Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26) expressed frustration during a Tuesday committee hearing on the lengthy regulatory process required to sell city-owned lots.

Aldermen called on Tuesday for city planning and real estate officials to chart out their progress on reviewing applications for city-owned land, blaming legally required environmental checks for a backlog of vacant lots in their wards.

Lincoln Towing, based at 4882 N. Clark St. in the 47th Ward, has kept its business license despite attempts by state regulators to shut it down.

Aldermen are scheduled to again consider an ordinance that would regulate “rogue” tow truck operators by requiring companies to be licensed with the city after the measure stalled in committee last month.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3) chairs the City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations.

Aldermen are scheduled Wednesday to consider appropriating more than $55 million in federal grant money toward vaccination efforts in the city and allowing the commissioner of the Department of Assets, Information and Services to contract out work.

Members of the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus during an October 2019 news conference [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

The City Council’s Aldermanic Black Caucus voted to endorse the Empowering Communities for Public Safety Ordinance, adding a powerful tailwind to the civilian police oversight plan as Mayor Lori Lightfoot prepares to release her long-awaited counterproposal.

 

Ashish Sharma discussed mitigating the urban heat island effect Monday.

Researchers and city officials told aldermen on Monday that combatting the phenomenon of urban heat islands in Chicago will require a “mix of solutions” as the city’s tree canopy shrinks and temperatures rise.

The more than two-hour meeting of the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy on Monday included a subject matter hearing on the effects of heat islands and potential remedies to the issue.

Volunteers with the group Growing Home tend the Honore Street Farm in Englewood [Neighborspace]

Aldermen are scheduled Tuesday to take a step toward replenishing the city’s support for a nonprofit dedicated to transforming vacant lots into community gardens.

A chart in the 2020 Chicago Region Tree Census Report shows Chicago’s canopy coverage has dropped from 19 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2020. [The Morton Arboretum]

Aldermen are scheduled on Monday to discuss the urban heat island effect in Chicago and consider various ways to combat the phenomenon that causes temperatures to soar in areas with little tree cover.

The subject matter hearing, scheduled at 10 a.m. in the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy, is the result of a resolution (R2020-452) introduced by Ald. George Cardenas (12), who chairs the committee.

Officials are weighing whether to establish a permanent e-scooter program in Chicago. [Hannah Alani/Block Club Chicago]

City-logged complaints about e-scooters fell sharply last year, and people who do not ride the devices are less resistant to a permanent citywide scooter program than they may have been before, according to a report released by city transportation officials on Friday.

 Jitu Brown speaks during a news conference outside City Hall on Wednesday

A coalition of labor and community groups is raising the volume on its demands that Mercy Hospital keeps operating at full capacity for at least the next 10 years and that neighbors have seats on the hospital board after it’s sold to a new owner later this month.

Ald. Tom Tunney (44) during Thursday’s meeting of the Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation.

Chicago’s peak season for neighborhood block parties is fast approaching and aldermen are looking to city officials for guidance as demand for the neighborhood gatherings heats up.

Cook County States’ Attorney Kim Foxx speaks during a budget hearing in October 2019. [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

County commissioners are set to tighten their authority over Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office while extending new scrutiny to attorneys hired by the office.

An ordinance (21-3130) introduced to the county’s Board of Commissioners on Thursday by Comm. Peter Silvestri (R-9) requires the state’s attorney’s office to score approval from the board’s Finance Subcommittee on Litigation before approving large settlements, pursuing some appeals or bringing matters to trial. Silvestri chairs the subcommittee.

A pending ordinance would compel the city to open a public database of closed police misconduct files going back to 1994. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]

Updated Thursday 6:57 p.m. — A City Council budget referee backed up an Inspector General’s cost estimate for a police misconduct transparency ordinance, undercutting Mayor Lightfoot’s earlier opposition to the measure on the grounds that it would be too expensive.

The City Council Office of Financial Analysis circulated a report this week showing that the ordinance would cost less than $800,000 next year to implement, and costs would decline each subsequent year.

The McDonald’s Cycle Center in Millennium Park [McDonald’s Cycle Center]

The City Council Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation will consider an agreement with Shift Transit to operate Millennium Park’s McDonald’s Cycle Center, which offers cyclists secure bike parking, repairs and locker rooms.

A pending ordinance would compel the city to open a public database of closed police misconduct files going back to 1994.

A version of Chicago’s new slate of labor protections for employees who seek out vaccines during work hours would be extended across Cook County under an ordinance set for introduction to the county’s Board of Commissioners on Thursday.

Michael Jacobson, Tanya Triche Dawood and Sam Toia address aldermen Tuesday.

Representatives of the hotel, restaurant and retail industry told aldermen on Tuesday businesses they represent are facing roadblocks to filling jobs as the city reopens. At the same time, a lack of childcare options is keeping some Chicagoans from returning to work, they said.

The City Council Committee on Workforce Development met Tuesday for a subject matter hearing on resources that are available to employers, workers and labor organizations as Chicago gradually lifts business restrictions. The hearing was spurred by a resolution (R2021-445) introduced by Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), who chairs the workforce development committee, and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15).