Chicago News

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    A rendering of the 187-unit affordable housing campus being built near the western end of The 606's Bloomingdale Trail. [Chicago Department of Planning and Development]

    Logan Square is primed to get nearly 90 affordable apartments on the western end of The 606’s Bloomingdale Trail — the first phase of a years-long project aimed at stopping displacement in the rapidly gentrifying area — after a key city panel approved the project this week.

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    From left: Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Bennett and Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) speak during a City Council committee meeting on Wednesday.

    Aldermen narrowly voted Wednesday to advance Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.5 million proposal to relieve 150,000 Chicagoans from high gas prices after a more than hour-long public debate over the city’s spending priorities, climate policy and election year politics. It was one of a half-dozen items taken up by the City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations, including new multi-million-dollar initiatives designed to prop up single-room occupancy hotels and local food banks.

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    A rendering of the hotel-apartment high rise proposed at 170 N. Green St. [Department of Planning and Development]

    A proposal for yet another new Fulton Market high-rise, new apartment complexes in Edgewater and Logan Square and a smattering of new shipping warehouses proposed across the city are set for approval by a key city commission on Thursday.

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    Aldermen gave a ringing endorsement to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s latest addition to the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners. And a committee is set to consider a new appointment to the Chicago Transit Board overseeing the CTA.

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    Supporters of the People’s Coalition Map and the Chicago United Map speak during different news conferences. [Alex Nitkin/Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

    With less than a month for aldermen to broker a deal on the city’s new ward map before it’s officially put to voters to decide, tensions have reached new heights as the two opposing groups argue for their proposals and take jabs at people who helped draw the opposing maps.

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    Chicago Department of Housing Comm. Marisa Novara makes a presentation on a state-enabled tax incentive during a committee meeting on Tuesday.

    Aldermen voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to override their colleague by approving a tax break for a new 300-unit apartment complex planned near the Cumberland CTA Blue Line station that the local alderman, Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41), has staunchly opposed. The development will be a test case in Chicago for the new tax sweetener, which was signed into state law last year in an attempt to incentivize the construction of more affordable homes.

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    Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) oversees a committee meeting on Tuesday.

    City officials updated aldermen on Tuesday on how they are working to update Chicago’s data sharing practices and the tools officials use to share the data.

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    Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett and Ald. Walter Burnett (27) speak during a committee meeting earlier this month.

    Aldermen are set on Wednesday to consider approving the third version of a proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to give away prepaid gas gift cards and transit cards as fuel prices remain high. It marks the mayor’s second attempt to win aldermen’s approval for the plan after it hit a wall earlier this month.

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    Mayor Lori Lightfoot teased a potential Chicago budget surplus during a speech on Tuesday. And a City Council committee is set on Wednesday to take up the latest in a series of new appointments to the Chicago Park District Board following the resignation of one of its commissioners.

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    A new state tax assessment program is set to benefit a planned apartment complex near the Cumberland Blue Line station. [Glenstar/Department of Planning and Development]

    A plan to kick-start a state-enabled tax break for affordable apartments on the city’s Far Northwest Side, a pair of land seizures to advance city-backed development initiatives and a bundle of appointments to city-backed housing boards are among the top items on the crowded agenda for a meeting of the City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate on Tuesday.

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    Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) speaks during a City Council meeting. [Ashlee Rezin-Garcia/Sun-Times/pool]

    Aldermen are set on Tuesday to probe the city’s internal data sharing practices and the tools officials use to share data.

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    Ald. Pat Dowell (3) said Monday that she does not support Hard Rock's casino proposal. [City of Chicago; Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

    Ald. Pat Dowell (3) “cannot support” Hard Rock International’s plan to open a casino as part of a proposed mega-development in her ward, she announced Monday, citing neighbors’ fears of crime and overcrowding.

    Her position leaves just one casino proposal — Rhode Island-based Bally’s plan to build a resort in River West — whose local alderman has not come out against a gambling site in their own ward.

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    Ald. Jason Ervin (28) speaks during a news conference celebrating the passage of a civilian oversight ordinance. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

    Aldermen are on track to send their recommendations for members of the city’s first civilian commission to oversee the Chicago Police Department to Mayor Lori Lightfoot this month, the chair of the City Council Committee on Public Safety told The Daily Line on Friday.

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    The Clear Path Relief program allows income-qualifying drivers to wipe away parking ticket debt that is more than three years old. [DNAinfo file photo]

    The latest effort by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration to offer an off-ramp for drivers who are mired in ticket debt has already wiped away more than $1 million in collective fines owed by about 1,100 Chicagoans, officials said.

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    More than a dozen aldermen who also serve as Democratic committeepeople saw a cash infusion from Gov. JB Pritzker during the first three months of this year. [Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash]

    Several Chicago aldermen who also serve as their ward’s Democratic committeeperson saw donations ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 from Gov. JB Pritzker during the first quarter of this year.

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