The Cook County Democratic Party will meet Thursday and Friday for their “pre-slating” meeting, an opportunity for candidates of countywide and statewide offices to make their pitches to the 80 Ward and Township Committeemen, as they seek the County Party’s endorsement. The speeches, open to the media at 134 N. LaSalle, in the 7th floor conference room, promise to deliver drama and a couple of political shifts. The County Party will hear candidate’s pitches this week, then meet again on August 10 and 11 to vote on slating.

Ever since he defeated Esther Saperstein for 49th Ward alderman in 1979, David Orr has held elected office. But Wednesday afternoon, the 74 year-old Cook County Clerk called a press conference to announce that when January 2019 rolls around, he’ll be retiring, since he won’t run for reelection in 2018.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointment to the Chicago Park District to replace Juan Salgado–the new head of Chicago City Colleges–is up for Special Events Committee consideration Thursday. The mayor tapped millionaire real estate manager David A. Helfand to finish Salgado’s term on the Parks Board, which expires June 30, 2022.

In addition to the 50 pages of regular agenda items slated Thursday, Transportation Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9) is urging the city’s Department of Transportation to follow federal guidelines and use post-consumer recyclable materials in roadway projects.

Ald. Michael Scott (24) will chair the selection committee tasked with appointing a replacement for his mentor, Cook County Comm. Robert Steele, who passed away Monday morning. The district that he and his mother, former Cook County Board President and Commissioner Bobbie Steele, represented for decades spans both the city’s South and West Sides and covers 19 wards. Only two committeemen hold more than 10% of the weighted vote, which sources speculate could lead to a fraught nomination process.

Homeowners in much of the 13th Ward would be barred from listing their property on Airbnb as mandated in several ordinances that’ll be reviewed by the Zoning Committee Thursday.  

Though the City Council approved regulations for the online room sharing company nearly a year ago, this package of ordinances submitted by local Ald. Marty Quinn (13) marks the first effort by an alderman to impose a blanket ban.

Lacking a quorum, the Council’s Rules Committee delayed a vote Wednesday on a court-mandated measure that would allow 30 minutes of public comment at monthly City Council meetings. Only 16 of the committee’s 50 members were present for the morning meeting, nine shy of a quorum.

 

The Council’s License Committee advanced the appointment of a new commissioner for the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP), a crackdown on prostitution rings that front as massage parlors, and updated staffing rules for self-serve laundromats.

The Council’s License Committee will consider the nomination of a new commissioner for the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) Wednesday, the city agency that administers and drafts rules and regulations for city licenses. Mayor Emanuel has recommended his Deputy Chief Operating Officer Rosa Escareño to the post.  

Proposed regulations for massage parlors (dubbed “Operation Hot Towel.” ), staffing requirements for coin-operated laundries, and nine liquor license amendments are also slated for review today.

Members of the public would be given the opportunity to testify at the monthly City Council meetings under a rule change the Council’s Rules Committee is scheduled to consider Wednesday. But with testimony capped just at three minutes a speaker, the rules would likely give only 10 members of the public the opportunity to address the full City Council and the mayor. Rules for implementation would be up to the Sergeant-at-Arms and his deputies.

When the city announced the first awardees of a new grant program aimed at spurring economic activity in depressed commercial corridors, neighborhoods with some of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the city–West Englewood, Fuller Park, and Oakland, among others–were noticeably absent. While more than 700 applied to get a piece of the pie, 25 businesses located in wards represented by some of the mayor’s allies fared noticeably well.

 

Second District Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele has died, Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office confirmed Monday afternoon. Steele had been suffering from complications from diabetes, and had had several hospital stays recently. The cause of his death was not immediately released. He was 55 years old, just a few days shy of his 56th birthday on June 29.

Chicago aldermen, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, and state lawmakers are putting pressure on Governor Bruce Rauner to address an increase in reported hate crimes by urging him to sign legislation that’d strengthen the state’s hate crimes law and to fill vacancies on an existing state commission tasked with enforcement. The parties gathered at City Hall on Monday to discuss a resolution Ald. Pat Dowell (3), Chair of the Council’s Human Relations Committee, directly introduced to her committee urging action.

The Council’s Committee on Human Relations meets Monday to demand that Governor Bruce Rauner address “alarming rates” of hate crimes reported in Chicago. 

This week Cook County Clerk David Orr announced that residential property taxes in Chicago will increase by an average of 10% for upcoming tax bills. That sounds like a big increase, but compared to other municipalities, the amount of property tax Chicagoans are paying on average is still less than other parts of Illinois. But expect the picture to get worse, since we should expect significant additional property tax increases with every coming year in the foreseeable future.

Clerk Orr’s 2016 Property Tax Report puts the big 10% Chicago increase number right at the top of his email press release. But then, buried in an attached PDF document, are some other interesting numbers. Like the fact that on average, Chicago’s 10% average increase will mean about $363.15 more per homeowner. That kind of money hurts, but it’s not devastating. Another buried tidbit is especially interesting:

“On average, the 2016 property tax bill for a home with a market value of $200,000 would be:

• Chicago: $3,505.62


• North suburbs: $4,544.80


• South suburbs: $6,566.73”

So maybe things aren’t so bad in Chicago. But why such a big difference between city and suburban taxes? It’s because suburban residents are generally taxed at a higher rate, especially those in the South Suburbs, because there’s so little commercial and manufacturing property to share the burden and bring in sales taxes to local governments.

I don’t want to lessen the impact of these increases. After all, as a Chicago homeowner, I’m not looking forward to an increased property tax bill either. But the gap between what Chicagoans pay in property taxes versus what suburbanites and everyone else in Illinois is an oft-cited fact for those who say Chicago has “room” for more taxes.

We should get ready for that room to be occupied in the coming years, due to three big expenses Chicago will soon have to shoulder. First, City Council already approved a gradual rise of property taxes through 2018 (and likely beyond) in the 2016 budget. In order to pay for the police and fire pensions, City Council approved stepped property tax increases through 2018, and the pension payment schedule they approved in 2016 essentially guarantees increases through 2054.

Second, Chicago Public Schools are de facto bankrupt and are operating with a $1 billion structural deficit. While CPS CEO Forrest Claypool and Mayor Rahm Emanuel continue to call for additional state spending, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that a significant portion of CPS’ annual deficit will have to be made up by increasing local property taxes–the only significant way Illinois schools legally can raise revenues.

Finally, as Police Board President Lori Lightfoot says in my podcast interview with her this week, the price tag for reforming the Chicago police department is tens of millions of dollars per year. I think she’s undercounting, since the dozens, if not hundreds of people needed to manage the reform effort (Lightfoot says Los Angeles’ reform process employed close to 200 people), the new police academy desperately needed, and new equipment for and extensive training of existing officers will all cost some serious money.

The picture is getting clearer: Chicago is going to have to raise taxes in a big way in the near future just to keep pace.

Later this month, we’ll begin to see if Mayor Emanuel and his new budget director, Samantha Fields, see that picture too, as the city’s Comprehensive Annual Finance Report (CAFR) gets its annual late June release. The CAFR provides the city with a first bite at the budget apple, as it assesses how everything worked out in the last fiscal year. The report doesn’t suggest new spending, but it can give a hint of where the city thinks its real financial problems lie.

In the meantime, enjoy the summer weather!