Chuck Brady speaks during a committee meeting. [City of Chicago livestream] 

A City Council committee on Tuesday approved a resolution encouraging participation in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Census.

From left, Cook County commissioners John P. Daley and Bill Lowry, chair and vice chair of the county Finance Committee respectively, are pictured during a board meeting Dec. 5, 2022. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The Cook County Environment and Sustainability Committee will consider a resolution in support of environmental justice during a Wednesday meeting, while the county’s zoning committee is set to consider a map amendment to make way for a trucking depot in Stickney.

County committees will also get a status update on the county’s guaranteed basic income program and could approve a resolution to compare the cost between merging or maintaining two separate software systems for property tax administration. 

The City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday to consider a resolution encouraging participation in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Census. 

Guests are pictured at the Brookfield Zoo. [Jim Schulz/CZS-Brookfield Zoo]

The Board of Commissioners for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County during a 10 a.m. meeting Tuesday will consider a measure hiking the cost of entry and parking at the Brookfield Zoo.

Board members will vote on a proposed amendment (23-0183) to an agreement between the forest preserve district and the Chicago Zoological Society, the private nonprofit that operates and maintains the Brookfield Zoo, which would allow admission and parking rates to be raised over the next year to support the zoo’s 2023 spending plan. 

Five candidates are vying to become the new 10th Ward alderman in a race that is wide open with Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) set to retire at the end of this term.  

The race to represent the Southeast Side ward promises to be one to watch with various labor groups, elected officials from multiple levels of government and mayoral candidates making endorsements in the race and helping to fund candidates’ campaigns. 

Aldermen and the mayor introduced new legislation during Wednesday’s City Council meeting. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Aldermen on Wednesday introduced proposals to begin discussing the possibility of ranked choice voting in Chicago municipal elections, a resolution urging the Illinois General Assembly to pass legislation to allow the city to establish safe consumption sites to prevent overdose deaths and a measure to change what tax-increment financing (TIF) dollars can be spent on. 

The county this week announced a multimillion-dollar program to assist suburban Cook County communities in fleshing out their climate change responses and gave residents an update on how money spent from the county Equity Fund has been used, as well as a preview of how it will be used in the coming year. 

From top left, Kim Walz, Angela Clay, Marianne Lalonde, and from bottom left, Patrick Nagle, Roushaunda Williams and Michael Cortez. All are running for 46th Ward alderman.

In the six-way election battle to succeed retiring Ald. James Cappleman (46) on Feb. 28, most of the candidates started the year with tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash as candidates rack up large donations from labor groups, other elected officials and a third-party delivery app. The 46th Ward covers Uptown and portions of Lakeview.

Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) speaks during the City Council meeting Wednesday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

Aldermen on Wednesday laid a roadblock to the ordinance Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced during this month’s City Council meeting setting out the city’s proposed new franchise agreement with ComEd. 

Members of the City Council Committee on Finance met in council chambers Tuesday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

The City Council will meet Wednesday for its final regularly scheduled meeting before the Feb. 28 municipal election when Chicagoans will vote for mayor, aldermen and the newly created police district councils. 

While Wednesday’s agenda is light, aldermen are set to consider proposals that would add a new city offense for assaulting paramedics and another that would grant an $800,000 payment to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a man who was fatally struck by a city tow truck driver at O’Hare International Airport. Aldermen are also expected to vote on a controversial expansion by Norfolk Southern Railway. 

The Logan Boulevard bike lane between Rockwell Street and Diversey Parkway. [Erin Hegarty] 

Bike, pedestrian and transit advocacy groups say the conversation is shifting on transportation-related issues facing Chicago after all eight candidates challenging Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the Feb. 28 election gathered at the University of Illinois at Chicago last weekend to answer questions about bike and pedestrian safety and the CTA.

Lightfoot, who is seeking a second term as mayor, did not attend the forum.

The municipal election is Feb. 28. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

With the Feb. 28 election less than one month away, incumbent Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) has the most cash on hand, according to campaign finance records, in the four-way race to represent the 1st Ward on the City Council. 

Joe Senorski, director of political action for Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, speaking during a committee meeting Monday. [City of Chicago livestream] 

A proposal to add a new offense to Chicago’s municipal code for assaulting emergency workers, particularly ambulance drivers and emergency medical services personnel, will go to City Council for final approval Wednesday. 

A key committee on Tuesday will consider $1.8 million in payments to settle lawsuits filed against the city. And aldermen will discuss a proposal that would codify the right of workers at health and social service organizations that receive city grant funding to unionize. 

The City Council Committee on Public Safety is scheduled to meet Monday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

A proposal from Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) would create a new offense under the city code for anyone who assaults emergency workers, particularly ambulance drivers and emergency medical services personnel, who O’Shea says have seen an increase in attacks.