A proposal to allocate $1.3 million in unspent money from the city’s property tax rebate program to establish a new legal defense fund for immigrants in Chicago advanced out of the Council’s Budget Committee. One alderman, Nick Sposato (38), voted against the plan, while some members of the Council’s Black Caucus urged the Administration to set up a similar fund for organizations that focus on anti-violence or legal services in predominantly African-American neighborhoods.

These are some of the items that’ll be up for consideration at today’s meeting:

• $9M in four legal settlements. The largest payout ($3.8M) settles a class action lawsuit brought by female Chicago firefighters in 2012. Another $3M settlement with the family of Cedric Chatman, a teenager shot dead by Chicago Police Officer Kevin Fry while fleeing an alleged car theft.

• $1.3M appropriation for a new Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants (Revenue Source: leftovers from the property tax rebate program)

• Resolution from Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) condemning hateful speech and violent actions directed toward Muslims, those perceived to be Muslims, immigrants, and people of color  

• Resolution from Mayor Rahm Emanuel reaffirming Chicago as a Welcoming City.

• Rollback of flavored tobacco rules from Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) that would lift the ban on selling flavored tobacco (including menthol) within 500 feet of elementary and middle schools. That 500 foot measurement is taken from the property line of the school to the property line of the retailer (not from door to door, as retailers would have preferred).

• New efficiency Rules for downtown development an ordinance that would eliminate the maximum allowable number of studio apartments (called “efficiency units” in the zoning code) within the Downtown (D-district) for projects located within 600-feet of a CTA or Metra train station. The city’s zoning code currently limits these efficiency units, ranging from from 50% of total units in a D-16 zone to 20% in a D-3 zone (the corresponding numbers provide for allowable density).

• Termination of three TIFs: the Calumet River TIF (established in 2010), Addison Corridor North (established in 1997) and the 69th/Ashland TIF (created in 2004).

• 2017 Special Events Ordinance for DCASE

• Class L designation for Tucker Development, which is rehabbing 11 buildings in Fulton Market to construct a commercial retail complex in the historic Fulton-Randolph Market area. The incentive will offset some of the $21M in rehabilitation costs needed for the project (The leasing plan and renderings of the planned upgrades.)

• The designation of Enterprise Zone 6, one of several city zones created to “stimulate economic growth and neighborhood revitalization by offering state and local tax incentives to companies expanding or relocating within depressed areas.” This special zone includes wards 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, and a portion of 4. View the boundaries here.  

• A bond inducement ordinance for $16 million for the John Pennycuff affordable housing project.

• Intergovernmental agreement with the CTA to disperse TIF funds for Ventra Machines. TIF revenue from two downtown TIF districts–Canal/Congress and LaSalle Central– will pay for 20% of the approximately $814,500 project. Most of the budget, $500,000, will pay for fare equipment along the new rapid bus route around the Loop.

• Appointment of Simon Gordon, a pastor at Triedstone Full Gospel Baptist Church in Roseland, to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, a board created in 2012 to enforce Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance and the Chicago Fair Housing Ordinance. (Gordon’s Resume)

• Appointment of Cristina Matos, a CHA resident of the Southeast Scattered Site, to the ten-member Chicago Housing Authority Board.

• Three Class 6(b) property tax incentives for industrial properties in the 12th, 27th and 35th Wards. Companies that will get a reduced tax bill over the next 12-year incentive period include: Pioneer Engineering & Environmental Services (3101 S. California Ave.), Chicago Flyhouse Inc. (317 N Francisco Ave & 335 N Francisco Ave.), and H.M. Witt & Co. (3313 W. Newport Ave.).

• An ordinance adding the Uptown Square District to the city’s list of historical landmark districts. (Department of Planning And Development staff report.)

• Sale of city-owned land in Humboldt Park (1345 N. Rockwell St.) to The Puerto Rican Cultural Center. The property is valued at $1.53M and will be sold for $1.

• Sale of city-owned land in Chinatown to Sea Dog Ventures, Inc., a subsidiary of Entertainment Cruises for duck boat tours along the Chicago River. (Price: $191,000)

• The $1 sale of 32 city-owned vacant lots in the 6th, 17th, 20th, and 21st Wards in the Auburn, Gresham, and Woodlawn neighborhoods under the city’s Large Lots Program.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to announce his the appointment of his Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Anna Valencia as City Clerk Wednesday, possibly during the City Council meeting. Word spread late last night that Mayor Emanuel was calling City Clerk contenders to inform them of his appointment decision. Multiple sources confirmed Valencia’s appointment. Valencia would replace Susana Mendoza who was sworn in last week as State Comptroller.

A largely muted Finance Committee meeting saw passage of more than $9 million in legal settlements, termination of three TIFs, and a pause in consideration of an overhaul of the city’s TIF system for private development. Proposed changes to the city’s regulations on the sale of flavored tobacco near schools were tinkered with for several hours before making it to the floor, and passed with only five aldermen present.  

A proposal to designate a commercial strip in Uptown as a historic landmark district advanced out of Zoning Committee Monday. It was one of a few applications that moved out of the quick, hour long meeting, as nearly a third of the items on the agenda were deferred at the request of the local alderman or zoning attorney.

The Council’s Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation meets Tuesday at noon to consider the 2017 Special Events Ordinance, which details contracting requirements and caps on ticket prices for next year’s public events, like the Taste of Chicago.

An ordinance appropriating $1 million to establish a new legal defense fund aimed at protecting undocumented residents and refugees from deportation will be directly introduced to the Council’s Budget Committee today.

City Council’s Finance Committee will consider more than $9 million in settlements, including two controversial police-involved shootings and gender discrimination in the Chicago Fire Department. An overhaul of the city’s TIF program pitched by the Progressive Caucus, the elimination of three TIF districts, and a potential rollback of a flavored tobacco ban are also on the agenda.

A proposed landmark designation for the Uptown Square District and eight Transit Oriented Development projects (TODs) for the city’s North and Near West Sides are on the Zoning Committee’s agenda today.

Aldermen and Mayor Rahm Emanuel doubled down on their commitment to protect immigrants and Muslims this week, responding to President-Elect Donald Trump’s proposals. City Clerk Susana Mendoza is now Illinois Comptroller. With Mendoza’s swearing in this week, her replacement remains a mystery. We’ll fill you in on some of the names we’ve heard to step up to the podium. And one aldermen tried to pull back on the number of honorary street signs aldermen can designate in the city, but he faced a lot of backlash from his colleagues.

Got suggestions? Send us an email – [email protected]. We’re on Twitter, too @thedailylinechi.

 

For the month of October, Susana Mendoza fund-raised $1.6 million, two West Side aldermen created their own PAC to support the betterment of their neighborhoods, and one aldermen neared a $100,000 limit on self-funding.

Spreadsheet: October 2016 Campaign Contribution Report

Aldermen Jason Ervin (28) and Emma Mitts (37) created a new political action committee in October to “support the efforts for the betterment of the westside of Chicago.”  The two aldermen filed a D-1 Statement of Organization with the State Board of Elections on Oct. 19th creating the “West Side Black Officials” PAC. The address listed is the same one Ald. Mitts uses for her personal campaign fund, Citizens to Elect Emma Mitts.

City Council Transportation Committee Chair Anthony Beale (9) will have to wait another month to get a vote on his proposal to crack down on the number of honorary signs aldermen can erect in their wards, amid concerns by his colleagues that the new rules are unreasonable.

All three proposed Class 6(b) property tax incentives on the Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital, and Technology Development received unanimous approval and will be reported out at the next full City Council meeting scheduled for next Wednesday.

Committee Chair Joe Moreno (1) added a last minute item to the agenda: a discussion of a new pilot program the Department of Streets and Sanitation is rolling out to incentivize recycling.

Three applications for property tax incentives for industrial properties in the 12th, 27th and 35th Wards are up for consideration today by the Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development.

The Class 6(b) incentive gives companies a discount on their property tax bill over a 12-year period in return for a commitment to rehab and relocate to an existing, often dilapidated, vacant industrial property. The program is managed by Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios, and could soon be amended to include language allowing the Board, local municipalities, or Berrios to revoke tax breaks if companies fail to complete planned rehabs, upgrades, or job creation promises. Cook County Comm. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is leading the effort, and the ordinance could be taken up later this month.

New rules for honorary street designations and an intergovernmental agreement with the Chicago Transit Authority to provide tax increment financing (TIF) revenue for new Ventra fare machines around downtown are on tap for the Council’s Transportation Committee today.