Picked from a crowded field five months ago by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ald. Sophia King touts 30 years of experience within the community and a rolodex of powerful South Side connections, including the Obamas. But since her appointment, King has kept a low profile–opting to host and attend dozens of community meetings, and making only a few waves in committee meetings. She has pushed developers to provide on-site affordable housing, delayed a $100M beach parking lot until she knew residents could park there, and voted no to $3.5 billion in bonds for O’Hare Airport over minority contracting issues.

In a lengthy interview with The Daily Line after passing her 100 day anniversary on the job, King points out that her ward–which stretches south from the Museum Campus to Bronzeville, Oakland, Kenwood, Hyde Park, and South Side–is a diverse one. There are a lot of constituencies to please: residents in the booming South Loop, business owners in underutilized retail corridors, and organized interests like the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), not to mention the push and pull of being in Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s home turf while being a political appointee of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

She appears to be keeping her head down, working on a strategic ward plan and talking to LSCs, principals, and block clubs, even as challengers begin to emerge for the February 28 special election. While the petition process doesn’t wrap until the end of November, there are already candidate forums starting up. 17 others applied for the open 4th Ward position after Ald. Will Burns’ abrupt exit to lobby for Airbnb last spring, and many are expected to come out again. Local activist and mayoral critic Gregory Seal Livingston has already announced his candidacy, lambasting Mayor Emanuel’s police plan and using the hashtag #RahmsDaddy.  

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is considering a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to help bridge the county’s projected deficit for FY17, county staffers and stakeholders say. The tax is one of several revenue proposals President Preckwinkle has floated with commissioners to help address a projected $173.4 million 2017 budget shortfall. County stakeholders tell The Daily Line that the per-unit tax could be anywhere from half a penny to a full penny per ounce. One industry source briefed by the President’s office reports Preckwinkle’s team is assuming a ¾ of a cent per ounce would yield close to $100 million annually.

Preckwinkle spokesperson Frank Shuftan notes nothing is set in stone. “We are looking at expense cuts through program reductions and position cuts as well as the potential for possible revenue enhancements,” he said. Shuftan and other county sources The Daily Line spoke to kept mum on other revenue proposals.

The recently beefed up Affordable Housing Requirements ordinance that took effect last fall has resulted in only 11 new on-site affordable housing units in market-rate development projects, according the the Department of Planning and Development’s second quarter report of its affordable housing goals for 2016. The progress report for the months of April-June was the subject of a Wednesday morning meeting of the City Council’s Committee on Housing.

Attendance: Chair Joe Moore (49), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Gregory Mitchell (7), Sue Sadlowski-Garza (9), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Walter Burnett (27), Deb Mell (33),

Since January 2016, developers have agreed to include a mere 11 units of affordable housing for residents 60% below area median income (AMI). All of those units were added in the first quarter of 2016, none were added in the second.

According to Anthony Simpkins, a new managing deputy with the Department of Planning and Development, the strengthened Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) is expected to generate 1,200 new units and $90 million in affordable housing funds over the next five years.

*Updated at 6:24pm 

Thursday morning, Corporation Counsel Steve Patton and city Law Department attorney Katie Hill are expected to meet privately with police reform advocacy groups and stakeholders to discuss progress on the Emanuel Administration’s police reform plans, according to those invited to the meeting.

Paul Strauss with the Chicago Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights and David Melton from the Chicago Civil Rights Collaborative for Police Reform confirmed for The Daily Line Wednesday that they will be briefed on the administration’s reform plans at a private briefing scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Thursday.

Multiple organizations The Daily Line contacted Wednesday reported they have not seen an updated police reform ordinance since a day-long joint Council Budget-Public Safety Committee hearing September 13. Aldermen, stakeholders and community organizers The Daily Line spoke to say they  have yet to see new language that defines the budget for the new oversight agencies, a specific mechanism for appointing agency leadership, or whether the new agencies will be allowed to hire counsel without approval of the Law Department.

The Council’s Housing Committee meets today for its quarterly review of the Department of Planning and Development's’ progress on its annual affordable housing goals. For 2016, DPD is projected to spend roughly $250 million to bring online more than 8,000 units of housing. 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel raised about $58,200 in August, mostly from donors outside the Chicago area. The same goes for the biggest aldermanic fundraiser for August, Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), who reported 18 contributions totalling $30,500, several from suburban companies.

Northbrook-based Middletown Management Company, which also goes by the name of ASA Properties/Middleton Partners, donated $10,000 to the Mayor. It is a private real estate investment firm that acquires, develops, leases and manages commercial real estate, and wrote the largest check the mayor received for the month. Emanuel also received $5,000 donations from a Zurich-IL-based roofing contractor, All American Exterior Solutions; a Champaign, IL-based home building contractor, Second Executive Park; and RVV Medical Services, whose president, according to state business records, is Dr. Roman Voytsekhovskiy, a surgeon in Arlington Heights, IL who is affiliated with Presence St. Joseph Hospital.

Another series of $5,000 checks came from the chairman of the Jimmy John’s franchise, James Liautaud, his wife, Leslie, and the president and CEO of the sandwich franchise, James North.

Matthew Jaffee, an analyst with Grosvenor Capital, also contributed $5,000 to the mayor’s personal campaign fund, Chicago for Rahm Emanuel. The maximum contribution from an individual to a candidate is $5,400.

Those who contributed the maximum to the mayor were: Lee Miller, an attorney for DLA Piper; Desiree Rodgers, an Executive at Johnson Publishing, Company; and Jeffrey Wampler, an attorney for the Champaign-based law firm Erwin, Martinkus & Cole. Wampler, who specializes in business and real estate law, reported a Florida address.

Meanwhile, Ald. Villegas’s largest check, $5,000, came from Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Joe Berrios’ personal campaign fund. The freshman alderman from the 36th Ward also reported a $3,000 check from the 31st Ward Democratic Committee, which is controlled by Berrios, as the ward’s Democratic committeeman.  

Villegas defeated Berrios’ candidate, Omar Aquino, in his run for alderman in 2015.

Most of Ald. Villegas’ donors for August are construction-related. Prior to becoming alderman, Villegas worked in Illinois government, including at the Illinois Capital Development Board, the Illinois Department of Transportation, and later as a lobbyist for the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association.

Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24) came away the big freshman earner in July, raising $33,000 throughout the month in donations ranging from $1,000 to $2,500. Most were from real estate interests: Donatello Properties ($1,000), Industrial Fence ($1,000), Jim Mason of Mason Realty ($1,000), East Lake Management and Development Corp. ($2,500), and Brown & Momen ($1,000). Fellow aldermen Carrie Austin (34) and Ed Burke (14) each handed Ald. Scott $1,000 each, and political consulting firm Kivvit’s Eric Sedler chipped in $2,000.

A ban on driverless cars, TIF restrictions, and several procurement changes were introduced at the full City Council meeting in September. Here are some of the highlights:

Cook County Commissioner Joan Patricia Murphy, who represented the 6th District for 14 years, passed away Sunday morning. County sources say Murphy had been struggling with complications from shingles, and her daughter, Tricia, told the Sun-Times she had been waging a four year battle with breast cancer.

[Read Comm. Murphy’s Cloutwiki entry.]

We convened four excellent panelists for a sharp discussion on Chicago's financial problems and how it affects businesses, social services and development across the city. Our panelists Brian Bernardoni from the Chicago Association of Realtors, Mike Reever from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Bobby Otter from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and Craig Chico from the Back of The Yards Neighborhood Council were sharp and each brought interesting insights. Listen in to our conversation moderated by Mike Fourcher. You can download Bobby Otter's presentation here.

There was only one public witness, few commissioners, and a virtually empty gallery at the Chicago Plan Commission’s short September meeting. Even Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman was absent. The meeting wrapped up in a little over an hour, including a brief remembrance for the late Doris Holleb, who was first appointed to the land use board by Mayor Harold Washington. Holleb was the oldest serving commissioner.

Cook County Board members voted to approve a $33 million supplies contract with Grainger and a $2 million settlement brought by a detainee over Cook County Jail’s release policies, but not without pointed questioning. Commissioners also approved a new, nascent program to give uninsured residents access to healthcare and moved the needle on other initiatives outlined below.

Applications to convert a vacant elementary school in Uptown into apartments and a plan to add four more stories to the new Nobu Hotel in Fulton Market are on tap for the city’s Plan Commission today, as well as a new townhome development for the Galewood neighborhood on the city’s West Side.

Developer Morningside Equities Group is behind a plan to rehabilitate and convert the five-story Graeme Stewart Elementary School into a 64-unit residential building with 100 off-street parking spots. Located at 4525 North Kenmore Ave., the school is in Ald. James Cappleman’s 46th Ward. The school was one of 50 Chicago Public Schools closed in 2013. Built in 1906, the school was recently proposed as a Chicago landmark.

Morningside's David M. Strosberg and Mary Ellen Martin are seeking to establish a planned development, because the unit count exceeds the threshold allowed in an RT-4 district. Morningside bought the school in January 2016.

The developer behind a Nobu Hotel in Fulton Market will return back to the Plan Commission to amend their existing planned development, first approved by the land-use body and subsequently the City Council in June 2015. The hotel is currently under construction. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Walter Burnett (27) attended a groundbreaking ceremony on June 20, 2016. Two days later, at the June monthly City Council meeting, Mark Hunt filed an application for an amended PD to add four stories to the building for a total of 11-stories.

The Nobu Hospitality Group, started by famed Japanese Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, operates hotels and restaurants across the country, all located in refurbished buildings. Chicago’s is the only one that’s new construction.

In June of 2015, commissioners approved a scaled down redesign for a proposed Nobu Hotel and restaurant for a vacant lot in the West Loop. The original plan called for 155 hotel rooms, 65 parking spaces and a 10,000 square foot restaurant. The truncated size of the building was due not to concerns by local residents, but rather from concerns raised by Ald. Burnett and the city’s Department of Planning and Development. Ald. Burnett testified that he and the city were concerned a taller building would go against the character of the neighborhood, which at the time was being considered for landmark status.

The project, as approved by the Plan Commission last year, was seven stories with 83 hotel rooms and 35 off-site parking spots. Plans also included an amenity level, rooftop penthouse, and outdoor seating for the restaurant. Since the project qualifies as Transit Oriented Development–the new Morgan St. CTA station is within 600 ft. of the site–developers weren’t required to build on-site parking, but purchased a building on Mason and Randolph St. as a backup lot, according to the developer’s legal counsel, Rolando Acosta, with law firm Ginsberg Jacobs.

At that June meeting, Zoning Administrator Patti Scudiero said she never thought the day would come when the project would finally reach the Plan Commission. When the project first reached her desk in 2012, Scudiero recalled, developers had requested that the site be rezoned as a Downtown district, which would have removed height restrictions. She said it was a big ask, especially as the Department was developing the Fulton Market Innovation District Plan. She thanked the applicant for being “more than patient with the City.”

And rarely is there an application for a large scale housing development outside the city’s central business district or north side, but today the Plan Commission will consider a zoning application from Mia Property Acquisitions (NOAH Properties) to build 14 three-story homes, for a total of 84-units in the city’s Glenwood neighborhood. The housing development is planned for a large vacant lot that spans the 2100 block of North Natchez, next to Roberto Clemente School. The project triggers the city’s affordable housing requirements (ARO), but the zoning application doesn’t detail if the developer is paying the in-lieu fee or providing on-site affordable units.  

Other Map Amendment/Planned Development Applications on the Plan Commission Agenda:

• 57-61 W. Erie Street (42nd) - LG Development Group (Brian Goldberg, Barry Howard, Marc Lifshin) are seeking to establish a planned development to build a 12-story, 10-unit condo-building with a ground floor lobby and 10 parking spaces. The project is divided into two sub-areas. The new construction will be located in Sub-Area A; Sub-Area B is currently a four-story residential building with no changes proposed. The city’s ARO is triggered, and requires one affordable unit or an in-lieu fee.

• 46 East Oak Street. (42nd Ward) - Since this is a Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Application, there’s no corresponding ordinance for this development plan. Plans call for a four-story commercial retail building with office space. According to the Plan Commission agenda, the developer is “STRS L3 ACQ4, LLC” (Thor Equities, according to Crain’s Chicago.)


• 1760 W. Wrightwood Avenue (32nd Ward) This is another application to amend an existing planned development first approved in 2001. Hartland Park Master Homeowners Association wants to amend PD # 797 “to allow the applicant to retain as private all streets within the Planned Development and allow the applicant to continue to be responsible for and regulate the streets” according to the letter filed by their attorney, Thomas S. Moore.  

A press conference calling for “putting more teeth” into Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed police reform ordinance conducted by the normally staid Community Renewal Society turned belligerent yesterday morning as CRS members and pastors attempted to enter the Council Chambers bearing wind-up teeth.