Overwhelming praise for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new pick for the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Board took up most of yesterday’s testimony at the Committee on Housing and Real Estate, as did monologues from Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27) about the importance of affordable housing and the need for local aldermen and city officials to push developers for more affordable units in new buildings.

Attendance: Chairman Joe Moore (49), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Gregory Mitchell (7), David Moore (17), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Ariel Reboyras (30), Deb Mell (33)

Burnett and others strongly supported the appointment of LISC Chicago Executive Director Meghan Harte to the CHA Board. Harte served in the Richard M. Daley and Emanuel administrations, ultimately as Emanuel’s Deputy Mayor, and spent six years at the CHA, handling the agency’s voucher and relocation programs. She was greeted with a big hug and kiss before the meeting by Ald. David Moore (17), who was a CHA employee at the same time as Harte.

In relatively quick order, City Council’s License Committee passed new regulations on party buses, sports plazas and outdoor patios, and lowered fees from the City Clerk’s office on parking passes.

License Committee Attendance: Chairman Emma Mitts (33), Roderick Sawyer (6), Michelle Harris (8), George Cardenas (12), Marty Quinn (13), David Moore (17), Willie Cochran (20), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45),  Deb Silverstein (50)

Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee Attendance: Chairman Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Brian Hopkins (2), Sophia King (4), Marty Quinn (13), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Deb Mell (33), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Gilbert Villegas (36), Anthony Napolitano (41), Deb Silverstein (50)

Clerk’s Office Fee Reduction, Guest Pass App Pass Committees

Aldermen in License and Traffic Safety Committees approved a reduction in “outdated” sticker fees charged by the City Clerk’s office, and the first steps for a sticker-free guest parking app yesterday. John Gay, Chief Counsel and Director of Policy in the Clerk’s Office, outlined a series of fee reductions City Clerk Susana Mendoza proposed. Those fees were left over from what he called a “legacy of outdated policies.”

A former Daley administration and CHA fixture is up for confirmation in the Housing and Real Estate Committee today, in addition to a handful of small city land sales, a new medical center in the 7th Ward, housing in the Woodlawn neighborhood, and a bigger space for a North Side library shut down by a fire last fall.

Appointments and reappointments

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s former Deputy Chief of Staff, Meghan Harte, now executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Chicago office, is a new appointee to the Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. LISC is a national nonprofit that works with local leaders to “invest in housing, health, education, public safety and employment” using “loans, grants, equity investments and on-the-ground experience in some of America’s neediest neighborhoods.”

Harte also worked as a deputy in Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration and as a managing director of resident services at the CHA from 2001 to 2006. Between administrations, Harte was Vice President of AECOM, a Fortune 500 infrastructure engineering firm.

The Preckwinkle administration is beginning to map out its budget calendar. Board President Toni Preckwinkle's spokesperson, Frank Shuftan, confirmed the following dates are being discussed to hash out the FY2017 budget, but cautioned “no meeting is formally set until it is officially noticed.” 

• Friday, October 7, 2016: Planned introduction of the Cook County Budget


• Monday, October 17, 2016: Testimony from department heads begins


• Week of November 14, 2016: Final Vote

Preckwinkle released the preliminary forecast for the County budget at a press availability in late June, projecting a $174.3 million operating shortfall, a hike in expenditures, and declining revenues. She told unions at the time that layoffs were possible, and that cuts would come before revenue. “Our focus always is trying to figure out how we can reduce expenses,” she said, but everything, excluding a property tax hike, would be on the table.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to establish and hike up over the next four years a new water-sewer tax to shore up revenue for the city’s largest pension fund advanced out of Finance Committee yesterday in a divided 26-6 roll call vote.

No Votes: Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Ald. Willie Cochran (20), Ald. Rick Munoz (22), Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), and Ald. John Arena (45).

The new tax’s passage was despite vocal concerns from aldermen, and confirmation from the city’s finance team, that the new tax won’t be enough to fully cover pension payments required to the get the Municipal pension fund on a path to financial stability. With liabilities hovering around $18.6 billion, the MEABF pension fund is currently only 20% funded.

Attendance (includes non-members): Chairman Ed Burke (14), Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Leslie Hairston (5), Rod Sawyer (6), Michelle Harris (8), Anthony Beale (9), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), George Cardenas (12), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Derrick Curtis (18), Matt O’Shea (19), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins, Jr. (21), Rick Munoz (22), Mike Zalewski (23), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Danny Solis (25), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett (27), Jason Ervin (28), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Nick Sposato (38), Pat O’Connor (40), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Harry Osterman (48), Joe Moore (49), Deb Silverstein (50)

An ordinance that would create an official mechanism to annually provide surplus Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenue to Chicago Public Schools is on the Finance Committee agenda today. Although, according to Finance Chair Ed Burke (14), there will be only a subject matter hearing, no vote. It’s one of two controversial plans that will finally get their day in the chambers. The committee also is scheduled to take up a year-old ordinance from City Treasurer Kurt Summers that would require banks that hold the city’s money provide annual reports on their neighborhood lending and investment practices. There’s also approximately $2.7 million in legal settlements and up to $3.5 billion in new bonds for O’Hare Airport slated for committee approval.

In an email sent to aldermen Wednesday, Intergovernmental Affairs staffer Samantha Fields provided briefing documents revealing elements of a plan from Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fund 90% of the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund (MEABF) liabilities by 2057. The plan involves creating a new “Tier 3” of employees hired as of January 1, 2017 with a later retirement date and ramping up payments over the 40 year period, ultimately reaching $2 billion a year.

The email from Fields lacks a complete narrative of the plan, sticking to accolades as to value of the Mayor’s plan. Instead the reader is forced to understand the program through a series of background documents.

Ald. John Arena (45) and Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) were lone “no” votes on two property tax breaks at the Committee on Economic, Technology, and Capital Development yesterday. Arena objected to a valuable 6(b) extension for a tack cloth company in Ald. Ed Burke’s 14th Ward, and Rosa voted down a break for a new data center whose contractors would not be paid a “living wage” of $15 an hour.

Attendance: Chairman Proco Joe Moreno (1), Greg Mitchell (7), Patrick D. Thompson (11), Derrick Curtis (18), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Danny Solis (25), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Emma Mitts (37), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45)

Noting that aldermen were about to vote on a major water-sewer tax hike, Ald. Arena wanted justification why Bond Corp., a tack cloth company in Ald. Burke’s ward, would need a 12 year extension on a class 6(b) extension the company had been taking advantage of since 2011. Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) sponsored the resolution, saying Ald. Burke had a conflict of interest.

After some questioning on the impact to condo owners, the Committee on Health and Environmental Protection unanimously approved amendments to the city’s building code to require new and rehabbed structures be more energy efficient. Buildings Commissioner Judith Frydland says the changes would standardize energy code provisions statewide and locally, cut down on confusion for contractors, and boost energy savings by up to twenty percent above the current code requirements. Frydland also hinted more code changes are coming after this year’s budget season.

The Council’s License Committee meets at 1:00 p.m. today to consider a clean-up ordinance for the recently approved Wrigley Field Sports Plaza and a plan by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) to crack down on operators of charter and sightseeing vehicles that serve alcohol.

City Clerk Susana Mendoza also has an ordinance that would reduce the fee for a replacement or transfer of a current city vehicle sticker from $30 to $5, allow residents to buy a sheet of 15 one-day residential parking permits for $8 (the current rate is $16 for 30 stickers), and adds a $5 fee for residents who seek to change the parking zone on their annual residential parking permit.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to increase taxes on Chicagoans’ water and sewer bills to shore up revenue for the city’s largest pension fund is the only item to be considered today by the Council’s Finance Committee. The committee’s usual slate of the items, including legal settlements, will be heard and voted on Friday.

A dense, three page memo released Tuesday by the City Council Office on Financial Analysis suggests the assumed rate of return currently used by the Municipal Employees’ Annual and Benefit Fund (MEABF) should be lowered, thus significantly increasing the fund’s liabilities.

A City Hall press conference to wage allegations of "rampant wage theft" at O'Hare Airport will be held at 10:00am this morning featuring SEIU Local 1 President Tom Balanoff, O’Hare Airport workers, Black Caucus Chair Rod Sawyer (6), Latino Caucus Chair George Cárdenas (12), Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1), Ald. David Moore (17), Ald. Ricardo Muñoz (22), Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), and Ald. John Arena (45).

Just shy of an expected vote on the Mayor’s proposed water-sewer tax hike, City Council’s Progressive Caucus is demanding to see the numbers behind the proposal to shore up the Municipal Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund (MEABF). The Mayor's Office has said without the plan, the fund is headed for insolvency within a decade.

“As everyday Chicagoans have faced drastic property tax increases, we as elected representatives need to ensure that the proposed fee will in fact cover the payment schedule that has been laid out before we can even consider voting on this,” Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) said in a statement released yesterday. On August 11, the Caucus requested a breakdown of what rates of return were used to calculate the amount that will have to be paid into the pension funds from the City’s corporate fund. 

A long-stalled resolution from Ald. Derrick Curtis (18) will re-examine what company officials already consider a done deal–the layoff of 600 workers at the Mondelez plant at 73rd and Kedzie. The resolution urges Mondelez “consider instead how to grow its facilities and operations in Chicago in order to take advantage of the skilled workforce and advantages of a Chicago facility, and be part of the renaissance of manufacturing in the City.” The factory has produced Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies and Ritz and Premium crackers for more than 50 years.

Curtis, whose ward includes the factory, has tended to focus on constituent services over legislating. This is the only non-routine item he has served as lead sponsor on since taking office. In March, he joined Cook County Comm. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia and Ald. Ed Burke (14) in introducing items directed at the layoffs–Burke’s asked for an examination into how the city and county track redevelopment agreements and tax incentives, and Garcia’s asked the company “to engage in discussions to find ways to maintain its relationship” with the community and keep jobs within Cook County.