In 1969, an idealistic young lawyer named Michael Shakman filed a lawsuit with the goal of breaking the stranglehold that the Democratic Organization of Cook County — the political “machine” run by Mayor Richard J. Daley — held on Chicago’s government and elections. More than a half-century later, Shakman isn’t finished yet. The Daily Line’s Alex Nitkin talked to Shakman about the history of the “Shakman decree,” how it’s transformed the way governments work in Illinois, why it’s so hard to root out Chicago’s decades-old legacy of patronage — and what it will take to end the 52-year-old federal legal case.

Listen Now! 

A proposed 120-unit affordable housing development faced blowback in the Chicago Plan Commission due to concerns about environmental racism. [Department of Planning and Development]

A divided Chicago Plan Commission voted on Thursday to allow a new affordable housing development about 650 feet from the McKinley Park MAT Asphalt plant, as multiple commissioners said they feared the move would perpetuate environmental racism against the developments future residents who are extremely likely to be Latino.

Chicago Department of Buildings Comm. Matthew Beaudet and Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 president Jim Majerowicz came down on opposite sides of a debate over plumbing regulations on Thursday.

A procession of city buildings officials, developers and engineers championed a push on Thursday to relax Chicago’s plumbing regulations, saying a widely-used form of plastic piping can dramatically cut construction costs across the city. But an influential plumbers’ union is resisting the plan, saying the flammable material could “jeopardize safety” in the case of fires.

Advocates for the Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance rallied outside Ald. Taliaferro’s ward office Monday [Erin Hegarty]

Aldermen are set on Friday to discuss a years-in-the-making proposal to establish civilian oversight of the police department as Mayor Lori Lightfoot continues working on her own measure. 

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) explains his proposal to license tow truck operators.

A proposal to license towing companies to target “rogue” truck operators is headed to the City Council floor.

Members of the City Council Committee on License and Consumer Protection gave unanimous approval on Wednesday to the ordinance (SO2020-4817), which Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) introduced in October and has tweaked multiple times since. The measure is lined up for final approval by the City Council next Wednesday.

 

 

An aerial view of the 12-acre "North Union" development planned on the Moody Bible Institute campus [Department of Planning and Development]

A decade-long plan to build more than 4,000 new homes along multiple blocks of the Near North Side (O2021-1024) will headline Thursday’s 10 a.m. meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission.

Cook County leaders will use preliminary census data to draw their 17 new district boundaries by the end of summer. Chicago will hire a full-time adviser on water policy thanks to new private grants. And a potential overhaul to the city’s plumbing code will be the topic of a zoning committee hearing Thursday afternoon.

 

 

A revised ordinance would compel the city to open a public database of closed police misconduct files going back to 2000. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Updated May 19, 6:18 p.m.— Leaders of a Chicago watchdog agency on Wednesday tore into a curtailed version of a police transparency ordinance held up as a compromise between Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration and a pair of key aldermen. The series of substantial edits to the measure would "profoundly limit its transparency value," a spokesperson for Inspector General Joseph Ferguson wrote in a statement.

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26) expressed frustration during a Tuesday committee hearing on the lengthy regulatory process required to sell city-owned lots.

Aldermen called on Tuesday for city planning and real estate officials to chart out their progress on reviewing applications for city-owned land, blaming legally required environmental checks for a backlog of vacant lots in their wards.

Lincoln Towing, based at 4882 N. Clark St. in the 47th Ward, has kept its business license despite attempts by state regulators to shut it down.

Aldermen are scheduled to again consider an ordinance that would regulate “rogue” tow truck operators by requiring companies to be licensed with the city after the measure stalled in committee last month.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3) chairs the City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations.

Aldermen are scheduled Wednesday to consider appropriating more than $55 million in federal grant money toward vaccination efforts in the city and allowing the commissioner of the Department of Assets, Information and Services to contract out work.

Members of the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus during an October 2019 news conference [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

The City Council’s Aldermanic Black Caucus voted to endorse the Empowering Communities for Public Safety Ordinance, adding a powerful tailwind to the civilian police oversight plan as Mayor Lori Lightfoot prepares to release her long-awaited counterproposal.

 

Ashish Sharma discussed mitigating the urban heat island effect Monday.

Researchers and city officials told aldermen on Monday that combatting the phenomenon of urban heat islands in Chicago will require a “mix of solutions” as the city’s tree canopy shrinks and temperatures rise.

The more than two-hour meeting of the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy on Monday included a subject matter hearing on the effects of heat islands and potential remedies to the issue.

Volunteers with the group Growing Home tend the Honore Street Farm in Englewood [Neighborspace]

Aldermen are scheduled Tuesday to take a step toward replenishing the city’s support for a nonprofit dedicated to transforming vacant lots into community gardens.

A chart in the 2020 Chicago Region Tree Census Report shows Chicago’s canopy coverage has dropped from 19 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2020. [The Morton Arboretum]

Aldermen are scheduled on Monday to discuss the urban heat island effect in Chicago and consider various ways to combat the phenomenon that causes temperatures to soar in areas with little tree cover.

The subject matter hearing, scheduled at 10 a.m. in the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy, is the result of a resolution (R2020-452) introduced by Ald. George Cardenas (12), who chairs the committee.