Members of the CCPSA held a news conference last week. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) will meet Tuesday evening to discuss candidates to fill two vacancies on the Chicago Police Board.  

On Tuesday, the commission will first meet virtually for a closed meeting at 5 p.m. and then in a virtual meeting open to the public at 5:30 p.m.

Aldermen and advocates for a municipal sidewalk plow program held a news conference last week. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

A municipal sidewalk snow plowing program has been a demand of transit, pedestrian and disability rights advocacy groups for years, and with a measure officially introduced to City Council last week the idea could become a reality via a pilot program. 

Former mayoral candidate U.S. Rep Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) has endorsed Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson (D-1) in the runoff for Chicago mayor. And Gov. JB Pritzker announced record revenue from the state’s TV and film production industry.

County lawmakers are pictured during a meeting of the Cook County Board of Commissioners March 16, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The Cook County Board of Commissioners on Thursday approved a program to help low-income residents pay for solar energy upgrades and a program to help formerly incarcerated residents rebuild their lives after release. 

The county will also begin to explore lowering educational barriers for some government jobs and approved changes to its ordinance ensuring minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE) are awarded county contracts in an equitable manner.

A rendering of the proposal for 1200-1234 W. Randolph St. [City of Chicago presentation] 

During a more than five-hour meeting Thursday, members of the Chicago Plan Commission approved several development proposals including a 42-story, 395-unit residential building on land that was originally approved in 2019 to be developed as a hotel in the 27th Ward on the Near West Side. 

Former mayoral candidates Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) on Thursday announced his endorsement of Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson (D-1) in the runoff for Chicago mayor. Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas got endorsements from sitting aldermen. And on Wednesday the civilian police oversight commission detailed its search for a new police superintendent. 

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) speaks during a news conference on Wednesday beginning a push for a more independent council. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

A group of 10 aldermen held a news conference Wednesday morning heralding their plan to begin establishing a more independent City Council before a new crop of aldermen is sworn in in May.  

Aldermen meet in council chambers on Wednesday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Without any discussion and with little fanfare, the City Council on Wednesday approved an ordinance that will lower barriers for workers in service organizations that receive city funding to unionize. Aldermen approved the ordinance at the tail-end of a meeting full of contentious discussion over the current administration’s lack of communication with aldermen. 

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle presides over a meeting of the Cook County Board of Commissioners in December 2022. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The Cook County Board of Commissioners Thursday will consider revisions to a law that incentivizes supermarkets in food deserts, allocating millions of federal dollars toward housing assistance for formerly incarcerated individuals and subsidies for solar installations for low-income residents.

From top left, Ald. Daniel La Spata, Ald. Jim Gardiner and Ald. Chris Taliaferro and from bottom left, Sam Royko, Megan Mathias and CB Johnson. (courtesy photos) 

Fourteen aldermanic races are set to be decided with a runoff election on April 4, according to official election results published by the Chicago Board of Elections Wednesday.

A rendering of the proposal for 1200-1234 W. Randolph St. [City of Chicago presentation] 

The Chicago Plan Commission is set to meet Thursday morning to consider several proposals including one for a 42-story, 395-unit residential building in the 27th Ward on the Near West Side.

Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) speaks during a committee meeting Tuesday. [City of Chicago livestream]  

After a tense committee discussion Tuesday, the full City Council is set to vote on a measure Wednesday that would make it easier for workers in service organizations that receive city funding to unionize. 

The proposal, which has sat without a full City Council vote for more than three years, would use labor peace agreements to ensure workers don’t face retaliation for organization. 

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle presides over a meeting of the Cook County Board of Commissioners in December 2022. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Cook County committees will convene Wednesday to vote on an agreement to cover construction costs for a Metra improvement project, hear an update from the county’s chief information security officer and consider the nomination of a Chicago alderman to the environmental commission.

A rendering of the second phase of 43 Green in the 3rd Ward. [City of Chicago presentation] 

Members of a key committee on Monday unanimously approved the sale of city land and $10 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) dollars for the second phase of an equitable transit-oriented development in Bronzeville.  

The initial approval sends the measure to the full City Council for final approval Wednesday. 

 

Thirty-six freshly elected members of Police District Councils on Monday announced their endorsement of Cook County Comm. Brandon Johnson (D-1) for mayor in the runoff election. The Taste of Chicago is now set for a September weekend after NASCAR pushed the fest out of Grant Park during its traditional July weekend. Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday signed an executive order requiring a bi-annual pay equity audit of the city’s workforce.