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.

Aldermen urged Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked appointee to the Board of Trustees for City Colleges to address district-wide curriculum changes they say have made access to education less attainable for high school seniors and low income residents. 

The Council’s Education Committee met Tuesday to approve the appointment of Deborah H. Telman to the eight-member board that serves as the governing body for Chicago City Colleges.

Today is the monthly City Council meeting with some big ticket items slated for approval: authorization language for Chicago’s new Municipal ID program and the appointment of a new Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety.

The Council’s License Committee is also scheduled to meet an hour before the meeting to consider updated regulations for party bus operators. Though the mayor’s office sent out a synopsis of the changes (detailed in below), no language was provided by publication.

Notable Appointments

• Laura L. Kunard, Ph.D as the city’s new Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety. With an annual salary of $137,000, Kunard would oversee a division of about 20 people within the Inspector General’s Office focused exclusively on analyzing trends, training, and policies at the Chicago Police Department. (Coverage)

• Deborah H. Telman, a Vice President and General Counsel at Johnson Controls, to the Board of Trustees for Chicago City Colleges (A2017-16) and the re-appointment of D. Darrell Griffin and Karen Kent to the board (A2016-91)

• Olga Camargo, a managing partner at TOROSO Investments, LLC, to the Public Building Commission, an 11 member board that oversees all construction and renovation projects at city-owned buildings. Camargo would finish the remainder of Martin Cabrera’s term, which expires September 30, 2020. Cabrera will continue to serve as the Chair of the city’s Plan Commission. (A2017-8) (Coverage)

Items Up For Vote - Highlights

• An ordinance giving City Clerk Anna Valencia the authority to establish a new Municipal ID program for Chicago. A $1 million appropriation was included in the 2017 budget approved last year. Eligible recipients for the ID include: undocumented residents, city youth, the homeless, and possibly ex-offenders. (O2017-1950) (Coverage)

• Relaxed zoning regulations for shooting ranges to bring the city in compliance with a recent ruling by a federal appeals court. He ruling said the city’s current zoning regulations on ranges violate the Second Amendment. The zoning code currently limits shooting ranges to Manufacturing (M) Districts. This ordinance would allow them in any Business (B) or Commercial (C) District, subject to a special use permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). O2017-1949

• Clean up language consolidating Public Place of Amusement, Tobacco, and various liquor licenses (SO2017-1951)

• An ordinance authorizing a contract with Ameresco, Inc. for the city’s Smart Lighting Project, $160 million, a four-year plan to upgrade 85% of the city’s light fixtures. (O2017-2034)(Coverage)

• Intergovernmental agreements between the Chicago Police Department and two sister agencies. The CTA agreement is part of CPD’s Voluntary Special Employment Program (VSEP), which allows sworn officers to volunteer their off-duty hours to sister agencies. The Park District agreement expands existing “baseline services” CPD provides through routine patrols of public green space. (O2017-1953, O2017-1956) (Coverage)

• A lease agreement that’d let the Chicago Police Department rent out classroom space at Kennedy-King College and Dawson Technical Institute for the training of new recruits. This is one of several lease agreements the Council has approved to alleviate overcrowding at the training academy as the city embarks on its two-year hiring plan (O2017-2218)

• Authorization for the city to disperse the first round of Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus Funds. About $3 million in grants would be made available to eligible businesses. (O2017-914) (Coverage) (MAP of eligible areas)

• Amended hours of operation rules for outdoor patios (O2017-2011)

• An ordinance allowing food trucks at O’Hare Airport. These trucks would be located in the taxi staging area and won’t be open to the general public. The ordinance gives BACP and the Department of Aviation the authority to designate additional locations at O’Hare. It also authorizes trucks at Midway, but none are planned at the moment ( O2017-1952)

• A grant change for Millennium Park workouts. The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Millennium Park Foundation to support the city’s free summer workout program at the downtown park.(O2017-1947 )

• An ordinance fixing a “mistake” in the city’s Ethics Ordinance that included “independent contractors” under the definition of “City Council Employee.” This meant those contractors, most of whom are paid through campaign or ward funds, are subject to ethics rules governing city council staff who receive their paycheck from the city. The change has been lambasted by the chair of the city’s Ethics Board. (O2017-2027)

• Four police-related settlements totaling just under $1 million, including for an arrestee who died from a drug overdose in custody, a motorcycle crash involving a CPD vehicle, an arrestee injured while not wearing a seatbelt in a squad car, and the wrongful arrest of a 67 year-old man with cerebral palsy. (More below)

• Four sales and loan agreements for affordable housing developments. (Coverage)

• $48 million in TIF for construction of a new elementary school in the South Loop (O2017-2785). TIF will cover the entire cost of the new South Loop Elementary, built to address overcrowding at the existing school.  

 

Wednesday’s agenda for the regular meeting of the Chicago Board of Ethics includes discussion of 25 violations related to unregistered or unreported lobbying. A recent Chicago Tribune investigation found 26 possible violations of the city’s lobbying registration and reporting rules. Dozens of lobbyists, businesspeople, and the politically connected reached out to Mayor Rahm Emanuel on his personal email address asking for contract changes, ordinance amendments, and city action without registering as a lobbyist or reporting their activity.

Those emails were revealed in a Freedom of Information Act dump earlier this year. Uber executive David Plouffe was the first to face major fines after the release for trying to influence city decision-making on ride sharing vehicles operating at the city’s airports. He was fined $90,000. Dozens of others could face a similar fate, with fines that grow by the day.

The committee meets Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. at the Board of Ethics office, 740 N. Sedgwick, Suite 500.