Officers-turned-aldermen steered conversation at a two hour subject matter hearing on mental health resources for cops Monday. Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41), Ald. Willie B. Cochran (20), and Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) spoke about their own traumatic experiences on the force and the fear among officers that seeking help could diminish their standing with fellow officers, lead to the loss of their Firearm Owner’s Identification cards or even their jobs.

President Preckwinkle has chosen Lanetta Haynes Turner, the Executive Director at Cook County Justice Advisory Council (JAC), to fill the recently-vacated position of Deputy Chief of Staff. Preckwinkle spokesperson Frank Shuftan said Turner’s JAC replacement has not yet been chosen.

Aldermen on the Council’s Workforce Committee will meet Tuesday morning to discuss ways the city could take back federal funds earmarked for a special job training partnership the city has with Cook County.

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A resolution Workforce Committee Chair Pat O’Connor (40) introduced in April prompted the subject matter hearing. It suggests the funds be redirected from the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership to the city’s Department of Family and Support Services (DFFS) in order to expand existing job training and placement programs the city offers for city youth, the formerly incarcerated, the homeless, and other vulnerable populations of the city.

Every year, the city receives federal dollars as part of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), a law President Obama signed in 2014 to help job seekers access employment, education, training and support services. It’s specifically designed to match the chronically unemployed or the unskilled with opportunities in burgeoning sectors of the global economy.  

Since 2012, a significant portion of those dollars have been earmarked for an initiative Chicago set up with Cook County. Established by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and President Toni Preckwinkle, the partnership was developed as a way for the city and county to combine resources and broaden outreach for employers and job seekers. It’s one of the biggest workforce development entities in the country and is mostly funded through federal grants from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Since its launch, the partnership has raised about $32 million from private entities and has connected nearly 40,000 people with a job. Last year, Workforce Partnership Executive Director Karin Norington-Reaves told county commissioners in 2016 her organization helped place 8,726 people placed in jobs, enroll 19,502 in services, and 5,400 people in educational and vocational training. It operates 12 workforce centers around the city and county.

Yet, six months ago, aldermen expressed confusion about the partnership–for some it was the first time hearing of the program–and suggested it wasn’t living up to its mandate. At that meeting, the concerns voiced by aldermen were best summed up by Ald. Jason Ervin (28) who said, “It’s like this entity that’s out there, taking in a damn good chunk of money that came to the city, entrusting it, and it’s operating as it sees fit, without any consultation with the bodies that have ceded that authority to you. That’s a challenge. I want the best in service for my residents, at the same time we don’t want to be disconnected from the services our residents are receiving. I think that’s the crux… There does not appear to be that collaboration.”

The job training component of the partnership overlaps with resources provided by DFFS, especially as it relates to employment opportunities for city youth and ex-offenders, resolution sponsors claim. In the preamble of the resolution, sponsors say DFFS is in a “unique position to offer Chicagoans direct assistance” with job training resources and other social service programs through its network of delegate agencies and support centers.

It calls on the committee to explore using money explore the possibility of using existing federal grant funds to increase capacity at the city’s Community Re-Entry Support Centers, Second Chance apprentice programs, and other existing initiatives catered toward connecting Chicagoans to job opportunities.

The Executive Director of Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, Karin Norington-Reaves, DFSS Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler, and representatives from several delegate agencies that provide job training opportunities to residents on behalf of the city are expected to testify.  A representative from Cook County is also expected to testify.

 

A hearing on suicide rates and mental health resources for Chicago Police Officers is the only agenda item for Monday’s joint Finance and Public Safety committee meeting. Ald. Ed Burke (14) filed a resolution asking for answers on mental health resources for cops after the Justice Department investigation revealed the comparatively high suicide rate among officers in Chicago: as high as 29.4 per 100,000, according to Fraternal Order of Police estimates. CPD also has a low number of counselors to help cops cope with their mental health on the job.   

Happy Saturday!

This week brought the city’s biggest political announcement of 2017 so far, as well as more terrible, not-so-good news for Chicago Public Schools.

The Torture of CPS Parents

In Roman times, the rack was supposedly applied to the suspected assassins of Emperor Nero. In medieval England, it was used on prisoners in the Tower of London.

In modern Chicago, the rack is used too, but as a mental torture on Chicago Public School parents, who steadily watch their state and city governments pull just a bit more every day, gradually wrenching the system apart, causing them to wonder if there will be a full school year in 2017.

Yesterday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel let some pressure off the rack, when he announced he will ensure Chicago Public Schools will stay open for the rest of this school year, even if the city, not the state, has to pay for it.

At stake is a CPS funding hole of tens of millions of dollars the school system says it needs to keep doors open past June 1, for the last three weeks of the school year. Gov. Bruce Rauner says he won’t sign a bill to pay for it, and the Democratic-controlled state legislature doesn’t have enough votes to sustain his veto.

And so the rack goes: click-click!

Part of the agony is that CPS has refused to release an exact accounting of how much is needed. Maybe as much as $215 million, maybe $124 million is needed. It depends on what you count. It’s hard to be sure.

Emanuel’s move to release pressure came Friday afternoon, after Cook County Circuit Court Judge Franklin Valderrama handed down a crushing blow to the Chicago Public Schools’ suit against the State of Illinois, which claimed the state discriminated against Chicago in how it distributed funding to CPS. Valderrama refused the city’s request for a preliminary injunction against the state and found CPS had not identified any specific mechanisms that caused discrimination.

In other words, the courts aren’t going to step in in time.

Unless the Illinois General Assembly passes a funding bill for CPS with enough votes to sustain Gov. Bruce Rauner’s expected veto, Chicago is going to have to pay for it.

Chicka-click-click!

And so, reading the tea leaves, Mayor Emanuel announced that one way or another, Chicago citizens will pay the difference. Exactly how, Mayor Emanuel wasn’t saying. But last week aldermen had plenty of suggestions, from TIF money to left over Skyway sale funds, to creating a new head tax.

Gov. Rauner has got to be loving this. He stared down Emanuel, and made Chicago pick up the check, setting a precedent for Chicago to get less state money. That’s a real victory he can take back to every voter outside of Chicago.

But the CPS still has structural funding problems. It’s far more likely than not we’ll have to deal with this problem again next year.

Start cranking it up! Chick-chick-clink!

 

What Now For Kurt Summers?

City Treasurer Kurt Summers’ announcement Wednesday morning had all the elements of a political cliffhanger. The month before, he told his supporters in an email that he was considering running for governor, then followed up with messages asking for their contributions. His quarterly campaign finance reports, released last week, showed expenditures for $31,550 for polling. He made a few contributions to statewide Democratic organizations. The Democratic field lacked an African-American candidate, giving Summers a credible path to winning the Democratic nomination.

Maybe this guy was really going to do it!

But then he didn’t.

Instead, Summers took to the podium, announced his non-candidacy, and brought out candidate J.B. Pritzker to give him a full-throated endorsement.

Deciding to run for higher office is a deep, personal decision. In my past life as a political consultant, I walked through the choices with people deciding to run or not, and watched them agonize over the choice. For those of us on the outside–the watchers, cheerleaders, what-have-you–we can never know what goes through their minds and hearts. Instead, we’re left with the what-might-have-beens.

New York Governor Mario Cuomo’s fueled up plane on the tarmac, ready to take him to New Hampshire in 1991 is probably the strongest image in my mind. But there’s the might-have-been candidacy of Tom Dart for Mayor in 2011 or Lisa Madigan for Governor in 2010 (which lingers now). What could have happened?

Never mind all that. Because Kurt Summers is still a visible politician with a great resume: Chief of Staff to County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, strong private sector finance experience, and now a solid record of improving Chicago’s money management. He’s sharp and has interesting insights on improving Chicago’s economic growth as we heard in our podcast interview last December..

So if not governor, then, what?

Democratic consultants and politicians I spoke to this week were surprised he chose not to run. “What does he have to lose? You run, it goes well, you win. It doesn’t, you endorse someone else and gain a higher name ID along the way,” said one politico who wished to remain anonymous.

Many of Summers’ backers are also Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s backers, like Michael Sachs, who gave Summers’ his private sector finance gig. So it would be a big challenge to run against Emanuel for mayor in 2019.

Illinois has two Democratic U.S. Senators, and the next Senate election isn’t until 2020, and it seems unlikely Dick Durbin would step down then. Even so, three years is a long wait in political time.

“Maybe he can just wait his turn? He’s certainly not in a position to run against Emanuel,” said another Democratic wag.

So, how long is Summers willing to wait?

 

Note: This article originally misstated that the Democratic field lacked a "minority candidate" that is incorrect. Indian-American Ald. Ameya Pawar is a Democratic candidate.

Numerous Chicago Public Schools funding future questions were answered in a few short hours Friday afternoon, as a Circuit Judge denied a CPS demand to fund the school system and Mayor Rahm Emanuel ended speculation that schools would close early by promising that the city would step in to close the funding gap.

The Daily Line has learned of several exits and entrances at the County Building this season.

Cook County officials logged about $800k in total receipts for the first quarter of 2017, $500k of that from individual contributions. While County Democratic Party Chair Joe Berrios (as usual) brought in the biggest haul, and President Toni Preckwinkle made some key  Comm. Bridget Gainer’s committee funds are nothing to scoff at.

For the first three months of 2017, aldermen received nearly $1 million dollars in contributions according to the first quarter reports for 2017 filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. However, after counting donations made to Democratic ward organizations or independent expenditure accounts controlled by aldermen, the number jumps to about $2 million. Most of funds were collected by a select few aldermen–the average quarterly take was $32k, the maximum, $380k.

The Council’s Committee on Human Relations held a subject matter hearing Wednesday to enquire about the recent spike in hate crimes in Chicago and to learn how the Chicago Police Department tracks reported incidents.

]Since the start of 2017, there have been five more reported hate crimes year to date compared to 2016–bringing the total to 30 reported incidents, according to Sergeant Lori Cooper of the Chicago Police Department’s Civil Rights Unit.

The Chicago Police Department and members of the Community Policing Advisory Panel (CPAP) held their second of three town halls on community policing Tuesday night at Sullivan High School in Rogers Park. About 100 people turned out to the event, which was formatted little like past town hall meetings related to CPD reform, where officials and panelists sat at the front of the room listening to community members at a distance.

The Council’s Human Relations Committee is holding a subject matter hearing Wednesday morning to discuss recent data finding hate crimes in Chicago rose 20 percent in 2016–the highest in five years.

In an email, Human Relations Chair Pat Dowell (3) confirmed that there’s no corresponding resolution for the hearing–rather, the hearing is based on an article published in the Daily Southtown last month. It detailed a spike in the number of incidents categorized as hate crimes and noted Chicago’s uptick reflects national trends.



Neither the Chicago Police Department’s website nor the city’s data portal provide current statistics on hate crimes. But DNAinfo recently created a map of alleged hate crimes based on information gained through the Freedom of Information Act.

DNAinfo and the Daily Southtown note that historically a majority of the hate crimes committed in Chicago are against gay or black individuals. That trend has been reversed since 2016 with a majority of the victims identifying as Jewish or Muslim.



Aldermen on the committee are expected to hear testimony from representatives with:

Commission on Human Relations

Chicago Police Department

Illinois State Police

Anti-Defamation League

Cook County Sheriff Dart’s Office

Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office

Office of New Americans

Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

Several airport-related items were introduced at the April City Council meeting, two in response to the incident at O’Hare airport this month, and one backed by SEIU as part of their ongoing efforts to boost wages and benefits for airport contract workers. It’s similar to one introduced in January. A revamped version of the head tax was also introduced by Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), even though his original ordinance introduced in July has yet to make it out of Rules Committee. Both ordinances would dedicate generated revenue–estimated at about $100 million a year–to Chicago Public Schools.

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Plan Commission and Affordable Housing

Last week our Claudia Morell reported that a relatively uncontroversial Hyde Park condo development received opposition from Plan Commission members who wanted the project to have more minority sub-contractors and affordable housing units. From her story:

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.”

The developer, MAC Properties, underwent a series of blistering questions from frustrated Commission members.

One of the land use board’s newest commissioners, Lucino Sotelo, suggested planned development applications include more detail on hiring and affordable housing plans. “That is what I want to see in all future requests: what are you doing on your own coming in on affordable housing and hiring practices, regulated and unregulated. Because we shouldn’t have to have a conversation about what’s regulated if the right thing is getting done from the onset.”

Typically Plan Commission meetings are highly managed affairs. Often with tens of millions of dollars at stake, developers retain highly specialized land-use attorneys to prepare for and oversee testimony at hearings. As a result, Commissioners’ questions are usually addressed before the hearings begin. It’s rare for them to to seriously object to a project, let alone stop one cold.

Since the Plan Commission approves all planned developments, which essentially covers every major construction project in Chicago, one might think it’s an excellent place for an advocate for affordable housing and minority contracting to effect change. That might be what Sotelo, a marketing executive for Grainger, might have been thinking. But how the Commission is set up makes the reality very different.

A 22-member board, with 10 members appointed by the mayor and 12 others serving ex officio (and most of those are mayoral appointees to other positions, like CTA Board Chair Terry Peterson), the Plan Commission is not designed to be an independent body. Most of the time, only ten or so members come to meetings, with the ex officio members showing up only occasionally.

In the end, the commission approved MAC Properties’ zoning application, with a “reluctant” yes from Searle, and two no votes: Rev. Albert D. Tyson III and Peterson. It was the first time in nearly a year that a zoning application ended on a divided vote.

While a few Commissioners might oppose a project or two, the reality is that there’s little danger of any projects not passing plan commission, so long as they follow the city’s development guidelines and have passed the muster of the Department of Planning staff.

 

Kevin Graham Is Potentially The Most Powerful Person In Chicago

Since his election to lead the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, here and there, we’ve been learning about Kevin Graham and the team he’s bringing into office with him. His number one job–and maybe the only job that matters for the next year or so–will be to negotiate the FOP’s new contract. The current one expires at the end of June. Graham, who is a soft-spoken Northwestern University graduate with 30-plus years on the beat, describes himself as a “hardliner” who wants to defend the rights of police officers.

As I wrote last week, the police contract is at the center of a rift between Chicago’s black community and Chicago police, as well as those who support the police. City Council’s Black Caucus has detailed 14 points they want changed in the contract, which Graham has pledged to defend. As a result, Mayor Rahm Emanuel ends up in a jam, since black voters expect major change and FOP plans to do everything it can to maintain “protections” for cops.

But anything can happen at the negotiating table, and Graham is the biggest wild card in the game. While he clearly wants to support police interests, exactly how does he think is the best way to do that? Is there some kind of side deal Emanuel could cut with Graham and the FOP?

Almost everything about the police contract could be viewed through a political lens. Past contracts have taken more than a year to negotiate. What would happen if the FOP contract was still unresolved during the 2019 mayoral election? If things are dragging along and Graham and the FOP don’t feel like they’re getting a good deal with Emanuel, could they drag it out even further if they think it would help get a more sympathetic candidate elected? And what might it end up costing the city?

While Graham has been keeping a low profile since winning his new job, his actions over the next year will be heard loud and clear across Chicago.

The city’s 20-year tradition of allocating each ward about $1 million in “menu” money to spend on roads, sidewalks, and lighting “bears no relationship to the actual infrastructure needs of each ward,” resulting “in significant ward-to-ward funding disparities,” the Chicago Office of Inspector General Joe Ferguson concluded in a new audit.