As early voting expands citywide, North Side wards — including some where Lori Lightfoot showed the most strength during the first round of voting — and young voters led the way. Two more incumbent aldermen facing tough runoffs benefited from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s promise to leave no City Council ally behind.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) — facing an unexpected runoff against accountant Deborah Foster-Bonner on April 2 — has his fingers crossed that history won’t repeat itself.

Eight years ago, 6th Ward Ald. Freddrenna Lyle, who was first appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1998, won 44.5 percent of the vote in the first round of voting.

In his first race for office, Sawyer, the son of a former mayor taking on the establishment’s preferred candidate, finished with 25 percent.

Despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s support, union and business backing, Lyle lost to Sawyer by 104 votes in the runoff.

After all of the votes cast Feb. 26 were counted, Sawyer ended up three votes shy of the 50-percent-plus-one threshold to win re-election. Foster-Bonner won 31 percent of the vote.

Mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot rolled up a series of high-profile endorsements while celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, including U.S. Rep Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and several African American aldermen, while members of the Cook County Board began to line up support to replace President Toni Preckwinkle, should she defeat Lightfoot on April 2. 

The first proposal from city and school officials to Chicago Teachers Union leaders would “roll back key wins for better learning conditions,” the union told its members — and urged them to begin saving in case of a strike.

Commercial property tax assessments in northwest suburban Norwood Park Township were “significantly” out of step with industry standards under former Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios, according to the first analysis performed by new Assessor Fritz Kaegi.

Are you ready for round two? Voters eager to make their pick for mayor and treasurer — and residents of 15 wards with aldermanic runoffs — can head Downtown to cast their ballot. Lori Lightfoot continued her clean-sweep of endorsements from former rivals, while Toni Preckwinkle added another labor organization to her long list of union backers.

Lawmakers should raise the state’s gas tax to “raise significant and stable funds for infrastructure,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s transportation task force recommended Thursday.

The Chicago Board of Elections has released its proclamation for the April 2 runoff — all Chicago voters will have the opportunity to vote in runoffs for mayor and city treasurer, and 15 wards will have aldermanic runoffs.

After notching two high-profile victories at a tense City Council meeting, Mayor Rahm Emanuel allowed himself a brief victory lap at his penultimate post-Council news conference — but vowed once again to “run through the tape” at the end of his term as mayor.

A split City Council voted 33-14 to approve a $6 billion project that promises to transform 55 acres along the North Branch of the Chicago River into a new neighborhood.

Supporters hope it will signal the final transformation of Chicago from an industrial behemoth to a city poised for growth in the 21st Century, while critics contend the project offers only “crumbs” to the rest of the city.

Sterling Bay’s $6 billion Lincoln Yards development calls for 6,000 new homes along with shops, offices and parks to be built between Bucktown and Lincoln Park. It overcame stiff opposition not only from some aldermen, but also from groups that said it would wipe out small entertainment venues like the Hideout while barely putting a dent in Chicago’s affordable housing shortfall or reducing the city’s economic or racial segregation.

Ald. Harry Osterman (48) mocked the project’s 600-foot tall towers and suburban-style shopping centers as “Schaumburg Yards.”

"This is the rich getting richer,” Osterman said. “The North Side getting north-er."

Osterman said the next time someone asks him why the North Side is so much more affluent than the South Side, he will point to this vote as the driving force behind the disparity.

"It happens on days like today, with votes like this,” Osterman said. “This is the tale of two cities."

Osterman’s remarks brought a pointed response from Ald. Jason Ervin, whose 28th Ward is on the West Side.

“It must be nice to sit on Sheridan Road and Northwest Highway and have philosophical conversations about the city,” said Ervin, who said the residents of his ward will be proud to fill the 10,000 construction jobs and the 24,000 permanent jobs city officials project within the next 10 years.

"If this development can help other parts of the city, then let's help," Ervin said.

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) said the unemployed workers in his ward could not afford to wait for more deliberations to take place.

"It must be nice to look from a point of privilege and say ‘we can wait, don't rush’ ... it is all piles of BS," Lopez said.

In addition to Osterman, the development’s neighboring aldermen – Michele Smith (43) and Scott Waguespack (32) voted no, as did Ald. Sophia King (4); Ald. Leslie Hairston (5); Ald. Susan Sadlowski-Garza (10), Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26), Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30); Ald. Milly Santiago (31); Ald. Deb Mell (33); Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35); Ald. John Arena (45); Ald. James Cappleman (46) and Ald. Ameya Pawar (47).

Ald. Ed Burke (14) — who represented Sterling Bay as a private property tax attorney until being charged with attempted extortion — abstained.

Hairston, Reboyras, Santiago, Mell, Cappleman and Smith face runoffs on April 2 to keep their seats on the City Council. Pawar faces a runoff in his race for treasurer.

Even though Ald. Tom Tunney (44), Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1) and Ald. George Cardenas (12) told The Daily Line before the Feb. 26 election they would vote no on the project, all voted yes.

Tunney and Cardenas were re-elected, while Moreno lost his seat.

Another key vote looms by the City Council’s Finance Committee next month — a $900 million subsidy for the project, set to be generated by the 168-acre Cortland and Chicago River Redevelopment tax increment financing district (F2018-72).

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) — whose ward includes the project — called Lincoln Yards “a visionary proposal."

"We have to stay focused on progress," Hopkins said.

The proposal was changed at the 11th hour to reduce the size of the mixed-use development to 14.5 million square feet and cap the height of the towers at 600 feet. In addition, the revised plan requires 600 units of affordable housing to be built on site. Originally, the plan called for only 300 units to be built on site, a plan criticized by several alderman as insufficient.

Pawar and Hairston said there should be more affordable housing.

"We have to stop begging for crumbs," Hairston said.

Under aldermanic prerogative — the city’s unwritten policy of giving aldermen the ultimate authority over projects in their own wards — the project only needs the support of the mayor and Hopkins, who has said the new roads, bridges and sidewalks set to be built as part of the Lincoln Yards development are urgently needed.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Lincoln Yards is critical to ensure Chicago’s economy remains robust as the city transitions from its industrial past into the future.

“This is going to unlock tremendous opportunity," said Emanuel, who warned aldermen that the alternative to growing Chicago’s tax base is voting to raise taxes — again.

“You use the ability to grow in the city, and the jobs, to become a way to find the resources to address all the issues that, individually, members have asked for to be spoken to,” Emanuel said. “Otherwise, you can just either cut police, fire, garbage services, or you can just tax folks.”

Both Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot called to no avail for the vote to be delayed — and whomever wins on April 2 will find her hands tied by Wednesday’s unusually divided vote of the City Council.

Precisely 539 days after the first City Hall protest against plans to spend $95 million on a new training facility for Chicago police and fire departments, aldermen approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal for the new West Garfield Park facility on a 38-8 vote.

The No Cop Academy movement eventually swelled to include hundreds of protestors, and forced Emanuel to expend a significant amount of political capital — and to sweeten the deal by adding two African-American owned restaurants — to get the deal approved two months before he leaves office.

That did not stop hundreds of protestors from converging on City Hall Tuesday and Wednesday, where they were met with a massive show of force by police officers. The coalition protested at City Hall for nearly 10 hours Tuesday and blocked access to the building’s elevators.

Eight aldermen voted against the academy: Ald. Leslie Hairston (5); Ald. Susan Sadlowski-Garza (10), Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26), Ald. Scott Waguespack (32); Ald. Deb Mell (33); Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35); Ald. John Arena (45); and Ald. Ameya Pawar (47.)

After the vote, protestors disrupted the meeting, loudly demanding that the $95 million be spent on restoring cuts made to Chicago Public Schools’ budgets or reopening mental health clinics shuttered by Emanuel.

Mayoral candidates Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot also called for the project to be halted, although both support new training facilities for officers.

Ramirez-Rosa urged his colleagues not to give 37th Ward Ald. Emma Mitts the final word on the facility by following the City Council’s long-standing tradition of aldermanic prerogative.

That unwritten policy is fine when it comes down to determining where stop signs should go, but not when determining public safety policy, Ramirez-Rosa said.

“This impacts the whole city,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

Before the vote, Ramirez-Rosa warned his colleagues that the protestors would remember how they vote — and that Emanuel is on his way out.

“He’s not going to cut you those $20,000 checks anymore,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

Mitts once again delivered an impassioned defense of the project, which will be built by AECOM as part of an $85 million contract (O2019-1154). In a separate vote, aldermen agreed to borrow $65 million to finance the construction of the facility.

In May 2018, the City Council earmarked $20 million from the sale of the city’s largest maintenance garage and yard along the North Branch of the Chicago River — now slated to be part of the Lincoln Yards development — for the construction of the training facility. The city bought the land for the training facility in Mitts’ ward for $9.6 million.

"We have a right to have public safety as a priority!" Mitts said. "Mr. Mayor, we have an opportunity to get something right! I ask you to respect the wishes of not only myself but all the elected officials on the West Side."

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) said the facility is much-needed, and will be embraced by the people who live on the West Side – who voted to re-elect Mitts and others who support the academy. Neighboring West Side aldermen Walter Burnett (27) and Michael Scott Jr. (24) both spoke in support.

"It is interesting that people who don't live on the West Side want to tell us how to live,” Ervin said. “I will not stand by and allow that."

Members of the coalition said the 1,500 police and firefighters that are expected to work and train at the facility every day won’t make the area safer, even as Mitts and Emanuel contend their presence will boost economic growth and reduce crime.

Construction of the facility on land that has been vacant for 30 years will create 300 construction jobs. Half of those jobs must be filled by Chicagoans, the city says. Fifteen percent of those workers must be from the immediate area, which is double the usual requirement, and 40 percent of workers must be Black or Latino, according to city officials.

Twenty-eight percent of the work called for by the contract must be performed by firms owned by Blacks and Latinos; the usual city requirement is 26 percent. Eight percent of the work must be performed by firms owned by women, according to city officials.

The training facility will include two buildings — one for classrooms, labs, simulators, conference rooms, an auditorium and offices, and the other for a shooting range and space for “active scenario training and a dive training pool” for teams to practice rescues from submerged vehicles in daylight or dark.

The campus will also include a driving course, skid pad and and a place for “hands-on practice in real-world situations.”

Plans call for the training facility to include a Culver’s and a Peach’s restaurant, as well as community rooms and computer labs open to members of the public.

Emanuel has said a state-of-the-art facility is needed to address serious concerns outlined by the U.S. Justice Department in its 2016 investigation of the Chicago Police Department that found officers graduate from the five-month academy were “unprepared to police lawfully and effectively.”

The facility would replace the police training academy at 1300 W. Jackson Blvd., built in 1976; the fire prevention training facility at 1010 S. Clinton St., built in 1950; and the Fire Academy South at 1338 S. Clinton St., built in 1965, officials said.

Department of Fleet and Facility Management Commissioner David Reynolds said construction is expected to finish in 2021.

With all of the votes cast in the Feb. 26 election finally counted, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners are set to certify the results, as several unions made their picks for the second round of voting.

Aldermen gave the green light to an $85 million contract to design and build a training facility for Chicago police and fire departments Tuesday after it once again drew fierce protests.

Aldermen stalled an ethics package over zoning concerns and passed a strings-attached streaming ordinance in the Rules Committee Monday.

Rules Committee Chairwoman Ald. Michelle Harris delayed the ethics changes Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed in January after aldermen expressed concerns over how soon zoning map amendments would have to be heard by the Zoning Committee.

In the final weeks of the 2019 campaign, two aldermen sparred in person and on Twitter over past comments and current endorsements.