Joseph Rinella, an employee with the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation Bureau of Forestry, filed a lawsuit against his supervisor, Charles Wagner, alleging that he has suffered “severe emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, in addition to loss of wages and other compensation.”

In the federal lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois, Rinella alleges that Wagner unfairly targeted him, denied him a promotion and used his political clout to make work life unbearable. Rinella alleges Wagner called him a “rat,” purposefully sent him to trim trees in locations “far away” from his home, and one time said, “It’s 6:03, you’re on my f*** time. Let’s go, get to work.”

Rinella alleges his supervisor violated the city’s Shakman Decree, among other damages, because he “gave the forestry supervisor positions at issue to friends over more qualified employees and/or more senior employees.”

Working Families Task Force co-chair Anne Ladky is shaking off an 11-page minority report from two of the city’s biggest business groups ahead of a revamped paid sick leave ordinance expected to be introduced at next week’s full City Council meeting. Ladky, the executive director of Women Employed, says now that the task force recommendations are public, she can take off her co-chair hat and “vigorously advocate” for the ordinance’s passage.

Ladkey said she wasn’t surprised about the blowback from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, which drafted the memo denouncing the task force recommendations. But Ladky claims the media narrative that has emerged–business owners versus advocates–is misplaced. “I think it would be a mistake to conflate that official view of those organizations with the views of all their members. What we learned in the task force is there a wide range of views among employers. They’re not universally opposed.”

Ald. Ameya Pawar (47), co-chair of the task force, points to the Illinois Restaurant Association’s (IRA) neutral position on the recommendations as proof. IRA President Sam Toia sat on the task force, and the food service industry is the biggest private sector employer in the state.

IRMA and the Chamber, both task force participants, argue that coupled with Chicago’s $13 minimum wage, plastic bag ban, upcoming $588 million property tax levy (that is likely to be raised again), Cook County’s nationwide high sales tax, Affordable Care Act requirements, and recent tobacco tax hikes, paid sick leave mandates would be unduly burdensome on local businesses. The groups say labor policy shouldn’t be considered within a vacuum. Rather than reduce turnover and save on healthcare costs, paid sick leave will increase prices, decrease benefits, reduce employee hours, limit expansion, and lead to positions being cut, the business groups argue.

Pawar dismisses IRMA and Chamber claims, and says the implementation cost (which the task force estimates is a 0.7%-1.5% increase in labor costs) is minimal. “Quite frankly, I don’t understand what the disdain for working people is… at the end of the day it’s good for business because it’s good for people,” he told Aldertrack.

Ladky was well aware of both groups’ concerns, and said the report took pains to lay them out, but echoed Pawar. “It’s not a cost anywhere even remotely like the minimum wage.” Many employers the task force spoke to were concerned with making their business fairer for workers and attractive to new hires. “It’s not as if no employers want to do it, or advocates are always going to be fighting for the maximum. I think what our process showed is lots of employers want to do right by their employees.”  

The recommendations are more conservative than the ordinance first pitched in 2014, and are the result of a business and labor consensus, Ladky says.

Employees will have to work 40 hours to accrue one hour of sick leave (up from 30 in the original paid sick leave ordinance), new hires will have to wait 120 to 180 days to utilize a paid sick day (up from 90 days), and the total number of sick days available would be capped at five, down from nine.

But some in labor, like UFCW Local 881’s political director Zach Koutsky, are happy to see a bigger paid sick leave umbrella that includes all private sector workers. He says ultimately, this version is more amenable to passage than the 2014 ordinance, and he doesn’t want to wait another year for this chance to come around again.

Members of the Earned Sick Time Chicago coalition, which includes AFSCME Council 31, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, UNITE HERE Local 1, UFCW Local 881, and Ladky’s organization, Women Employed, are in talks with each other, aldermen, and the Emanuel administration. Pawar said he expects Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who convened the task force, to be “very involved” with passage.

“This has gotten [our coalition] farther and with more buy-in than the 2014 bill ever had. It spurred a re-engagement at the state and county level,” Koutsky told Aldertrack.

Ald. Pawar said the proposals are more conservative than even he would have liked, but his job was to reach consensus. “I think we came up with a very balanced, and a more pro-business proposal [than the first ordinance]. My own personal politics would lean further to the left on this.”

He says Chicago’s approach, in some ways, is innovative, compared to recent advances in sick leave in New York and San Francisco. Starting on the expected effective date of the ordinance, July 1st, existing employees will have access to paid sick days immediately. Other cities have a four to six month waiting period. “We also have an FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) portion,” where employees can roll over a certain amount of accrued paid sick time to be used to take care of a newborn or sick parent.

“Why should working people have to win the good boss lotto to have basic protections?” Ladky told Aldertrack, saying paid sick leave should be a standard like public safety and child labor laws. If it can’t be done on the federal or state level, it should start in Chicago. “Union membership has declined… and with so much of our workforce being hourly, times have changed. Our employment standards have to change with the times.”

The across-the-board standards the task force recommended might also make enforcement easier. Pawar says the enforcement portion of the ordinance is being drafted.

Leaders from the Chicagoland Chamber and IRMA were both in Springfield and did not respond to inquiries by publication.

Karen Lewis will keep her job as President of the Chicago Teachers Union for another three-year term. The Chicago Teachers’ Union announced yesterday that its House of Delegates voted “overwhelmingly” Wednesday night to cancel this year’s CTU elections, because there was no opposition for the union’s slate of candidates for officer and executive board positions.

By choosing not to hold the elections, which costs the union about $200,000-$300,000 in printing and courier costs, the delegates instead accepted the list of eligible candidates, including Lewis, to be seated for the new term.  

That means starting July 1, 2016, Lewis will start her third term as president of the CTU, a position she was first elected to in 2010 in an aggressive run-off election fueled by the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE), an organization within CTU that Lewis co-founded.

A significant portion of the union’s rank and file are now members or supporters of CORE, which represents teachers, retirees, paraprofessionals, parents, community members, and other public education stakeholders. CORE members make up a large portion of public school employees; and a notable number of the CTU’s House of Delegates (the group that recently rejected a tentative contract with the Board of Education and voted to authorize a strike on April 1st) are CORE members or supporters, according to the group’s Co-Chair, Sarah Chambers.

“No one else ran because our members are happy with [CORE’s] leadership,” Chambers wrote to Aldertrack. “[CORE] and CTU have created a movement in this city with a broad coalition of community organization. Because of our power, we have completely dethroned Rahm Emanuel who is now down to an 18% approval rating. He has no control over the city anymore. We are powerful in Springfield too, we won 8 out of 9 endorsed candidates in the last primary election.”

In February, when the House of Delegates voted against the tentative contract with Chicago Public Schools, Lewis expressed her surprise that the group rejected the deal, saying, “There were a lot of things [in the contract] that were great.”

Chambers said that a substitute teacher, Pat Breckinridge, made an attempt for Lewis’ seat, but “she received very few signatures.”

That contested 2010 election that placed Lewis at the helm of the teachers’ union also led to the decline of another sub-group within the union: the United Progressive Caucus. Lewis’ predecessor, Marilyn Stewart, was a member. Chambers said that group received a “minimal” percentage of the vote and, to her knowledge, they don’t flyer or run candidates for election anymore.

In fact, the number of active caucuses within CTU has declined since Lewis took over. In 2010, five caucuses each ran a candidate for the executive board, in the subsequent 2013 election, two caucuses, including CORE, combined to offer a slate, and this year, CORE was the only caucus with a slate of candidates. Kristine Mayle, who as Financial Secretary for CTU organizes the CTU elections, said CORE is really the only active caucus right now.

The other three officers that will join Lewis on the executive board include Jesse Sharkey, who will keep his job at Vice President, Michael Brunson as recording secretary, and Maria Moreno as financial secretary.

The Council’s Aviation Committee approved a ground lease agreement for American Airlines in what was described as one of the final opportunities for gate expansion at O’Hare Airport.

Present: Chairman Mike Zalewski (23), Pat Dowell (3), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Derrick Curtis (18), Willie Cochran (20), Danny Solis (25), Walter Burnett (27),  Ariel Reboyras (30), Gilbert Villegas (36),  Emma Mitts (37), Anthony Napolitano (41), Ameya Pawar (47)

According to Jessica Sampson, General Counsel for the Department of Aviation, the ordinance aldermen approved authorizes a lease agreement with American, which will allow the airline to begin construction on five new gates at the end of Terminal 3. The gates are known as the L Stringer Gates, with a total space of about 165,000 feet, comprised of new waiting areas and concession stands, among other amenities. The gates are scheduled to open in 2018, with the open bid for concessionaires scheduled for next year.

As is common when discussing city contracts in Council committees, most of the conversation revolved around minority hiring, with several aldermen asking for stats on internal minority hiring and goals for American Airlines, and at O’Hare. (The “through the chair requests,” are all due to aldermen before next Wednesday’s monthly City Council meeting, when they will have to vote on the agreement as a full body. Some of those requests got so in the weeds that one alderman even asked for the number of employees that were turned down because they failed the federal background check that is required for all potential airport hires.)

But there was some dialogue concerning the airliner's new crop of planes and how that could help mitigate the issue of jet noise that took up an entire Aviation Committee meeting last month when freshman alderman Anthony Napolitano (41) proposed a plan to put the city council in charge of runway construction. Billy Glunz, a Regional Director of Governmental Affairs for American Airlines, testified that they currently have the youngest fleet in the industry, putting out a new plane every four-and-a-half days. Glunz said that they expect most of the fleet to be replaced by this summer.

Two City Clerk-backed parking ordinances moved through the Council’s Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee with relative ease, only one alderman vocally expressed his concern that lifting the city’s little-known ban on pickup trucks parking on residential streets would lead to an influx of suburban trucks parked in his ward.

Present: Chairman Walter Burnett (27), Brian Hopkins (2), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Derrick Curtis (18), Willie Cochran (20), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Deb Mell (33), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Anthony Napolitano (41), James Cappleman (46)

City Clerk Susana Mendoza’s ordinance would end the “dog and pony show,” as Ald. Emma Mitts (37) dubbed it, of requiring pickup trucks owners apply for a special city-issued sticker from their local alderman to legally park their car in front of their house or anywhere else in the city.

While free, that sticker must be renewed every year, on top of the optional zone and mandatory city sticker that all Chicago car owners must purchase. It was a way for aldermen to determine what residents were using those pickup trucks for and to make sure junk trucks stayed out of sight.

This ordinance would eliminate that cumbersome burden, Clerk Mendoza testified, by letting personal pickup trucks park on all residential and business streets in the city as long as they have a city sticker. Commercial trucks and junk trucks–as in pickup trucks specially outfitted to hold scrap metal or other treasures found in city alleys–would still be prohibited from parking along city streets.

But Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) who represents the city’s Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s westernmost border, took issue with Clerk Mendoza’s plan and asked her to amend it during the meeting. “How does this play out in my ward?” Ald. Taliaferro asked, noting that he is near three suburbs: Elmwood Park, Oak Park, and Cicero.

Taliaferro said that oftentimes he sees people from Elmwood Park, which has stricter street parking rules, park their cars in his ward, pull a bike out, and bike the rest of the way home. “I’m probably going to get a lot more trucks in my ward as a result of this ordinance,” Taliaferro explained. He asked Mendoza if she would consider adding a ban on overnight parking for pickup trucks not registered with the city.

“Let’s see how this plays out. I have a feeling that it won’t be as impactful as you think it might be, but let’s see,” Mendoza said the first time he asked. The second time, Committee Chair Walter Burnett, Jr. (27) poked holes in his plan, asking Taliaferro how he would institute a ban. What about the people who go out for dinner or to bars, Burnett asked somewhat rhetorically.

The committee eventually approved the ordinance, without dissent, and another ordinance from Mendoza that made minor language changes and “technical corrections” to an ordinance the council already passed establishing a pilot program that provides universal parking passes to Chicago realtors.

At a City Hall press conference Tuesday, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) pitched not only the abolition of the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) but the creation of a new Independent Citizen Police Monitor with a new Chief Administrator at the helm.

Hairston’s ordinance, created in consultation with University of Chicago Law School’s Craig Futterman and research from the school’s Civil Rights and Police Accountability Clinic, would create a new regulatory body to review cases of alleged police misconduct. That new organization would have have a significant amount of power compared to IPRA. Specifically, it would amend how IPRA conducts its investigations by opening up police and misconduct data to the public, widening the scope of the Chief Administrator’s powers, and speeding up the release of information and the conclusion of investigations.

But Hairston was the only alderman at the podium Tuesday. “I have not talked to my other colleagues yet, but in the next coming weeks I will be doing so,” Hairston told reporters. She said she plans to speak to “all four caucuses."

The proposed ordinance borrows from cities that have undergone recent police reforms, such as New Orleans, Newark, Seattle, Cleveland, and Albuquerque. Hairston said she has been working with Futterman and Sheila Bedi, a Northwestern University law professor, for the past few months to craft the ordinance.

“By the time we hold our next City Council meeting, it’ll make one meeting from when the Corporation Counsel reached another $5 million settlement with the family of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald,” Hairston said Tuesday morning. “This ordinance is... a direct response to years of biased investigations, lack of transparency and accountability, and failure to address patterns and practices of abuse.”

While current IPRA Chief Administrator Sharon Fairley has done a “great job,” the name of IPRA has “been tainted just like [CPD’s Office of Professional Standards] was tainted several years ago,” Hairston said.

Fairley’s been in the post for just over 100 days, and recently announced an external audit of at least 20 of IPRA’s closed police-involved misconduct investigations.

“She’s smart. She wants to do the right thing, but she’s being placed in an impossible situation,” Futterman said of Fairley. “She inherits the exact same staff, a staff that’s been proven to be biased, resulting in whitewashed investigations that has just simply created the veneer of accountability… instead IPRA has been a critical part of the code of silence that’s protected police officers from abuse.”

The ordinance makes several definition changes to the section of the municipal code governing IPRA. It amends the word “coercion” to include all implied threats, not just violent ones. It adds disability and mental illness to the definition of “targets of verbal abuse,” in addition to changing the definition of “excessive force”, includes definitions of sexual misconduct and domestic violence, biased police practices, and suspicious injury.

If the ordinance were enacted, Fairley would serve as interim until a permanent monitor is selected, and 90 days from passage, IPRA would be dissolved.

The new chief administrator would be picked by a selection committee. Inspector General Joe Ferguson would appoint selection committee members, drawn from civil rights, immigrants’ rights, and LGBTQ rights communities, one person from the faith based community, and one representing the Chicago Plaintiffs’ Civil Rights Police Misconduct Bar. Mayor Emanuel (or his designee), Interim Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson (and his designee), and Ald. Ariel Reboyras, Public Safety Committee chair, would also serve on the selection committee. The group would pick three Chief Administrator finalists, who would all have to be vetted by at least two public hearings.

Within two weeks of those public hearings wrapping up, the selection committee would vote on a candidate, whose nomination would then sent straight to the full City Council for a vote, bypassing committee.

The Chief Administrator would also be granted subpoena powers, as well as the power to investigate rape, sexual assault, and sexual misconduct charges against officers; First Amendment violations; denial of access to an attorney and all deaths or suspicious injuries in police custody. Civilian plaintiffs in litigation against cops wouldn’t have to submit a sworn complaint before an investigation is launched. The Administrator can also “compel prompt statements from members of the Department and re-interview Department members,” and to “immediately submit to tests for substances, physical evidence, and DNA.”

The ordinance bans CPD and other city agencies like the Office of Emergency Management Communications (OEMC, which maintains the city’s 9-1-1 system) from destroying evidence that might be used in an investigation.

The new body would be paid for using 1.5% of the Chicago Police Department’s annual appropriation. CPD’s proposed appropriation for 2016 was $1.45 billion, while IPRA’s was $8.4 million. Under the ordinance, the new Monitor’s budget would more than double, totaling around $21.7 million.

The Monitor’s office would maintain at least one full-time investigator for every 100 sworn officers in the department. CPD has more than 12,000 sworn members, as of its 2010 annual report, but allocated for about 13,800 full time employees in its 2016 budget proposal.

Neither investigators nor the Chief Administrator could be former employees of CPD or the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.

Within 10 days of receiving the complaint, the Monitor would be required to publish information that triggered the investigation, CPD’s response to the complaint, and the public investigation history to “a live timestamped data feed… that conforms to open data standards.” CPD would also have to maintain a database with the complete complaint and disciplinary history for each officer, plus available video and 9-1-1 audio of the incident under investigation.

Her proposal comes just before Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s hand-picked Task Force on Police Accountability is expected to release their recommendations on reform. The six member task force includes Police Board president Lori Lightfoot, who led the national search for the Chicago Police Department’s new superintendent. The list was recently tossed out by the Mayor.

The ban on serving alcoholic drinks at nude strip clubs in Chicago would soon be done away with under an ordinance the Council’s Zoning Committee approved yesterday. The ordinance was technically introduced by Ald. Emma Mitts (37). Ald. Ed Burke (14), recently tried and failed to get a similar ordinance through the previous council.

Present: Chairman Danny Solis (25), Vice Chair James Cappleman (46), Joe Moreno (1), Michelle Harris (8), Ed Burke (14), David Moore (17), Walter Burnett (27), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Emma Mitts (37), Marge Laurino (39), Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44), Ameya Pawar (47).

Ald. Burke, who rarely attends zoning meetings unless there is a matter affecting his ward or an item he drafted up for consideration, showed up in the middle of yesterday’s meeting with his entourage of staffers by his side. Shortly after he entered the chambers, Ald. Mitts, who had arrived just minutes prior to Burke, was called to testify on behalf of the ordinance loosening restrictions on adult entertainment venues.

“I am asking the City Council to look in favor of supporting this ordinance so that we can level the playing field and create a few more dollars, and make it safer for these adult entertainments in the city of Chicago,” Ald. Mitts testified. There was no debate and the item passed almost immediately. At the time of the vote, another Council heavyweight, Ald. Carrie Austin (34), noted that she had “extreme reservations on part of it,” but still joined in with Ald. Burke on the motion to call for a vote. Three aldermen present–Deb Mell (33), Brendan Reilly (42), and James Cappleman(46)–asked to be recorded as voting no.

The ordinance, which was replaced with a substitute in committee, distinguishes between live and non-live adult entertainment, allowing venues with live shows, like strip clubs and cabarets, to serve alcohol and allow partially nude dancers. (The ordinance goes into explicit detail as to which body parts can be shown.)

Owners of non-live adult establishments, like bookstores and adult theaters, would be barred from changing their zoning designation to a live-use without first obtaining a special use permit. That change evidently closes a “loophole” in the municipal code, according to Ald. Mitts. She also testified the ordinance, “clarifies ambiguous language that resulted in two decades of litigation and it cost the city millions of dollars.”

Ald. Mitts noted that “out of the four licensed adult entertainments in the city, one has many issues with crime.” That establishment, said Mitts, is located in Ald. Anthony Beale’s 9th Ward on the city’s far South Side, and most of the crime occurred because of the owner’s BYOB policy, which she said made it hard to control patrons’ level of drinking.

According to the Chicago Tribune, almost a year to this day, Ald. Burke told reportershe didn’t bring up a similar ordinance he drafted last year because he didn’t think he had the votes. That meeting in question would have been the last time Burke could have brought up the item for a vote, because it was the last monthly meeting before the new council was sworn in, clearing all pending legislative items from the docket.

Burke maintained distance from this ordinance, verifying with Chairman Solis only that the city’s Law Department and Zoning Administrator looked over the language of the ordinance and were in agreement.

Highlights 

• Some aldermen pushed back on a series of applications Ald. Matt O’Shea(19) introduced to downzone commercial strips in his ward to the lowest density allowable: B1-1 (Neighborhood Shopping District). An aide for Ald. O’Shea testified that the aldermen filed the applications to “keep consistent our business district,” and that most of the ward’s commercial streets already conform to that zoning designation. Ald. Reilly asked if there was a development plan for the area coming down the pipeline, to which Ald. O’Shea’s aide said no. Ald. Tom Tunney (44), who said that while he understood this was a “planning tool” aldermen use, agreed to support the zoning change, after he was assured the local chamber of commerce approved of it. As a business owner, Tunney said he knew the issues that businesses have to deal with when their zoning is changed and their establishment is subsequently found nonconforming. Ald. Austin (34) voted no.

• At the very beginning of the meeting, when the committee was approving billboard signs, Ald. Tunney suggested that Chairman Solis do something to address illuminated billboards, because “the [zoning] code really doesn’t address this issue” and it is a “quality of life” issue for most residents. Tunney expressed worry that the city was opening itself up to a lawsuit because it was approving these type of signs so close to residential buildings. Chairman Solis suggested they create a sub-committee to look at it. Zoning Administrator Patti Scudiero said there is already a sub-committee on signs, but it’s possible that sub-committee, could be broken down to another sub-committee focused just on illuminated signs.

The mayor’s appointment of Andrea Yao to the Board of Local Improvements is the only non-routine item on the agenda for today’s Transportation Committee meeting. Yao, lead counsel to Feeding America, a national charity the operates food banks across the country, is the mayor’s fourth appointment to the board this year.

The five-member Board of Local Improvements oversees street infrastructure improvements necessitated by private development. Before a private developer can build anything along the public way, the board must approve the plans and financing. The appointment is directed to the Transportation Committee because the board serves under the capacity of the Department of Transportation.

Three other appointments to the Board were Christopher M. Michalek, Edward T. McKinnie, Sr., and Paul Connolly. Michalek is a partner at consulting firm McGuire Woods, LLP, McKinnie, Sr. is the President of the Board of Directors for Black Contractors United, and Connolly is the recording secretary for Laborers Local Number 4.

Pedestrian and Traffic Safety

City Clerk Susana Mendoza is making good on a promise she made to aldermen during the budget hearings by letting pickup trucks park on residential streets. The Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety will meet at noon to consider an ordinance that would make it official. But so-called “junk vehicles”- any car with an unenclosed cargo bed that has been modified to increase the car’s capacity to transport of carry items - are still barred from city-streets. If the ordinance passes in committee and later by the full City Council, trucks with a curb weight of less than 8,000 pounds and not considered a commercial vehicle will be offered a spot on the curb should the owner pay for a city sticker. Ald. Brian Hopkins (2), Raymond Lopez (15), and Deb Mell (33) are listed as co-sponsors.

The other parking-related matter, also sponsored by Clerk Mendoza, would amend a recently-approved pilot program in the City Clerk’s Office that lets Realtors apply for a universal parking pass to park their cars in residentially-zoned streets. The change has to do with the transfer of the universal pass. The owner still needs to fill out an application with the City Clerk, but the ordinance removes the details of what is needed in that application.

Aviation

A month after the Council’s Aviation Committee overwhelmingly voted against a plan to halt construction at O’Hare Airport, its members will meet again this afternoon to consider a ground lease agreement with American Airlines. The airliner is interested in leasing parts of the airport for the purposes of “developing, constructing, and operating five airline gates.” Those gates are referred to as the L Stringer Gates. American will pay a base rent of $369,000 a year, or $30,750 a month

Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) wants to replace the Independent Police Review Board, the city agency in charge of investigating cases of police misconduct, with a citizen-run panel. She will be detailing those plans at a press conference at 11:00 a.m. today on the second floor of City Hall.

“The proposed ordinance abolishes the Independent Police Review Authority and replaces it with the Independent Citizen Police Monitor—a credible civilian agency to investigate police shootings, use of force, domestic violence, bias, and coercion,” a release from Hairston reads, “because you can’t keep shuffling the deck with the same people and call that accountability.”

Similar to the zoning opportunity bonus announcement Mayor Rahm Emanuel made in February, which was big on goals and light on details, the Mayor announced yesterday that the Department of Planning and Development will review and improve the city’s zoning code as it relates to another major zoning issue: what to do with its large, and in some cases underutilized, industrial corridors.

The Mayor’s office announced the city will launch a review process with public input “focused on modernizing restrictive zoning in these corridors.” The city currently has 26 industrial corridors, 12 of which have 15 sub-areas designated as Planned Manufacturing Districts, or PMDs.

These areas were put in a strict zoning boundary to promote and protect manufacturing businesses in the city by preventing developers from buying up old and vacant industrial sites and converting them into office, residential, or other uses. In fact, residential and commercial uses are prohibited in PMDs.

One of those sites, the Clybourn PMD, which includes the decommissioned Finkl Steel Plant, is the subject of a lot of development interest for its central location in Lincoln Park, and size: the 115 acre site is bounded by Clybourn Avenue, the Chicago River, North Avenue, and Southport Avenue.

The Mayor’s announcement comes as one local alderman, Brian Hopkins (2), is in the process of getting DPD to eliminate the Clybourn PMD to facilitate a broader range of development for the neighborhood.

Ald. Hopkins told Aldertrack that he already has a community meeting on the books for May 3rd at DePaul University for residents and “community stakeholders” to discuss what kinds of development they’d like to see replace the old steel plant. “It’s a significant amount of acreage...ideas run the gamut,” Hopkins said.

But Hopkins stressed that he did not want to use Clybourn as a test case for the city to eliminate the city’s 14 other PMDs, four of which are partially located within his ward, as part of the North Branch Industrial Corridor.

The Clybourn PMD is the oldest in the city, created in 1988 as a way to halt residential development from encroaching on the industrial site. But since the plant’s owners decision to move to the city’s South Side, the area has remained vacant, and prohibitive zoning has prevented development on the site.

Any effort to the rezone the Clybourn PMD would have to be introduced in the form of a zoning amendment, likely by the Mayor on behalf of the Department of Planning and Development. The timetable on that ordinance is unknown, as is the zoning designation. Ald. Hopkins said he didn’t know if the city would choose one underlying zoning designation for the entire property, or if it would be zoned in sections. And the mayor’s office, when asked about the Clybourn downzone,  said yesterday’s announcement just “starts the process of looking at Chicago’s industrial areas.”

So, it's unclear if the Clybourn plan will move forward on its own path, or if the city will hold off until it conducts its review of all industrial sites across the city. Either way, no formal plan has been made.

Still, Hopkins said he wants to “proceed without delay...before the city gets caught in another economic downturn.”

According to the mayor’s press release, the review process will lead to formal zoning changes that will have to be approved by the City Council. Those changes, the release notes, aim to accomplish three goals:

• Determine which industrial corridors have the “potential for new or continued manufacturing growth” through market research.

• “Reform some industrial corridors to unlock new economic growth where industry is no longer the main driver.” Under this point, the Finkl Steel Plant is mentioned: “In areas such as the North Branch, where traditional industry is no longer the main economic driver and properties like the former A. Finkl & Sons Co. site are stagnant, the city will review existing and potential land uses to accommodate market demand for potential technology, commercial, residential or retail development.”

• A proposed fee on non-industrial developments in industrial corridors. The fee structure would factor the impact the development would have on the city’s overall industrial landscape. Money generated from the new fee would pay for industrial and manufacturing jobs in nearby neighborhoods and the cost of infrastructure improvements to industrial corridors transitioning to other uses.

The Council’s Zoning Committee will consider an ordinance from Ald. Emma Mitts(37) that would change the zoning code for adult establishments by standardizing the definitions of prohibited entertainment activities, while allowing some venues to serve alcohol.

The ordinance would amend the city’s zoning code by distinguishing between “live-use” and “non-live” use venues. Non-live places, like bookstores and video shops, would be barred from serving alcohol or having employees or patrons show their private parts. Live-use places, like cabarets and strip clubs, would be allowed to serve alcohol and have dancers show of a specified list of body parts, which are listed in the ordinance.

All items on the regular agenda are aldermanic-backed applications, including four from Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) to downzone sections of 111st and Western Avenue to the same zoning: B1-1 Neighborhood Shopping District, which allows for small-scale retail and services uses, in addition to residential dwelling uses located above the ground floor.

Two aldermen, Zoning Chairman Danny Solis (25) and Carrie Austin (34), filed applications to rezone expired planned developments in their wards. Ald. Austin wants to end a planned development (no. 901) in the Victory Heights/West Pullman area. The PD was created in 2004 for the construction of a 85-home community called Renaissance Estates, although Ald. Austin chose not to vote on the application, because, at the time, she was considering buying one of the homes. JTA Development built the suburban-style homes located near Marshfield Plaza.

Solis’ application would end a business planned development (no. 1245) in Pilsen that was created in 2014 for the Redmoon Theater. The theater officially closed its doors in December of 2015. According to the Chicago Tribune, the operator could no longer afford its $30,000 monthly rent, and went over budget for its Great Chicago Fire Festival.

Other Big Ticket Zoning Items (all of which are listed on the deferred agenda and received Plan Commission Approval in March):

• Proposed 38-Story Residential High-Rise for West Loop (42nd Ward) Gray Cardiff, from California-based Gray Cardiff & Co., wants to build a 38-story residential high-rise building with 373 dwelling units, 145 parking spaces (41% of dwelling units), and 77 bike spaces at the site of an old train car storage field located between Union Avenue and Green Street. Cardiff received preliminary approval for the zoning change by the Plan Commission in March. Cardiff plans to take advantage of the city’s affordable housing bonus, which allows for a greater floor-area-ratio by paying into the city’s affordable housing trust fund. It’s a move that’s allowed under the affordable housing requirements ordinance, and what Ald. Walter Burnett (27), a member of the Plan Commission, described as taking advantage of a “loophole” in the zoning code. The building would be located near the K2 Apartments and a newly-opened half-acre dog park, which is currently the biggest in the city, according to DNAinfo. Ald. Brendan Reilly and the Neighbors of the West Loop (NOWL) held a community meeting on this project in November. According to the slideshow presentation he provided to residents, a typical residential floor plan would include 13 units per floor: three studios, seven one-bedroom apartments, and two two-bedroom apartments.

• Proposed Hotel Near Fulton Market (27th Ward): Jeffrey Shapack, manager of 200 Green Developer, LLC, filed an application with the city to build an 11-story-story plus penthouse hotel with ground floor retail, restaurant and accessory parking on the corner of Green and Lake Streets. The site Shapack wants to develop at 820-850 W. Lake Street is a block north of the Soho House Hotel that he helped develop in partnership with Chicago-based A.J. Capital Partners. According to the Chicago Architecture Blog, the hotel would include between 167 and 171 guest rooms, a fitness center, and a rooftop pool overlooking the city’s downtown.

• Irving Park Six-Corners Development (45th Ward): CSD Six Corners, LLC, an entity with close to twenty stakeholders listed on the economic disclosure statement, filed a planned development application to build a retail center for the site of the former Bank of America building in Irving Park’s Six-Corners. The four-story “vertical retail center,” would have retail stores on the first and second floor, and parking on the third and fourth. The applicants include Bixby Bridge Fund II, LLC, managed by David Colburn, and Blackfriars Corporation, owned by Keith Colburn, Richard Colburn, and Carol Grigor. Collins Family Limited Partnership is also listed as a stakeholder. The center will contain about 196,000-square-feet of retail and 473 parking spaces.  At the March Plan Commission meeting, it was mentioned that a Ross Dress for Less and Aldi’s Supermarket are planned for the site.

• Sinai Health System, in the 28th Ward, is seeking to amend the boundary of their existing planned development (No. 49) to include two additional city-owned parcels of property (1341 and 1345 S. Fairfield Avenue) the hospital is purchasing. The Mount Sinai Hospital campus is located in North Lawndale on the city’s West Side and is undergoing a $100 million investment: the Sinai Tomorrow Project. The hospital intends to use the satellite property for the health care related uses that were previously approved with the original PD: hospital, day care, government-operated health center, and wireless communications facilities. The amended PD adds new uses, including retail. The property is two blocks from the hospital campus, in a predominantly residential area.

• The National Museum of Mexican Art, in the city’s 25th Ward, is seeking to amend an existing planned development (No. 639) to construct a surface parking lot for 50 cars. According to the application the museum filed with the city, in January, the lot will also serve as an outdoor exhibit space. Representatives with the museum told the Plan Commission that they couldn’t afford to build a parking lot when the museum was built, which is why it is being added on at a later date. They also referenced a lack of street parking due to the influx of new residents to the neighborhood.

The long-awaited recommendations of the Working Families Task Force (WFTF) were finally released Saturday, immediately drawing rebukes from a pair of business groups against proposed city-wide mandatory sick, family, and medical leave, and praise from labor groups. Most notable, the report recommends all employers provide five days of sick leave per year for full time employees, and omits specific recommendations on scheduling practices.

[Link to WFTF Report – Link to Dissenting Report]

Mayor Rahm Emanuel quietly formed the WFTF in mid-June of 2015, co-chaired by Ald. Ameya Pawar (47) and Anne Ladky, the executive director of Women Employed, and 24 other members, including eight current and former aldermen, five employers, four employee advocates, three business group representatives, and two state legislators. It was modeled after the Mayor’s Minimum Wage Working Group, and tasked with gathering information and issuing recommendations–but not drafting legislation–on things like paid sick leave for workers, protections for shift workers and pregnant employees, and expanding access to paid leave for new parents.

Ald. Pawar is already geared up to get an ordinance through City Council. After the release, Pawar tweeted “proud of the recommendations we made,” and “pro employee policy=pro business.” Labor group the Restaurant Opportunities Center tagged others like UFCW Local 881, Arise Chicago, Chicago Jobs with Justice, and the The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in a tweet: “Time to pass #EarnedSickTime in Chicago!!!”

The Dissenting Report
The WFTF report says 42 percent of private-sector workers in Chicago (about 460,000 people) don’t have access to paid sick days. Those workers are mostly low wage and “routinely confronted with difficult choices, such as going to work sick or foregoing a day’s compensation; which, for low-wage and part time workers, represents a significant – and often indispensable – portion of their income.” Leave proponents argue it reduces turnover, the spread of disease, and healthcare costs in the long run.

Though the group met regularly since mid-June, members stayed tight-lipped throughout the process about recommendations and when they might be released. The list of committee members was not even publicized until days after the task force first met. In addition to the full committee, there were three sub-committees that met regularly over the summer on paid earned sick time, fair scheduling, and family support, which included paid family leave.

The following are the task force’s recommendations on leave, in sum:

1. An employee that completes 80 hours of work within 120 days of employment should be eligible to accrue earned sick days from the employer.

2. Eligible employees should begin to accrue benefits from the commencement of employment, but should not be eligible to use earned sick leave until sometime ranging from 120-180 days after the commencement of employment.

3. Employees should earn one hour of paid sick leave per every 40 hours worked.

4. At minimum, employees should be able to earn and use up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year, five full work days, with no differing tiers based on employer size.

5. Employees should, at minimum, be allowed to rollover up to 20 hours of unused sick days at the end of the year for use in the immediate following year.

6. Employees should be allowed to rollover, bank, and use at minimum up to 40 hours of unused sick days at the end of the year for future (but within a specified duration) FMLA-eligible uses, which include: childbirth and newborn care, care of a newly adopted child, care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition (spouse, child, or parent, but not in-law), or an employee’s serious health condition.

7. Employers should not be obligated to pay out any hours for accrued unused or banked sick leave.

8. Employers that offer employees equivalent paid sick time benefits through paid time off (PTO) policies should not be mandated to make adjustments to their policies.

According to WFTF’s estimates, the cost of offering leave would add 0.7 to 1.5 percent in labor costs for most employers.

Significant chunks of the report lay out various concerns about cost and implementation from task force members, and stakeholders who chimed in during 14 different focus groups. The report’s authors concede, “on certain issues, the Task Force could not reach a uniformly shared consensus.”

That became apparent Saturday, when the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerceand the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) released a point-by-point dissent against the recommendations. Both groups had representation on the task force: Theresa Mintle, president and CEO of the Chamber, and Tanya Triche, general counsel for the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, were members.

The Illinois Restaurant Association did not sign on to the dissent. Sam Toia, the group’s president is a member of WFTF. His members and their employees could see a major shakeup should a paid sick ordinance pass: in Chicago, the report says, between 70-80% of employees in service sector occupations (including food preparation and service) do not have access to paid sick days. Toia is also an Emanuel appointee to the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

The Chamber and IRMA argue the city has been trying to right its fiscal ship on the backs of businesses. The two groups cite the $13 minimum wage that will take full effect in 2019, the plastic bag ban, the upcoming $588 million property tax hike (that could be soon raised again), Cook County’s sales tax hike, Affordable Care Act requirements, and the recent tobacco tax increases–all which kicked in or passed within the last 14 months–as unduly burdensome on local business. The dissent also disputes on some of the biggest arguments in favor of paid sick leave: that it ultimately saves businesses money by reducing turnover and healthcare costs, and preventing the spread of disease, calling the claims “weak at best.”

“One of the most effective ways supported by the Chicagoland Chamber and IRMA to increase employee wages and benefits and assist the unemployed is a focus on workforce development and employee skills training. Instead of setting the floor with ill-conceived labor policies, focusing and investing in training workers and the unemployed to compete for the higher paying jobs of today and the future is the single best way to achieve the goals of this task force,” the dissent says.

But it seems public opinion and the will of aldermen and the Mayor might be working against the two groups. 82 percent of Chicagoans said they’d be in favor of a policy requiring employers to provide paid leave for illness and emergencies in response a referendum question on the 2015 municipal ballot. And more than half the council co-sponsored an earned sick time ordinance in 2014. The ordinance failed to come to a vote in the Committee on Workforce Development and Audit and died at the start of the 2015 session.

Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1) the lead sponsor of the 2014 ordinance, wrote on Facebook yesterday: "Currently, over 200k workers can't earn a sick day off from work and it's about time we change that! I'm committed to passing this ordinance in City Council as soon as possible."

Other cities have set precedent on sick leave as well, including Jersey City, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland.

The recommendations came just after the state of New York passed a budget that included a $15 minimum wage hike plan and up to 12 weeks paid leave for state residents starting in 2018. The City of New York has had paid sick leave rules since June 2014. Hillary Clinton’s campaign platform includes a promise of up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave and a two-thirds wage replacement rate for workers. Bernie Sanders has also campaigned for 12 weeks of leave, but the two differ on funding.

Ald. Michelle Harris (8) may have suffered an embarrassing loss to incumbent Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, who is currently the subject of a federal investigation, but she did manage to raise more than $122k in contributions from area business leaders, unions, and other local politicians.

[Our Full Spreadsheet for March]

Grosvenor Capital gave Harris’ campaign $25k, and its CEO, Michael Sacks, a close friend and big financial supporter of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, gave an additional $25k. That’s in addition to a $25k check the company gave her the previous month.

Ald. Harris reported sizable checks from online ticket retailer Classic Tickets ($10k), former Chairman and CEO of the A. Finkl & Sons Steel Plant Bruce Liimatainen($7k), Lincoln Park Ald. Michele Smith (43), and Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s 13th Ward Democratic Organization ($10k). She also received a $1,000 check from Citizens to Elect Lona Lane, the personal campaign fund for the former 18th Ward alderman, who is no longer in politics after losing in a runoff to Derrick Curtis, the ward superintendent at the time.

Harris’ impressive fundraising efforts still didn’t overtake downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), who brought in more than $133k in donations between his personal campaign fund and the 42nd Ward Democratic Organization fund he controls as the ward committeeman. That total does not include a $35k transfer he made between both funds.

Other Highlights

• Former Chicago Board of Elections Commissioner Langdon Neal donated $1,000 to Ald. Brendan Reilly (42). Neal vacated his seat on the three-member board on December 31. The seat was quickly filled by Jonathan Swain, the former Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, who was appointed by Chief Cook County Circuit Court Judge Timothy C. Evans.

• Ujamaa Construction, a Chicago-based minority-owned business that frequently receives praise from Ald. Walter Burnett (27), made $1,000 contributions to three Aldermen: Leslie Hairston (5), David Moore (17), and Michelle Harris (8).

• Former mayoral candidate and current presidential candidate Willie Wilson donated $2k to the 47th Democratic Ward Organization controlled by Paul Rosenfield.

• Ald. Joe Moreno (1) loaned himself $25k on March 21st, six days after the too-close-to-call Election Day for Democratic Ward Committeeman. Moreno narrowly won with a tight 199 vote lead over his opponent, Maria Theresa Gonzales, an Assistant Cook County public defender. He also received a $1,500 contribution from the Tunney Group, a real estate firm managed by Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44) brother Ed.

• J.B. Pritzker of the Pritzker Group gave a $10k check to the 43rd Ward Democratic Organization, which is, as of this most recent election, now controlled by committeeman-elect Lucy Moog, a Lincoln Park resident and former congressional aide who was a one-time neighbor of Mayor Emanuel in Washington D.C.

• Reyes Kurson, a law firm led by former long-time aide to Mayor Richard M. Daley, Victor Reyes, and the one-time chairman of the now-defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization, donated $1k to Ald. Moreno (1) and $1.5k to Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29).  

• Zoning law firm and former employer of Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman, DLA Piper, contributed to the 11th, 44th, and 43rd Democratic Ward Organizations. The checks are in the $1k-$1.5k range.

• The Burnham Committee, a PAC controlled by Ald. Ed Burke (14), wrote a $2.5k check to Ald. Will Burns (4), who retired his Council seat this month. But before he left, Ald. Burns helped Burke champion a diluted version of an ethics oversight ordinance that put the Inspector General in charge of auditing the aldermen and their staff. Under the amended version, workers compensation, controlled by Ald. Burke as Chairman of the Finance Committee, was excluded from such oversight.

• Fred Eychaner, the owner of Newsweb Corporation, a Chicago-based company that owns several ethnic and alternative newspapers, donated money to Ald. Michele Smith (43), Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), and Ald. Toni Foulkes (16), as well as the 43rd Ward Democratic Organization. Last month he gave money to two aldermen, Deb Mell (33) and Scott Waguespack (32). His $1K and $1.5K contribution to each, respectively, dwarfed in comparison to the the $400K he gave to Cook County State’s Attorney candidate Kim Foxx that same month.

• State Rep. Luis Arroyo made two $1k transfers to two freshman aldermen: Chris Taliaferro (29) and Milly Santiago (31). Rep. Arroyo helped Ald. Santiago in her contested campaign against her predecessor, Ray Suarez, who held the post for two decades.

• Old Veteran Construction, Inc, a minority-owned Chicago-based general contractor that worked on the new Malcolm X College campus and the Chicago Housing Authority’s Lake Parc Apartments, gave $1.5k to both Ald. Jason Ervin (28) and Ald. John Arena (45).

• The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters PAC donated $1k each to Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), John Arena (45), and Toni Foulkes (16). The group, which represents “tens of thousands” of members of local construction and maintenance unions, also gave made two separate contributions ($2.5k and $1k) to Ald. Michelle Harris (8). Another building industry group, Construction and General Laborers, which is affiliated with the Laborers’ International Union of America, donated $1.5k to Ald. Carrie Austin (34), $1.9k to the 11th Ward Democratic Organization controlled by Cook County Commissioner John P. Daley, and $1.5k to Ald. Scott Waguespack (32).

• Classic Tickets, Inc., an online ticket seller for major league sports, concert and theater events in Chicago, made two large $10k donations: one to Ald. Harris (8), another to Ald. Reilly’s 42nd Democratic Ward Organization. The company regularly writes $10k donation checks, and records show Reilly received two $10k checks from the company, one in February and one in April 2015.

• John Doerrer, a registered lobbyist with the city and former director of IGA for Mayor Richard M. Daley, donated the maximum contribution allowed under state law, $1.5k to Ald. Ed Burke (14) and $1k to Ald. Michelle Harris (8). Doerrer works for Kaizen, Inc., and represents a variety of clients, including the Chicago Retail Merchants Association, McDonald's Corporation, and Shoreline Sightseeing.

• Aberdeen Development, Inc, a Chicago-based real estate firm that specializes in industrial building conversions, contributed to the personal campaign funds of Ald. George Cardenas (12) and Ald. Joe Moreno (1). They got $5.4k and $1k, respectively.

Notable New (Non-Candidate) D-1s

• Citizens United for a Better West Side - Anthony Embry and Angelina Brigoglio filed the paperwork to establish this PAC on March 3rd, with the purpose of supporting “the progress, policy & ? [sic] candidates to the betterment of the west side.” The group has so far received two donations, each for $5k. Both of the donors, J.R. Davis and Dawn Davis, share the same P.O. box in Barrington, Illinois, it’s the same address shared by Armored Davis Bancorp, Inc. The Davises have in the past contributed to Ald. Reilly, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and former alderman, and failed mayoral and State Rep. candidate Bob Fioretti.

• Illinois Alliance - Former West Side alderman Isaac (Ike) Carothers, who resigned from his post after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, is starting his own PAC. (Being found guilty of improperly using campaign funds does not prohibit you from running your own PAC). The Alliance has a simple mission: “to support various candidate [sic].”  So far, the committee has raised about $15k, including a $10k check from Citizens to Elect Pat Spratt, the personal campaign fund for 7th Subcircuit Judge, who was appointed by the state Supreme Court in August to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Judge Anita Rivkin-Carothers, the former alderman’s aunt.

• 36th Ward PAC - This group, founded by Melissa Angelucci with the Synnov Group, Inc., a construction firm that specializes in major transportation infrastructure projects, including the the new underground World Trade Center Transportation Hub and various other CTA and METRA projects, was created to support candidates “aligned with the committee and to educate voters of the 36th Ward.” 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas has a deep infrastructure and construction background.

We give you the tick tock on the lead up to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to appoint Eddie Johnson to the position of interim Police Superintendent. Black and Latino aldermen form an alliance, and the infamous “Pirates of Lincoln Park” are put on the hot seat at a City Council hearing regarding illegal towing. And the week ends with a day-long strike organized by the Chicago Teachers’ Union.

A for-profit drug rehabilitation center that was denied a special use permit to continue operating a group home in West Town filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Chicago for “discriminatory” zoning practices, asking the court to reverse the Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision, which they claim was improperly influenced by Ald. Joe Moreno (1).

In May 2015, the Zoning Board of Appeals denied A Fresh Start Sober Living’s request for a special use permit to establish a “community home” in a single family home the company leased in August 2013. The home at 530 N. Marshfield Ave. is located in Ald. Moreno’s ward and is zoned for residential use. The suit claims ZBA’s decision to deny the permit violated the federal Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, because it prevented housing for individual residents of the program who are recovering from alcoholism and substance abuse.

According to the lawsuit filed in Federal Court on Thursday, the plaintiffs allege that once neighbors became aware of the rehabilitation center in 2013, they began a “campaign of harassing behavior” against tenants. For two years, the lawsuit claims, neighbors would “hurl insults, call the residents names, often of a vile nature, make racially charged comments, and threaten the residents with bodily harm.”

Two years later, A Fresh Start Sober Living applied for a special use permit with ZBA, the lawsuit notes, after being told by Buildings Commissioner Judith Frydland, with the city’s Law Department at the time, that only eight residents, plus staff, would be allowed to live in the home. Any effort to increase the bed count would require a special use permit establishing a community group home. Zoning Administrator Patti Scudiero is also named in the lawsuit.

The company applied for the permit, and at that May 28, 2015 ZBA meeting, the Board spent nearly four hours hearing testimony on the proposed expansion of the group home. The company’s president, Leonid Goldfarb, testified that his company operates eleven group homes in Chicago for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. The homes don’t accept insurance or offer on-site treatment, none of the staff are trained medical professionals, and the weekly cost of renting a room ranges from $175 to $300, Goldfarb said.

The expansion was necessary to help their mission of “saving people’s lives” because recovering addicts who live in a communal setting are less likely to relapse, Goldfarb continued. He was represented by former Zoning Committee Chairman William J.P. Banks and received support from Robin Belleau, the Executive Director of the Illinois Lawyer’s Assistant Program, which houses many of its law students, lawyers, and judges recovering from alcohol and drug addiction at Fresh Start sites.

But during the lengthy cross-examination and public comment portion of the meeting, a coalition of neighborhood residents, who had created their own legal defense fund, raised safety and legal concerns. They accused the applicant of running the facility like a hostel, underreporting the number of occupants living in the building, and lying about safety measures that had been put in place. The resident group submitted evidence alleging rampant drug use by tenants, police reports that had been filed against residents over the year, and pictures of abandoned cars they believe were left by former tenants.

Ald. Moreno also spoke in opposition. He said while he is usually a proponent of these kinds of facilities, he could not support the applicant because they did not proactively seek his support when they first opened their doors. Part of Moreno’s testimony is mentioned in the lawsuit, as is a letter supporting Moreno’s opposition from neighboring Ald. Scott Waguespack (32). The plaintiff's attorneys argue that it was this unfavorable testimony that led the Zoning Board to reject the permit.

“On the basis of denying the special use permit application was the opposition to it by Alderman Moreno. The reliance on whether an Alderman approves or opposes an application is part of the BZA’s [sic] unwritten de facto policy of denying applications that are opposed by the Aldermen for that particular ward,” the lawsuit claims, in addition to adding other reasons the board rejected the permit, including neighborhood opposition, and that the entity “was putting profits before helping the recovering alcoholics and substance abuser residents.”

Because of this denial, the West Town location closed, and the company is seeking damages. The company has asked for a declaratory judgement to reverse ZBA’s ruling, and pay for all associated attorney fees.