Chicago finished out the 2016 fiscal year with $514.1 million cash on hand. Revenue collection was nearly 3-percent less than 2015, for a difference of $207.5 million, while expenditures continued to outpace receipts for a year-end net deficit of $27,429.9 million. Those are some of the big-picture numbers revealed in the city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for FY 2016.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Kubasiak granted Cook County’s motion to dismiss the Illinois Retail Merchants Association’s (IRMA) case against the county’s sweetened beverage tax Friday afternoon. The decision surprised both sides, who expected for the motion to be denied and for the case–similar to the county’s proposed tax on ammunition–to drag on for some time. President Preckwinkle’s administration, in the midst of layoffs and position eliminations, applauded the decision.

Happy Saturday! I enjoyed Illinois’ great Amtrak connections and shuttled between Chicago and Springfield this week. Chicago’s education issues are tied up with Springfield, while Springfield is weighed down by Chicago’s education demands. But first, some business from last week...

Editor’s Choice It Is: Results Of The Great Twitter Poll

A mad onslaught of thirty-two people converged on our Twitter account last week to cast their votes on what this email should be focused on for future editions. And you said for it to neither focus on Chicago or Springfield, but to be “Editor’s Choice”. I’m supposing that the thousands more of you reading this every week, according to our email statistics, are so confident in our ability to please your need for good reading, that you’re comfortable with casting this email’s fate to the the winds.

 



Over this past month, Cook County politics has sizzled. We’ve seen Democrats turning on Democrats. Courtroom conflicts. Massive potential layoffs. Budget holes that need to be filled. Accusations of shell games and “Kabuki math”. All because of a tax on sweetened beverages and a lawsuit that sought to halt it. On this week’s episode of The Aldercast, we recap the month that was, and how Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle might’ve narrowly avoided further budget (and party) chaos.

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Got questions, comments, corrections, or suggestions? Send us an email: [email protected].

Ald. Ed Burke (14), Chair of the Council’s Finance Committee, wants aldermanic approval for all settlements the city wins above $100,000.

 

The West Side Chapter of the NAACP and the Chicago Urban League have both signed on to the class action lawsuit that seeks to bring court oversight to reform the city’s police department. Attorneys for the MacArthur Justice Center at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, who filed the case in June, celebrated the “broadening coalition” and say the move “increases the pressure on the mayor to enact reforms with the community and with court oversight.”

Correction (July 27, 2017, 11:20 a.m.) – An earlier version of this story was corrected to reflect the correct local of SEIU seeking to represent airport workers. It's SEIU Local 1, not SEIU Local 73. 

The City Council advanced a major zoning overhaul that repeals the strict planned manufacturing designation of the North Branch Industrial Corridor, initiating a new chapter for the area that had been closed off to non-industrial development for the past 30 years. Wednesday’s meeting was also one for the history books, as it was the first time in City Council history that members of the public were allowed to speak following a year-long legal battle initiated by two Uptown activists.

This week, President Preckwinkle’s Office released the dollar amounts each county office has been requested to cut after a judge delayed a soda tax the county argues it needs to plug a widening budget gap.

The shot clock is prepped, the pink slips are stacked.

Today is the first official day of public comment at monthly City Council meetings. Members of the public can register for comment starting at 9:30 a.m. and up until five minutes until after the meeting begins.

Testimony will be limited to three minutes per speaker, for no longer than 30 minutes, and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Testimony will take place after the quorum call, pledge of allegiance and invocation, and will be overseen by City Council’s Sergeant at Arms (staff of Rules Chair Michelle Harris (8)). The change was prompted by an Open Meetings Act lawsuit filed earlier this year, and critics have charged the allotted time is not enough.

Unless Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) has his say and City Council holds a special meeting to discuss CPS funding, this will also be the last City Council or committee meeting until September while the city and county traditionally enjoy a summer recess.

Items Slated For Approval

*Red Light Camera Settlement - Aldermen approved a nearly $39 million settlement in Finance Committee on Monday. The City will create a fund on behalf of ticketed drivers: $26.75M in cash and $12M in the extinguishment of debt on amounts owed on alleged red light violations that occurred between March 2010 and May 2015. The city will use money from two recent settlements in their favor: one from Redflex (related to a bribery scheme involving those red light cameras), and one from online hotel booking companies.

*O2017-4840 – Rezone of the North Branch Industrial Corridor. The ordinance repeals portions of the Planned Manufacturing District (PMD) designation for the north and southern portion of the corridor– Goose Island would remain industrial– and sets up two new funding tools that leverages developer fees to cover public construction and support manufacturing in the city’s other PMDs and Industrial Corridors. Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) voted against it in committee. (This DPD website, which the department updates regularly, has every resource you need to understand the complex ordinance)

*O2017-2002 – School Loading Zones – An ordinance from North Side Aldermen Pat O’Connor (40) and Marge Laurino (39) that’d let schools and daycare centers designate school loading zones to make it easier and safer for parents to drop off and pick up their kids. The schools would have to pay and apply for the loading zone with the city.

*SO2017-4894 – Food Truck License Fee For O’Hare – Establishes a $200 license fee for a new food truck pilot program at the city’s airports. Originally Midway was included in the language, but it was removed in committee at the request of Ald. Marty Quinn (13) who argued allowing food trucks at Midway would “cut against the hard work” he’s put into building up the nearby commercial strip along Cicero Avenue.

*O2017-4903 – Lease For Art Sculpture – An agreement between the city and the The Purpose Foundation for a new sculpture garden at 450 E. 47th St., across the street from Guichard Gallery, in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood of the 3rd Ward.

*Ten ordinances establishing Airbnb prohibitions for various voting precincts of the 13th Ward. This includes the 6th, 4th, 11th, 20th, 22nd, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 38th and 42nd precincts. This is the second package of prohibitive zoning rules from Ald. Marty Quinn’s (13) constituents and he’s expected to introduce two more today.

*O2017-4842 - Expenditure of $643,000 in Open Space Impact Fees for a new public park in West Town. The nearly one acre park would be located on city-owned land at 642 N. Milwaukee Ave., adjacent to the Kennedy Expressway and Erie Street.

*O2017-5161 – An ordinance from City Clerk Anna Valencia that’d repeal established parking restrictions for commercial vehicles in residential zones. Specifically, it repeals Section 9-64-115 of the city’s municipal code, which states, “Commercial vehicles shall not be permitted to park on property designated for residential use except for temporary parking for deliveries and by repairman's vehicles working on the premises.” The change would take effect upon passage and publication.

*O2017-4918 Amended Airport Lease Agreement – Whenever a concessionaire plans to transfer ownership stake in its concession agreement with the city, aldermanic approval is required. This transfer concerns Dufry International AG, one of the companies in the corporate ownership structure of both the Hudson Entities and the Hudson Subtenant Entities. Dufry is seeking to transfer 100% ownership interest in Dufry Americas Holding, Inc. to a newly created company, Hudson LTD. this has no impact on airport operations, rather, its purpose is to create a clean LLC for a planned IPO (Coverage)

*O2017-5087 – A slew of Small Business Improvement Fund grant increases for improvement of commercial and industrial facilities of small businesses in various redevelopment areas. Basically, this is a bundle authorization for increased TIF spending for SBIF.

*R2017-495 – Class 6(b) tax incentive for property at 2300 and 2331 S. Blue Island Ave. in the Pilsen Industrial Corridor of the 25th Ward. Paulina North, LLC intends to construct an approximately 227,043 sq ft industrial facility on the site. The facility would be leased to Prefered Freezers Services of Chicago III, LLC.

*R2017-496 – Another Class 6(b) tax incentive for Paulina North, LLC, which also owns additional property in the Pilsen Industrial Corridor at  at 2400, 2500 and 2501 S. Wood St. The company intends to build an approximately 156,000 sq ft industrial facility on the property and then sell it to to an LLC. A third of the space will be leased to La Hacienda Brands, Inc.

*R2017-499 –  A Class 6(b) tax incentive for Skvaril, LLC for property it owns at 1929-1937 W. Walnut St. in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor. The applicant, Dawn Skvaril, plans to rehabilitate an existing 3,600 sq ft industrial facility and construct a 5,600 sq ft warehouse. The site would be leased to Production Craft, Inc.

*O2017-5378 – Support of Class L tax incentive for property at 632 N. Dearborn St. (The River North Castle building)

*O2017-5402 – Support of Class L tax incentive for property at 932-940 W. Fulton Mkt

*O2017-4854 – Six city-owned parcels valued at $2 million would be sold to Humboldt Park developer L&MC Investments LLC for $6 to support the construction of single family homes that’d be priced at about $240,000, well below market value. (A nearby home recently sold for over $1 million. The land, located at 2327-2341 W. Erie St. in the 26th Ward, is approximately 18,400 sq ft in size and was once home to a city garage and ward office that have since been demolished.  Once built, the city plans sell the homes at affordable rates through a lottery system. (Coverage: City Land Sale In Humboldt Park Turns Into Affordable Housing Policy Debate)

*O2017-4886 – $4,600 sale of city-owned land at 6545 S. Wood St. in the 15th Ward to Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church for the use of landscaped open space.

*O2017-4888 – $17,500 sale of city-owned land at 8947 S. Commercial Ave. in the 10th Ward to Antonio Macias of Crown Point, Indiana. (PIN: 26-06-217-015-0000)

*O2017-4881 – $17,000 sale of city-owned land at 1315 N. Monticello Ave. in the 26th Ward to Ruben Osorio and Martina Osorio (PIN: 16-02-122-010-0000, Zoning: RS-3, Size: 8,784 sq ft)

*O2017-4843  $155,000 sale of city-owned land at  1024 N. Rockwell Ave., located east of Humboldt Park in the 26th Ward, to Miguel Barron. (PIN 16-01-413-041-0000, Zoning: RT-4, Size: 2,048 sq ft)

Appointments

*A2017-73 – Renewed Terms For Police Board members Eva-Dina Delgado, a manager at People’s Gas, and Steve Flores, a partner at the law firm Winston & Strawn. Their terms would be extended through August 10, 2022.

*A2017-63 – Renewed term for Chicago’s Chair of the Commission on Human Relations Mona Noriega  (Coverage: Human Rights Commissioner Noriega, Three Other Commissioners Reappointments Up in Committee)

*A2017-64 Renewed terms for three members of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations: Ryan M. Dunigan ( a litigator at Winston & Strawn) , Reyahd D.J. Kazmi (Director of Business & Government Strategies at National Youth Advocate Program & City Clerk Anna Valencia’s husband) and Leisa Y. Mosley (the Human Resources Director for Chicago Family Health Center). All would expire on July 1, 2020.

*A2017-65, -66 Two Appointments to the city’s Advisory Council on Equity: Bala R. Ghimire (owns The Chicago Curry House and The Curry Hut) and Daniel Hwang (attorney at Washington DC-based Global IP Counselors LLP) as member of Advisory Council on Equity.

Members of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus joined aviation security officers Tuesday at City Hall to announce an order they plan to introduce at Wednesday’s City Council Meeting that would force Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans to explain updated security procedures for O’Hare and Midway Airport.

Members of the Council’s Budget Committee Tuesday approved the disbursement of more than a million dollars in federal and private grants for the city Health Department’s ongoing efforts to track and combat sexually transmitted diseases, as well as this year’s One Summer Chicago program. New safety requirements for city contractors that use large trucks or vehicles also advanced and is part of the city’s ongoing efforts to reduce traffic fatalities.

Aldermen and officials with the city’s Department of Planning and Development disagreed Wednesday as to whether the city had engaged in a “shell game” with TIF funds following a Crain’s investigation released Friday. Several aldermen argued DPD officials were not upfront with the way taxpayer funds were being used to accomplish redevelopment goals at McCormick Place and Navy Pier. DPD Commissioner David Reifman said though he wasn’t at the helm of the department, DPD achieved the goal of the city’s TIF ordinance, by creating jobs, spurring economic development, and boosting tourism.

Corporation Counsel Ed Siskel fielded tough questioning from aldermen who sought to get to the bottom of who was to blame for the city’s red light camera boondoggle. Not only were aldermen dissatisfied they had to approve a $38 million payout, they wanted to know how the city managed to mishandle its notification system in the first place. In an odd comeuppance, a $20 million settlement from the red light camera vendor, Redflex, will go toward payouts owed to the 1.18 million people who received 1.9 million violations without proper notice.

After nearly four hours of grilling Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman, a joint meeting of the City Council’s Finance and Zoning Committees advanced an ordinance that would set the stage for mixed-use development along the North Branch of the Chicago River by repealing portions of the strict Planned Manufacturing District (PMD) designation that prohibited anything but industrial uses for the last 30 years.

DPD Web Page: North Branch Framework Plan and Design Guidelines

Only one alderman, Scott Waguespack (32) requested to be recorded as voting no. Though Ald. Michele Smith (43) has been a vocal critic of the plan, she isn’t a member of either committee, an issue she previously faced with the Airbnb ordinance. Another Alderman, George Cardenas (12), threatened to use a parliamentary procedure to block a vote on the ordinance, which could have delayed the rezone of North Branch for more than a month, since City Council typically does not meet in August.  

Two items are slated for review Wednesday by the Council’s Budget Committee: Approval of new grant funding for the Department of Family and Support Services and additional safety requirements for city contractors that use large vehicles.