The City Council’s Zoning Committee has scheduled a May 17 hearing on the Mayor’s proposal to simplify and update the city’s downtown floor area bonus formula for the first time since 2004.

The plan Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced this week would completely overhaul the process currently used to manage square footage to buildings in the city’s downtown area, and links fees collected for those increases to investments in some of the city’s most economically underserved neighborhoods. The proposed changes are threefold:

1. Simplify and update the downtown floor area bonus system;

2. Provide new funding sources to encourage commercial development in neighborhoods lacking private development; and

3. Accommodate ongoing central area growth through an expanded downtown zoning district

#1 Simplifying the Bonus System

First, the plan throws out the current list of mostly design-based bonuses that developers can choose from, such as winter gardens and front setbacks, in exchange for a greater Floor Area Ratio (FAR). A building’s FAR is the total square footage of a project divided by the area of the lot. Under the current zoning code, there are 20 different bonuses to choose from, each with its own funding formula.

Under the revised plan, a developer doesn’t pick a type of bonus, they simply decide if they want to take advantage of the bonus, making a single payment to the city. As the code is currently written, a developer can pick more than one bonus and pay a fee for each. For example, a developer can commit to adopting a local landmark and add a public plaza in exchange for more density.

Under the proposed changes, any new construction project seeking to increase its FAR would have to go through the Planned Development process, which means more paperwork, department scrutiny, and approval by the Plan Commission, before it reaches the City Council for approval. Currently, a developer can take advantage of an FAR bonus through a simple map amendment application subject only to department and Council review.

This could lead to longer wait times.  A planned development review takes an average of about 6 months, while a map amendment application takes 2 to 3 months. Lately, there has been a surge in the number of planned development applications, resulting in a slight backlog. But that was due mostly to a rush of applications filed before the beefed up affordable housing requirements took effect last October, and DPD is nearly done reviewing those applications, a DPD staff member told Aldertrack.

The calculation for the new bonus: Cost of 1 square foot of floor area over the the base FAR = 80% x median cost of land per buildable square foot.

According to an example provided by DPD, if one square foot costs $43 and the proposed building is 36,000 square feet, then the total bonus payment is $1,238,400.

The city would base the cost of land on sale prices in the last five years, and DPD would be in charge of updating those numbers at least once every five years.

If a developer has a pending zoning application that takes advantage of an FAR bonus under the current system, they won’t be impacted by this ordinance, unless they plan to amend their application. And any existing development in a DC-16 or DX-16 zoning district could apply for additional density, up to a 10% increase in FAR, if this ordinance is approved in its current form by the City Council.

#2 Where the Money Goes

Like the current bonus system and the affordable housing requirements, a developer would make that payment prior to receiving a building permit. If the project is to be constructed in phases, payment is due at the start of each phase. The city would disperse the money among three funds, with the largest chunk, 80%, put into a Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, which would help support commercial development projects in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. This includes parts of Austin, West Garfield Park, North and South Lawndale, Englewood, West Englewood, Chatham, Pullman, South Deering, and Hegewisch, among others. (The full map).

According to DPD, the city used 40 years worth of census data (1970-2010) and relied on a recent neighborhood analysis by E.C. Delmell to determine eligible neighborhoods. Specific criteria the department looked at includes: percent of single women, percent of dropout rates, percent of food stamps, and percent of unemployment. Other variables pulled from the Delmell study: median home value, owner-occupancy rates, and age (over 59 and under 19).

As for the types of community amenities that could be supported through this new fund, the city gives the example of grocery stores, restaurants, and cultural facilities. The money could also offset site preparation costs, like acquiring or rehabilitating existing buildings, as well as providing job training programs.  

The goal is to create an anchor development that will lead to further investments, similar to the new Whole Foods currently being built near Kennedy King College in Englewood. In fact, the draft ordinance explicitly states these new investments must “complement and revitalize the areas in which they are located.”

Priority will be given to projects that have the potential to leverage private, state and federal dollars; show a clear path to financial closing and construction start; provide goods and services where they are lacking; commit to hiring from the local neighborhood; among other criteria.

Chicago Neighborhoods Now, a city-run initiative created within the last year, would be in charge of determining project eligibility and the community review process. Housing and Economic Development Deputy Commissioner Brad McConnell oversees the program and their website already has several neighborhood opportunity plans detailing potential investment needs. The site will be regularly updated, and DPD is drafting a form that businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers can use to apply for the funds.

City Council approval would be required for any project with a price tag that is more than $250,000. And the DPD Commissioner would have the discretion to set additional parameters and enter into third party grant agreements to disperse the funds.

To make sure that downtown residents aren’t left out of the equation, since they have to live with the new bigger and taller buildings, DPD will split the remaining 20-percent of the money collected into two separate funds: a City-wide Adopt-A-Landmark Fund and a Local Impact Fund.

The former would support the restoration of official city designated landmarks, ofwhich there are 334. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks would have the authority of approving the scope of work and budget for restoration projects. But there are caveats: “[DPD] may direct the applicant to make payments directly to landmark property owners for authorized uses”; and the improvements must go towards renovation work that is publicly visible (so, mostly facade work).

The Local Impact Fund would support local improvements within 2,640 feet of the new development. (This fund was excluded in the original draft, and was only added following concern from one downtown alderman, a City Hall source told Aldertrack.) This fund would pay for all the sidewalk and local improvement that are currently available under the existing bonus system, e.g. off-site parking and open space (public plazas), pedestrian and streetscape improvements (like wider sidewalks, trees and lights), and transit infrastructure (CTA improvements).

Money from the local impact fund could also go towards the local public school. “Upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Planning and Development, after consultation with the Chicago Board of Education and the alderman of the ward in which the planned development site is located, the planned development ordinance may allocate all or a portion of the 10% local impact component” to the Public Schools Capital Improvement Program, the ordinance states. That program supports construction of new schools, school expansions, and related improvements. Ironically, there is currently a “Chicago Public Schools Capital Improvements Fund” listed among the 20 bonuses developers can currently take advantage of, but according to DPD, no one has taken advantage of this bonus within the last four years.

Developers would have the opportunity to opt out of the Local Impact Fund and instead invest in a project of their choosing as long as they receive approval from the local alderman and DPD.

#3 Expanding the Downtown District

As the zoning code exists today, a developer can only take advantage of an FAR bonus if they plan to build within the designated downtown district. This ordinance would expand those boundaries to make more land available for the bonus, netting more money for the overall plan. This doesn’t mean that the ordinance would automatically rezone the surrounding neighborhoods into a D-zoning district, but rather, through the planned development process, developers would be allowed to apply for an upzone to a D-district.

Preliminary Maps: (West Expansion / Northwest Expansion / North Expansion / South Expansion )

Downtown Districts provide for the greatest density and it is intended to promote a “high-intensity office and employment growth within the downtown core,” by accommodating a “broad mix” of office, commercial, public, recreation, and entertainment uses.

This expansion, according to Marisa Novara with the Metropolitan Planning Council, could help Chicago with its declining population. “We have talked a lot about the need to grow population more aggressively, where there is demand...we should grow,” Novara told Aldertrack, explaining that the city’s biggest areas of population growth were in the downtown Loop area.

Asked if this could potentially lead to lead to a long, drawn out neighborhood review process, since density tends to get a lot of local homeowners up in arms about lost sunlight and views, clogged sidewalks, and snarled traffic, Edward Kus, a zoning attorney with Taft Stettinius & Hollister, said these areas already have their fair share of density. “It's not like you are going into the bungalow belt,” he explained.

New Design Requirements

The ordinance also updates on-site building and surrounding landscaping requirements for new developments. Some highlights:

• Transportation: It adds one provision: “When new streets are required for large-scale, multi-building developments, the new streets should reconnect the existing street grid.”

• Parking in “D” Districts: A parking overhang, or “porte cocheres”, is “strongly” discouraged. Under the current code, these structures are “generally” discouraged. The draft ordinance also emphasizes the city’s disdain for above ground parking in downtown buildings, which seems to be the norm of late. “Underground parking is strongly encouraged for superior building design that eliminates blank walls at street level for an improved pedestrian experience,” the ordinance reads (the italicized section was added to the ordinance).

• Building Features: Primary pedestrian entrances should be “obvious to pedestrians”, and “active uses such as retail or residential, as appropriate” should be included to screen parking garages from view. (Again, DPD does not like these massive parking garages at the base of buildings). Developers are strongly encouraged to make sure building facades at pedestrian level are “appropriately scaled within the context of the existing streetscape.”

• Building Design: New developments should respect the “existing context of a site” in its design. “This includes the existing general size, shape and scale, site plan and materials of surrounding properties.” And buildings to be located at intersections should have “prominent design and lighting programs, due to their visibility.”

• Adds Definition For What Constitutes A “High-Rise” Building: Any new construction over 80 feet in height. Under the new plan, these buildings would be required to use upper-story setbacks of at least 10 feet (under the current code they are only “encouraged” and no space requirement is listed). There are exemptions to this rule: Setbacks are not permitted on LaSalle Street between Madison Street and Jackson Boulevard, “unless the upper-level setbacks occur at a height above 175 feet.”  Upper-level setbacks are not required and may not be used on State Street or Wabash Avenue, between the Chicago River and Congress Parkway, “unless the upper-level setbacks occur at a height above 55 feet.”

The Cook County Democratic Party yesterday unanimously re-elected Joseph Berrios to a sixth two-year term as its chairman.

While the event lacks much of a surprise today, this time a year ago, Berrios’ leadership seemed to be in doubt, as the alderman he backed in his 31st Ward was defeated by political newcomer Millie Santiago, despite millions of dollars available to the campaign and a vaunted ward organization at his disposal.

Since then, Berrios seems to have mended fences with fellow Northwest Side pols, affording him a bit more breathing room.

In addition, the party unanimously re-elected its eight other officers – Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, executive vice-chairman; State Rep. Lou Lang, executive vice-chairman; Cook County Commissioner Tim Bradford, first vice-chairman; Ald. Carrie Austin, city vice-chairman; State Sen. Don Harmon, suburban vice-chairman; Norwood Township Comm. Robert Martwick, Sr., secretary; State Sen. Antonio Munoz, treasurer, and County Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough, sergeant-at-arms.

Releasing what is likely the most forceful Chicago city-sponsored document on race and criminal justice ever, Police Accountability Task Force Chair Lori Lightfootdelivered a 45-minute, unflinching presentation at the Harold Washington Library yesterday afternoon with her fellow Task Force members, recommending a wholesale overhaul of Chicago Police Department training, the police union bargaining agreement, personnel discipline and a significant increase in civilian oversight of the department.

Download 18 Page Executive Summary – Download Full Report

Few sacred cows went untouched by the report, beginning with the opening sentence, “A painful but necessary reckoning is upon us. That is what these times demand.”

Originally scheduled to be released today, according to a source familiar with the task force, the report release was moved up a day to respond to the leaked executive summary reported by the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday afternoon. There were few differences between the leaked version and the final release: some softening of language and a few more bullet points added.

Lightfoot personally wrote most of the 200 page report, the Aldertrack source said, especially the executive summary–the part that packs the most punch. While there were 39 people on the task force, the main contributors were Lightfoot, Deval Patrick, Joe Ferguson, Randolph Stone, Sergio Acosta, Victor Dickenson, Maurice Classen, Alexa James and Sybiil Madison-Boyd (bios here).

Quoting the four most poignant findings:

“We arrived at this point because of racism.

“We arrived at this point because of a mentality in CPD that the ends justify the means.

“We arrived at this point because of a failure to make accountability a core value and imperative within CPD.

“We arrived at this point because of a significant investment in human capital.”

The majority of the executive summary builds a careful case, using data and testimony from the four community meetings and three youth meetings, that change to Chicago’s criminal justice system is long overdue.

The final portion of the executive summary contains 25 specific recommendations that run the gamut from recommending creating a Community Safety Oversight Board, replacing the Independent Police Review Board with a different system, expanding body cams and to create an anonymous hotline for police officers to lodge complaints.

When Lightfoot released the report yesterday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., she was still scheduled to deliver the report to Mayor Rahm Emanuel for the first time at 4:15 p.m., so she could not speak to the Mayor’s level of support. For his part, Mayor Emanuel said in his 1:00 p.m. press briefing yesterday that he had not looked at any part of the report, so he could not comment on it.

Asked during the question and answer session of her presentation yesterday how she expected the recommended changes to be implemented, Lightfoot said, “We call upon all of you to not be on the sidelines, but to roll up your sleeves and be champions of change.”

Noting that the criminal justice system failed two African-American men who died while in the custody of the Chicago Police, and in light of the subsequent $6.5 million payout the Council approved to their families, Finance Chairman Ed Burke (14) is calling for more accountability to make sure that police procedures are properly followed.

Ald. Burke introduced an ordinance at yesterday’s City Council meeting that would require the Police Superintendent to refer all cases involving the death of a suspect in custody to the Cook County State’s Attorney's Office.

According to the ordinance, an “officer involved-death” includes any death that results directly from “an action or directly from an intentional omission, including unreasonable delay involving a person in custody or intentional failure to seek medical attention when the need for treatment is apparent.” Any police-involved death that occurs while an officer is off duty would fall under this rule, as well, if that officer was “performing activities that are within the scope of his or her law enforcement duties.” The ordinance would take effect upon passage.

Public Safety Chairman Ariel Reboyras (30), Budget Chair Carrie Austin (34), and Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Chairman Walter Burnett (27) are listed as co-sponsors.

Ald. Austin’s constituent, Philip Coleman, was one of those victims whose family will receive a $4.95 million settlement from the city. After suffering a psychotic episode in which he attacked his mother and father, Coleman was taken into police custody where he was tased more than a dozen times before he was taken to a hospital and given an antipsychotic drug from which, according to the medical examiner’s report, he suffered a “rare allergic reaction.” The attorney representing Coleman retained an expert witness on the drug who argued Coleman’s death resulted from dehydration, stress, and physical encounters stemming from his time in lockup, according to testimony from Steve Patton, Corporation Counsel with the city’s Law Department.  

Ald. Burke also worked with Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) on a separate police-related ordinance also introduced yesterday that would require members of the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) appear before Burke’s Finance Committee when police-related settlement cases are brought to the body for approval.

Under the measure, representatives from the city agency that reviews cases of police misconduct would be required to provide aldermen with a “written status report on any and all investigations involving department members who are named parties to said lawsuits or controverted claims.”

In recent Finance Committee meetings held post-Laquan McDonald in which legal settlements are reviewed, aldermen had asked the city’s Corporation Counsel to provide details on these IPRA investigations only to be told that the Law Department has limited information, and that their inquiries would be provided through the chair at a later date.

Last week, a Northwest Side attorney used a little-known city rule to directly introduce into City Council an ordinance that would create a recall provision for Mayor. The rule used by John J. Lag, who has offices in Jefferson Park, is seldom used, according to the Clerk’s office. Lag’s ordinance has been referred to Rules Committee, where it is unlikely to see the light of day without a Council sponsor.

Lag’s city loophole is approved by the City Clerk, and if correctly formatted, the Clerk will allow “just about anything” to be introduced as an ordinance or resolution to Council so long as Chicago citizens present their draft in paper form at City Hall Room 107.

“We vet it for correct formatting, not for content,” said Clerk spokesman Pat Corcoran.

In 2013 a sign company, GreenSigns, used the rule to directly introduce sign ordinances to Council. Since sign ordinances are typically passed out of Committee dozens at a time, Aldermen did not realize what they had passed until unfamiliar signs began going up in their wards. To stop the loophole, Council instituted a nine month moratorium on new small signs.

Lag says he learned of the process since he’s, “been around for a long time and as a community activist.”

He’s dabbled in politics a bit here and there too. In 1992, Lag ran for Cook County Circuit Court Judge and lost. Lag also says he prepare to file to run for 32nd Ward Alderman in 2007, but dropped out before the filing deadline.

Lag has used the citizen introduction rule before. On June 23, 2005, the Council’s Journal of the Proceedings mentions a, “proposed ordinance which would prohibit any elected city official from knowingly accepting, receiving or retaining any benefit, either directly, or indirectly of monies or services or in-kind political contribution, or any other valuable consideration from the Hispanic Democratic Organization” from a Mr. John J. Tag, which Lag says was a typo of his name.

Lag’s anti-HDO ordinance was shunted into Rules Committee, never to be seen again.

Chicago has a new 4th Ward Alderman, Sophia King, and a new Police Superintendent, Eddie Johnson, both of whom received unanimous approval by the City Council and were officially sworn into office yesterday.

Ald. Ed Burke (14) suspended the rules in the first ten minutes of the meeting so the Council could immediately appoint King to the vacant seat before getting back to the regular order of business.

In her address to the body after being sworn in, King alluded to the “grueling process” she went through to apply for the job, and spent most of her address to the Council thanking her family and friends who helped. A five-member mayor-appointed selection committee picked King from among 18 applicants. She was was one of three finalists sent to the Mayor this week for personal interviews.

“I am just ready and prepared to serve the Fourth Ward, and I don’t have any misgivings about what my role is. I am a servant leader,” King told her new colleagues on the Council.

King’s appointment to the City Council makes her one of twelve aldermen currently serving on the body to have been appointed to the seat by either Mayor Emanuel or Richard M. Daley.

King is the founder and president of Harriet’s Daughters, a “non-profit group of professional women” that works with related organizations to advocates for policy to help provide jobs and bolster wealth in African-American communities. She’s also the former president of the Kenwood Park Advisory Council, a position she held from 2008 to 2015.

The Council’s Rules Committee met prior to yesterday’s monthly City Council meeting to officially recommend her appointment before it advanced to the full council.

Asked why he selected King among the crop of applicants, Mayor Emanuel told reporters, “Because she is the right person for the job and she has deep roots in the community, not just in Kenwood, but she has worked on parks...she has worked on education...and I think she has the right background and motivation to do something now in public service. ”

Johnson Appointment

Without much debate but a significant amount of praise, the City Council unanimously approved in a roll call vote to remove the interim label and to install Eddie Johnson in a permanent role as the city’s new Police Superintendent. “Well, we can strike the word interim,” Mayor Emanuel joked after the vote.

One by one, aldermen stood up to express how they’re looking forward to Johnson cleaning up the Police Department and boosting morale among the department’s rank and file.  

“We’re all pulling for you, we’re relying on you to make the city safer, and also to bring back the trust and respect that office deserves,” Ald. Howard Brookins, Jr.(21) said.

“And I won’t hold you today, but we’ve got a lot of work to do and if you just look at the report that came out on the task force, you know we have a lot to do, and everything is riding on you right now,” said Ald. Emma Mitts (37).  

“I don’t think there is anybody, anybody that has anything bad to say about you. That’s incredible. Keep that up, and I’m very proud to see you in that seat,” said Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41), a former police officer, prompting Mayor Emanuel to start laughing before interjecting, “Good luck” on keeping such high public support.  

Shortly after Johnson was officially sworn into his new role at the helm of the Police Department, Ald. Burke suspended the rules to allow Johnson to address the Council.

“I will do my best, my absolute best, to regain the trust and to resolve some of this violence that we have out here. If I succeed, that means the CPD succeeds and the city of Chicago succeeds,” Police Supt. Johnson told the body during his brief address that lasted almost as long as the standing ovation that followed. “I just want you all to know, I will give it 200 percent every single day. And my goal, my end game, is to leave this city in much better shape than when I got here.”  

Other Meeting Highlights

• Ald. John Arena (45) voted no on the appointment of Richard C. Ford II to the Emergency Telephone System Board.  

• Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) voted no to change the municipal code so the Mayor could forego the Police Board and appoint Johnson as Police Superintendent.

• Ald. Emma Mitts (37) and Ald. Danny Solis (25) used parliamentary procedure to block a vote and hold a strip club ordinance she introduced following news accounts that she was compensated for drafting the plan. The item will be held in Ald. Solis’ Zoning Committee.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced his plan to revamp the city’s zoning rules for the floor area bonus system, which allows downtown construction projects to increase their height and size in exchange for voluntarily paying into a fund that would help support commercial projects and job creation in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Aldertrack will provide a more in-depth report on the ordinance tomorrow, but here are some of the highlights from our preliminary read of the measure.

The plan completely revamps the floor area bonus system, which currently gives developers up to 20 different ways that developers can add more density than is allowed under the zoning code. The Emanuel Administration anticipates the changes would net the city an additional $50 million over the “next several years.”

It replaces bonuses with three separate funds that developers would voluntarily pay into to build taller or bigger buildings in the city’s downtown area, and would simultaneously expand the boundaries of the downtown district by 25 percent. New projects in the expanded D-designated zoning district would be eligible to take advantage of the bonus system.

The formula the city would use to calculate payment is based on an existing formula the city uses to calculate the cost of each additional square foot of space added to a project:

Cost of 1 square foot of floor area = 80% x median cost of land per buildable square foot

Eighty-percent of the money collected through the new voluntary bonus would go into a Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. That pot of money would support projects within “underserved neighborhood commercial corridors,” and could include grocery stores, restaurants, and cultural facilities. The Department of Planning and Development would be in charge of administering the fund and all projects funded under the new initiative. But any project that costs more than $250,000 would need approval from the full City Council.

The remaining funds collected would be evenly split among a citywide Adopt-A-Landmark Fund and a Local Impact Fund. As the zoning code is currently written, the Adopt-A-Landmark bonus could only be used for a city-designated landmark located within 2,000 feet from the development site. The changes would make that money available to any city-designated landmark.

The money collected for the Local Impact Fund would help support improvements to local transit, streets, open spaces, river walks and other public amenities located within 2,640 feet of the development site.

Similar to the city’s affordable housing requirements, payment would be due upon receipt of a building permit, unless the project is designated a planned development to be constructed in phases. Phased projects would pay on a “pro-rata” basis for each new permit applied for.

Six aldermen co-sponsored the plan: Zoning Chairman Danny Solis (25), Pat Dowell (3), Emma Mitts (37), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Michelle Harris (8), andWalter Burnett Jr. (27).

A recently appointed member to the Chicago Plan Commission who was a vocal proponent of affordable housing has resigned from the board and will be replaced, according to an ordinance the Mayor introduced at yesterday’s full City Council meeting.

Juan Linares, the Executive Director of LUCHA, an organization on the city’s Northwest Side that focuses on affordable housing, resigned from the mayor-appointed land use board after serving for less than a year. He was appointed in July 2015, and spent the brief stint taking every opportunity to hold developers accountable for affordable housing requirements, often expressing disappointment when developers chose to pay the in-lieu cash fee instead of providing on-site affordable units.

When representatives from the CMK development team went before the body in November to present their proposed 2,699-unit residential tower in the 25th Ward, he asked the developers to explain why so many developers opted out of the on-site requirement.

In February, when the massive Lathrop Homes redevelopment plan went before the body, he took Related Midwest’s Jacques Sandberg to task, asking him to explain why they opted out of replacing all of the public housing units within the mixed-use development.

And in January he voted against Vequity’s seven-story, 44-unit residential building planned for a busy intersection in Wicker Park because none of the units would be affordable.

Contacted for comment on his decision to step down, Linares declined to speak on the record. Pending Council approval, Linares would be replaced with Lucino Sotelo, a Chief Marketing Officer at BMO Harris Bank, according to his LinkedIn. Sotelo will finish the remainder of Linares’ term, which is set to expire on January 25, 2019.

Advocates behind Wednesday’s introduction of a paid sick leave ordinancedescribed the move as a “baseline of decency” that will lift up close to half of private sector workers in Chicago currently working without leave: an estimated 400,000 employees. The measure has 40 sponsors and has been referred to the Committee on Workforce Development and Audit, chaired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s de facto floor leader, Ald. Pat O’Connor (40).

Its lead sponsors are new Economic, Capital, and Technology development chair Ald. Joe Moreno (1), Ald. Toni Foulkes (16), and Ald. Ameya Pawar (47) co-chair of the Working Families Task Force.

Ald. Ed Burke (14) and Ald. Carrie Austin (34) both signed on as co-sponsors, but missing from the list are Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), Ald. Brian Hopkins (2), and O’Connor.  

The ordinance amends the minimum wage chapter of the city’s municipal code. A covered employee who works at least 80 hours within any 120-day period shall be eligible for paid sick leave, capped at 40 hours per year. Leave would kick in after the 180th day of employment for new employees.

The ordinance would take effect 90 days after passage from the full City Council and would be enforced by the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP), led by Commissioner Maria Guerra Lapacek.

“Our country has a history of passing laws to protect worker health and safety. Getting sick or needing to care for family members is something that affects all of us. For these reasons, we must advance at least a minimum standard to ensure that everyone has access to earned sick time. This should not be left to individual employers, because some workers get good benefits and some get none,” the group Women Employed said in an FAQ distributed to reporters April 13. Anne Ladky, the group’s executive director, served as task force co-chair.

The ordinance already has some opponents in the business community, including the Chicagoland Chambers of Commerce and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. Both were represented on the Working Families Task Force who helped draft recommendations to inform the ordinance. But the pair issued a minority report saying the recommendations hit businesses already reeling from the city’s minimum wage hike and hikes in the local sales tax and property taxes.

The Chambers’ Mike Reever told Aldertrack he wasn’t surprised to see their concerns “basically ignored” in the ordinance. “For example, there is no exemption for small businesses. The aldermen we talked to over the course of the past year all talked of the importance of local economic development, but this will have a cost impact on their local businesses. Throw in the first $588 million, of potentially multiple, City property tax increases, and it is enough to give pause to any potential entrepreneur or existing small business owner of how they are going to survive in Chicago's current economic climate.”

The task force estimated implementing paid sick leave would lead to less than a 0.7-1.5% increase in labor costs for most employers. The Chambers and IRMA said “some of the data was not as recent as it could have been, and their cost model has biased assumptions.”

Provision Highlights:

• “Covered Employee” means any Employee who, in any particular two-week period, performs at least two hours of work for an Employer while physically present within the geographic boundaries of the City (some exclusions apply for youth and transitional programs

• Any Covered Employee who works at least 80 hours for an Employer within any 120-day period shall be eligible

• For every 40 hours worked after a Covered Employee’s Paid Sick Leave begins to accrue, he or she shall accrue one hour of Paid Sick Leave. Paid Sick Leave shall accrue only in hourly increments. There shall be no fractional accruals.

• For each Covered Employee, there shall be a cap of 40 hours on accrued Paid Sick Leave per 12-month period, unless his or her Employer selects a higher limit.

• At the end of a Covered Employee’s 12-month accrual period, he or she shall be allowed to carry over to the following 12-month period half of his or her unused accrued Paid Sick Leave, up to a maximum of 20 hours.

• If an Employer is subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act, each of the Employer’s Covered Employees shall be permitted, at the end of his or her 12-month Paid Sick Leave accrual period, to carry over up to forty hours of his or her unused accrued Paid Sick Leave to use exclusively for Family and Medical Leave Act eligible purposes

• If an Employer has a paid-time-off (PTO) policy that grants Covered Employees paid time off in an amount and a manner that meets the requirements for Paid Sick Leave under this section, the Employer is not required to provide additional paid leave.

In a post-City Council press conference April 13, Mayor Emanuel didn’t give the ordinance a ringing endorsement, but said he supports the “thrust” of the reforms, and believes it should be pursued statewide, but “I don’t have any delusion that they are going to move on anything since nothing else is happening down in Springfield.”

Pawar told Aldertrack last week he expects the Mayor to be “very involved” with the ordinance going forward.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced a $600 million general obligation bond authorization yesterday, a retread of a January attempt, where an original $1.2 billion GO issue was chopped down to $650 million following Council concerns about growing city debt and unclear plans on how bond proceedings would be spent.

“We will come back to the Council when we have more details around the capital projects with a proposal to do general obligation new money capital later in the year,” city CFO Carole Brown told Finance Committee members on January 11.

The actual funds sought is about $100 million of taxable debt for settlements and judgements to be paid out in 2016 and 2017, $150.5 million of tax-exempt debt for “E-Note” or equipment purchases in 2016 and 2017 and $237.2 of tax-exempt debt for capital spending in 2016 and 2017. While the total comes to $487.7, the city is seeking authorization for $600 in spending to cover the cost of borrowing the money and issuance fees.

The bond issue is expected to be taken up in the next Finance Committee meeting.

Cook County Commissioners Bridget Gainer and Richard Boykin each introduced items Wednesday to address summer youth unemployment in the County, 70 days before the end of the school year.

“Violence is on the rise in Cook County communities and police departments are bracing for the worst this summer. Nothing stops a bullet like a job. We must act now to give young people a better way to spend their summer,” Gainer said in a release. She proposed bid incentives for Cook County companies who employ teens aged 16-19 and a challenge to elective county spending “not required for life, safety or health to be challenged and deferred to create funds for the Chicago-Cook Workforce Partnership, One Summer Chicago, Alternative Schools Network and the Chicago Urban League.”

A recent study from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute estimates 87% of African-Americans, 78% of Hispanics, and 74% of White teenagers are unemployed in Cook County. Four students testified about their struggle to find work.

Commissioner Boykin also proposed a package of programs funded by a $0.04 per gallon gas tax, with revenues to be used for four separate and related Cook County initiatives “designed to strengthen and stabilize neighborhoods in Cook County with high levels of poverty and unemployment.” Those programs would include $45 million in spending on youth jobs programs, a Youth Jobs Council, a Parenting to Prevent Violence Initiative, establishment of a county Office for People with Disabilities, and a Community Policing Initiative. But programs wouldn’t kick in until 2017.

Cutting through both proposals, Commissioner Deborah Sims called for immediate action, and the possible re-establishment of the President’s Office of Employment and Training (POET). “I know we have a program between the state, the city, and the county, and I’ve said this to [head of the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership] Karen Norington-Reaves: I don’t believe this program is working,” Sims said.

A member of the public in the gallery chimed in, “Say that.”

Norington-Reaves testified at a hearing on youth unemployment last month that the Workforce Partnership is “hamstrung” in its ability to create temporary summer jobs for youth. Grants guidelines from the federal government emphasize year-round employment and skills training.

The scandal-plagued POET program was scrapped and streamlined under Board President Toni Preckwinkle in 2011, and placed under the Workforce’s jurisdiction. The move saved the county about $5 million and cut 23 positions.

Cook County Hospital Redevelopment

Two Cook County hospital related redevelopment proposals have been introduced to the Board of Commissioners. The Civic Health Development Group (CHDG) was selected to redevelop the abandoned beaux arts Cook County Hospital building in the Illinois Medical District. CHDG plans to “invest approximately $600M” in the redevelopment of the space for residential, retail, office, and hotel use, President Preckwinkle’s office says, and will pay at least $2M in annual rent to the County over the term of the lease. Redevelopment would begin in 2017.

The proposal will be referred to the Finance Committee, which will hold a special meeting on the issue May 10 at 1 pm. Finance Chair John Daley said 20% of the residential units in the building will be mandated as affordable housing, and CHDG will work to hire people that live within two miles of the project on Chicago’s near West side in the Illinois Medical District.

A proposal for a $108.5 million contract extension and budget for construction of CCHHS’ new outpatient Central Campus Health Center was also introduced Wednesday. A new building will adjoin Stroger Hospital. Three county buildings will be decommissioned as a result, replaced with one “efficient” building. The move will reduce the county’s real estate footprint by 680,000 square feet.

Cook County Home Loan Program to Run Parallel To City’

A Cook County-administered program to help qualifying home buyers get fixed-rate 30-year mortgage loans and assistance with down payments and closing costs passed the Board of Commissioners, after some substitute confusion in committee and some last-minute recess session tweaks on Wednesday. “I think what we have now is a much better product than we had an hour and a half ago,” Commissioner Larry Suffredin said at the item’s passage. He’d earlier said that the entry to the lending program was very “unorthodox.”

Commissioners wanted assurance the program would be open to city residents and to ensure the program would be administered at no cost to County. The Bureau of Economic Development will report on the program’s progress quarterly.

Michael Jasso, Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Economic Development said, “We will be working with housing counselors and lenders across the county to make sure that this product is known,” but could not project how many home buyers could be impacted by the program. He said the County’s program would run parallel to the city’s recently-launched Home Buyer Assistance Program, which has identified 30 lenders already.

Home Loans will be sold to and serviced by Austin, Texas-based 360 Mortgage Group, which does not charge fees. The county is also making USDA and Fannie and Freddie Mac grant funds available for closing costs and down payments of up to 3% of the final purchase price or the final mortgage loan amount.

Following a leaked executive summary of the the Police Accountability Task Force’s report in the Chicago Tribune yesterday, Task Force Chair Lori Lightfoot released statements late last night announcing a press conference at 2:00 p.m. today at Harold Washington Library to address the task force’s “recommendations for reform of the Chicago Police Department.” She said the summary reported by the Tribune was “incomplete.”

From Lightfoot’s statement: “The Police Accountability Task Force has not yet presented its report to Mayor Emanuel or the Chicago City Council, or officially released it to anyone and we are disappointed that incomplete accounts of a draft summary of the report are now online and in social media.”

Parents, teachers and neighbors of CPS elementary schools may vote for elementary school LSC representatives today. High schools hold elections tomorrow. Today is also elementary school report card pick up day, so parents can vote when they find out how Jack and Jane are doing in class.

LSCs set school discretionary budgets, determine some curriculum aspects and have the ability to hire and fire school principals.

Elementary school LSCs consist of 6 parent representatives, two community members, two teachers, one non-teacher staff member and the principal. High school LSCs also have an elected student representative. CPS reports 5,857 candidates and 774 seats that have no candidates across the city.

The Council’s Rules Committee is scheduled to meet an hour before today’s full City Council meeting to appoint Sophia King to the 4th Ward aldermanic seat vacated by Will Burns earlier this year.

The committee met briefly yesterday morning to give aldermen an opportunity to meet with King, but Committee Chair Michelle Harris (8) chose to recess the meeting, holding off on the official vote to confirm her to the seat until today. Harris said she wanted to give aldermen an opportunity to get to know her, so the vote would be quick.

After the Rules Committee confirms her appointment, it will advance to the full council, scheduled shortly after.
 

Highlights of Items Awaiting Council Approval

• An amendment to the municipal code that would give the mayor a one-time exemption to circumvent the Police Board’s jurisdiction to recommend interim Police Supt. Eddie Johnson to a permanent post, as well as Johnson’s actual appointment to the post.  

• $6.45M in two police-related settlements. The larger of the two settlements, a $4.95 million payout, would go to the family of Philip Coleman. The suit names 13 police officers and one detention aide, and alleges their use of excessive force, which included tasing Coleman more than a dozen times, and refusal to take Coleman, who was experiencing a psychotic episode, to a hospital, as the cause of his death. $1.5 million will go to the family of Justin Cook, who died from suffocation after officers allegedly failed to administer his inhaler to him during an asthma attack.

• Gate ground lease agreement with American Airlines at O’Hare Airport. The ordinance would allow the airline to begin construction on five new gates at the end of Terminal 3. The gates are known as the L Stringer Gates, with a total space of about 165,000 feet, comprised of new waiting areas and concession stands, among other amenities. The gates are scheduled to open in 2018, with the open bid for concessionaires scheduled for next year.

• Financial Transparency Resolution. The resolution from Ald. John Arena (45) that the committee approved requests that the council draft an ordinance that would require more transparency and oversight for the city when it tries to enter into risky financial agreements with banks. More details on the ordinance to be introduced as a result of the resolution below.

• Substitute Class 6(b) certification for Eli’s Cheesecake Company for the property located at 4350 N. Normandy Ave. and 6701 W. Forest Preserve Dr. The tax break would help support a roughly 38,000 sq ft addition to an existing 62,000 sq ft manufacturing and distribution facility in Ald. Nick Sposato’s 38th ward in the Read/Dunning TIF.

• Amendment of muni code concerning parking of pickup trucks of residential and business streets. The ordinance sponsored by City Clerk Susana Mendoza would eliminate the requirement that non-commercial pickup trucks get a special sticker from the ward office in order to legally park on residential and commercial streets.

• A $29 million sale of city-owned land (the former Malcolm X College CampusSite) for Rush University’s new medical academic village and a new training center for the Chicago Blackhawks. The sale is broken up into two ordinances - one for Rush (worth $17.5 million), and one for the Blackhawks(worth $11.7 million). The land sale didn’t make it to the floor last month, because two freshman aldermen–Gilbert Villegas (36) and Raymond Lopez(15)–threatened to use parliamentary procedure to block the item from a vote. The two wanted answers about City Colleges’ minority staffing and procurement.

• Lifting the prohibition on the peddling of flowers: This ordinance, sponsored by Ald. Ed Burke (14), would make it legal for someone with a peddler’s license to sell flowers out of their cart or vehicle. The ban was put in place in 1943.

Appointments

• Richard C. Ford II to the Chicago Emergency Telephone System Board; (Re-appointment of Benjamin Dieterich to the board)
• Andrea L. Yao to the Board of Local Improvements.
• Nicholas Delgado, Dwight Curtis, and Mae Whiteside to the Community Development Commission

Notable Expected Introductions

• Paid Sick Leave - Members of the Progressive Caucus including Ald. Toni Foulkes (16), the Earned Sick Time Coalition, and Aldermen Joe Moreno (1) and Ameya Pawar (47) will hold a press conference at 9:00 a.m. today voicing support for a paid sick leave ordinance that, “will guarantee paid sick days off to some 400,000 Chicago workers beginning in 2017.” The ordinance was crafted to reflect recommendations from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Working Families Task Force and was developed over eight months. According to the draft of the ordinance, a covered employee who works at least 80 hours within any 120-day period shall be eligible for paid sick leave, capped at 40 hours per year. Leave would kick in after the 180th day of employment for new employees. The ordinance would take effect 90 days after passage from the full City Council.

• Financial Transparency - This ordinance says the city can’t issue any bonds, note, or other non-fixed rate debt with a maturity of longer than 271 days without certain conditions being met. The city’s independent municipal advisor, Martin Luby, and the Council’s Office of Financial Analysis, headed by Ben Winick, would each be required prepare reports detailing the risks and whether issuing new debt is in the best interest of the city. City CFO Carole Brown would be required, 45 days before a City Council vote, to submit a plain-English summary of the issuance, and an annual report that describes the financial performance of each transaction.

• Abolition of IPRA - Somewhat mirroring Police Accountability Task Force (PATF) recommendations leaked to the Chicago Tribune yesterday, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) drafted an ordinance calls for the abolition of the Independent Police Review Authority. It would be replaced with a so-called, “Independent Citizen Police Monitor” that would open up police and misconduct data to the public, widen the scope of the Chief Administrator’s powers, and hasten the release of information and the conclusion of investigations. The Monitor’s office would maintain at least one full-time investigator for every 100 sworn officers in the Chicago Police Department. CPD has more than 12,000 sworn members, as of its 2010 annual report. The office’s budget would be roughly $21.7 million, more than double IPRA’s current appropriation.

• FAIR COPS - Ald. Jason Ervin (28) plans to hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. this morning to discuss an ordinance that would put the departments that investigate allegations of police misconduct under the jurisdiction of the city’s Inspector General. The ordinance he plans to introduce is modeled after a similar measure first proposed by the Community Renewal Society in December. The ordinance establishes a Deputy Inspector General for Police Functions to be appointed by a five-member selection committee chosen by current IG Joe Ferguson. The Deputy IG has 20 listed powers, including the authority to: review, audit, collect, analyze, propose recommendations, and investigate any police-related matters under IPRA, Police Board, or CPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau. The concept of a police inspector general was also mentioned in the leaked executive summary of the PATF report. Several off-limits areas would also be open to public inspection, including reports on use of body cameras, contact cards, citizen complaints, and misconduct investigations, which would all be published on the OIG’s website. Similar to Hairston’s ordinance, the office would be funded by a portion of the Police Department’s $1.45 billion appropriation–no less than one percent, or approximately $14.6 million. There would be one full-time employee for every 250 sworn officers in the department.

The Council’s License Committee approved an ordinance from Ald. Ed Burke (14) that would make it legal for licensed peddlers to sell flowers from their carts or vehicles, while Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) received some pushback for re-upping 19 liquor moratoriums along streets in Logan Square.  

Attendance: Chair Emma Mitts (37) Rod Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Mike Zalewski (23), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26),  Walter Burnett (27), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Carlos Ramirez Rosa (35), Marge Laurino (39), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), James Cappleman (46), Deb Silverstein (50).

According to Ald. Burke, the prohibition on selling flowers on the street dates back to 1943, when then-Finance Chairman JJ Duffy of the city’s 19th Ward championed a ban to eliminate competition to his floral shop, JJ Florals. “No, I was not there,” Burke joked, adding that he learned of the ban when someone went to him to get a peddler’s license to sell flowers but was told that it was illegal.

Under the municipal code, a peddler is defined as a person who moves from place to place and sells goods from some kind of vehicle or cart, according to Matt Link, a staff attorney for the Finance Committee, who was on hand for testimony. The item received unanimous approval.

The committee also approved Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa’s (35) nineteen ordinances renewing various liquor moratoriums in his ward. All of which, according to him, had either been put in place by his predecessor, Rey Colon, or were along streets recently incorporated during the ward remap. Ald. Ramirez-Rosa said he was renewing the moratoriums to give more local control to his community.

“In a number of instances I have heard from constituents and members of the business community that are concerned about the number of establishments that are pulling liquor licences,” Ald. Ramirez-Rosa testified. “So, placing these moratoriums back in effect will ensure that we have local community control, and that we have a level of accountability through me as the elected official of that ward.”

Ald. Ramirez-Rosa held one of those items, an ordinance that would have renewed the moratorium on North Milwaukee Avenue, from North Kedzie Avenue to North Kimball Avenue, at the request of Pat Doerr of the Hospitality Business Association, who testified at yesterday’s meeting. The decision to hold the item was made prior to the meeting, Ald. Ramirez-Rosa said, after he had a meeting with Doerr.

“We respect aldermanic prerogative,” Doerr explained that he was speaking more as a point of information, than as a witness in opposition to the tavern licenses. He thanked Ald. Ramirez-Rosa for holding off on the moratorium on Milwaukee Avenue, which he said would have prevented a new woman-owned business planned on that commercial strip.

But Doerr requested that the aldermen revisit the issue, arguing the new tavern prohibitions would prevent the ability to open new craft breweries and tasting rooms, which he called a “pretty popular asset.”

Most of the other liquor license items on the agenda lifted moratoriums on tavern licences, including one on North Clybourn Avenue in the 2nd Ward to allow brewpubs on Goose Island.

“We are the Napa Valley of craft brewing,” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) said of the growth of craft breweries in the area. The ordinance he sponsored, which the committee approved, would give those breweries the ability to serve alcohol on site at breweries along the west side of Clybourn Avenue, between Willow Street and Cortland Avenue.