Three items are listed on the agenda today for the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development: two Class 6(b) property tax breaks for industrial properties and a reappointment to the Community Development Commission, the body in charge of establishing new TIF districts and Redevelopment Areas, as well as the appointment of members to Community Conservation Councils. This will be Ald. Proco Joe Moreno's (1) first time chairing the committee. His predecessor, Ald. Howard Brookins (21) was tapped to fill Ald. Will Burns' slot as Education Committee chair.

Rockwell Properties applied for a Class 6(b) tax incentive to support the “purchase, rehabilitation and build-out” of a 135,000-square-foot of industrial space at 3057 N. Rockwell Ave. The rehab would be to accommodate Metropolis Coffee Company, which uses part of the property for coffee roasting, warehousing, and office space. The rest of the available space in the building would be targeted out to other food related companies.

The property is located in the Addison Industrial Corridor, along the North Branch of the Chicago River in Ald. Deb Mell’s 33rd Ward. The project is expected to cost $11.2 million, including the cost of remediation work, roof repairs and upgrades to the 11 industrial buildings located on site. With the tax incentive, the company would save $1.6 million over the next 12 years.

Another application for a Class 6(b) tax incentive from J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.would help the company continue operating a 28-acre trucking and intermodal facility in Stevenson Industrial Corridor. If approved, this would be the company’s third renewal, saving the company an estimated $3.1 million in real estate taxes over the next 12 years. The company applied for their first Class 6(b) designation in 1994 and renewed it in 2006, saving the company $4.9 million.

The third item on the agenda is the reappointment of Robert Buford to the Community Development Commission, a 15-member body that oversees TIFs. Buford is the CEO of Planned Realty Group. He was first appointed to the commission in 2011 by Mayor Emanuel.

 

Presser Against Mitts’ Strip Club Ordinance Scheduled This Morning, After Mitts Files Rule 41
by A.D. Quig – [email protected]

Representatives from sexual exploitation advocacy groups will hold a press conference at City Hall this morning against Ald. Emma Mitts’ (37) ordinance allowing liquor sales at fully nude strip clubs. Advocacy groups say the alcohol and full nudity are an “explosive combination frequently leading to abuse, assault and violence in areas where strip clubs are located.” Ald. Toni Foulkes (16) and Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) will also join today’s press conference.

Though the issue passed the Zoning Committee last month, Ald. Mitts deferred and published the item at April’s full Council meeting, saying she didn’t want to “mislead” her colleagues, and initially believed the measure was limited to topless bars. She said the ordinance, which has the backing of Ald. Ed Burke (14) would need some re-working. She filed a Rule 41 on Friday saying she intends to call it for a vote this Wednesday.

The City Council’s Finance Committee will consider authorizing $600 million in general obligation bonds as part of the Administration’s overall $1.2 billion GO issue for 2016. The original borrowing plan, introduced in January, was cut down to $650 million following Council concerns about growing city debt and unclear plans on how the bond proceeds would be spent.

“We will come back to the Council when we have more details around the capital projects with a proposal to do general obligation new money capital later in the year,” city Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown told Finance Committee members on January 11.

Of the $600 million in GO 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 $237.2 of tax-exempt debt for capital spending in 2016 and 2017. While the total comes to $487.7, the city is seeking authorization for $600 in spending to cover the cost of borrowing the money and issuance fees.

At today’s Finance meeting, aldermen will also consider a plan championed by the Council’s Progressive Caucus that would require “more rigorous evaluation and more meaningful public scrutiny” of future debt offerings.

Under the plan, the city wouldn’t be able to enter into a debt transaction until a strict timeline is met. The Chief Financial Officer (currently Carole Brown) would be required to direct a Registered Agent to prepare a report determining if the issuance of new debt is in the best interests of the city and its residents, in addition to detailing the associated costs and risks.

The City Council’s newly-created Office of Financial Analysis (COFA) under the direction of Ben Winick, would be required to prepare a report on the debt transaction and circulate it to all members of the City Council. COFA would also be required to post that report publicly at least a week before the Finance Committee holds a hearing. That report must evaluate whether the proposed debt issuance is in the best interest of the city and quantify the associated risks to the taxpayers.

The Progressive Caucus drafted the “Debt Transaction Accountability” ordinance in consultation with the city’s Finance Department, following concerns raised over the city’s exposure to expensive swap termination fees. That debate was part of the reason why the administration chose to table half of its borrowing plan. Part of the proceeds from the first round of borrowing would have paid off some of those termination fees to switch the city’s variable rate debt to a fixed rate.

The Finance Committee will also take up a resolution from Chairman Ed Burke (14), Ald. Rod Sawyer (6), and Ald. Gregory Mitchell (7) to rename the South Water Purification Plant at 3300 E. Cheltenham Place to the Eugene “Gene” SawyerWater Purification Plant. Sawyer, the father of the 6th Ward aldermen and 53rd mayor of the city, began his career with the city’s water department, the resolution notes.

Another proposed ordinance from Chairman Burke would require that representatives with the Independent Police Review Authority testify before the Finance Committee when the body is deciding on legal settlements against police officers.  The ordinance, co-sponsored by Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), who first called for the IPRA’s dissolution, plus Ald. Sawyer, would have required officials at IPRA attend the finance meetings and provide members with a “written status report on any and all investigations involving department members who are named parties to said lawsuits and controverted claims.”

Last Friday, in an op-ed published by the Chicago Sun-Times, Mayor Emanuel announced he would move to abolish the agency. The committee will also consider two settlements for families of men killed by CPD, totaling $3.2 million (more details in our Friday newsletter).

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. 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. Public Safety Chairman Ariel Reboyras (30), Budget Chair Carrie Austin (34), and Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Chairman Walter Burnett (27) are listed as co-sponsors.

The debate over how to regulate room-sharing companies like Airbnb boils to the surface as the City Council prepares to hold hearings on the matter next week. An alderman who wants to further regulate Uber and other ride-hailing services says he’s got the support he needs to get it through the Council. And Cook County Commissioners vote on massive redevelopment in the Illinois Medical district, and after some vociferous public support, pulled back on whether to make Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown's position an appointed one. (Correction: We mistakenly said the new Cook County Health and Hospitals building would cost $18 million. The correct estimated cost is $118 million.)

A plan to impose stricter regulations on ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft could get a City Council Committee hearing as early as next Tuesday, according to main sponsor Ald. Anthony Beale (9).

Speaking to reporters after yesterday’s Transportation Committee meeting, Ald. Beale said that if both sides–the taxi industry and Uber–can reach an agreement on a plan requiring all ride-share drivers get a chauffeur's license, additional background checks and fingerprinting, the plan could advance to the full Council in time for their monthly meeting next Wednesday.

It would have to be heard by a joint hearing of the Council’s License and Transportation Committees. Ald. Beale said he’s confident he has the votes to get it through without any amendments.

“[We] continue to move forward, we’re adding sponsors every single day,” Ald. Beale said. “I think my colleagues see that we need to regulate this industry and we can’t allow them to police themselves. Because [Uber has shown that they can’t be trusted.”

Asked if he’s willing to budge on some of the provisions–like reducing regulations on yellow cab drivers in lieu of imposing stricter rules on ride-share drivers–Ald. Beale said it was a non-starter.

“What you are looking at is a new innovative company that is coming into the market and wants everyone to bow down and kowtow to them, instead of them working their way into the system as the system currently is,” Beale said.

“I’ve never seen a company come in and say 'Deregulate everybody, because we’re here, and totally disregard the law that is currently on the books.' That’s what they’ve been doing and that’s what they want to be able to continue to do,” Beale added.

Asked to describe the status of the ongoing private negotiations between the administration and the taxi industry, or whether an amendment to the ordinance is expected, Ald. Beale sidestepped the question and would only affirm that he has the votes to get his original plan through the council.

Since he introduced the plan in March, 33 aldermen have signed on as co-sponsors, he said. “I’m very confident in the position that we are currently in. Of course I am trying to work some issues out, and I think if we can work those issues out. Then I think that we can think we can hit a home run.”

But the Emanuel Administration isn’t dead set on letting the plan through as it’s currently written. Yesterday Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Maria Guerra Lapacek held a private meeting with the Illinois Transportation Trade Association (ITTA) and other members of the pro-taxi coalition.

According to ITTA’s attorney Mara Georges, who was at the meeting, Lapacek suggested that the new regulations include a distinction between drivers that use the ride-hailing platforms part time versus those who drive more than six hours a day. But Georges said the group wasn’t interested in that plan because it would be very difficult for the city to properly regulate and track how many hours worked for individual drivers.

BACP doesn’t think requiring a chauffeur’s license is reasonable, Georges told Aldertrack, adding that no changes to the ordinance or compromises were made during the meeting.

ITTA refuses to concede the licensing or the accessibility requirement, which would mandate at least 5% of ride share cars be wheelchair accessible, with the same response times and pricing as cars that aren’t.

Asked if Ald. Beale’s ordinance would do enough to bring parity among the two industries, and if it was enough for ITTA to withdraw its lawsuit against the city over its allegedly unequal laws governing medallion taxis and ride-hailing drivers, Georges said it “would go a long way,” but she’d need to see how it works out before there’s any talk about withdrawing the entire suit.

The City Council’s License and Housing Committees have set a tentative date to hold a joint hearing on a proposal from the Mayor’s Office to regulate room-sharing companies like Airbnb in Chicago.

That potential date, Tuesday, May 17, is not set in stone, however, because negotiations over how to amend the ordinance the mayor originally introduced in January are still ongoing, a City Hall source told Aldertrack yesterday, explaining that a meeting will only be held this month if both sides can agree on the changes. The two committees would have to issue a notice by this Friday if the plan to hold the meeting moves forward, per Open Meetings Act rules.

Meanwhile, former 4th Ward Alderman Will Burns joined 1871’s Tom Alexander yesterday for a Q&A on Airbnb’s legislative agenda at the tech incubator’s Merchandise Mart headquarters. Burns left City Council earlier this spring to lobby on behalf of the company as its director for the Midwest region.

Burns said the company is still in the middle of negotiations with City Hall about the “components of an amendment” to the mayor’s ordinance, which would require hosts to register their units with the city online, and for Airbnb to supplement that registry directly with the city. Under the original plan, the city would impose a 2% surcharge on the booking of any shared housing unit, bed and breakfast or vacation rental. Mayor Emanuel has since floated the idea of doubling that surcharge to increase the expected revenue, about $2 million, to pay for affordable housing and homeless initiatives.

“Airbnb wants to be regulated...we want to pay taxes like the hotels do,” said Burns, explaining that Chicago has the opportunity to set the benchmark nationally for how the industry should properly be regulated. He said that hasn’t been the case in other big cities like San Francisco (where the company originated), New York City or Los Angeles, where the company has seen a significant amount of legislative pushback.

“There is a built-in level of support for us,” Burns said. Referencing an internal poll Airbnb conducted of Chicago residents, Burns noted that 70% of Chicagoans have no problem with one of their neighbors participating in Airbnb; 68% said the city should pass regulations that would allow for the business to grow; and 71% said they would vote for an alderman who voted for regulations to support its growth.

“Our number one objective is that we want people to be able to host, we want people to be able to earn money, and we want an opportunity for this company to be legal, and for the folks who are doing this work to know that they can do it without someone trying to shut them down,” Burns explained.

Most of the people in the crowd were either hosts or renters on the platform, making it a noticeably pro-Airbnb event. Burns frequently touted statistics on the economic benefits of the company and its ability to help drive tourists to neighborhoods outside the city’s central business district. He described the Stevenson Expressway, which separates downtown from the South Side, as a “Berlin Wall”, saying more needs to be done to get tourists to explore sites beyond McCormick Place and Navy Pier.

And at one point, when asked about horror stories and safety issues that have infrequently impacted renters and listers on home-sharing service sites, Burns equated those stories to “opposition research” during an election, which prompted a warm response from the crowd.

Yesterday’s talk came on the same day as the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) released its own study on the room-sharing economy in Chicago.

The study, which was conducted by Penn State University’s School of Hospitality Management, found that more than half of Airbnb’s Chicago-area revenue, about $29 million, comes from operators who list their properties for rent more than 180 days a year. The data is based on analytics provided by Airdna, which tracks Airbnb revenues and operations and provides pricing and revenue data to Airbnb operators. Data on shared rooms or units, as well as “unique units” like boats, tree houses and tents, were excluded from the study.

The research was bankrolled primarily by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation, and disputed Airbnb’s claim that their platform is a gateway to the city’s underserved neighborhoods and a tool to help struggling homeowners make ends meet. The research noted the top five zip codes with the highest number of units and revenue are located downtown or on the city’s North Side:

60657 - Lakeview, Boystown
60611 - Magnificent Mile, Streeterville
60614 - Lincoln Park, Sheffield, Old Town Triangle
60610 - Old Town, Gold Coast
60622 - Wicker Park, West Town
Burns argued yesterday that most hosts make $5,000 on average per year. A significant percentage of those hosts rely on Airbnb rentals to supplement their income and pay their rent or mortgage, he said.

“We should be in the business of helping people make more money,” Burns added, mentioning the record property tax increase he approved last fall before vacating his seat on the Council. “I voted for that. I’m guilty as charged,” he said, with a slight chuckle.

Members of the Illinois Transportation Trade Association (ITTA), the lobbying arm of the city’s taxi-industry, are meeting privately with the Mayor’s staff today to discuss an ordinance that would impose stricter regulations on ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft–a move that could signal the administration is warming up to the plan after months of opposition.

Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Maria Guerra Lapacek, Mara Georges, who represents ITTA, members of AFSCME and Communities United are all expected to attend the private meeting, sources tell Aldertrack.

Since Ald. Anthony Beale (9) introduced an ordinance in March that would impose stricter regulations on ride-hailing companies, more than 30 aldermen have signed on as co-sponsors, including powerful Finance Chairman Ed Burke (14), who during the council budget meetings last fall noted that multi-billion-dollar company Uber isn’t paying its fair share in city taxes.

Ald. Beale’s ordinance doesn’t deal with taxes. But it would require all Lyft, Uber and other drivers who work for ride-hailing apps apply for a full-time chauffeur's license, which comes with added fees for background checks and fingerprinting. At least 5% of all ride-share cars would have to be wheelchair accessible with the same pricing and response times as the rest of the fleet, under the ordinance.

Those are two provisions the taxi-industry believes are non-negotiable. A source close to the ongoing negotiations over Ald. Beale’s ordinance said the taxi industry refuses to decrease safety standards or regulations on the city’s yellow taxi industry as a way to create more parity among the two industries.

Earlier this spring, cabbies and other taxi industry officials told aldermen that due to their decision last fall to open the city’s airports, McCormick Place and Navy Pier to Uber and Lyft drivers, the yellow cab industry is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and medallions are plummeting in value. ITTA filed a lawsuit against the city alleging that differing regulations for cabbies and Uber violates federal equal protection laws, which could put the city on the hook for a massive payout. That lawsuit could also be the reason for the meeting, the source said.

The City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Public Way meets today at 11:00 a.m. to consider the appointment of Rev. Johnny L. Miller to the the Chicago Transit Board, the governing arm of the Chicago Transit Authority.

It’s one of the few city board positions that are compensated. Members receive a $25,000 yearly stipend to attend monthly board meetings where they are asked to consider and approve construction and concession contracts as well as intergovernmental agreements with various city and state agencies. Seven members serve on the Chicago Transit Board: four are appointed by the mayor, three by the Governor.

Miller, a pastor at the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in the city’s East Garfield Park neighborhood, also served as a member of the Chicago Police Board. He was appointed by Mayor Daley and re-appointed by Mayor Emanuel in 2011. He was replaced by Rev. Michael Eaddy, pastor of the People’s Church of the Harvest Church of God, in February of 2014.

Mayor Emanuel recommended Miller to succeed the late Rev. Charles E. Robinson on the Transit Board. Robinson was also a West Side pastor. If approved by the full City Council, Miller’s term would expire September 1, 2021.

Former 4th Ward Alderman Will Burns will be promoting his new employer, home-sharing company Airbnb, at a special talk today on the industry’s rapid growth in Chicago and the impact of several City Council ordinances to regulate the industry.

Burns, who vacated his seat on the City Council earlier this year to accept a job with Airbnb as a Director, Midwest Policy and Senior Advisor, will join the founders of 1871, the city’s largest tech incubator, at Merchandise Mart this morning.

According to the summary of the event, Burns is expected to tout the company’s positive impact on the city’s economy. Airbnb’s growth in Chicago has grown exponentially since the platform first extended its operations to Chicago in 2009. Airbnb did an analysis of their economic impact in Chicago, from July 2014 to June 2015, that found 165,800 guests used their platform to find a place to stay. Over that same period, 4,550 Chicagoans rented out their homes. According to Airbnb maps tracking rentals in Chicago, most are along the lake and on the city’s North Side.

Burns’ move to Airbnb and his talk today comes as the City Council is expected to consider competing proposals to regulate the industry. Mayor Rahm Emanuelsupports one of those plans, although it has gone nowhere since he introduced it in January. In its original form, the plan would impose a 2% surcharge on vacation rentals and shared housing units, bringing in an estimated $1 million in revenue for affordable housing. Mayor Emanuel has since warmed up to the idea of doubling that surcharge to 4% to allocate an additional $1 million in estimated revenue to reducing the city’s homeless population, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The following month, Aldermen Anthony Napolitano (41), Pat O’Connor (40) and Marge Laurino (39), all of whom represent heavily residential neighborhoods on the city’s Northwest Side, co-sponsored a similar ordinance. The main difference: Chicagoans living in residentially zoned areas would be prohibited from putting their homes or flats on Airbnb for rental.

Five other aldermen signed onto a third proposal introduced in March that is focused more on bed-and-breakfasts. Under the ordinance, anyone who knowingly operated this type of establishment in the last two years without a proper license would be prohibited from applying for the license in the future. The city defines bed-and-breakfast establishments as, “any owner-occupied single family residential building, an owner occupied, multiple-family dwelling building, or an owner-occupied condominium, townhouse or cooperative, in which 11 or fewer sleeping rooms are available for rent or for hire for transient occupancy by registered guests.” That ordinance is co-sponsored by Ald. Brian Hopkins (2), Ald. Proco "Joe" Moreno(1), Ald. Pat Dowell (3), Ald. Michele Smith (43), and Ald. Tom Tunney (44).

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Friday that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is organizing a private meeting of the City Council leadership, and yesterday aldermen and a mayoral staffer pulled back from that report to tell Aldertrack he is actually holding a “social gathering” with the chairmen of the Council’s 16 committees and their spouses. A private meeting with the committee chairs, depending on the agenda for the gathering, could have violated the state’s Open Meetings Act.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Ald. Danny Solis (25), Chairman of the Council’s Zoning Committee, adding that it wasn’t too unusual, considering similar gatherings are held during the holidays.

Asked if they were going to the meeting with an agenda of their own, aldermen we spoke to said “no”, explaining that it was not that kind of meeting.

Ald. Joe Moore (49), Chairman of the Council’s Housing and Real Estate Committee, said that if he had an agenda he wanted to bring up, he’d meet with the Mayor or his staff on his own.

Ald. Solis and Ald. Howard Brookins, Jr. (21), Chairman of the Council’s Education Committee, responded in kind. It’s a “get to know you” type of meeting, Ald. Brookins explained. It’s “inappropriate” to bring up business at a social gathering, Ald. Solis added. And reached for comment, the Mayor’s Office confirmed that today’s meeting is in fact a social gathering with spouses.

Nevertheless, there has been some changes to the Council leadership following former 4th Ward Ald. Will Burns’ exit. Ald. Brookins took over Burns’ spot as chair of the Education Committee, which rarely meets despite Chicago Public Schools’ financial and contract issues. Brookins had served a brief stint overseeing the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technological Development, which meets regularly, mostly to approve tax breaks for companies that commit to rehabbing old, vacant industrial properties. Ald. Joe Moreno (1), who received a chairmanship after the election, will take over that committee. He was originally the chair of the Council’s Human Relations Committee, another body that rarely meets. Ald. Pat Dowell (3) inherited that seat.

The Ventra card system is “inefficient and inconvenient”, costing social service providers nearly a quarter of a million dollars in service fees, claims a report by the Chicago Jobs Council, a local nonprofit that helps connect people with jobs.

In the report, “The Hidden Cost of Ventra,” social service agencies in Chicago reported spending over $1 million in Ventra cards and single ride tickets each month. The CJC reached out to 345 agencies affiliated with the Department of Family and Supportive Services, the Chicago Housing Authority, and the Chicago-Cook Workforce Partnership. Only 53 agencies reported back, about a 15.3% response rate. 

This was the second CJC survey of social service providers since the city contracted out the ticket service to the company operated by Cubic Transportation Systems in 2013. The transition wasn't seamless. 

The Chicago Jobs Council argues in their findings that “nothing has changed.” Social service agencies are still left with buying bulk orders with “outdated paper order forms and checks.” They report wait times of two months for a shipment of tickets, according to 63% of respondents. Because of these delays, the report notes, “some providers have resorted to purchasing large quantities of tickets from regular Ventra vending machines, which is inefficient and burdensome.” And due to the 50-cent surcharge on paper tickets purchased through Ventra machines, fees cost providers $280,000 a year, the equivalent of 112,000 El rides.

The report makes the following recommendations:

• Eliminate the $0.50 fee on paper tickets for social service providers who receive funding from city and county agencies.

• Modernize the bulk order process with online credit card payment options and delivery tracking.

• Ensure delivery of bulk orders within 2 weeks of order.

• Designate high capacity Ventra vending machines that are accessible to providers across the city, allowing providers to fill immediate bulk transit needs.

• Allow providers to disable negative balance function of cards.

• Extend ticket expiration times.

• Offer bulk registration of cards online, and number products sequentially to simplify the bulk registration process.

• Allow more than one opportunity for providers to return expired tickets. 

In an emailed statement, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) said it already has been working to address the issues raised in the CJC report. “In fact, some of the changes we’re addressing are an outgrowth of the dialogues we’ve had with various providers since 2013, and include more than 400 social service agencies,” the transit agency said. “While we recognize and appreciate the important mission social service agencies serve, CTA also has a duty to consider its overall agency mission. In this strained and uncertain fiscal climate, any changes to CTA fare or fare-media policies pose challenges, and must be considered in the overall context of CTA operations.” 

CTA said it already provides over $100 million free and discounted rides annually through various state-mandates programs. But due to state budget cuts, the agency lost $28 million it depends on to subsidize those rides. “CTA relies on all fare revenue to keep our budget balanced and continue to provide the cost-effective service we provide to all Chicagoans,” the statement read. “We are committed to continuing the dialogue we have been having with social service providers to fully explore the issue and discuss options.”

In an early morning keynote speech to municipal bond analysts Wednesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel urged the crowd to consider a rosier picture for Chicago’s fiscal future, touting improved tourism, corporate relocation, and graduation rates, rather than solutions to bleak forecasts for the city’s pension funds and public schools. He accused the Illinois Supreme Court of putting a “straight jacket” around the city when it ruled earlier this year that his plan to reform the city’s Municipal and Labor funds was unconstitutional.

“I don’t believe how the Supreme Court interpreted the constitution was right. I think that they put, in my view, a straight jacket around us,” Mayor Emanuel said to the room of about 200 members of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts meeting at the Westin Michigan Avenue Hotel. It was one of his first official public remarks on that decision since the court’s ruling in March. The Mayor’s pension plan would have reduced annuity benefits for public employees, then ramp up pension payments and put both funds on a path toward financial stability.

Mayor Emanuel explained yesterday that the city is back at the table with the trustees of the labor and municipal funds “working through that issue” to find new revenue to keep the retirement funds from insolvency.

But his remarks fell short of explaining how he plans to rebound from that setback. The Civic Federation projects insolvency in muni and labor funds in 10 to 13 years. According to the city’s 2015 Annual Financial Analysis, the municipal workers’ pension was only 42 percent funded, and the laborers only 64 percent funded at the end of 2014 (p. 87).  

Mayor Emanuel expressed confidence that Gov. Bruce Rauner will sign a bill, SB777, to amend the funding timeline for the city’s police and fire pension funds. Gov. Rauner has said publicly that he will not sign pension reform without adding on components of his Turnaround Agenda. The city has already tapped a $220 million line of credit to meet a state-mandated March 1 deadline to have money available to make its pension payments.

The Mayor did not outline solutions for how to fix crumbling finances at Chicago Public Schools either, but instead provided recent CPS talking points that Springfield’s funding formula is one of the worst in the nation and reform is needed. CPS has disclosed to aldermen this week that it will only have $24 million cash on hand by the end of June and needs a line of credit for the next fiscal year.   

“We have met every issue head on,” Mayor Emanuel announced towards the end of his speech that was peppered with accomplishments that he tends to tout at these types of events: record tourism and growing corporate relocations; expanding pre-k and business-oriented curricula at community colleges; and having the most diverse economy in the country (he noted no industry makes up more than 13% of the city’s economy).

“I know you all want to talk about public finances, and I am going to talk about them,” he joked after highlighting those statistics. “But I want you to understand how we approach it in the City of Chicago, which is in a larger context of the economy. And that the fiscal condition of the City of Chicago needs to be part of an overall strategy. Not just fiscal over here, and the economy, or the health of Chicago’s economy, over here.”

Repeatedly reminding the crowd that he inherited the city’s poor fiscal position, Emanuel referenced the start of his first term in 2011. As a newly-elected mayor, he said he commissioned several independent reports on the city’s finances. He said he was faced with what he described as two reckless options for a city rebounding from the Great Recession: dramatically raise taxes or cut services.

“The most reckless strategy would have been to raise taxes without reforming, especially for people just emerging out of that recession,” he said. “Doesn’t mean we weren’t going to find additional revenue, but we weren’t just going to be willy-nilly about raising taxes.”

Emanuel said he also rejected the “other side of the ledger”, cutting services, which he called “crazy” and “reckless”, because of the number of people dependent on those city-funded services.

“We have not wavered. We have not wobbled in that effort. I don’t think denial is a long term strategy,” he concluded, attempting to make a joke about denial being a river in Egypt. Hardly anyone laughed.

The lobbying arm for the city’s taxi industry is actively pursuing aldermen, spending thousands of dollars in political donations to likely garner support for a plan imposing stricter regulations on their biggest competitors: the ride-hailing industry.

Over the past two months, the political action committee for the Illinois Transportation Trade Association, ITTA PAC, has donated a total of $23,000 to about 20 aldermen (some received more than one check) and the Progressive Caucus. The group’s stated purpose on the State Board of Elections website is to, “garner support for the Illinois taxicab industry.” Recent contributions to ITTA PAC have come from New York based credit lenders, including Medallion Financial, which provides drivers loans to buy taxicab medallions, and the League of Mutual Taxi Owners Incorporated (LOMTO) Federal Credit Union.

A number of the aldermen who received a $1,000 check from ITTA since March are on the Council’s Transportation and License Committees–the two bodies that are expected to take up an ordinance that would require Uber and other drivers contracted by ride-hailing apps obtain a full-time chauffeur's license, similar to the one the city requires of yellow cabbies.

The ordinance would drastically change how the ride-sharing industry operates in Chicago. Not only would Uber, Lyft and other drivers working for ride-hailing industries be required to get a public chauffeur's license, those drivers would also have to get fingerprinted by an outside contractor chosen by the Police Department, and at least 5% of all ride-share cars would have to be wheelchair accessible with the same pricing and response times as the rest of the fleet.

It’s an idea the Emanuel Administration has opposed in the past. Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Maria Guerra Lapacek has argued the two industries should not be treated the same, mainly because being an Uber driver isn’t considered a full time occupation.

But since the city opened up the airports, Navy Pier and McCormick Place to ride-hailing companies last fall, yellow cab drivers have sounded the alarm, warning their industry is on the verge of collapse. When BACP asked the License Committee in March to update licensing requirements for taxi and ride-share drivers, several cabbies testified they could no longer sustain themselves because of the proliferation of Uber and Lyft drivers on city streets. Ironically, a notable number of the drivers who vocally expressed their outrage that the administration has not done enough to level the playing field were part of the Taxicab Driver Fairness Task Force, a panel Mayor Emanuel himself assembled in 2014.  

The same grievances were raised when the Transportation Committee considered a proposal from the Chairman, Ald. Anthony Beale (9), that would slap a 50-cent surcharge on all cab rides paid with credit or debit. Noting that plan would barely address the real issue at hand, creating parity among the two industries, Ald. Beale introduced an ordinance at the March City Council meeting that would further regulate the ride-sharing industry. That ordinance is currently in committee.

Since the beginning of March, Ald. Beale alone got the largest check from ITTA: $5,000. Other aldermen on the Transportation Committee who received a $1,000 check from ITTA include: Sue Sadlowski Garza (9), Raymond Lopez (15), Matt O’Shea (19), Chris Taliaferro (29), and Anthony Napolitano (41).

And those on the License Committee to accept a donation from ITTA include: Willie Cochran (20), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26), Ariel Reboyras(30), Scott Waguespack (32), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), and James Cappleman (46).

Aldermen Pat Dowell (3) and Joe Moore (49) were the only two aldermen on neither committee to receive a $1,000 check from the taxi lobby over the same period.

Uber has also been lobbying its riders to come out against Beale’s proposal in an online petition that argues the measure “would put an end to uberX in Chicago and the affordable ride Chicagoans have come to expect.” The petition has garneredmore than 100,000 signatures.

The city's Budget Office says it will begin working with aldermen to create a city-run property tax rebate program in time for this summer, when the next property tax bills are sent out. Loyola Law School holds a public forum to discuss reforming the Chicago Police Department. And the council’s Zoning Committee relaxes regulations on where in the city medical marijuana dispensaries can set up shop.

The city’s Budget Office plans to start discussing different city-run property tax rebate options with aldermen “in the upcoming month”, a spokesperson for the City’s Budget Office told Aldertrack.  

In an emailed statement, Molly Poppe, a spokesperson for Budget Director Alex Holt, told Aldertrack yesterday that the office is looking at multiple rebate options, including a handful of plans aldermen have introduced since the City Council passed a historic $544 million property tax hike to help the city’s vastly underfunded Police and Fire pension fund.

“Any rebate plan will remain true to the Mayor’s goal of protecting low- and middle-income families that can least afford it,” Poppe said in the email.

Back in October, when aldermen approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s spending plan for 2016, aldermen also adopted a resolution, albeit symbolic, imposing an April 30th deadline for the city to start considering its own property tax rebate program should Springfield fail to double the homeowners exemption, a plan Mayor Emanuel was confident would pass.

The resolution, introduced by Ald. Michele Smith (43), was fueled partially by skepticism that the state legislature would pass that bill to double the homestead exemption from $7,000 to $14,000 by the time property tax bills were mailed out this year. 28th Ward Ald. Jason Ervin, at one point during the budget season, said voting on a property tax hike before Springfield passed an exemption was “akin to jumping in a pool and not knowing if it is a 9-foot pool or 29-foot pool.”

That exemption, Emanuel, Holt and Chief Finance Officer Carole Brown argued, would shelter homeowners whose homes are valued at $250,000 or less from seeing any increase in their tax bills. Homes valued above $250,000 would also see some relief.

The $544 million levy increase, which will be ramped up over four years, is an average 12.2% increase over the current 2015 estimated tax bill. According to numbers provided by the Mayor’s Office, a home valued at $232,630 would see an estimated $4,146 tax bill for 2015, a $276 increase over the previous year. At the peak of the ramp, in 2018, that same homeowner is expected to see a $4,344 tax bill, a $474 increase. If Springfield were to double the homeowner exemption, that homeowner would see $3,707 tax bill for 2015, and a $3,879 tax bill for 2018, a savings of $439 and $464, respectively.

“The exemption doesn’t need to be in place before the end of the year,” Holt explained to aldermen during a Finance Committee hearing held on October. “It does certainly need to be in place before the second installment [property tax] bills go out in July. Certainly for the purposes of the County, it would be preferable, given the work that they need to do, that this happen as soon as possible. But from a residents perspective, they won’t see an increase until the bill that’s due...next year.”

The Cook County Treasurer is responsible for compiling tax bills for all governments in the County while the Cook County Clerk is responsible for sending them. Last October Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle expressed doubt the County treasurer’s office could even implement the Mayor’s exemption plan, saying County does not have the technological capacity to separate city properties and their tax rates from the rest of the county’s. Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas later told Crain’s "They can't do it. I'm 95 percent sure they can't do it."

And since State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie introduced an amendment to Illinois Senate Bill 1488 in October to double the homeowners exemption, the bill has yet to advance out of committee. With no state legislative action, the Mayor’s Office has yet to explain how it will make good on its promise to aldermen to make sure Emanuel’s historic property tax hike won’t impact homeowners who can least afford it.

Any city-run property tax rebate plan would likely face an uphill battle, too, making it doubtful that a reasonable plan would be put in place in time for when the second installment of the 2015 property tax bills are mailed out to residents this summer.

First, any rebate plan would need a funding source. The city has estimated it would cost upwards of $35 million, and finding a new revenue source could prove to be a hard sell for a Mayor whose latest budget included that historic property tax hike and an unpopular new garbage fee.

Second, business interests are vehemently opposed to special tax breaks for homeowners. When the Illinois House Finance and Revenue Committee held a debate in October on doubling the homeowner’s exemption, Michael Reever, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, vocally expressed the group’s opposition to what he described as “Cook County’s archaic and unfair classification system,” which taxes commercial and industrial properties at a rate 2.5 times higher than residential properties. Those property owners would have to make up the levy difference if a residential exemption passed.

“[Mayor Emanuel’s] proposal would shift an even greater share of the property tax burden to business-- something the Chicagoland Chamber does not support,” Rever said in his statement. The burden, Reever said, is the recent minimum wage hike, implementation of the plastic bag ban, the new cloud tax, and an increase in the 911 surcharge.

There are four property tax rebate plans introduced by aldermen that have been sitting in Ald. Ed Burke’s (14) Finance Committee. All but one have been untouched since they were introduced last fall. And each plan caters to the needs of the sponsor’s constituents.

Ald. Joe Moreno’s (1) plan uses a rebate formula that factors in household income. His ward, which covers part of Wicker Park and Bucktown, has seen a significant increase in property values. Moreno’s ordinance would provide relief for homeowners with income under $100,000, with a higher rebate rate for those earning less. The rebate rate is multiplied by the difference in the City’s real estate tax assessment rate from last year to this year, then multiplied by the assessed value of the house. Moreno’s office said 57% of the occupied household population in Chicago would potentially be eligible to apply for relief under his ordinance.

In a conversation with Aldertrack yesterday, Moreno affirmed that he still believes doubling the homeowner’s exemption is the best course of action for the city, because rebates require more work for homeowners. An exemption is automatically deducted from a tax bill, while a rebate would have to be applied for. Noting that he’s skeptical Springfield will enact a rebate plan in time, Ald. Moreno said he has a meeting scheduled with the Budget Office next week to discuss why his rebate plan is the best one for the city.

Lincoln Park Ald. Michele Smith (43) introduced another rebate plan catered more towards elderly residents in her ward. Her plan provides additional relief for homeowners who are 60 years or older and have lived in their home for at least 18 years. Similar to Moreno’s, her ward has seen a surge in home values over the past two decades.

And Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), whose ward includes Logan Square, has two complementary proposals. One plan, which he introduced with Progressive Caucus members last fall, would shelter Chicago homeowners living 400% below the federal poverty level. In order to qualify for the rebate, a family of four would have to have a gross annual salary under $97,000, a family of two would have to report an annual salary under $63,000, and a single homeowner would have to have an annual salary under $47,000.

The fourth plan, which Ald. Rosa introduced at the April City Council meeting, expands on his first plan by extending the rebate to include rental property owners who do not increase their tenants’ rents. In order to be eligible for this plan, a property owner would have to prove that their tenants did not or will not see a rent increase “between the applicable year and the year immediately following the applicable year as determined by leases, affidavits, or other required documentation”, in addition to providing proof that at least 50% of all units on-site are rented to individuals or families whose income is within 400% of the federal poverty level.

Even more rebate plans could be introduced later this spring, after aldermen receive and study data from Cook County on the receipts from the first installment of this year’s property tax bills, one aldermanic staffer said. Those were due on March 1st of this year.

The Council’s Zoning Committee met for three hours yesterday to relax medical marijuana restrictions in one type of downtown zoning district and approve about 40 zoning applications, including one that received a significant amount of pushback at the Plan Commission meeting in March, but had no residential opposition at yesterday’s meeting. 

Present: Chairman Danny Solis (25), Vice Chair James Cappleman (46), Joe Moreno (1), Michelle Harris (8), Ed Burke (14), Raymond Lopez (15), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett (27), Brendan Reilly (42), John Arena (45), Ameya Pawar (47).

Medical Marijuana

The Zoning Committee approved a plan from Ald. Ed Burke (14) to expand the boundaries in the city’s downtown area where medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed to open up shop. The zoning code divides the city’s downtown area into four sub-categories: Downtown Core (“DC”), Downtown Residential (“DR”), Downtown Mixed-Use (“DX”), and Downtown Service (“DS”). When the City Council set the boundary parameters for where medical marijuana dispensaries could locate after the state approved the pilot program, they excluded the DC and DR districts from eligibility. The ordinance the committee approved yesterday would make available the DC district for dispensaries.

“After looking at this, I am not really aware of any compelling justification for distinguishing between DX, DS, and DC zoning districts with regard to medical cannabis dispensing organizations,” Ald. Burke testified. “I don’t know if it is an oversight, but I think that to continue to permit the code to prohibit these organizations from locating in this one DC downtown core district may not make any real sense. I don’t know if that was the intent.”

But due to the strict zoning requirements which forbid a dispensary from being 1,000 feet from a school and a child care facility, the change makes limited space available because of the high concentration of those entities downtown.

Former State Sen. Robert Molaro testified in support of the measure, noting that there were “five or six” sites in the downtown core district that medical marijuana dispensary operators wanted to locate only to find that they were barred from doing so. After speaking to the city’s Inspector General, Corporation Counsel and Ald. Burke’s office, they could not determine why the there was a moratorium put in place, Molaro said. “So we checked with everybody, and no one seems to have a problem allowing DC to go in,” he explained, adding that the same safeguards of requiring a special use permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals and local aldermanic approval would still be in place for community input.

This is Ald. Burke’s second medical marijuana related ordinance to go through the Zoning Committee this year. In January, the Council approved a measure championed by Ald. Burke that relaxed the on-site security requirements for local dispensaries. The ordinance eliminated the requirement that dispensaries have around-the-clock security on the premises. At that January committee meeting, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) lamented the city’s strict restrictions and the moratorium on dispensaries in the DC districts.

At yesterday’s meeting Reilly praised Burke’s ordinance, saying the outer areas of the city, where dispensaries are allowed, are not easily accessible to downtown residents, especially the elderly.

“Downtown... is surrounded by medical facilities, hospitals, where people are seeing their doctors and obsentively getting these prescriptions,” Ald. Reilly said. “One would hope that they could then also have access to this medication in a centralized location.”

Plexiglass For Vacant Homes

The committee approved another application from Ald. Burke that would add polycarbonate clear boarding to the list of materials that can legally be used to board up vacant buildings. In his testimony, Ald. Burke noted that the Buildings Department already allows use of this tough plastic to secure windows and doors. This ordinance would codify that practice into law, he explained.

Robert Klein, founder and Chairman of Safeguard Properties, a Cleveland-based company that sells the material, testified at the meeting alongside Burke. Noting that his plastic is double the price of plywood, one of the more common materials used to close off homes, Klein argued his product saves money in the long-run. He claimed homes boarded up with polycarbonate clear boarding are less likely to get vandalized or impact the property values of surrounding buildings, because the material is indiscernible from a regular window.

His testimony sounded more like an advertisement, especially with Ald. Burke’s leading questions. And Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), who represents the city’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the city, took issue to Klein’s comments that his product was the answer to fixing the city’s blighted neighborhoods.

“You can still tell a foreclosed home whether it is plywood or plastic,” Ald. Lopez noted, saying that some of the 600 foreclosed homes in his ward are secured with the plastic material. “And, while I understand you're very much pitching the product, plywood doesn’t devalue the neighboring houses. A foreclosed home, period, devalues that property.”

Zoning Applications (Highlights)

Only one person showed up to testify against a nine-story plus penthouse building planned for 111 S. Peoria in the city’s Near West Side community. Roughly 20 residents signed up to testify against the project at the March Plan Commission meeting. None of the residents were aware that the item was listed on the deferred agenda for yesterday’s meeting, according to attorney Gregory M. Linde of the law firm Nixon Peabody. Linde is representing the Monroe Manor Condo Association, a group of residents that live to the north of the planned development.

The project proposed by LG Development would transform the surface parking lot across from Mary Bartelme Park into a condo building with 95 residential units. Ten percent of those units would be made affordable, at the request of local Ald. Walter Burnett (27). (Since LG Development filed their application before the beefed up affordable housing requirements took effect in October 2015, they took advantage of the affordable housing bonus, which lets them pay a fee for added density, and did not have to make any units affordable.)

Linde said the condo association opposes the project for three reasons: excessive bulk and density, safety reasons related to fire alley access, and “inadequate due process” by failing to notify residents that the project was on yesterday’s agenda.

Michael Ezgur, the attorney for LG Development, immediately refuted those claims. He said the density they are seeking–a change from a DS-3 to a DX-5–is consistent with surrounding zoning, which he said is a mix of DS-3, DX-5, and DX-7. Ezgur also noted that the Fire Department signed off on the plan and the project has been in the works for the past nine months. Ezgur and Ald. Burnett also lauded the various changes the developer made to the project: significantly reducing the number of on-site units, changing the makeup of those units from rentals to condos, and adding the affordable housing component.

“We need to hurry up and vote on this, so this guy can stop billing those neighbors who hired him to come and represent them. I’m sure he’s making a lot of money off them right now,” Ald. Burnett said, adding that he supports the project “100 percent.” It passed unanimously by voice vote.

Another item on the deferred agenda, a proposed four-story masonry building with 36 residential units at 2435 N. Western Ave. in the 1st Ward, received opposition from one vocal resident, Tina Lowry Harris, who lamented the “glut in the luxury rental market.” It was one of the few applications in the 1st Ward that got a hearing and passage. Most applications were deferred either at the request of the attorney or because Ald. Joe Moreno (1) could not be found when the applications in his ward were called up for consideration.

A handful of people, including the president for the Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association, Robert Bank, testified against a project at 5629 W. Higgins Ave. in the 45th Ward. The applicant and owner of the property, Wojciech Lejman, applied for a zoning change to increase allowable density on site so he could demolish the existing building and construct a new two-story, five-unit residential building.

Calling the zoning change “inappropriate” and “greedy” (he accused the developer of trying to squeeze more units in the building to make a greater return on the property), Bank asked that the committee reject the plan. “There is no need for another condo in this area,” he said, equating the units planned to a “cheaper cubical in some tall apartment building.”

Local Ald. John Arena (45) called it a “modest” condo development, noting the taller, six-story condo developments across the street, and recommended passage. It was approved unanimously.  

Several applications, including Helmut Jahn’s proposed 832-foot residential tower for 1000 S. Michigan Ave., were deferred. Chairman Solis (25) directly introduced three applications for zoning changes in his ward. And Ald. Matt O’Shea (19), who recently down-zoned several swathes of 111st Street to the lowest density allowed in a commercial designated zoning district, was put in an odd position of having to backtrack on one of those plans, because a restaurant in his ward that is in the process of expanding would have been found non-conforming.

The City Council’s Zoning Committee will take up internationally-known architect Helmut Jahn’s proposed 832-foot residential tower for 1000 S. Michigan Ave. and a controversial project from LG Development that calls for a nine-story plus penthouse condo building on a surface parking lot across from Mary Bartelme Park on the city’s Near West Side, among roughly 60 other zoning applications.

Jahn’s 506-unit residential building, which will be a mix of condos and rentals, received unanimous approval from the Plan Commission last week. Seventy percent (358 units) would be made condos while the remaining 148 units, to be located at the bottom half of the building, would be sold as rentals.

All units planned will be sold at market rate. The developers, a joint venture of JK Equities and Time Equities, took advantage of the old 2007 affordable housing requirements, opting to use the Affordable Housing Bonus, which lets them pay an in-lieu fee of $828,502.40. Only one person signed up to testify against the project when it came before the Plan Commission.

Meanwhile, LG Development’s plan for 111 South Peoria Street is likely to get some neighborhood pushback, as more than a dozen residents signed up to testify against it at the Plan Commission meeting in March. That group was especially organized, with handouts, zoning maps, and presentation boards supplementing their testimony. Attorney Ron Cope and city planner Les Pollack were among them. The project, which has gone through five revisions, received unanimous approval from the Plan Commission.

Ald. Burke’s Apps, Plan Commission Appointments

Ald. Ed Burke (14) wants to lift the ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in the city’s downtown area, and add a type of transparent plastic to the list of materials that can be used to board up vacant or foreclosed homes.

Ald. Burke’s two ordinances are the only non-zoning change, aldermanic-backed measures before the Zoning Committee today.

The medical marijuana ordinance would amend the city’s zoning code to make it possible for dispensary operators to apply for a special use permit to open a medical marijuana shop on any street zoned “Downtown Core”, or “DC.” To obtain a special use permit, the operator would still need to apply for the permit with the Zoning Board of Appeals, the land-use body in charge of granting all special use permits.

Burke’s other measure would change the city’s Municipal Code to allow “the use of polycarbonate clear boarding to secure vacant residential buildings.” This type of transparent plastic is advertised as a way to board up homes as not to attract vandals or squatters, because the material makes it indiscernible that the home is closed off.

Under the city’s zoning code, the mortgage holder of any residential building that has become vacant and is not already registered with the city is required to secure the building’s doors and windows. The zoning code requires that “commercial-quality metal security panels” or plywood be used. Burke’s ordinance adds polycarbonate clear boarding to that list.

The Committee is also expected to take up the re-appointment of Leslie F. Bond, Jr.and Linda Searl to the Plan Commission. Bond, the founder and CEO of Attucks Asset Management, was first appointed to the land-use board by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012. Searl, the president and principal at Searl Lamaster Howe Architects, P.C., was first appointed to the land-use board in 1997 by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Noticeably missing from the list of appointments is the replacement for Juan Linares, who resigned from the seat after spending less than a year on the commission. At the last monthly City Council meeting on April 13, Mayor Emanuel introduced an ordinance replacing Linares with Lucino Sotelo, a Chief Marketing Officer at BMO Harris Bank.

Aldermanic Applications

• 2438-40 W. 47th Street (15th Ward) - Ald. Raymond Lopez filed a request to rezone a closed-off vacant piece of property currently being used as a private parking lot. It’s located next door to two restaurants, and various other commercial properties are also situated on the street. But Ald. Lopez wants to downzone it from a commercial property (B3-2) to a residential, detached house district (RS3).

• 3116 W. 111th Street (19th Ward) - In his latest zoning request–he had 5 at the last zoning meeting held earlier this month–Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) has filed yet another application to rezone a section of 111th Street. The latest request makes a modest change: from a B1-1 to a B1-1.5. The difference of the “0.5” impacts density, such as the minimum floor area ratio and the minimum lot area per unit allowed. At the April 5th meeting, Ald. O’Shea received some pushback from his colleagues on the committee concerning his applications to downzone various commercial strips (mostly on 111st Street) to the lowest density allowable for this type of commercial use. At that meeting, an aide for Ald. O’Shea testified that the alderman filed the applications to “keep consistent our business district,” and that most of the ward’s commercial streets already conform to that zoning designation.

• 2701-07 W. Division St. (26th Ward) - Ald. Roberto Maldonado is seeking approval to up-zone this commercial and residential building located a block away from Humboldt Park. He’s asking for a B3-3 designation, up from a B1-1. The difference is the type of retail allowed; B1-1 allows for small-scale shops, B3-3 allows for a very broad range of retail and commercial businesses.

• 2119-37 W. Erie St. (26th Ward) - Another application from Ald. Maldonado that would make a modest change to a residential street. He’s asking for a change from a RS3 to an RS2. The change in number affects the amount of density allowed.

• Clark Street from Diversey (2800 N) to Wellington (3000 N) (44th Ward) - Ald. Tom Tunney wants to designate this busy stretch of sidewalks as a “Pedestrian Retail Street.” By classifying these streets as such, Tunney is making sure that they remain pedestrian-oriented shopping corridors. Under the city’s zoning code, a pedestrian retail street is characterized as one that has a high concentration of existing stores and restaurants, few vacant, and most of which have windows and stores facing the street.

• 5140-90 N. Northwest Hwy (45th Ward) - Ald. John Arena filed an application to rezone this triangle lot occupied by a Walgreens building. The property is designated as a manufacturing district (M1-1). Arena wants to designate it as a business commercial district (B1-1). The lot is sandwiched between the 16th District police station and the Orion Industries and Surface Solution Group manufacturing building.

Private Applications on the Regular Agenda (Highlights)

• 1317-1335 N. Western Ave (1st Ward) - Gibbons Construction filed an application to rezone this property to facilitate construction of a new five-story, 60-foot, 39 dwelling unit building. No commercial space is planned. Other amenities would include 32 parking spaces.

• 4352 W. Flournoy St. (24th Ward) - Manal Musa filed an application to rezone a vacant piece of property at this location to build a one-story, 2,400-square-foot commercial strip mall building.

• 1708-12 W. Cermak Road (25th Ward) - Ashcer, LLC, owned by Tatiana Nowak, filed an application to rezone this property to construct a four-story, 46-foot tall building with 24 residential units and 24 parking spaces. Located on the northern border of the city’s lower west side neighborhood, the property is a block away from Benito Juarez Community Academy.

• 863 N. Orleans St. (27th Ward) - Three applicants filed a joint application to rezone this property to build a six-story office and retail building near the Chicago Brown Line CTA Station at Chicago Avenue, making this project a so-called “Transit Oriented Development.” According to the application, the bottom floor would include 3,700-square-feet of retail. Floors two-through-six would have 11,700-square-feet of office space. The three applicants are:
  BlitzLake 3D (David Blitz), TJ Tully LLC (Thomas Tully) Eric Rothner.

Another week of back and forth between Chicago Public Schools and the teacher’s union over stalled contract negotiations. Mayor Rahm Emanuel outlines new police reforms plucked from a task force he assembled after the Laquan McDonald video release. And newly appointed 4th Ward Alderman Sophia King flexes some political muscle getting a land-use board to table a parking lot expansion plan in her ward, because she says it’s not open to the public.

At their monthly meeting held yesterday, the Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved architect Helmut Jahn’s proposed residential tower for South Michigan Avenue, while newly-appointed 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, in her first appearance before the land-use body, successfully tabled a vote on an application from the Chicago Park District that would have expanded a parking lot serving visitors of the 31st Street beach and harbor, which are in her ward.

The Park District sought approval to significantly expand the existing surface parking lot off 3100 S. Lake Shore Drive from 159 to 422 stalls. Heather Gleason, the Director of Planning and Development for the Park District, said it’s part of a six-year-long development plan for the harbor, with the goal of providing more parking to one of the city’s most popular beaches. The district already received approval from the city’s Transportation and Fire departments, and had a letter of approval on file from Ald. King’s predecessor, Will Burns. Gleason said Burns had been working with the District on this development plan for upwards of a year.

But Ald. King took issue with a permanent sign she says is prominently displayed at the entrance of the parking lot that states only people with harbor passes are allowed to park in the lot.

“My kids grew up here and went to the beach, and I know personally we’ve been turned away,” said Ald. King, “So I just want to make sure that any parking plans that are there, that the residents’ input are accurately taken into consideration.”

In a briefing she had on the project the night before, King said she was told the parking lot would be open to the public. She said she then drove to the beach to check for herself, only to find a “permanent” sign noting the contrary.

“I want to make sure that in the plans there is proper access for everyday beachgoers who want to go to the beach as they’ve been doing,” she noted. “I don’t want community members to feel like they’re being pushed out of their park.”

Park District Superintendent and CEO Mike Kelly, who is also a member of the Plan Commission and had requested the application be heard early so he could attend a funeral service, promised to address her concerns and urged the other commissioners to approve the project.

“I do want to remind everyone at the commission this was a $100 million dollar investment by the taxpayers for this community. The park was built for the community,” Comm. Kelly said. “It’s one of the most popular beaches… In fact, it was so popular that that we needed to expand on the parking. The parking is for the boaters and the parking is for the community. It’s a parking lot.”

But Ald. King countered that his good faith effort was “tainted” because his commitment was not conveyed to her the night before. “The inconsistency there bothers me.”

Chairman Martin Cabrera deferred to King and said he would temporarily table the item while she and the Park District worked out the issues offline. The application was supposed to be brought up at the end of the meeting, but before adjournment, Cabrera announced that he would defer the item for a later date.

Another application from the Park District, a proposed 8,000-square-foot concession stand at Maggie Daley Park, received unanimous approval. The concession stand will overlook the Buckingham Fountain, and will have a sloping, 6,800-square-foot landscaped green roof. The building will have floor to ceiling windows, a “vegetated wall system”, and an expansive pedestrian plaza. Most of the presentation focused on desperately needed public restrooms for that area of the park. The closest bathroom, the fieldhouse near Randolph Street, is about a 1500-2000 foot walk away.

And internationally-known architect Helmut Jahn traveled to Chicago to present his proposed 832-foot residential tower for 1000 S. Michigan Avenue, across the street from Grant Park. Jahn shaved about 200 feet off the tower and did a complete redesign of his original plan, which first called for a more than 1,000-square-foot building.

The design was the product of a lengthy international competition, Jahn said, and he sought to design a building that would “stand the test of time.” The building’s “tough character,” as he described it, slopes upward, starting from a rectangle and ending with a parallelogram.  

Calling the project a “very strong downtown building that will complement our skyline,” Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifmanthanked Jahn for working with the Landmarks Commission in making the building more compatible with the historic district.  

The project, which will have 506 units, was submitted prior to the beefed-up affordable housing requirements took effect. And the developers, a joint venture of JK Equities and Time Equities, took advantage of the Affordable Housing Bonus, which lets them pay an in-lieu fee of $828,502.40. No affordable units will be provided on site, a point that irked two aldermen on the Plan Commission: Tom Tunney (44) and Walter Burnett (27).

Of those 506 units, 70 percent (358 units) will be condos. The remaining 148 units, to be located at the bottom half of the building, will be rentals. Local Ald. King asked for the price points of the units, but JK Equities did not have that information, saying they’re still working on their costs.

The overall project would cost $385 million, according to the developer’s attorney, Jack George. Pending City Council approval, it’s expected to bring in $105 million in real estate taxes over the next ten years.

Two residents from the neighboring 910 South Michigan Avenue building testified on the project; one against, the other in favor. Elaine Soble, who opposed the project, said it would cause a tremendous shadow over Grant Park and “makes a mockery that [Michigan Avenue] is a landmarked area.” She said “everyone” at her building agreed with her, but then Stephen Gabelnick, another 910 resident, said Soble was speaking for herself and that he heard no such opposition from residents.

A proposal to build apartments on top of the century-old Isaac G. Ettleson building in the city’s East Lake View Neighborhood and a scaled down Helmut Jahnskyscraper for South Michigan Avenue are up for review today by the city’s Plan Commission.

Today’s agenda is also noticeably less packed than those held over the past six months, when the Plan Commission was hearing about 6 to 8 applications a month.

The applications in agenda order:

#1 - 352 East Monroe Street (42nd Ward) -  An application forwarded by the Chicago Park District for the construction of an 8,000 square-foot concession building within Maggie Daley Park awaits Plan Commission review. The park is protected by the Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance. In January 2015, the Park District Board of Commissioners approved a concession stand contract with the Four Corners Tavern Group for the design, build-out and operation of a restaurant, a concession kiosk, and the right to cater special events at the park.

#2 - 3100 South Lake Shore Drive - Application (4th Ward) - This is another application from the Park District seeking a zoning change to expand an existing parking lot.

#3 - 3817-45 North Broadway Avenue. (46th Ward) - The owner of the former Spin nightclub in Boystown, David Gassman, who also owns several properties in Rogers Park, is behind a proposed eight-story mixed use building that would incorporate the existing Isaac G. Ettleson building currently located on the subject site. Built in the early 1900s, and once occupied by the Hamilton State Bank, the corner lot, two-story structure is known for the white terra cotta eagles crowning the building. According to the zoning application Gassman filed with the city in September, the proposed structure will keep retail at the ground floor, office space and 15 dwelling units on the second floor, and the remaining 110 residential units spread among the third through eight floors. The site is currently zoned B3-3 and Gassman is seeking to establish a planned development. He’s represented by zoning attorney Thomas S. Moore.

#4 - 920-1006 South Michigan Avenue and 1011-1015 South Wabash Avenue (4th Ward) - The Plan Commission will conclude its meeting with Helmut Jahn’shighly anticipated, but somewhat scaled down, skyscraper for 1000 S. Michigan Avenue. Originally proposed as a more than 1000-foot building for the Historic Michigan Boulevard District, the building would reach 832 feet in height. It includes 506 units, according to the specs listed on the meeting agenda.

The developers, JK Equities and Time Equities, are seeking a planned development to build an 86-story residential tower on a surface parking lot. The building will have enough parking stalls for 486 cars. Roughly half may be leased out to the public. The neighboring office building, located near the corner of South Michigan Avenue and 11th Street, would be included in the PD. Proposed uses include “school, college and university.” (Columbia College is located on the same block.) Somewhat related, the Landmarks Commission adopted new design guidelines in February that provide parameters for new construction in the historic district. The scaled-down renderings, which shaved about 200 ft from the original plan, align with those guidelines.

Items Deferred As of Wednesday:

#1 - 11127-29 South Langley Avenue and 704-706 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.

#2- 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. Due to the September filing date, the application falls under the old, 2007 affordable housing regulations.

The development team is represented by Paul Shadle & 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%). Michael, a well-known developer in Uptown, died in January from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The Chicago Police Department has been making courtesy calls to influential South Side pastors this week in anticipation of a release this week by CPD of a police-involved shooting video stemming from an armed robbery incident from several years ago, Aldertrack has learned from pastors who received the calls.

The video shows a female armed robbery suspect pursued by police in a car, shot at while in pursuit, pulled out of the car, and, in a melee with the police, then tasered, a source familiar with the video told Aldertrack yesterday. The victim has since pled guilty and is currently serving time in prison, the source said.

One South Side pastor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, called the courtesy call “unusual” and that the department anticipates public outcry, possibly because of the way officers allegedly confronted the woman. Sources could not confirm the woman’s name or race or when the incident occurred.

That information was not provided in the calls, multiple sources said. Contacted for comment late yesterday afternoon, the Police Department’s News Affairs Office would not confirm the video release.