Vice Chair of the City Council’s Housing Committee, Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7), raised skepticism yesterday in how the Department of Planning and Development appraises city-owned property before advertising bids for sale.

A plan to codify the City Council’s policy on public comments into the official Council Rules of Procedure was held in Rules Committee Thursday amid concerns raised by several Progressive Caucus and freshman aldermen who called the rules too “subjective” and “limiting.”  After about an hour of debate on Ald. Ed Burke’s (14) and Rules Chair Michelle Harris’ (8) ordinance to add a new Rule 58 to the Council’s meeting guidelines, Chair Harris announced she’d hold the item and recess the meeting until Oct. 5th at 9:15 a.m., about an hour before the full City Council meeting. 

The Emanuel Administration will ask the Council’s Finance Committee to issue an additional $25 million in general obligation bonds this year to pay for part of the Mayor’s public safety agenda. Specifically, the money raised will pay for the purchase of 600 new police cars over the next two years. This comes as Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Eddie Johnson last week announced a two-year plan to hire over 500 new police officers and promote hundreds more to the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant and detective.

A resolution from Ald. Ed Burke (14) and Rules Chair Michelle Harris (8) that seems to be aimed squarely at Council gadfly George Blakemore is the most unusual item on today’s agenda and would impose new written rules on public testimony at City Hall. There is no mention of limits on public testimony or comment in all of City Council’s Rules of Order for this term.

The Committee approved all five applications Class 6(b) property tax breaks for industrial properties that plan to expand their operations in the city, including relief for for a bakery in the 12th Ward and a vodka distillery in the 25th.

The City Council’s License Committee approved an ordinance that would include the entire 14th Ward on the list of prohibited areas for peddling in the city.

The City Council’s Human Relations Committee advanced an amendment to the city’s so-called “Welcoming City Ordinance” that adds further protections for undocumented Chicagoans who have run-ins with the police. The changes also protect undocumented Chicagoans from any coercion or verbal abuse, both of which are defined in the ordinance, by a city employee.

Among the dozens of pages of routine transportation items up for consideration today by the Council’s Transportation and Public Way Committee is a proposed intergovernmental agreement that would aid in the drafting of a comprehensive transportation plan for Committee Chairman Anthony Beale’s Far South Side 9th Ward.

An ordinance intended to jumpstart construction of a new North Branch riverwalk under the Addison Street bridge, a nearly $4 million dollar land sale to Near North Montessori School, and several appointments to the Community Land Trust Board are up consideration by the Council’s Housing and Real Estate Committee this morning.

Property tax breaks for a bakery in the 12th Ward, a vodka distillery in the 25th, and three sites within Chicago’s Enterprise Zone No. 1 are up for committee consideration today. You can read more about each in this brief from the Mayor’s Office. All but one are new applications. The Class 6(b) classification, which is ultimately approved by the Assessor, is designed to encourage industrial development through the development of new industrial facilities, the rehab of existing buildings, and the reutilization of abandoned buildings. Properties receiving Class 6b will be assessed at 10% of market value for the first 10 years, 15% in the 11th year and 20% in the 12th year.

Ald. Ed Burke (14) is the only alderman with a non-routine item on today’s License and Consumer Affairs agenda (there are 13 other routine agenda items to allow or disallow liquor and package good licenses).

The Council’s Zoning Committee approved Nobu’s request to add an additional three stories to their proposed hotel for Fulton Market, which is currently under construction, as well as a plan to convert the former Graeme Stewart Elementary School in Uptown into 64 apartments. All appointments, including the reappointment of Blake Sercye as the chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, passed without a hitch. (George Blakemore was the only public witness at yesterday’s meeting, and he testified on nearly every item.)

The Mayor’s intergovernmental affairs staff released to aldermen this week a new version of the administration’s police reform ordinance and various briefing documents explaining how it compares to two alternative aldermanic proposals.

On Monday, Corporation Counsel Steve Patton held a series of briefings with aldermen on the new reform plan, which includes the budget appropriation for the two new police oversight agencies.

Documents distributed to aldermen:

• Updated Police Accountability Draft Ordinance - This is the new version of the police reform ordinance which includes updated language on the budget for COPA and for the new Public Safety Deputy within the city’s Inspector General’s Office. Under the revised plan, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) will receive 1% of the Chicago Police Department’s annual appropriation, excluding grant funds. Based on CPD’s 2016 budget of $1.45 billion, COPA would receive about $14 million, nearly double what Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) received in 2016. (On Monday, we reported that enterprise funds, such as money from O’Hare and Midway Airport, would also be excluded, but according to the updated ordinance, that money would be part of the percentage.) The IG’s office will also get a funding bump, from 0.1% of the city’s corporate fund to 0.14%.

• Ervin (FAIR Cops) Ordinance Comparison - This document outlines which aspects of Ald. Jason Ervin’s (28) FAIR Cops Ordinance the administration included in their police reform plan. According to this chart, one recommendation–that the City Council be allowed to force the police department to implement a recommendation offered by the new Public Safety Deputy–was not included. The chart notes that the city reviewed practices in other jurisdictions and found that “the function of an IG is to identify issues and make recommendations; none use or recommend a mechanism that makes such recommendations binding or mandatory.”

• Hairston Ordinance Comparison - One provision in Ald. Leslie Hairston’s (5) police reform ordinance was not included, according to this chart. Ald. Hairston called for the creation of a selection process for the new chief administrator that involves community input. The chart notes that IPRA Chief Administrator Sharon Fairley will stay on as the interim chief administrator for COPA until the City Council creates a permanent mechanism for how her successor should be appointed. That mechanism will likely be drafted when the Council officially creates the Community Oversight Board, the third prong in the reform process, which is expected to be considered in the next six to nine months.

• IPRA/COPA Matrix - This chart compares IPRA’s current powers and duties with that of COPA, what Ald. Haiston had called for in her police reform ordinance, and what the mayor’s Police Accountability Task Force recommended. One interesting point: the chief administrator of COPA may be a former CPD member (civilian or officer) or former employee of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office so long as it wasn’t within five years of the appointment. IPRA has no such restrictions, the PATF report recommended the five year cooling period, while Ald. Hairston’s ordinance specifically said a chief administrator can’t have had any prior employment with either agency.

• Public Safety Deputy/FAIR Cops Matrix - Similar to the above chart, this document compares the proposed role of the Public Safety Deputy,  the recommendations outlined in Ald. Ervin’s FAIR Cops ordinance, and the recommendations of the PATF report.

 

 

The Council Committee on Human Relations meets this morning to consider a slew of appointments and reappointments two city commissions that deal with monitoring and strengthening the city’s human and civil rights laws, as well as an ordinance that would strengthen protections for undocumented residents living in Chicago. There’s also a resolution calling on the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority to change the name of the new McCormick Square neighborhood that cites the building’s namesake, Robert R. McCormick, and his alleged racist past.

Chicago-area business leaders and aldermen gathered Monday morning on the 2nd floor lobby of City Hall to announce a committee to “combat Chicago’s unfriendly business climate,” and the “onslaught of taxes, regulations and mandates that are crushing neighborhood small businesses.”

Rob Karr and Theresa Mintle, the president/CEOs of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, respectively, both attended, as did Ald. Tom Tunney (44), Ald. Michele Smith (43), Ald. Brian Hopkins (2), and Ald. Matt O’Shea (19). Business owners Neil Byers (Horse Thief Hollow Brewing) and Michael Kozlowski (Fairplay Foods) were also present. Mintle, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s former chief of staff, kicked off the press conference by saying there was an “anti-business agenda” coming from City Hall.