A pared-down ordinance giving the Inspector General oversight of City Council passes by a thin margin, while a hike in cigarette taxes and a hearing on a one shot cash infusion to CPS get tangled up by procedural maneuvers. Plus, aldermen sing Kumbaya and say goodbye to Ald. Will Burns (4), who is leaving City Hall to work for Airbnb.

Nothing Comes Easy Any More: Council Votes Delayed, Deferred and Failed
by Claudia Morell – [email protected]

Yesterday’s Council meeting started with almost two hours of resolutions of praise: with a tribute to Rev. Clay Evans, praise for Marine Corps veterans, a celebration of Chinese New Year and Black History Month. Following the conclusion of regular business, aldermen took some time to say goodbye to Ald. Will Burns (4), who announced his resignation last week, although most highlighted how much they enjoyed him, despite rarely agreeing with him.

While the meeting started with platitudes and congratulations, the Chamber was infused with tension, as a number of important votes either failed, were delayed through parliamentary maneuvering or were closer than expected:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel's tobacco ordinance failed to clear Council yesterday, despite last-minute concessions made to aldermen concerned about the black market of loose cigarette sales;
• Ald. Michele Smith (43) and Ald. Ameya Pawar (47) took a hit yesterday, as well, with 29 of their colleagues voting to support a diluted version of their ethics reform plan to put the Inspector General in charge of policing aldermen;
• Finance Committee Chair Ed Burke at the last minute held from consideration a $200 million water bond authorization that would pay for previous “toxic swap” deals;

Aldermen say the phone lines were burning up last night, as Council members and Mayoral staff whipped votes on three contentious issues due for a vote this morning: acceptance of the O’Connor Working Group’s Inspector General substitute ordinance; passage of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed tobacco tax that was delayed from Monday to a special Finance Committee meeting called for 9:15 a.m.; and a previously tabled $200 million bond issuance to pay for swap termination fees.

Two sources last night counted 25 “no” votes for the IG substitute, but as the night wore on, one source said some of those “no” votes may be wavering.

Ald. Ameya Pawar (47) a co-sponsor of the original ordinance merging the Legislative Inspector General’s office with the City’s Inspector General’s Office, told Aldertrack yesterday afternoon that while the working group ordinance was still a work in progress and he believes the one he crafted with Ald. Michele Smith (42) is “the right ordinance,” he’s content IG Joe Ferguson will be empowered to oversee City Council after two years fighting for reform. “You don’t want the perfect to be the enemy of the good,” he said.

Per Rule 41, 26 votes are needed to discharge Pawar’s original ordinance to the floor. A substitution or amendment, like the working group’s proposed changes, can be introduced at that time as well, Pawar says. It will come down to a simple up or down vote during the “Unfinished Business” portion of the meeting.

The Council’s Finance Committee is also meeting this morning, an hour before the full City Council meeting, to vote on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to raise the city’s smoking age to 21 and increase taxes on tobacco-related products. On Monday, a marathon-long hearing on the ordinance revealed that a significant number of aldermen oppose the plan for fear of how it will impact local businesses and crime.

Aldermen who represent wards along the city’s borders had expressed worry that the changes would drive out business to the surrounding suburbs and Indiana, where smoking products are cheaper. Others, predominantly from the city’s South and West Side, had expressed concern the high price of cigarette packs would fuel what they described to be a “booming” underground market of loose cigarette sales.

Members of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus don’t like the ordinance either, because the $6 million in expected revenue from the new tax would go to a CPS-run summer orientation program for new high school freshman, instead of anti-smoking programs. Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) said he would prefer the money pay for anti-smoking programs in elementary schools. It’s possible, one source said, a substitute may be introduced today that would divert some of those funds to smoking cessation programs so the Mayor will have enough votes to pass the ordinance.

Items Awaiting Council Approval Today (Highlights)

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  Legal Settlements: A $3.1M settlement with the U.S. DoJ over a hiring practice no longer in use that allegedly discriminated against foreign-born candidates. Ald. Nick Sposato (38) voted against it in committee. Also up: a $220,000 settlement with Tiffany Hondras, who filed a lawsuit against the police department alleging unlawful search and seizure, and a $200,000 settlement toJonathan and Jesse Hadnott, Kevin Hunt and Brandell Betts, who filed a joint lawsuit against the police department also alleging unlawful search and seizure.

  
  


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  Bond Offering: The Second Lien Water Revenue Project and Refunding Bonds, Series 2016a ($200M) are listed on the Finance Committee’s list of ordinances awaiting a vote, but according to Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), it’s supposed to be held for another month. Chairman Ed Burke (14) tabled the bond deal at last month’s City Council meeting after the Progressive Caucus pushed back, because it would pay for swap termination fees on existing debt. The PC wants to sue the banks instead. An ordinance calling for legal action against banks just got re-referred from the Budget Committee to the Finance Committee yesterday.

  
  


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  Zoning Changes for the old Malcolm X City College campus for the newBlackhawks ice rink and Rush University Medical Center academic campus.

  
  


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  Fee Waivers for all city permits and public way use permits for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority

  
  


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  Anti-Discrimination Protections for vets as it relates to finding and securing housing in Chicago. This ordinance also provides anti-retaliation measures to protect tenants who file complaints against their landlords.

  
  


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  Sale Of City-Owned Land for $1 to the University of Chicago for a new campus for their existing Woodlawn Charter School. Ald. Sue Sadlowski-Garza (10) and Ald. David Moore (17) voted against it in committee.

  
  


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  The BACP Top Cabbie Award Ordinance: sponsored by Mayor Emanuel, would create an incentive program to find “Chicago’s Top Cabbie”. Top prize is a free taxicab medallion.

  
  


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  Mobile Food Vendor Restrictions for Lincoln Park to restrict food cart vendors on nine separate stretches of restaurant-heavy sidewalks, including roughly quarter-mile spans of Armitage, Lincoln, Clark, Fullerton, and Halsted.

  
  


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  Expenditure of Open Space Impact Fee fund for Julia Burgos Park: The Logan Square Park would receive $235,000 in “Open Space Impact Fees,” which are taken from new residential developments to help expand and improve local park space. The money would help pay for environmental remediation costs at an adjacent vacant plot of land the city acquired.

  
  


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  TIF Money For Belmont Cragin Elementary School: transfers $287,000 in TIF funds for the construction of a new playground with rubber surfacing.

  
  


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  Changes To The City’s Procurement Goals For M/WBE Businesses: Would increase all city-funded contract goals from 24% to 26% for minority businesses and from 4% to 6% for women owned businesses. The ordinance originally called for 30% and 10%, respectively.

  
  


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  Divvy Expansion To Evanston And Oak Park: includes revenue sharing with Chicago. The City will pass through $320,000 to Evanston and $480,000 to Oak Park. Evanston will pay $80,000 in local matching funds, Oak Park will pay $120,000. Costs and revenues will be shared

  
  

Appointments

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  Julio Rodriguez as a member of the Commission on Human Relations; Reappointment of Naderh H. Elrabadi, Stephanie A. Kanter, David J. Mussatt, and Nabeela Rasheed as members of Chicago Commission on Human Relations.

  
  


• Designation of of Blake P. Sercye as Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals. The former chairman, Jonathan Swain, took a position on the Chicago Board of Elections. Sercye has been on ZBA for only a few months. Swain replaced Langdon Neal on the three-member board of commissioners.

Expected Intros: Ald. Moreno Demands Hearing on Prop. Tax Relief Plan, Hopkins Wants Legacy Buildings Protected

Ald. Joe Moreno (1) will be introducing a resolution demanding a hearing on an ordinance he introduced in September that would provide property tax relief to some homeowners whose homes are valued at $250,000 or less. The ordinance was introduced last fall in response to the Mayor’s historic property tax hike. “This [property tax increase] was approved with the caveat that the City would consider a citywide rebate program, if the state could not provide relief. As of this date, state action to provide relief to low- and middle-income homeowners has been stalled,” Ald. Moreno said in a release.

Moreno’s rebate plan is intended for households earning less than $100,000 a year. Homeowners would apply for the program with the Department of Finance, and the City’s Chief Financial Officer would establish and administer it. The CFO could call on the Office of Compliance to conduct eligibility audits.

Read the formula with an example here.

The dollar amount homeowners would get back is multiplied by the difference in the City’s real estate tax assessment rate from last year to this year, then multiplied by the equalized assessed value of the home. Which basically means a home with $50,000 a year in income worth $250,000 could be eligible for a rebate just over $208, delivered by check. The Chicago Tribune estimates that if Emanuel’s proposed increases were in effect this year, the total bill on a $250,000 home would go up by $342, to $4,504. About 270,000 Chicago households would be eligible to apply for Moreno’s program.

According to Ald. Moreno’s count, there are six co-sponsors: Ald. Pat Dowell (3), Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Ald. Danny Solis (25), Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30), and Ald. Joe Moore (49).

Ald Brian Hopkins (2) also plans to introduce an ordinance that will “allow any Alderman or the Mayor to nominate a longstanding business deemed an economic or cultural fixture to the community for at least 30 years,” to become a so-called “Legacy Business.” The designation is aimed in part to help longstanding businesses survive rising property tax rates.

Up to 300 legacy businesses could be nominated per year. A business has to have operated in Chicago for at least 30 years, contributed to the neighborhood's history or identity, and committed to maintaining its, “physical features or traditions that define the business.” To be included on DPD's list, businesses would pay a $50 administrative fee. Those fees and across the board business licensing fee hikes (most by $5), would help fund the program.

Legacy Businesses could apply for a special grant from DPD awarding $500 per full-time equivalent employee. Landlords with 10+ year lease agreements with Legacy Businesses could also apply for a grant, at $4.50 per square foot, maxing out at 5,000 square feet per location.

After more than two hours of testimony, close to two dozen public witnesses, one room change, and one mid-meeting closed door session, the Council’s Zoning Committee approved a zoning change for the controversial Montrose Clarendon project at the site of the former Maryville/Cueno Hospital in the city’s Uptown neighborhood.

Members Present (10/17): Chairman Danny Solis (25), Vice Chairman James Cappleman (46),  Ald. Joe Moreno (1), Ald. Toni Foulkes (16), Ald. Matt O’Shea (19), Ald. Walter Burnett, Jr. (27), Ald. Deb Mell (33), Ald. Emma Mitts (38), Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44).

The project took up the bulk of the four hour zoning meeting as residents, one-by-one, provided testimony on a zoning change that would facilitate construction of a massive housing complex with 631 units at the nearly 5-acre shuttered hospital campus.

Opponents said the Cueno Hospital buildings should be designated as landmarks, not torn down. Several lamented a $15.8 million TIF subsidy that was made available to the project, and a few demanded more affordable housing units on site. The community of homeless people living under a nearby viaduct was brought up several times as a point of outrage.

Proponents said they’re glad to finally see the site, which has been vacant for years, turned into something new. Several community leaders argued this proposal was the product of years of negotiations with the developers and touted the economic impact to the neighborhood.

At one point, after getting into a few back-and-forth arguments with residents over what is legally required as it pertains to TIF money and affordable housing, local Alderman and Committee Vice Chairman James Cappleman (46) asked that Zoning Administrator Patti Scudiero step in and explain the zoning code.

When it was finally his turn to testify, Ald. Cappleman detailed his involvement in the project, from his first month in office to yesterday’s meeting. To address the housing disparity charges raised, he said the project passed through several local community meetings, “and reflected the economic diversity of the 46th Ward.” On the TIF issue, he said the land is currently tax exempt (it was a hospital site), which means it won’t generate any money until something is built there. The new project will generate $2 to $3 million a year in property taxes, according to his count.

“Without this project our community will continue to have a boarded up, vacant building that brings more crime to this neighborhood that is already incredibly overburdened,” he concluded, somewhat shouting by this point.

Following the public comment portion, Chairman Solis called for a five minute recess for aldermen to talk privately to DPD staff. When he returned, he immediately called the item up for consideration by voice vote. “Call the roll,” people in the gallery chanted as aldermen cast their vote in unison. It was divided with a few audible “nays.”

“This is democracy in Chicago,” one person in the gallery yelled.

Ald. Joe Moreno (1), who has recently made affordable housing a soapbox issue, accused the developer's lawyer, Mariah DiGrino with DLA Piper, of being “disingenuous” when she suggested the project “exceeded” the city’s 2007 ARO.

The joint venture by JDL Development and Harlem Irving Companies would cost $125 million and will be supported with $15.8 million in TIF assistance. 20 units, about 5% of total units, will be made affordable. The developer will also make two large cash payments totaling about $8 million to the city’s affordable housing trust fund to make up for the remaining affordable units required under the city’s 2007 affordable requirements ordinance.

The apartments would be divided between two high rise buildings. One building to be located at the northwest corner of West Montrose and North Clarendon Avenue would have 381 residential units. The other, at the northwest corner of West Agatite and North Clarendon Avenues, would hold 250 residential units. Other amenities in the new planned development would include a third single-story structure (a grocery store) at the corner of West Montrose and North Clarendon Avenues.

Other Applications

The Montrose-Clarendon project was the only item on the agenda to receive significant pushback. A couple of residents from the 4th Ward testified against an “off premise sign” at 600 S. Clark Street in the city’s Printer’s Row neighborhood.

The billboard would be too big (14 by 48 feet) and doesn’t conform with the surrounding neighborhood, said Chuck Gullett, a resident at a 60-unit condo building “catty-corner” to the location of the proposed sign. He and another resident said they were just notified about the hearing yesterday and requested that the item be held.

Chairman Danny Solis requested someone from the 4th Ward speak, but no one was present, so Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) suggested the item be held or voted down because, “the Fourth Ward has no alderman.” Ald. Will Burns (4) announced last week that he will be stepping down from his post. He’s accepting a job at Airbnb.

Ald. Joe Moreno (1) chimed in to say, “The Fourth Ward has an alderman, he’s just not here now,” and suggested the item be held. Chairman Solis held the item so the residents could work the issue out with Ald. Burns.

No one from the public (save for perennial speaker George Blakemore) testified on other proposed plans. All were approved unanimously by voice vote:

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  Landmark Status for the Marina City Towers: The committee swiftly approved landmark designation for the twin, 60-story corncob-shaped residential high-rises in the Loop. According to Ned Crawford with the city’s Landmarks Commission, the two Marina City Towers are icons because the building, often called “a city within a city,” was the the “first of its kind to layer residential, commercial, and entertainment uses into a dense high-rise complex in the city’s center.” Local Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) called the designation “long overdue.” The Commission on Chicago Landmarks made their preliminary recommendation to designate the two buildings as official landmarks in November.

  
  


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  Milwaukee TOD Gets one ‘No’ Vote: Ald. Joe Moreno voted against Vequity’s application for a zoning change to construct a six-story, 44-unit luxury high rise along a heavily trafficked intersection on Milwaukee Avenue (1920 N. Milwaukee Ave.) Moreno voted against the project because no affordable housing was provided on site. Instead, the developers will be making a cash payment to the city’s affordable housing trust fund.

  
  


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  Event Liquor Licenses: An ordinance that establishes an industrial private event license for large warehouses located in four PMDs (planned manufacturing districts) got approval from the committee. It was sponsored by Zoning Chairman Solis. According to Buildings Commissioner Judy Frydland, who testified on the ordinance because she helped draft it when she worked for the city’s Law Department, the new license would be limited to private events, such as weddings, fundraisers, corporate parties and those not open to the general public.
  
  The warehouse would have to be a minimum of 15,000 square feet. Alcohol would be allowed on site, insurance would be required, and a licensee would have to develop an on-site safety plan and give notice to local businesses. Chairman Solis said the ordinance would provide much needed revenue to the city, in addition to “protecting” these districts and providing a regulatory framework to keep track of these kinds of parties. Ald. Reilly voiced concern the license would lead to a lot of raves. Chairman Solis said provisions in the ordinance would prevent that. Pop-up establishments are not allowed.
  
  Giving the issues some context, Ald. Walter Burnett, Jr. (27) pointed to a recent incident where Mercedes Benz held a party in their Fulton Marketwarehouse and attendees clogged the streets with their cars, making it impossible for local residents to find parking. This ordinance would prevent incidents like that from happening because the surrounding community would be given the opportunity to object to the license.

  
  

For more than three hours, aldermen from a broad spectrum of backgrounds pushed back against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed tobacco regulations that would increase the city’s smoking age to 21 and generate $6 million in new revenue from increased taxes on tobacco products. Committee Finance Chairman Ed Burkeeventually decided to hold the item for further consideration.

At the end of yesterday's meeting, Burke called a new meeting on Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. to reconsider the item.

Present: Chairman Ed Burke (14), Joe Moreno (1), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Roderick Sawyer (6) Greg Mitchell (7), Anthony Beale (9), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10),  Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Marty Quinn (13), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins, Jr. (21), Rick Munoz (22), Mike Zalewski (23), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Danny Solis (25), Walter Burnett, Jr. (27), Jason Ervin (28), Carrie Austin (34), Marge Laurino (38), Scott Waguespack (32), Nick Sposato (38), Pat O’Connor (40), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), James Cappleman (46), Ameya Pawar (47) Harry Osterman (48), Deb Silverstein (50)

Yesterday’s Finance Committee meeting started with a full press gallery, likely in anticipation of a debate on a resolution urging the city to quickly settle the a lawsuit filed by Bettie Ruth Jones, the woman accidentally killed by the Chicago police officer responding to the Quintonio Legrier call, but a section of the gallery emptied out moments after the meeting was called to order when Chairman Burke (14) announced that he and resolution sponsor Ald. Jason Ervin (28) agreed to hold the resolution and submit it to a subcommittee to fix the “verbiage.”

Tobacco Tax Debate

Expressing worry that the increased taxes would kill small businesses, especially those located in border wards, and fuel the underground market of loose cigarette sales, aldermen argued the new regulations would cause more harm than good during three hours of debate.

[Draft Substitute Ordinance Language]

While the revenue generated by the new tax would fund a new orientation program for CPS freshmen smoking cessation programs, some aldermen argued the enforcement mechanism is unclear; a few questioned whether the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) or the city’s police department would take over the reins to enforce the new rules.

Although Chicago’s cigarette tax is already the highest in the nation, Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita, M.D. says raising the tobacco age would to curb youth smoking at a key time when their brains are still developing. Smokers who start at a younger age will have a harder time quitting as they get older, she said. Young consumers are also more price sensitive.

But Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) rejected that premise, pointing to the thousands of young adults who buy expensive concert tickets, cell phones, and designer clothing and shoes. “It seems like we are a city that wants to chase people away,” she said, garnering cheers from the gallery.

South Side Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6) says he knows one man who makes $800 a day selling loose cigarettes. He gave voice to concerns that the new taxes would hurt “communities of color”. Ald. Jason Ervin (28) recalled a constituent who used to sell loose cigarettes out in the “freezing cold” but now sells those cigarettes “from the luxury of a brand new Jeep.”

When Commissioner Morita suggested aldermen were raising “theoretical” concerns about black market sales, Ald. Ervin shot back, “I would implore you to walk down Madison with me, from Hamlin all the way to Kosner, and you will see the real consequences of what we’re talking about. This is not theoretical. This is not something I dreamed up,” he added.

Apologizing and saying she misspoke when dismissing Ervin’s comments, Morita tried to shift the conversation back to the public health benefits of the ordinance.

But few aldermen were interested in talking about health. While they agreed curbing youth smoking is admirable, they said they couldn't understand why the city felt the need to target small business owners who, in some cases, could see up to a 50% reduction in sales.

Several aldermen asked to hear how CPS plans to spend the $6 million in potential new revenue. The Mayor’s office has said it would be earmarked for a new week-long orientation program for students entering their freshman year of high school. Finding it odd that the new taxes are aimed at curbing smoking, which theoretically would lead to a reduction in year-over-year revenue, Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11) asked how the summer program could continue when the annual revenue isn’t guaranteed. Morita said she didn’t have an answer.

Even former Ald. James Balcer (11) showed up to testify against the ordinance. Balcer, who is a veteran, said vets and active military personnel should be exempt from the age restrictions, because, as he put it, if they are old enough to fight for their country and vote, they are old enough to smoke.

As the hearing approached the three hour mark, Ald. Ameya Pawar (47), who is not a member of the committee, but is one of the ordinance's lead sponsors, had had enough and accused his colleagues of backing big tobacco.

“I’m at a loss, we have progressives saying they’re for tobacco. I don’t know what is going on when we have people carrying the water of tobacco companies,” he opined. Taking his comments a step further, Ald. Pawar said yesterday’s focus on the economic impact of tobacco sales was akin to colonial times, when during the British occupation of India, the British used to give out free cigarettes as a way “to get them hooked so they could pay for them later.”

The dividing issue of public health versus business interest carried over into the public portion of the meeting. Representatives from the American Heart Association and area hospitals lined up to support the ordinance for its health benefits.

Representatives from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, 7-Eleven, Jewel Osco, and two South Side pastors testified against the ordinance, citing the economic burden they’d face and the potential legal issues the city would open itself up to if it approved the changes.

According to Tanya Triche, vice president and general counsel of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA), Chicago has no jurisdiction to impose a new tax because the state legislature ended that authority in the early 1990s. Should the industry take legal action on this package, the recent taxes the City Council approved on vaping products could be folded into the lawsuit. “These are very murky legal waters,” she warned.

Committee Approves $3M+ In Police-Related Legal Settlements

The handful of aldermen who remained in the Council chambers following the heated debate on tobacco approved about $3.5 million in legal settlements lodged against the city’s police department. All three settlements were approved together by voice vote following testimony on each item from Jane Notz with the City’s Law Department.

The biggest amount, $3.1 million, settles a Department of Justice suit against a hiring practice no longer in effect that required ten-years continuous residency in the U.S. for all police candidates. Ald. Nick Sposato (38), a former firefighter, cast the sole “no” vote, arguing the department’s residency requirement was warranted. “I’m so troubled by this. I don’t think this is something I can support. I think we did everything right… We need a history, we need to know what these people were like.”

The suit alleges that between 2006 and 2011 the police department engaged in “national origin discrimination,” blocking 47 police candidates a spot on the force because they failed the residency requirement, said Notz.

“The requirement was designed to ensure that applicants had sufficient contacts in the United States for the department to conduct an adequate background check,” she explained. However, Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee because of his or her national origin, leading the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to find the police department at fault. The department revised the policy to five years in August 2011. The new policy is not considered discriminatory, since only two candidates were turned down, Notz said.

A number of factors contributed to the $3.1 million figure. Under the settlement, the department has agreed to hire up to eight of the 47 applicants who were denied a spot on the police force. Each of the new hires will be eligible to receive retroactive retirement benefits (about $1 million). The city will also pay approximately $2 million in backpay damages and a $10,000 award to each of the two original plaintiffs, “in recognition of their assistance to the DOJ and EEOC.”

If the case had made it to court, Notz explained, the city could have been forced to pay out additional benefits to the denied police candidates and a court order could have forced the department to hire more than eight candidates.

The other two legal settlements the committee approved stem from allegations of police misconduct, or more specifically, illegal searches and seizures. Both had a smaller price tag: $200,000 and $220,000.

Municipal Depository Retraction - [Press release and draft ordinance.]

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) and Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24) directly introduced an ordinance into committee that would remove JP Morgan from the list of banks that can hold the city’s money in response to the bank closing a branch at 4114 W. Madison St. in East Garfield Park. It’s the only bank or ATM in the community, Ald. Ervin explained. Chairman Burke held the matter to give Ald. Ervin time to work the issue out with the bank and said it could be heard at the next meeting if no movement has been made.

McPier Building Permit Fee Waiver

Once-controversial building permit fee waivers for McPier that Chairman Burke held in committee after aldermen cried foul were brought up at the very end of the meeting, after the miscellaneous portion. Mike Merchant with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority testified for less than five minutes and it was quickly approved by the handful of aldermen that remained.

Back in January, after nearly 40 minutes of debate, Chairman Burke held two proposals that would have waived building and permit fees for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, as well as a proposal that would authorize $7 million in TIF funds to pay for a new public park next to the Marriott Marquis Hotel currently being built. Some aldermen complained the city shouldn't be subsidizing private development.

But those in opposition were long gone by then. Ald. Pat Dowell’s (3) ordinance, if approved Wednesday, will save McPier roughly $2.6 million in construction fees associated with the McCormick Place expansion plan through 2017.

SSA Appointments Approved

The Committee quickly approved SSA appointments for:

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  John H. Idler, SSA 1-2015, the State Street Commission

  
  


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  Jacob Elkins-Ryan, SSA 8, the Lakeview East Commission

  
  


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  Nicol Vargas, SSA 18, the North Halsted Commission

  
  


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  Nickolas J. Cocalis, SSA 18, the North Halsted Commission

  
  


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  Luis A. Monje, SSA 27, the West Lakeview Commission

  
  


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  Paul F. Kartcheske, SSA 31, Greater Ravenswood Commission

  
  

This morning the Zoning Committee will take up the next step in the Blackhawks’ andRush University Medical Center’s plans for the old Malcolm X College campus on the city’s Near West Side. The Chicago Blackhawks hockey team is looking to build a community ice rink and training facility at the site. Rush University wants to build a new medical campus. The University will take a majority of the 11 acre site to build a 1.4 million square foot “academic village” that’ll include three academic buildings and one dormitory for 300 students.

According to University President Peter Butler, who spoke before the Plan Commission in January, student enrollment has doubled over recent years and their current facilities and technology are nearly half a century old.

While both projects got full support from the Chicago Plan Commission last month, a handful of commissioners said they were concerned that the timetable for Rush’s plans–a six-year first phase and three-to-five years in between the subsequent three phases–is a bit long. Some weren’t thrilled that a provision in the planned development wouldn’t require Rush to go back for public review should they decide to amend their proposal later. Instead, the development team would have the ability to work out any changes through an internal review by the Department of Planning and Development.

Another application, from Clark 800, LLC, seeks to an amend an existing planned development to build a 230-unit residential building at a site directly north of Bush Temple, a Chicago Landmark. That item got Plan Commission approval in January as well.

Fulton Market Rezone

Sterling Bay’s application to rezone a section of Fulton Market where a partially completed office building currently stands will also be reviewed today. The project stalled after the dot-com bust in the late nineties, when developers were unable to finance the full project. The site and the adjacent 170-car parking garage to the north have been vacant ever since.

Calling the project a “catalyst” for the neighborhood at the December Plan Commission meeting, representatives from Sterling Bay sought a rezone to expand the existing skeleton, transforming it into an eight-story building with office and commercial space. The bottom five floors will conform with the height and design of the surrounding brick buildings, while the top three floors will have an extensive setback, with a glass and aluminum facade. The parking garage will be expanded to hold approximately 610 parking spaces to serve the entire Fulton Market community. At the December meeting, Ald. Walter Burnett (27) said the burgeoning Fulton Market is facing a parking shortage.

Bucktown Tower

Also on tap: Vequity’s plan to build a seven-story residential building at a busy intersection on the corner of Milwaukee and Western Avenue next to the Western Avenue blue line stop. According to Kyle Glascott, one of the members on Vequity’s development team, most of the units will be roughly 600-square-foot one-bedroom units. Their target audience is “young professionals” and they’re hoping to lease out the ground floor commercial space to a “transit oriented” retail operator, like a cafe or bike repair shop, he told the Plan Commission last month.

This application got a lot of pushback from commissioners because no affordable units are planned on site. Ald. Joe Moreno (1) was particularly peeved about this project and accused neighboring Ald. Scott Waguespack (32) of failing to do his job in ensuring affordable units. This project did not get unanimous Plan Commission support.

Uptown/Maryville Development

Vequity’s application is not nearly as controversial as the proposed residential development for the former Maryville/Cuneo Hospital site in Uptown. JDL Development is looking to build a massive, 860-unit housing complex with 50,000 square feet of retail and commercial space at an expected price tag of $125 million. At issue: TIF money is being offered for the project and local residents are crying foul. Dozens of local residents testified against the project at the January Plan Commission meeting and it failed to win unanimous support from commissioners.

Industrial Party Liquor License

Zoning Chairman Danny Solis (25) will finally bring up an ordinance he introduced over the summer creating a new liquor license for industrial parties. It’s unclear why Solis has been holding on to the ordinance for so long, but a staff assistant said it will move forward unamended. The ordinance would eliminate Class A and B licenses and create a new license with a fee structure based on the number of attendees, starting at $700 for an event with at least 350 attendees and capped at $4,000 for an event with 4,000 attendees.

With the new license, hosts could serve liquor for up to three days at a maximum of six locations between 4:00 p.m. and midnight on weekdays, 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on Saturdays, and 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on Sundays. Events held at places of worship or schools would be exempt. To apply for the license, a vendor must submit certification of insurance of at least $300,000 per incident, a description of the event, a site plan, and other routine information (time, location, place, etc.). A 35 to 90 day review process is required under the ordinance.

Solis' ordinance also provides local control: the city must notify the local alderman and all property owners within 500 feet within 5 days of receiving a license application. All parties have 35 days from when the license fee is paid to file an objection. Violators could face penalties of up to $10,000.

The Council’s Finance Committee will take up a $3 million settlement today stemming from a Department of Justice lawsuit filed against the city’s Police Department over a hiring practice it no longer employs. The committee will also take up new tobacco regulations that includes a plan to change the smoking age to 21 and dozens of other routine items involving TIFs.

Police-Related Settlements

The lawsuit filed by Vanita Gupta, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Friday claims the Chicago Police Department unfairly discriminated against foreign-born police applicants because of a hiring policy requiring ten years of continuous residency in the U.S.

This requirement, according to the lawsuit, “resulted in statistically-significant adverse impact against candidates born outside the United States on the basis of their national origin.”

Of the police candidates whom CPD disqualified through this requirement, 92.2% were foreign-born candidates and only 7.8% were born in the U.S., the lawsuit argues. “CPD has not demonstrated that its use of the ten-year continuous residency requirement is job related for the PPO position and consistent with business necessity.”

The lawsuit cites two police candidates, Masood Khan from India, and Glenford Flowers from Belize, who passed the written test in 2006 but were denied a spot on the force because they didn’t pass the residency requirement.

“When reviewing the PHQs [Personal History Questionnaires] of candidates who passed on of the 2006 written examinations, CPD disqualified from further hiring consideration all candidates who had not continuously resided in the United States of ten years prior to the date of submission of the completed PHQ. CPD enforced this ten-year continuous residency requirement for all PPO applicants who took the 2006 written examination other than those who were abroad as result of military service.”

Soon after being denied a badge, the candidates filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Fund, which forwarded the complaint to the Department of Justice.

The police department eliminated the ten-year continuous residency requirement in 2011, replacing it with a five-year requirement.

The other two legal settlements on the agenda are also police-related. One lawsuit filed by Tiffany Hondras alleges police officers unfairly cuffed her and her boyfriend after pulling her boyfriend’s car over without cause. Hondras filed the lawsuit in 2013. The city seeks to settle the case for $220,000.

A second lawsuit filed by Jonathan and Jesse Hadnott, Kevin Hunt and Brandell Betts would be settled for a $200,000 payout. Jonathan Hadnott alleges Chicago police officers illegally stopped, searched, and detained him one December afternoon in 2006. After police detained Hadnott, the suit claims, police officers drove to Hunt and Betts’ home. “Defendant police officers entered and searched [home] without warrant, without permission, and without legal cause,” the lawsuit claims.

“Plaintiffs were detained against their will at the home and not allowed to leave withle defendant police officers searched the home. Defendants say they were looking for a gun.”

After the police officers failed to recover a gun at the home, they left, the suit claims.

Another police-related item will also be addressed by the committee: A resolution sponsored by four South Side aldermen calling for the city to settle a lawsuit filed by the two daughters of Bettie Jones who was accidently shot by police over the Christmas holiday. The incident occurred on the evening of December 26th, when Jones’ neighbor, Antonio LeGrier, called the police because his son Quintonio LeGrier was threatening him with a baseball bat. When the police showed up, Jones answered the door and was “accidentally struck and tragically killed.”

But Alderman Jason Ervin (28), the main sponsor of the ordinance, claims the police are at fault for failing to provide medical attention and “stopp[ing] Mrs. Jones’ daughter Latisha from administering first aid.” The shooting happened in Ervin’s ward. Aldermen Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Derrick Curtis (18) and Chris Taliaferro (29) are listed as co-sponsors.

Tobacco Tax Changes

In addition to raising the smoking age in Chicago, the Emanuel Administration wants to further regulate the price and quantity by which certain tobacco products are sold. The ordinance would impose new taxes and set a minimum price of $11.50 for a pack of cigarettes, a pack of little cigars (cigarillos), and a pouch of loose tobacco. Cigarillos would have to be sold at a minimum pack size of 20. Bigger cigars would be capped at four per pack. Expensive cigars, generally sold at specialty shops, would be exempt from these rules. The changes are expected to bring in an additional $6 million to be used to fund a universal summer orientation program for all incoming CPS freshman.

Aldermen are expected to hear supporting testimony from Joel Affrick with the Respiratory Health Association, Jameika A. Sampson with Mercy Hospital, and Dr. Timothy Sanborn, a cardiologist at NorthShore Medical Group.

Naturally, the tobacco industry opposes the added taxes and regulations and have been pushing robo-calls to a lot of South and West Side aldermen warning them the changes could lead to an underground market of loose cigarette sales, one source said.

The changes, per the Mayor’s office:

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  Setting a minimum price for the following products:

  
  
  
  
  
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    $11.50 for a pack of cigarettes, a pack of little cigars, and a 0.65 ounce pouch of roll-your-own tobacco

    
    
  
  
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    $4.00 for an ounce of smokeless tobacco

    
    
  
  
  
  


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  Requiring little cigars be sold at a minimum pack size of 20 and four per pack for big cigars (exempting expensive cigars)

  
  


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  Ban of free samples and discounts that put the price below the minimum

  
  


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  A tax on non-cigarette products:

  
  
  
  
  
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    $0.15 per little cigar, raising the price of a 20-pack from $5.79 to $8.79

    
    
  
  
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    $0.90 per cigar, raising the price of the average two-pack of cigars from $2.25 to $4.05

    
    
  
  
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    $6.60 per ounce of roll-your-own tobacco, raising the average price of a small pouch from $7.25 to $11.54

    
    
  
  
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    $1.80 per ounce of smokeless tobacco, raising the price of the standard 1.2 ounce can from $4.19 to $6.35

    
    
  
  
  
  

Routine Items

TIF $ for Belmont-Cragin Elementary School: The ordinance before the committee would transfer $287,000 in Tax Increment Financing, TIF, money for the construction of a new playground with rubber surfacing. “The funds would be applied to planning, design and construction costs. The work would be entirely funded by TIF,” according to a press release from the mayor’s office.

Small Business Improvement Fund Program: This ordinance would renew this program in four Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts. The Small Business Improvement Fund provides financial assistance for building improvement costs. The SBIF grant uses local TIF revenues to reimburse eligible applicants for repairs done to industrial, commercial, or residential properties located within specific TIF districts. The assistance is provided once the project is complete and does not have to be repaid. The proposal the Department of Planning and Development introduced would reallocate $500,000 each for existing SBIF programs in the Austin, Commercial, Belmont/Central, and Portage Park TIF districts and $1 million for the Northwest Industrial Corridor TIF district.

In this week's episode we breakdown the stalled contract negotiations between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers' Union, accusations that Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to tank CPS' bond deal, a $1 land sale for a new charter school campus in Woodlawn, and potential changes to the city's remaining mental health clinics.

A proposal to sell 19 city-owned parcels of vacant land for $1 to the University of Chicago advanced out the Council’s Housing and Real Estate Committee yesterday. But the plan wasn’t without controversy with a handful of aldermen questioning the “fairness” of the sale.

The land, approximately 153,200-square-feet, is appraised at $755,000 (approximately $4.93 per square foot). Under a public-private partnership with the city, the University would spend $27.5 million to build a new three-story charter school and athletic field.

The new school building will serve the university's existing Woodlawn Charter School (UCCS-Woodlawn), which has an enrollment of about 650 students in grades six through twelve. UCCS-Woodlawn, run by the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute, is currently leasing space from CPS at the old Woodworth Elementary school.

The sale got significant pushback from Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), the only alderman on the Council who is also a member of Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

“I have a big problem with this because this is a charter school network. We all know what is happening with CPS. We’re going to give a charter school network 19 parcels for a dollar when CPS is broke makes no sense to me, ”she said, pressing officials from CPS, the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) and the University of Chicago to explain the price.

The university made a bid to CPS in the summer of 2014 to purchase the Woodworth Elementary School building, according to Liza Balistreri, Director of Real Estate for the Board of Education. The board rejected their offer because the university’s $100,000 bid fell far short of Woodworth’s appraised value, which was somewhere between $2 and 2.6 million.

But since the university had planned to spend millions on rehabbing that school–almost as much as they planned to spend on a new campus–the city worked out a “public-private partnership” with university to sell the adjacent vacant land so they could instead build a new school, according to Michelle Nolan, a project manager for DPD.

Garza was unimpressed. “I don’t have a problem with new schools. I have a problem with new charter schools.”

“When these schools are built, the neighborhood schools lose their kids and then CPS comes in, says they’re underutilized, and then they close them and give them to more charters,” she added.

Ald. Willie Cochran (20), whose South Side ward would benefit from the new campus, defended the project, touting UCCS-Woodlawn’s graduation and college acceptance rates, which he said are the second highest in the city. The network has a $40 million yearly budget. “This school has been doing a tremendous amount of work in improving education… $755,000 is worth the investment in my children, in my community.”

Sean Evans, CEO of the university's charter school network, reminded aldermen that this land sale isn’t considered “charter school expansion,” because their school has been around since 2006. “We want to serve students on the South Side,” Evans explained, adding that all four of the network’s schools are located there. He says 99% of their student population is African American and 82% qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Committee Vice Chair Pat Dowell (3) asked Evans to detail investments the university has made in the city, which he eagerly obliged. The Urban Education Institute has an annual budget of about $40 million, where it spends money on the charter schools, it runs a consortium that provides data and research for all public schools in the city, teacher training programs, and IMPACT, he said.

Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24) praised one of the school’s recent graduates, whom he said he had the “pleasure of meeting” recently. And Ald. Cochran again reminded his colleagues that this school is what his community wants.

Still, there was reluctance.

“A number of us feel charters benefit from incentives, that’s an argument for a whole other day,” Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) noted. “I don’t think that I would consider U of C to be a cash-strapped non-for-profit institute. I would have just hoped that we would have been able to negotiate a better deal,” he said pointing to the rest of the agenda where land sales were priced in the thousands of dollars.

Englewood Alderman David Moore (17) wasn’t thrilled that the new school would increase its capacity by 100 students, saying, “So, you are pulling students from all of our communities.”

When it was eventually time to vote on the item, Moore and Garza (10) voted no.

Mt. Sinai Land Transfer

Another one dollar land sale advanced through committee with a lot less pushback: a proposal to sell 12 parcels in North Lawndale to Mt. Sinai Health System. The hospital would rehab the existing 7,800-square-foot, one-story building, an old Boys & Girls Club, into a child development center with eight classrooms, administrative offices, and an outdoor playground. The building has been vacant since 2007 and construction would cost $3.5 million.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the price tag,” said Ald. Lopez said.“I would like to see us do a little better, especially when we have to go back to our constituents and tell them that we did everything we could.”

Chairman Joe Moore (49) asked local alderman Michael Scott, Jr. (24) to defend the price tag.

Scott said Mt. Sinai is the neighborhood’s biggest employer and the investment they’ve put in the community goes a long way. Sarah Wilson with DPD said the city had problems securing a tenant for the property.

The facility will serve as the new home for the existing Gads Hill Center, a family resource provider that’s served low-income residents on the city’s southwest side since the late 1800s.

CTA Lease Renewal

One item on the agenda was held: an ordinance authorizing a lease renewal with the Chicago Transit Authority for use of vacant city-owned property at 5975 N. Pulaski Rd. in the 39th Ward, at the request of local Ald. Marge Laurino. At the last housing meeting, she expressed concern that CTA bus drivers were using the lot as a bathroom stop (the bus drivers put a porta potty there) and she was working on getting them to find another place to do their business.

Ald. Pat O’Connor (40), Chairman of the City Council’s Workforce Development Committee, sent out an email to aldermen yesterday reminding them that he plans to discharge an ordinance from his committee that would eliminate the Legislative Inspector General’s office and put the authority of policing aldermen under the jurisdiction of the City’s Inspector General, Joe Ferguson.

That ordinance, sponsored by Ald. Michele Smith (43) and Ald. Ameya Pawar (47), was deferred and published at last month’s city council meeting at the request of two powerful aldermen: Finance Chairman Ed Burke (14) and Budget Chairman Carrie Austin (34). After that meeting, Ald. Austin told Aldertrack she wanted to clean up the language of the ordinance and add a provision requiring signed affidavits for all complaints. “If you gonna tell on me, how come you don’t want to swear to it?” she had asked rhetorically.

The email Ald. O’Connor sent is a procedural Rule 41 reminder that the full Council meeting will have to vote on the matter at the City Council meeting scheduled for next Wednesday.

A working group of six aldermen created at the January City Council meeting to “clean up” the ordinance has met twice since then, said one member, Ald. Joe Moore (49).

Another member, Ald. Pawar, tells Aldertrack he and his colleagues are, “still working things through… people are still trying to figure out whether there are any tweaks,” but couldn’t offer up specific changes that have been proposed.

Ald. Moore stayed similarly tight-lipped, “We’re still working on stuff. Still working on some language.”

“There’s going to be a vote. That much we know,” Pawar said.

Ald. Will Burns (4), who sponsored, but raised concerns about the ordinance, and two Progressive Caucus members and supporters: Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), and Ald. Rick Munoz (22), are also part of the working group.

Before last month’s vote, Ald. Burns (4) suggested he’d like to see more protections from political attacks. "Sometimes when you tell people ‘no’ and you make difficult decisions over land use, over TIF funding, over public subsidies, CDBG, whether someone can purchase a vacant lot, you could anger those people and they could file complaints and use, or abuse, unfortunately, the ethics process to harass and to seek retaliation."

He suggested formation of a special City Council committee, similar to the State Legislature’s bicameral Legislative Ethics Commission, to “have some sort of oversight over whether or not the Inspector General conducts an investigation… as a check or protection against what can be fairly sweeping powers.” He said he worried that it would be politically difficult to change provisions of the ordinance in the future without it looking like aldermen were “watering it down.”

A proposal to sell approximately 3.5 acres of city-owned land to the University of Chicago for construction of a new charter school campus is up for consideration in Council’s Housing and Real Estate Committee today.

The committee will consider an ordinance that would transfer a plot of vacant land valued at $755,000 to the university for $1. The university is interested in building a new campus for their existing Woodlawn Charter School, which currently serves 650 6th-12th grade students. U of C operates four charter schools scattered throughout the South Side. An allocation of up to $200,000 in TIF money to one of those schools, Donohue, was approved in 2011.

Woodlawn is about a block away from the development site, and is housed in what used to be a CPS school, Wadsworth Elementary. The new campus would allow the school to increase enrollment to 750 students and includes plans for STEM labs and an outdoor track that would be open for community use.

The university plans to spend $27.5 million on the new three-story building in Ald. Willie Cochran’s 20th Ward, bounded by East 63rd Street to the north, South University Avenue on the east, East 64th Street on the south and South Greenwood Avenue on the west. Cochran has sponsored a series of zoning changes to accommodate the build.

Other notable items on the agenda:

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  a sale of city-owned land in North Lawndale to Sinai Health System and Sinai Community Institute. The 12 city-owned parcels of land in the 24th ward appraised at $255,000 will be sold to Sinai Health System for $1. The hospital will rehab the existing 7,800-square-foot, one-story building into a child development center with eight classrooms, administrative offices, and an outdoor playground. Construction will cost $3.5 million. According to a press release from the mayor’s office, the facility will serve as the new home for the existing Gads Hill Center, “a community-based family resource provider serving low-income residents.” The center has been in operation at its current location on the city’s southwest side since 1898. The move is part of the “Sinai Tomorrow” redevelopment plan of the hospital campus. (24th Ward)

  
  


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  a $40,000 sale of city-owned land to the Luna Liena Group run by the Mickelson family. According to the application they filed with the city, the company will build a parking lot. (3rd Ward)

  
  


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  an amended redevelopment agreement with Windy City Habitat for Humanity(d/b/a Habitat for Humanity). The organization got approval in 2011 to build 16 single family homes to be sold at 100% of area medium income (AMI) and are now seeking an extension. The organization has built two homes so far. Under the extended timeline, construction will need to be completed by March 31, 2018. (34th Ward)

  
  

The Committee on Human Relations advanced an ordinance that would make it harder for landlords to discriminate against veteran and active duty military personnel looking for housing amid questions by some committee members about whether the protections would have unintended consequences for individual renters.

Members Present (11/17): Chairman Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), David Moore (17), Jason Ervin (28), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Milly Santiago (31), Anthony Napolitano (41), Michele Smith (43).

According to testimony from Mona Noriega, the head of the city’s Commission on Human Relations, it is becoming more common for landlords to discriminate against military personnel, especially those who are still active, for fear that notice of sudden deployment will leave the landlord in pinch to fill the vacant unit.

Similarly, veterans who attempt to lease an apartment with their GI bill benefits listed as their main source of income find a hard time getting an apartment, because landlords don’t consider those benefits to be a stable source of income, Noriega added.

The ordinance received some pushback from Ald. Jason Ervin (28) of East Garfield Park and Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) of the Gold Coast. Both gave voice to a concern that a significant number of landlords in the city are “mom and pops” or seniors who are heavily dependent on the income they receive from renting out their apartment or a floor in their home.

“The average dwelling in my ward is a two-unit building, and that means that someone is generally owning and someone is renting, and those residents, they depend on that income to pay the mortgage and to balance out their lives financially,” Ervin explained. These types of renters would be left in a bind to fill the rental units once a military member breaks the lease, he argued.

Victor J. Lagroon, director of veterans affairs for the city, said active duty military officers don’t receive their deployment orders in a 24-hour period, it’s closer to 60 days. In that span, officers can decide whether to continue paying the rent while they are away or break the lease. “Every command in this country requires you to pay your bills. The military is adamant about that,” he added.

Ald. Hopkins echoed concerns on another provision in the ordinance that would make it illegal for a landlord or realtor to retaliate against a tenant who files a housing discrimination complaint against them with the city. Those protections are already in place for employees to file discrimination complaints against their employer.

Without this protection, said Commissioner Noriega, tenants will continue to be reluctant to file complaints for fear of discrimination by their landlords. Such discrimination could come in the form of charging more rent, sexual and other harassment, or other unfair terms and conditions added to the rental lease, she explained. These measures are already codified at the county and state level, she added.

“It’s one thing to have the right to file a complaint, it’s another thing to have an incentive,” Ald. Hopkins warned, arguing the ordinance creates an incentive for a tenant to file a “non-meritorious complaint” when facing possible eviction.

“People who have the skill of being able to move from rental unit to rental unit, they know where the loopholes are, and they know how to play the game and run the clock… and this is one more tool they can use to stay in a place where they’re not paying rent, causing harm to those mom and pops.”

If a tenant files a complaint, that complaint would not stay any ongoing eviction proceedings, a staff representative with Noriega countered. Hopkins ended up voting to approve.

The committee also approved the appointment of Julio Rodriguez to the Commission on Human Relations, a 19-member body created in 2012 to enforce the city’s human rights and anti-discriminatory housing laws. Rodriguez is a deputy director in the office of employment and training for the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.*

“This is an area that I am very, very interested in. Human rights and access to housing, employment, and other services to me is something that we always have to be very diligent on,” he told the committee.

Chairman Joe Moreno (1), who said he knows Rodriguez personally, touted much of his resume, including various roles with the Illinois Latino Prevention Network andIllinois Leadership Development Council, and his induction into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.

Correction: Yesterday, we incorrectly reported Rodriguez’s job title based on his LinkedIn, which said he was “director of program services.”

Another day of headlines for Chicago Public Schools:

• Gov. Bruce Rauner doubled down on his pitch for a state takeover of CPS;


• As part of another round of cuts, CPS officials announced they would end the pension pickup for union employees and eliminate $100 million from classrooms this year; and


• The Chicago Teacher’s Union said Gov. Rauner is a “madman” and CPS can’t be trusted, calling their latest actions “an act of war”.

All this comes as the district makes its second attempt to sell $875 million in general obligation bonds to pay off old debt and fund operations after an eleventh-hour decision last week to pull the offer. Details below.

Rauner Makes CPS Takeover Threat

The day after the Chicago Teachers’ Union’s Big Bargaining Team unanimously rejected a new contract with the Chicago Board of Education, and in the midst of a day-to-day bond issuance to prop up the district’s struggling budget, Gov. Rauner ramped up the pressure by again pushing a state takeover of Chicago Public Schools, telling reporters Tuesday morning he would “fight hard for it,” and was instructing the State Board of Education to plan ahead.

At a press conference on procurement reform in Springfield yesterday, Rauner said he has asked the State Board of Education to begin the selection process for an interim superintendent for Chicago Public Schools, and for the State Board to identify whether CPS meets certain financial conditions for state control. “The state should be able to take over the schools, manage those contracts properly, restructure things, and bankruptcy should be an option. There’s support for it. It’s the right thing to do. We need it around the state, and we’re going to fight real hard for it right now.”

Rauner alluded to CPS’ dire financial straits. In the past few weeks, the Board of Education has seen credit downgrades from two ratings agencies, an unusual “pulling” of its planned $875 million in borrowing, a round of administrative layoffs at its central office, and Monday’s dashed hopes of a new contract with the union.

The governor blamed CTU and the Mayor for proposing an unaffordable contract, painting it as more kick-the-can financing. “[Mayor Emanuel] was pushing off the day of reckoning and the teacher’s union still rejected that. The teachers’ union in Chicago has had complete control, they’ve been calling all the shots for decades, and it’s the reason the system there is so financially bereft, they’re so broke. I hope this rejection will wake up the Mayor, and the City Council, and the taxpayers there and around the state.”

But a state takeover would require enabling legislation from the General Assembly–something House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullertonhave opposed so far.

“He doesn’t have a budget, what is he going to take us over with?” CTU President Karen Lewis joked when asked about the governor’s plans by reporters later that afternoon.  “Please don’t pay any attention to the ravings of a madman.”

For CTU, one of the biggest concerns is over the state’s control of charter school expansion. It was one of the major reasons why the union rejected CPS’ contract offer on Monday. The union wants put a halt to expansion and a citywide moratorium won’t cut it, according to Lewis, because charter schools can get approval from a state-run board. “The critical issue for the contract is about support for public schools, and here’s a governor that has his name on a charter school. There’s no basis for trust there,” said Jesse Sharkey, CTU Vice President.

“What is he going to do, send in the National Guard?” he quipped.

Claypool Outlines Further Cuts, Hopes to Restore Trust with CTU

Hours after Rauner’s press conference, officials from CPS held their own, saying they would work to restore trust and bargain in good faith with leaders from the union. But officials did not paint a rosier picture of the Board’s Finances. CPS CEO Forrest Claypool announced further cuts to classrooms, and said in 30 days, the district would stop putting in its 7% share of teachers’ 9% pension contribution.

“Together, the $45 million we cut from the Central Office a few weeks ago, as well as the $100 million in cuts to school budgets and the $170 million a year in savings from pensions - $315 million in total - are the serious steps we must, and will, take to close our immediate budget gap and make progress towards eliminating our structural deficit,” Claypool read from a prepared statement.

Officials released this briefing doc on the components of the proposed contract, this statement on Monday after no agreement was reached over the weekend, and this fact sheet on cuts announced yesterday.

An $875 million bond deal–part of which will help patch over a cash crunch at the district–will also head back to market tomorrow, Claypool announced. At about this time last week, the deal was pulled. CPS officials denied that investors were spooked by Gov. Rauner and Republican legislators’ moves toward enabling municipal bankruptcy for CPS. Earlier this week, Mayor Emanuel paid a visit to ratings agencies to discuss Chicago finances, but budget officials said the trip was pre-planned, and not in response to CPS’ bond offering.

Claypool said he had both “good momentum” and “strong interest” from investors going into this morning’s planned pricing, and that recent announcements of cuts were meant to signal that the district is doing everything in its power to right its financial ship.

Both Claypool and Frank Clark, the President of the Chicago Board of Education, reiterated that their end of the bargain with CTU was fair. “It would have raised teachers’ pay – both for seniority and cost of living adjustments. It would have prevented teachers from being laid off due to a lack of funding. It would have provided more autonomy for teachers. And it would have restricted charter school expansion,” Claypool said.

Clark said despite Monday’s blow, he’s confident CPS and CTU can reach an agreement.

CTU Officials Respond: "The problem is the lack of trust."

CTU President Lewis characterized the cuts as a “retaliatory tactic” to the union’s decision yesterday to reject CPS’ contract offer. She suggested Claypool's decision to make further cuts to the classroom in the middle of the school year further proves their point that CPS leadership cannot be trusted.

“The problem is the lack of trust. That’s what our bargaining team said,” Lewis told reporters when asked about ways the Board could address the union’s concerns.

Her comments about Governor Rauner and CPS were made at a late afternoon press conference the union called to give an official response to CPS’ newly announced cuts. “We are certain that everyone who works in our public schools is facing a clear and present danger,” she said in her opening remarks.

“CPS has a revenue problem based on debt service, those toxic swap termination payments, charter expansion and their underfunding of our pensions. This is a problem they created, not the teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians who work extremely hard every day under deplorable conditions,” Lewis told reporters.

The union, according to Sharkey and Lewis, believes the Board of Education is no longer bargaining in “good faith” because it announced these cuts and the decision to eliminate the so-called pension pickup for CTU members in the middle of ongoing contract negotiations. The union is seeking legal action with the state’s Educational Labor Relations Board.

If the board sides with CTU, the union would no longer have to wait out the 105-day fact-finding period required under ongoing contract negotiations and could call for a strike immediately. Lewis even joked that a significant number of her members have already bought red winter coats in preparation to strike at any time.

On a more symbolic note, Lewis announced the union would be withdrawing its money, about $1 million, from the Bank of America as a way to protest the hundreds of millions of dollars in swap agreements the district has paid out to the banks. The withdrawal is happening today. The union will also hold a rally downtown at 4:30pm today at the Bank of America on Lasalle and Adams.

TIF Surplus Moves Await Committee Action

Meanwhile, a resolution calling for a full the use of surplus Tax Increment Financing funds to offset the budget deficit at CPS will likely be called up in the Budget Committee’s meeting next Tuesday, according to Monica Trevino, Chief of Staff for the resolution’s sponsor, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35). The Mayor’s office told Trevino they believe it will be on the agenda. “We are just waiting to hear from Chairman [Carrie] Austin,” Trevino told Aldertrack.

Legislation in Springfield to allocate all TIF surplus funds to CPS, rather than among other local taxing bodies like Parks and MWRD, is currently sitting in the Rules Committee. Barbara Flynn Currie, the lead sponsor of the bill, is chair of the committee, but there’s no meeting currently scheduled.

The Committee on Human Relations will take up one new appointment and several reappointments to the City’s Commission on Human Relations, a 19-member body created in 2012 to enforce the city’s human rights and anti-discriminatory housing laws.

The only new appointment before the council committee is that of Julio Rodriguez, a director of program services for the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The other four candidates are reappointments.

The committee will also take up a so-called “clean up” ordinance Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission on Human Relations that broadens protected statuses for job applicants to include gender identity, in addition to codifying other rules that bar the city from taking into consideration a job applicant's criminal or financial history.

New provisions to the municipal code would also add a layer of protection for tenants who file a claim against their landlord. The change to the Fair Housing Regulations would bar a landlord from retaliating against and evicting a tenant who reports them to the city.

The Chicago Teachers’ Union rejected the Board of Education’s most recent contract proposal, which, according to CPS, included pay raises and met the union’s key demands on charter school expansion and more autonomy for teachers. But according to the teachers’ union, the contract didn’t go far enough, especially as it relates to curtailing the expansion of charter schools and finding a new stable source of revenue to wean the district off of using borrowed money to pay for operations.

At a late afternoon press conference yesterday, forty members of the union’s “Big Bargaining Team” and CTU President Karen Lewis announced their decision to to reject the Board’s contract proposal, because it failed to address the district’s long-term fiscal crisis and falls short of providing services to the city’s “most vulnerable students.”

“There were a lot of things [in the contract] that were great,” CTU President Lewis said, “however, the things that will affect the classrooms the most, especially around the budget, were concerning to people.”

Several CTU members cited the Board’s “chronic spend and borrow practices,” and, on more than one occasion, mentioned the district’s eleventh-hour decision last week to pull its $850 million bond offering as proof the financial industry agrees with their assertions that, “CPS is broke on purpose.”

“There is no guarantee of funding to do the things… the only concrete piece of funding is out of our pockets. That’s what we do know,” Lewis explained, using the example of the Board’s plan to have teachers contribute a greater share of their annual pension contributions.

“The appointed Board of Education continually prioritizes corporate interests over the interests of our students and as a result, we have a legitimate distrust of the Board of Education,” said Dr. Monique Redeaux Smith, a member of the bargaining committee and 11-year teacher at CPS.

The contract, according to Jim Cavallaro, a special education teacher and member of the bargaining team, was contingent on over 2,200 CTU members retiring at the end of this school year, putting “undue pressure on our veteran members to retire before they intend to.”

While CTU has been without a contract since June 30, 2015, negotiations have been ongoing since November 2014. In December 2015, the Board of Education offered a four-year contract that would eliminate the 7% pension pickup, as well as net pay raises in the third and fourth years of the contract. The proposal also included a reduction in standardized testing and decreased paperwork for teachers.

That same month, CTU held a strike authorization vote where 88% of those allowed to vote gave the CTU leadership the authority to call a strike. Under state labor law, CTU can’t strike until mediation and fact-finding have concluded. Yesterday was the first day of fact-finding, and since that must last for a minimum of 105 days, the earliest CTU could strike is late May. But Lewis wouldn’t say if a strike could occur this or next school year.

When asked how the Board could do a better job of establishing trust, Lewis said the union wants three things: for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to “immediately” declare a surplus of TIF money; have the state legislature pass a TIF surplus bill that would divert the extra property tax revenue to CPS; and impose state rules to make it so the charter schools can’t get around a city-imposed charter school cap.

But the Board said it has done a lot of what the union demanded, including step-and-lane raises for seniority and experience, a commitment to restoring a dedicated 0.26% property tax levy for teachers’ pensions, and a commitment to “push for alterations and revisions” to the legislation that authorizes the Illinois Charter Commission.

In a statement released shortly after CTU’s announcement, CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool expressed disappointment in the rejected offer, adding, “CPS remains committed to reaching an agreement with our partners at the CTU that is in the best interest of our students, parents, teachers and city.”

Gold Rush Amusements, one of the largest distributors of video poker gaming machines in Illinois, is still donating money to Chicago aldermen even though Mayor Emanuel remains opposed to its legalization within city limits.

In January, the company wrote a $2,500 check to Ald. Michelle Harris (8). Two months ago the company donated $1,000 to Ald. Joe Moreno (1) and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15). Lopez introduced an ordinance in the Council last year to make video gaming legal in Chicago, but Mayor Emanuel immediately squashed that plan, telling reporters the day it was introduced he would never approve it. The company has already given money to 31st Ward Ald. Milly Santiago ($2,500) and 40th Ward Ald. Pat O’Connor ($300). The 33rd Ward Regular Democratic Organization, run by the ward’s Democratic Committeeman and former alderman Dick Mell, received a $10,000 donation from the company, too.

Since creating a new campaign committee on January 7, Ald. Harris has reeled in quite the campaign cash. Her first two reported campaign transfers to the new Citizens for Michelle Harris campaign fund are large: one $25,000 check was from theConstruction & General Laborers’ District Council of Chicago, another $53,900 check was from the UA Political Education Committee. 27th Ward Democratic Committeeman Walter Burnett transferred $10,000 to Harris’ campaign, as did Ald. Ed Burke (14), with a $1,000 donation to Harris from his personal campaign fund.

City Treasurer Kurt Summers brought in $24,400 in donations, all of which were dated on the January 11th. The biggest check he received, $5,400, the maximum allowable contribution, was from Killerspin, LLC., a table tennis facility near Grant Park owned by Robert Blackwell, Jr., founder of Electronic Knowledge Interchange, a government technology contractor. Like Ald. Harris, Summers got money from theConstruction and General Laborers’ PAC, put they gave him far less than Harris: $5,000. Summers’ also got a $1,000 check from former 43rd Ward alderman andKirkland & Ellis attorney Bill Singer.

Chicago for Rahm Emanuel, the Mayor’s candidate committee, declared $36,581.66 from Stand For Children Illinois, PAC for postage and mail. Emanuel’s overall fundraising fell short of December’s amounts, when he brought in more than $100,000 in contributions. In January, he received three donations: $5,000 from Wellness Healthcare Partners, a home health agency for senior citizens; $1,500 from Bruce P. Weisenthal, an attorney with Schiff Harden, LLP; and $1,500 from Paul Meister, Vice Chairman of GCM Grosvenor, a global investment firm.

South Loop Ald. Pat Dowell (3) and downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) continue to bring in a lot of campaign cash, well beyond that of their colleagues on the City Council.

For the past few months, Ald. Dowell has been reporting checks from the real estate industry. The trend continued in January: Dowell reported a little over $17,000 in total donations, which includes contributions from the prominent zoning law firm DLA Piper($1,500), South Loop Chicago Development ($1,500), and Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation ($1,500). Ald. Dowell also received a $5,000 donation fromErnest Sawyer Enterprises, a consulting firm run by Ald. Roderick Sawyer’s (6) brother. The company was hired by the city in 2014 to draft an analysis recommending the establishment of the then controversial Washington Square Park Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district.

Meanwhile, Ald. Reilly brought in an additional $35,500 to his personal campaign fund in individual contributions ranging between $1,000 and $2,500. Most of the donations were from the real estate industry, too.

In this week's episode, we talk Gov. Bruce Rauner's State of the State address, CPS' scrapped $850 million bond offering, a contentious Board of Ed meeting, and Sen. President John Cullerton's state school funding fix. Plus, we dive into aldermanic fundraising and expense accounts. Music: "Honey Money" by Spectacular Fantastic

Members Present: Chairman Anthony Beale (9), Vice Chair Pat Dowell (3), Will Burns (4), Michelle Harris (8), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10), Marty Quinn (13), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Gilbert Villegas (36), Michele Smith (43), Anthony Napolitano (41)

Before a private developer can build anything along the public way, the board must approve the plans and financing. The appointment went through Chairman Beale’s Committee because the board serves under the capacity of the Department of Transportation. Two other appointments to the Board of Local Improvements,Christopher M. Michalek and Edward T. McKinnie, Sr., were approved earlier this month by the full Council.

At his preliminary confirmation hearing with the council committee yesterday, Connolly mentioned his 34 years experience with the Laborers Local Number 4. During his tenure representing 1,400 local unionized construction laborers, Connolly served as an organizer, instructor, and eventually as a recording secretary treasurer and business manager, a title he’s held since 2008, he said. Serving on the board, “fits within the category of construction, which is what I do,” Connolly explained, “I think I will do a good job.”

The position used to be paid, but in 2011, Mayor Emanuel eliminated the stipend as a way to cut costs. That year, according to the Chicago Tribune, the Board of Local Improvements met once, but members walked away with a $19,000- $23,000-per-year stipend.

About half of the aldermen on the committee, many of whom who represent union-heavy wards, praised the Mayor for Connolly’s appointment. A handful, including Pat Dowell (3), Marty Quinn (13) and Michelle Harris (8), said they knew Connolly in some personal or official capacity. Dowell recognized him from a few South Loop construction projects. Harris mentioned his work with the Department of Streets and Sanitation. Quinn remarked that he has known the Connolly family for more than 30 years, dating back to what he called the “Mozart days” at Mozart Elementary School. Quinn, who represents Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s ward and is usually silent during committee meetings, took an opportunity to defend the importance of unions.

“Thank you for what you have done the past 30 years, working on behalf of the working people, many of whom who live in my community right now in the 13th Ward. Right now, their rights are under siege in this state and I think it’s really, really important that you continue your advocacy on the working people,” Quinn remarked.

The rest of the 40 minute meeting was spent approving hundreds of routine items, such as sidewalk cafe permits, planters, honorary street designations, awnings and more. The meeting ran longer than usual because George Blakemore, a Council fixture, signed up to testify on every item he could fill out a pink witness slip for. Chairman Beale suggested that he’d be better served sitting up front by the witness mic for the whole meeting, to save energy walking back and forth from his seat.

Another mayoral appointment to the City’s Board of Local Improvements awaits Council consideration today. The Council Committee on Transportation and Public Way will consider Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed appointment of Paul Connolly to the board in charge of approving any public way improvements by private developers.

Last month, the City Council approved a pair of appointments to the five member board:Christopher M. Michalek, a partner at McGuire Woods LLP, and Edward T. McKinnie, Sr., President of the Board of Directors for Black Contractors United. Connolly, a business manager for the Chicago Laborers’ Pension and Welfare Funds, will fill the remaining vacant seat. All board members serve without term limits or compensation.