Comm. Joan Murphy was honored at a special meeting of the Cook County Board yesterday, with family, fellow commissioners, and suburban colleagues remembering the late 79-year-old as a fiercely loyal people’s politician who built bridges and treated colleagues like family.

“To me she was always Murph,” Comm. Deborah Sims, one of Murphy’s closest friends on the board said. “We talk about how short in stature she was, but she could walk among giants. ...She will be missed, but she will never, ever be forgotten.” Black bunting was hung over the entrance to Cook County offices on the 5th floor, and her desk was covered in flowers.

Plans to transform an Uptown elementary school into apartments, an application to add three more floors to the Nobu Hotel currently being constructed in Fulton Market, and a new residential community for the city’s Glenwood/Dunn neighborhood are on the deferred agenda for today’s Zoning Committee meeting.

All three projects received unanimous approval from the city’s Plan Commission at their September meeting and now need approval from the Council’s Zoning Committee before the projects can advance to the full City Council for a vote.

It should be a fairly short meeting. There are only 10 zoning applications scheduled, and all had been previously deferred.  

The committee is also scheduled to consider three appointments to two major land-use bodies. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is requesting the Council reappoint Blake Sercye as chairman of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals. His term would expire July 1, 2021.

Chicago Public Schools announced a 3.5% student enrollment decline for the 2016-17 school year today, for a total of 13,804 fewer students than last year. The numbers are drawn from the 10th day of attendance, a date used by CPS and the state to determine formula funding amounts for schools. Last year, student enrollment dropped by 5,588. In 2006, CPS enrolled 420,925 students, 42,444 more than this year.

The city’s Law Department proposed a budget amount tied to the overall Police Department budget for the new police oversight agency that is expected to replace the Independent Police Review Authority. Under the proposal, that agency will be allowed to hire outside counsel, according to aldermen The Daily Line spoke to who were briefed Monday.

Corporation Counsel Steve Patton held multiple briefing sessions yesterday with aldermen on revisions his office has made to the police reform ordinance, according to aldermen present. The ordinance is scheduled for a Joint Budget and Public Safety Committee hearing on October 3, followed by a full City Council vote on October 5.

If you opened up Facebook last week, you may have noticed a post from the company urging you to register to vote, and an option to help you find a way to register to vote. If local anecdotal evidence is worth anything, the Chicago Board of Elections seems to think Facebook might have resulted in a temporary registration surge.

City worker pension funds board members learned last week that retiree healthcare plan costs will be going up hundreds of dollars a month in 2017 now that the city has completely phased out its annual retiree health plan subsidy. According to a presentation made by Comptroller Erin Keane to pension fund boards, individual retiree plans will go up almost $600 a month to $1,466. Family health care plans for retirees will go up almost $1,400 to $3,622 a month.

Cook County Commissioners will gather at 11:15am today to honor the late Comm. Joan Patricia Murphy, who died last Sunday after a private battle with breast cancer. Murphy, a Democrat, represented the Southland for 14 years. Her wake and funeral were held on Thursday and Friday last week.

Comm. Murphy’s replacement will be chosen by the democratic committeemen of the 6th District, based on the number of votes she received in the 2014 general election (weights below). Rich Township's Tim Bradford will serve as chair of the selection committee, Thornton Township's Frank Zuccarelli will serve as vice-chair. The vote has not yet been scheduled.

The city’s Budget Office on Friday created a new webpage to guide residents through the city’s property tax rebate program that the City Council approved to help alleviate the burden of the Mayor’s property tax hike for the police and fire pension funds.

Week after week on this show, we’ve talked about how police oversight efforts seem to have reached a boiling point. In hearings, briefings, and committee meetings, activists and residents have demanded more control of the Chicago Police Department. But in two major speeches this week on combating gun violence in Chicago, the issue of police reform took a back seat. Since the start of 2016, there have been more than 3,000 shootings and 500 murders in Chicago. That’s more than any other big city in the country.

On Monday, in a City Club speech, ousted CPD Supt. Garry McCarthy suggested the focus on reform was emboldening criminals to disobey police. Three days later, at a much-anticipated evening address to an invite-only crowd at Malcolm X College, Mayor Rahm Emanuel outlined his approach to combating gun violence by adding more patrols and economic programs for youth. In this week’s episode, we discuss the laser focus on Chicago crime, the missing puzzle pieces on police reform, and the Mayor’s credibility less than two weeks before the City Council votes on major changes to CPD oversight.   

Got questions, comments or feedback? Send us an email: [email protected].

Mayor Rahm Emanuel detailed his plans to reduce violence in Chicago to an invite-only audience of about 400 people at Malcolm X college Thursday evening. {Credit: Aaron Cynic)

In a gymnasium packed with city employees and invited community leaders at Malcolm X College Thursday night, Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled his three-part strategy to address gun violence in Chicago, leaving out one critical issue facing the city: police reform.

“Today I am calling on all Chicagoans to join in a comprehensive plan, a blueprint, to confront gun violence,” the Mayor told an audience of about 400 invited guests. Outside, a couple dozen protesters with CPAC, a Civilian Police Accountability Council, handed out fliers and picketed at the entrance of the gym. They were flanked by police who used their bikes as a barricade. “No matter who you are, what your background is, where you live in Chicago, this fight belongs to all of us.”

[Full text of the speech prepared for delivery, and an outline on the Comprehensive Public Safety Plan]

The speech had been announced a couple weeks prior, with minor details trickling out over the past few days, like the hiring of 970 police officers over the next two years and bolstering existing youth programs to the stymie the prevalence of gang violence among Chicago youth.

Emanuel expanded on those details in his speech: every Chicago police officer will have a body-worn camera and be equipped with a taser, all 8th-10th grade male

students enrolled in Chicago Public Schools who live in one of the city’s 20 highest crime neighborhoods will be connected with a mentor. There was no mention of how much the cameras and tasers will cost. The three-year mentoring program will cost the city $36 million, supported by public and private dollars.

But of all the topics the mayor addressed in his 11-page speech on combating gun violence, few words were uttered on the issue of the police reform. He mentioned it in passing, mostly highlighting reforms that the city has already implemented, such as new protocols for the timely release of police videos. Those release changes were originally drafted by the Police Accountability Task Force in the wake of the public outcry over the handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.

Emanuel said he was “fully committed to adopting a citizen oversight board that will provide a strong and active voice for the community,” but never mentioned when exactly that plan will be rolled out. He noted that he and the City Council are working on replacing the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) with a new organization, COPA, which “will have the tools to ensure real accountability when wrongdoing occurs.” But he didn’t expand upon that point, even as the City Council is expected to take up his police reform package in two weeks without knowing key details.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), Chairman of the Council’s Progressive Caucus, said that disappointed him. “We’ve spent many months trying to work on the police reform issues, you know, we spent years trying to dig up different ways to work on discipline within the department. You have the new COPA and [Public Saftey Inspector General] ordinance, and that was brushed over here with no commitment to funding, no commitment to the independent counsel, and no commitment to transparency on that,” said Ald. Waguespack. “And to just brush it off tonight, I think, just undervalued it greatly.”

The same sentiment was raised by Rev. Marshall Hatch, the Senior Pastor of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church of West Garfield and an organizer with Cure Violence. “It’s a glaring omission in that respect, because people are really concerned. Is the police department going to look different with these new recruits? And that really needs to happen. Otherwise we’re going to get more of the same kind of dysfunctional relation with the community, unless we change the culture of the new department.”

The speech was divided into three parts for the three-prong approach Mayor Emanuel plans to implement to address the recent surge in gun violence in Chicago: enforcement, prevention, and intervention.

The enforcement section focused heavily on the planned new hires: 516 police officers on city streets, 92 field training officers to improve individualized training; 112 sergeants and 50 lieutenants whom Police Supt. Eddie Johnson will promote; 200 detectives to expedite investigations; and 200 more civilian personnel staff.

He also spoke of implementing new “gunshot-tracing cameras” in the city’s most violent police districts. “These cameras will help our officers respond more quickly to shootings while providing evidence to help identify and convict violent offenders,” he said.

Legislation to impose stricter penalties for repeat gun offenders and and stronger regulations on gun dealers will be part of the Mayor’s legislative agenda in Springfield.

“We need to stop the revolving door for repeat gun offenders,” he explained, arguing the shooting death last month of Nykea Aldridge, Dwyane Wade’s cousin, could have been prevented if the “alleged perpetrators had been given the sentences they deserved for previous crimes.” While walking down the street to register her children at Dulles Elementary School, Aldridge was gunned down by two brothers, both had priors.

(Although, when he delivered his remarks he repeatedly replaced “violent offenders”, the phrase used in his prepared remarks, with “gun offenders”.)

Emanuel called the the final element of his speech, intervention, the “most important.” Here he outlined plans to improve social service programs for youth in the city’s most violence  prone neighborhoods. At this point he also went off script, decrying, and naming, the major gangs that take over neighborhoods and serve as the “role models, mentors, and the families for these young men.”

Also name-checked were Exelon, Peoples Gas, Bank of America, Get in Chicago, and Jimmy Johns. All are putting up part of the cash needed to fund the mentorship programs. (On Wednesday The Daily Line reported that Mayor Emanuel received $15,000 in donations from the chairman of the Jimmy John’s franchise, James Liautaud, his wife, Leslie, and the president and CEO of the sandwich franchise, James North.)

As the Mayor’s new Chief Neighborhood Development Officer, Andrea Zopp will be tasked with leading up some of the new neighborhood investments and job programs. “[Mayor Emanuel] made it clear that this issue of gun violence is an issue for our whole city, that we have to come together,” she said after the speech. “He made it very clear that we can’t fix this just with more police, and more support of the police.”

“There is obviously much work to be done,” said Police Board President and Chair of the Mayor’s Task Force on Police Accountability, Lori Lightfoot, in an email to The Daily Line adding that it was “important and indeed essential” that the mayor used his leadership post to address an issue that plagues so many communities. “Aside from making sure that all of our law enforcement partners - local, county, state and federal are using every tool in their tools kits, we know that the root causes of the violence cannot be addressed by law enforcement alone. We have to come up with a comprehensive plan to create opportunity and hope.”

But Englewood Ald. David Moore (17), a frequent critic of Emanuel, said the mayor’s focus on economic development “was not enough.” He said he wants specific large scale development projects, like the new Whole Foods in Englewood, on a regular basis, not just the promise of job fairs and mentoring programs.

“When he went out there,” said Ald. Moore of the Whole Foods project, “he put a full court press on, he did everything he had to do to get into Englewood. We just can’t have one thing every so many years. He has to do that all the time.”

Tracy Siska, the Executive Director of Chicago Justice Project and a long time police reform advocate, argued the speech showed that Mayor Emanuel “has learned nothing."

“The Mayor fails to understand that all the social realities he begged us to find a cure for tonight existed on his first day in office and he has done nothing in the way of meaningful solutions. We heard nothing tonight about his closing of 50 schools or half the city’s mental health clinics,” said Siska. “He did little but dodge responsibility for his choices which is right in line with his actions regarding the faux police accountability he is trying to install in Chicago.”

Asked if the Mayor has the credibility and trust within the African-American community to achieve the goals that he outlined in Thursday night’s speech, especially at a time when his approval rating is at an all time low since the McDonald release, Rev. Hatch said the effort won’t go unnoticed. “We’re pulling for him, because we’re pulling for ourselves. And so it’s not going to do us any good to simply throw cold water on what is probably a heartfelt effort to address the crisis here in the city.”

Mike Fourcher contributed to this report.

Picked from a crowded field five months ago by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ald. Sophia King touts 30 years of experience within the community and a rolodex of powerful South Side connections, including the Obamas. But since her appointment, King has kept a low profile–opting to host and attend dozens of community meetings, and making only a few waves in committee meetings. She has pushed developers to provide on-site affordable housing, delayed a $100M beach parking lot until she knew residents could park there, and voted no to $3.5 billion in bonds for O’Hare Airport over minority contracting issues.

In a lengthy interview with The Daily Line after passing her 100 day anniversary on the job, King points out that her ward–which stretches south from the Museum Campus to Bronzeville, Oakland, Kenwood, Hyde Park, and South Side–is a diverse one. There are a lot of constituencies to please: residents in the booming South Loop, business owners in underutilized retail corridors, and organized interests like the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), not to mention the push and pull of being in Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s home turf while being a political appointee of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

She appears to be keeping her head down, working on a strategic ward plan and talking to LSCs, principals, and block clubs, even as challengers begin to emerge for the February 28 special election. While the petition process doesn’t wrap until the end of November, there are already candidate forums starting up. 17 others applied for the open 4th Ward position after Ald. Will Burns’ abrupt exit to lobby for Airbnb last spring, and many are expected to come out again. Local activist and mayoral critic Gregory Seal Livingston has already announced his candidacy, lambasting Mayor Emanuel’s police plan and using the hashtag #RahmsDaddy.  

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is considering a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to help bridge the county’s projected deficit for FY17, county staffers and stakeholders say. The tax is one of several revenue proposals President Preckwinkle has floated with commissioners to help address a projected $173.4 million 2017 budget shortfall. County stakeholders tell The Daily Line that the per-unit tax could be anywhere from half a penny to a full penny per ounce. One industry source briefed by the President’s office reports Preckwinkle’s team is assuming a ¾ of a cent per ounce would yield close to $100 million annually.

Preckwinkle spokesperson Frank Shuftan notes nothing is set in stone. “We are looking at expense cuts through program reductions and position cuts as well as the potential for possible revenue enhancements,” he said. Shuftan and other county sources The Daily Line spoke to kept mum on other revenue proposals.

The recently beefed up Affordable Housing Requirements ordinance that took effect last fall has resulted in only 11 new on-site affordable housing units in market-rate development projects, according the the Department of Planning and Development’s second quarter report of its affordable housing goals for 2016. The progress report for the months of April-June was the subject of a Wednesday morning meeting of the City Council’s Committee on Housing.

Attendance: Chair Joe Moore (49), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Gregory Mitchell (7), Sue Sadlowski-Garza (9), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Walter Burnett (27), Deb Mell (33),

Since January 2016, developers have agreed to include a mere 11 units of affordable housing for residents 60% below area median income (AMI). All of those units were added in the first quarter of 2016, none were added in the second.

According to Anthony Simpkins, a new managing deputy with the Department of Planning and Development, the strengthened Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) is expected to generate 1,200 new units and $90 million in affordable housing funds over the next five years.

*Updated at 6:24pm 

Thursday morning, Corporation Counsel Steve Patton and city Law Department attorney Katie Hill are expected to meet privately with police reform advocacy groups and stakeholders to discuss progress on the Emanuel Administration’s police reform plans, according to those invited to the meeting.

Paul Strauss with the Chicago Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights and David Melton from the Chicago Civil Rights Collaborative for Police Reform confirmed for The Daily Line Wednesday that they will be briefed on the administration’s reform plans at a private briefing scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Thursday.

Multiple organizations The Daily Line contacted Wednesday reported they have not seen an updated police reform ordinance since a day-long joint Council Budget-Public Safety Committee hearing September 13. Aldermen, stakeholders and community organizers The Daily Line spoke to say they  have yet to see new language that defines the budget for the new oversight agencies, a specific mechanism for appointing agency leadership, or whether the new agencies will be allowed to hire counsel without approval of the Law Department.

The Council’s Housing Committee meets today for its quarterly review of the Department of Planning and Development's’ progress on its annual affordable housing goals. For 2016, DPD is projected to spend roughly $250 million to bring online more than 8,000 units of housing.