Mayor Rahm Emanuel will propose a number of sweeping proposals Wednesday including a city casino, legalized marijuana and an amendment to the state’s constitution to stanch the flow of red ink from the city’s pensions funds that threatens to swamp the city’s finances.

Emanuel, who will leave office in May, will have turned over the office on the fifth floor of City Hall by the time the additional $276 million bill comes due in 2020 for the city’s police and fire pensions — and the additional $310 million bill for the city’s municipal and laborers pension funds arrives in 2022.

In all, the shortfall could top $1 billion by 2023, according to the city’s annual financial analysis.

In what could be Emanuel’s last major policy address before the Chicago City Council, the mayor will attempt to not only burnish his legacy but also to lay out a road map for the next mayor and the next City Council. That includes pushing lawmakers to legalize marijuana and create a Chicago casino.

“We can not allow the boulder we pushed up the hill to roll back down,” Emanuel will say, as he attempts to frame the debate with a recipe of equal parts diagnosis and prescription.

The mayor often lists putting the city’s four pension grounds on more solid ground among his top accomplishments.

But with a state law set to go into effect in 2020 that will tie payments to actuarial estimates, rather than fixed amounts, that ground has shifted, even after Emanuel pushed through the largest property tax increase in Chicago history along with dozens of other tax and fee hikes.

“These contributions must be made,” Emanuel will say. “There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

Emanuel will call for solutions based on “progressive principles,” according to sources in the mayor’s office. That includes earmarking all revenue from legalized marijuana and a casino for pension payments, sources said.

In addition, Emanuel will breathe new life into to his proposal to borrow as much as $10 billion to pay down the city’s pension debt. The mayor first floated that plan this summer, but then announced he would not run for a third term, scrambling those efforts.

The mayor will also call on the General Assembly to amend state’s constitution to eliminate the provision that prohibits lawmakers from changing pension payments because those contracts “shall not be diminished or impaired.”

Emanuel will take specific aim at the requirement that retirees in the labor fund get 3 percent annual compounded cost of living adjustments.

“The fact is, a 3 percent compounded COLA in an era of low inflation is not progressive

and not sustainable,” Emanuel will say. “It made sense in 1970 when we had more workers than retirees and high inflation, but it does not make sense today.”

Once the City Council meeting begins in earnest, aldermen are set to approve a five-year housing plan (O2018-9199) that calls for Chicago officials to spend $1.4 billion to build or preserve 40,000 homes.

However, that is essentially flat as compared with the previous five-year plan, and has been criticized as insufficient to tackle the city’s growing affordable housing crisis as well as rising concerns about gentrification, displacement, the continuing decline in Chicago’s African American population as well as rising inequality and instability.

Aldermen could also approve a new pilot program for Pilsen and Little Village under the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance, even though it was approved by the Housing Committee in an apparent violation of the City Council’s rules of procedure after Ald. Raymond Lopez’ (15) quorum call was ignored.

The proposal (O2018-9030) would increase the city’s affordable housing requirement from 10 percent to 20 percent in a 7.2-mile area in Pilsen and Little Village. It has the support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and retiring Alds. Ricardo Muñoz (22) and Danny Solis (25).

Critics say it does not address those who have already been displaced by the forces of gentrification in Pilsen and surrounding neighborhoods.

After the quorum call, the committee also approved a measure (O2018-9027) to acquire four miles of abandoned railroad tracks from BNSF Railway to make way for the Paseo Trail from 16th Street in Pilsen to 31st Street in Little Village. Some residents there worry developers will flock to that trail as well and fuel further gentrification. Housing prices have soared near The 606 trail, pushing out some longtime residents.

Aldermen are also set to approve a number of items:

• O2018-4455 — The $7 billion mixed-use project from Related Midwest dubbed The 78, which would create a new neighborhood along the Chicago River between the South Loop and Chinatown that could feature 10,000 units and create 24,000 jobs. [Related coverage]


• O2018-4966; O2018-4967 — A proposal for new West Loop towers from developer Tandem Partners featuring 401 apartments and 80 parking spaces, as allowed by the city’s transit-oriented development ordinance. [Related coverage]


• O2018-3797 — A proposal to transform eight acres of long-vacant land in Douglas Park owned by the Chicago Housing Authority into a new complex with a hotel, 384 apartments, 547 parking spaces as well as shops and stores. [Related coverage]


• O2018-8394 — A proposal for a new Green Line stop at Lake and Damen in Ald. Walter Burnett’s 27th Ward. [Related coverage]


• O2018-8400 — An agreement to acquire abandoned railroad tracks near the proposed Lincoln Yards development to allow The 606 trail to be extended and permit a light rail line to be built as part of the massive development along the North Branch of the Chicago River. [Related coverage]


• O2018-8076 — Changes to the city’s Human Rights Ordinance and Fair Housing Ordinance designed to expand protections for individuals who complain about unlawful discrimination and harassment. [Related coverage]


• O2018-9196; O2018-9197 — Two high-dollar grants from the city’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. One grant of $720,000 would help build a 6,500 square building to house “18 fully equipped salon suites for independent beauty professionals” at 80 E. Pershing Road. The other project is a $1 million grant to Kehrein Center for the Arts “to rehab and modernize a vacant auditorium into a 1,000 seat performing arts center.” [Related coverage]


• O2018-9200; O2018-9198 —Two proposals to use Open Space Impact Fees to expand the Chicago Park District’s West Ridge Nature Preserve and a new a multi-use artificial turf field and playground at LaSalle Language Academy, at 1734 N. Orleans St. [Related coverage]


• Five measures regarding the sale of packaged liquor. [Related coverage]


• Payments totaling $11.7 million to settle police misconduct lawsuits. [Related coverage]


• O2018-9203 — A measure giving the Chicago Park District a green light to move its headquarters from Streeterville to Brighton Park with $8.65 million in TIF fund.  [Related coverage]


• A2018-119 — The appointment of former city Budget Director Alexandra Holt to the Regional Transit Authority Board of Directors. [Related coverage]


• A2018-117 — The appointment of Cory Thames, the deputy director for community engagement at the Obama Foundation, to Metra’s board of directors. [Related coverage]


• A2018-135 — The re-appointment of Michael K. Forde, former Ald. Ray Suarez (31) and Henry Wisniewski to the Illinois International Port District board of directors. [Related coverage]

Developer Related Midwest won committee approval to rezone 62 acres along the Chicago River between Chinatown and the South Loop to DX-5, Downtown Mixed Use District. The change allows as many as 10,000 apartments and condominiums to be built in what they anticipate will become Chicago’s 78th neighborhood.

The $7 billion mixed-use project (O2018-4455) is expected to create 24,000 jobs.

Two projects will receive $1.72 million in city funding from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund to rehab a school auditorium and build a salon suite.

New commissioners step into a sticky situation Wednesday morning, as some parking apps seek to put them on the spot for what they describe as a tax hike on tech-friendly drivers.

The fight over a proposed new TIF that could reshape the area long the will move to the Community Development Commission Tuesday, while an effort to give veterans free city stickers stalled in committee, while the 2019 municipal races continued fast and furious.

Plans to create a new neighborhood along the Chicago River between the South Loop and Chinatown are at the top of Tuesday’s agenda for the City Council Zoning Committee.

Aldermen will weigh a new five-year deal with the Teamsters Local 700, which represents 5,000 city workers. Under the deal, those workers will get an average annual raise of 2.1 percent, but will have to pay a health insurance premium for the first time.

City Council’s budget committee will vote on the first batch of Neighborhood Opportunity grants worth more than $250,000 — a salon in Bronzeville and an arts center in South Austin. Together, if approved, the projects will receive $1.72 million in city funds.

Aldermen allied with Mayor Rahm Emanuel turned back an effort by members of the Progressive Caucus to reform the city’s use of tax increment financing on Monday that appeared to be on the brink of advancing after two years in limbo.

Attendance: Chairman Ed Burke (14), Leslie Hairston (5), Roderick Sawyer (6), George Cardenas (12), Derrick Curtis (18), Ricardo Muñoz (22), Scott Waguespack (32), Nicholas Sposato (38), Margaret Laurino (39), John Arena (45) and Debra Silverstein (50)

Dubbed by supporters as an effort to take the use of TIF funds “back to basics,” the measure (O2016-8118) would only permit private development projects to get TIF funding only if they “would not reasonably be anticipated” to develop without a subsidy, which is known as the “but for” test. Areas that get TIF funding must also be blighted, with mostly vacant land or obsolete buildings, under the measure.

That could scuttle plans for the Lincoln Yards development along the North Branch of the Chicago River, which relies on $800 million in TIF funding for new roads, bridges and other infrastructure according to plans unveiled by Ald. Brian Hopkins.

Much of the debate at Monday’s meeting centered on a change to the measure put forward by Ald. Ricardo Muñoz (22) designed to make it clear the ordinance would not apply to ongoing projects by adding one sentence to the measure: “This ordinance shall not apply to those projects currently in existence or the development stages.”

At first, Muñoz said he and the other supporters of the measure — opposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel — had agreed not to seek a vote at Monday’s meeting. However, both Ald. George Cardenas (12) and Ald. John Arena (45) said they saw no reason to delay. Muñoz then pushed for a vote.

“This is a particular moment of time when we need to take action,” Arena said, noting that the ordinance is more than two years old.

Arena proposed an amendment to Munoz’ suggested another change: “This ordinance shall not apply to those projects currently in existence.”

Finance Committee Chairman Ald. Ed Burke (14) — known for his ability to weaponize City Council’s rules of procedure — first demanded the proposed change in writing, then asked representatives of the Department of Planning and Development and the Law Department to weigh in.

“This has far-reaching implications that should not be ignored,” Burke said. His comments were echoed by Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11.)

Deputy Corporation Counsel James McDonald told aldermen he was not prepared to weigh in on the legality of the modified measure.

Department of Planning and Development Managing Deputy Commissioner Chip Hastings said he was concerned it would have unintended consequences.

That brought an angry response from 5th Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston, who said members of the mayor’s staff had been warning aldermen that the measure could grind TIF-funded projects in their wards to a halt.

Muñoz accused the Emanuel administration of trying to scare aldermen. The measure would only impact those projects that have not yet been approved by city officials, Muñoz said.

The proposal could scuttle Emanuel’s effort to push through three new TIF districts designed to speed the development of land along the North Branch of the Chicago River, land between the Loop and Chinatown, and the former Michael Reese hospital site in Bronzeville with $1.5 billion in public funds.

“We need to tighten up the test before we move forward on any new TIFs,” Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) said, noting that the tougher test is already required by state law.

TIF districts capture all growth in the property tax base in a designated area for a set period of time, usually 20 years or more, and divert it into a special fund for projects designed to spur redevelopment and eradicate blight.

When it became clear that supporters of the TIF reform measure would insist on a vote, Burke mused aloud that a quorum vote would reveal that there were not enough members of the committee present to conduct business.

“If someone were to call for a quorum, I suspect it would fail,” Burke said.

Ald. Margaret Laurino (39) — who serves as the mayor pro tem — then called for a quorum vote, revealing there were only 12 members of the committee present — short of the 15 needed to carry out committee business.

Even though he was present just before the roll call vote, Daley Thompson was not present for the vote.

The fact that Burke was forced to use a quorum vote to prevent a measure from advancing out of his committee — which he typically rules with an iron fist — surprised City Hall observers. It could indicate Burke’s waning influence as he faces a tough re-election campaign — and is under investigation by the FBI.

The committee is scheduled to reconvene Tuesday morning.

Emanuel has said he is determined to push through the new TIF district before he leaves office this spring.

The city’s Community Development Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to review the eligibility study and redevelopment plan for the Roosevelt/Clark TIF, which includes The 78, and the Cortland/Chicago River TIF, which would include the Lincoln Yards development.

The commission will not hear public testimony, but will instead schedule a public hearing.

Before the committee’s abrupt adjournment, aldermen approved a measure (O2018-9203) giving the Chicago Park District’s headquarters a green light to move from Streeterville to Brighton Park.

The plan for a 17-acre headquarters at 4800 S. Western Ave. would bring office space along with a field house, playground, spray pool and three artificial turf fields, according to Block Club Chicago.

The purchase of the land for the new headquarters will cost $8.65 million, and come from the Stevenson/Brighton Tax Increment Financing District, according to the measure.

The committee also adopted two resolutions before adjourning, including a measure from Burke calling on President Donald Trump to stop holding undocumented immigrant children in a tent city in Tornillo, Texas.

However, that measure was introduced Monday morning, and not included on the meeting’s agenda. Burke ignored warnings from his staff that he should not allow a vote to proceed.

The other measure (R2018-998)  — authored by Ald. Tom Tunney (44) — calls on state officials to offer longtime homeowners and seniors a break on their property taxes. In the 44th Ward, the median increase in assessments was 31.2 percent, according to documents from the Cook County Assessor’s Office.

Related: Lakeview neighborhood group targets Tunney on property tax assessment hikes

Burke, whose City Hall and ward/campaign offices were raided by the FBI Nov. 29, is facing four Latino opponents in his bid to win a 14th term on the City Council. Burke has often introduced ripped-from-the-headlines resolutions condemning Trump.

Among the measures that were not tackled are the items covered in our preview, including:

• O2018-9080 — a proposal to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes and menthol-flavored liquid nicotine from Ald. Raymond Lopez (15)


• A recommendation from city attorneys to pay $11.7 million to settle three lawsuits alleging police misconduct

Two sleepy offices in Cook County are entering uncharted waters. Karen Yarbrough, who as recorder of deeds has been under anti-patronage Shakman oversight her entire term, is the new clerk — where David Orr, considered by many to be one of the godfathers of Chicago’s good government push in the 1980s, could hire and fire employees as he pleased, free of a federal court appointed monitor.

All eyes will be on Ald. Ed Burke (14) Monday, as he is set to preside over the first meeting of the City Council’s Committee on Finance since the FBI raided both his City Hall and ward/campaign offices.

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) asked the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor to review whether the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate violated the state’s Open Meeting Act by ignoring his quorum call at Thursday’s meeting. Adam Collins, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s communications director, announced his last day would be Friday, as Emanuel prepares to wrap up his time on the fifth floor of City Hall.

Two mayoral candidates will turn their attention to crime this week, while another made a key hire.

Aldermen endorsed Thursday the city’s next five-year housing plan, which calls for Chicago officials to spend $1.4 billion to build or preserve 40,000 homes, despite concerns that the plan does not call for the city to spend enough to tackle the growing affordable housing crisis.

Mayoral candidate Bill Daley released his first advertisement of the campaign, which called for a one-year property tax freeze, drawing immediate fire from rival Gery Chico. Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot asked for help fending off a petition challenge from Toni Preckwinkle, and 33rd Ward aldermanic candidate Katie Sieracki opened her campaign office. Got campaign nuggets? Send them to [email protected].