Second District Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele has died, Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office confirmed Monday afternoon. Steele had been suffering from complications from diabetes, and had had several hospital stays recently. The cause of his death was not immediately released. He was 55 years old, just a few days shy of his 56th birthday on June 29.

Chicago aldermen, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, and state lawmakers are putting pressure on Governor Bruce Rauner to address an increase in reported hate crimes by urging him to sign legislation that’d strengthen the state’s hate crimes law and to fill vacancies on an existing state commission tasked with enforcement. The parties gathered at City Hall on Monday to discuss a resolution Ald. Pat Dowell (3), Chair of the Council’s Human Relations Committee, directly introduced to her committee urging action.

The Council’s Committee on Human Relations meets Monday to demand that Governor Bruce Rauner address “alarming rates” of hate crimes reported in Chicago. 

This week Cook County Clerk David Orr announced that residential property taxes in Chicago will increase by an average of 10% for upcoming tax bills. That sounds like a big increase, but compared to other municipalities, the amount of property tax Chicagoans are paying on average is still less than other parts of Illinois. But expect the picture to get worse, since we should expect significant additional property tax increases with every coming year in the foreseeable future.

Clerk Orr’s 2016 Property Tax Report puts the big 10% Chicago increase number right at the top of his email press release. But then, buried in an attached PDF document, are some other interesting numbers. Like the fact that on average, Chicago’s 10% average increase will mean about $363.15 more per homeowner. That kind of money hurts, but it’s not devastating. Another buried tidbit is especially interesting:

“On average, the 2016 property tax bill for a home with a market value of $200,000 would be:

• Chicago: $3,505.62


• North suburbs: $4,544.80


• South suburbs: $6,566.73”

So maybe things aren’t so bad in Chicago. But why such a big difference between city and suburban taxes? It’s because suburban residents are generally taxed at a higher rate, especially those in the South Suburbs, because there’s so little commercial and manufacturing property to share the burden and bring in sales taxes to local governments.

I don’t want to lessen the impact of these increases. After all, as a Chicago homeowner, I’m not looking forward to an increased property tax bill either. But the gap between what Chicagoans pay in property taxes versus what suburbanites and everyone else in Illinois is an oft-cited fact for those who say Chicago has “room” for more taxes.

We should get ready for that room to be occupied in the coming years, due to three big expenses Chicago will soon have to shoulder. First, City Council already approved a gradual rise of property taxes through 2018 (and likely beyond) in the 2016 budget. In order to pay for the police and fire pensions, City Council approved stepped property tax increases through 2018, and the pension payment schedule they approved in 2016 essentially guarantees increases through 2054.

Second, Chicago Public Schools are de facto bankrupt and are operating with a $1 billion structural deficit. While CPS CEO Forrest Claypool and Mayor Rahm Emanuel continue to call for additional state spending, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that a significant portion of CPS’ annual deficit will have to be made up by increasing local property taxes–the only significant way Illinois schools legally can raise revenues.

Finally, as Police Board President Lori Lightfoot says in my podcast interview with her this week, the price tag for reforming the Chicago police department is tens of millions of dollars per year. I think she’s undercounting, since the dozens, if not hundreds of people needed to manage the reform effort (Lightfoot says Los Angeles’ reform process employed close to 200 people), the new police academy desperately needed, and new equipment for and extensive training of existing officers will all cost some serious money.

The picture is getting clearer: Chicago is going to have to raise taxes in a big way in the near future just to keep pace.

Later this month, we’ll begin to see if Mayor Emanuel and his new budget director, Samantha Fields, see that picture too, as the city’s Comprehensive Annual Finance Report (CAFR) gets its annual late June release. The CAFR provides the city with a first bite at the budget apple, as it assesses how everything worked out in the last fiscal year. The report doesn’t suggest new spending, but it can give a hint of where the city thinks its real financial problems lie.

In the meantime, enjoy the summer weather!

On this week's episode of The Aldercast, Police Board President Lori Lightfoot sits down with publisher Mike Fourcher to discuss the week’s news: a new lawsuit that seeks to force the city into a court enforceable consent decree to reform the Chicago Police Department, the Police Board’s pause on deciding the fate of two cops who might’ve lied in the Laquan McDonald investigation, and what she’s told the mayor about how to handle the long, costly next steps on overhauling CPD's operations.   

Got comments, questions, or suggestions? Please send us an email: [email protected].

A five hour meeting of the Plan Commission Thursday included a 30-day deferral of a nearly 300-unit residential development near O’Hare, though the local alderman wanted it held “indefinitely”; opposition from West Town residents who don’t want the city to sell land for affordable housing; a presentation from the University of Chicago on a new 97,000 sq. ft. lecture hall; and approval of a zoning change to allow a Lucky Strike, movie theater and health club at the two-acre Clark and Addison development near Wrigley Field.

The city’s acting Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Commissioner of the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) got a minor grilling from a normally quiet member of City Council: Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7)–whose former private sector life was spent in finance. The mayor’s appointee, Danielle DuMerer, was ultimately given the nod, and shed some light on upgrades coming to the city’s 311 system during Thursday’s Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development meeting.

Activist community groups and attorneys at the forefront of the police reform movement filed suit in federal court Wednesday against the city and members of the Chicago Police Department, seeking a consent decree to enforce police reform measures. The move, if successful, would give a third party outside of government standing in a consent decree with federal courts to enforce changes, and would empower a federal judge to enforce a strict and costly set of reforms for oversight, accountability, and use of force policies.

Two twin residential tower developments for the West Loop and Near West Side, three TODs and an amended planned development for a commercial development near Wrigley Field commonly referred to as “Addison and Clark” are on Thursday’s Plan Commission agenda.

In total, there are twelve applications slated for review, making it one of the longest agendas of the year.  

Three applicants are taking advantage of the density bonus buy-in and three applications qualify as Transit Oriented Developments (TODs). One of the TODs is in Wicker Park near the Blue Line, another is in Washington Park along the Green Line, and the third by O’Hare, also along the Blue Line.

Logan Square 101-Unit TOD

2835 W. Belden Ave. (1st Ward, O2015-6396)  

This proposed six-story residential building has 100 efficiency units and 30 accessory parking spaces. Plans call for the demolition of the existing vacant industrial building and single family home.

The project qualifies as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) due to its proximity to the California Avenue stop on the CTA’s Blue Line. Barry Sidel filed the application in May 2015 requesting a rezone from a C1-2 district to a B2-3 underlying planned development. The project triggers the city’s ARO. 10 affordable units for those earning 100% of the Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area Median Income are planned.

Roseland Charter School Relocation

10909 S. Cottage Grove Ave. (9th Ward, O2017-3854)

The Chicago Collegiate Charter School in Roseland wants to temporarily locate its school at the Salem Baptist Church (the subject property). The school, which serves 4th through 12th grade, is seeking a rezone of the church property, from heavy industry manufacturing (M3-3) to commercial (C3-1), in order to legally occupy a portion of the 67,600 sq. ft. church.

Plan Commission approval is needed because the church is located in an industrial corridor. Pending approval by the Plan Commission and City Council, the school will apply for a special use permit.

58-Unit Mostly Affordable Housing Washington Park

63-77 E. Garfield Blvd (20th Ward, O2017-155)

This application is to build a mixed-use affordable housing development on partially city-owned land near Washington Park. The plan for a four-story, 58-unit building with 7,000 sq. ft. of commercial retail was was filed by a slew of LLCs managed by Northbrook-based law firm Friedland, Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, which has overseen several large-scale development projects in Chicago.  

The development team plans to leverage federal low-income housing tax credits, as well as $6.35 million in TIF. 49 units will be reserved for those who earn up to 60% of Area Median Income. It qualifies as a TOD as it’s near the Garfield stop on the city’s Green Line.  

The applicant, Brin Life Center, LLC, received preliminary approval from the city’s Community Development Commission to use TIF funds and enter into a negotiated sale with the city to purchase two city-owned vacant parcels for $2 (63- 77 E. Garfield and 5500-5516 S. Michigan). It’s a large plot of vacant land surrounded by churches and a few blocks west of Washington Park.

Rev. Torrey L. Barrett, a member of the city’s Police Board and founder and Executive Director of K.L.E.O. Community Family Life Center Chicago, is part of the venture. He’s listed as one of the managers of Imagine Group Washington Park, LLC, one of the shareholding entities.  

The plan development application requests a rezone from a neighborhood shopping district (B1-2) and residential (RM5) to a uniform underlying zoning of B2-3.

“Union West” Twin 15-Story M/U

933-43 W. Washington (25th Ward, O2017-2162)

A pair of 15-story mixed-use buildings with a combined 356 residential units and 13,700 sq. ft. of ground floor retail was filed by Haymarket Apartments Joint Venture, LP in March.

It requests a rezone of the site bounded by West Washington, North Morgan, West Madison, and North Sangamon Streets from a downtown mixed-use district (DX-3) to a DX-5. The development team is taking advantage of the density bonus system for an addition FAR of 1.5, though the payment amount isn’t listed in the application.

The property, a surface parking lot, is owned by McDermott Center, doing business as the Haymarket Center, an addiction treatment center  located across the street from the proposed development.

The applicant is Orlando, Florida based ZRS Management, an apartment & multifamily property management firm that also developed the Chestnut Tower on the city’s Near North Side. Architect bKL designed 184-foot towers (Renderings)

The project triggers the city’s 2015 affordable housing requirements for developments in higher-income areas. This means 10% of total units planned (36 units) are called for. Nine of those units (25% of 36) are required on-site, the remaining can be located elsewhere or require an in-lieu payment of $125,00 per unit.

Twin 17-Story, 586-M/U Towers for West Loop

833-55 West Madison (27th Ward, O2016-7306)

Another pair of residential towers on the agenda are proposed by the John Buck Company. The 17-story mixed-use buildings will have a total of 586 residential units and nearly 300 parking spaces. The application requests a rezone from downtown mixed-use (DX-5) to downtown service (DS-3) and a floor area bonus.

Adjacent 297-Unit Residential Tower for O’Hare Marriott

8535 W. Higgins Road (41st Ward, O2015-6354)

Host Hotels & Resorts, LP (doing business as the Chicago Marriott O’Hare) wants to amend their existing planned development application in order to construct a seven-story residential building, a parking structure, and possibly an office building. The application would divide Sub-area B into three separate parcels, one for each item planned.

A letter on file from Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) says the project includes two office buildings (250,000 square feet each), 40,000 square feet of retail sales, eating and drinking and 230,000 square feet of residential.

A $2 million payment to the city’s affordable housing fund will cover the required affordable units. The project is a TOD, located a block away from the Cumberland stop on the CTA’s Blue Line.

The Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development meets Thursday afternoon to consider a new Commissioner for the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT). Though Mayor Rahm Emanuel formally introduced the ordinance appointing Danielle DuMerer to the job last month, DuMere has served as the interim commissioner since April 1.

Lobbing a new volley in a six-month campaign to pass a city ordinance supporting low-wage airport workers, the SEIU Local 1 has launched a negative mail campaign against Ald. Pat O’Connor (40), targeting likely voters in the Andersonville, Lincoln Square and North Park neighborhoods.

City Council’s Housing Committee approved funding Tuesday for a first responder homebuyer assistance program and cut the price tag of a previously approved land sale for a Little Village property once valued at $4.7 million and sold for $1 million. The amended price is $1.

 

The Chicago Board of Ethics affirmed probable cause findings Tuesday in two unregistered lobbying cases related to Mayor Emanuel’s personal email account. But the Board won’t release the names of violators until later this week, and representatives say fines–which BOE Chairman William Conlon warned could be “significant” for violators–are still under board review.

The Council’s Human Relations Committee advanced an ordinance Monday that would prohibit Chicago from taking part in any attempt by the Trump Administration to create a national database of any kind. The ordinance from Mayor Rahm Emanuel prohibits participation in a federal registry program based on race, color, religion, natural origin, ancestry, criminal record and any other identifying factors.

A new $3 million homebuyer assistance program for Chicago police officers, firefighters and other first responders is among several routine items on tap for the Council’s Housing Committee Tuesday.