News in brief: Aldermen to discuss mortgage lending inequities; Water department implementing actions following IG audit on overtime; Chicago could get Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week 

Cook County eyes ‘supercharging’ rental assistance program with $73M federal grant 

Cook County commissioners cleared the way on Thursday for a new infusion of federal cash that could save thousands of suburban residents from eviction. 

The board voted unanimously during its regular meeting to allow the county’s Bureau of Economic Development to accept (21-1609) nearly $73 million in grant funding approved as part of the $908 billion relief package passed by Congress in December, which included about $25 billion in nationwide rental assistance. 

City Council meeting ends abruptly after aldermen delay passage of two controversial measures 

Wednesday’s City Council meeting ended abruptly after aldermen temporarily blocked two proposals up for consideration, delaying the formal introduction of dozens of new measures including the “Anjanette Young Ordinance,” which would establish new search warrant standards for the Chicago Police Department.  

Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, a group of Black alderwomen and Anjanette Young held a news conference outlining their proposal to help rein in issues with Chicago Police Department search warrant executions gone awry. The measure was spurred by the botched raid on Young’s home, during which police handcuffed her while she was naked and telling officers they had the wrong home. 

Cook County ‘ramping up’ vaccinations, contact tracing faster than federal dose delivery, officials say  

Cook County public health officials have vaccinated more than 100,000 people in the past month and plan to significantly scale up operations as the pipeline of new vaccine widens, they told county commissioners Wednesday. 

The county has stood up an in-house vaccination system through a combination of mass vaccination sites and targeted distribution at jails and health centers, although some county workers and residents have complained of hiccups and delays. The system is on pace to expand after Thursday, when the county Board of Commissioners approves a measure (21-1547) allowing the county to recoup up to $75 million in additional funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover vaccination costs. 

Smoke detector rules approved as ‘home museums’ crackdown, ‘clean air’ industrial ordinances stall 

Aldermen on Tuesday approved an ordinance designed to gradually modernize smoke detectors in Chicago homes, but two other major citywide proposals ran aground amid lingering disputes. 

Ald. Tom Tunney (44), chair of the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards, shelved a proposal O2020-6185) by Ald. Sophia King (4) to restrict the opening of “cultural exhibits and libraries” in residential zoning districts. The ordinance would require homeowners to apply to the City Council or Zoning Board of Appeals if they want to establish a so-called “home museum” in their house. 

News in brief: Lightfoot signs Welcoming City Ordinance; CDPH moves 16 states,D.C. to less restrictive travel tier; Blanchard, Board of Review to face off 

Federal COVID-19 grant funding set for City Council approval after week of criticism over police spending 

The City Council is poised to approve an ordinance that would carry over $68 million in federal COVID-19 grant funds from 2020 and allocate additional pandemic-related federal grant money for this year to be used on rental assistance and vaccination programs.  

The city’s allocation of federal grant funds has proven a contentious topic during the past week as aldermen and residents have scrutinized Mayor Lori Lightfoot for putting $281 million of the $1.2 billion the city received from the March 2020 CARES Act toward Chicago Police Department personnel during the first few months of the pandemic.  

Aldermen approve settlements alleging police misconduct after lengthy discussion, narrow vote 

Aldermen on Monday approved payments for two separate lawsuits alleging misconduct by the Chicago Police Department: one after lengthy discussion on who should be held responsible for a raid on a wrong apartment, and the other in narrow vote.  

In addition to the settlement payments, the City Council Committee on Finance delayed a vote during its meeting Monday on designating municipal depositories for Fiscal Year 2021, paved the way for a $1 billion deal to supply water to the city of Joliet and approved tax-increment financing for improvements at three Chicago Park District locations. 

Commissioners approve Pappas-backed ordinance to expose TIF ‘shadow governments’ 

Cook County leaders voted overwhelmingly on Monday to advance a proposal by county Treasurer Maria Pappas to require taxing bodies across the county to submit detailed reports on how they use tax-increment financing. 

Commissioners voted 15-2 to approve the ordinance (21-1048) during a meeting of the county board’s Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee on Monday, lining it up for a final vote by the full board on Thursday. 

Smoke detector rules, ‘Salt District’ proposal set for zoning approval as industrial crackdown ordinance remains in limbo 

Aldermen are scheduled on Tuesday to revive up a long-stalled ordinance (O2019-8529) that would require all Chicago homes to have modern smoke detectors installed within the next decade. 

Introduced in 2019 by Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), the ordinance requires all residential property owners whose smoke detectors expire after 2022 to replace them with “a self-contained, non-removable, long term battery” alarm.  

Budget director defends spending federal dollars on CPD as aldermen approve new COVID-related grants 

Aldermen on Friday approved carrying over $68 million in federal COVID-19 grant funds from 2020 and allocating additional coronavirus-related federal grant money to be used this year for rental assistance and vaccination programs. 

But prior to the unanimous approval of the ordinance that would allocate $309 million that not previously been designated, the city’s Budget Director Susie Park spent much of the City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations meeting explaining to aldermen why and how a significant portion of the city’s $1.2 billion in federal CARES Act funding was spent on Chicago Police Department personnel costs. 

News in brief: CPAC, GAPA close to ‘compromise’; vaccine equity gap narrowing; county TIF transparency ordinance set for consideration 

Joliet water agreement, $575M in police settlements lined up for committee approval 

A $1 billion deal to sell water to the city of Joliet could take a leap forward on Monday if aldermen approve a preliminary agreement paving the way for both cities to seal a 100-year deal later this year. 

The ordinance (O2021-420) up for consideration by the City Council Committee on Finance during its 10 a.m. meeting would set ground rules for negotiation over the agreement that could supply Joliet with 30 million gallons of drinkable water per day starting in 2030. In return, Illinois’ fourth-largest city would pay Chicago anywhere between $24 million and $37 million per year, according to Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett. 

Vote on police civilian oversight stalled as Lightfoot plans to submit her own competing proposal 

After a nearly year-long legislative stalemate, aldermen were at long last scheduled to vote Friday on proposals to create civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department. But the meeting of the  Committee on Public Safety was canceled on Thursday to allow Mayor Lori Lightfoot time to submit her own version of a civilian oversight ordinance.  

Lightfoot in September said she would submit her own proposal for civilian oversight after saying she was “moving on” from a proposal by the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability after she and the group could not resolve a disagreement over whether the mayor or a proposed Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability would get the final say when an agreement between the two parties could not be reached.  

CPD response to unrest ‘failed both the public and its own front-line members’: watchdog 

A scathing report from Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found the Chicago Police Department was “under-prepared and ill-equipped” to handle the protests and unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd last summer, and that “senior leadership failed both the public and its own front-line members.” 

While responding to unrest during the pandemic was “daunting,” the police department and city’s responses “were marked, almost without exception, by confusion and lack of coordination in the field” stemming from failed “intelligence assessment[s],” “major event planning, field communication and operation, administrative systems and, most significantly, leadership from CPD’s highest ranks,” according to a news release from Ferguson.