Another recently appointed, pro-affordable housing member of the Chicago Plan Commission, Bishop John R. Bryant, is being replaced. Bryant’s resignation from the 22-member land use board follows Juan Linares’ exit in April. Both were appointed by the Mayor last summer, and both were vocal about their affordable housing concerns.

Bryant is the Senior Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Presiding Bishop of the 4th Episcopal District. His ministry is in the city’s Grand Boulevard neighborhood.

Linares is the Executive Director of LUCHA, an organization on the city’s Northwest Side that focuses on affordable housing. After his resignation from the Plan Commission, he was appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the council yesterday to serve on another body that might be more in his wheelhouse: the Low Income Housing Trust Fund Board. As one of 15 members on the board, Linares will decide whether buildings receive rental subsidies or interest-free forgivable loans to create more units for very low-income individuals or families.

But Bryant’s future is unclear. At yesterday’s City Council meeting, an ordinance was introduced requesting the Zoning Committee consider his replacement, Rev. Albert D. Tyson III, and noted Bryant’s resignation. Tyson has served Saint Stephen African Methodist Episcopal Church since 1985, in addition to holding a slew of city-run board positions, including a spot on the Public Building Commission and on the Board of Trustees for City Colleges of Chicago.

Although his attendance has wavered over the past few months, Bryant is best remembered for his concerns over minority hiring at the Wanda Vista Tower project, the lack of one-for-one replacement of public housing for the massive redevelopment of CHA’s Lathrop Homes, and a long soliloquy he gave questioning the purpose of TIF funds after the redevelopment team for the Cuneo Hospital site presented their plans.

In November, when the development team for the Wanda Vista project presented their plans for a “supertall” downtown skyscraper, an unusual debate about the lack of minority contractors, sparked by George Blakemore, a fixture at public meetings, unsettled a number of commissioners of the planning board. Saying Blakemore’s comments “struck a nerve,” Bryant, who was new to the board, demanded the developers respond to Blakemore’s questions about minority hiring.

“The underclass in this country is growing at an alarming rate, and [we’re] in a place where we can do something about it, so I really need to hear some response,” Bryant said. A representative from Magellan Development told him the company employed minority contractors, but didn’t track numbers.

“My spirit was not at peace with your answer,” Commissioner Bryant replied, prompting other members to more sharply question developers. At the Lathrop hearing in February, Commissioner Bryant voted “no,” after expressing concern about the divided testimony over the public housing component.

And when JDL Development went before the body in January to present their plans to build a massive housing complex with more than 600 units at the site of the former Cuneo Hospital and Maryville Academy Shelter in the city’s Uptown neighborhood, Bryant sided with the protesters who lamented a TIF subsidy made available to help support the project.

The Plan Commission doesn’t deal with TIF subsidies, it deals with zoning and city-owned land sales. But at that meeting, Bryant said he was “misled” when he accepted a spot on the board and “disturbed and upset” with the affordable housing issue. “My life has been speaking for the poor, marginalized, and oppressed,” Bryant began, “The unemployment rate is alarming. I’ve sat on this commission trusting those who invited me to serve, and I have acted on this committee with a great deal of trust from those who invited me.”

Two proposed hotels, one for Hyde Park the other for Michigan Avenue, and a live-work artist loft space for a historic mansion in the city’s Pullman neighborhood are on the Plan Commission agenda for today.

The body will also take up for the second time a plan from the Park District to expand a parking lot at the 31st Street beach. It was held at last month’s meeting following vocal concerns from newly-appointed 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King. King isn’t a member of the Plan Commission, but the parking lot and neighboring harbor are in her ward. In her first appearance before the land-use body, she expressed concerns that beach access has been difficult for her and residents in the community. Aldertrack spoke to Ald. King about her discussions with the Park District last week, and she said meetings have been productive.   

This week’s packed 13-item agenda is also noticeably less downtown-centric. Here are the highlights:

11127-29 South Langley Avenue; 704-06 East 112th Street (9th Ward) - A team of art and neighborhood organizations are behind a plan to transform a 18,500 square foot parcel of vacant land sandwiched between two historic apartment buildings in the city’s Pullman neighborhood to build lofts for artists. The so-called Pullman Artspace Lofts project has been more than five years in the making and calls for the rehabilitation of the two existing historic apartment buildings coupled with the construction of a new 34,000-square-foot, three story building to be located in the empty lot.

Pending zoning approval, the two rehabilitated buildings would have six units each, while the newly constructed masonry building will hold 26 units, with ground floor communal artist and exhibition space. “[The project] provides the opportunity to integrate historic preservation with cutting edge new construction and create an iconic group of buildings that anchor Pullman’s eastern boundary,” the project’s website notes.

All 38 live/work units will be made affordable. Pullman Artspace, LLC filed a planned development application with the city in February 2016. According to the Economic Disclosure Statement, the LLC is made up of Minnesota-based Artspace Projects, Inc. (55%), Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives (40%), and Pullman Arts (5%). The project is also designated as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) due to its proximity to the the Metra. Plans call for 17 parking spaces and 25 bike stalls.

1050 West Wilson Avenue; (46th Ward) - Cedar Street Capital Partners filed an application with the city in September 2015 under the name “Halsted Commons, LLC” to rezone the former Wilson Avenue Theater and later TCF Bank building into a planned development. Plans call for the restoration of the century-old building and construct an adjacent seven story, dark grey brick mixed-use residential building that would include ground floor retail, 110 dwelling units, and 16 parking spaces.

The development team is represented by Paul Shadle and Katie Jahnke Dale of zoning law firm DLA Piper. According to the Illinois Real Estate Journal, Ceder Property bought the historic theater building for $625,000, and, according to DNAinfo, local housing advocates are not thrilled with the housing plans for the site. Four people are listed on the Economic Disclosure Statement for Halsted Commons, LLC: David Duckler (33.3% ownership); Alex Samoylovich (25.5%), Jay Michael (25.5%), and Tom Kim (10%). Due to the September filing date, the application falls under the old, 2007 affordable housing regulations. Michael, a well-known developer in Uptown, died in January from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

800 South Michigan Avenue (4th Ward) - This application is for the proposed residential and hotel tower planned for the parking garage next to the Essex Inn. The development team, which is a joint venture of Oxford Capital Group and Quadrum Global, is seeking to build an approximately 620-foot residential building that will include: 476 dwelling units, 100 hotel keys, and about 100 parking spaces.  

171 North Wabash Avenue (42nd Ward) - The applicant, RZR LLC Wabash, wants to amend an existing planned development (no.116) to allow residential use: 60 units in a seven-story building with ground floor retail and related uses. According to the Chicago Architecture Blog, the site was a long-planned office building, and is located a block away from the Experience 73 building.

5001 N. Kedzie Avenue (33rd & 39th Ward) - North Park University filed an application with the city to incorporate land it already owns into an existing planned development (no.707) for the construction of a surface parking lot. According to the Plan Commission agenda, the parking lot will hold up to 79 cars. The university is seeking a rezone of underlying zoning of the planned development to make that possible.

1730 West Wrightwood Avenue (32nd Ward) - The applicant, Broader 1730 WW, LLC, is seeking to establish a new planned development to construct three four-story residential buildings for a total of 76 residential units. Each unit will have a corresponding parking stall. The subject property, which is located near the corner of West Wrightwood and North Hermitage Avenue, is currently zoned for manufacturing (M2-3, which is a “light Industry district”).

The underlying zoning they are seeking is a Residential Multi-Unit District (RM-5). The property is located south of the Lathrop Homes, behind the Menards. It was a former outlet store for Tag Furnishings. According to Curbed Chicago, a previous plan had called for the replacement of the industrial facility with two masonry and glass buildings designed by Pappageorge Haymes Partners.

6250 North Sheridan Road (48th Ward) - Convent of the Sacred Heart of Chicago filed an application with the city to transform a parking lot on their campus into a recreational field. Since the campus is already part of an existing Planned Development (No. 788), school officials filed an amendment to the PD.

5140-5190 North Northwest Highway (45th Ward) - Ald. John Arena filed an application for a map amendment to downzone this property from a manufacturing designated district (M1-1) to a neighborhood shopping district (B1-1). The agenda says there is no proposed construction included in the application.

1344-60 South Union Street; 700-14 West 14th Street; 701-13 W. Liberty Street (11th Ward) -  The applicant, PMG UV Investments, LLC, is seeking a planned development to construct an approximately 79-foot buildings with 99 residential units and accessory parking on a 26,000 square-foot parcel. The current underlying zoning for the site is limited manufacturing (M1-3)

1136-40 South Wabash Avenue; 26 E. Roosevelt Road (4th Ward) - The applicant is an LLC with the same name as the address. They’re seeking to establish a planned development by rezoning the subject site from a DX-12 to a residential business planned development. The proposal would establish two sub areas. One subarea would hold a 26-story mixed-use building with ground floor retail, 320 residential units, and accessory parking. The other subarea already has a one-story commercial building, which will remain unchanged.

After a month without a hearing or vote on paid sick leave, proponents are calling for Workforce Development and Audit Chair Pat O’Connor (40) to call up the ordinance, first introduced in April, but in the works for months. O’Connor said aldermen won’t hear it until after Springfield’s legislative session ends on May 31.

Several important Chicago issues, including school funding reform and SB 777, a bill reforming Police and Fire Pensions, await major moves from the governor and state legislators. And aldermen have been likewise occupied with big issues, including regulations on short-term rentals like Airbnb, police reform, additional licensing and background checks for Uber and Lyft drivers, and changes to the city’s zoning classification to create a neighborhood opportunity bonus.

But Ald. Ameya Pawar (47), the chair of the task force convened to research the issue, said paid sick and expanded medical leave is just as pressing. “There’s 460,000 people that don’t have access to paid sick leave, and quite frankly, a lot of us are tired of having to put their needs on the back burner for other issues,” Pawar told Aldertrack. “This issue is equally as important as reforms to the police department and CPS funding inequities, because they all impact the same people. We need a vote next month.”

Pawar stood with Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), lead ordinance sponsor Ald. Toni Foulkes (16), Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38), Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), and paid sick leave proponents at a press conference ahead of yesterday’s City Council to call for a vote. The ordinance has 39 sponsors, and is the second attempt to pass paid sick leave since 2014. After a failed vote on that previous ordinance, the issue received overwhelming support in a 2015 ballot referendum. Mayor Emanuel convened a task force, the Working Families Working Group, to examine best practices shortly after, which took more than half a year to issue its recommendations.

Those recommendations were lambasted by two members of the task force–the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. Both said paid sick leave is an added burden to businesses weighed down by rising property taxes and Chicago’s minimum wage.

“We’ve jumped through every hoop that the administration asked us to do, and now we’ve come to the end and we’re still waiting,” Ald. Foulkes said at the press conference. “It’s not fair for the working families of the city.”

Pawar wouldn’t speculate on the reason for the hold-up. “I think there’s a lot of moving parts in Springfield, and obviously the CPS issue,” he said, referring to Chicago Public Schools’ funding problems and Chicago interests in the stalled budget negotiations downstate.

Ald. O’Connor confirmed as much to Aldertrack. “We are looking at trying to see what happens in Springfield on a couple of the initiatives that the city has between now and the end of this month, which clearly would impact the city’s future and the city’s revenue picture. We don’t want to do anything that creates some kind of an excuse or some kind of a reason for Springfield to jump off some of the things we’re asking for,” he said. “If you harken back to the minimum wage, when we passed it, a lot of people in Springfield were pretty upset with us and pretty irate before they had a chance to say that we could do it or before they had a chance to pre-empt us.” 

“Springfield’s dysfunction shouldn’t be an excuse for working families not being able to take a day off to care for themselves or a sick child,” said Zach Koutsky, Legislative & Political Director for UFCW Local 881. “Working families can’t wait for the stalemate in Springfield to end to pass Earned Sick Leave. The time to do so is now.”

A resolution confirming new committee memberships for aldermen was introduced and immediately adopted at City Council yesterday, codifying shifts and new chairmanships that had been in effect for a few weeks. The reassignments reflect the hole left by Ald. Will Burns’ (4) exit to lobby for Airbnb. Some of his committee positions were simply filled by his replacement, Ald. Sophia King (4), including on Housing and Real Estate, Workforce Development and Audit, Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, and Transportation and Public Way.

King will also serve on Health and Environmental Protection, but won’t take Burns’ seat on Finance Committee. That position will go to Ald. Derrick Curtis (18), a self admitted “ward guy” who isn’t often spotted around City Hall. Ald. John Arena (45) will take fellow Progressive Caucus member Nick Sposato's (38) seat on Education and Child Development Committee, now chaired by Ald. Howard Brookins (21). Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) is now a voting member of the Zoning Committee.

Lopez will also serve on Budget and Government Operations, alongside new members Gregory Mitchell (7), and Nicholas Sposato (38). Both Deb Mell (33) and Harry Osterman (48) are now off that committee. Sposato has been named new vice chair of the Aviation Committee, taking Ald. Ameya Pawar's (47) spot.

Gregory Mitchell (7) is now vice chair of Housing and Real Estate, making him the only freshman alderman with a vice chairmanship.   

Another dysfunctional hearing on Airbnb regulations ultimately ended the way vocal North Side aldermen and Airbnb proponents hoped: in delay, with Joint Housing and License Committee co-chair Ald. Joe Moore (49) saying he would not move the ordinance to the full Council for at least a month so aldermen, who clearly had many questions about regulations, could “take a breath.”  

Attendance: Chairman Joe Moore (49), Chairman Emma Mitts (37), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), George Cardenas (12), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Willie B. Cochran (20), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47)

The meeting was called to order roughly 15 minutes late. Dozens of the same Airbnb hosts and supporters that packed the audience the night before had returned. Members of the joint committee told reporters they’d yet to see any new language reworked late the night before–the third substitute in three days. The ordinance was first introduced by Mayor Emanuel back in January, but has faced stiff opposition from aldermen from wards with the most bookings, and from Airbnb proponents who don’t want to see the service’s growth stifled.

A one page summary of the latest changes was eventually distributed to all aldermen, and Housing Chairman Joe Moore (49) called for consideration of a substitute ordinance. Aldermen Michele Smith (43), Scott Waguespack (32), and John Arena(45) all objected, saying they hadn’t received the substitute. The summary was missing details on one of the biggest changes: administrative relief for high rise buildings.

Ald. Moore pushed back, suggesting as a courtesy, administration officials should be able to testify on the changes while ordinance language was copied and distributed. Smith refused again, and the meeting was delayed further until language could be passed out. Stuck in a holding pattern, aldermen milled around chambers while the clock got closer the council’s scheduled 10:00 a.m. start time.

At about 9:25, Ald. Moore again called the substitute up for consideration. Ald. Smith immediately motioned to lay the substitute on the table until next meeting of the License committee, and asked for a roll call vote. Smith and Moore engaged in a somewhat tense exchange about courtesy. “Would it be in the public's interest to at least hear from the commissioner before the motion?” Moore asked.

Smith remained obstinate and asked for a roll, and began to explain why, but Moore cut her off, and called for a roll. Some confused aldermen who’d been coming and going from chambers voted “yes,” believing the vote was to consider or adopt the substitute. Ald. Moore had to talk above the fray, explain the motion, and re-start the roll.  

Vote to Table:

Yeas (8): Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Matt O’Shea (19), Scott Waguespack (32), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45)

Nays (12): Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Michael Scott, Jr., (24), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett, Jr. (27), Deb Mell (33), Emma Mitts (37), James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47), Joe Moore (49)

After the motion to table failed, the committee took up the substitute. Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) Commissioner Maria Guerra Lapacek was again pummeled with brand new questions about BACP’s enforcement capacity, the Department of Innovation and Technology’s (DoIT) ability to get a licensing database up and running within 150 days, and the mundane–like whether hosts could provide food or alcohol.

"I have a problem with voting on a 55 page document that I got five minutes ago," Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza said as questioning continued.

Lapacek said the giant loophole Ald. Smith took greatest issue with had been reworked. The new ordinance would cap the number of Airbnb rentals allowed in high-rises at six, and offer a guide to the commissioner when deciding waivers. Single family homes could only be listed if it is "the owner's primary resident [sic] AND the owner is present for the duration of the rental." Homeowners associations and condo boards could opt out, rental buildings could enforce their own rules, and renters would have to get permission from the apartment owner to list on Airbnb.

But unsatisfied, the questions continued from Ald. Arena, Smith, Tom Tunney (44), and Patrick Daley Thompson (11). Five minutes before 10:00 a.m., Ald. Carrie Austin (34) grew exasperated. “Roll call!” she yelled from the back row, telling colleagues around her the opponents could delay the vote another way, and Tuesday's hearing had been long enough. Ald. Michelle Harris (8) joined Austin’s calls. Chairman Moore wrapped testimony and called for a roll on the substitute.

Final Vote:

Yeas (17): Chairman Joe Moore (49) and Emma Mitts (37), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Greg Mitchell (7),  Michelle Harris (8), George Cardenas (12), David Moore (17), Willie B. Cochran (20), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett, Jr. (27), Ariel Reboyras (30), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47)

Nays (9): Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Matt O’Shea (19), Chris Taliaferro (29), Scott Waguespack (32), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45)

After the failed vote, Smith told reporters, “I don’t think that this is good for democracy, to introduce an ordinance with this many changes at the last minute. We should consider this more. This is typical of the tactics that Airbnb has used in other cities around the globe. I’ve never been involved in regulating anything where we actually don’t know what we’re regulating.”

Ald. Marty Quinn (13), not normally one to make waves, voted both to delay and vote down the substitute. “We have some work to do on it. 95% of the 13th Ward are single family homes. I have some concerns about giving authority to supersede the zoning rules concerning home share, concerning room share,” he told Aldertrack after the vote. “I have some real concerns about turning single family home blocks in the 13th ward into areas that have a lot of transition.”  

With minimal public testimony and few questions from commissioners, the Chicago Plan Commission breezed through its 13 item agenda at its monthly meeting Thursday, approving all proposed map amendment and new planned development applications, including two projects planned in an up and coming neighborhood on the city’s far South Side.

The Plan Commission approved two applications in the city’s Pullman neighborhood located in Ald. Anthony Beale’s 9th Ward; one will be an affordable artist live-work space, the other will be a cluster of restaurants to serve the increased number of tourists visiting the recently designated Pullman national monument.

A team of art and neighborhood organizations are behind a plan to transform a 18,500 square foot parcel of vacant land and the two adjacent historic, three-story apartment buildings on South Langley Avenue into affordable housing for artists. Twenty-six affordable units are planned for the site, six will be located in each of the existing buildings and 26 units will be located in the newly constructed building, which will be designed to fit between and mirror the design the surrounding historic landmarked buildings. The apartments, which include studios, one, and two-bedroom units, range from 750-square-feet to 11,000-square feet. Rents will range from $295 to $863 per month.

Sarah White, director of property development with Art Space, said her organization worked with Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives (CNI), a local non-profit, and Pullman Arts, a local art organization. “[The project] was driven by Pullman Arts’ strong desire to shore up Pullman’s reputation as an arts community. It has been many years in the making. Artists have really flocked to Pullman and their vision is an arts space to really cap off the really strong artists community that’s there and help it flourish and continue to grow,” White testified.

“Alderman Beale, this is pretty far out there, how will people get here?” Ald. Walter Burnett, Jr. (27) joked, adding, “Uber or a taxicab?”

Beale, who is behind a controversial plan to regulate the ride-share industry in Chicago, retorted, “Actually, we’re going to take Divvy.”

Two public witnesses, a husband and wife who live on the same street as the proposed development, testified against the project, saying they first moved to Pullman 47 years ago, when they were “young, foolish newlyweds.” They called the density “ludicrous” for the neighborhood, but they still said they “loved” Ald. Beale–a rare moment of affection from a resident opposing a zoning project at a Plan Commission meeting. Insults and screaming are common.   

The proposed multi-tenant restaurant building for Pullman will be located at 720 East 111th Street, right off the expressway to the neighborhood. DPD Commissioner David Reifman helped get this project off the ground when he was a zoning attorney at DLA Piper, so he abstained from voting.

According to testimony from David Doig, President of Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives and veteran of the city’s Housing Department, DPD and Park District under the Daley administration, the development team is moving forward with lease agreements for a Potbelly and Chipotle. They’ll be the first fast casual restaurants to set up shop on the far South Side for the first time in over two decades. Doig said they’re saving an adjacent parcel for a “Chicago restaurant” they plan to open at a later date.

“We know we’ve had a lack of restaurants on the far south side, and this is going to be the first of many addressing that concern,” Ald. Beale testified.

Beale said once they get the third restaurant underway, work will begin on building the first hotel chain for the neighborhood. He noted that with the monument and the Walmart, which he said sparked other retail development in the area, overall crime in that neighborhood is down 24% and violent crime is down 44%. “Because we have been able to bring opportunity to an area that has really been neglected over the past few decades,” he said.

Michael Shymanski, president of the Historic Pullman Foundation, said the restaurants will fill a huge void. “Since Pullman has been designated part of the national park system, we are significantly increasing the number of visitors. And having two restaurants that are committed to the area already. This project is very vital to have convenient walking distance for visitors.”

The Plan Commission also approved three hotels: two planned for downtown and one in Hyde Park.

The 90-foot, 100-room boutique Smart Hotel planned for Hyde Park will be the second of its kind along 53rd Street. The recently opened Hyatt Hotel, located two blocks away, will share its parking garage with the new Smart Hotel. Due to its proximity to public transit, the new Smart Hotel will have only 15 on site parking stalls.

The commission also approved a residential tower to replace the parking garage next to the Essex Inn on South Michigan Avenue, in addition to rehab of the existing hotel, which will to hold 290 rooms. The 46-story residential tower will sit on top of a newly constructed 8-story parking garage base and will include 467 residential units at an average size of 800-square-feet.

The other downtown hotel by Akara Partners will be located at 100 W. Huron. It will be 17-stories with 200 rooms.

There were 1,050 introductions at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. Here’s a resolution-heavy look at some we didn’t include in yesterday’s newsletter, including more ballot referenda. The deadline for City Council to adopt up to three advisory questions for the November ballot is August 22.

• $7.4 Million for Whole Foods Distribution Center in Pullman - An ordinance seeking authorization to issue $7.4 million in city notes to help fund the construction of a 140,000-square-foot Whole Foods Distribution Center in the North Pullman TIF was introduced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel Wednesday. It’s the latest in a slew of developments in Anthony Beale’s 9th Ward. The project is expected to cost roughly $8.1 million, the ordinance says. The $7.4 million in assistance for construction was designed to lure Whole Foods away from its current distribution center in Munster, Indiana. The Mayor’s office says the move will create 150 jobs in Chicago, and the center is expected to open its doors in early 2018. Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives (CNI) was named developer of the site. CNI was also master developer of the mixed use Pullman Park site, and is developing a community center in the neighborhood (more on CNI’s involvement in another project below). The city is authorized to use $500,000 from the North Pullman TIF, and could also choose to accept a transfer of up to $500,000 from the neighboring Roseland/Michigan TIF. The total note issuance costs and debt service reserve fund are estimated to be roughly $1 million.   

• Security Camera Expansion - A resolution calling for the expansion of “Operation Virtual Shield”, a program first initiated under Mayor Richard M. Daley to place surveillance cameras on every other block. It was described as “the most extensive city surveillance system in the country,” and funded by the Department of Homeland Security. Private companies have already linked their street facing exterior cameras to the system, which is managed by the Office of Emergency Management and Control (OEMC). Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) says he’d like homeowners with private security systems to be able to opt in to Operation Virtual Shield as well, so OEMC can access their private security cameras live during emergencies. New surveillance cameras cost $27,000 on the aldermanic menu fund. Instead, Lopez wants to offer $200 rebates to homeowners who link with the city’s system. The resolution requests OEMC and the Office of Budget & Management to “work together towards creating a video surveillance rebate pilot program funded by aldermanic menu funds at limits set by the local alderman.”
• Full Press for Free Meals for CPS Students - A resolution from Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), the only Chicago Teachers Union member on the council, and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) calls on CPS, Local School Councils, and principals to ensure all qualified students are offered breakfast and lunch “in order to access the $14.3 million in federal reimbursements not currently received by Chicago Public Schools.” Garza tells Aldertrack there’s a great gap between students eligible for free meals and those who actually take them. Last year in the 10th Ward, schools like Gallistel, Clay, and Thorp Elementary, where 100% of students are eligible for free or reduced meals, less than 60% of the students took advantage of the program. Garza says that because there are so many kids across the city not eating breakfast, more than $14 million in federal reimbursements have been “left on the table.” The high concentration of poverty among CPS students qualified the district for full federal reimbursement from the US Department of Agriculture for breakfast and lunch. The district started participating in 2014.

• Vacant Property Registration - An ordinance amending rules for upkeep and registration of vacant properties. The proposal from Ald. Ed Burke (14), citing the difficulty in tracking down mortgagees of properties in default, puts mortgagees or their “designees” in charge of maintaining properties. The ordinance would mandate that all vacant properties, not just residential ones, be registered and maintained (e.g. free of tall grass, dead trees, broken windows, snow on the sidewalk, etc.).  

• Referendum on City-Issued IDs - A resolution from Ald. Danny Solis (25) and 29 other sponsors calls for a ballot question on the creation of municipal IDs “that will expand access to city services for residents unable to access other forms of identification.” The city’s language access ordinance, passed in April of 2015, called for the creation of a task force to look into the development of municipal IDs, which could be used to connect Chicagoans with city programs, regardless of immigration status, homeless status, or gender identity. Mayor Emanuel established the group in July of 2015, and was supposed to report its findings in September of 2015, in time for the release of the FY 2016 budget. One of its members, Fred Tsao of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told Aldertrack “The city's municipal ID group had been scheduled to meet a couple of times over the past few months, but those meetings were postponed.  We are still interested in the concept and are continuing to explore possibilities.” New York, Oakland, San Francisco, and New Haven have created their own municipal IDs, with varying degrees of success.

• Expanded Health Coverage for City Employees - A resolution from Budget Chair Carrie Austin calls on the Finance Committee, led by Chair Ed Burke (14) to draft a request for proposal (RFP) to providers of supplemental insurance products–like accident insurance, short-term disability insurance, hospital confinement insurance, or cancer coverage insurance–as part of the health benefit package for city employees.

• Hearings on 911 Call System - A resolution from Ald. Emma Mitts (37) calling for hearings on OEMC’s “general protocol and procedures for intake of emergency 9-1-1 calls and the timely dispatch of first responders in response to requests for emergency assistance.” Mayor Emanuel recently announced new leadership at OEMC - Alicia Tate-Nadeau, Assistant Adjutant General of the Illinois National Guard. She was appointed to replace Gary Schenkel, who had held the post since 2011. Schenkel faced lengthy and tough questioning from aldermen during last fall’s budget hearings over the proposed privatization of 311 services. Tate-Nadeau has not yet been confirmed by the City Council.

• WWII Lake Michigan Search -  A resolution calling on United States government “to conduct extensive search of Lake Michigan off Navy Pier to locate remains of airmen lost during World War II training exercises.” The preamble says an estimated 22 airmen were killed in crashes over Lake Michigan and 228 aircraft still lay at the bottom of the lake. Lead sponsor Ald. Ed Burke (14), all other members of City Council’s veterans caucus, and Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30) say a plaque should be placed at Navy Pier commemorating “the sacrifice of those airmen.” 

After some last minute wrangling with aldermen and an unusual placement of a roll call vote, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman successfully pushed their revamp of the density bonus system for downtown developers through the Council yesterday.

The so-called “Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus” will leverage money from downtown development through a formula that lets builders add extra square-footage in return for a fee that will help support private investment in some of the city’s most underserved neighborhoods.  

An aide for Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), who opposed the plan in Zoning Committee for what he said were glaring transparency issues over fund allocation, told Aldertrack ahead of yesterday’s full City Council meeting the alderman planned to use parliamentary procedure to block a vote for another month. On Tuesday, during the committee hearing on the plan, Ald. Reilly had a heated exchange with Commissioner Reifman and accused him of designing a “slush” fund with limited Council control.

Aldertrack also overheard Commissioner Reifman yesterday in the doorway to the chambers urging Ald. David Moore (17), another alderman who voted against the plan in committee, not to block the ordinance. Reifman told the Englewood alderman not to defer and publish, and said the bonus would be good for his neighborhood.

Making the entire event even stranger, when the Council’s committee chairmen reported out ordinances for the full body to approve, Zoning Chairman Danny Soliswent first. He only brought up the Mayor’s Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus for consideration, then yielded the floor. Usually Finance Chairman Ed Burke (14) reports out his ordinances first.

Chairman Solis asked for a roll call vote on the Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus. And as the Deputy Clerk Carina Sanchez began the roll in rapid fire, before aldermen could move to their seats to vote, Steve Patton, the head of the city’s Law Department audibly called to her to slow down from his spot on the dais. “No, no, no, this is a real vote,” Patton could be heard on mic telling her, “explain to her this is a real vote.”

Once the roll call vote began again, and aldermen moved back to their seats, the measure passed 45-2. Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) joined Ald. Reilly in voting no, while Ald. Moore switched his vote to the affirmative.

Once the item passed, the meeting returned to the regular order of business with Finance Chairman Burke’s Committee reports, which included the sale of $600 million in general obligation bonds and $3.2 million in police-related settlements. Both passed unanimously without discussion, although Ald. Rod Sawyer (6) and Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) abstained from voting on the bonds under provisions of Rule 14.

A plan to make leaving pet waste on private property a finable offense didn’t make it out of Council yesterday. Four aldermen, Leslie Hairston (5), Brendan Reilly (42), Nick Sposato (38), and Raymond Lopez (15), deferred and published the measure. That plan from Mayor Emanuel and Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) was originally introduced, Rosa said, because there is no law on the books allowing residents to complain about pet waste piling up in their neighbor’s yard.

“I don’t think citizens should be expected to be on poop watch 24-7,” Ald. Hairston told Aldertrack after she delayed the vote. Even though the ordinance provides that homeowners would be warned before getting hit with a fine of up to $500, Ald. Hairston said the regulations could use some fine-tuning so homeowners don’t get hit with a fine when someone else’s dog defecates on their lawn. “The fine doesn’t go to the dogs that are pooping, the fine goes to the person whose lawn they’re pooping on,” she added.

Introductions (Highlights)

• New City Comptroller - Erin Keane, the First Deputy Comptroller, will replace the city’s current Comptroller, Dan Widawsky, who has held the position since January 2014 and is stepping down from the job to “pursue other professional endeavors,” according to a press release from the Mayor’s Office. Keane’s appointment is subject to City Council approval, although she has been serving as the acting Comptroller since May 1st. In her prior capacity as first deputy, Keane oversaw day to day operations within the city’s Finance Department. Pending her appointment, the administration’s financial team will be all-female, as she will be working closely with Budget Director Alex Holt and Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown.

• Three Non-binding Ballot Referenda -  One proposed ballot referendum from Mayor Emanuel would ask Chicago voters who go to the polls this November whether the state should strengthen penalties for illegal trafficking of firearms and require background checks for gun dealers and their employees. Another proposed referendum from Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) would ask voters if an elected Independent Airport Authority should govern Chicago’s two airports, O’Hare and Midway. The airport referendum was drafted in consultation with SEIU, which represents airport workers, and has 27 signatures so far. The third referendum, introduced by newly appointed Education Chair Howard Brookins, Jr. (20), would simply ask voters: Should the State of Illinois provide full and equitable funding for Chicago Public Schools? State law limits the number of ballot referendums to three per jurisdiction. You can check out the schedule for submitting ballot referenda here (starting on page 23). All three ballot resolutions were forwarded to the Council’s Rules Committee.

• Easing Spray Paint Restrictions - Ald. Burke and Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) want to lift a city ban on retailers selling spray paint, while increasing penalties on people found using the paint to deface buildings. Ald. Buke and O’Shea introduced an ordinance at yesterday’s City Council meeting that would let retailers sell the spray paint to consumers who are 18 or older. Under the plan, retailers would be allowed to only sell spray paint, broad-tipped markers and etching equipment if those items are behind a restricted area not available to the general public. Stores would also have to publicly display warnings that state, “Vandalism is against the law and punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and incarceration for a term of up to 30 days.” As for the fines, minors found in possession of the paint would face fines of up to $500 per offense and be required to perform community service. Those over 18-years of age found in violation of the ordinance, which includes buying the paint or other “graffiti implements”, would face fines of up to $1,500 for each offense.

• Anti-Discrimination in Public Restrooms - Likely a response to the national attention over transgender rights in public restrooms, Mayor Emanuel and City Council’s recently-formed LGBT Caucus introduced an ordinance that would amend the municipal code concerning discriminatory practices in public restrooms. It amends the definition of “sex” to include “both biological category and gender identity” and states that “Each person determines his or her own gender identity; no proof shall be required except his or her expression of his or her gender.” The measure follows new guidelines recently issued by Chicago Public Schools.

• Hopkins Wants Finkl Steel Redevelopment Money for Local Development - Citing constant gridlock, poorly paved roads and limited river access in his ward, Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) introduced a plan that would commit 90% of the fees, funds and tax increment financing generated from the redevelopment of the Clybourn Planned Manufacturing District for local street and public transit improvements. DPD has yet to formally announce how and when it plans to decommission some of the city’s PMDs, which are large swaths of industrial areas protected by strict zoning rules that were put in place decades ago to protect manufacturing jobs in the city. But Hopkins wants to get ahead of the curve. During yesterday’s City Council meeting, Hopkins was speaking at the City Club about his vision for the Clybourn Corridor. “Public money that is generated by this private development should be used to establish public infrastructure to create open space and connective areas that can be accessed by the public.” He floated the idea of building new roads to connect to the portion of Armitage Avenue the city vacated for Finkl Steel, better access to the Kennedy Expressway, and a new bridge to ease gridlock. (Hopkins’ Full Speech)

The Council’s Housing Committee approved all items on yesterday’s agenda, including an affordable housing advocate’s move from the Chicago Plan Commission to the Low Income Housing Trust Fund Board, $1 lease agreements with three healthcare providers, and an $810,000 land sale in the “hot market” in the 27th Ward.

Attendance: Chairman Joe Moore (49), Vice Chair Gregory Mitchell (7), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Leslie Hairston (5), Michelle Harris (8), Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), George Cardenas (12), Walter Burnett (27), Ariel Reboyras (30), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Tom Tunney (44), James Cappleman (46)

The top of the meeting was dominated with talk of affordable housing, and aldermen declaring their sorrow at the departure of Juan Linares, the Executive Director of LUCHA, from the Plan Commission after serving less than a year to move to the Trust Fund Board. Ald. Walter Burnett (27) wondered aloud whether Linares could serve on both boards, and thanked him for his vocal affordable housing advocacy on the Commission.

Linares often pressed developers about their plans for on-site affordable housing, which some other commission members reminded him was not part of their purview. As one of fifteen members on the Low Income Housing Trust Fund Board, Linares would decide whether buildings receive rental subsidies or interest-free forgivable loans to create more units for very low-income individuals or families.

Lease agreements for three city-owned clinics, in Lakeview, Englewood, and Pilsen, were approved by the committee. The city will lease those clinics until 2022 for $1 each. 6,400-square feet at the Lower West Side Health Clinic would be leased to the University of Illinois to deliver primary care, maternal health, and preventative medical services, according to the ordinance. Ald. Walter Burnett (27), whose ward borders the clinic’s home in the 25th, told fellow members, “whatever we can do to help this economic engine continue, I support.”

Ald. Tom Tunney (44) voiced support for lease of roughly 14,000-square-feet of clinical office space in the Lakeview Neighborhood Health Clinic to The Thresholdsfor mental health and substance abuse services, group therapy, and wellness classes. “This is an area that needs public health services. The ability to reinforce the city’s commitment to public health, plus the wraparound services, is really instrumental to my neighborhood,” Tunney said. He plans to use some of his menu money to upgrade the building’s facade.

Just one person testified on the third clinic up for committee approval: Marc Loveless, an LGBT civil rights and social justice organizer. He said Howard Brown, which would lease space at the  Englewood Neighborhood Health Clinic, is a North Side organization with a multi-million dollar budget. He said the city should have reached out to smaller grassroots organizations made up of constituencies still greatly impacted by HIV in the city: gay black men. “There is no agency that is led by African American LGBT men on the South or West Side. All of them have been cannibalized and re-contracted out by the major North Side organizations.” Ald. Burnett suggested Loveless not “player hate” against Howard Brown, and suggested Loveless speak with the chairs of the Black and Latino caucuses about his issues.

Ald. George Cardenas (12) questioned what he described as an “unusual” item, the $810,000 sale of a city-owned plot in the Kinzie PMD in the 27th Ward. The buyer, Peppercorn Capital LLC, offered $400,000 above the appraised value of the site. “Anything else we’re missing here?”  

Mary Benone, a representative with the Department of Planning and Development, responded, “This is good industrial property in the Kinzie industrial PMD,” which she described as a hot market, and the city decided to go with the highest bid. The administration submitted a substitute ordinance withholding the closing of sale, putting the money in escrow “until the grantee is ready to commence construction,” DPD’s Efrain Hernandez Diaz said.   

“We’re encouraging them to move with all deliberate speed to get the deal done,” Chairman Moore said.

The Council’s Budget Committee approved the appointment of Barrett Murphy as the city’s new Water Commissioner, spending most of his confirmation hearing inquiring about the city’s efforts to mitigate flooding and check the city’s older water pipes for lead.

Attendance: Chairman Carrie Austin (34), Brian Hopkins (2), Rod Sawyer (6), Michelle Harris (8), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), Derrick Curtis (18), Willie Cochran (20), Walter Burnett (27), Jason Ervin (28), Milly Santiago (31), Scott Waguespack (32), Gilbert Villegas (36), Nick Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44), Deb Silverstein (50)

Murphy told aldermen there has been a surge in the request for lead tests since the crisis in Flint, Michigan. The number of service requests is so high that the Water Department is sending out kits for homeowners to check their own pipes, he said.

Asked about the equity in testing, if some neighborhoods were being checked more frequently than others, Murphy said no. He later added that the department found no correlation between older buildings and higher risks for lead. He also said that Chicago Public Schools, not the the city’s Water Department, have been conducting tests at the city’s schools.

The committee also approved, without discussion, the appointment of Patricia G. Perez to the Chicago Public Library Board. Perez is the former Executive Director of law firm Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, and served as Director of Administration at several other large Chicago law firms.

An intergovernmental agreement with the Cook County Sheriff’s office and the city advanced out of committee, as well. It would trade use of two city-owned backhoes and a wood chipper for the County’s Restoring Neighborhoods Workforce Program (RENEW) in exchange for use of Cook County Jail inmates to serve as Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program (SWAP).

After about two hours of debate and public testimony, the City Council’s Zoning Committee approved an amended version of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to overhaul a development tool that lets developers add square footage to buildings in the city’s downtown area, by linking fees collected for those increases to investments in some of the city’s most economically underserved neighborhoods.

• $600 million in general obligation bonds: $100 million of taxable debt will help with the cost of legal settlements expected to be paid out in 2016 and 2017, $150.5 million of tax-exempt debt for “E-Note” or equipment purchases in 2016 and 2017, and $237.2M of tax-exempt debt for capital spending in 2016 and 2017. While the total comes to $487.7M, the remaining portion of the $600M authorization is to cover the cost of borrowing and issuance fees.

• $3.2 million in police-related settlements: The larger of two payouts, $2.2 million, will go to the family of Emmanuel Lopez, a 23-year old fatally shot by police officers during a car chase in September 2005. And a $1 million payout to the family of Ryan Rogers, fatally shot by Chicago police in suburban East Hazel Crest in March 2013 during an undercover operation targeting stolen cell phones.

• Mayor’s new Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus which would revamp the entire density bonus system and create a new fund that would support development projects in some of the city’s most underserved neighborhoods (details are below in the Zoning Committee story).

• A requirement that the head of the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) appear before the Finance Committee when police-related settlements are up for consideration. Chairman Burke said “if and when there is a successor agency”, the ordinance would be amended to include the new agency head. Mayor Emanuel recently announced he would move to replace IPRA.

• A requirement that the Police Superintendent refer all cases involving the death of a suspect in custody to the Cook County State’s Attorney's Office. The ordinance would codify into law what the police directive already mandates.

• A so-called “Debt Transaction Accountability Ordinance” from the council’s Progressive Caucus that would require a “more rigorous evaluation and more meaningful public scrutiny” of the city’s future debt offerings.

• A proposal from Mayor Emanuel banning those under 18 from using tanning salons, allow anyone 18 and up to get tattoos, and require those under 18 who would like to get a lip or tongue piercing to have a parent sign an official form issued by Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita.

• A proposal from Mayor Emanuel, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) and others that would make leaving pet waste on your own private property a fineable offense.

• Two introductions from the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH): one clarifying city code on low-risk restaurants that issue self-inspections for food safety. The other, part of the city’s Healthy Chicago 2.0 initiative, calls for policymakers to apply a health lens to all law making, and creates a cross-department task force to examine how the city can address short, medium, and long term recommendations for changes to policies, practices, and procedures to improve community health.

• The appointment of Juan Linares to the 15-member Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund Board. Linares is the Executive Director of LUCHA, a Northwest Side organization that focuses on affordable housing. He briefly served on the city’s Plan Commission

• The appointment of Lucino Sotelo, a Chief Marketing Officer at BMO Harris Bank, to the city’s Plan Commission, to replace Linares.

• The appointment of Barrett Murphy to serve as the city’s Water Commissioner.

• The appointment of Patricia G. Perez to the Chicago Public Library Board. Perez is the former Executive Director of law firm Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, and served as Director of Administration at several other large Chicago law firms.

• The sale of the former Leland Elementary School.

• An intergovernmental agreement with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office to trade use of two city-owned backhoes and a wood chipper for the County’s Restoring Neighborhoods Workforce Program (RENEW) in exchange for use of Cook County Jail inmates to serve as Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program (SWAP)

The only conclusion reached by audience members and aldermen at the end of last night's joint meeting of License and Housing Committees on Airbnb regulations was that the ordinance wasn't up to snuff. The meeting wrapped after five hours, with co-chairs Joe Moore (49) and Emma Mitts (37) announcing members would recess at 9:00 a.m. today.

“I have no expectations,” Ald. Michele Smith (43) said of this morning's meeting. She'd voiced some of the strongest opposition to the Mayor's most recent proposal, which she said left a giant loophole for property investors to take advantage of.

Attendance: Chairmen Emma Mitts (37), Joe Moore (49), Proco Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Leslie Hairston (5), Roderick Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), George Cardenas (12), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Derrick Curtis (18), Matt O'Shea (19), Willie B. Cochran (20), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett, Jr. (27), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Carrie Austin (34), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47)

Few, from Airbnb hosts and advocates, aldermen on the North Side and near downtown, or hotel and apartment interests, made full-throated endorsements of the Mayor’s proposal. The day was marked with disagreement over Airbnb’s compliance with local laws in Chicago and other big cities, BACP enforcement capacity, and aldermanic control over licensing.

Download Mayor’s proposed ordinance.

The meeting got off to an inauspicious start. It was a half hour delayed by regular committee meetings. The hearing site, Room 201A, was already full, with hundreds waiting in the 2nd floor lobby to testify, many wearing peach or teal colored Airbnb shirts. License Committee Chair Emma Mitts then called for the hearing to move to Council Chambers, which was already occupied by the Zoning Committee and only on its first item. She ended up recessing until 1:30 p.m., and swapping rooms with the Zoning Committee. The ordinance under consideration was the fourth version the Mayor’s office proposed, and was given to aldermen a mere 90 minutes before the hearing began. They had been briefed on a different version only 24 hours prior.

The 53-page substitute included changes that capped the number of home-share units in high-rises to six units or 25% of the total units, whichever is less. In two-, three-, and four-flats, only one unit in the building could be put up for rent on home-share platforms (but only if that unit is the primary residence). Those who rent out more than one unit would have to get an operator’s license and have the homes inspected by the city. Single family homes could not be rented out for more than 120 days each year.

“It feels a little bit like we’re building the car while we’re driving it,” Ald. John Arena(45) said of the changes.

The “huge loophole” change Smith opposed was described by Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Maria Guerra Lapacek as giving homeowners more “flexibility”, and was borne out of requests from other aldermen. It would create an administrative review process (called “adjustments” in the ordinance) for hosts who would like to rent out additional units. After the meeting wrapped, Smith told Aldertrack that investors with multiple properties could easily abuse the system. “That really eviscerates the ordinance, giving away our residential streets for even less money than we gave away the parking meters.” Ald. Tom Tunney (44) called the adjustments a “quagmire” that would force aldermen to court to fight extra rentals.

Smith told the joint committee that to ward off the further proliferation of rentals, she'd like to see Airbnb subject to the same regulations currently imposed on nail salons and barber shops. Applicants must apply for special use permits and face review from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

“I think everybody agrees there needs to be regulation. What we basically want is for the proposed ordinance to be delayed so that it can be written responsibly,” one testifier, Sandra Madsen, said nearly four hours into the hearing. The entire audience, made up of both Airbnb renters and Airbnb proliferation opponents, applauded. Madsen said she didn’t want the ordinance to be “rushed through and unenforceable.”

Others testifying said the process was opaque and that there were too many questions left unanswered by city and Airbnb. Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) and Brendan Reilly (42) expressed doubt Airbnb would adhere to stricter regulations, or that BACP could enforce them.  

Reilly initially complimented BACP on adjustments to the Mayor’s first proposals from January, and on enforcing regulations on bad apple hosts, but said that work was undone by the substitute.

“With your help we were able to crack down on some illegal renters,” Ald. Reilly said to Commissioner Lapacek, but “it was a major resource strain, not only on your department but on the Chicago Police Department as well.” He said it would be difficult to apply that effort to other violations with the $160,000 appropriation BACP would get from extra fees on rentals. Lapacek said it would be enough for “at least two staff.”

“I don’t blame you for lack of resources,” Reilly continued. “The mayor spends $10 million enforcing ordinances they have on the books and they’re still losing the battle. This is not a criticism of you, but I’m very concerned. The ordinance is only as good as the enforcement behind it.”  

Ald. Pat Dowell (3) voiced similar concerns, and asked how long it typically took BACP to rescind a license. Lapacek said “It could take, 8 months, a year.”

“When it comes to Airbnb and problems in the neighborhood, we need an immediate response, and I’m not feeling that we’re going to get that with just 8% of $2 million earmarked,” Dowell said.

“Everything you could do is not enough,” Ald. Hopkins said of BACP’s enforcement capacity. He, like Smith, mentioned rules governing barber shops and nail salons. “You’re overwhelmed by the scope of this problem, as are we.”

Reilly and Smith both criticized Airbnb for not shutting down the accounts of bad actors in other major cities, or for opening data up for examination.

Airbnb advocates, not speaking to specifics of the Mayor’s proposal, lauded the financial and tourism benefits of the service, and agreed bad actors–like those who allowed 20 or 28 guests in a single apartment near Wrigley Field, or guests who disturb neighbors with loud parties–should be kicked off the platform. One issue most agreed on, they were in favor of more funding for programs to address homelessness, funded by an added 4% surcharge on bookings.

“We both want to support homelessness program, we both want to promote tourism, we want to craft regulations that distinguish between the use of one’s home and commercial activity,” Jillian Irvin, Airbnb’s Director of Public Policy testified, but opposed the Mayor’s substitute ordinance. “Airbnb does want to be regulated, but we cannot support regressive regulations that will cost middle class Chicagoans millions in extra income.” She said listings have saved more than 900 Chicago renters from eviction, and hosting is growing fastest on the South Side.

As Chairman Moore worked through a thick stack of pink slips, alternating between proponents and opponents of the Mayor’s ordinance, one audience member yelled, “I mean, what time does this end?” Some aldermen left the meeting at about 5:00pm, anticipating a recess.

“I have been a little concerned that maybe we’re talking to ourselves,” one Airbnb host testified. Aldermen, including Chairman Moore, Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), and James Cappleman (46) perked up, and said they were. “Are you sure? Really? Commissioner?” she said to Lapacek, who had been talking to Ald. Sadlowski Garza. “The last two speeches were completely lost on you. You were talking through the whole thing.” Lapacek, visibly annoyed, said something about testimony being “very compelling,” and returned to the box where other administration officials sat.   

Other members of the Mayor’s office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Lapacek could be seen lobbying some of the day’s most vocal opponents, including Aldermen Smith and Reilly, on the floor until the meeting wrapped.

“I’m sure there’s going to be some changes made,” Ald. Mitts said, but didn't hint at whether she believed another substitute would be introduced this morning, or whether the issue might be tabled until some kind of middle ground could be reached.

Following recent high-profile incidents between Chicago Police Officers and people suffering from mental illness, Finance Chairman Ed Burke (14) wants to establish a special unit within the police department that would help train and support officers to be better equipped in handling these types of situations.

At yesterday’s Finance Committee, Chairman Burke directly introduced an ordinance that would establish a “Mental Health Critical Response Unit.” According to the ordinance, the unit “shall be responsible for mental health crisis response functions, Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, community outreach and engagement, cross-agency coordination, and data collection.”

The plan was directly pulled from the recent Police Accountability Task Force recommendations released in April, which called for the creation of a unit within CPD to be “responsible for mental health crisis response functions, training, support, community outreach and engagement, cross-agency coordination and data collection.”

Ald. Willie Cochran (20), a former police officer, co-sponsored the ordinance. “The task force has introduced it. We have already known it. And I think that it is a responsible response...to make this mental health critical response unit a reality and take the first steps in addressing this situation that we know is so critical in our community.”

The unit would consist of at least eight full-time police officers, two mental health service providers, the police department’s critical response unit, and a full-time data analyst “who shall evaluate all aspects of crisis intervention training, personnel needs, community feedback, mental health-related dispatched calls for service from [OEMC]”.

In addition to having the authority to develop a crisis response system for responding to repeat mental health-related incidents, the unit would be required to transmit a daily assignment roster to OEMC identifying officers who are CIT trained.

To make sure the unit doesn’t follow the same fate as previous, underutilized CIT programs within CPD, the ordinance would require that the police superintendent provide quarterly progress reports to the City Council detailing the number of CIT trained officers and the district they serve, which districts have the highest concentration of mental-health related calls, and the number of CIT-trained officers who responded to those calls.

Since Chairman Burke directly introduced the ordinance into committee, there was no action taken.

Other Police Related Items Passed By Finance Committee Yesterday

• IPRA Officials Required To Attend Finance Committee Meetings - Prior to Mayor Emanuel’s announcement that he would be dissolving the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency that handles cases of police misconduct, Chairman Burke drafted and introduced an ordinance that would require that IPRA officials attend any Finance Committee meeting that has a legal settlement against a police officer on the agenda.
  
  He introduced the ordinance so that IPRA could be present to directly answer questions about pending investigations of officers involved in the settlements. In past meetings, those inquiries had to be submitted through the chair, because the city’s Law Department didn’t have specifics. At yesterday’s meeting, Ald. Jason Ervin (28) asked if the ordinance would be amended to mandate that officials with whatever agency replaces IPRA be present at future meetings. Burke said that “if and when there is a successor agency” the ordinance could be amended. The ordinance passed by voice vote.

• Another police-related ordinance on the Finance agenda from Chairman Burke would require the Police Superintendent to refer all cases involving the death of a suspect in custody to the Cook County State’s Attorney's Office. The ordinance would codify into law what the police directive already mandates, Burke said yesterday.
  
  According to the ordinance, an “officer involved-death” includes any death that results directly from “an action or directly from an intentional omission, including unreasonable delay involving a person in custody or intentional failure to seek medical attention when the need for treatment is apparent.” Any police-involved death that occurs while an officer is off duty would fall under this rule, as well, if that officer was “performing activities that are within the scope of his or her law enforcement duties.” The ordinance would take effect upon passage.

The City Council’s Finance Committee approved a $600 million dollar bond offering yesterday to help fund the city’s capital program over the the next two years, but the city amended the maximum allowable interest rate on the general obligation bonds from 18% to 10% at the request of one Progressive Caucus alderman. The Committee also approved a slew of police-related items, and Chairman Burke directly introduced an ordinance establishing a new mental health unit within the police department that he modeled after one of the recommendations on the recently-published Police Accountability Task Force report.

Aldermen Present: Chairman Ed Burke (14), Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Rod Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), Anthony Beale (9), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), George Cardenas (12), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Derrick Curtis (18), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Mike Zalewski (23), Danny Solis (25), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett (27), Jason Ervin (28), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Emma Mitts (33), Carrie Austin (34), Gilbert Villegas (36), Nick Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Pat O’Connor (40), Brendan Reilly (42), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44) John Arena (45), Harry Osterman (48), Deb Silverstein (50)

The change on the interest rate cap was made at the request of Ald. John Arena(45) who mid-meeting, asked a representative from the city’s Law Department, James McDonald, if it was possible for the city to reduce the rate. Since the interest rate ceiling is set by the city, not the state, it’s allowed to issue whatever interest rate cap it wants through the authorizing ordinance, McDonald said. So Finance Chairman Ed Burke (14) asked that the ordinance be amended to reflect the new lowered interest rate before the committee approved the bonds by voice vote. Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) and Ald. Rod Sawyer (6) invoked Rule 14 and abstained from voting.

Goldman Sachs will oversee the sale of the general obligation bonds. Most of the money raised will help fund the city’s capital program for 2016 and 2017. No new big infrastructure projects are planned. Instead, the proceeds will help pay for the backlog of repairs to city-owned buildings. According to city Budget Director Alex Holt, money raised through the offering will be paid out on a “worst first” basis, meaning basic capital repairs to roofs, boilers and other smaller maintenance issues to existing buildings will receive priority.

Funding will also go toward other basic capital repairs including sidewalks, bridges, firefighter bunker gear, new ambulances and police cars, and the 2017 Aldermanic Menu program, which gives each alderman roughly $1 million a year to spend on local infrastructure projects. This year’s menu program was paid for by a previous bond offering backed by the city’s sales tax revenue. That offering was approved in January.

The GO bonds will raise a total of $100 million to help fund settlements and judgements for 2016 and 2017. A portion of the $50 million budgeted for 2016 will be used to cover any potential cost overruns from settlements and judgements in 2015. But Holt said she expects that amount to be “well south of $50 million.”

For at least the past three years, the city has under-budgeted settlement amounts and used borrowed money to make up the difference. It was an issue Ald. Arena brought up in yesterday’s meeting. “Is the ultimate goal, and is it reasonable, to get to a place where we are not bonding for settlements anymore? Is that a financial policy that we are trying to get to?” Arena asked.

In 2012, the city budgeted $28 million for settlements, Holt said, but spent $80 million from the operating budget, in addition to $112 million in borrowed money. In 2013, the city budgeted $27 million for settlements, but spent $66 million worth of operating funds and borrowed $137 million to cover the rest of the tab. The same happened in 2014. Even after the city increased that year’s settlement appropriation to $32 million, the city spent $51 million of its operating budget on settlements and used $58 million worth of borrowed money to cover the rest.

Holt said the city has made a “real attempt” at moving routine settlements and judgements off the bonded money and back on to the operating budget. She added that the higher than normal settlement payouts in the previous years were due in part to several cases that had been building up for years, including an expensive discriminatory hiring case brought against the city’s Fire Department.

“With a city this large, we are always going to have routine settlements and judgements. We’d like to get to a point where those are fully well incorporated within the operating budget,” Holt explained.

“I suspect there will always be some extraordinary settlements and judgements in some matter,” she added. “We may resort at some point in time to bonding for those because...of their size. But we would expect that to be the exception and not the rule.”

Holt said the city hopes to phase out the practice by 2019.

Financial Transparency Ordinance

Shortly after aldermen approved the bond issuance, the committee approved an ordinance that would provide more oversight of future borrowing plans. The so-called Debt Transaction Accountability Ordinance was drafted by the Progressive Caucus in collaboration with the city Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown. In her testimony, Brown said the ordinance would provide more opportunities for debate prior to future bond offerings without “unduly inhibiting” the city’s ability to handle its finances.

$3.2M in Police Settlements

At the tail end of the meeting, aldermen approved $3.2M in legal settlements involving officer involved fatal shootings.

The larger payout, $2.2 million, will go to the family of Emmanuel Lopez, a 23-year-old who was fatally shot by police officers during a car chase in September 2005. According to testimony from the Law Department’s Jane Notz, four officers fired 42 shots. 16 of those shots hit Lopez and all but two of those bullets hit him in the back of his head or back.

Notz said the case was pending for close to a decade because the family had refused to lower its original demand of $18 million until last year. If the case had gone to trial, Notz said, the city would have argued that Lopez was driving while intoxicated and the suspect of a hit and run when he was fatally shot. He hit an off-duty police officer who had allegedly drank two beers before the incident occurred. She said if the case had gone to trial, the family would have argued the department fabricated the tire marks on the officer’s pants and that there was no reasonable suspicion to prompt the shooting. The IPRA investigation is pending. No officers involved have been reprimanded, she said.

The second settlement aldermen approved is a $1 million payout to the family of Ryan Rogers, who was fatally shot by police in suburban East Hazel Crest during an undercover operation of stolen cell phones.

According to Notz, in March 2013, the Chicago Police Department was working with FBI and law enforcement officials in the northwest suburbs when two CPD officers in an unmarked vehicle tracked a car believing it had duffle bags filled with stolen cell phones. Rogers, who was driving the car with two passengers, believed the plainclothes officers were attempting to rob them, according to his girlfriend, a passenger.

The officers opened fire fearing Rogers was going to run them over, Notz said. Rogers’ family had originally demanded $2.5 million. If the lawsuit had advanced to trial, it would have rested on whether the jury believed the officers who shot Rogers had reasonable fear for their lives. The plaintiffs would have argued that the officers did not properly identify themselves as law enforcement officials, Notz said.