Lobbying groups won a mid-meeting edit of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s update to the city’s recycling ordinance Monday. Chairman George Cardenas asked the Law Department to change the language on the spot to add a 30 day warning period for big buildings not in compliance. Chicago Association of Realtors lobbyist Brian Bernardoni called the changes “good public policy” that give landlords time to comply before facing steep fines.    

One proposed property tax break for a vacant warehouse located at the southern tip of Bridgeport is the only item on the agenda for the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development.  

The applicant is Howard Wedren, the founder and principal of Dayton Street Partners, a “a niche commercial real estate investment and development firm focused on the acquisition and development of infill industrial, office and retail properties”, according to the company’s website.

 

A revised version of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s property rebate plan and $4.72 million in legal settlements against the Chicago Police Department are up for consideration by the Finance Committee this morning.

Monday’s Zoning Committee was fairly uneventful overall, as all proposed planned development applications were immediately deferred because those items have yet to go before the Plan Commission. A majority of the zoning applications approved were for small development projects, mostly to facilitate the construction of single family homes three-to-four floor, multi-unit residential buildings. A notable number of aldermanic applications were also deferred, as aldermen who had sponsored the zoning changes weren’t in attendance.

Attendance: Chair Danny Solis (25), Vice Chair James Cappleman (46), Proco Joe Moreno (1), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Walter Burnett (27), Marge Laurino (39), Brendan Reilly (42).

In an attempt to fill all three referenda slots by next month’s filing deadline for placement on the November ballot, Ald. Walter Burnett (27) filed a letter with the City Clerk Monday that gives notice of his intention to call up his proposed question on infrastructure spending for a vote by the full body at the monthly Council meeting tomorrow.

Ald. Burnett’s proposed non-binding ballot question asks Chicago voters if they think the state and federal government should invest more money in city roads and public transit. Consideration ended in a rare tie vote (7-to-7) in the Rules Committee last Wednesday.

Under Robert’s Rules of Order a tie technically means a motion failed, but Rules Chair Michelle Harris (8) recessed the meeting and scheduled a second vote 45 minutes before the monthly meeting.

A proposed change to recycling regulations for large buildings is the big ticket item in the Health and Environmental Protection meeting today, followed by a stalled ordinance from Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) regarding the city’s policy toward urban coyotes, and the expansion of the city’s produce cart program.  

A proposal aimed at curbing massage parlors, a plan from Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in the Elston Corridor, and changes to permitting for billboards are all on today's Zoning Committee agenda.

Similar to last month’s zoning meeting, today’s features a significant number of zoning applications for the construction of new three-to-four story residential buildings or single family homes.

The Council’s Rules Committee splits in a rare tie vote on a proposed ballot referendum question asking Chicago voters if they think the state and federal government should put more funding toward Chicago transportation infrastructure. The backstory? The Mayor’s Office crowding out a question about Chicago’s airports. Plus: CPS delivers school budgets to principals, while the district’s CEO calls for “creative budgeting,” and two north side activists sue the City Council for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act.

A mayoral office training document, found lying in an empty City Hall meeting room by a Daily Line reporter, explicitly describes the process of how a City Council meetings work and the important role Ald. Ed Burke (14) plays in the mechanics of Council operations.

Two North Side activists are suing the City Council for allegedly violating the state’s Open Meetings Act, claiming they were denied entrance to the May and June full Council meetings because preferential admission was given to government staff and “the Mayor’s allies.”

Andrew Thayer and Rick Garcia filed a complaint Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court. They are represented by attorneys with Loevy & Loevy and the Uptown People’s Law Center. Thayer is a member of the Gay Liberation Network and the Uptown Tent City Organizers Group. Garcia is a long-time gay activist and founding member of Equality Illinois.

The suit alleges that on May 18th, 2016, Thayer showed up to City Hall with several others around 8:30 a.m. to attend the monthly City Council meeting. That day, a joint meeting of License and Housing Committees was being held in the Council Chambers an hour prior to the monthly meeting, so aldermen could consider a substitute of the Mayor’s Airbnb regulations.

The Council’s Finance Committee is set to take up a proposed property tax rebate plan next Tuesday that “blends” several proposals from aldermen over the past year, following inaction in Springfield on the Mayor’s plan to double the homeowner’s exemption to $14,000.

The proposed rebate plan comes as the second installment of property tax bills are due August 1st. About a third of the city’s homeowners would qualify for the rebate plan, according to details released by the Mayor’s Office yesterday.

The plan would cost the city about $21 million to administer if everyone eligible applied for the rebate, which is unlikely, as was the case when Mayor Richard M. Daley rolled out a city-run rebate plan in 2010. That plan was aimed at offsetting the impact of the 2008 recession. About $35 million from the city’s parking meter fund was set aside for the program, but only 18% of eligible homeowners applied, so the city awarded only $2.1 million in rebates. It has also been said the Daley Administration did a poor job of publicly advertising the program.

Aldermen on the Council’s License Committee spent nearly an hour yesterday wrangling over the details of Ald. Ariel Reboyras’ (30) plan to make it easier for motor vehicle repair shops to allow vehicular access from an adjacent alley.

The ordinance eventually passed by voice vote, but it took some slight tweaks and clarification from the city’s Law Department.

Under Ald. Reboyras’ original plan, motor vehicle repair shops with less than seven parking spaces would have the ability to allow access to their shop from the alley, instead of the main street. He introduced the ordinance as a way to make it easier for small businesses to build out a cheaper commercial driveway off the alley.

Chicago Public School principals received their budgets for the upcoming school year yesterday. The budgets project a per-pupil spending rate of $4,087, an amount based on reductions made in February, when the district was anticipating a $1.1 billion deficit for the 2016-17 school year.

But according to CPS CEO Forrest Claypool, who briefed reporters at Coleman Elementary School in the South Side’s Grand Boulevard neighborhood, the district has cut the deficit by about $600 million thanks to anticipated money from Springfield and a new $250 million property tax levy for teacher pensions. Details for how the district plans to relieve the remaining $300 to $330 million hole are expected to be released in the full budget next month.

Dozens of supporters of Comm. Robert Steele’s Responsible Business Act showed up to Wednesday’s Cook County Board meeting to press non-sponsoring commissioners like Bridget Gainer and John Daley to support the ordinance. The same group staged a protest at a West Loop Wal-Mart in early June that led to arrests.

Comm. Steele introduced the ordinance in October of 2015, but held it in committee over concerns from the State’s Attorney’s office that the language could not withstand a court challenge. The ordinance outlined a hike in wage rates, which would climb every year: wages would start from a base of $10.00 in December 2015, climbing to $11.25 in December 2016, $12.50 in 2017, $13.75 in 2018, and would be tied to the “Cook County Living Wage hourly rate” every year after.

A proposal to make a portion of Argyle Street a so-called “Shared Street” as part of a new pilot program to make commercial corridors more pedestrian friendly is up for discussion at today’s Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Department of Transportation (CDOT) are requesting approval from aldermen to create the city’s first shared street on Argyle between Broadway and Sheridan in the 48th Ward.