU
	Mar 11	54 siteswith UIC, NEIU, CSU
	Mar 12	51 sites
	Mar 13	14 sites
	Mar 14	14 sites
77,663

UNOFFICIAL Cumulative: Feb. 17, 2016 thru March 9, 2016 - As of 8:50 pm
Ward ......Early Voting Ballots

1	1,374
2	1,283
3	2,167
4	2,323
5	1,855
6	1,924
7	2,120
8	2,161
9	2,081
10	1,370
11	2,040
12	898
13	3,200
14	747
15	479
16	862
17	1,500
18	2,276
19	3,350
20	1,080
21	2,079
22	583
23	1,609
24	822
25	986
26	868
27	1,153
28	1,082
29	1,658
30	732
31	629
32	1,265
33	1,126
34	2,595
35	662
36	799
37	1,342
38	1,587
39	1,759
40	1,561
41	2,747
42	1,512
43	1,680
44	1,594
45	1,565
46	1,465
47	2,148
48	1,977
49	1,617
50	1,371
Total	77,663

While Aviation discusses Napolitano's ordinance, the Budget Committee will take up an ordinance to amend the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity requirements with the goal of increasing job opportunities for minority and female workers in all city-funded construction projects, which are worth nearly $300 million annually.

The city incentivizes contractors to set aside a certain number of labor hours for minority and women apprentices, laborers and journeymen when bidding for city contracts. The plan introduced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel increases those bid incentives for vendors to hire minority workers (from 50% to 70%) and for female workers (from 10% to 15%). It also adds new incentives to hire residents from “neighborhoods of economic need.”

The criteria for those “socio-economically disadvantaged areas” are to be determined by the Commissioner of Planning and Development, and will take into consideration the median family income and unemployment rate of an area, among other things. The ordinance also enables the city’s Procurement Officer to create the rules and help administer the program.

“This proposal will ensure that we are leveraging our procurement dollars to create jobs for residents in all parts of Chicago,” Mayor Emanuel said in a press release when he introduced the ordinance in February.

The second item on the agenda renews an intergovernmental agreement with the Chicago Board of Education regarding an environmental program that turns asphalt schoolyards in flood prone neighborhoods into “multifaceted ‘green’ school yards.”

The so-called “Room to Grow” initiative is a partnership between the Chicago Board of Education, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and two non-profits: Openlands and the Healthy Spaces campaign. 

Four Chicago elementary schools received new school yards in 2014 as part of the program: Virgil Grissom, Theophilus Schmid, Donald Morrill Math & Science, and George Leland. Each school got a new school yard that is designed to include, “special gardens, permeable surfaces and other landscape features that absorb large amounts of water, which will help reduce neighborhood flooding.”

The first phase of the “Room to Grow” program cost roughly $5.87 million. The IGA awaiting committee approval today commits $2 million in funding toward that first phase payment, and notes that MWRD will provide matching funds, up to $500,000 for each of those four schools. It also re-ups the program for an additional six schools per year for five years. The total cost is $15 million. The city plans to use revenue from the city’s sewer system to pay for part of the project.

Pedestrian & Traffic Safety Committee

At noon, the Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety meets to discuss and approve routine parking matters.

A new candidate committee was filed yesterday for “Friends of Sophia King”, to support Sophia King for alderman. The address for the committee is listed in the 4th Ward. Aldertrack spoke with the committee’s chairman, Evonne Taylor, who would not provide details about King, but confirmed King had applied to fill Burns’ vacant seat and said the Emanuel Administration has not told her who the finalists are.

The search committee tasked with submitting names to Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced a deadline last Friday. Emanuel Administration officials told Aldertrack this week 18 people applied, but would not disclose names.

King is president of Harriet’s Daughters, “a non-profit group of professional women whose mission is to work collaboratively with peer organizations to advocate for, create and support policies that secure employment and wealth creation opportunities for African-American communities.” U.S. Senate candidate and former Urban League Executive Director Andrea Zopp is also listed as a member, but the organization keeps relatively quiet on social media - its Facebook and Twitter pages are pretty much dark.

A proposal to add a 50-cent surcharge to credit card payments for cab rides in Chicago advanced out of the Council’s Transportation Committee yesterday. Just three of the seventeen aldermen on the committee, including Chairman and sponsor Ald. Anthony Beale (9), were still present when the ordinance was finally voted on at the end of the two hour meeting.

Members Present: Chairman Anthony Beale (9), Pat Dowell (3) Raymond Lopez (11), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Gilbert Villegas (36), Michele Smith (43). Non members: Walter Burnett, Jr. (27), John Arena (45).  

The 50-cent fee is aimed at easing the burden on taxi companies that have to pay a 5% service fee to cash credit card payments. The money will go to the cab companies, not the drivers. This point was clarified in the substitute ordinance that was adopted at yesterday’s meeting, which added the following provision: “The convenience fee shall be used only to cover any portion of the processing fee and related costs that a licensee incurs to accept non-cash payments for taxi services through credit card processing equipment approved by the department.”

When the City Council and the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection approved new rules for the industry in 2015, it set a timeline to decrease the driver’s portion of the service fee to 4% in January 2016 and 3% in July 2016, as a way to lessen the burden on drivers. But the medallion holders who lease the cars out argue they can’t afford to pick up the extra cost either.

“The affiliations [cab companies] are not able to absorb a loss of the kinds we're talking about when processing credit card fees, because of the proliferation of ride-share cars on the market, and… the lack of taxi drivers. The taxi industry is on the verge of collapse,” said Mara Georges, former City of Chicago Corporation Counsel who now represents the Illinois Transportation Trade Association (ITTA), a group comprised of taxicab drivers and medallion owners.

Chicago taxi drivers process an average of 13 million taxi fares a year, according to Georges. When you take into account that each trip costs an average of $25, the 3% service fee that will soon take effect adds up to a lost of over $6.5 million annually, she added. “So here we’ve got a partial solution to a problem that is costing the taxi industry millions of dollars annually. This is not a fix for the collapse of the taxi industry. This is a temporary band aid on a problem that is going to cause the taxi industry’s collapse. Without further action by this council to either regulate ride shares or to ease the regulations on taxi cabs, to level the playing field… the taxi industry will no longer exist in the city of Chicago.”  

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) and Ald. Michele Smith (43) joined Ald. Beale in approving the ordinance. Ald. John Arena (45), who isn’t a member on the committee but a strong proponent of creating more parity between taxi drivers and their ride-share competitors, was also present.

“We need to come up with a comprehensive solution, and we need to do it sooner rather than later. Continuing to put in front, to me personally, these nickel and dime ordinances to just chip away at some minor problems is not the approach I would like to see the administration take,” Ald. Arena opined.

He and Georges have both argued the only way to create true parity between the two competing industries is to require that ride-sharing drivers get the chauffeur licenses that taxi drivers are required to get.

Much of the public testimony at yesterday’s committee meeting consisted of recycled testimony heard at a Licence Committee meeting the day before, when cab drivers and taxi industry officials warned aldermen that they can no longer make a decent living due to the flood of Uber and Lyft drivers on city streets.

This morning the Council’s Aviation Committee will consider a plan by a freshman alderman who wants more Council oversight of runway construction at O’Hare Airport, despite concerns from Aviation Department officials who argue the ordinance would “stunt” O’Hare’s growth and “jeopardize” progress already made as part of a multi-billion dollar modernization plan.

But City Council sources tell Aldertrack it’s unlikely Ald. Anthony Napolitano’s (41) proposal will advance out of committee, because of the legal issues related to  federal aviation rules, outstanding agreements with airlines and unions, and hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding already made available for the O’Hare Modernization Program.

“There’s a chance we might get sued because of what we’re asking here,” Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30), a member on the committee told Aldertrack. “I don’t know in all fairness if we can push this ordinance through.”

Another alderman on the committee, who spoke on background, suggested the hearing on the ordinance is only taking place because aldermanic offices were bombarded with emails from constituents demanding a hearing, following an email blast from Ald. Napolitano’s office last week telling them to do so. At the time, Ald. Napolitano told Aldertrack his lobbying effort wasn’t a ploy to force Committee Aviation Chairman Mike Zalewski’s hand, but to show his colleagues how pressing of an issue this in his community.

Ald. Napolitano, whose 41st Ward includes O’Hare, has argued that if the City Council has the authority to approve stop signs, they should also get to decide if O’Hare can build out its runways, especially at a time when airplane jet noise is a primary concern for North Side residents.

In a letter he sent his colleagues on the Aviation Committee, Napolitano wrote, “We all have requested a stop sign at some point in our Aldermanic career. Think of the steps required for this simple request. An introduction of an Ordinance, CDOT traffic study, approval from the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee and finally approval from the full City Council. All of this for something as simple as a stop sign yet a $700 Million dollar runway that could have a tremendous impact on the quality of life of so many, we have no input.”

Napolitano’s ordinance would prevent Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans from completing or starting any new construction projects at O’Hare until the City Council has a chance to look over and vote on the plans. Specifically, Commissioner Evans wouldn’t have the authority to “manage and control all matters and things pertaining to the construction, reconfiguration, decommissioning, and destruction of runways and taxiways,” without first obtaining approval from the City Council’s Aviation Committee through a public hearing on the matter.

Officials with the Department of Aviation and Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce are expected to testify against the ordinance at today’s meeting.

Despite concerns from some aldermen that the program doesn’t go far enough, the Budget Committee passed an ordinance incentivizing hiring more minority and women contractors and workers from Chicago’s most economically disadvantaged areas on city-funded construction projects.

Attendance: Chairman Carrie Austin (34), Brian Hopkins (2), Roderick Sawyer (6), Anthony Beale (9), Marty Quinn (13), David Moore (17), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Jason Ervin (28), Ariel Reboyras (30), Emma Mitts (37), Tom Tunney (44), James Cappleman (46)

Budget Chair Carrie Austin, often a champion for M/WBE hiring, called the proposal “outstanding” and “very exciting.” She recently secured a four year renewal of the M/WBE Enterprise Construction Program, which included a two percent increase in minority-owned and women-owned business goals for city programs.

Yesterday, the committee approved extra incentives, both introduced by the Mayor, that would change Equal Employment Opportunity Regulations for Minorities and Women. The changes would apply to city-funded projects, not federal, and would be included in every bid contract.

There’s an economic and geographical component to the introduction, meant to drive employment opportunities for apprentices, journeyworkers and laborers in areas with low income, high poverty and unemployment. The city would credit companies that use workers from those disadvantaged areas 150% per hour.

“Right now for every hour you work you get an hour credit. For every hour that someone works that’s in these target areas, they get 1.5 hours of credit,” Chief Procurement Officer Jamie Rhee explained. “When a bidder elects to do this commitment, they get an artificial reduction of their bid. So it really gives them a competitive advantage.”

Rhee says the city didn’t want contractors who were trying to take advantage of that 150% credit to bump up against maximum limits for women and minority hiring, so they’re increasing those from 50 percent to 70 percent for minorities and from 10 percent to 15 percent for women. .

She provided a map to aldermen of disadvantaged areas that qualify for the incentive, which are largely on the South Side. She said it was calculated using the city’s hardship index.

“Oh, that’s all me,” said North Lawndale Alderman Michael Scott Jr. (24) when he saw the map, excited that his residents would benefit.

But he and some other aldermen, including Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27), and Ald. Jason Ervin (28) worried the incentive area–20% of the city–might not be big enough, that the city wasn’t doing enough to promote training for more skilled labor, and that companies could take advantage of the program only to let workers go shortly after hiring them.

“How are we setting people up so they don’t fail? How are we preparing people to be able to work with these contractors? A lot of these contractors love the incentives, a lot of contractors love of us to give them people to work, and they know that they’re not going to be able to hang, right?” Ald. Burnett said. “They hire them for a week and say that they met their obligation, and then they let them go.” He suggested using TIF money for training.

“You can probably put in red every area from Western south of Chicago Avenue to Cermak,” Ald. Ervin told Rhee, saying he’d like to see hardship areas expanded, but “this is a step in the right direction.”

Rhee said contractors will only get the incentive based on the number of hours worked, “So [developers] don’t get any credit for just hiring someone, it’s hours worked over the life of the contract, which we track with certified payrolls.” She says Karin Norington-Reaves, the CEO of the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, is working closely with local unions to get more people properly trained for construction jobs.

“I think you’re going to see, hopefully, a greater partnership between the city and its union partners going forward,” Rhee said. DPS’ upcoming Vendor Fair on May 25 will have union reps in attendance “for the first time ever.”

CPS Playground Intergovernmental Agreement Approved

The Committee also approved an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) and the Board of Education for the second phase of the “Space to Grow” program, which “transforms schoolyards into vibrant outdoor spaces that benefit students, the community, and the environment,” by preventing stormwater runoff with permeable, landscaped playgrounds instead of paved lots.

The first phase of the program included green stormwater infrastructure projects at four CPS schools, all on the city’s South and West Sides. The next phase will expand the program to 30 CPS sites over the next five years. Those sites haven’t been picked yet.

Each stakeholder in the IGA will front a third of the cost. The city will use pay-go funds (revenue from the sewer system) to reimburse the Board of Education for up to $500,000 for each new site. The maximum reimbursement would be $15 million over five years. MWRD will reimburse for the same amount.

Irene Caminer, Director of Legal Services for the Department of Water Management (DWM), said the pilot program at the four schools was “incredibly successful.” Schoolyards that qualified for the pilot programs were in “deplorable” condition before the changes, she said. Aaron Cook, Deputy Commissioner for Green Infrastructure at DWM, says schools are picked based on flood risk in the area, whether that area has deficient playgrounds, whether there are parks and open spaces in the neighborhood, as well as poverty and obesity rates.

Those four new sites have features like turf fields, rain gardens, and porous asphalt basketball courts designed to ease basement flooding and stressing the city’s sewer systems.

Budget Chair Austin told them both to consider a site at Langston Hughes Elementary School at 104th and Wentworth, and other neighborhoods lacking parks on the South and West sides. “Make sure that those areas are included, cause I’ma ride on this one,” she said.

Ald. Emma Mitts (37) departed from the official script a bit, saying DWM and MWRD should also focus on lead testing in those same neighborhoods, pointing to a Chicago Tribune investigation suggesting the city doesn’t test in areas most at risk. Mitts, Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), and officials from city departments hosted a Lead Abatement Town Hall meeting last night.

Aldermen temporarily tabled an ordinance that would “simplify” the city’s licensing fees and application requirements for taxis, ride-share cars, horse-drawn carriages, and pedicabs, after taxi drivers warned they can no longer make a decent living due to the “flood” of competing ride-hailing drivers on city streets.

After a roughly two-hour long hearing that focused more on concerns that the city’s taxi industry is on the verge of bankruptcy than the ordinance at hand, Chairman Emma Mitts (37) announced she would hold on to the ordinance and have the committee reconvene next Monday, after those concerns were addressed.

The ordinance that sparked outrage from the city’s taxi industry sought to modernize and simplify licensing requirements and reduce certain fees and penalties, according to Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Maria Lapacek. Specifically, it makes the following changes:

• Adds new definitions: A “public chauffeur license” now refers to a restricted chauffeur license or a taxi chauffer license. The former license pertains to divers employed by ride-share companies, the latter to taxi drivers. A licensed restricted chauffeur cannot operate taxicabs. The new definitions were added to “clarify” the different licenses offered by BACP, Commissioner Lapacek said.

• Increases fines for unlicensed activity: Those operating a taxi without a public chauffeur license will have to pay $500 to $1,000 for each offense. Currently, the fine range is $75 to $400.

• “Simplify licensing requirements”: Those interested in applying for a public chauffeur's license only need to have had a driver's license for one year, instead of three. They are also no longer required to have an Illinois driver’s license. This change was made to accommodate drivers from ride-hailing companies who have out-of-state plates but want to pick up customers in Chicago, Lapacek explained.If an applicant had their driver's license revoked within the past three years, they will be rejected. The current moratorium is five years.The number of traffic violations an applicant may have in a 12-month period increases from two to three. It decreases the background check period for a suspended driver’s license from five years to three years. These changes were made to “level the playing field” for taxi drivers and those employed by ride-hailing companies, although several who testified said it didn’t go far enough.

• Investigations: The BACP commissioner can investigate applications for new or renewed licenses, including reviewing the applicant’s criminal record, driving record, complaint history, and “any other information that may be reasonably relied upon to issue a license.”

• “Outdated or burdensome laws” eliminated: This includes the prohibition against loitering, courteous behavior, and the surrendering of chauffeur's licensing, among others. The minimum fine for violations imposed on taxi drivers who violate the city’s licensing rules was lowered to $50 from $75.  

• Changes to Horse-Drawn Carriage Licenses: The ordinance lowers the licensing and renewal fee from $25 to $5, removes the provision requiring applicants speak, read, and write English, and adds “cannabis or other illegal drugs” to the list of substances tested. These licenses would be valid for two years from date of issuance. Currently, it’s one year. The city has 30 horse-drawn carriage licences, so the decrease is minimal and aimed at creating consistency among all the licenses to prevent an equal protection lawsuit, Commissioner Lapacek explained.

• Changes to Pedicab Licenses: Fee for license reduced from $25 to $5. It also adds a section clarifying the definition of a pedicab license: “A person engages in a pedicab business by seeking or accepting a fee, an economic benefit of a donation or gratuity, or any form of compensation (goods or services) for providing transportation to passengers in a pedicab.”

The ordinance was drafted in consultation with a task force Mayor Rahm Emanuel put together in 2014 to “strengthen the taxi industry and create a fairer environment for taxicab drivers.” But several members of that Taxicab Driver Fairness Task Force testified the ordinance barely addressed their concerns.

Over the course of public testimony, divers and industry stakeholders argued since the Mayor allowed ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft to operate in the city, medallion cab drivers have spent hours waiting in taxi lines at city airports and driving around the city for hours without customers. As a result, they say they can barely afford to pay their regular lease payments to their employers.

“Myself and every other member on the task force has told the commissioner, the deputy commissioner, and the mayor’s office, over and over again, that the city needs to level the playing field with ride-share, or the taxi industry will be destroyed,” said Ezzedin Abdelmagid, with Cab Drivers United. “And when I say destroyed, I mean my job will be destroyed. Thousands of full time, family supporting jobs will be gone. Transportation access for disabled people in the city will not exist. Millions in city revenue the city collects from taxis will disappear.”

“The assets and retirements and dreams of many small medallion holders have already been destroyed in the last couple of years. If you think this ordinance is going to do anything to level the playing field, you are mistaken,” he added, saying many are going into debt.  

According to Meg Lewis, a researcher with AFSCME, there were no medallion foreclosures two years ago. Now, there are 97 foreclosures, with 28 in the first month of 2016 alone. In 2013, only five taxi companies surrendered their medallions. This year that number is 524. And only one medallion has been transferred since October 2015, at a measly $95,000. That’s a significant drop from the roughly $300,000 price tag on some medallions three years ago.

Since the city opened up the airports to ride-share drivers, a month-to-month comparison of January 2014 and January 2016, the number of taxi rides has gone down by 40,000, Lewis added.

“Although [this ordinance] does address pedicabs and it does address horse-drawn carriages, [it’s] completely silent on the issue that every single member of the task force said was a number one pressing issue for taxi drivers and for fairness in this city,” Lewis argued.   

Other members of the task force who testified against the ordinance reaffirmed their demand to have the city require ride-share drivers be held to the same licensing requirements as cabbies and that the City Council hold hearings on the impact ride-hailing companies have had on the industry.  

Their pleas struck a nerve with several on the committee, like Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), who, towards the end of the meeting, expressed concern the city was creating a monopoly that could end up being very costly, not only in terms of the legal ramifications but also the number of jobs lost.

But most of the outrage over the ordinance came from Ald. John Arena (45), who accused Commissioner Lapacek of “misleading” aldermen, because her office “completely failed” to properly regulate ride-hailing vehicles or hand over “specific data.”

“You continue to come before us with not good information, and, I feel, misled us into what we’re doing here and continue to say we’re fixing this problem. But what we keep hearing is the one thing that would fix the problem is to really regulate TNPs (the license for ride-hailing drivers). That’s what the core problem is. So I’m not going to support another change at all. I’m going to continue to block this, because we’re being lied to. Your department is not doing its job,” Ald. Arena charged.

Before Comm. Lapacek has a chance to fully respond to Arena’s accusations, Chairman Mitts stepped to tell him to speak with her after the meeting and announced she would hold the item and recess the meeting until Monday.

“I understand the problem from the taxi industry, I understand the problem from the ride-share industry, it’s the way we have to come together as a whole to fix this problem,” Mitts interjected. “Because we’re taking jobs and people need jobs… we’re here to fix a problem.

The committee also approved a proposal by Ald. Deb Silverstein (50) to legalize certain “cat cafés” in Chicago. Ald. Silverstein’s application would let animal shelters serve non-alcoholic drinks, but beverages could only be sold in a designated cafe area and to prospective adopters. The two-year permit would cost $250, and only applicants with a valid animal care license, or a member of a humane society “whose mission is to rescue animals” would be eligible. The city’s health department would enforce the rules and violators could face up to $1,000 in fines.

A proposal to add a 50-cent surcharge on credit and debit card payments for taxi rides is up for consideration today by the Council’s Transportation Committee. The ordinanceTransportation Committee Chair Ald. Anthony Beale (9) drafted comes on the heels of a 15% taxi fare hike the Council passed in the 2016 budget. It’s aimed at helping cabbies struggling to compete with Uber, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Speaking during yesterday’s License Committee on a separate taxi-related ordinance, Fayez Khozindar, Chairman of the United Taxi Drivers Community Council, says credit card payments have become a burdensome issue for cab drivers. Khozindar argued that since the city mandated each taxi have a credit card machine 12 years ago, drivers have had to eat the cost of the “expensive equipment” needed to protect customers’ credit card information. Cab drivers have also had to pay a significant portion of the 5% credit card transaction fee: $50 for every $1,000 made. “The 50-cents are not going for the driver, the 50-cents is to help pay the expensive equipment and the source credit card data and other related expenses,” he explained.

In the last quarter of 2015, October through December, the Illinois Transportation Trade Association PAC, a fund to support the Illinois taxicab industry, donated $3,000 to Ald. Beale, in addition to giving $10,000 to the Chicago Progressive Reform Caucus and $2,000 to Ald. John Arena, another progressive caucus alderman.  

The city’s Community Development Commission approved the acquisition of the former Old Main Post Office building through eminent domain, as well as a request from the Department of Planning and Development to find a new developer to take over the site, despite significant pushback from attorneys representing the building’s current owner.

DPD Staff Report on Old Post Office Acquisition Authority

DPD Staff Report on Old Post Office Request for Proposals   

The U.S. Post Office sold the historic building in 2009 to International Property Developers North America, Inc. (IPD) for $25 million dollars. In 2013, the same developer bought the neighboring annex property for an additional $14 million.

IPD had planned a $3.5 billion mixed-use development to be completed in phases, including three towers and 16-million-square-feet of residential, retail, entertainment and office spaces. In July 2013, the City Council approved an amendment to the planned development for an additional 2,100 residential units in the old post office building. Plans for a hotel and commercial retail space on adjacent land were also approved.

The first phase of the project was scheduled to get underway in early 2015, but according to DPD, no significant redevelopment work has been completed to date.  

“The site is one of the city’s most prominent riverfront redevelopment sites. The lack of development, progress, and need to safely secure the buildings have prompted the department to take action,” Mary Bonome with the Department of Planning and Development explained in her opening testimony to the mayor-appointed panel.

John George, an attorney representing British developer Bill Davies, voiced his annoyance in a Sun-Times article yesterday morning that detailed the city’s decision to take over the project, saying “it didn’t give consideration to why the man who owns the property didn’t go through with the deal.”

He argued that Davies really only had two years to work on the project, since the amended planned development for the site wasn’t approved until three years ago. “And as all of you know, in terms of obtaining the financing to do the work, you cannot get financing through any reputable financial institution until you have proper zoning. So we couldn’t start going to the financial people until July of 2013.”

Between 2010 and 2013, Georges said, they spent “enormous time and enormous sums of money” trying to get this project approved by various delegate agencies.

“I really think it’s unfair what’s being proposed here. I think we should be entitled to continue on with our efforts… maybe we have been remiss in bringing to the attention of the city all of the things we are doing on this property,” he pleaded.

In 2012, the city filed a complaint in the Cook County Circuit Court alleging 18 building violations. The case is still open. From the initial filing date through today, the developer has “struggled to maintain the building in a safe condition,” Bonome explained.

Local Ald. Danny Solis (25) testified in favor of the proposal, noting various building fires and ventilation issues that he’s had to deal with at the site and the trouble he’s had communicating with the developer.

While DPD has no specific proposals for how to develop the site, the RFP authorization gives the department the ability to find new development team and pay the city’s share of acquiring the property. The city will officially issue the RFP next week and hold a pre-bid conference in April. Based on questions and comments that may arise at that April meeting, the June 10th deadline for submissions may be extended.  

Mayor Emanuel plans to seek final approval of the acquisition from the City Council in the next two months.

Hailing it as a “significant step in rolling back 30 years of failed tough-on-crime policies that have torn apart communities of color and failed to improve public safety,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and state lawmakers unveiled Preckwinkle’s legislative agenda on criminal justice at a press conference Tuesday.

The agenda consists of four bills introduced in the Illinois General Assembly, sponsored by State Sen. Kwame Raoul, Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, and Rep. Elaine Nekritz. Per the President’s office: 

• SB 3292 (Raoul) - Once amended, will:

  • Make residential burglary, second and subsequent Class 2 felonies, and certain drug violations probationable (per the recommendation of the Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform).

  • Create misdemeanor-level possession of a controlled substance offense for 1 gram or under.

  • Narrow the scope of the Class X sentence enhancement for repeat offenders to focus primarily on violent crimes.

• HB 6290 (Nekritz) - Would ban commitment of juveniles to the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice for any offense under the Illinois Controlled Substances Act.

• HB 6291 (Nekritz) - Would end mandatory 5-year probation for juveniles for Class X and Forcible Felonies.

• HB 2470 (Currie) - Would provide periodic judicial review of sentences for anyone sentenced to 40 years or more as a juvenile in adult court.

Preckwinkle said these changes will help to reduce the state prison population, improve public safety, and bring juvenile justice laws in line with research and best practices. Commissioners Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Stanley Moore, Luis Arroyo, Jr. and State Rep. Elgie Sims were also in attendance. Preckwinkle thanked the ACLU, the Cook County Public Defender and Restore Justice Illinois “for their partnership.”

It’s the second initiative Preckwinkle has announced in as many weeks to reduce prison populations. On Feb 29, she and officials from the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) announced a series of behavioral health initiatives aimed at reducing costs and the headcount at Cook County Jail. Those proposals include a planned early intervention triage center on the city’s South Side, a behavioral health partnership with groups like C4 and Metropolitan Family Services, expanded substance abuse treatment, and integrating behavioral health services with primary care at CCHHS’ 16 community health centers.

In a statement, Dr. Jay Shannon, CEO of CCHHS said, “Waiting until an at-risk individual is arrested and detained is both costly and a failure of our societal systems. If we can employ strategies to link individuals with the needed services before they commit a crime related to untreated or undertreated behavioral health disorders, then we can reduce the jail population, emergency room visits and improve the health and safety of our communities.”