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Budget pressures continued to squeeze Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle Wednesday. Not only did beverage tax opponents line up to testify for a repeal, but county workers hit with layoffs lobbied commissioners throughout the day to pass extra revenue measures, and Comm. Richard Boykin (D-1) accused her of manufacturing a budget crisis to pressure a judge to lift a restraining order on the county’s beverage tax.
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JUL 20, 2017
The Chicago Board of Ethics announced $38,000 in fines for seven individuals and companies it found in violation of the city’s lobbying rules, as well as fines for another 9 registered lobbyists who did not complete ethics training by a July 1 deadline. The announcement Wednesday afternoon followed over 90 minutes of closed door deliberations -
Attorneys at the Cook County Public Defenders Office represented by AFSCME Council 31 stand during colleagues' testimony on July 19, 2017.
AFSCME Council 31, which represents several county workers, including attorneys at the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, is pitching commissioners on tax increases or borrowing to prevent layoffs as a result of the block of the county’s sweetened beverage tax. Those proposals include bumping up existing sales tax, cigarette tax, alcohol tax, hotel tax (1% increase), amusement (doubling to 6%), or parking taxes–or instituting a new $11 per employee head tax at employers with more than 50 workers.
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An ordinance that would formally remove the strict zoning boundaries around the North Branch Industrial Area and open the former manufacturing hub to residential and commercial development faces a preliminary vote today by the city’s Plan Commission. It’s just one of 14 items for the unusually packed monthly agenda.
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JUL 20, 2017
An additional ten voting precincts in the 13th Ward would ban residents from posting their homes or apartments on vacation rental sites like Airbnb following approval of the prohibited zoning classification by the Council’s License Committee.
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Updated July 19, 2017, 10:50 a.m.
Cook County commissioners meet Wednesday morning to consider, among routine items, likely the first of several expensive legal settlements related to the arrest and conviction of four teenagers in the mid-1990s. A $5.6 million settlement to Terrill Swift, who was convicted of rape and murder but later released on DNA evidence, is on Wednesday’s Finance Committee agenda. Three other teenagers were also arrested and convicted, and say Chicago police and county prosecutors coerced their confessions. Board President Toni Preckwinkle will also make her first public availability since announcing last Friday that the county was laying off 300 people and eliminating 600 vacant positions.
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Commissioners voted to authorize two bond issuances and $8 million in spending, tacked onto an existing $104 million contract for energy conservation measures at county buildings. Both votes were divided. Delayed after a long morning of consent calendar items and more than three hours focused on the Assessor’s office, commissioners skipped consideration of the Technology and Audit committee agendas we previewed on Tuesday.
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Assessor Joe Berrios addresses the Cook County Board, July 18, 2017.
Cook County commissioners met for more than seven hours Tuesday, dedicating more than half of the day’s proceedings to discussing the inner workings of Assessor Joe Berrios’ office and the fairness of the property tax system. The line of questioning–and various presentations–were extremely dense, and ended without fireworks (save for one heated moment between Berrios and 7th District Comm. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, in which Garcia repeatedly asked if Chicago area taxpayers were being “shafted”).
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JUL 19, 2017
No vote was taken on any of the three ordinances Ald. Ed Burke (14) introduced before a joint meeting of his Finance Committee and the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development.
All three ordinances–two of which were directly introduced in committee–aim to make consumers of cell phone technology aware that most smartphones and associated apps are built to geolocate and track what a user does on their phone.
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The Council’s Public Safety Committee delayed a vote on a plan to address on carjackings at dealerships and car rental lots in Chicago, because businesses that operate around the airports want a carveout.
The ordinance would require all dealerships, showrooms and rental lots to store car keys and dealer plates in lockboxes to deter theft. One of the co-sponsors, Ald. Harry Osterman (48), said his local Police Commander for the 20th District, Sean Loughran, first brought the issue to his attention.
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JUL 19, 2017
10:30 a.m. – Special Events Committee
O2017-4842 - One ordinance is listed on the agenda: A proposal to use 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.
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JUL 18, 2017
The Council’s Aviation Committee approved the second phase of the city’s plans to open up city airports to food trucks, although Midway was removed from the plan at the last minute.
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JUL 18, 2017
Three applications seeking a reduced property tax rate are up for consideration by the Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development.
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The Committee on Human Relations quickly reappointed Human Relations Commissioner Mona Noriega and three members of the commission Monday morning, and approved two new appointees from Mayor Rahm Emanuel to the Advisory Council on Equity. Aldermen did not ask any questions. The positions are uncompensated.
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Cook County Commissioners will gather beginning at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday for their usual consent calendar gathering, followed by a packed day of audit and financial findings, hearings about fairness in property assessments from Joe Berrios’ office, issuance of new bonds, and a more than $8 million increase to a series of energy conservation contracts.
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