Matt Richards (right) with the city’s Department of Public Health and Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33) speak during a Wednesday committee meeting.

City officials on Wednesday began briefing aldermen and residents on a “co-responder” pilot program launched Monday that sends different combinations of mental health professionals, paramedics, police officers and recovery specialists in response to residents experiencing mental health crises.  

Travelers make their way through O'Hare International Airport on May 30, 2021. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

A multi-part concession agreement would pave the way for a private vendor to set up no-contact “micro marts” at O’Hare Airport under an agreement set for consideration by a City Council committee on Thursday.

Ald. Andre Vasquez (40) speaks during a City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology meeting on Tuesday.

A review of Chicago’s 311 service request system would not only make the tool more useful and accurate for residents but could also help city departments make their case for a bigger slice of the city’s budget, according to an alderman. 

The Chicago Treasurer and Department of Finance aren’t fully taking advantage of city rules meant to crack down on inequitable lending, Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found in a report. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]

City finance officials don’t take banks’ lending patterns into account when investigating whether they’re worthy of holding the city’s assets, ignoring one of the city’s only tools to fight endemic racism in the banking industry, a city watchdog found in a report published Tuesday.

A pilot program underway this week will send mental health professionals to accompany police on answering some 911 calls. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago health officials are set to roll out more details Wednesday on their long-awaited “co-responder” pilot program, which on Monday began dispatching mental health professionals to answer some 911 calls.

Chicago Budget Director Susie Park briefed aldermen on the city’s 2021 year-end balance sheet on Monday.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s top financial officials stood firm on Monday amid prodding from aldermen over their plan to use hundreds of millions in federal rescue dollars to unwind a risky pandemic-era financial maneuver instead of plowing it all into social and economic programs.

City workers filling potholes. Chicago residents can submit service requests including graffiti removal and tree plantings on the city’s CHI 311 website and app. [Quinn Ford/DNAinfo]

Upgrades made two years ago to the city’s 311 system could soon be reviewed in an attempt to make the service request system more accurate and helpful for residents and city officials. 

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) and advocates laid out their arguments for the "Water for All" ordinance, which would codify a permanent end to water shutoffs.

The lead sponsor of an ordinance that would make permanent a ban on city water shutoffs and expand the city’s affordable billing program says he hopes his proposal, which aldermen were supportive of on Friday, is passed by the end of the year.

Chicago Budget Director Susie Park speaking during a budget engagement forum on Aug. 12

The City Council’s 2022 budget season is set to kick into a new gear on Monday, when city finance officials brief aldermen on this year’s balance sheet and kick off a discussion on how to fund the Chicago Police Department during the next year.

The Chicago Plan Commission during its Thursday meeting approved Onni Group’s multi-tower proposal for Goose Island.

With little discussion and ample support from the local alderman and city officials, the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday gave an initial green light to Onni Group’s proposal to transform a portion of Goose Island into a five-tower mixed-use development, complete with public open space and a pedestrian bridge over the Chicago River.

Workers prepare to install a water main in West Englewood. [Jamie Nesbitt Golden/Block Club Chicago]

Chicago would codify a ban on residential water shutoffs, expand its affordable water bill payment program and head off any future privatization of its water system under a proposal set for preliminary consideration by a City Council committee on Friday.

Glenstar wants to build a 297-unit apartment complex at 8535 W. Higgins Rd. in the 41st Ward. [Glenstar/Chicago Plan Commission]

Despite opposition from the area’s alderman, a seven-story, 297-unit housing development near the Cumblerland CTA Blue Line station scored key approval Thursday from the city’s Plan Commission.

DCA Developments received approval from the Plan Commission Thursday for a 213-foot building with 288 apartments at 1217 W. Washington Blvd. [Department of Planning and Development]

The West Loop building boom is not slowing down.

DAC Developments received approval from the city’s Plan Commission Thursday for a 213-foot, 19-story building at 1227 W. Washington Blvd. 

Members of the Plan Commission on Thursday will consider Onni's proposal for a massive development on Goose Island.

A massive mixed-use development that would bring Goose Island its first residential units in decades and a 300-key hotel is expected to get an initial OK from the city during Thursday’s Plan Commission meeting.