Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) speaks at a City Council meeting on July 21, 2021. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) is running for mayor of Chicago, hoping to oust Mayor Lori Lightfoot from City Hall in 2023.

The South Side alderman, who has represented parts of Chatham, Englewood and West Englewood since 2011, aims to follow in the footsteps of father, Eugene Sawyer, who served as mayor after Harold Washington’s sudden death.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot touts her “Connected Communities Ordinance” proposal during an event on May 27.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration balked last week on its expected rollout of a sweeping new proposal to boost housing options near transit and whittle away at the city’s endemic racial segregation.

The mayor and her top deputies are vowing to push forward after some additional tweaks to the ordinance, which would also blunt aldermen’s powers to veto new housing proposals in their own wards. But as an anxious City Council awaits the final language of the ordinance with reactions ranging from qualified support to outright hostility, nearly everyone can agree on one prediction: the plan won’t survive a vote without a hard-fought battle.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas officially launched his campaign for mayor on Wednesday. And Mayor Lori Lightfoot named Joyce Chapman as the newest member of the Chicago Board of Education.

A food truck participates in the Chi Food Truck Fest. [Facebook/ Chicago Business Affairs & Consumer Protection]

Business regulation officials in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration will have to wait a little longer for their turn in the spotlight to explain how they plan to spend $157 million in federally sourced cash on a combination of small business supports and direct help for Chicago families.

The Chicago Recovery Plan unveiled by the mayor last year charted out plans to spend $157 million on “direct assistance to families” and “small business & workforce support.” Both topics had been due for consideration in the third of six planned semi-monthly meetings of the City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations Subcommittee on Chicago Recovery Plan on Wednesday — but the meeting was canceled one day in advance. Both topics had been due for consideration in the third of six planned semi-monthly meetings of the City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations Subcommittee on Chicago Recovery Plan on Wednesday — but the meeting was canceled one day in advance.

The Cook County Board of Ethics is turning to the courts to enforce an order against an elected official. Mayoral hopeful and state Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) unveiled his public safety platform on Tuesday. And the city’s Office of Inspector Genral launched a search to find the city’s next deputy inspector general for public safety.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot (left); Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez (right) [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago; Provided]

This article was first published in Block Club Chicago.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) filed a complaint with the Inspector General’s office against Mayor Lori Lightfoot, accusing the mayor of interfering in the rezoning of St. Adalbert’s Church to favor the Archdiocese of Chicago.

A rendering of the LeClaire Courts redevelopment plan proposed by the Chicago Housing Authority and two private development firms [Department of Planning and Development]

Mayor Lori Lightfoot brought to the City Council this month a plan to create the city’s first new tax-increment financing district — a controversial financing mechanism that siphons new property tax revenues into a fund for capital projects — since Mayor Rahm Emanuel spearheaded the creation of a new district around the Lincoln Yards development in 2019.

If approved, the new Cicero/Stevenson tax-increment (TIF) financing district (O2022-1742) will seize future property taxes to pay for street infrastructure, water pipes and other public works around the site of the Chicago Housing Authority’s pending redevelopment of the LeClaire Courts housing complex near the city’s southwest border. The local alderman says the new district has his full support, and the support of his constituents.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday shed light on how she plans to pick the seven members of the new Community Commission for Public Safety and Police Accountability. And the mayor stayed tight-lipped on who will be next tosucceed a resigning alderman as head the council’s education committee.

The Chicago Plan Commission approved a 204-unit residential building at 210 N. Morgan St.

Members of the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday quickly approved three new residential developments including a 204-unit building with affordable units proposed for Fulton Market.

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) proposed an ordinance he hopes will help attract and retain police officers in Chicago. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

More than 30 aldermen have signed on to a proposal from Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) that would give new Chicago police officers up to a $10,000 signing bonus or the same amount in assistance for first time homebuyers who serve in the department.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference after Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

Aldermen overwhelmingly approved a plan to move forward with Bally’s $1.7 billion blueprint for a Chicago casino, more narrowly endorsed Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s curfew crackdown plan and threw another hurdle in front of a proposed ethics crackdow during a marathon City Council meeting on Wednesday.

Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24) and his wife Natashee Scott are set to pay $8,000 to buy a pair of vacant city-owned parcels next to their home in the 1200 block of South Albany Avenue. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line; Byrnes & Walsh LLC]

Departing Ald. Michael Scott (24) is on track to benefit from a city-backed land deal in his own ward shortly after he leaves office that would allow him to and his wife Natashee Scott to buy a pair of vacant lots adjoining their North Lawndale home.

The alderman has defended the move as above board, saying he had no personal involvement in the pair of land sales that his wife pursued through Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration so that his young children can enjoy a safe outdoor play space in the shadow of their home. And planning officials in Lightfoot’s administration also say the pending sales cross no legal or ethical lines.

Still, the Scotts were able to take advantage of a city-led appraisal that undercut nearby property values, and of a city program that offers discounts to property owners who buy publicly owned parcels next-door to them.

A 380-foot, 204-unit residential building is proposed for 210 N. Morgan St. In the 27th Ward.

The Chicago Plan Commission is set to meet on Thursday to consider a sparse agenda that includes a 204-unit residential proposed to be built in Fulton Market.

The mayor's allies blocked a vote Wednesday on Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez's (25) ordinance to downzone a Pilsen church to better control future development on the property. [Left, middle: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago; Right: Mauricio Pena/Block Club Chicago]

This article was first published in Block Club Chicago.

City Council members blocked a vote on an ordinance to downzone the site of the beloved St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Church in Pilsen, setting off a heated exchange between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th).

Alds. Nicholas Sposato (38th) and Ariel Reboyras (30th) moved to defer and publish Sigcho-Lopez’s proposal during Wednesday’s meeting, meaning it won’t go before City Council for a full vote until next month.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) and Eric Wollan, chief capital assets officer for the Archdiocese of Chicago, speak during a committee meeting on Tuesday.

Aldermen on Tuesday supported a colleague’s proposal to downzone a shuttered Pilsen church as a way to slow any proposed redevelopment despite warnings from the city’s law department and the Archdiocese of Chicago that the move could invite a lawsuit against the city.