Several airport-related items were introduced at the April City Council meeting, two in response to the incident at O’Hare airport this month, and one backed by SEIU as part of their ongoing efforts to boost wages and benefits for airport contract workers. It’s similar to one introduced in January. A revamped version of the head tax was also introduced by Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), even though his original ordinance introduced in July has yet to make it out of Rules Committee. Both ordinances would dedicate generated revenue–estimated at about $100 million a year–to Chicago Public Schools.

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Plan Commission and Affordable Housing

Last week our Claudia Morell reported that a relatively uncontroversial Hyde Park condo development received opposition from Plan Commission members who wanted the project to have more minority sub-contractors and affordable housing units. From her story:

These criticisms are often voiced at the commission’s monthly meetings by a few dedicated members of the public. Oftentimes, their complaints go unaddressed.

But that wasn’t the case Thursday, when some of the more senior members of the mayor-appointed land use body openly discussed their own frustrations with developers they accuse of doing the bare minimum when it comes to minority participation and affordable housing. Even Chairman Martin Cabrera expressed annoyance. “You know, it has gotten to that point where we’re not going to just allow some of these developers to come and continue to develop, but not look at what’s taking place in our city.”

The developer, MAC Properties, underwent a series of blistering questions from frustrated Commission members.

One of the land use board’s newest commissioners, Lucino Sotelo, suggested planned development applications include more detail on hiring and affordable housing plans. “That is what I want to see in all future requests: what are you doing on your own coming in on affordable housing and hiring practices, regulated and unregulated. Because we shouldn’t have to have a conversation about what’s regulated if the right thing is getting done from the onset.”

Typically Plan Commission meetings are highly managed affairs. Often with tens of millions of dollars at stake, developers retain highly specialized land-use attorneys to prepare for and oversee testimony at hearings. As a result, Commissioners’ questions are usually addressed before the hearings begin. It’s rare for them to to seriously object to a project, let alone stop one cold.

Since the Plan Commission approves all planned developments, which essentially covers every major construction project in Chicago, one might think it’s an excellent place for an advocate for affordable housing and minority contracting to effect change. That might be what Sotelo, a marketing executive for Grainger, might have been thinking. But how the Commission is set up makes the reality very different.

A 22-member board, with 10 members appointed by the mayor and 12 others serving ex officio (and most of those are mayoral appointees to other positions, like CTA Board Chair Terry Peterson), the Plan Commission is not designed to be an independent body. Most of the time, only ten or so members come to meetings, with the ex officio members showing up only occasionally.

In the end, the commission approved MAC Properties’ zoning application, with a “reluctant” yes from Searle, and two no votes: Rev. Albert D. Tyson III and Peterson. It was the first time in nearly a year that a zoning application ended on a divided vote.

While a few Commissioners might oppose a project or two, the reality is that there’s little danger of any projects not passing plan commission, so long as they follow the city’s development guidelines and have passed the muster of the Department of Planning staff.

 

Kevin Graham Is Potentially The Most Powerful Person In Chicago

Since his election to lead the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, here and there, we’ve been learning about Kevin Graham and the team he’s bringing into office with him. His number one job–and maybe the only job that matters for the next year or so–will be to negotiate the FOP’s new contract. The current one expires at the end of June. Graham, who is a soft-spoken Northwestern University graduate with 30-plus years on the beat, describes himself as a “hardliner” who wants to defend the rights of police officers.

As I wrote last week, the police contract is at the center of a rift between Chicago’s black community and Chicago police, as well as those who support the police. City Council’s Black Caucus has detailed 14 points they want changed in the contract, which Graham has pledged to defend. As a result, Mayor Rahm Emanuel ends up in a jam, since black voters expect major change and FOP plans to do everything it can to maintain “protections” for cops.

But anything can happen at the negotiating table, and Graham is the biggest wild card in the game. While he clearly wants to support police interests, exactly how does he think is the best way to do that? Is there some kind of side deal Emanuel could cut with Graham and the FOP?

Almost everything about the police contract could be viewed through a political lens. Past contracts have taken more than a year to negotiate. What would happen if the FOP contract was still unresolved during the 2019 mayoral election? If things are dragging along and Graham and the FOP don’t feel like they’re getting a good deal with Emanuel, could they drag it out even further if they think it would help get a more sympathetic candidate elected? And what might it end up costing the city?

While Graham has been keeping a low profile since winning his new job, his actions over the next year will be heard loud and clear across Chicago.

The city’s 20-year tradition of allocating each ward about $1 million in “menu” money to spend on roads, sidewalks, and lighting “bears no relationship to the actual infrastructure needs of each ward,” resulting “in significant ward-to-ward funding disparities,” the Chicago Office of Inspector General Joe Ferguson concluded in a new audit.

Members of the Chicago Plan Commission are attempting to address deep-seated criticisms about large-scale development projects in Chicago: low rates of minority participation on lucrative construction projects and a disinterest from developers to go beyond mandatory affordable housing requirements.  

These criticisms are often voiced at the commission’s monthly meetings by a few dedicated members of the public. Oftentimes, their complaints go unaddressed.

But that wasn’t the case Thursday, when some of the more senior members of the mayor-appointed land use body openly discussed their own frustrations with developers they accuse of doing the bare minimum when it comes to minority participation and affordable housing. Even Chairman Martin Cabrera expressed annoyance. “You know, it has gotten to that point where we’re not going to just allow some of these developers to come and continue to develop, but not look at what’s taking place in our city.”

Catching a breather during a two hour stretch of speeches honoring various city employees at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), Chair of the Council Black Caucus, talked about his group’s ability to influence the vote on the Fraternal Order of Police’s renewed contract.

“I’m not sure we’ve got 26 votes on this at the outset, but we’re a lot closer to it than not,” he said. “You take the 18 members of my caucus, then six progressives, and [Ameya] Pawar said he’s with us, and probably a few other Latinos, then you’ve got a majority.”

The City’s Ethics Board found probable cause in 13 of the 24 lobbying violation cases considered Wednesday, all of which were spawned by news reports of improper lobbying found in the FOIA dump of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s personal emails. The Better Government Association and Chicago Tribune both went to court for those emails to be released, and a recent Tribune analysis found 26 possible lobbying violations within the thousands of pages of emails.

As expected, Northwest Side Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) was “unanimously” selected to lead City Council’s 11-member Latino Caucus Wednesday, replacing Ald. George Cardenas (12) at the conclusion of his two-year term.

April has been a fairly uneventful month for zoning applications–no map amendments made it on the last two agendas for the Council’s Zoning Committee. Today’s Plan Commission agenda lists only two planned developments: one amended TIF plan and routine land sales and transfers.

Bronzeville TIF

A resolution recommending an amendment to the Bronzeville Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Project Area is slated for review. The TIF spans across the 3rd and 4th Wards and includes one crucial piece of city-owned land: The Michael Reese Hospital Site.

A rambunctious meeting of the full City Council Wednesday featured passionate debate on the city’s Municipal ID program, the demise of an ethics amendment, a recrimination of the police department’s press office (dubbed a “fake news team”), and an unprecedented request to change meeting procedure.

Expecting the Chicago Public Schools’ $215 million budget hole to remain unaddressed by Springfield, Ald. Rick Muñoz (22) and other members of the Progressive Caucus met with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis last Friday to discuss the possibility of tapping into the city’s reserve funds. The city has $500 million set aside from the 2015 Skyway sale and $120 million set aside from the 2008 parking meter lease deal. Munoz’ plan is only one of the many pitched by aldermen to keep schools open for a full school year.

Newly beefed up “party bus” regulations drafted by the Mayor’s Office will be taken up by License Committee at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday morning in Council Chambers. The last minute draft would replace proposed rules approved by the License Committee last week.

Familiar arguments over the appropriate use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds mixed with frustration over Chicago Public Schools’ alleged dodging of aldermanic requests for information about district finances during a Finance Committee hearing Wednesday. Aldermen briefly debated, but did not vote on, a proposal to create a mechanism to divert surplus TIF money to Chicago Public Schools during times of financial distress. While a district official was on hand, he did not testify–to the annoyance of several aldermen.

A rules change that had the city’s ethics chairman shaking his head had aldermen instead discussing the intricacies of the city’s tax code during Rules Committee Tuesday. The change, proposed by Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), would alter the definition of a city council employee in the city’s Ethics Ordinance to exclude independent contractors, who for alderman, can include political and media consultants.

The City Council’s 11-member Latino Caucus plans to appoint a new Chairman to replace Ald. George Cardenas (12) at their regular post-City Council lunch meeting today.

According to the caucus bylaws, chairs cannot serve consecutive terms, which are two years long. Ald. Rick Muñoz (22) confirmed Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) is up for the post, and unopposed.

Companies seeking property tax relief in exchange for rehabbing existing vacant, dilapidated manufacturing properties in certain parts of the city would no longer need approval from the Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital, and Technology Development.

A resolution designating the Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development as the authorizing authority for such applications advanced out of that committee Tuesday. It sought to bring the city into compliance with new rules adopted by the Cook County Board of Commissioners last month.