The Chicago Plan Commission will take up two development proposals today for the old Malcolm X College campus on the Near West Side.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel first announced the nearly $500 million investment for the City College’s old campus over the summer, and now that the new Malcolm X campus is up and running–the ribbon cutting was earlier this month–redevelopment plans for the old campus are ready for official review.

The Chicago Blackhawks want to establish a planned development to build a two-story hockey facility on four acres of land at the southwest corner of West Jackson Boulevard and South Wood Street. According to the application the team filed with the City, two regulation-sized ice rinks would be built, one to be used by the team, the other for the public. Each rink will have adjacent locker rooms and space for 300 spectators. The Wirtz Corporation will help with the development, and the company will work with the team’s charity arm to provide free hockey and off-ice development programs for local youth, the application notes.

The other application, from Rush University Medical Center, seeks an institutional planned development to build an academic campus with five multi-story buildings. Each building would be about 350,000-square-feet and all but one of those buildings would be used for educational, office, and conference space. The remaining building would be reserved for student housing. According to the application the school filed with the city, the project is expected to be constructed in phases over six years.

The City Council has already approved the land transfer from City Colleges of Chicago to the City’s Department of Planning and Development, in addition to approving a multi-million dollar intergovernmental agreement with the city’s Public Building Commission to demolish the existing school building, but the City has yet to sell parcels to either Rush or the Blackhawks.

JDL Development’s "Maryville Project” is also up for review today. Their application, filed under Montrose Clarendon Partners, LLC, requests an amendment to an existing planned development (No. 138) to build two new high-rise luxury condo buildings and one single-story retail structure in the city’s Uptown neighborhood (46th Ward) on the site of the former Maryville Children’s Healthcare Center.

Earlier this month, the Community Development Commission approved the developer's request for TIF assistance for the $125 million project. If and when the application advances to and is approved by the Council, approximately $15.8 million from the Montrose/Clarendon TIF, about 13% of the total project cost, would be made available.

The project is adjacent to Clarendon Park and would replace two buildings that were once part of Cuneo Hospital. Both structures have been vacant since 2005 and are in a “substantially deteriorated condition,” according to the CDC report. One of the buildings to be located at the northwest corner of West Montrose and North Clarendon Avenues would consist of 381 residential units, 30,000sq ft of commercial space, and 278 parking spaces.

The other high-rise building to be located at the northwest corner of West Agatite and North Clarendon would have 250 residential units and 160 parking spaces. The single-story, 6,000-square-foot retail building would be located across the street from the first building at the northeast corner. Only 20 units, or 5% of the total planned units, will be made affordable. City code requires 20%.

Another application, from Clark 800, LLC, seeks to an amend an existing planned development to build a 230-unit residential building at a site directly north of Bush Temple, a Chicago Landmark.

The Plan Commission will also take up an application from King Sykes to construct a three-story medical office building and accessory parking lot on the 2500 Block of South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in the 4th Ward.

When considering the proposal to push Chicago Public Schools into receivership put forth by Illinois GOP legislative leaders yesterday morning, only one thing matters: The Illinois Senate President and Illinois House Speaker, both Democrats, control whether or not the bill will get to a vote.

According to a tweet from Reuters’ Dave McKinney, Senate President John Cullerton said of the proposal, “Not going to happen. It’s mean spirited and evidence of their total lack of knowledge of," CPS' problems.

So the proposal, which would place CPS under control of a state oversight board, is dead on arrival. Meaning, a continuation of the status quo.

However, yesterday’s GOP legislative leaders’ proposal did make clear one thing: Chicago Public Schools’ financial crisis is no longer something state leadership is interested in solving any time soon. It is a political chit to be used in the larger battle: resolving the CPS financial crisis through Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda, which includes eliminating collective bargaining by government employees, including teachers.

When asked during yesterday’s press conference if the state oversight board proposal was linked to Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda, GOP Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno said, “Yes, it’s about helping the city and state, both.”

Considering that the CPS financial crisis impacts educating children in the City of Chicago, a basic government service, a statement by Radogno that the problem is somehow linked to state problems is perplexing. It can only be understood as a political statement.

The reasons for why CPS is funded partly by the state, and requires state funding to move forward every year, is complex and better explained at length elsewhere. But everyone of every political shade agrees: The system for funding schools in Chicago and Illinois is broken.

Yet, while CPS is experiencing a fiscal problem, Illinois is experiencing a political problem: No one group has enough political power to push through their solution for fixing CPS’ short-term and long-term funding solution. And so we are stuck with a status quo.

As Aldertrack’s Claudia Morell detailed Tuesday, next week’s CPS bond issue, while likely to be priced at usurious rates, will provide the school system with enough cash to get through to mid-February, when property tax revenue begins to be transferred from the Cook County Treasurer. After that, CPS will have enough cash on hand to muddle through to the end of the school year. Then, until classes begin in September, the school system’s cash needs are significantly lower.

Without state help, CPS has few options to solve its long-term financial problem. Its ability to raise property taxes is severely limited by a state cap.

One potential solution: CPS could get money from Chicago.

City Council members are pushing for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to declare a TIF surplus, an amount that is also under dispute. A Mayoral Budget Office spokesperson yesterday estimated this year’s surplus at around $90 million, while TIF surplus proponents are saying it’s closer to $400 million, maybe more than $700 million. A declared surplus would be divvied up by the same formula as property taxes in the city, so CPS would get $45 million 50% of that windfall. CPS needs close to $500 million to close their budget gap this year.

The City of Chicago could also directly transfer funds to CPS. While there are plenty of reasons this would be bad policy–the City of Chicago and CPS are two different entities, and therefore CPS should have to stand on its own–Chicago has home rule and the ability to raise as much taxes as it wants. Technically, Chicago could just raise property taxes and funnel the money to CPS, which is a suburban Republican’s dream: Make Chicago pay for everything on its own.

But last week Chicago CFO Carole Brown threw cold water on both of those possibilities when she told reporters, “The city has no plans to directly, financially assist CPS.”

So the problem is ultimately political, putting everything on the ballot booth for state legislators. The first test will be with the March 15 Democratic Primaries, when State Rep. Ken Dunkin will fight for his political life against challenger Juliana Stratton. Dunkin, you may recall, is a lynchpin vote for the Illinois House Democrats. With him, Democrats have a veto-proof majority (Senate Democrats also have one, but with less drama). Without Dunkin voting with Democrats, Gov. Rauner’s plans are potentially viable.

We’re told by sources that SEIU Illinois and the United Working Families labor umbrella group are going all out to defeat Dunkin this March. Meanwhile word on the street is that Dunkin’s original political sponsor, Secretary of State Jesse White, has abandoned him. Rauner and the pro-Rauner PAC Illinois GO could still jump in, but outside support doesn’t usually hit until the last three weeks before Election Day.

Then, in November we’ll likely see a battle royale for control of the Illinois legislature. Only about 30 House and Senate seats out of 158 will be seriously contested, but just two House seats and four Senate seats going Republican would break the Democratic veto-proof majority, giving Gov. Rauner and GOP leaders a fighting chance to pass at least some of their agenda.

So, November’s elections are what we’re really waiting for. That’s what Leader Christine Radogno was really saying in yesterday’s press conference.

Until then, Chicago Public Schools should expect to mire in a financial mess.

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Chicago would no longer be required to have a security guard present 24 hours a day, seven days a week, under a technical amendment the City Council’s Zoning Committee approved.

Members (10/17): Chairman Danny Solis (25), Vice Chairman Cappleman (46), Ed Burke (14), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Walter Burnett (27), Deb Mell (33), Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44), Ameya Pawar (47).

The committee advanced the amendment sponsored by Ald. Ed Burke (14) and Willie Cochran (20) despite objections from Ald. Tom Tunney (44), the sole “no” vote in committee. He was banking on an overnight security guard at a recently approved dispensary in his Lakeview ward, and said it was too early in the game to start changing the rules.

“I have spent a lot of time on this issue with my community,” Ald. Tunney told his colleagues that having perimeter security at the dispensary near Wrigley Field was a critical issue for his residents and one of the main reasons he was able to get their support.

“So I would be a little bit reluctant to at this early point, to start changing the rules when these things haven’t really been up in operation,” he added.

Ald. Burke admitted to his colleagues that the original provision he championed through the council in 2014, which required a licensed security guard present at all times, was premature, saying those restrictions were put in place at a time when the “medical marijuana issue was bubbling to the surface.”

“The industry, as you might expect, has not been as successful as originally anticipated, and this would hopefully reduce some of the burden on the operators without interfering with what our intent originally was,” which was to have security, Burke said.

Tom Murphy, an attorney who worked with state lawmakers to get the medical cannabis pilot program through the state legislature, agreed. He said having a security guard present at all times is counterintuitive.

In order to even be considered for a license, Murphy said, operators had to agree to install perimeter alarms, failure notification systems, duress panic and holdup alarms, and video surveillance, including 24-hour recordings. Several operators went beyond those requirements by adding motion detectors, armored doors and vaults, and other technical surveillance equipment, he said.

“There’s concern that having [a security guard] locked in the premise once the premise is closed to the public, defeats the purpose of the high tech equipment, because the alarms would have to be turned off with someone moving around,” Murphy explained.

Burke, who had walked into the chambers mid-meeting to request that his ordinance be heard out of the regular order of business, left before the vote. “[The] lawyers for the industry can lobby anyone that doesn’t have their mind made up,” he said before walking out.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), who multiple times during the meeting claimed that the pilot program was designed to fail because of all the “ridiculous zoning provisions”, applauded the changes, saying,“I think this is appropriate, it will remove one more regulatory burden.”

The item was approved by voice vote, as were the following items:

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  3428-30 N. Elston Ave. (33rd Ward) - Ald. Deb Mell (33) got approval to downzone what she called, “an illegal body shop” at this location. Mell said she filed the application to rezone the property from a community shopping district (B3-2) to a residential, two-flat, townhouse district (RT3.5) after “getting a lot of complaints” from the community. (O2015-8546)

  
  


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  1244 W. Race Ave. (1st Ward) - The applicant Scott Kramer sought and got approval to rezone this property from a residential single-unit detached house district (RS3) to a multi-unit district (RM-5). According to his attorney, Thomas Moore, the zoning change was needed to “build anything on this [site].” Kramer wants to build a new 3-story, one family residential building with an attached two car garage. (O2015-8473)

  
  


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  1427 W Grand Ave; 1426 W. Ferdinand Ave. (1st Ward) - The applicant,EZMB, LLC, got approval to rezone the property from a limited manufacturing, business park district (M1-2) to a neighborhood mixed-use district to build a four-story buildings with four residential units and four parking spaces. (O2015-8488)

  
  


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  1331-41 W. Fullerton Ave. (2nd Ward)  - This is a commercial strip mall that has been in operation for the past 30 years, but, according to the applicant’s attorney,Tom Pikarski, a portion of the mall is zoned for residential use (RT4). Since commercial use is not allowed in an RT4 district, the property manager has had a hard time obtaining business licenses, Pikarski added, saying, “this will help to rectify an anomalous situation.” The only question on this application came from Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), who asked when the original residential zoning was put in place and how big of a portion of the mall is nonconforming. Pikarski wasn’t sure about the date, but said the commercial building on site has been there for 40 years. (O2015-8487)

  
  


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  5436-38 South Harper Ave. (5th Ward) - This is a five-unit residential building that was originally created as a six-unit building when two of the units were combined. The applicant and building owner, Jerome Ettinger, sought a rezone to return the building to its original six units. “This is a project that will provide additional housing to the community,” Ettinger’s attorney, Tom Pikarski, told the committee. No questions were asked, and the zoning change was approved. (02015-8483)

  
  


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  816-36 W. 38th Street/ 3755-3769 S. Lituanica Ave. (11th Ward) - This approved zoning change would help facilitate part of Lexington Homes’ proposed townhome community near Donovan Park in Bridgeport. The developer’s attorney, Barry Ash, said there’s currently a vacant building and lot on the land, which they plan to demolish to build eight-single family townhomes, each on a 26-foot wide lot with a two-car garage. Ash told the committee that local residents voiced support for the application at a recent community meeting, but Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) can’t approve the rezone, “because of the conflict that he has with the owner.” Thompson is not on the zoning committee, as Chairman Solis pointed out, but he will abstain from voting when it is brought up to the full council. Their request down zones the property from a manufacturing district (M1-2) to a residential district (RM4.5). (O2015-8480) The other Lexington Homes’ application, a request to rezone an adjacent parcel of land to build 21 townhomes, was deferred in committee. Ald. Thompson made a last minute request to defer when the item was brought up for consideration.

  
  


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  1546-1558 W. 35th St./3449-3459 S. Ashland Ave. (12th Ward) - AttorneyRichard Toth with Daley and Georges told the committee that building was once home to a currency exchange business that had a grandfathered business license to operate in a residential zoned building. But since that business finished up its lease, the property owner, Daniel Kravitz, wants to bring the property up to conformity to allow for new commercial uses. Other than some rehabilitation work on the inside, no substantial changes will be made to the 3,000-square-foot building and 29 parking spaces will be added, he said. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) said the number of parking spaces was unusually high for such a small building and asked what the planned use will be. Toth said Kravitz owns a line of consumer loan businesses and plans to add one there. There’s also a t-shirt making business renting out part of the building, he added. Local Ald. George Cardenas (12) provided a letter of support, but did not testify. The committee approved the rezone to a neighborhood commercial district (C1-1). (O2015-8478)

  
  


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  3914-3936 W. 111th St./ 11041-11059 S. Harding Ave. (19th Ward) - The applicant, 111th St. Storage LLC, sought and got approval to rezone a vacant one story building to build a two-story self storage facility. Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) said this is an $8 million investment in his community that will, “get rid of an eyesore.”

  
  


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  2332-2344 S. Princeton Ave; 301-307 W. 23rd Pl. (25th Ward) - The applicant,Shi Tan Zheng, got approval to rezone the subject property in order to build a 45,000 square-foot building that will include 12-office units and 24-residential units. According the applicant’s attorney, Mara Georges, two of those units will be affordable, as is required by the city’s zoning code. The project is in Chairman Solis’ ward, and he said there was “overwhelming” community support. (02015-8479)

  
  


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  2744 N. Southport Ave. (32nd Ward) - The committee approved Virage LLC’sapplication to downzone the subject property from a manufacturing district (M2-2) to a residential district (RT4). The zoning change was needed in order to demolish the existing building and build a new three-story, three-dwelling unit residential building. Plans include three parking spaces and no commercial uses.  (O2015-8474)

  
  


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  2611 N. Western Ave.; 2646 N. Jones St. (32nd Ward) - Red Cedar Partnersgot approval from the Zoning Committee to rezone a vacant lot so they can build an approximately 11,000-square-foot, two-story day care center with a rooftop playground and 8 parking spaces. The developers sought a downzone from a limited manufacturing district (M1-2) to a neighborhood commercial district (C1-3). (O2015-8477)

  
  


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  1023 W. Irving Park Road (46th Ward) -  The committee approved a zoning request to facilitate construction of a new four-story, five-unit residential building with five parking spaces. The application was filed by an LLC, and one of its members, Dan Popovich, was present but did not testify. His lawyer, Mark Kupiec, who spoke on his behalf said no commercial space is planned for the site, and the developer plans to demolish the existing building at the subject site. Ald. Cappleman said the community supports the project. (O2015-8475)

  
  


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  1465 W. Balmoral Ave (48th Ward) - The applicant, Shawn Joyce, got approval to slightly modify the zoning for the two-flat he owns on the site, so he can turn the second floor unit into a vacation rental. Dan Luna, Ald. Harry Osterman’schief of staff, testified in favor of the project, noting the local community and chamber of commerce support the plan. (O2015-8485)

  
  


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  6805 N. Greenview Ave - (49th Ward) - The Greenview Building Corporation, which operates the co-op building at the subject site, got approval from the Committee to modestly rezone the building, so they can continue using the existing closed porches as living space. According to the applicant’s attorney,Tyler Manic, the rezone was needed to increase the floor area ratio (FAR) and clean up a legal issue. The porches are about 40 years old, the building owner estimated, and the building was constructed a hundred years ago, Manic said.

  
  


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  2614-16 N. Milwaukee Ave - (35th Ward) - The Committee approved Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa’s application to modestly rezone this commercial strip in Logan Square from a community shopping district (B3-3) to a less dense community shopping district (B3-2). According to Rodrigo Anzures, a staff representative for the alderman, the downzone was needed to “align the street with its land use planning policy.”

  
  

Deferred Items (in agenda order):

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  3133-3137 N. Washtenaw Ave. (33rd Ward) - Testifying that “some issues came up”, Ald. Deb Mell (33) asked the committee to defer an application she filed to rezone a block in Avondale from a limited manufacturing district (M1-2) to a residential, two-flat, townhouse district (RT3.5). (O2015-8544)

  
  


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  2430 W Cortez St. (1st Ward)  - James Noonan’s application to rezone the property from a residential two-flat (RT4) to a residential multi-unit district (RM4.5), so it can be used as a three-unit residential building was deferred at the start of the meeting at the request of local Ald. Joe Moreno (1). (02015-8484)

  
  


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  3401-3453 S Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and 400-506 East 35th St. (4th Ward) - The applicant, Lake Meadows Associates, has yet to go before the Plan Commission to get approval to amend an existing Planned Development (No. 1169). They need the amendment in order to build two seven-story residential towers with commercial retail and hotel space. (02015-8489)

  
  


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  720 E. 111th Street - (9th Ward). The applicant, North Pullman 111th Inc., has yet to go before the Plan Commission (same reason as above). The amended PD would facilitate a massive redevelopment plan for the Historic Pullman District, which calls for a 10,000-square-foot shopping mall and multiple commercial buildings totaling 112,000-square feet.  (O2015-8496)

  
  


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  3607-3615 S. Morgan St. - (11th Ward) - This is one of two zoning applications Lexington Homes filed with the city to facilitate construction of their proposed townhome community near Donovan Park. As stated above, Ald. Thompson requested it be deferred. (O2015-8481)

  
  


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  2913-15 South Loomis St. - (11th Ward) - Deferred at the request of the applicant’s attorney, Tom Pikarski. (O2015-8482)

  
  


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  2833-2927 W. 47th St./4701-33 S. Richmond Ave. (14th Ward) - Noble Network of Charter Schools’ zoning application to build a new two-story high school and soccer field in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the city’s Southwest Side will need Plan Commission approval, too, because they’re seeking to establish a planned development prior to construction. (O2015-8498)

  
  


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  1801-1853 W Jackson Blvd (27th Ward) - This is the Blackhawks’ application. It will be heard by the Plan Commission today. (O2015-8468)

  
  


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  301-339 S. Damen Ave; 1853-1959 W. Jackson Blvd; 1840-1958 W. Van Buren St. (27th Ward) - This is Rush University’s application. It will be heard by the Plan Commission today. (O2015-8469).

  
  


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  820-850 W. Lake St. 200-208 N. Green St; 201-209 N. Green St (27th Ward) -  Another PD application from 200 Green Developer, LLC that can’t advance to Council until it gets approval from the Plan Commission.

  
  


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  1342 W Belmont Ave. (44th Ward) - Ald. Tom Tunney (44) asked the committee to defer this application filed by Hibernian Development. They sought a minor zoning change to add three stories to the existing building, so they could add six more residential units. (O2015-8472)

  
  


• 
  

  5653 N. Northwest Hwy (45th Ward) - This application needs PC approval, too. (02015-8486)

  
  


• 2134-46 S Ashland Ave; 1601-27 W 21st Place (25th Ward) - Chairman Solis deferred this application (he is the sponsor). The application he filed would upzone the property from a neighborhood commercial district (C1-2) to a limited manufacturing district (M1-1).

After weeks of communication stumbles by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and new Independent Police Review Authority head Sharon Fairley, Police Board Chair Lori Lightfoot offered a clear outline of the challenges facing Chicago Police and a blueprint of solutions for improving community relations at a City Club appearance Tuesday afternoon. Her talk detailed challenges facing cops and the communities they police, including “hard truths” and possible solutions for Chicago’s next Police Superintendent.

Lightfoot, along with Fairley and the to-be-selected Police Superintendent, is one of three leaders appointed by the Mayor who will help resuscitate his policing strategy and confidence from minority communities. Her speech was to a sold-out crowd at Maggiano’s Banquets that included Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30), the chair of City Council’s Public Safety Committee; Ald. Willie Cochran (20), a former Chicago police officer; Ald. Joe Moore (49), Michael Sacks of World Business Chicago, Cong. Robin Kelly (D-IL), and full complement of news media.

She described police and civilians on opposite sides of a growing divide that grew deeper even before the events in Ferguson, Missouri. “There is a level of frustration and anger and lack of respect for any authority that is pervasive and frankly dangerous, literally all around us,” she said, referring to police presence. “The police bear the brunt of that anger, but the police have also sometimes fueled that anger by their actions, by their omissions, and a lack of understanding and respect.”

“We have tremendous opportunity to make real, lasting changes, and make the Chicago Police Department a model for the nation," she added.

Lightfoot touched on the proliferation of illegal guns, the lack of basic resources in high-crime communities, unconscious racial bias within the department, accountability and the so-called “code of silence” among rank and file, and the demoralizing effect of the past few weeks on officers.

The next Superintendent will pay a key role in addressing those issues. That person “must be a person of unquestioned integrity, devoted to inclusive leadership, and has a track record of successful community engagement, among other important traits,” Lightfoot said.

Community interaction is sorely needed in high-crime communities, Lightfoot said, where police are often the, “only governmental actor who consistently shows up,” but are “ill-equipped” to deal with core issues like a lack of “basic community services and anchors like decent schools, day care, churches, community centers, parks or even grocery stores.” Lightfoot listed off high unemployment statistics in high-crime neighborhoods like Austin, West Englewood, and Roseland.

One audience member asked if IPRA should be dissolved and replaced with state oversight. Lightfoot said no, joked that Illinois had enough problems and described Fairley, who was sitting in the crowd, as a friend. “I know she’s doing a tremendous job,” she said, “She’s building her team, she is taking a very tough look at a number of the practices and policies and people involved in IPRA.”

At one point, Lightfoot grew teary-eyed while thanking her colleagues from Mayer Brown, and her wife. She started at Mayer Brown straight out of college in 1990. She left, then returned to the firm after a spell with various departments in the City of Chicago, including the Office of Procurement Standards, the predecessor to IPRA within the Chicago Police Department. Lightfoot said she gained some of her deepest insights into policing serving under then-Police Supt. Terry Hillard.

“Clearly” there are some police policies and practices that “must be abandoned immediately,” Lightfoot said. The corporate world might offer examples of how to incentivize good officers to break the code of silence, train officers to confront unconscious bias, and ensure supervisors are holding officers underneath them accountable. She later mentioned the expiration of officers’ collective bargaining agreement in June of 2017 as “timely”, given the work IPRA and the task force.

A handful of other public forums seeking community input, similar to one conducted at Kennedy King College last week, will be held in the weeks to come, Lightfoot said. Tomorrow’s regular Police Board meeting at Chicago Public Safety Headquarters (3510 S. Michigan Ave.) will focus on community input in the Superintendent search.

Other meetings on the subject will each will be three hours or longer, she said, and a new website will also go live later this week. Lightfoot said of the 39 who applied to become next Police Superintendent, a fair number of African Americans had applied, but she had not read through all of the applications.

The City Council’s Zoning Committee will take up a proposal to scale back recently beefed up security requirements the Council approved last year for medical marijuana dispensaries that operate within city limits. The ordinance sponsored by Ald. Ed Burke(14) and Willie Cochran (20) amends the provision requiring around-the-clock security personnel at dispensaries. Under the amended rules, security would only be needed during business hours as is currently the case across the state. It also slightly amends the language detailing what kind of security should be hired, from an "Illinois licensed private security contractor" to “Illinois licensed private security agency or an Illinois licensed private security contractor.”

“Given the fact that we have all of the excellent security monitoring now, [we’re] trying to reduce the cost and the overhead [for dispensary operators]. We see that as an unnecessary expense,” Ald. Cochran told Aldertrack yesterday. The changes are in response to recent concerns from some suburban dispensaries where business is slow and costs are high, prompting some of these operations to consider closing up shop, Ald. Cochran explained.

Back in December 2014, the same year the state’s Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act took effect, the City Council approved new regulations for dispensaries seeking to set up shop in Chicago. Citing more than 300 burglaries and seven robberies at 700 dispensaries in Denver, Colorado and concerns that medical cannabis cultivation centers and dispensing facilities “pose serious public safety concerns”, the Council added the requirements.

The regulations, first introduced by Ald. Burke and Zoning Chairman Danny Solis(25), required around-the-clock security, mandated private security guards be present during the loading and unloading of cannabis and cannabis-infused products, and barred a dispensary from showcasing their products in a way that would be visible to the public. The ordinance before the Zoning Committee today, which is listed on thedeferred agenda, only amends the overnight security requirement. The other provisions the Council approved remain intact.

The ordinance was on the Jan. 5th agenda, but a legislative aide for the committee told Aldertrack it was held because Ald. Burke was working on a substitute. Yet, Aldertrack was notified yesterday afternoon that no substitute will be introduced and the original plan will move forward.

Many of the applications on today’s Zoning agenda, including one from the Chicago Blackhawks (#O2015-8468) and Rush University Medical Center (#O2015-8469), have yet to go before the Plan Commission and will be deferred at the start of the meeting. Rush University and the Blackhawks are both working on a large scale development plan for the old Malcolm X Community College building on the city’s Near West Side. The Blackhawks want to build a training center on part of the site. Rush University plans to expand its medical school on the other part. Both applications are scheduled to be heard by the Plan Commission at their monthly meeting this Thursday.

An application from Noble Network of Charter Schools (#O2015-8498) to build a new two-story high school and soccer field in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the city’s Southwest Side will need Plan Commission approval, too, because they’re seeking to establish a planned development prior to construction.

The same issue applies to the applicaticant behind the massive redevelopment of the Pullman District (#O2015-8496), which includes a 10,000-square-foot shopping mall and multiple commercial buildings totalling 112,000-square feet. The applicant, North Pullman 111th Inc., whose list of involved parties is pages long, would need to amend the original PD for their proposed “111th Street neighborhood retail district.”

None of these plans can advance through the City Council without prior approval from the Plan Commission.

Notable Applications Before Zoning

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  Town Homes for Bridgeport (11th Ward) Lexington Homes filed two zoning applications for their two new townhome communities being built near Donovan Park in Bridgeport. One of their planned townhome communities, Lexington Place 3, will consist of eight three- to six- bedroom homes, each with a backyard and and two-car garage. All of the roughly 3,000- to 3,600-square-foot-homes have already been sold. Sale prices started at about $525,000. The company still needs to rezone the property from a light industry district (M2-3) to a residential single-unit district (RS3). The other application seeks a similar rezone for their planned Lexington Square 3 community, which will consist of 21 similarly styled townhomes. (#O2015-8480); (#O2015-8481)

  
  


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  Proposed Mixed Use Office-Residential Building in Chinatown (25th Ward) Developers Shai Tan Zheng and Shi Cai Zheng want to build a new mixed-use building with 12 office units and 24-residential units next to Haines Elementary School at 2332-2344 S. Princeton Ave; 301-307 W. 23rd Place. According to their zoning application, the developers plan to demolish this two existing buildings on the site. The developers need to upzone the property from a residential multi-unit district (RM-5) to a neighborhood shopping district (B2-15), and their application triggers the city’s affordable housing requirements, which means they’ll have to either make 20% of their units affordable or provide an in-lieu fee to the city’s affordable housing trust fund. (#O2015-8479)

  
  


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  New Daycare Center in Logan Square/Avondale (32nd Ward) Red Cedar Partners, LLC filed an application to rezone a vacant lot at 2611 N. Western Ave to build an approximately 11,000-square-foot, two-story day-care center with a rooftop playground and 8 parking spaces. The developers need to downzone the property from a limited manufacturing district (M1-2) to a neighborhood commercial district (C1-3). (#O2015-8477)

  
  

Aldermanic Rezones

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  3133-3137 N. Washtenaw Ave.- Ald. Deb Mell (33) filed an application to rezone a block in Avondale from a limited manufacturing district (M1-2) to a residential, two-flat, townhouse district (RT3.5). Since there are single-family homes already located on the block, it’s likely that Ald. Mell is amending the zoning designation to bring the street up to conformity. (O2015-8544)

  
  


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  3428-30 N. Elston Ave. - Ald. Mell also filed an application to rezone an old, “one story non-fireproof public garage” according to the property details on the Cook County Assessor’s Office. The garage is next to a large residential building. Ald. Mell seeks a rezone from a community shopping district (B3-2) to a residential, two-flat, townhouse district (RT3.5). (O2015-8546)

  
  


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  2134-46 S. Ashland Ave; 1601-27 W. 21st Place - Zoning Chairman Danny Solis wants to rezone this vacant lot across the street from Benito Juarez High School in the Pilsen Historic District. He filed an application in November to upzone the lot from a neighborhood commercial district (C1-2) to a limited manufacturing district (M1-1). The application is on the deferred agenda.

  
  


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  2614-16 N. Milwaukee Ave - Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) filed an application in November to modestly rezone this commercial strip in Logan Square from a community shopping district (B3-3) to a less dense community shopping district (B3-2).

  
  

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) and 16 co-sponsors have signed on to a resolution calling for use of the city’s surplus Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds to bail out the Chicago Public Schools. It says, “a short term infusion of funds back into the CPS operating budget will offset drastic cuts,” and invest in Chicago’s future generations. The resolution has been referred to the Committee on Budget and Government Operations chaired by Ald. Carrie Austin (34).

Rosa says many progressive aldermen, many of whom who are co-sponsors, have been interested in better accounting of TIF surpluses, including what has actually been allocated to projects. “We want the Department of Planning and Development to sit down and tell us what’s been budgeted for, and then allow us to see what could be surplus,” Rosa says. He said DPD estimated the TIF in his ward has a $24 million surplus alone.

While the resolution says active TIF districts had an aggregate balance of $1.38 billion dollars, it doesn’t the estimate TIF surplus citywide. But briefing documents from supporters of a similar resolution at the state level peg the surplus between $445 and $700 million.

Mayor Emanuel’s unofficial floor leader, Ald. Pat O’Connor (40), is also listed as a co-sponsor, which Ald. Rosa said is because TIF money wouldn’t be taken away from already-earmarked projects. He believes a lot more aldermen are supportive than have signed on so far. Rosa says he's trying to set up a meeting with Budget Chair Austin to discuss the resolution, but says she "has been great at making sure Budget Committee is a pool so aldermen can get an answer."

A bill requiring Chicago to declare an annual surplus of all unencumbered TIF money could be introduced in Springfield as early as this week, Ald. Rosa predicts. “I expect that you’ll see some more announcements, pronouncements from state legislators in the coming week or so about that… But TIF surplus action doesn’t require the state to force us to act.”

It could be done at the snap of the Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s fingers, Chicago Teachers’ Union organizer Matthew Luskin argues. “We believe that the Mayor and BOE have real alternatives to high interest borrowing from Wall Street if they were willing to take a real stand and use the resources available from TIFs or by standing up to these predatory bank deals.”

Luskin says CTU has been in talks with state legislators to determine solutions. “We need to see new progressive revenue on the state level, expansion of education funding from Springfield coming to Chicago, but we also need to see action on city level of resources that are available,” he said, “They can take action right now.”

Chicago Public Schools is running out of money and expects to end the 2016 school year with only $33.15 million in the bank, according to the offering documents on the school district’s sale later this month for $857 million in general obligation bonds. The offering documents contain extensive details on CPS finances to satisfy federal Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) financial disclosure laws.

Download offering document PDF.

The Board of Education’s operating fund balance has declined significantly over the past three years. At the start of 2013, the Board had $1.07 billion in the bank. At the end of 2015, it only had $360 million.

The documents also show the Board will use the timing of this month’s bond offering to get through a major cash crunch. CPS reports it will have a low of $89.9 million cash on hand in January, a number that would be negative except for $347.4 million it plans to take in from the bond offering. On February 15, the school system will make $261 million in debt payments. Semi-annual property tax revenues begin to arrive from the Cook County Treasurer on February 20.

“With its operating reserve depleted, the Board projects spending the majority of FY 2016 in a negative cash flow position,” the offering document forecasts.

But the money from the new bond sale will barely cover CPS’ cash flow problems, and it won’t go toward any new expenditures for capital improvements. Instead, the lion's share of the money raised will cover debt service payments due annually on February 15th. Besides the February debt payments, the Board plans to make a $661 million payment in June to the pension fund and $15 million in dispersed pension payments throughout the year, for a total of $937 million.

Anticipated proceeds* of the $857 million in GO bonds to be raised:
*Note: these amounts are subject to change when the bonds are sold

• $206M - for debt restructuring (principal & interest)


• $134.5M - to convert variable rate debt to a fixed rate


• $86.4M - in swap termination fees


• $55.3M - for capitalized interest, pay cost of issuance (i.e. to pay the cost of borrowing)


• $392.6M - to reimburse the BOE’s General Operating Fund for capital expenses made in FY 2013-2015. (note that this will pay for projects already committed)

CPS has $4.17 billion in outstanding revenue bond debt and $1.4 billion in outstanding long-term debt, according to the offering documents. The Board had operating deficits in FY 2013, 2014, 2014, and projects another deficit for 2016.

If CPS fails to get the state aid it needs or lower its pension obligations through action in Springfield, the district anticipates a $1 billion operating deficit through 2020. Over that same period, the Board expects a greater portion of the its annual budget will be diverted from operational costs–money that goes into the classrooms–to funding debt service and pension obligations.

CPS Spending and Revenues Limited By External Factors

The offering document mentioned multiple times that most of how CPS directs its spending is out of its control. The Board, the document says, will be forced to make cuts to “expenditures under its control.”

CPS can’t increase property taxes without state approval under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), nor can it file for bankruptcy. There is a bill pending in Springfield to do the latter. Any movement by the city to further increase property taxes to fund its fire and police pensions (which the document says is likely) could hurt CPS’ levy in future years.

CPS can’t control a substantial portion of its operating expenses. To put that in perspective, in FY 2015, $1.953 billion, or 34% of their operating budget, went to wages and benefits; $634.4 million, or 11%, went towards pension payments; and $533.5M, or 9.5%, went toward long-term debt payments. This point is especially concerning for CPS as it renegotiates its contract with the Chicago Teachers’ Union.

CPS also projects a decline in state aid over FY 2017-2021 and is still waiting on $480 million from the state. That money is already included in this year’s budget.

Plans For Cuts Detailed

To mitigate the growing budget hole over the next few years, CPS plans a mixture of cuts and borrowing. One of the more drastic cuts would be to the student-based budgeting formula the district uses to disperse funds to schools across the city. The formula, which ties a dollar amount to enrollment in each school, could see a 5% reduction as soon as 2017. For every 5% CPS cuts from that formula, the district could save $100 million, the document estimates. To mitigate those cuts, the district points to schools that have already implemented online courses and increased class sizes and suggests a greater reliance on those two options in future budgets.

Additional cuts to administrative services are also planned. More cuts to the central office could save the district an additional $50 million for 2017, the document estimates. It also details plans to reduce vendor spending by issuing more competitive bids and renegotiating existing contracts; cut personnel costs by permanently eliminating vacant positions and promoting early retirement of certain employees; and increase state aid by improving Medicaid reimbursements and poverty grants by enrolling more kids in programs covered by that aid.

CPS has already eliminated the so-called “pension pick-up” for non-union employees. That move is saving about $11 million a year. CPS argues if they could do the same for unionized workers, as it has proposed in ongoing negotiations, the district could save an additional $170 million annually.

As for new revenue, the Board floated the idea of reinstating a dedicated property tax levy for its pension fund. A 0.26% property tax levy could generate an additional $170 million for the district in 2017, but requires state approval. The original levy for the pension fund was eliminated in 1996.

Billions of bonds, new police oversight, a mourning alderman and Chicago aldermen going wacky.

The Zoning Board of Appeals held their first 2016 meeting on Friday with a new leader at the helm, Blake Sercye, and a relaxed schedule of mostly routine items which made for a quicker than usual meeting. All applications on the agenda, excluding those that requested continuances, were approved. With a 12-page agenda filled mostly with special use requests to open salons and allow for single- and multi-family home expansions, the board adjourned by 4:30 p.m., a stark contrast from the preceding months, when controversial medical marijuana proposals pushed the monthly meetings well into the evening.

There was one medical marijuana application on the agenda, which was approved without public or aldermanic opposition. Illinois Grown Medicine, LLC, (IGM) an Illinois-based marijuana cultivation company, got a special use permit to open a dispensary at a vacant laundromat at 8554 S. Commercial Ave. in the 10th Ward. Approval is based on the condition that a representative from their outside consultant, Denver-based Natural Remedies, remain in Chicago for at least two months while the dispensary gets off the ground.

IGM is the same company that tried for months, but failed, to open a dispensary in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side. Every time representatives with then-calledHarborside Illinois Grown Medicine showed up to ZBA to plead their case, which was about four times since last spring, dozens of Chatham residents, shuttled to City Hall by a vocal neighborhood coalition, made their opposition known, frequently heckling in the gallery, holding press conferences against the dispensary, and accusing local Ald. Michelle Harris (8) of wavering on the issue.

The company eventually withdrew that application, a decision they announced in November, found a new location, and fired their original operator, California-based Harborside, the biggest dispensary operation in the country. One of the repeated complaints lodged against the dispensary was the owner’s brother’s criminal ties.

“We have brought in a new operator...this is because, frankly, all of our different regulatory bodies, including this body, were having issues and concerns with our last operator,” Paul Rosenfeld, a minority stakeholder in Illinois Grown Medicine, testified, naming former ZBA Chairman Jonathan Swain, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Finance and Professional Regulations as those who expressed concern.

Brett Framson, with their new operator, Denver-based Natural Remedies, will help get the dispensary off the ground. “We set the standard for the industry,” Framson told the zoning board, explaining that since the company started six years ago, there haven’t been any issues. As a consultant, Natural Remedies will have someone work with the dispensary to set up “standard operating procedures”, including hiring new staff, about 10-15 employees, and implementing security plans with Silver Star Protection Group, a private security firm hired to provide around-the-clock security guards at the dispensary.

“It will be me part time, but there will be others,” he added. But Sercye and Sam Toia, another member of the Zoning Board, took issue with him being an out-of state consultant, especially after he described his job as part time.

“We’re trying to go to from the rhetoric to the substance,” Toia pressed, before asking, “Is [Framson] going to be a consultant from Colorado or a consultant from right here in the 10th Ward?”

It was because of this confusion, and later promise from Illinois Grown Medicine (IGM) to have someone from Denver stay for at least two months while the dispensary gets off the ground, that ZBA added that approval would be dependent on having someone from Natural Remedies stay in Chicago for at least two months.

Local 10th Ward Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza later testified that she and the rest of the local community supports the dispensary, especially because it will be located in an area “long forgotten” and the owners have promised to hire locally and use union labor for construction. Local residents and businesses are especially happy that the dispensary comes with beefed up security, bringing a “sense of safeness to a corner where security is needed,” she added. Noting that “there are some naysayers”, Ald. Garza dismissed the opposition to a “ problem with education.”

“I welcome them to the 10th Ward and I look forward to, you know, cutting the ribbon as they say...I’m fine with this,” Ald. Garza concluded.

Only one person signed up to testify. Andrew DeAngelo, the president of Harborside, the operator IGM cut ties with when they scrapped the Chatham plan. He argued that since the state awarded a medical marijuana license to the previous partnership, this new partnership shouldn’t get a special use permit, because they’re not officially registered with the state.

But the attorney for IGM argued that IGM owns a majority share of the company and is in the process of buying out their minority investors. Adding that ZBA, “doesn’t deal with that, you deal with property,” the attorney said they would deal with the licensing issue if and when it comes up with other regulatory bodies.

Sercye agreed, concluding the hearing on that application.

This was Sercye’s first time heading a ZBA meeting, after only having a seat on the board for less than half a year. “This is only my fifth meeting,” he noted at one point. He was joined by Sheila O’Grady and Toia, who occasionally took over the reins to grill applicants in the same fashion as the former chairman, Jonathan Swain. Swain vacated his position as chairman of the board, a job he’s had since 2010, to accept a commissioner seat on the Chicago Board of Elections.

Notable Continuances

• [38-16-S] An attorney for the Mark Twain Hotel, Sarah Barnes, with Sam Banks Law Offices, requested a continuance to March. The decision to delay the hearing, Barnes told ZBA, is at the request of local Ald. Walter Burnett, Jr.(27) He wants the the operators of the hotel to meet with one local resident to address some concerns they have over the project, Barnes said. There aren’t any major changes planned for the historic single-room occupancy hotel in the Gold Coast neighborhood and it will stay under its current use, Barnes told Aldertrack after the meeting. The hotel operators are just upgrading the doors to some of its rooms, and need a special use permit because it’s considered new construction, she explained.


• [397-15-S] Zoning Attorney, Mark Kupiec, said his client, Chinese-based Sheng Man De Investment Company, needs a continuance because they are still working with the city’s Department of Transportation on an “issue”. The company is building a new, five-story, 60-room hotel at 2010-20 S. Archer Ave. in Chinatown.


• [354-15-S] This is an application for a special use permit to establish a religious facility at Northside College Preparatory. Christ Center of Hope, Assemblies of God is the applicant. Tom Picarsic, their attorney, asked for a continuance to May. The Department of Planning and Development said parking was an issue, he told the board. The parking they found is across the street in a planned development, he added, saying they found a second location, and will have to amend or update the application.

The Emanuel Administration got the approval it needs to borrow an additional $2.45 billion to pay off old debt and fund new capital projects in 2016. In a series of difficult-to-follow roll call votes at yesterday’s City Council meeting, aldermen signed off on all but one of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s bond packages after last minute concessions were made from members of his administration.

But aldermen pushing a long-stalled plan to put the City’s Inspector General in charge of investigating Council members were less successful. Invoking a parliamentary procedure called “defer and publish”, two of the City Council’s most powerful aldermen blocked the IG ordinance from reaching the Council floor, adding at least another month to a years-long debate over who should be in charge of policing aldermen and their staff.

Divided Roll Call Vote on Bonds

After chipping away parts of Mayor Emanuel’s multi-billion dollar borrowing plan in committee earlier this week, aldermen that were still dissatisfied with what they called an expensive and bad deal for the city demanded and received further concessions from the mayor’s office ahead of yesterday’s meeting.

Following an agreement made Monday to slash administration's plan to issue $1.25 billion in general obligation bonds in half, and add provision to the authorizing ordinance requiring regular briefings from the city’s Chief Financial Officer and Comptroller on how the money is spent, the Mayor’s finance team agreed to hold one of the more controversial borrowing plans for at least a month.

A plan to issue $200 million in water revenue bonds (O2015-8873) was taken off the table temporarily. Half of the borrowed money would pay the Royal Bank of Canadaan approximately $100 million penalty fee to switch older variable rate water bonds to a fixed rate. The other half would pay off the cost of borrowing that money.

According to comments Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown made to aldermen, those variable rate bonds are the last remaining variable rate bonds the city needs to convert to a fixed rate in order to complete a financial plan Mayor Emanuel announced in May. His announcement came shortly after the city’s credit rating was downgraded to junk status. So far, the city has paid out more than $250 million in termination fees to realize that plan, Brown said.

But members of the Progressive Caucus didn’t buy Brown’s argument that it was the city’s only option to address its liquidity crisis. In addition to speaking out at the committee meeting, they held a press conference the next day to voice their frustration.

According to one member of the group, Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), the night before the vote, the Caucus made a flurry of calls to their colleagues urging them to look at other less costly options, like taking the banks to court.

Authorization for the other debt packages were passed by Council, but none received unanimous support. As was the case in the bond vote last fall, one alderman, this timeCarlos Ramirez Rosa (35), asked to suspend the rules to call for a roll call vote. But with all the commotion in Council chambers, and Ald. Ed Burke’s preference to identify the each item by agenda number rather than ordinance name, some aldermen had yet to cast their vote by the time Burke finished his committee recommendations.

Despite the confusion, Aldertrack verified the following vote counts with the City Clerk’s Office:

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  Authority to issue up to $200 million in bonds backed by sales tax revenue (Passed: 43-2) Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) and Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) were the two sole no votes on this bond offering, which would partially pay for the 2016 Aldermanic Menu Program. Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) invoked Rule 14.

  
  


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  Authority to issue up to $650 million in general obligation bonds (Passed: 40-4)Aldermen Chris Taliaferro (29), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Gilbert Villegas(36), and Anthony Napolitano (41) voted against the plan. Sawyer again invoked Rule 14 and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) wasn’t in the chambers when it was called for a vote.

  
  


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  Authority to issue up to $1 billion in Midway Airport revenue bonds (Passed: 42-2) Ald. Taliaferro and Napolitano voted no. Aldermen Ed Burke (14) and Patrick Daley Thompson (11) invoked Rule 14.

  
  


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  Authority to issue up to $400 million in wastewater bonds (Passed: 43-2) Aldermen Taliaferro and Napolitano voted no. Ald. Villegas invoked Rule 14.

  
  


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  Authority to issue up to $200 million in water revenue bonds (Passed 42-2) Aldermen Taliaferro and Napolitano voted no, while Aldermen Burke and Villegas invoked Rule 14.

  
  

Ethics Reform Blocked Temporarily

Two of the City Council’s most powerful aldermen, Finance Chairman Ed Burke (14) and Budget Chairman Carrie Austin (34), blocked a vote on a long-stalled effort to put the City’s Inspector General in charge of investigating aldermen and their staff. Burke and Austin “deferred and published” the ordinance, giving themselves an extra month to either amend the plan or propose an alternative.

The merger ordinance championed by Ald. Michele Smith (43) and Ameya Pawar (47) would have eliminated the Office of the Legislative Inspector General, which is vacant after the last LIG Faisal Khan’s term expired, and put the authority of investigating aldermen in the hands of the city’s Inspector General.

Shortly after Burke blocked the vote, Ald. Pat O’Connor (40), chairman of the Council committee that has been holding on to the ordinance since it was introduced eight months ago, announced plans to create a working group to “clean up” the ordinance. To expedite the process, O’Connor asked that the rules be suspended for the immediate consideration of the working group, so it could start immediately, and, “utilize the time that we have in this hiatus during the defer and publish period to ensure that if there are any concerns or anything that needs to be done, that we will be finished and prepared to move forward on this at the next Council meeting.”

The working group will consist of six aldermen: the two co-sponsors of the IG ordinance, Ald. Smith and Pawar; Ald. Will Burns (4), who sponsored, but raised concerns about the ordinance; Ald. Joe Moore (49), a vocal supporter; Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), Chairman of the Council’s Black Caucus and a member of the Council’s Progressive Caucus; and Ald. Rick Munoz (22), another supporter and Progressive Caucus member.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, O’Connor said in addition to “cleaning up” the language of the ordinance, the working group will have the opportunity to work out any changes with the Inspector General’s office. Should the ordinance be amended in any way, it would be introduced directly in his Workforce Committee, voted on, and reported out at the next meeting of the full Council.

But one provision in the ordinance, the ability for the IG to investigate anonymous complaints, was a non-starter for a handful of aldermen who feared it would open the floodgates to a flurry of unfounded allegations. It was a particularly sticky issue for Ald. Austin, who after the meeting said she wants a provision added requiring signed affidavits for all complaints. “If you gonna tell on me, how come you don’t want to swear to it?” she asked rhetorically, before adding, “That don’t mean that everybody needs to know you are the one who said it, but you need to stand behind what you say.”

Before the plan was tabled, it had 27 co-sponsors. Following Burke’s action, it gained 12 more sponsors, according to Ald. Smith.

Other Highlights, Introductions from Yesterday’s Meeting

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  Sharon Fairley’s appointment as Administrator of Independent Police Review Authority passed with little fanfare. It is common for aldermen to spend a significant amount of time praising the Mayor and congratulating his appointee, especially those being placed in executive roles. But after her fumbled four hour first encounter with aldermen during a Council hearing on police accountability last month, and her subsequent confirmation hearing earlier this week, aldermen had little interest in expounding. When Ald. Ariel Reboyras (31), Chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee, brought Fairley’s appointment up for consideration, he gave a brief overview and opened up the floor for discussion. Only one alderman, Willie Cochran (20), stood up to speak. Giving more of a warning than praise, he reminded Fairley the stakes couldn’t be higher. “You will be playing a major role in how we turn this trust issue for the Independent Police Review Authority and the public around.”

  
  


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  Aldermen carved out some time to give an emotional tribute to Ald. Roberto Maldonado's (26) late wife. The meeting opened on a somber note with a reading of a Council resolution honoring Nancy Maldonado, who died over the the Christmas holiday, less than a month after Maldonado’s mother passed away. Yesterday would have been her 46th birthday. Rehashing painful memories of their own losses and recalling Nancy's history of community activism, aldermen stood up one by one to pay their respects to Ald. Maldonado and his sons, who joined him at the front of the room. “I lost my mother at the age of 15. It was the most profoundly painful experience I went through,” an emotionalJoe Moore (49) recalled. “I cannot imagine when the two most important women in our lives, our mother and our wife, pass away, the type of hurt that can be,”Ald. Danny Solis (25) said. After nearly a dozen aldermen offered their condolences, Maldonado, unable to fight back his tears, had the last word, before Mayor Emanuel called for a moment of silence, hugged Maldonado and his family and escorted them out of the Council chambers.

  
  


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  Among three other introductions aimed at criminal justice reform, Ald. Jason Ervin (28) introduced an item pushing Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita to make swift changes in staffing, managed care, and outreach from the city’s “underutilized” mental health clinics. The ordinance has 29 co-sponsors. [Early draft here] It calls for Morita to "take whatever steps are necessary to ensure adequate staffing of psychiatrists at city mental health centers within four months,” begin managed care contracts to provide services to Medicaid patients within six months, and increase awareness of the city's mental health resources in communities disproportionately impacted by violence. Morita would also be required to update aldermen monthly on the status of changes.

  
  


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  Mayor Emanuel introduced a resolution yesterday appointing Blake Sercye as the new Chairman of the City’s Zoning Board of Appeals. Sercye was just appointed to the board over the summer. Sercye, a litigator for corporate law firmJenner & Block, also runs a pro-bono practice in the Austin neighborhood that focuses on fair housing, prisoner rights and criminal defense. He was appointed to ZBA shortly after his unsuccessful run in 2014 for a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He lost the race despite high profile endorsements from Mayor Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. He has served on the Illinois Medical District Commission and Chicago’sCommunity Development Commission. ZBA’s current Chairman, Jonathan Swain, has held the position since 2010, but will leave the post to take a job at the Board of Elections. He’ll replace Langdon Neal on the three-member board tasked with running, monitoring, and authenticating election results. Mayor Emanuel is asking the council to appoint Amanda Williams to fill the vacancy left by Swain. Williams is an Auburn-Gresham native and adjunct professor of architecture at the Illinois Institute of Design.

  
  


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  Aldermen introduced a handful of police-related ordinances aimed at reforming the embattled department. Ald. Jason Ervin (28) sponsored three of those plans, including a proposal to create a section in the municipal code detailing how video recordings should be released, guidelines for how to train officers to use tasers, and a change to the mandatory retirement age. A resolution introduced by Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) calls on CPD to “adopt a policy to establish research and institute procedures on [the] department's over-reliance of use of lethal force.” A shorter and more pointedly worded order Ald. Rick Munoz (22) introduced makes one request, “ORDERED, that no documents currently in the possession of or hereafter created by and/or maintained by any office within the Chicago Police Department be destroyed for any purpose or under color of any statute between the introduction of this Order and December 31.” More than half the council signed on to co-sponsor.

  
  


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  The twin, 60-story, corncob-shaped Marina City residential Loop high rises could soon become landmarks under an ordinance the Mayor introduced yesterday on behalf of the Department of Planning and Development. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks made their preliminary recommendation in November to designate the two buildings as official landmarks. The issue has been referred to the Zoning Committee.

  
  

While Mayor Rahm Emanuel got most of his new bond authorizations through Finance Committee yesterday, the Progressive Caucus and the Chicago Teachers Union say the city has not done enough to push back on banks over hundreds of millions of dollars of termination fees and other payments for swap deals. Meanwhile, taking an unusual step, Chicago’s Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown made herself available yesterday for a conference call with reporters to rebut those accusations.

CTU and the Progressive Caucus charge the city’s move to unwind its previous swap agreements for bonds is premature, and the $100 million in termination fees the city plans to pay for ending variable rate bond deals so they can move them to fixed rate deals is too much.

“The Mayor is voluntarily choosing the pay the termination fees,” says CTU spokesperson Matt Luskin. Instead, the city should be using political leverage and legal means to push banks into better deals.

Pressed by reporters on this issue yesterday afternoon, CFO Brown pointed to a 2014 outside counsel study conducted on behalf of the city to determine if there was a legal basis. The report, written by a pair of financial securities law experts, attorneys Dan Collins and James Kopecky, found, “no evidence that would support a claim that the City's swap agreements were procured by fraud or that any of the City's swap counterparties made any material misrepresentations or omissions of fact.”

Asked for examples of how the city has worked to reduce the fees it owes, CFO Brown said that bankers who work with the city appreciate how important a client Chicago is. There is no need to threaten to take away anyone’s business, she said.

“It’s not lost on anybody [working] on the transaction how important the City of Chicago is to business lines for the banks and to individuals,” said Brown.

Deputy Comptroller Jeremy Fine said, “In our estimate we were able to save $20 million or so with the help with our advisors.”

In CTU’s opinion, a great deal more could be done. “They have a whole range of options,” said Luskin. “They could rank banks, based on the impact they make on the community,” and threaten to take away city business if they don’t reach a certain threshold. Last September, Treasurer Kurt Summers proposed a similar ranking for determining if banks should be used as municipal depositories.

CTU also has their own expert, who claims the Emanuel administration's experts are wrong. Former Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC), an attorney who sat on the House Financial Services Committee and led passage of a number of consumer-activist federal measures, has been consulting for CTU and disputes the city’s 2014 study.

“The study does an excellent job of demolishing arguments never made,” said Miller, who says common law in Illinois has no statute of limitations on claims against banks. He says banks who underwrote bonds for the city made fraudulent representations on the variable rate bonds the city is now attempting to replace.

Illinois’ fraudulent concealment law says there’s a duty to disclose information about the risk of a deal and what could go wrong, says Miller. The banks who underwrote the deals Chicago made did not disclose they were the main buyers of the bonds, and that as soon as buyers lost interest in the bonds, the rates would spike and the market would collapse.

Deputy Comptroller Fine, who oversaw the variable rate bond sale and was interviewed for the city’s 2014 legal study, told researchers, “the City's debt management team was well informed about the risk factors associated with swap agreements.”

In other words, if the guy in charge of the city’s bad deal says he went into it with eyes wide open, you don’t have much of a legal case for fraud.

“Sure. This would be embarrassing,” responds Miller. “They would be played for chumps, and nobody wants to do this. [Attorneys suing the banks] would have to show they did not understand.”

Hundreds of Chicagoans packed the Kennedy King Auditorium in Englewood last night, where the Police Board, including head Lori Lightfoot, were addressed by a largely hostile audience who often questioned Board members' legitimacy. Community members voiced their frustration with “systemic racism” on the police force, a lack of community involvement in leadership decisions, and with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) contract. Dometi Pongo, a news anchor for WVON who acted as moderator, struggled to keep audience comments to the two-minute limit, repeatedly asking for civility.

Most members of the Police Board, including Claudia Valenzuela, William Conlon, Ghian Foreman, Rev. Michael Eaddy, Rita Fry, and Rhoda Sweeney, sat on stage with Lightfoot and Shari Runner, Interim President and CEO of the Chicago Urban League. Board members had a few opportunities to respond to mostly Black audience members, some who asserted that as mayoral appointees, they could not conduct the search for Supt. Garry McCarthy’s replacement fairly. The application period for the position, which has been filled by Interim Supt. John Escalante since early December, closes on Friday.

While both Lightfoot and Pongo characterized the night as a beginning of a series of conversations about change to the Chicago Police Department, audience members argued the community had already been shut out.

“Will somebody on this board explain clearly how what we say here translates into how you decide the next superintendent? We didn’t make the criteria up,” audience member Pat Hill said of the application. Hill is a former Chicago Police officer who said she’d attended Board meetings over the past 25 years. Hill said the Board did not listen to community objections to former Supt. Jody Weis or McCarthy’s recommendations, and she didn’t believe they would now.

Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, and one of few white attendees to speak, said this call for change was more of the same. “I’ve been going to Police Board meetings for more than 20 years,” he said, “I’ve seen a lot of Superintendents and Board members, and I’m not very impressed with another promise of reform.”

Lightfoot told Hill and others the point of the evening was, “to take specific feedback from the community before we interview candidates,” which, “will be integrated in the process we use to interview candidates and make our ultimate recommendations on who our choices should be.” Three candidates are expected to be presented to Mayor Rahm Emanuel by the end of February.

But most didn’t feel heard. Ja’Mal Green, a familiar face in the Black Friday and Magnificent Mile protests, said, “This meeting has made me sick to my stomach. All I’m looking at are the Mayor’s puppets.” He stopped mid-statement to note that Vance Henry, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Community & Faith Based Initiatives in the Mayor's Office, had left the room. “If I were a Black person on this Board… I would have stepped down.”

He and 15-20 others exited the meeting early after a heated exchange between Pongo and an audience member who repeatedly tried to ask Rhoda Sweeney, a white retired Cook County Judge now serving on the Police Board, how she felt when she watched the Laquan McDonald video.

“I think people are going to come out of here more unsettled than they came in,” an audience member named Lauren Taylor said, “Most of what needs to be done, you can’t do,” he said to the Board. He was one of a few who called for the resignation ofMayor Rahm Emanuel and State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Several elected officials were in attendance, including several aldermen: Pat Dowell(3), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Willie B. Cochran(20), and Scott Waguespack (32), plus Cook County Board of Review CommissionerLarry R. Rogers Jr., and Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson. But just one spoke to the panel, Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, who read from a written statement. She said the next Superintendent should work to address subconscious racism and bias within the force, as well as over- and excessive use of force.

Others took a softer tone. Lisa Daniels said her son, Darren Easterling, was killed in a drug deal gone wrong. She wanted to see a cultural shift in the police department and the community, which she said she knew would take time. “Our community is divided. We’re afraid of our own people, of each other, and that’s where the changes need to be made,” she said, as one of the last speakers of the night. “We need a superintendent who can lead, who has compassion, and who has an understanding of the urban plight.”

Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44) proposal to create a two-year pilot program that would let restaurants put outside seating along parking lanes instead of sidewalks got the approval from the Council’s License Committee.

Committee Members Present (13/18): Vice Chairman Deborah Silverstein (50), Gregory Mitchell (7), Marty Quinn (13), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Willie Cochran (20), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Walter Burnett (27), Scott Waguespack (32), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46).

The $600 permit is geared towards restaurants that want outside seating but don’t have room for a traditional sidewalk cafe because they’re located on “really old and narrow” sidewalks with a lot of foot traffic, co-sponsor Ald. Michele Smith (43) explained.

Unlike the sidewalk cafe season, which runs from March 1st through December 1st., the curbside cafe permit would run for five months, from May 1st to September 31st. The shorter time frame, according to Ald. Tunney, keeps the program affordable, because restaurants would have to pay for anticipated lost parking meter revenue.

The only concerns aldermen raised in committee had to do with safety, or more specifically, how to protect patrons from oncoming car traffic. Rose Kelly, with the city’s Law Department, and Tony Bertuca, with the City’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, addressed those concerns in their testimony, noting restaurants would have to construct a removable, physical boundary shielding the cafe from traffic lanes, as well as a removable, raised platform that would be even with the curb. But the exact measurements, required building materials, and other specific details have yet to be drafted, they said.

In order for a restaurant to qualify for the program, it can’t already have a permit for a sidewalk cafe or be located in the central business district (i.e. downtown). Curbside cafes are also barred from locating along a protected bike lane, 30 feet from a stop sign, 30 feet of a controlled intersection, or 1,200 feet (about 2 city blocks) from Wrigley Field. The restaurant must be located on a pedestrian designated street, which, according to the city’s zoning code, is defined as any street that meets the following criteria: a sidewalk width of less than 8 feet, a high concentration of existing stores and restaurants and a mostly continuous pattern of buildings that are built abutting or very close to the sidewalk.

While no one from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association testified at yesterday’s meeting, the group issued a statement supporting the plan when it was first introduced in July.

The Council’s Budget Committee met for less than five minutes yesterday morning, which was just enough time to pass two ordinances, one of which establishes new procurement reforms, without any departmental briefings or debate.

Members Present: Chairman Carrie Austin (34), Brian Hopkins (2), Ariel Reboyras (30) [Note: we recorded the meeting but were not present, those three aldermen were the only ones mentioned in the recording of the meeting.]

The intergovernmental agreement the Committee approved implements recommendations from a Procurement Reform Task Force the Mayor formed in 2015 to better coordinate, streamline and increase transparency in how the city and its sister agencies award contracts. Noting that the city and its various sister agencies–the Chicago Park District, Chicago Housing Authority, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Transit Authority, City Colleges of Chicago, and Public Building Commission–award approximately $6 billion in contracts a year, the taskforce sought ways to reduce redundancies by creating a more centralized website to announce bids, take economic disclosure statements, in addition to creating a more uniform system to cut administrative costs. The 52-page report the task force released in November compares in exhaustive detail the procurement process for all city agencies.

The other proposal the committee approved transfers $10,000 to the City Council’s Committee on Education and Childhood Development, Chaired by Ald. Will Burns (4). Since no one testified and no corresponding record number for the ordinance is listed on the agenda, it’s unclear where that money came from or why the transfer was needed.

A plan Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled over the summer to sell the old Malcolm X Community College campus to the Chicago Blackhawks and Rush University Medical Center for a massive redevelopment project is one step closer to reality.

Members Present (11/16): Chairman Joe Moore (49), Ald. Pat Dowell (3), Gregory Mitchell (7), Sue Sadlowski-Garza (10), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Walter Burnett (27) Ariel Reboyras (30), Deb Mell (33).

Yesterday, the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate approved an intergovernmental agreement that would transfer City College’s Malcolm X College campus to the Department of Planning and Development and the Department of Fleet and Facilities Management. Once the City Council approves the transfer of the 11.15 acre site at 1900 W. Van Buren St., the City will demolish the academic building and remediate the land before selling part of it to the Chicago Blackhawks for a new training facility and youth hockey center, and part of it to Rush University for the expansion of their west side campus.

Last month, the City Council approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Public Buildings’ Commission for the $10 million demolition of the school’s only building. Once that’s complete, DPD will need council approval to sell the property. Asked yesterday if the demolition cost will be added to the sale price, Mary Benone with Department of Planning and Development said yes.

An amended plan to transform the historic 20th District Police Station in the 40th Ward into a performing arts center, an agreement to transfer city-owned lakefront property on the far South Side to a private developer for the construction of a mini-park, and various ordinances authorizing routine land sales also got the greenlight from the Housing Committee.

The Griffin Theater Company bought the century-old police station from the city in 2011 with plans to construct a 55-seat black box theater and another 100-120 seat performing arts space. The building located on the corner of California and Pershing was designed by architect C.F. Hermann, built in 1908, and appraised at $1.2 million. When Griffin bought the property from the city for $1, it agreed to finish the $2.1 million redevelopment plan by 2016. But due to the “financial crisis and ensuing recession”, according to the amended agreement, the developer failed to raise the capital necessary to complete the project and now needs an extension.

Sarah Wilson, with the Department of Planning and Development, says the new agreement expands seating for the planned blackbox theater and designates a new construction timetable. Phase 1 one the project, consisting of interior and exterior demolitions, must be complete by September 2016. From then, developers will have 11 months, or until August 2017, to complete the final stages.

Another ordinance sponsored by the City’s Department of Transportation authorizes the exchange of two parcels of lakefront property the city acquired during construction over the summer on Lake Shore Drive’s outbound ramps to the Stevenson Expressway. The agreement the Council Committee approved transfers the land to Chicago Lakeside Development, LLC (McCaffery Interests) for the development of a public park on the city’s lakefront. Under the agreement, the developers will have to maintain the pocket park for the next 20 years.

Of the 13 mostly routine items on the agenda, only one got deferred: an ordinance authorizing a lease renewal with the Chicago Transit Authority for the use of vacant city-owned land in the 39th Ward. Ald. Marge Laurino asked her colleagues to hold off on approving the lease agreement for the property at 5975 N. Pulaski because she isn’t thrilled that bus drivers use the stop for bathroom breaks.

“Currently at this particular location, which is a lovely turnaround for the CTA with trees and grass, and is really, very nice…[but] right smack dab in the middle of it is a porta potty,” she explained, adding that she’s working out an agreement with the neighboring fire house to let bus drivers do their business there.