Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s second City Council meeting was much like her first — a longtime foe challenged her, only to get shut down.

Officials from the Department of Planning and Development got an earful from angry aldermen Tuesday as officials in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration start to roll back aldermen’s ability to veto — or green light — projects in their wards.

With Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s push to end aldermanic prerogative in full swing, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson renewed his assault on Tuesday on one of the most beloved perks of Chicago aldermen — the $1.3 million each gets every year to spend as they see fit to fix up roads, sidewalks or other projects designed to spruce up their wards.

The City Council’s Finance Committee Tuesday rejected city lawyers’ recommendation that the city pay $3.7 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the three victims of a 2014 crash — including a woman left paralyzed after the car flew off an embankment along west Erie Street, landing upside down.

Ten companies got the nod for a four-month scooter pilot on the city’s West Side to “test the viability of scooters as a mobility option in Chicago in an equitable, safe and responsible manner,” city officials announced Tuesday.

The Lightfoot era is set to get underway in earnest Wednesday, as aldermen gather for the first regularly scheduled City Council meeting since Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s inauguration.

But while Lightfoot has upended life as many aldermen knew it for decades — one thing will remain as it has for more than 50 years — Ald. Ed Burke’s presence in the Council Chambers.

The 14th Ward alderman — now under indictment on 14 counts of racketeering, bribery and extortion — has defied Lightfoot’s renewed and repeated calls for his resignation.

Related: Ald. Ed Burke indicted on federal charges of racketeering, bribery, extortion

Lightfoot has said his continued presence will be “awkward” for her and other aldermen as they work to end decades of corruption at City Hall.

Burke has pled not guilty, and Lightfoot has no power to force him to resign. Only a conviction can force an alderman out of office.

It is likely the two elected officials will continue to clash, much like they did May 28, when Burke objected to Lightfoot’s reorganization of the City Council — and the mayor shut him down.

Before the full City Council meets, the Finance Committee will meet at 9 a.m. to again consider a $3.7 million settlement for the three victims of a 2014 crash in which a car plummeted 25 feet down after crashing through a barrier at the end of Oak Street.

In addition, the Zoning Committee is set to meet at 9:30 a.m. to appoint Lightfoot (A2019-37) to the Public Building Commission, which considers city construction projects.

Aldermen are also set to approve the first round of Lightfoot’s cabinet appointments:

 

• A2019-38 — Marisa Novara as housing commissioner [Our coverage]


• A2019-39 — Mark Flessner as corporation counsel [Our coverage]


• A2019-40 — Susie Park as budget director [Our coverage].

 

In addition, aldermen are set to confirm the membership of the City Council’s 18 committees and approve Lightfoot’s proposal tp (O2019-3901) to adjust their budgets. That plan includes $393,000 for “audio visual materials” to purchase equipment to allow City Council Committee meetings to be streamed online.

With a relatively light agenda in front of them on Wednesday, two high-profile pieces of legislation are set to be introduced — setting up big battles in the weeks ahead.

With the support of Lightfoot, aldermen will resurrect a push to give elected civilians oversight of the Chicago Police Department as part of a plan crafted by the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability.

Related: Aldermen introduce amended civilian oversight ordinance; Reboyras punts to new mayo

In addition, a measure to increase Chicago’s minimum wage to $15 by July 1, 2021 will be introduced after advocates gather for a morning news conference to rally support.

The city’s minimum hourly wage, earned by approximately 400,000 Chicagoans, will rise from $12 to $13 on July 1 — the final major hike called for in a 2014 compromise measure crafted by Emanuel designed to block efforts to raise the hourly wage to $15.

Once Chicago’s minimum wage hits $13, it will be tied to the Consumer Price Index, and rise with inflation.

The state’s minimum wage will hit $15 per hour in 2025 under a law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker less than a month after he took office.

Lightfoot is also set to introduce a package of ethics reforms prompted by the allegations against Burke.

Related: Zoning code reform to root out aldermanic prerogative coming, Lightfoot says

Lightfoot’s proposal would ban aldermen from working as property tax attorneys or in any capacity “that poses a potential liability or a conflict of interest with City of Chicago business.”

The proposal also expands the powers of Inspector General Joseph Ferguson to investigate aldermen and “audit council administrative procedures.”

The proposal would also hike the fine for violating the ethics ordinance from $500 to $1,000 for low-level violations and from $2,000 to $5,000 for high-level violations.

In addition, Lightfoot proposed expanding the definition of lobbyists to include non-profits.

Lightfoot’s proposal could be the first item considered by the newly formed Ethics and Good Governance Committee, to be chaired by Ald. Michele Smith (43).

Other items set to be considered by the City Council:

• O2019-2762 — A measure to purchase a 274,000-square-foot property at 3154 W. 95th St. in Ald. Susan Sadlowski-Garza’s 10th Ward from Indiana-based Brown, Inc. that the city leases for salt storage.


• O2019-2821 — A measure to sell 2840, 2853, 2910 and 2912 W. Van Buren St. to expand an urban farm center for $4 in the 27th Ward.


• O2018-2817 —Tthe sale of the old Marshall Square library building at 2724 W. Cermak Road for $1 to Latinos Progresando, a nonprofit that provides legal aid to immigrants, which plans to turn the building into offices and space for the community. [Block Club Chicago]


• O2019-2878 — The sale of vacant city-owned property at 6941 S. Stony Island Ave. to Illinois Power Development LLC for $100,000. The group plans to expand its Let Us Make Men program.


• O2019-3428 — A $4.2 million loan for the Nancy Franco-Maldonado Paseo Boricua Arts Building, which includes 15 live/work residences for artists, a theater and an art gallery.


• Three police misconduct settlements totaling $785,000 [Our coverage]

Chicago should fundamentally transform its city sticker program which hits the city’s “low-income communities, as well as communities of color, the hardest,” a task force launched by Clerk Anna Valencia found.

“These communities often have to make a decision between whether to pay their tickets, or pay living expenses (such as rent or food),” the 26-page report released Tuesday found.

Read the full report here.

Valencia launched the task force in December after a series of articles by ProPublica Illinois and WBEZ documented how Chicago’s city sticker fees disproportionately hurt the working poor and African Americans and can lead to spiraling debt.

The task force met monthly to examine payment plans, booting, towing, impoundment and driver’s license suspension as well as debt barriers to employment. In addition, the task force held town halls and roundtable meetings to gather feedback from residents of Chicago.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has pledged to change the way city officials immobilize cars with unpaid tickets, and block drivers with ticket debt from working for the city or as taxi or rideshare drivers.

“It’s time we end our reliance on a system of regressive fines and fees by moving away from balancing budgets on the backs of our low-income residents and prioritize opportunity for every Chicagoan,” Lightfoot said in a statement that accompanied the release of the report.

The task force made 14 recommendations, including:

• Consider reducing the cost of a city sticker and the ticket for not having one


• Launch a debt-forgiveness program


• Reform the city’s repayment plans


• Reinstitute the city’s 15-day grace period for city stickers


• Eliminate unintended barriers to employment


• Review the current late fee structure and the practice of doubling tickets for non-payment.


• Review the city’s winter parking ban


• Review the city’s towing and impoundment practices


• Hire a Chicago financial justice director “to serve as point person on issues pertaining to fines and fees reform”


• Work with the city’s chief equity officer to conduct a racial equity assessment.

A ticket for not having a city sticker cost $120 in 2012 — before the City Council approved former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to increase the fine to $200. Since 2013, revenue from city sticker tickets has increased more than $20 million, according to the Department of Finance.

That $200 ticket can double to $400, if not paid within 83 days, which could leave a car owner with more than $1,000 in ticket debt.

The task force recommended that the city consider other options, including adding a smaller percentage fine after a certain period.

The task force will continue to meet on a quarterly basis to review implementation of recommendations, as well as propose new recommendations, Valencia said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot left no doubt Monday that passing a measure to force employers to give their workers two weeks notice of their schedules by 2020 is at the top of her to-do list — despite a full court press by business groups to scale back the proposal.

Three victims of a 2014 crash — including a woman left paralyzed after the car flew off an embankment along west Erie Street, landing upside down — should get $3.7 million, city lawyers recommended.

A new poll commissioned by Ideas Illinois, a dark money group formed to fight a ballot question that would change Illinois’ flat income tax to a graduated tax, shows support for the idea is slipping, especially in a key central Illinois media market.

Aldermen are set to weigh a recommendation from city lawyers to pay $785,000 to settle three lawsuits alleging police misconduct.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s pick to serve as the city’s top lawyer told aldermen Monday that he was concerned about the amount of money the city spends on outside attorneys.

Bucking a nationwide trend of rising deaths, the number of pedestrians killed on Chicago’s streets dropped by 40 percent from Jan. 1 to May 31 as compared with the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Between Jan. 1, 2018 and May 31, 2018, 20 pedestrians were killed in Chicago. During the same period in 2019, only 12 people on foot were killed in crashes, according to data presented Thursday to the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council.

Chicago Department of Transportation Assistant Commissioner Sean Wiedel called that very encouraging news.

Safety experts have blamed the rising number of pedestrian deaths on an increase in the number of vehicles on the roads, higher speed limits and a growing number of drivers and those on foot distracted by cell phones and other electronic devices.

One bicyclist has been killed in Chicago since the beginning of the year, on track with 2018’s one death, according to the data.

In addition, the number of motorists killed in crashes in between Jan. 1, 2019 and May 31, 2019 dropped by 25 percent, according to the data.

The city’s Vision Zero campaign, which is designed to eliminate death and serious injuries from traffic crashes by 2026, is working to reduce traffic crashes on the West Side, where most of the fatalities have occurred during the past several years.

Aldermen will get a chance Monday to quiz two of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s picks to fill top positions in her administration.

Newly designated Budget and Government Operations Committee Chair Ald. Pat Dowell (3) will lead the questioning of Mark Flessner, Lightfoot’s pick for corporation counsel, and Susie Park, her selection for budget director.

The battle over a resurrected ordinance that would force employers to give their workers two weeks notice of their schedules by 2020 in an effort to reduce the stress caused by unpredictable schedules is set to start Monday.