A state bill to overhaul the city’s payment schedule for its police and fire pension funds clears big hurdles in Springfield, and gives the Mayor some breathing room on property taxes. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson highlights ongoing reforms at CPD, while the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) publicly releases videos and police records for more than 100 pending police misconduct investigations. And City Council Zoning Chairman Danny Solis (25) flexes his local control powers to push out a new development in Pilsen.

The Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) released video footage and police records of 101 active investigations into police misconduct and highlighted six specific cases believed to be of public interest. But none of those cases include victims whose families have recently received sizable settlements from the city for alleged police misconduct.

The release began with an on-background session for reporters that lasted an hour. No cameras or recording equipment were allowed while officials with the city’s Law Department and IPRA walked reporters through the database. Once complete, there was a 30 minute break for TV crews to set up cameras, followed by a brief, nine minute press conference with IPRA Chief Sharon Fairley, who took only a handful of questions from reporters.

These six cases are considered to be the most graphic of the roughly 300 video clips posted on the website:

• David Strong, Leland Dudley, John Givens (Incident #1053667) - This case stems from an April 30, 2012 incident involving a robbery at Mike’s Electronics on 24th and Western. Strong, Dudley and Givens were in the process of robbing the electronic store when police arrived at the scene. One video clip shows a black SUV barreling out of a parking lot in reverse, almost hitting officers on the sidewalk. Police open fire at the car. Strong died from a gunshot wound. Dudley and Givens were both shot but not killed and are currently serving 35-year prison sentences.

• Ishmael Jamison (Incident #1058573) - This case stems from a November 22, 2012 incident at 62nd and California. Jameson was on a CTA bus assaulting passengers and the driver. Video footage on the website shows Jamison pacing back and forth at the bus stop without a shirt on before being shot by an officer. He suffered two bullets, one to the stomach, the other to his foot.

• Michael J. Cote (Incident #1069721) - This case stems from a June 11, 2014 incident at North and Hoyne. At the time, Cote was driving a black SUV in Bucktown, hitting every parked car on the street, according to the 911 calls posted. This cases includes cell phone video footage obtained from two witnesses who recorded the event from their apartment window. There’s graphic audio with a lot of swearing, and the footage shows several officers approaching the car and opening fire. The witnesses scream that Cote is dead, but he didn’t suffer a fatal wound. He survived a bullet to the abdomen and is no longer serving time.

• Zainul Hussein (Incident #1076216) - This case stems from a July 20, 2015 incident at North and Clybourn. Officers arrived at the scene after receiving reports of a man hitting people with a baseball bat. The video footage for this incident came from a dashcam video from a squad car that arrived after Hussein was already shot by police. As the car approaches Hussein, you can see him shirtless and on his knees in the middle of the street with what looks like blood on the ground. He was shot in the leg. There was no footage from the squad car that was already at the scene, nor is there footage from the Bank of America across the street from where Hussein was shot.

• Lisa Simmons, Jeremiah Smith (Incident #1071320) - This case stems from a July 12, 2014 incident at a block party at 15th and Christiana. The video footage, which was captured from a cell phone camera after police had already arrived at the scene, shows officers arresting Simmons and Smith. Both were charged with resisting arrest.

• Terrence Clarke (Incident #1075692) - This case stems from a June 16th, 2015  incident at a Portillo’s on Clark and Ontario. Clark, a tourist from Canada, was at the restaurant watching the final game of the Stanley Cup. The incident occurred after the game was over, when the restaurant was closing up. Video footage shows an off duty officer who was working as a security guard for the restaurant get into an altercation with Clarke before escorting him out of the restaurant, telling him he will be arrested. It’s hard to tell from the video what sparked the altercation.

Under the new video release policy, first outlined in February, IPRA will regularly update the database, adding new cases that fit the criteria. This includes case materials involving officer-involved shootings, officer-involved Taser use “that results in death or great bodily harm”, and incidents of “death or great bodily harm (other than self-inflicted harm) that occur in police custody.”

IPRA will release all relevant case material within 60 days of the incident, including footage captured on a squad car dashcam, street surveillance cameras or “PODs”, cell phone video, and private security tapes from local businesses. Not all of the videos have audio, but some audio files will be included in the release, such as 911 calls, OEMC dispatch recordings, CPD radio calls and other third-party audio. Police arrest reports, original case incident reports, officer’s batter reports and tactical response ports are included. In some cases IPRA can request an additional 30 day delay before releasing the documents.

But within the portal, there’s little information on victims of police misconduct the City Council approved settlements for within the last year.

No records are provided on the database for Calvin Cross, a 19-year-old who was shot 45 times by police officers in 2010 during a foot chase. The Council approved a $2 million settlement to Cross’ family in June 2015. Nor are there records for Ontario Billups, Emmanuel Lopez or Ryan Rogers. Billups was shot by police in 2010 after police mistook a bag of marijuana he hand in his hands for a gun. The City Council settled that case for $500,000 in November 2015. Last month, aldermen approved a $2.2 million payout to Lopez’s family. The 23-year-old was fatally shot by police officers during a car chase in September 2005. A $1 million settlement for Rogers’ family was also approved last month. He was fatally shot by Chicago police in suburban East Hazel Crest in March 2013 during an undercover operation targeting stolen cell phones.

At that May 16th Finance Committee, Jane Notz of the city’s Law Department told aldermen the IPRA investigation of the Lopez case was still pending.

According to Mia Sissac, the Public Information Officer for IPRA, there are several reasons for cases not being listed on the website. Any IPRA cases completed or closed prior to the creation of the new transparency policy released in February 2016 or cases involving a juvenile are not included on the portal.

IPRA recently announced that it will make investigators available at various community centers and churches on a weekly basis for people to report cases of police misconduct. The announcement was made a couple weeks after the Mayor submitted an op-ed to the Sun-Times announcing he’d dissolve the agency. But Sissac tells Aldertrack it’ll be sometime before IPRA is replaced. Until then, the agency will continue to implement reforms suggested by the task force. Legally, an agency must be in place to investigate police, and a new oversight body would take some time to establish.

The Council’s Zoning Committee approved Chairman Danny Solis’ (25) request to downzone a nearly eight acre parcel of vacant land in Pilsen after residents said they were worried they wouldn’t get a say on what kind of development would be built.

Attendance: Chairman Danny Solis (25), Vice Chair James Cappleman (46), Proco Joe Moreno (1), Sophia King (4), Anthony Beale (9), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Walter Burnett (27), Deb Mell (33), Tom Tunney (44)

The ordinance the committee approved rezones a vacant parcel bounded by West 16th, South Newberry, South Peoria, and West 18th Streets from a Community Shopping District (B3-2) to a Limited Manufacturing/Business District (M1-2). The manufacturing designation will prohibit any residential development from being built on the site without a thorough community review process and corresponding zoning change.

Chairman Solis asked for the downzone, according to DNAinfo, because the site developer refused to comply with a zoning rule in Pilsen that mandates any residential project must include at least 21% affordable units. The developer, Noah Gottlieb of Property Markets Group, had originally planned a 500 unit apartment building for the site, then said he’d build something smaller that wouldn’t require a zoning change in order to completely forgo the affordable housing requirements.

At yesterday’s meeting, Chairman Solis argued that he still thinks residential, not industrial, is the best use for the property and that the zoning change was meant to prove a point. “Sometimes what the community needs, and what the community wants, isn’t exactly what a developer is proposing,” he explained. Solis said he wasn’t closing the door on the proposed developer or any other developer who wants to build on the site, but rather, he was addressing the needs of the residents he represents. And those needs are more affordable housing in Pilsen.

Thirteen people signed up to testify on the project, eight of them in favor of Solis’ zoning change. But all sides seemed to agree on the same point: residential units should be built on the vacant land, eventually. Opponents argued changing the zoning would delay that development, leaving a blighted, and sometimes unsafe vacant lot undeveloped. Proponents said they wanted more time to decide what should be built, and that any new residential building planned for the area must go through a “thoughtful community process.”

Michael Grill, an attorney for Holland & Knight, testified against the zoning change on behalf of the developer, saying Pilsen’s commercial corridors would benefit from more density. “They need more residents living in that area who can spend their good, hard earned dollars on the good businesses that we have along those streets, so those businesses can continue to provide good jobs in this neighborhood,” he said.

“It’s strange to me that if the purported reasoning behind changing this is to provide more affordable housing–which is a laudable goal–changing it to an industrial use simply will not provide more affordable housing in this area,” he added, urging Solis to work with his client to bring a project that complies within the existing B3-2 zoning.  

Vincent Cook, an attorney representing the property owner, The Midwest Providence of the Society of Jesus, also testified against the zoning change. “We feel that the current residential zoning is a perfect use for that neighborhood, and we feel that a change to light manufacturing is not the best use of that property,” Cook said, adding that his clients are still interested in working with Solis toward a solution.

Most of the residents who supported the zoning change said they were lifelong residents of Pilsen and expressed worry that they would soon be priced out of their neighborhood if the zoning remained intact. Nineteen-year resident Walcolda Reyesargued that the site has remained vacant for more than a decade because no developer has brought forth a plan that “provides the community benefit that we believe is what needs to happen there.”

Julio Paz, whose family has been living in Pilsen since 1948, agreed. “We need time to find the best plan for that parcel of land. The community’s character, vitality, and culture are under threat.”

“I would like for all parties to work together,” Chairman Solis said before calling for a vote. “This is a strategy that not only I, but other aldermen have used, and if you look at the history, and if you look at the record of my ward and other wards, you’ll find that sometimes doing this gets the message across.” The zoning change passed unanimously.

Ald. King Receives On-site Affordable Housing In Two South Loop Projects

Newly appointed 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King also did her part to make sure two South Loop projects made a last minute change to allow on-site affordable units. Zoning Attorney Rolando Acosta said his client, developer Keith Giles, agreed to make 10 of his 320 units affordable for his proposed 26-story residential tower at 1136 S. Wabash, which is currently a surface parking lot. The developer originally wanted to buy out of the affordable housing requirement. Giles will instead enroll those units in the Chicago Housing Authority’s voucher program.

Oxford Capital Group, the developer behind a plan to rehab the Essex Inn and build an adjacent 57-story residential building, also agreed at the request of Ald. King to add on-site affordable housing. The developer’s attorney, Paul Shadle of DLA Piper, said his clients will make a $2.02 million payment to the affordable housing trust fund, in addition to providing on-site units. He didn’t mention the number of units.

“Affordable housing is a responsibility that the whole city should share in all parts of the city,” Ald. King argued.  

Ald. Moreno Rejects Plan Because It Lacks Affordable Housing

Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1), who often grandstands on affordable housing issues on the floor of City Council as he faces intense scrutiny in his ward about gentrification concerns, voted against a project in the neighboring 32nd Ward for its lack of affordable housing.

There have been protests in recent months, including one along the new 606 trail, calling for more affordable housing in Wicker Park, Bucktown and Logan Square. The project Moreno rejected calls for the construction of three, four-story residential buildings for a total of 76 units. None of the units will be made affordable. The developer, Mark Kozlowski, has chosen to make an in lieu payment of $800,000 into the affordable housing trust fund.

Moreno took issue with not only the in lieu payment, but also local Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), who he did not mention by name: “We have elected officials that say they support affordable housing and CHA and don’t build them on site.” Moreno and Waguespack also faced off over on-site units at the massive redevelopment at the Lathrop Homes.

“I know I sound like a broken record on this, but it continues and continues to happen.”

Chairman Defers Public Building Commission Appointment

At the start of yesterday’s meeting, Zoning Chairman Solis announced he’d be deferring the appointment of David Whittley to the Public Building Commission, but didn’t explain why. He did  allow the committee to approve another appointment: Albert D. Tyson III to the Plan Commission.

Tyson was previously on the PBC and his vacancy would have been filled by Whittley. Tyson spoke for less than a minute at yesterday’s meeting, mostly to say that he was honored at the opportunity to serve on the Plan Commission. Ald. Walter Burnett (27) and Ald. Anthony Beale (9) said Tyson is a good fit for the land use board because of the development work he’s had a hand in on the city’s Near West Side.

Historical Landmark Designation for Old Town Gets Pushback from Residents  

Twenty-one people testified on a proposal to designate several residential buildings on West Burton Place as historical landmarks, 14 in support and seven against. The buildings are part of the Old Town Artist Colony, a group of 12 buildings and five coach houses, which were remodeled between roughly 1920 and 1940 by a group of artists, including Edgar Miller and Sol Kogen. The landmark designation would protect the buildings' exterior elevations, as well as select walls, fences, gates and sidewalks, from alteration or demolition. The properties include 150-160 W. Burton Place and 143-161 W. Burton Place.

Matt Crawford, a representative with the Department of Planning and Development, said the designation would protect and highlight the unique character of the neighborhood. “The artist colony that developed here became the home and workplace of numerous prominent artists and architects of national and international stature for over eight decades,” he said.  

The buildings are already listed on a national historic registry and the effort to landmark the area has been in the works since 2007, according to Ald. Burnett. The effort to make the residential block a Chicago landmark ramped up last year after a developer bought one of the buildings with the intention of demolishing it. But as the city’s Landmarks Commission began drafting the boundaries of the landmark district, several property owners reached out to Burnett asking that their buildings be excluded. The Landmarks Commission agreed with some of those requests. Only 12 of the 18 buildings in the area are included in the proposed designation, Burnett said.

One property owner who had made that request but wasn’t excluded from the designation, Penny Kurston of 143 W. Burton Place, called the entire process unethical gerrymandering. She said realtors and real estate attorneys told her the designation would have a negative impact on her insurance rates and property value. Kurston’s 12-year-old daughter testified at the meeting and relayed the trouble the family went through to get Ald. Burnett’s attention on the issue.

Ald. Burnett said he did make an effort to get her property out of the designation, but the landmarks commission denied the request. He then accused an unnamed resident of being “really aggressive on stalking” him and other commissioners on the landmarks committee.

“The last time she saw me, I was like ‘I may have to do a restraining order against you’, because she followed be all the way to my car,” Burnett explained, saying she also followed commissioners to the bathrooms, their offices or homes.

“After I just got hit by somebody, you know, I was like you better stay away from me, because I’m not ready to get hit again,” he joked, referring to a man who punched him outside his ward office two months ago.

It appears Zoning Chairman Danny Solis (25) will move forward with his plan to rezone a nearly eight acre plot of vacant land in Pilsen to prevent the development of a massive apartment building after a developer reportedly refused to comply with the neighborhood’s stringent affordable housing rules.

First reported by DNAinfo, Ald. Solis introduced an ordinance that would rezone a vacant parcel bounded by West 16th, South Newberry, South Peoria, and West 18th Streets from a Community Shopping District (B3-2) to a Limited Manufacturing/Business District (M1-2). According to DNAinfo, the zoning application is in response to a plan by developer Noah Gottlieb of Property Markets Group to build a large apartment complex on the vacant parcel. Ald. Solis demanded that at least 21% of the units be designated affordable housing and refused to support the plan through the plan development process until that criteria was met.

But instead of complying with the affordable housing requirements Solis enforces in Pilsen, Gottlieb reportedly decided to build a smaller building allowed as of right under the existing B3-2 zoning designation. Solis introduced a map amendment, the first item on today’s zoning agenda, to upzone the property to manufacturing, preventing any residential development to be built on the site. Manufacturing is considered one of the most strict zoning designations, and in the past, aldermen have used it as a tool to restrict new development and affirm local control. Any rezone from a manufacturing district requires a community review process and, in some cases, the green light from the city’s Plan Commission.

The parcel received its current zoning designation of B3-2 back in 2013 when Ald. Solis sunsetted an existing planned development (No. 1012). The Midwest Jesuits, which bought the land in 2009, are still listed as property owners.

Ald. Solis’ change request would fit somewhat with the existing zoning of the surrounding area. Properties directly across the street of West 18th are currently zoned for manufacturing, as is a parallel section of land between Morgan and Peoria Streets. But a portion along Newbery Avenue, which is located on the same block as the vacant parcel of land Ald. Solis wants to upzone, is currently zoned for residential homes with under 20 units.

If Ald. Solis is successful in obtaining the zoning change, public, civic or commercial uses would be allowed as of right. Any residential uses would need a special use permit. Neither Chairman Solis nor Gottlieb responded to our request for comment by publication.

Other Items on the Agenda

• 2847-2937 W. Lawrence Ave (33rd Ward): Ald. Deb Mell wants to downzone a strip of vacant land a block east of the North Branch Chicago River from a Neighborhood Commercial District (C1-2) to a Neighborhood Shopping District (B1-1). Both zoning designations allow for a broad range of small scale business, retail or service uses. But they diverge in the range of uses allowed: a C1 district permits taverns and liquor stores by-right.

• Two Mayoral Appointments: The Zoning Committee will take up two mayoral appointments: one to the Public Buildings Commission (PBC), the other to the Plan Commission. The former is an 11-member board that maintains, acquires and facilitates the construction of city-owned buildings. The latter is a 22-member board that reviews applications for planned developments citywide and projects along the lakefront, like the recent controversial Lucas Museum plan. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is transferring Albert Tyson III from the Public Building Commission to the Plan Commission, and replacing his vacant seat on the PBC with David T. Whittley, a pastor of the Corinthian Temple Church of God in Christ in Garfield Park.  
  
  Tyson has served Saint Stephen African Methodist Episcopal Church since 1985, in addition to holding a slew of city-run board positions, including a the Board of Trustees for City Colleges of Chicago. Tyson replaces another member of the cloth on the Plan Commission: Bishop John R. Bryant of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the city’s Grand Boulevard neighborhood. Bryant, who was appointed to the commission less than a year ago in the summer of 2015, was vocal advocate of affordable housing, opposing a handful of applications for its lack of on-site affordable units.

• Two projects in Pullman (9th Ward): One project from neighborhood group Pullman Artspace will be an affordable artist live-work space, the other plan from non-profit Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives 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. All of the units in the Pullman Artspace Lofts will be made affordable.
  
  Thirty-eight 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 in with the surrounding historic landmarked buildings. The apartments will range from studios to two-bedrooms, or 750-square-feet to 1,100-square feet. Rents will range from $295 to $863 a month.
  
  The other project, a proposed multi-tenant restaurant, 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. When the item went before the Plan Commission in May, David Doig, President of Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, said the development team is moving forward with lease agreements for a Potbelly and Chipotle. Doig is a veteran of the city’s Housing Department, DPD and the Park District under the Daley administration. The two will be the first fast casual restaurants to set up shop on the far South Side in over two decades, Doig said. The organization is saving an adjacent parcel for a “Chicago restaurant” they plan to open at a later date.

• Three Proposed Historical Landmark Designations: The Stone Temple Baptist Church Building (3620-3624 W. Douglas Blvd.) in the 24th Ward; the Commercial National Bank Building (125 S. Clark St.) in the 42nd Ward; and a group of residential buildings in Old Town known as the Artists Colony (150-160 W. Burton Place) are up for landmark designation by the committee.
  
  Stone Temple Baptist in North Lawndale regularly hosted speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and served as a synagogue for Jewish immigrants fleeing anti-Semitism in Romania, according a release from the Mayor's office. The Commercial National Bank Building, once CPS headquarters, is the city’s oldest high-rise commercial bank building. Blue Star Properties Inc., the building’s owner, is spending $21 million to rehab the building. If the bank is given landmark status, it would qualify for a Class L property tax break from Cook County. Total tax savings would be approximately $13.9 million over the next 12 years, the Mayor’s office says. The Old Town Artists Colony, a group of 12 buildings and five coach houses, were remodeled between roughly 1920 and 1940 by a group of artists including Edgar Miller and Sol Kogen. The landmark designation would protect the buildings' exterior elevations, as well as select walls, fences, gates and sidewalks, from alteration or demolition.

• Proposed Hyde Park Hotel (5th Ward): The 90-foot, 100-room boutique smart hotel the Olympia Companies have planned for Hyde Park will be the second of its kind along 53rd Street. It’ll be located at the corner of 53rd and Dorchester, just two blocks away from the recently opened Hyatt Hotel. The Hyatt will share its parking garage with the new hotel. The project received the green light from the Plan Commission in May (1401 E. 53rd Street).

• Essex Inn Revamp (4th Ward): Already approved by the Chicago Plan Commission, Oxford Capital Group’s redevelopment plan for the Essex Hotel awaits consideration by the Council’s Zoning Committee. The developer plans to build a 57-story tower adjacent to the Inn at 800 S. Michigan Ave. It will replace the existing parking garage. The new building will include hotel rooms on floors two to six, a restaurant on the seventh floor, a pool on the eighth, and 476 residential units on the remaining floors. The Essex Inn will be rehabbed to include 290 hotel rooms. In May, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks recommended that the building be designated an official landmark. That designation has yet to advance to the Council. (800 S. Michigan Ave)

• Uptown Housing Development & Theater Restoration (46th Ward): The Wilson Avenue Theater would be restored as part of a plan by Cedar Street to redevelop the neighboring vacant parcel into a seven-story apartment building. Since the project is located a block east of the CTA’s Wilson Avenue Red Line stop, the project is considered a Transit Oriented Development (TOD). That designation means that the developers have to provide only 16 parking spaces for the 102 unit building. (1050 W. Wilson Ave.)

• Another South Loop Parking Lot Turned Residential High Rise (4th Ward): Developer Keith Giles is seeking to establish a planned development to build a 26-story mixed-use residential building with ground floor retail and 320 apartments. Ten of those units will be made affordable. Plans also call for a rooftop pool. The measure passed the Plan Commission in May. Giles has been involved in several other historic and high rise developments. (1136 S. Wabash Ave.)

• New Parking Lot for North Park University (33rd & 39th Wards): 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. (5001 N. Kedzie Avenue)

Uber and Lyft faced tough questioning from aldermen at a joint committee hearing this week over tighter regulations for rideshare drivers. Both companies say those regulations would keep part timers from signing up, and effectively end rideshare as we know it in Chicago–and a lot of aldermen seem fine with that. Plus, we preview some of the most fascinating bits from our one year anniversary panel: on Chicago’s shrinking population and how the shifting political landscape might affect municipal elections in 2019.

The city’s Department of Planning and Development has spent only 11% of this year’s resource allocation goal for affordable housing, while it added 42% of its unit goal, according to the department’s first quarter affordable housing report for 2016.

Attendance: Chairman Joe Moore (49), Pat Dowell (3), Sophia King (4), Gregory Mitchell (7), Sue Sadlowski-Garza (10), David Moore (17), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Ariel Reboyras (30), Gilbert Villegas (36).

For 2016, DPD has projected commitments of over $250 million to assist more than 8,000 units of affordable housing. In the first quarter of 2016, from January to March, DPD committed almost $27 million of those funds to support 3,300 units of affordable housing.

At the City Council’s Housing Committee’s regular hearing on the department’s progress towards bringing more affordable units to Chicago, aldermen pressed DPD staff to explain the funding status of a special trust fund the city has in place to collect money from downtown developers for affordable housing.

In the fall of 2015, stricter metrics took effect requiring developers to provide up to 20% affordable housing units or pay an in lieu fee that, depending on where the project is located, ranges from $50,000 to $175,000 per affordable unit not added on site or within a mile of the new development. There was a rush of applications filed before the October 2015 cut off date before the new Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) would take effect. And since payment is due when the developer applies for a building permit, not when the zoning application is approved by the city, it will be a while before the city starts recouping some of that money, DPD staff told aldermen.

DPD’s Tracy Sanchez said the Affordable Housing Opportunity Trust Fund currently has collections from payments made between September 2014 to September 2015. “To date, I don’t think it is impacting it very much yet, because they just became effective, the 2015 ARO. So we will probably see more effects of it going forward, like later on in the year or next year,” she said.

Cary Steinbuck, Executive Director for the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund, added that the fund relies on two sources of revenue: money collected through the Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund, which she said came in higher for 2016, and state funds.

“Unfortunately we have received no state money. We are tied up in the state budget, and even though our court case was successful there’s back money owed to the trust fund,” she said. Steinbuck said once the department is successful in recouping that money, the fund’s board of directors will decide how to spend it.

“This will be the first time we have new units in more than five years. Only thing we have been funding is relocation of subsidies, and those are mostly selected by the tenants themselves as to where they want to relocate or to move,” she said.

The Mayor’s new Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus the City Council passed this month was briefly brought up during the hearing. The plan, which takes effect in June, will leverage downtown development by collecting fees from developers in exchange for the ability to add extra square footage to their buildings. Eighty-percent of the money collected will go into the new Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. DPD will grant out that money to spur development in the city’s most blighted neighborhoods.

Kevin Jackson with the Chicago Rehab Network, an organization that regularly analyzes DPD’s quarterly affordable housing reports, said they’ve determined the new fund “will not result in any meaningful loss of affordable housing funds.”

But Jackson had some suggestions for how to improve transparency, such as creating a scorecard for evaluating competing projects and “better defined avenues for community control.” Jackson said one example of more local control would be to create advisory groups similar to the Pilsen Land Use Committee to publicly vet proposals. He’d also like DPD to hold hearings on its progress, similar to how the Housing Committee holds quarterly reports on its efforts to reach its affordable housing goals.

At a day long, often boisterous City Council Joint License and Transportation Committee hearing on a plan to increase regulations for drivers of ride-hailing companies to “level the playing field” with the yellow taxi industry, executives of Uber and Lyft threatened that a regulatory crackdown would “end ride-sharing as we know it” in Chicago.

There was no vote, only debate and public testimony, on Transportation ChairmanAnthony Beale’s (9) ordinance requiring Uber and Lyft drivers apply for a public chauffeur's license, be subject to background checks and fingerprinting, and make 5% of their fleet handicap accessible. Uber and Lyft supporters and yellow cab drivers packed the gallery, often cheering and jeering at testimony. At one point, Chairman Beale threatened to clear the gallery if the disruptions continued.

The meeting was heated, with Uber and Lyft supporters often on the receiving end of fact-checking responses from pro-regulation aldermen, and pro-regulation aldermen receiving taunts from boisterous audience members. Most present agreed on the need for more wheelchair accessible cars, but could not agree on how to work that out. Division of opinions was especially prominent on the issue of requiring fingerprinting for ride-hail drivers.  

At one point Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1), one of the few vocal Uber sympathizers on the Council, said, “I have more security when I get out of Uber or Lyft than I do with the taxi cab,” a cab driver in the gallery stood up and yelled, “You lie!” City Hall security had to intervene to get the driver to sit down.

“This is the Jetsons versus the Flintstones,” Moreno continued. “I am all for an even playing field, but why are we taking a very entrepreneurial industry and trying to have them go back to 70’s regulations?”

Both Ald. Moreno and Ald. Joe Moore (49) asked whether easing regulations on the taxi industry was an option–a suggestion also pitched by Uber Chief Advisor David Plouffe. Moreno claimed that the taxi industry was only interested in “killing” Uber, not working with them, citing the new fingerprinting rule. “I’d rather have a discussion about what we can do to lessen the restrictions on taxi cabs...bring them at least into 1990.”

But Moreno seemed to be in the minority. More than half the City Council has signed up to support Ald. Beale’s ordinance for more strict rideshare regulations, and few sounded off in support of deregulating cabs. Ald. John Arena (45) and Chairman Beale suggested Lyft and Uber should conform to new standards or leave Chicago.

“It’s simply ensuring we are doing the best we can to protect consumers," Arena said, arguing proposed changes were reasonable, and could be completed in a day. "If the industry doesn’t want to meet a very low standard, then go somewhere else where those standards are acceptable.” Arena noted if Uber and Lyft drivers could take a day off to testify, they could do the same to take an expedited one day class to achieve their chauffeur's license. 

And former 17th Ward Ald. Latasha Thomas, now counsel for law firm Reyes Kurson, which represents the taxi lobbying group the Illinois Transportation Trade Association, the taxi lobby, said it didn’t make sense that beauticians jump through more hoops than Uber drivers to get a license. “There’s more risk to getting in someone’s car than doing my nails,” she said.

Joseph Okpaku, Vice President of Government Relations for Lyft, said there is a greater risk of Chicagoans losing citywide transportation access and a chance to make extra money if the regulations were approved. He said there was a “distinct possibility” the company would leave Chicago if their drivers had to spend time and money to conform to the new rules. Part time drivers represent a “critical mass” of the service, he said. Extra barriers to access might dissuade them from signing up in the first place.

“We have never operated in a city with requirements like that,” he said of the proposed chauffeur’s license rule. Both sides frequently mentioned the company’s withdrawal from Austin, Texas, after voters there approved a ballot referendum requiring fingerprinting for drivers a few weeks ago.  

Marco McCottry, a General Manager for Uber, agreed, saying Chicago already has some of the strictest regulations on the books. “If this ordinance were to pass, ride-sharing as we know it would no longer exist in Chicago," he said. Chairman Beale shot back, saying a multi-billion dollar company could eat the cost. He also chastised the representatives and accused them of spreading lies about his ordinance through “scare tactics.”

Uber and Lyft have both actively lobbied riders and drivers online, on the radio, and on TV, encouraging supporters to contact their local alderman to vote against Beale’s ordinance. Uber has claimed changes would nearly double the cost of rides.

Chairman Beale said the hearing was supposed to be about “increasing safety” and creating parity between the two industries, but race, the lack of jobs and transportation to the city’s South and West Sides were brought up frequently.

“The taxi industry had a monopoly in this town and they didn’t have to innovate.” Ald. Moreno said prompting cheers from the gallery. “And now here comes Uber, and Latinos and African-Americans are driving more cars because of Uber and Lyft than ever in the taxicab industry.”

Okpaku and McCottry said their platforms filled a void. 80% of drivers for Lyft drive less than 15 hours a week and most are full time students, retirees or in between jobs, Okpaku said. McCorry testified that Uber has led several recruitment efforts in neighborhoods on the South and West Sides, adding about 11,000 new drivers from those areas to the platform.

Both Okpaku and McCottry said requiring that their drivers get fingerprinted would unfairly impact communities of color where there are higher concentrations of arrests. But two former police officers on the Council, Aldermen Chris Taliaferro (29) and Anthony Napolitano (41) said it’s the only way to get an accurate portrayal of a person’s criminal history.

“One thing I don’t want to do, no matter what, under any circumstance, is compromise safety,” said Ald. Taliaferro. “There was a reason why we did fingerprinting with the police department. Fingerprinting tells us things you don’t want us to know.”

“I’m upset when I hear these arguments about discrimination, against workers, against people of color,” said Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35). He said he was offended that a multi-billion dollar company was pitting workers against each other and trying to evade regulations by claiming their companies help predominately low-income Chicagoans.

By the four hour mark, when it was the public’s time to testify, Ald. Beale employed a buzzer to prevent people from going over a two minute limit. Most of the public testimony came from Uber, Lyft, and cab drivers, with a handful of advocates for more handicapped accessible vehicles.

Ezzedin Abdelmagid, a member of Cab Drivers United, said, “the taxi industry is on the verge of collapse”, echoing previous testimony he made earlier this year at a previous License Committee meeting. “You must create a fair set of rules for all of us.” He said that deregulating the taxi industry was a “terrible” idea.

Parallel to Beale’s ordinance, the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection is working on its own compromise, spurred, in part, by a U.S. District Court decision that said the distinctions between regulations taxis and “transportation network providers” (TNPs) appeared “utterly arbitrary” and that “the requirements for taxis are far more onerous than for TNPs.” The decision allowed taxi interest to pursue equal protection claims against the city.

After the meeting, Chairman Beale said he plans to schedule a vote on his plan ahead of the next City Council meeting. Beale said he might tweak the plan, but “doesn’t scare easy.”

Owners of burned cars will face new reporting requirements after the Committee on Public Safety approved its only agenda item–an ordinance aimed at reducing toxic car fires in the city, increasing coordination between arson investigators at the Chicago Police and Fire Departments, and stopping insurance fraud.

“This closes a loophole,” Ald. Matt O’Shea (19), the chief sponsor explained, saying it lets CPD and CFD investigators work together as soon as car fires are reported. “There were more than 900 vehicles burned last year in the City of Chicago. That’s an astronomical number.”

Attendance: Chairman Ariel Reboyras (30), Gregory Mitchell (7), Anthony Beale (9), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Matt O’Shea (19), Nicholas Sposato (38), Anthony Napolitano (41), Ameya Pawar (47)

“Yearly, the National Insurance Crime Board, they’ve seen about a doubling in the amount of auto fires that’s reported to them,” Michael Murphy of the Chicago Fire Department’s Office of Fire Investigation told aldermen, sometimes criminally, to cash in on insurance claims. He estimates while his office conducts upward of 1,200 fire investigations a year, only 15 to 20 are for car fires. “A gross number are going uninvestigated.”

Murphy says the new ordinance would require those who own a car damaged by fire to make an appointment at CFD’s Office of Fire Investigation. The car owner would meet with staff from CFD and a staff from CPD’s Arson Division, and file a report attesting to the accuracy of their claims. Interviews would be similar to those conducted for house or garage fires. Car owners would have to provide identification, proof of car ownership and insurance information to cross-check with city records. Based on that interview, CPD and CFD investigators would then be able to determine whether the fire required more investigation. “We’re going to coordinate very closely,” Murphy says.

Roger Krupp with the International Association of Arson Investigators said the ordinance would be “groundbreaking,” and he hoped it will work as a deterrent for would-be arsonists hoping to fraudulently cash in on insurance claims. “It makes people think ‘I’m not going to go through this, there’s too much to get this insurance money.’”

The Chicago Police Department’s Sgt. Richard Sliva told aldermen “There were 916 vehicle fires in Chicago in 2015. The Arson section responded to approximately 133 of those fires… that leaves a big gap of people we didn’t talk to.”   

Former firefighter Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) said the ordinance was long overdue. “Every year that we’re fighting auto fires, they’re getting worse and worse… they’re so toxic… they’re so combustible. You’re not just putting a car out, they’re exploding on you as you put them out.”

The Emanuel Administration has reached a tentative agreement to put the city’s Laborers pension fund, the smallest of the city’s four vastly underfunded retirement funds, towards a path to solvency, while a solution for another retirement fund for public employees remains unsolved.

A previous pension overhaul of both the city’s Laborer and Municipal Funds, which represent about 79,000 public employees, including non-teacher staff at Chicago Public Schools, was found unconstitutional in March by the Illinois Supreme Court. Yesterday, the city said it reached an agreement with one of those funds: The Laborers’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (LABF). That plan will need approval from Springfield.

During a late afternoon briefing with reporters yesterday, Budget Director Alex Holtannounced the city plans to dedicate all of the revenue from a 2014 increase in the 911 surcharge to make increased pension payments to the Laborers’ fund starting in 2018. That $3.90 surcharge the city approved in 2014, up from $2.50, was originally earmarked for increased pension payments due to both the city’s Laborers and Municipal funds as part of a funding ramp recently found unconstitutional. The surcharge brings in about $40 million in annual revenue. The remainder of the annual pension payment for Labor, about $15 million, would come out of property tax revenue.

Holt and city Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown said yesterday that “conversations are ongoing...and everything is on the table” as it relates to finding new revenue for the city’s contribution to the Municipal Fund, which represents a larger portion of city employees. Labor has roughly 8,000 members, while Municipal has about 70,000.

Both funds are expected to run out of money in about a decade. The net position for the Laborers’ plan as of Dec. 31, 2015 was $1.2 billion, a $149 million decrease from 2014. That decrease is largely attributable to a statutorily-defined multiplier the city uses to base its annual pension payments. The fund has had to annually liquidate about $130 million of its investment assets in the past two years to pay out benefits to retirees.

Under the agreement the city reached with the trustees of the Laborers’ fund, beneficiaries hired on or after January 1st, 2017 would be offered a choice: pay a larger share of benefits, about three percentage points more than current beneficiaries and retire two years earlier, or pay the existing 8.5% rate and retire with benefits at 67. Giving beneficiaries a “choice” will help the city get around a clause in the state constitution that prohibits pension funds from diminishing future benefits owed to current retirees.

Starting with the 2017 pension contribution, which will be made in 2018, the city would increase its payments to the Laborers’ fund by 30% per year over five years. By 2022, the city will achieve actuarially required contributions, with annual payments to the fund increasing by approximately $3 million to $5 million annually.

The agreement will need state approval, and Brown and Holt say a bill won’t be introduced until the late summer or fall. But Holt maintains that unlike the last pension overhaul plan, SB 1922, which the state’s highest court found unconstitutional and the pension funds opposed, labor will work with the city to get it passed.

Few details were provided on the call for how the city plan to address the soon to be insolvent Municipal Fund, which was included in the unconstitutional pension reform. CFO Brown said while they are not in a position to talk about what funding sources the city is currently looking at to make those payments, the agreement they made with Labor provides “a good framework.”

The City Council’s Public Safety Committee meets today and has only one item on the agenda: an ordinance from Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) requiring owners of recently burned vehicles to report the damage to the city’s Fire Commissioner.

Ald. O’Shea introduced the measure in February. It would require that the owner of record for the burned vehicle submit a “signed statement” detailing what happened to the car in addition to any other information the commissioner deems necessary to determine the accuracy of the statement. Violators would be fined between $200 - $1,000 for each offense. The ordinance would take effect 90 days after publication.

The Chicago City Council spends two days debating ever-evolving Airbnb regulations from the Mayor’s Office. The City Council approves a new zoning tool to link downtown development to some of the city’s most blighted and economically underserved neighborhoods–even as one alderman labels it a “slush fund.” And we recap the monthly Council meeting: bonds, settlements, and an attempt to curb dog poop from piling up on people’s lawns.

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.

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.

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)

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.

Tomorrow, City Council’s License and Housing Committees will consider a substitute ordinance from Mayor Rahm Emanuel to create new regulations for short term rental companies like Airbnb in Chicago.

Under the amended proposal, the type of registration or license required will change depending on the type of platform used to rent the unit. According to Shannon Breymaier, a spokesperson for the Mayor, the breakdown would be:  

• “Intermediaries” like Airbnb would be required to produce monthly reports regarding rental activity to the city and local alderman. These businesses would have to also provide insurance on behalf of their hosts and remove units in violation of city rules. Units booked through an intermediary would be required to register as a “shared housing unit.”
• For “advertising platforms” like HomeAway, which collect a fee for units listed on the company’s platform, the city would face similar regulations as intermediaries: the company would have to provide unit registration data from the city, and remove homes from listings that aren’t licensed. Units booked through an advertising platform or offline (e.g. newspaper ads) would be subject to an updated “vacation rental” license.
• A new “shared housing unit operator” license would be created for hosts who rent more than one shared housing unit. This license would provide the city with an additional tool to enforce against bad actors by allowing suspension or revocation action against an operator’s license and all the operator’s units registered units if there’s a violation in any unit.

Mayor Emanuel’s new plan calls for doubling the surcharge to 4% on the booking of any shared housing unit, bed and breakfast, or vacation rental. A majority of the money would help pay for city-run homeless and affordable housing initiatives. Up to 8% of the approximately $2 million in revenue raised from this surcharge will pay for enforcement and administration.

And “to address quality of life concerns” raised by several North Side aldermen, who represent neighborhoods with the highest concentration of Airbnb rentals, the ordinance would set limits on the number of allowable units within buildings.

• For single family homes: “only primary residences–when the host is present–can be listed or licensed, and egregious conditions like large parties would be subject to heightened penalties.”
• For multi-family homes (2-4 units): one rental per building would be allowed.
• For multi-unit buildings: the building owner, condo board or homeowners association would be in charge of setting the limit of units. They would have to inform the city of those limits. So-called “Guest sites”, or extra units within buildings for family and friends that are not advertised as primary residences, are not subject to the restrictions.

The owner of any home-sharing unit found facilitating “egregious conditions” such as drug trafficking, prostitution, and gang activity would face a $5,000 fine for each day found in violation, in addition to losing the privilege of renting out that unit. The plan also calls for a three strikes rule for other types of disturbances to surrounding neighbors, like noise or exceeding occupancy limits. “The City will have the right to suspend or revoke a registration for certain types of offenses, including if the continued rental would pose an imminent threat to public safety,” an email from Breymaier says.