Chicago Budget Director Susie Park briefed aldermen on the city’s 2021 year-end balance sheet during a committee meeting last month.

The Chicago City Council’s expedited two-week round of budget hearings is set to kick off on Friday with a high-level overview from city finance officials, promising to offer an early look at aldermen’s appetite for Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to pair a mild property tax hike with a panoply of new federally backed spending.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners granted full authority to President Toni Preckwinkle over the appointment process for the advisory group of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. [Facebook]

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will now have sole power to appoint members to the advisory board for the county’s Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, subject to the approval of commissioners.

Attorney Michael Kasper gives a presentation on ward remapping during a public hearing on Wednesday.

The City Council’s inaugural public hearing on its decennial ward remap lasted less than one hour, fielding questions from only a handful of aldermen and comments from six members of the public. 

Nubia Willman (left), director of The Office of New Americans, and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) speak during a committee meeting Wednesday.

City officials need to work more closely with aldermen, hold additional hearings and provide resources as Chicago is set to resettle at least 500 refugees from Afghanistan, aldermen charged Wednesday during a City Council committee meeting.

County mapmaking consultant Peter Creticos presented the final version of the new Cook County district map on Wednesday.

Cook County commissioners voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve a new district map they called a paragon of fairness and transparency, but at least one good government group says their self-congratulations are overspun.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget proposal includes the addition of a new “full-time recruitment team” to swell the ranks of the Chicago Police Department, she said. [Colin Boyle/Block Club]

Chicago’s sharp rise in violent crime this year has forced Mayor Lori Lightfoot into the center of a debate over whether the city should work to beef up the ranks of the Chicago Police Department or invest in alternative programs like mental health supports and antiviolence intervention.

With the rollout of her $16.7 billion budget proposal, she gave her answer: both.

The City Council’s Committee on Committees and Rules is set to host a public hearing on redistricting Wednesday afternoon.

The first city-run public hearing on Chicago’s once-in-a-decade ward remap is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) said during a news conference before Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget address that her administration had been "copying" the Chicago Rescue Plan "coalition's homework." [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

As part of her third budget address Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled her $2.5 billion Chicago Recovery Plan, her proposal for using the city’s nearly $1.9 billion in federal pandemic-related stimulus funds and other new spending to aid in recovery from the pandemic.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday that her 2022 budget proposal does not include "any new taxes, no reduction in city services, and no layoffs." [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is proposing to use a combination of leftover tax-increment financing, federal aid from the American Rescue Plan and a smorgasbord of brightened cost and revenue projections to balance the city’s 2022 budget.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9) speaks during the City Council meeting on Monday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

The City Council gave a delayed stamp of approval on Monday to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to lower regulatory barriers to pot dispensaries and grow operations, overcoming a speedbump set by a pair of critical aldermen. 

Attorney Frank Avellone of the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing (left) and lobbyist Tom Benedetto of the Chicagoland Apartment Association sparred during a Friday committee meeting over the Just Cause Eviction ordinance.

The Just Cause Eviction ordinance would bring to Chicago a badly needed set of rules already working in other cities to protect vulnerable families from displacement — or it would crush property owners with burdensome fees and restrictions, driving them out of the city.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to introduce her 2022 budget proposal on Monday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to unveil her 2022 spending plan Monday, about one month earlier than the city’s typical budget schedule, amid calls for the city to pump directly into communities nearly $1.9 billion in federal pandemic-related grant money.

Aldermen on Friday re-referred three proposals related to public safety that had been temporarily banished to the council’s Committee on Committees and Rules. And the City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight advanced the nominations of two members of a search committee tasked with finding the city’s next inspector general.

The Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved plans for a 282-unit residential building proposed for 160 N. Morgan St.

A 282-unit Near West Side residential building approved by the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday would be the first major development required to meet the demands of the city’s new Affordable Requirements Ordinance, officials said. 

Members of the Chicago Housing Justice League held a rally and marched to Ald. Harry Osterman’s (48) office last month to demand a hearing on the Just Cause Eviction ordinance. [Chicago Housing Justice League]

The chair of the City Council’s housing committee will make good Friday on a year-old promise to bring a sweeping eviction crackdown up for discussion — but the measure faces long odds in its current form.