Apartments near the 606 Bloomingdale Trail have been subject to density minimums and demolition fees since early last year. [Eric Allix Rogers]

Backed by neighborhood activists and a handful of junior aldermen, Chicago housing officials took on a controversial experiment early last year to slow displacement in two of the city’s most rapidly gentrifying areas. 

The City Council approved the plan in January 2021 to flip city zoning rules on their head by setting a minimum allowable density in Pilsen and the area surrounding the 606 Bloomingdale Trail, and they followed up two months later by tacking a “surcharge” onto home demolitions in the same neighborhoods. Their goal was to interrupt a runaway pattern of “deconversions” and demolitions that saw two-flat and three-flat apartment buildings replaced with lavish new single-family houses, a trend that was eating away at the neighborhoods’ precious remaining stock of affordable homes. 

The 6.25-acre lot at 18th and Peoria streets is one of the largest undeveloped sites in the Pilsen neighborhood. [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

City leaders are poised to take a key step forward Tuesday on a plan to turn over a long-vacant lot at the gateway to the Pilsen neighborhood so it can be developed into hundreds of new affordable homes.  

Aldermen gave initial approval to a resolution supporting the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine. And a City Council committee is set on Tuesday to approve a property tax incentive for the rehabbing of an industrial facility on the city’s Southwest Side.

Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) speaks during a January 2022 City Council meeting. [Don Vincent / The Daily Line] 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has approximately two months to choose a new alderman of the 11th Ward after a federal jury on Monday decided Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) is guilty of lying to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and undervaluing his income on tax returns. 

The Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse [Erin Hegarty / The Daily Line] 

Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) confirmed on Friday he will not testify in his federal jury trial as his defense attorneys called its final round of witnesses close to Thompson to vouch for him as someone who is willing to “help anyone” but is “not a details person.”

Aldermen are set to vote Monday on a resolution affirming Chicago’s symbolic support for Ukraine. And Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas is kicking off the county’s biennial Scavenger Sale with a warning for buyers. 

Ald. Jason Ervin (28), left, and Ald. Pat Dowell (3) speaking during a committee meeting on Thursday. 

Aldermen on Thursday probed city officials on whether the program that awards fixed-price, competitive bid construction contracts works with enough minority- and women-owned businesses.  

Lanetta Haynes Turner (top right), chief of staff to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, walks commissioners through new spending initiatives on Thursday.

New proposals to create a non-police “alternative” response system for mental health emergencies, protect vulnerable areas from the ravages of climate change and accelerate the replacement of lead service lines were among new priorities laid out by Cook County officials on Thursday as they map out spending for the county’s $1 billion share of American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

Aldermen on Thursday delayed a vote on whether to add new liquor licenses at Millennium Park. And leaders of the Cook County Land Bank Authority described their strategy ahead of this month’s Scavenger Sale. 

Andrea Kersten speaks during a committee meeting on Wednesday. 

Members of a key committee on Wednesday voted narrowly to send Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s nomination to head the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) to the full City Council for a final vote later this month. And committee members got a first look at a proposal to allow the agency’s administrator to redact names of officers killed in the of duty from future reports. 

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Comm. Erin Harkey (left) Chicago Department of Housing Comm. Marisa Novara (left) speak during a committee meeting on Wednesday. 

New funding from the American Rescue Plan Act will allow Chicago to multiply the impact of a broad suite of existing housing programs, from support for new affordable developments to repair grants for homeowners to anti-homelessness initiatives, housing officials said Wednesday. And city-backed cultural grants will flow much more heavily than they have in previous years.  

But with months to go before many of the programs are underway, aldermen pushed for more information about how the new spending will be overseen. 

A $29 million Cook County vaccination program is among new proposed spending initiatives set to be unveiled on Thursday. [Facebook/Cook County Health]

Cook County budget officials are set Thursday to unveil more than $35 million in new long-term spending initiatives backed by federal stimulus dollars. They will also pave the way for the county to recruit its first new inspector general in 14 years and will finalize the approval of nearly $11 million in settlement payments to end various lawsuits against the county.  

The items are among dozens of orders of business the county’s Board of Commissioners is scheduled to dispatch during its regular monthly meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday. 

A key committee is scheduled on Thursday to vote on adding new outdoor liquor licenses to Millennium Park. Another committee will hear about contractors’ use of minority- and women-owned businesses. And city public health officials announced they may lift vaccination and mask mandates by the end of February. 

Opening arguments in Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson’s (11) federal criminal trial began on Tuesday. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

In opening arguments during his federal criminal trial, attorneys painted different pictures of Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) on Tuesday. The alderman’s lawyer portrayed him as often unorganized and “frazzled,” while an assistant U.S. attorney saying the real estate attorney and alderman knew what he was doing in allegedly underreporting his income and lying to banking regulators. 

Aldermen listen to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2022 budget address in September 2021. [The Daily Line/Don Vincent] 

A new City Council subcommittee launched to keep tabs on Chicago’s spending of federally backed stimulus money is set to hold its first meeting Wednesday, kicking off a process one key alderman said he hopes sets a new standard for oversight on the city’s spending of taxpayer dollars.