The City Council on Wednesday approved measures prohibiting people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6 U.S.Capitol riot from city employment, assisting two downtown office-to-residential conversion projects and reining in “rogue towers.”

Several ordinances passed without discussion, including the downtown residential conversion projects after passing out of the Finance Committee on Tuesday.

The city will issue $40 million in Multi-Family Housing Revenue Bonds and $40 million in tax increment financing (TIF) funds to assist a planned adaptive reuse project at the Harris Trust and Savings Bank building at 111 W. Monroe St. The planned $179.2 million project by Prime Group Inc. and Capri Investor LLC will convert 14 floors of vacant commercial space into 345 residential units, including 104 affordable housing units.

 For the second project, also being developed by Prime Group, the council approved $26 million in Multi-Family Housing Revenue Bonds and $25 million in TIF assistance to convert empty office space into 168 housing units, including 51 affordable units. The project is planned for the 208 S. LaSalle St. Building.

During Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, some alderpeople voiced concerns about the level of participation from minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses in the project.

Finance Chair Pat Dowell (3) said during Tuesday’s  meeting that she would only bring the projects for final approval by the council if the developers gave more information to address those and other concerns.

Read more: Finance committee approves financial assistance for two downtown adaptive reuse projects

While the measures passed the council without a roll call vote, Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) wished to be recorded as voting no on both ordinances. Lopez opposed the measures in the Finance Committee and said he had concerns about the inclusion of minority-owned businesses in the projects.

The City Council unanimously passed an ordinance from Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), which he dubbed “Rogue Towing 2.0,” targeting tow truck drivers who prey on accident victims and often skirt state and city laws. The measure will allow the Chicago Police Department to tow malicious tow trucks and it creates a private right of action for individuals and corporations to sue predatory towing companies. Villegas said this latest ordinance (SO2024-0012277), which he dubbed "rogue towing 2.0," gives the rogue towing ordinance from 2021 “more teeth.” 

The council also approved a measure, brought by Ald. Anthony Beale (9), to ban the sale of hemp products from the Lake Calumet Residential area, which covers portions of the 9th and 10th wards. Beale said the products, which can contain high levels of THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids, are a danger to children, and said he wanted to rein them in while the state considers measures to regulate their use.

“They’re targeting our kids, and we cannot sit back and just continue to wait for governments to try to figure it out when we have the tools here in the city council to ban these products that are harming our kids,” he said.

The council approved several appointments to city commissions, including the appointment of Gina Piemonte to the Community Commission for Public Safety. Piemonte currently leads the felony trial division of the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, and she will replace former Comm. Kelly Presley. The council also approved appointments of Princella "Jaribu" Lee and Kafi Moragne-Patterson to the City Colleges of Chicago Board of Trustees and appointments of several members to the Chicago Board of Health.

Read more: Health and Human Relations Committee approves Board of Health appointments, expansion of city anti-discrimination code

The council also approved a prohibition on discrimination based on someone’s actual or perceived association with a person of a protected class.

Some dissent in Jan. 6 employment ban

The council voted 44-3 to bar anyone convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot from employment with the city. The nonbinding resolution directs the Commissioner of Human Resources to disqualify any applicant who engaged in illegal acts at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The resolution followed a similar order for state hiring put in place by Gov. JB Pritzker in January.

Some alderpeople said they were concerned about setting a precedent of barring people from employment for past crimes, noting the city prioritizes rehabilitation and has programs to help ex-offenders find employment. They also questioned the legality of barring people from employment who had received presidential pardons. President Donald Trump issued pardons and commutations to more than 1,500 people with Jan. 6-related convictions earlier this year.

“Do we have the authority to say yay to somebody or nay to somebody else, depending on the type of crime they committed?” said Ald. James Gardiner (45).

Other alderpeople, though, described the rioters as “treasonous” and “traitors,” and said people who tried to overthrow the U.S. government should not be allowed to work for the government.

“I believe in second chances, I believe in reentry.” said Ald. Jesse Fuentes (26) “...But when individuals are trying to overthrow our government and undermine our democracy, should they have a place in working for the government that they don’t believe in, and through their actions have said that they don’t have to respect their decisions?”

Alds. Nicholas Sposato (38), Anthony Napolitano (41) and James Gardiner (45) voted against the resolution.

Conflict over Palestinian activist hearing

Alderpeople sparred over procedure when Health and Human Relations Committee Chair  Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33) reported on a subject matter hearing held last month over the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident and Palestinian activist who was a prominent figure in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.

While Rodriguez-Sanchez was speaking about  Khalil’s case, Beale raised a point of order and said Rodriguez-Sanchez’s comments were out of order because there was no ordinance or resolution before the council relating to the hearing. In a rare rebuke, Mayor Brandon Johnson told Rodriguez-Sanchez to conclude her comments.

Lopez then asked for Rodriguez-Sanchez’s comments to be struck from the record because they weren’t related to an item before the council. Another motion was made to table that removal and move to the next committee report. That motion, rejecting the move to strike Rodriguez-Sanchez’s comments from the record, passed 27-20.