The Chicago Board of Elections reports 1,471 people have voted through Sunday since the early voting polling place opened at 69 W. Washington Ave. on September 29. This is the first time Illinois has allowed voting 40 days before Election Day. Typically early voting begins 15 days in advance.

The late Cook County Comm. Joan Murphy’s replacement will be chosen at a special meeting scheduled for Saturday, October 8 at 9am. The democratic committeemen of the 6th District will vote, based on the weighted number of votes Comm. Murphy received in the 2014 general election (weights and links to clout.wiki entries below).

A plan to borrow an additional $25 million to pay for 600 new police cars over the next two years advanced out of the City Council’s Finance Committee Friday, even as some aldermen expressed concern that the city was bonding for short term assets.

Chicago aldermen are about to take a vote on a total overhaul of the city’s police accountability structure. It will establish a new agency to investigate police misconduct and establish a new auditing position that can diagnose law enforcement trends. It has been in the works for months, and from what we can tell, it’s a done deal with aldermen–it’s unlikely there will be be much of a fuss.

In a sit-down with the Aldercast this week, Tracy Siska, a criminologist and mayoral critic who has contributed to the drafting of the ordinance up for a vote, says even with this vote, the city is far from fixing the relationship between police and the community, and that both bodies have fatal flaws that damage their credibility. We’ll talk to Siska, the Executive Director of the Chicago Justice Project, about the remaining recommendations from the Police Accountability Task Force, the looming Department of Justice investigation, and the Mayor’s PR problem.

Questions, comments, or corrections? Email us: [email protected]

Building on the briefing documents released by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office last Monday (free access), the Mayor’s office transmitted his official proposed police reform ordinance to the Joint Committee on Budget and Public Safety Friday. The draft, which will be debated in committee on Tuesday, includes two major changes.

[Listen to our podcast: The “Fatal Flaws” In The Mayor’s Police Oversight Fixes]

The first change addresses the new Civilian Office on Police Accountability’s (COPA) ability to determine it’s own outside counsel, by adding language that the city’s Corporation Counsel would now determine choices “after consultation with [COPA]”. Reform advocates had been concerned the Corporation Counsel, who is effectively the Mayor’s attorney, would have undue influence in determining the legal assistance for COPA.

The second change eliminates the possibility of current or former police officers working for COPA as investigators. Police reform advocates have been concerned that Chicago police officers would not be objective enough investigators into potential police misdeeds.

Vice Chair of the City Council’s Housing Committee, Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7), raised skepticism yesterday in how the Department of Planning and Development appraises city-owned property before advertising bids for sale.

A plan to codify the City Council’s policy on public comments into the official Council Rules of Procedure was held in Rules Committee Thursday amid concerns raised by several Progressive Caucus and freshman aldermen who called the rules too “subjective” and “limiting.”  After about an hour of debate on Ald. Ed Burke’s (14) and Rules Chair Michelle Harris’ (8) ordinance to add a new Rule 58 to the Council’s meeting guidelines, Chair Harris announced she’d hold the item and recess the meeting until Oct. 5th at 9:15 a.m., about an hour before the full City Council meeting. 

The Emanuel Administration will ask the Council’s Finance Committee to issue an additional $25 million in general obligation bonds this year to pay for part of the Mayor’s public safety agenda. Specifically, the money raised will pay for the purchase of 600 new police cars over the next two years. This comes as Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Eddie Johnson last week announced a two-year plan to hire over 500 new police officers and promote hundreds more to the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant and detective.

A resolution from Ald. Ed Burke (14) and Rules Chair Michelle Harris (8) that seems to be aimed squarely at Council gadfly George Blakemore is the most unusual item on today’s agenda and would impose new written rules on public testimony at City Hall. There is no mention of limits on public testimony or comment in all of City Council’s Rules of Order for this term.

The Committee approved all five applications Class 6(b) property tax breaks for industrial properties that plan to expand their operations in the city, including relief for for a bakery in the 12th Ward and a vodka distillery in the 25th.

The City Council’s License Committee approved an ordinance that would include the entire 14th Ward on the list of prohibited areas for peddling in the city.

The City Council’s Human Relations Committee advanced an amendment to the city’s so-called “Welcoming City Ordinance” that adds further protections for undocumented Chicagoans who have run-ins with the police. The changes also protect undocumented Chicagoans from any coercion or verbal abuse, both of which are defined in the ordinance, by a city employee.

Among the dozens of pages of routine transportation items up for consideration today by the Council’s Transportation and Public Way Committee is a proposed intergovernmental agreement that would aid in the drafting of a comprehensive transportation plan for Committee Chairman Anthony Beale’s Far South Side 9th Ward.

An ordinance intended to jumpstart construction of a new North Branch riverwalk under the Addison Street bridge, a nearly $4 million dollar land sale to Near North Montessori School, and several appointments to the Community Land Trust Board are up consideration by the Council’s Housing and Real Estate Committee this morning.

Property tax breaks for a bakery in the 12th Ward, a vodka distillery in the 25th, and three sites within Chicago’s Enterprise Zone No. 1 are up for committee consideration today. You can read more about each in this brief from the Mayor’s Office. All but one are new applications. The Class 6(b) classification, which is ultimately approved by the Assessor, is designed to encourage industrial development through the development of new industrial facilities, the rehab of existing buildings, and the reutilization of abandoned buildings. Properties receiving Class 6b will be assessed at 10% of market value for the first 10 years, 15% in the 11th year and 20% in the 12th year.