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Cook County commissioners made quick work of the Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee Wednesday. They voted unanimously to mandate the State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO) give notice when the county intends to file counter-claims seeking more than $100,000 in damages or fees.
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The Civic Federation, a government watchdog group, issued its response to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2018 budget that largely supports the$8.6 billion spending plan but details longer-term obligations that will come due when the city’s annually required pension payments switch to a new funding formula.
“Stay vigilant,” was the the overarching advice Civic Federation President Laurence Msall told aldermen when he testified for the public comment portion of Wednesday’s meeting. “Unfortunately, there are many more tough decisions that are going to face this body and face the city of Chicago.”
Full Report Civic Federation Supports Proposed FY2018 Chicago Budget
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NOV 09, 2017
Renderings of the proposed Public Safety Training Academy, courtesy of the City of Chicago.
Despite a celebrity appearance from Chance The Rapper and a trending #NoCopAcademy hashtag on Twitter, the Chicago City Council overwhelmingly approved the first of many steps needed to build a new, $95 million police and fire training academy.
Though a floor debate ran on for about an hour, mostly with laudatory remarks by aldermen touting the catalytic development for West Garfield Park and its part in the city’s overall “down payment” on police reform, the roll call ended in an anti-climatic 48-1 vote.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) of Logan Square issued the sole no vote, saying it was a bad investment. “There is no study here that anyone can point to that says new cement, new windows, new carpet, that a diving tank, aka. a pool, will stop police from killing young black and brown men and women.”
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The full City Council meets today to formally accept the annual budget and revenue appropriations for next year’s budget. Both ordinances will be deferred and published to allow for public comment and subsequent committee meetings to iron out any potential code changes.
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The budget hearing for the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) lasted from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Tuesday. It stayed largely in the weeds, exacerbated existing tensions on the board, and did not result in commissioners walking away with significant areas to cut to help fill the $200 budget gap in the next two weeks.
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Cook County Commissioner Ed Moody (D-6) announced he wouldn’t seek election in 2018, while Comm. Jerry Butler (D-3), one of the board’s most senior members, said he’d keep his plans a surprise, even though President Toni Preckwinkle is already canvassing with 3rd District hopeful Bill Lowry.
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NOV 07, 2017
With the flood of sexual harassment complaints surfacing at the state capitol, Finance Chair Ed Burke (14) wants to ensure similar complaints at the city level are properly handled. The city’s current sexual harassment policy only covers employees, meaning all 53 elected officials of the city are exempt from the rules.
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Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey (D-12) is rolling out a new proposal to push the conversation on marijuana legalization, and the city released an audit examining Uber and Lyft driver safety versus cab drivers.
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City Council's Housing Committee meets to consider the land acquisition for the new police and fire academy. Credit: A.D. Quig
City Council’s Housing Committee unanimously approved its two agenda items, the purchase of a 30-acre plot in the city’s 37th Ward for construction of police and fire academy that is not fully funded and a new mayoral program to sell city-owned lots for $1 for developers to build affordable housing.
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Three county departments who fell short of their mandate to cut 10% from their offices replied to Chair John Daley Friday with their ideas to help fill the $200 million gap.
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Aldermen are back to their regular schedule after two weeks of budget hearings Monday. City Council’s Finance Committee meets at 10:00 a.m. to consider annual abatements, a series of consumer protection measures from Ald. Ed Burke (14), and appointments to the city’s Catalyst Fund.
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Ald. Brendan Reilly’s (42) financial transparency ordinance, O2017-7153, was re-referred from the Budget Committee to the Council Office of Financial Analysis Oversight Committee Friday morning. That committee hasn’t met since July of 2015.
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Randy Conner, the Commissioner of the Department of Water Management, received effusive praise from aldermen Friday for reforming culture at the department, but like past years, he and his staff took hits on the speed of project completions.
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When billionaire Joe Ricketts shut down DNAinfo Chicago and the Chicagoist Thursday, he didn’t just slash 116 jobs across a multistate network of journalists. He also hit the killswitch on 17 years of local coverage, which vanished from the network’s websites Thursday, leaving many unemployed reporters scrambling to salvage work. The shutdown came a week after newsroom agreed to join the Writers Guild of America East.
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NOV 03, 2017
Ald. Willie Cochran (20) was hospitalized after a collapse during a budget hearing Thursday, Cook County Democrats meet for slating potential attorney general candidates, and the budget committee is expected to discuss a new measure for fiscal transparency.
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