The Council’s Finance Committee will take up a $3 million settlement today stemming from a Department of Justice lawsuit filed against the city’s Police Department over a hiring practice it no longer employs. The committee will also take up new tobacco regulations that includes a plan to change the smoking age to 21 and dozens of other routine items involving TIFs.

Police-Related Settlements

The lawsuit filed by Vanita Gupta, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Friday claims the Chicago Police Department unfairly discriminated against foreign-born police applicants because of a hiring policy requiring ten years of continuous residency in the U.S.

This requirement, according to the lawsuit, “resulted in statistically-significant adverse impact against candidates born outside the United States on the basis of their national origin.”

Of the police candidates whom CPD disqualified through this requirement, 92.2% were foreign-born candidates and only 7.8% were born in the U.S., the lawsuit argues. “CPD has not demonstrated that its use of the ten-year continuous residency requirement is job related for the PPO position and consistent with business necessity.”

The lawsuit cites two police candidates, Masood Khan from India, and Glenford Flowers from Belize, who passed the written test in 2006 but were denied a spot on the force because they didn’t pass the residency requirement.

“When reviewing the PHQs [Personal History Questionnaires] of candidates who passed on of the 2006 written examinations, CPD disqualified from further hiring consideration all candidates who had not continuously resided in the United States of ten years prior to the date of submission of the completed PHQ. CPD enforced this ten-year continuous residency requirement for all PPO applicants who took the 2006 written examination other than those who were abroad as result of military service.”

Soon after being denied a badge, the candidates filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Fund, which forwarded the complaint to the Department of Justice.

The police department eliminated the ten-year continuous residency requirement in 2011, replacing it with a five-year requirement.

The other two legal settlements on the agenda are also police-related. One lawsuit filed by Tiffany Hondras alleges police officers unfairly cuffed her and her boyfriend after pulling her boyfriend’s car over without cause. Hondras filed the lawsuit in 2013. The city seeks to settle the case for $220,000.

A second lawsuit filed by Jonathan and Jesse Hadnott, Kevin Hunt and Brandell Betts would be settled for a $200,000 payout. Jonathan Hadnott alleges Chicago police officers illegally stopped, searched, and detained him one December afternoon in 2006. After police detained Hadnott, the suit claims, police officers drove to Hunt and Betts’ home. “Defendant police officers entered and searched [home] without warrant, without permission, and without legal cause,” the lawsuit claims.

“Plaintiffs were detained against their will at the home and not allowed to leave withle defendant police officers searched the home. Defendants say they were looking for a gun.”

After the police officers failed to recover a gun at the home, they left, the suit claims.

Another police-related item will also be addressed by the committee: A resolution sponsored by four South Side aldermen calling for the city to settle a lawsuit filed by the two daughters of Bettie Jones who was accidently shot by police over the Christmas holiday. The incident occurred on the evening of December 26th, when Jones’ neighbor, Antonio LeGrier, called the police because his son Quintonio LeGrier was threatening him with a baseball bat. When the police showed up, Jones answered the door and was “accidentally struck and tragically killed.”

But Alderman Jason Ervin (28), the main sponsor of the ordinance, claims the police are at fault for failing to provide medical attention and “stopp[ing] Mrs. Jones’ daughter Latisha from administering first aid.” The shooting happened in Ervin’s ward. Aldermen Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Derrick Curtis (18) and Chris Taliaferro (29) are listed as co-sponsors.

Tobacco Tax Changes

In addition to raising the smoking age in Chicago, the Emanuel Administration wants to further regulate the price and quantity by which certain tobacco products are sold. The ordinance would impose new taxes and set a minimum price of $11.50 for a pack of cigarettes, a pack of little cigars (cigarillos), and a pouch of loose tobacco. Cigarillos would have to be sold at a minimum pack size of 20. Bigger cigars would be capped at four per pack. Expensive cigars, generally sold at specialty shops, would be exempt from these rules. The changes are expected to bring in an additional $6 million to be used to fund a universal summer orientation program for all incoming CPS freshman.

Aldermen are expected to hear supporting testimony from Joel Affrick with the Respiratory Health Association, Jameika A. Sampson with Mercy Hospital, and Dr. Timothy Sanborn, a cardiologist at NorthShore Medical Group.

Naturally, the tobacco industry opposes the added taxes and regulations and have been pushing robo-calls to a lot of South and West Side aldermen warning them the changes could lead to an underground market of loose cigarette sales, one source said.

The changes, per the Mayor’s office:

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  Setting a minimum price for the following products:

  
  
  
  
  
  • 
    

    $11.50 for a pack of cigarettes, a pack of little cigars, and a 0.65 ounce pouch of roll-your-own tobacco

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    $4.00 for an ounce of smokeless tobacco

    
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  

  Requiring little cigars be sold at a minimum pack size of 20 and four per pack for big cigars (exempting expensive cigars)

  
  


• 
  

  Ban of free samples and discounts that put the price below the minimum

  
  


• 
  

  A tax on non-cigarette products:

  
  
  
  
  
  • 
    

    $0.15 per little cigar, raising the price of a 20-pack from $5.79 to $8.79

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    $0.90 per cigar, raising the price of the average two-pack of cigars from $2.25 to $4.05

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    $6.60 per ounce of roll-your-own tobacco, raising the average price of a small pouch from $7.25 to $11.54

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    $1.80 per ounce of smokeless tobacco, raising the price of the standard 1.2 ounce can from $4.19 to $6.35

    
    
  
  
  
  

Routine Items

TIF $ for Belmont-Cragin Elementary School: The ordinance before the committee would transfer $287,000 in Tax Increment Financing, TIF, money for the construction of a new playground with rubber surfacing. “The funds would be applied to planning, design and construction costs. The work would be entirely funded by TIF,” according to a press release from the mayor’s office.

Small Business Improvement Fund Program: This ordinance would renew this program in four Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts. The Small Business Improvement Fund provides financial assistance for building improvement costs. The SBIF grant uses local TIF revenues to reimburse eligible applicants for repairs done to industrial, commercial, or residential properties located within specific TIF districts. The assistance is provided once the project is complete and does not have to be repaid. The proposal the Department of Planning and Development introduced would reallocate $500,000 each for existing SBIF programs in the Austin, Commercial, Belmont/Central, and Portage Park TIF districts and $1 million for the Northwest Industrial Corridor TIF district.

The Committee will take up an ordinance that would help with the planned expansion of Julia de Burgos Park, one of a handful of city-owned parks located along the elevated Bloomingdale Trail. Under the agreement before the committee, the Logan Square park would receive $235,000 in “Open Space Impact Fees,” which are taken from new residential developments to help expand and improve local park space. The money would help pay for environmental remediation costs at an adjacent vacant plot of land the city acquired. Once the cleanup is done, the land would be transferred to the Chicago Park District.

In this week's episode we breakdown the stalled contract negotiations between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers' Union, accusations that Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to tank CPS' bond deal, a $1 land sale for a new charter school campus in Woodlawn, and potential changes to the city's remaining mental health clinics.

A proposal to sell 19 city-owned parcels of vacant land for $1 to the University of Chicago advanced out the Council’s Housing and Real Estate Committee yesterday. But the plan wasn’t without controversy with a handful of aldermen questioning the “fairness” of the sale.

The land, approximately 153,200-square-feet, is appraised at $755,000 (approximately $4.93 per square foot). Under a public-private partnership with the city, the University would spend $27.5 million to build a new three-story charter school and athletic field.

The new school building will serve the university's existing Woodlawn Charter School (UCCS-Woodlawn), which has an enrollment of about 650 students in grades six through twelve. UCCS-Woodlawn, run by the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute, is currently leasing space from CPS at the old Woodworth Elementary school.

The sale got significant pushback from Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), the only alderman on the Council who is also a member of Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

“I have a big problem with this because this is a charter school network. We all know what is happening with CPS. We’re going to give a charter school network 19 parcels for a dollar when CPS is broke makes no sense to me, ”she said, pressing officials from CPS, the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) and the University of Chicago to explain the price.

The university made a bid to CPS in the summer of 2014 to purchase the Woodworth Elementary School building, according to Liza Balistreri, Director of Real Estate for the Board of Education. The board rejected their offer because the university’s $100,000 bid fell far short of Woodworth’s appraised value, which was somewhere between $2 and 2.6 million.

But since the university had planned to spend millions on rehabbing that school–almost as much as they planned to spend on a new campus–the city worked out a “public-private partnership” with university to sell the adjacent vacant land so they could instead build a new school, according to Michelle Nolan, a project manager for DPD.

Garza was unimpressed. “I don’t have a problem with new schools. I have a problem with new charter schools.”

“When these schools are built, the neighborhood schools lose their kids and then CPS comes in, says they’re underutilized, and then they close them and give them to more charters,” she added.

Ald. Willie Cochran (20), whose South Side ward would benefit from the new campus, defended the project, touting UCCS-Woodlawn’s graduation and college acceptance rates, which he said are the second highest in the city. The network has a $40 million yearly budget. “This school has been doing a tremendous amount of work in improving education… $755,000 is worth the investment in my children, in my community.”

Sean Evans, CEO of the university's charter school network, reminded aldermen that this land sale isn’t considered “charter school expansion,” because their school has been around since 2006. “We want to serve students on the South Side,” Evans explained, adding that all four of the network’s schools are located there. He says 99% of their student population is African American and 82% qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Committee Vice Chair Pat Dowell (3) asked Evans to detail investments the university has made in the city, which he eagerly obliged. The Urban Education Institute has an annual budget of about $40 million, where it spends money on the charter schools, it runs a consortium that provides data and research for all public schools in the city, teacher training programs, and IMPACT, he said.

Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24) praised one of the school’s recent graduates, whom he said he had the “pleasure of meeting” recently. And Ald. Cochran again reminded his colleagues that this school is what his community wants.

Still, there was reluctance.

“A number of us feel charters benefit from incentives, that’s an argument for a whole other day,” Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) noted. “I don’t think that I would consider U of C to be a cash-strapped non-for-profit institute. I would have just hoped that we would have been able to negotiate a better deal,” he said pointing to the rest of the agenda where land sales were priced in the thousands of dollars.

Englewood Alderman David Moore (17) wasn’t thrilled that the new school would increase its capacity by 100 students, saying, “So, you are pulling students from all of our communities.”

When it was eventually time to vote on the item, Moore and Garza (10) voted no.

Mt. Sinai Land Transfer

Another one dollar land sale advanced through committee with a lot less pushback: a proposal to sell 12 parcels in North Lawndale to Mt. Sinai Health System. The hospital would rehab the existing 7,800-square-foot, one-story building, an old Boys & Girls Club, into a child development center with eight classrooms, administrative offices, and an outdoor playground. The building has been vacant since 2007 and construction would cost $3.5 million.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the price tag,” said Ald. Lopez said.“I would like to see us do a little better, especially when we have to go back to our constituents and tell them that we did everything we could.”

Chairman Joe Moore (49) asked local alderman Michael Scott, Jr. (24) to defend the price tag.

Scott said Mt. Sinai is the neighborhood’s biggest employer and the investment they’ve put in the community goes a long way. Sarah Wilson with DPD said the city had problems securing a tenant for the property.

The facility will serve as the new home for the existing Gads Hill Center, a family resource provider that’s served low-income residents on the city’s southwest side since the late 1800s.

CTA Lease Renewal

One item on the agenda was held: an ordinance authorizing a lease renewal with the Chicago Transit Authority for use of vacant city-owned property at 5975 N. Pulaski Rd. in the 39th Ward, at the request of local Ald. Marge Laurino. At the last housing meeting, she expressed concern that CTA bus drivers were using the lot as a bathroom stop (the bus drivers put a porta potty there) and she was working on getting them to find another place to do their business.

The Chicago Board of Elections says while yesterday was the statutory start date for early voting, because the board has yet to complete testing 1,000 different ballot styles in four different languages, balloting systems likely won’t be ready until Feb 17. You can check the status here. A Board statement said some pending statewide objections just wrapped this week.

Anyone who arrives early at the Chicago Election Board to vote early will get an application to Vote by Mail–you can save a trip by applying for a ballot online (deadline is March 10).

Per the board, when in-person early voting starts, the program will be offered:

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  Through Feb. 28 only at the Chicago Election Board at 69 W. Washington St.

  
  


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  From Feb. 29 through March 12, at 51 sites throughout the city.

  
  


• On March 13 and March 14, at 14 “permanent” early voting sites.

Ald. Pat O’Connor (40), Chairman of the City Council’s Workforce Development Committee, sent out an email to aldermen yesterday reminding them that he plans to discharge an ordinance from his committee that would eliminate the Legislative Inspector General’s office and put the authority of policing aldermen under the jurisdiction of the City’s Inspector General, Joe Ferguson.

That ordinance, sponsored by Ald. Michele Smith (43) and Ald. Ameya Pawar (47), was deferred and published at last month’s city council meeting at the request of two powerful aldermen: Finance Chairman Ed Burke (14) and Budget Chairman Carrie Austin (34). After that meeting, Ald. Austin told Aldertrack she wanted to clean up the language of the ordinance and add a provision requiring signed affidavits for all complaints. “If you gonna tell on me, how come you don’t want to swear to it?” she had asked rhetorically.

The email Ald. O’Connor sent is a procedural Rule 41 reminder that the full Council meeting will have to vote on the matter at the City Council meeting scheduled for next Wednesday.

A working group of six aldermen created at the January City Council meeting to “clean up” the ordinance has met twice since then, said one member, Ald. Joe Moore (49).

Another member, Ald. Pawar, tells Aldertrack he and his colleagues are, “still working things through… people are still trying to figure out whether there are any tweaks,” but couldn’t offer up specific changes that have been proposed.

Ald. Moore stayed similarly tight-lipped, “We’re still working on stuff. Still working on some language.”

“There’s going to be a vote. That much we know,” Pawar said.

Ald. Will Burns (4), who sponsored, but raised concerns about the ordinance, and two Progressive Caucus members and supporters: Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), and Ald. Rick Munoz (22), are also part of the working group.

Before last month’s vote, Ald. Burns (4) suggested he’d like to see more protections from political attacks. "Sometimes when you tell people ‘no’ and you make difficult decisions over land use, over TIF funding, over public subsidies, CDBG, whether someone can purchase a vacant lot, you could anger those people and they could file complaints and use, or abuse, unfortunately, the ethics process to harass and to seek retaliation."

He suggested formation of a special City Council committee, similar to the State Legislature’s bicameral Legislative Ethics Commission, to “have some sort of oversight over whether or not the Inspector General conducts an investigation… as a check or protection against what can be fairly sweeping powers.” He said he worried that it would be politically difficult to change provisions of the ordinance in the future without it looking like aldermen were “watering it down.”

A proposal to sell approximately 3.5 acres of city-owned land to the University of Chicago for construction of a new charter school campus is up for consideration in Council’s Housing and Real Estate Committee today.

The committee will consider an ordinance that would transfer a plot of vacant land valued at $755,000 to the university for $1. The university is interested in building a new campus for their existing Woodlawn Charter School, which currently serves 650 6th-12th grade students. U of C operates four charter schools scattered throughout the South Side. An allocation of up to $200,000 in TIF money to one of those schools, Donohue, was approved in 2011.

Woodlawn is about a block away from the development site, and is housed in what used to be a CPS school, Wadsworth Elementary. The new campus would allow the school to increase enrollment to 750 students and includes plans for STEM labs and an outdoor track that would be open for community use.

The university plans to spend $27.5 million on the new three-story building in Ald. Willie Cochran’s 20th Ward, bounded by East 63rd Street to the north, South University Avenue on the east, East 64th Street on the south and South Greenwood Avenue on the west. Cochran has sponsored a series of zoning changes to accommodate the build.

Other notable items on the agenda:

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  a sale of city-owned land in North Lawndale to Sinai Health System and Sinai Community Institute. The 12 city-owned parcels of land in the 24th ward appraised at $255,000 will be sold to Sinai Health System for $1. The hospital will rehab the existing 7,800-square-foot, one-story building into a child development center with eight classrooms, administrative offices, and an outdoor playground. Construction will cost $3.5 million. According to a press release from the mayor’s office, the facility will serve as the new home for the existing Gads Hill Center, “a community-based family resource provider serving low-income residents.” The center has been in operation at its current location on the city’s southwest side since 1898. The move is part of the “Sinai Tomorrow” redevelopment plan of the hospital campus. (24th Ward)

  
  


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  a $40,000 sale of city-owned land to the Luna Liena Group run by the Mickelson family. According to the application they filed with the city, the company will build a parking lot. (3rd Ward)

  
  


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  an amended redevelopment agreement with Windy City Habitat for Humanity(d/b/a Habitat for Humanity). The organization got approval in 2011 to build 16 single family homes to be sold at 100% of area medium income (AMI) and are now seeking an extension. The organization has built two homes so far. Under the extended timeline, construction will need to be completed by March 31, 2018. (34th Ward)

  
  

The Committee on Human Relations advanced an ordinance that would make it harder for landlords to discriminate against veteran and active duty military personnel looking for housing amid questions by some committee members about whether the protections would have unintended consequences for individual renters.

Members Present (11/17): Chairman Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), David Moore (17), Jason Ervin (28), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Milly Santiago (31), Anthony Napolitano (41), Michele Smith (43).

According to testimony from Mona Noriega, the head of the city’s Commission on Human Relations, it is becoming more common for landlords to discriminate against military personnel, especially those who are still active, for fear that notice of sudden deployment will leave the landlord in pinch to fill the vacant unit.

Similarly, veterans who attempt to lease an apartment with their GI bill benefits listed as their main source of income find a hard time getting an apartment, because landlords don’t consider those benefits to be a stable source of income, Noriega added.

The ordinance received some pushback from Ald. Jason Ervin (28) of East Garfield Park and Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) of the Gold Coast. Both gave voice to a concern that a significant number of landlords in the city are “mom and pops” or seniors who are heavily dependent on the income they receive from renting out their apartment or a floor in their home.

“The average dwelling in my ward is a two-unit building, and that means that someone is generally owning and someone is renting, and those residents, they depend on that income to pay the mortgage and to balance out their lives financially,” Ervin explained. These types of renters would be left in a bind to fill the rental units once a military member breaks the lease, he argued.

Victor J. Lagroon, director of veterans affairs for the city, said active duty military officers don’t receive their deployment orders in a 24-hour period, it’s closer to 60 days. In that span, officers can decide whether to continue paying the rent while they are away or break the lease. “Every command in this country requires you to pay your bills. The military is adamant about that,” he added.

Ald. Hopkins echoed concerns on another provision in the ordinance that would make it illegal for a landlord or realtor to retaliate against a tenant who files a housing discrimination complaint against them with the city. Those protections are already in place for employees to file discrimination complaints against their employer.

Without this protection, said Commissioner Noriega, tenants will continue to be reluctant to file complaints for fear of discrimination by their landlords. Such discrimination could come in the form of charging more rent, sexual and other harassment, or other unfair terms and conditions added to the rental lease, she explained. These measures are already codified at the county and state level, she added.

“It’s one thing to have the right to file a complaint, it’s another thing to have an incentive,” Ald. Hopkins warned, arguing the ordinance creates an incentive for a tenant to file a “non-meritorious complaint” when facing possible eviction.

“People who have the skill of being able to move from rental unit to rental unit, they know where the loopholes are, and they know how to play the game and run the clock… and this is one more tool they can use to stay in a place where they’re not paying rent, causing harm to those mom and pops.”

If a tenant files a complaint, that complaint would not stay any ongoing eviction proceedings, a staff representative with Noriega countered. Hopkins ended up voting to approve.

The committee also approved the appointment of Julio Rodriguez to the Commission on Human Relations, a 19-member body created in 2012 to enforce the city’s human rights and anti-discriminatory housing laws. Rodriguez is a deputy director in the office of employment and training for the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.*

“This is an area that I am very, very interested in. Human rights and access to housing, employment, and other services to me is something that we always have to be very diligent on,” he told the committee.

Chairman Joe Moreno (1), who said he knows Rodriguez personally, touted much of his resume, including various roles with the Illinois Latino Prevention Network andIllinois Leadership Development Council, and his induction into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.

Correction: Yesterday, we incorrectly reported Rodriguez’s job title based on his LinkedIn, which said he was “director of program services.”

Ald. Jason Ervin (28), representatives from AFSCME Council 31, employees of the city’s mental health clinics, and mental health self-advocates are holding a press conference today at 11:00 a.m. to “discuss a new plan to expand public mental health treatment options in neighborhoods of greatest need by expanding community outreach and hiring needed staff for city mental health clinics,” partially in response to the police shooting of Quintonio LeGrier.

“Recent tragic events such as the fatal shooting of Quintonio LeGrier have shone stark light on the urgent need to reverse years of cuts and closures to public mental health services in Chicago,” a press release from AFSCME reads. Six of the city’s 12 mental health clinics were shuttered in 2012.

Mayor Emanuel recently announced changes to CPD’s crisis training for dealing with mental health issues, and a 24-member “Citywide Mental Health Response Steering Committee,” though their recommendations mostly involve police response and crisis intervention training.

As we reported last week, the Chicago Department of Public Health has one full time psychiatrist for the city’s six remaining mental health clinics, which are mostly on Chicago’s South and Southwest sides. Contractors have been working other psych hours at clinics–some have been there for more than a year. CDPH has touted spending on targeted programs for families of homicide victims and victims of sexual assault, and has blamed a national shortage of psychiatrists for staffing problems.

An ordinance Ervin introduced at last month’s City Council meeting would beef up staffing, require new contracts with managed care contracts, and compel CDPH to increase outreach about available resources.

Another day of headlines for Chicago Public Schools:

• Gov. Bruce Rauner doubled down on his pitch for a state takeover of CPS;


• As part of another round of cuts, CPS officials announced they would end the pension pickup for union employees and eliminate $100 million from classrooms this year; and


• The Chicago Teacher’s Union said Gov. Rauner is a “madman” and CPS can’t be trusted, calling their latest actions “an act of war”.

All this comes as the district makes its second attempt to sell $875 million in general obligation bonds to pay off old debt and fund operations after an eleventh-hour decision last week to pull the offer. Details below.

Rauner Makes CPS Takeover Threat

The day after the Chicago Teachers’ Union’s Big Bargaining Team unanimously rejected a new contract with the Chicago Board of Education, and in the midst of a day-to-day bond issuance to prop up the district’s struggling budget, Gov. Rauner ramped up the pressure by again pushing a state takeover of Chicago Public Schools, telling reporters Tuesday morning he would “fight hard for it,” and was instructing the State Board of Education to plan ahead.

At a press conference on procurement reform in Springfield yesterday, Rauner said he has asked the State Board of Education to begin the selection process for an interim superintendent for Chicago Public Schools, and for the State Board to identify whether CPS meets certain financial conditions for state control. “The state should be able to take over the schools, manage those contracts properly, restructure things, and bankruptcy should be an option. There’s support for it. It’s the right thing to do. We need it around the state, and we’re going to fight real hard for it right now.”

Rauner alluded to CPS’ dire financial straits. In the past few weeks, the Board of Education has seen credit downgrades from two ratings agencies, an unusual “pulling” of its planned $875 million in borrowing, a round of administrative layoffs at its central office, and Monday’s dashed hopes of a new contract with the union.

The governor blamed CTU and the Mayor for proposing an unaffordable contract, painting it as more kick-the-can financing. “[Mayor Emanuel] was pushing off the day of reckoning and the teacher’s union still rejected that. The teachers’ union in Chicago has had complete control, they’ve been calling all the shots for decades, and it’s the reason the system there is so financially bereft, they’re so broke. I hope this rejection will wake up the Mayor, and the City Council, and the taxpayers there and around the state.”

But a state takeover would require enabling legislation from the General Assembly–something House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullertonhave opposed so far.

“He doesn’t have a budget, what is he going to take us over with?” CTU President Karen Lewis joked when asked about the governor’s plans by reporters later that afternoon.  “Please don’t pay any attention to the ravings of a madman.”

For CTU, one of the biggest concerns is over the state’s control of charter school expansion. It was one of the major reasons why the union rejected CPS’ contract offer on Monday. The union wants put a halt to expansion and a citywide moratorium won’t cut it, according to Lewis, because charter schools can get approval from a state-run board. “The critical issue for the contract is about support for public schools, and here’s a governor that has his name on a charter school. There’s no basis for trust there,” said Jesse Sharkey, CTU Vice President.

“What is he going to do, send in the National Guard?” he quipped.

Claypool Outlines Further Cuts, Hopes to Restore Trust with CTU

Hours after Rauner’s press conference, officials from CPS held their own, saying they would work to restore trust and bargain in good faith with leaders from the union. But officials did not paint a rosier picture of the Board’s Finances. CPS CEO Forrest Claypool announced further cuts to classrooms, and said in 30 days, the district would stop putting in its 7% share of teachers’ 9% pension contribution.

“Together, the $45 million we cut from the Central Office a few weeks ago, as well as the $100 million in cuts to school budgets and the $170 million a year in savings from pensions - $315 million in total - are the serious steps we must, and will, take to close our immediate budget gap and make progress towards eliminating our structural deficit,” Claypool read from a prepared statement.

Officials released this briefing doc on the components of the proposed contract, this statement on Monday after no agreement was reached over the weekend, and this fact sheet on cuts announced yesterday.

An $875 million bond deal–part of which will help patch over a cash crunch at the district–will also head back to market tomorrow, Claypool announced. At about this time last week, the deal was pulled. CPS officials denied that investors were spooked by Gov. Rauner and Republican legislators’ moves toward enabling municipal bankruptcy for CPS. Earlier this week, Mayor Emanuel paid a visit to ratings agencies to discuss Chicago finances, but budget officials said the trip was pre-planned, and not in response to CPS’ bond offering.

Claypool said he had both “good momentum” and “strong interest” from investors going into this morning’s planned pricing, and that recent announcements of cuts were meant to signal that the district is doing everything in its power to right its financial ship.

Both Claypool and Frank Clark, the President of the Chicago Board of Education, reiterated that their end of the bargain with CTU was fair. “It would have raised teachers’ pay – both for seniority and cost of living adjustments. It would have prevented teachers from being laid off due to a lack of funding. It would have provided more autonomy for teachers. And it would have restricted charter school expansion,” Claypool said.

Clark said despite Monday’s blow, he’s confident CPS and CTU can reach an agreement.

CTU Officials Respond: "The problem is the lack of trust."

CTU President Lewis characterized the cuts as a “retaliatory tactic” to the union’s decision yesterday to reject CPS’ contract offer. She suggested Claypool's decision to make further cuts to the classroom in the middle of the school year further proves their point that CPS leadership cannot be trusted.

“The problem is the lack of trust. That’s what our bargaining team said,” Lewis told reporters when asked about ways the Board could address the union’s concerns.

Her comments about Governor Rauner and CPS were made at a late afternoon press conference the union called to give an official response to CPS’ newly announced cuts. “We are certain that everyone who works in our public schools is facing a clear and present danger,” she said in her opening remarks.

“CPS has a revenue problem based on debt service, those toxic swap termination payments, charter expansion and their underfunding of our pensions. This is a problem they created, not the teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians who work extremely hard every day under deplorable conditions,” Lewis told reporters.

The union, according to Sharkey and Lewis, believes the Board of Education is no longer bargaining in “good faith” because it announced these cuts and the decision to eliminate the so-called pension pickup for CTU members in the middle of ongoing contract negotiations. The union is seeking legal action with the state’s Educational Labor Relations Board.

If the board sides with CTU, the union would no longer have to wait out the 105-day fact-finding period required under ongoing contract negotiations and could call for a strike immediately. Lewis even joked that a significant number of her members have already bought red winter coats in preparation to strike at any time.

On a more symbolic note, Lewis announced the union would be withdrawing its money, about $1 million, from the Bank of America as a way to protest the hundreds of millions of dollars in swap agreements the district has paid out to the banks. The withdrawal is happening today. The union will also hold a rally downtown at 4:30pm today at the Bank of America on Lasalle and Adams.

TIF Surplus Moves Await Committee Action

Meanwhile, a resolution calling for a full the use of surplus Tax Increment Financing funds to offset the budget deficit at CPS will likely be called up in the Budget Committee’s meeting next Tuesday, according to Monica Trevino, Chief of Staff for the resolution’s sponsor, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35). The Mayor’s office told Trevino they believe it will be on the agenda. “We are just waiting to hear from Chairman [Carrie] Austin,” Trevino told Aldertrack.

Legislation in Springfield to allocate all TIF surplus funds to CPS, rather than among other local taxing bodies like Parks and MWRD, is currently sitting in the Rules Committee. Barbara Flynn Currie, the lead sponsor of the bill, is chair of the committee, but there’s no meeting currently scheduled.

In a brief statement tweeted Monday evening, Ald. Will Burns (4) confirmed that he’ll be leaving City Council, without explicitly mentioning his resignation or when it would happen. Listing a series of accomplishments on affordable housing, construction in the South Loop, and raising Chicago’s minimum wage, he closed with a brief line: “I can look back at the last five years and see the change that we have created together, and I believe that our momentum will continue in the future.”

Burns did not return requests for comment Sunday or Monday, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office confirmed his exit and said he would be missed: “I thank him for his time and commitment to public service, and wish him the best of luck."

Patrick Corcoran, Communications Director for City Clerk Susana Mendoza, says while Mendoza had yet to receive resignation documents from Burns, it wouldn’t be unusual for the Clerk’s office not to be CC’d on a resignation email. Corcoran says the Mayor could declare a vacancy at the upcoming City Council meeting on February 10. Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty told the Chicago Tribune that Burns will start his new job with the company on March 1 as a senior advisor and director of Midwest policy. Mayor Emanuel has 60 days to fill Burns’ vacancy from the effective date of the resignation, so a replacement would presumably be in place by May.

In a statement, Emanuel said any resident of the ward would be able to apply for the position, and a commission of 4th Ward community leaders, led by Rules Committee Chair Michelle Harris (8) will help determine the finalists and submit their list to the Mayor, who will ultimately choose Burns’ successor. The Mayor’s office says information required for the application and a link will be announced in “the coming days.”

Illinois Election Law states: "If a vacancy occurs in an elective municipal office with a 4-year term and there remains an unexpired portion of the term of at least 28 months, and the vacancy occurs at least 130 days before the general municipal election next scheduled under the general election law, then the vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the term at that general municipal election.”

Jim Allen, Communications Director for the Chicago Board of Elections, says there will be a special election on February 28, 2017, the day of the Consolidated Primary Election. “If no candidate received more than 50% of the votes, there would be a special runoff on April 4, 2017,” Allen says, the date of the Consolidated General Election.

That seat-filler will likely serve for just under a year until that special election. As for Burns’ position as chairman of the Council’s education committee, Vice Chair Ald. Michele Smith (43) will act as the presiding officer until a new Chairman is submitted to and approved by Harris’ Rules Committee, says Corcoran. In addition to a resolution on the new chair, the committee could also name new members to empty committee slots Burns would leave behind. Burns sits on the Budget, Finance, Housing, Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, Transportation, and Workforce Development Committees.

Burns could also put a bow on some legislative leftovers over the next month. He’s co-sponsor of Mayor Emanuel’s proposed tax hike on tobacco and increase of the smoking age in Chicago to 21. Revenue from the hike would go towards CPS summer programs. The proposal is likely to be on this month’s Finance Committee agenda.

Reform to the Office of the Inspector General could also wrap this month. He’s one of the members of the working committee tasked with ironing out kinks to an ordinancethat would merge the Office of the Legislative Inspector General with the Office of the Inspector General. The merger ordinance was deferred and published last month byAld. Carrie Austin (34) and Ald. Ed Burke (14).

While Burns was a co-sponsor of that merger ordinance, he also warned the ordinance could leave aldermen susceptible to political attacks. He’s also listed as a co-sponsor on Ald. Jason Ervin’s (28) ordinance compelling the city’s mental health clinics to adequately staff psychiatrists and enter into managed care contracts.

The Committee on Human Relations will take up one new appointment and several reappointments to the City’s Commission on Human Relations, a 19-member body created in 2012 to enforce the city’s human rights and anti-discriminatory housing laws.

The only new appointment before the council committee is that of Julio Rodriguez, a director of program services for the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The other four candidates are reappointments.

The committee will also take up a so-called “clean up” ordinance Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission on Human Relations that broadens protected statuses for job applicants to include gender identity, in addition to codifying other rules that bar the city from taking into consideration a job applicant's criminal or financial history.

New provisions to the municipal code would also add a layer of protection for tenants who file a claim against their landlord. The change to the Fair Housing Regulations would bar a landlord from retaliating against and evicting a tenant who reports them to the city.

Another technical amendment expands the protections offered to active and retired members of the armed services. The current anti-discrimination provisions offered to military personnel are based on “military discharge status.” By striking “discharge” from the code, the protections would be broadened to include any branch of the armed services.

The Chicago Teachers’ Union rejected the Board of Education’s most recent contract proposal, which, according to CPS, included pay raises and met the union’s key demands on charter school expansion and more autonomy for teachers. But according to the teachers’ union, the contract didn’t go far enough, especially as it relates to curtailing the expansion of charter schools and finding a new stable source of revenue to wean the district off of using borrowed money to pay for operations.

At a late afternoon press conference yesterday, forty members of the union’s “Big Bargaining Team” and CTU President Karen Lewis announced their decision to to reject the Board’s contract proposal, because it failed to address the district’s long-term fiscal crisis and falls short of providing services to the city’s “most vulnerable students.”

“There were a lot of things [in the contract] that were great,” CTU President Lewis said, “however, the things that will affect the classrooms the most, especially around the budget, were concerning to people.”

Several CTU members cited the Board’s “chronic spend and borrow practices,” and, on more than one occasion, mentioned the district’s eleventh-hour decision last week to pull its $850 million bond offering as proof the financial industry agrees with their assertions that, “CPS is broke on purpose.”

“There is no guarantee of funding to do the things… the only concrete piece of funding is out of our pockets. That’s what we do know,” Lewis explained, using the example of the Board’s plan to have teachers contribute a greater share of their annual pension contributions.

“The appointed Board of Education continually prioritizes corporate interests over the interests of our students and as a result, we have a legitimate distrust of the Board of Education,” said Dr. Monique Redeaux Smith, a member of the bargaining committee and 11-year teacher at CPS.

The contract, according to Jim Cavallaro, a special education teacher and member of the bargaining team, was contingent on over 2,200 CTU members retiring at the end of this school year, putting “undue pressure on our veteran members to retire before they intend to.”

While CTU has been without a contract since June 30, 2015, negotiations have been ongoing since November 2014. In December 2015, the Board of Education offered a four-year contract that would eliminate the 7% pension pickup, as well as net pay raises in the third and fourth years of the contract. The proposal also included a reduction in standardized testing and decreased paperwork for teachers.

That same month, CTU held a strike authorization vote where 88% of those allowed to vote gave the CTU leadership the authority to call a strike. Under state labor law, CTU can’t strike until mediation and fact-finding have concluded. Yesterday was the first day of fact-finding, and since that must last for a minimum of 105 days, the earliest CTU could strike is late May. But Lewis wouldn’t say if a strike could occur this or next school year.

When asked how the Board could do a better job of establishing trust, Lewis said the union wants three things: for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to “immediately” declare a surplus of TIF money; have the state legislature pass a TIF surplus bill that would divert the extra property tax revenue to CPS; and impose state rules to make it so the charter schools can’t get around a city-imposed charter school cap.

But the Board said it has done a lot of what the union demanded, including step-and-lane raises for seniority and experience, a commitment to restoring a dedicated 0.26% property tax levy for teachers’ pensions, and a commitment to “push for alterations and revisions” to the legislation that authorizes the Illinois Charter Commission.

In a statement released shortly after CTU’s announcement, CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool expressed disappointment in the rejected offer, adding, “CPS remains committed to reaching an agreement with our partners at the CTU that is in the best interest of our students, parents, teachers and city.”

Although she’s in Iowa covering the caucus, Super-Reporter Mary Ann Ahern from NBC5 scooped everyone last night by reporting that Ald. Will Burns (4) plans to retire and take a job at Airbnb. Burns did not respond to requests for confirmation by Aldertrack’s publication deadline.

Ald. Burns is Chair of the Education and Child Development Committee and has been holding a broadly supported resolution from a vote out committee calling for a halt to additional charter schools. Burns, who came to Council after three years as a State Representative and time in Springfield as former-Senate Pres. Emil Jones, Jr.’sconfidant, and was elected alderman with the support of 4th Ward Democratic Committeeman Toni Preckwinkle after she was elected Cook County Board President. Burns has also served as a contractor to lobbying powerhouse, AKPD, recently rebranded as Kivvit.

Despite its name, the Education Committee has virtually no purview over Chicago Public Schools, since education reforms passed in 1995 removed all Council oversight from CPS and gave the mayor total control. Burns is highly unpopular with the Chicago Teachers Union. “Burns is like Ken Dunkin to the CTU,” said one labor organizer speaking anonymously last night.

Because Burns retired before a 28-month cutoff date, the time an alderman must serve to allow the Mayor to appoint a replacement, the 4th Ward will need to conduct a special election to replace him.

“Total shock,” said Ald. Joe Moore (49), who has worked with Burns closely in the past. “If he was not happy, he certainly kept it close to his vest.”

Gold Rush Amusements, one of the largest distributors of video poker gaming machines in Illinois, is still donating money to Chicago aldermen even though Mayor Emanuel remains opposed to its legalization within city limits.

In January, the company wrote a $2,500 check to Ald. Michelle Harris (8). Two months ago the company donated $1,000 to Ald. Joe Moreno (1) and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15). Lopez introduced an ordinance in the Council last year to make video gaming legal in Chicago, but Mayor Emanuel immediately squashed that plan, telling reporters the day it was introduced he would never approve it. The company has already given money to 31st Ward Ald. Milly Santiago ($2,500) and 40th Ward Ald. Pat O’Connor ($300). The 33rd Ward Regular Democratic Organization, run by the ward’s Democratic Committeeman and former alderman Dick Mell, received a $10,000 donation from the company, too.

Since creating a new campaign committee on January 7, Ald. Harris has reeled in quite the campaign cash. Her first two reported campaign transfers to the new Citizens for Michelle Harris campaign fund are large: one $25,000 check was from theConstruction & General Laborers’ District Council of Chicago, another $53,900 check was from the UA Political Education Committee. 27th Ward Democratic Committeeman Walter Burnett transferred $10,000 to Harris’ campaign, as did Ald. Ed Burke (14), with a $1,000 donation to Harris from his personal campaign fund.

City Treasurer Kurt Summers brought in $24,400 in donations, all of which were dated on the January 11th. The biggest check he received, $5,400, the maximum allowable contribution, was from Killerspin, LLC., a table tennis facility near Grant Park owned by Robert Blackwell, Jr., founder of Electronic Knowledge Interchange, a government technology contractor. Like Ald. Harris, Summers got money from theConstruction and General Laborers’ PAC, put they gave him far less than Harris: $5,000. Summers’ also got a $1,000 check from former 43rd Ward alderman andKirkland & Ellis attorney Bill Singer.

Chicago for Rahm Emanuel, the Mayor’s candidate committee, declared $36,581.66 from Stand For Children Illinois, PAC for postage and mail. Emanuel’s overall fundraising fell short of December’s amounts, when he brought in more than $100,000 in contributions. In January, he received three donations: $5,000 from Wellness Healthcare Partners, a home health agency for senior citizens; $1,500 from Bruce P. Weisenthal, an attorney with Schiff Harden, LLP; and $1,500 from Paul Meister, Vice Chairman of GCM Grosvenor, a global investment firm.

South Loop Ald. Pat Dowell (3) and downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) continue to bring in a lot of campaign cash, well beyond that of their colleagues on the City Council.

For the past few months, Ald. Dowell has been reporting checks from the real estate industry. The trend continued in January: Dowell reported a little over $17,000 in total donations, which includes contributions from the prominent zoning law firm DLA Piper($1,500), South Loop Chicago Development ($1,500), and Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation ($1,500). Ald. Dowell also received a $5,000 donation fromErnest Sawyer Enterprises, a consulting firm run by Ald. Roderick Sawyer’s (6) brother. The company was hired by the city in 2014 to draft an analysis recommending the establishment of the then controversial Washington Square Park Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district.

Meanwhile, Ald. Reilly brought in an additional $35,500 to his personal campaign fund in individual contributions ranging between $1,000 and $2,500. Most of the donations were from the real estate industry, too.