Chicago News
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SEP 20, 2019
At the beginning of Jeanette Taylor’s insurgent campaign for alderman of the 20th Ward, she had no intention of becoming a cog in the political machinations of the Cook County Democratic Party.
From left, Alds. Jeanette Taylor (20), Andre Vasquez (40) and Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25). [Submitted]
“I figured the amount of time you would have to dedicate” to becoming the ward’s Democratic committeeperson “would be a heavy load,” Taylor said, adding that “people have used [the position] politically for the wrong reasons.”
That was then.
Now, Taylor and a handful of other freshman aldermen who once shunned the Cook County Democratic establishment are gearing up for campaigns to win unpaid positions to lead the party’s fundraising and organizing arms in their respective wards.
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SEP 19, 2019
The Chicago Plan Commission will consider a proposal by developer Sterling Bay on Thursday to build a pair of mid-rise office buildings in Fulton Market, potentially extending the mega-firm’s grip over the booming commercial district.
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SEP 19, 2019
Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ 2017 bond reform order may have helped winnow the population of the county’s jail, but about 2,000 defendants remain behind bars simply because they can’t afford to pay bail, according to a report released Wednesday by the Coalition to End Money Bond.
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The first hearing on a measure that would hike the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 focused on whether tipped workers should be excluded from the ordinance, the way restaurant servers are.
“In a $10 billion budget, you can put your money where your mouth is,” Ald. Sophia King (4) said. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
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As aldermen prepare to gather Wednesday for the first City Council meeting after Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s announcement that they will have to close an $838 million budget gap before the end of the year, an undercurrent of tension will bubble under the surface.
Lightfoot was elected mayor after making a pledge to root out corruption, and once inaugurated she wasted no time in targeting aldermen. Lightfoot’s first action as mayor was to sign an executive order designed to roll back aldermanic prerogative and end aldermen’s unchecked power in their wards. -
The campaign to hike the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 — four years before the rest of the state — will take center stage at City Hall Tuesday.
Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) urges the crowd to call the mayor and their aldermen and urge them to support the plan to hike the minimum wage to $15 by 2021. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to block the city from suspending driver’s licenses over unpaid parking tickets while reducing penalties and offering debt relief to the city’s poor is one step away from approval, despite concerns from aldermen that the $15 million price tag is too steep.
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The Illinois Gaming Board urged state lawmakers Monday to tweak legislation permitting a Chicago casino — but its members did not say how — or when — the law should be changed.
The Illinois Gaming Board declined to make any suggestions on how to change the law permitting a Chicago casino. [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]
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SEP 16, 2019
UNLOCKED
A rendering of the proposed Lincoln Yards. [Department of Planning and Development]
A judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit aiming to block the $1.4 billion subsidy the city approved for the massive Lincoln Yards development, dealing a setback to groups looking to prevent the controversial 23-year financing agreement from taking effect.
The groups Grassroots Collaborative and Raise Your Hand had alleged in their April complaint that the city approved the Cortland/Chicago River tax increment financing district in a “racially and ethnically discriminatory manner” because it dedicated public resources to an already-wealthy part of the city. -
Aldermen are set to consider Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to block the city from suspending driver’s licenses over unpaid parking tickets while reducing penalties and offering debt relief to the city’s poor.
Increasing the price of sticker tickets came at a devastating cost for thousands of Chicago’s poorest residents. [Flickr/Dan X. O'Neil]
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Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans beat back a challenge to his job overseeing the county’s 400 judges, tacking another three-year term onto his already record-length tenure in the office.
Newly re-elected Chief Judge Tim Evans addresses reporters. [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]
