A recently appointed member to the Chicago Plan Commission who was a vocal proponent of affordable housing has resigned from the board and will be replaced, according to an ordinance the Mayor introduced at yesterday’s full City Council meeting.

Juan Linares, the Executive Director of LUCHA, an organization on the city’s Northwest Side that focuses on affordable housing, resigned from the mayor-appointed land use board after serving for less than a year. He was appointed in July 2015, and spent the brief stint taking every opportunity to hold developers accountable for affordable housing requirements, often expressing disappointment when developers chose to pay the in-lieu cash fee instead of providing on-site affordable units.

When representatives from the CMK development team went before the body in November to present their proposed 2,699-unit residential tower in the 25th Ward, he asked the developers to explain why so many developers opted out of the on-site requirement.

In February, when the massive Lathrop Homes redevelopment plan went before the body, he took Related Midwest’s Jacques Sandberg to task, asking him to explain why they opted out of replacing all of the public housing units within the mixed-use development.

And in January he voted against Vequity’s seven-story, 44-unit residential building planned for a busy intersection in Wicker Park because none of the units would be affordable.

Contacted for comment on his decision to step down, Linares declined to speak on the record. Pending Council approval, Linares would be replaced with Lucino Sotelo, a Chief Marketing Officer at BMO Harris Bank, according to his LinkedIn. Sotelo will finish the remainder of Linares’ term, which is set to expire on January 25, 2019.

The Council’s License Committee approved an ordinance from Ald. Ed Burke (14) that would make it legal for licensed peddlers to sell flowers from their carts or vehicles, while Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) received some pushback for re-upping 19 liquor moratoriums along streets in Logan Square.  

Attendance: Chair Emma Mitts (37) Rod Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), David Moore (17), Matt O’Shea (19), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Mike Zalewski (23), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26),  Walter Burnett (27), Chris Taliaferro (29), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Carlos Ramirez Rosa (35), Marge Laurino (39), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44), James Cappleman (46), Deb Silverstein (50).

According to Ald. Burke, the prohibition on selling flowers on the street dates back to 1943, when then-Finance Chairman JJ Duffy of the city’s 19th Ward championed a ban to eliminate competition to his floral shop, JJ Florals. “No, I was not there,” Burke joked, adding that he learned of the ban when someone went to him to get a peddler’s license to sell flowers but was told that it was illegal.

Under the municipal code, a peddler is defined as a person who moves from place to place and sells goods from some kind of vehicle or cart, according to Matt Link, a staff attorney for the Finance Committee, who was on hand for testimony. The item received unanimous approval.

The committee also approved Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa’s (35) nineteen ordinances renewing various liquor moratoriums in his ward. All of which, according to him, had either been put in place by his predecessor, Rey Colon, or were along streets recently incorporated during the ward remap. Ald. Ramirez-Rosa said he was renewing the moratoriums to give more local control to his community.

“In a number of instances I have heard from constituents and members of the business community that are concerned about the number of establishments that are pulling liquor licences,” Ald. Ramirez-Rosa testified. “So, placing these moratoriums back in effect will ensure that we have local community control, and that we have a level of accountability through me as the elected official of that ward.”

Ald. Ramirez-Rosa held one of those items, an ordinance that would have renewed the moratorium on North Milwaukee Avenue, from North Kedzie Avenue to North Kimball Avenue, at the request of Pat Doerr of the Hospitality Business Association, who testified at yesterday’s meeting. The decision to hold the item was made prior to the meeting, Ald. Ramirez-Rosa said, after he had a meeting with Doerr.

“We respect aldermanic prerogative,” Doerr explained that he was speaking more as a point of information, than as a witness in opposition to the tavern licenses. He thanked Ald. Ramirez-Rosa for holding off on the moratorium on Milwaukee Avenue, which he said would have prevented a new woman-owned business planned on that commercial strip.

But Doerr requested that the aldermen revisit the issue, arguing the new tavern prohibitions would prevent the ability to open new craft breweries and tasting rooms, which he called a “pretty popular asset.”

Most of the other liquor license items on the agenda lifted moratoriums on tavern licences, including one on North Clybourn Avenue in the 2nd Ward to allow brewpubs on Goose Island.

“We are the Napa Valley of craft brewing,” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) said of the growth of craft breweries in the area. The ordinance he sponsored, which the committee approved, would give those breweries the ability to serve alcohol on site at breweries along the west side of Clybourn Avenue, between Willow Street and Cortland Avenue.

The Council’s Rules Committee is scheduled to meet an hour before today’s full City Council meeting to appoint Sophia King to the 4th Ward aldermanic seat vacated by Will Burns earlier this year.

The committee met briefly yesterday morning to give aldermen an opportunity to meet with King, but Committee Chair Michelle Harris (8) chose to recess the meeting, holding off on the official vote to confirm her to the seat until today. Harris said she wanted to give aldermen an opportunity to get to know her, so the vote would be quick.

After the Rules Committee confirms her appointment, it will advance to the full council, scheduled shortly after.
 

Highlights of Items Awaiting Council Approval

• An amendment to the municipal code that would give the mayor a one-time exemption to circumvent the Police Board’s jurisdiction to recommend interim Police Supt. Eddie Johnson to a permanent post, as well as Johnson’s actual appointment to the post.  

• $6.45M in two police-related settlements. The larger of the two settlements, a $4.95 million payout, would go to the family of Philip Coleman. The suit names 13 police officers and one detention aide, and alleges their use of excessive force, which included tasing Coleman more than a dozen times, and refusal to take Coleman, who was experiencing a psychotic episode, to a hospital, as the cause of his death. $1.5 million will go to the family of Justin Cook, who died from suffocation after officers allegedly failed to administer his inhaler to him during an asthma attack.

• Gate ground lease agreement with American Airlines at O’Hare Airport. The ordinance would allow the airline to begin construction on five new gates at the end of Terminal 3. The gates are known as the L Stringer Gates, with a total space of about 165,000 feet, comprised of new waiting areas and concession stands, among other amenities. The gates are scheduled to open in 2018, with the open bid for concessionaires scheduled for next year.

• Financial Transparency Resolution. The resolution from Ald. John Arena (45) that the committee approved requests that the council draft an ordinance that would require more transparency and oversight for the city when it tries to enter into risky financial agreements with banks. More details on the ordinance to be introduced as a result of the resolution below.

• Substitute Class 6(b) certification for Eli’s Cheesecake Company for the property located at 4350 N. Normandy Ave. and 6701 W. Forest Preserve Dr. The tax break would help support a roughly 38,000 sq ft addition to an existing 62,000 sq ft manufacturing and distribution facility in Ald. Nick Sposato’s 38th ward in the Read/Dunning TIF.

• Amendment of muni code concerning parking of pickup trucks of residential and business streets. The ordinance sponsored by City Clerk Susana Mendoza would eliminate the requirement that non-commercial pickup trucks get a special sticker from the ward office in order to legally park on residential and commercial streets.

• A $29 million sale of city-owned land (the former Malcolm X College CampusSite) for Rush University’s new medical academic village and a new training center for the Chicago Blackhawks. The sale is broken up into two ordinances - one for Rush (worth $17.5 million), and one for the Blackhawks(worth $11.7 million). The land sale didn’t make it to the floor last month, because two freshman aldermen–Gilbert Villegas (36) and Raymond Lopez(15)–threatened to use parliamentary procedure to block the item from a vote. The two wanted answers about City Colleges’ minority staffing and procurement.

• Lifting the prohibition on the peddling of flowers: This ordinance, sponsored by Ald. Ed Burke (14), would make it legal for someone with a peddler’s license to sell flowers out of their cart or vehicle. The ban was put in place in 1943.

Appointments

• Richard C. Ford II to the Chicago Emergency Telephone System Board; (Re-appointment of Benjamin Dieterich to the board)
• Andrea L. Yao to the Board of Local Improvements.
• Nicholas Delgado, Dwight Curtis, and Mae Whiteside to the Community Development Commission

Notable Expected Introductions

• Paid Sick Leave - Members of the Progressive Caucus including Ald. Toni Foulkes (16), the Earned Sick Time Coalition, and Aldermen Joe Moreno (1) and Ameya Pawar (47) will hold a press conference at 9:00 a.m. today voicing support for a paid sick leave ordinance that, “will guarantee paid sick days off to some 400,000 Chicago workers beginning in 2017.” The ordinance was crafted to reflect recommendations from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Working Families Task Force and was developed over eight months. According to the draft of the ordinance, a covered employee who works at least 80 hours within any 120-day period shall be eligible for paid sick leave, capped at 40 hours per year. Leave would kick in after the 180th day of employment for new employees. The ordinance would take effect 90 days after passage from the full City Council.

• Financial Transparency - This ordinance says the city can’t issue any bonds, note, or other non-fixed rate debt with a maturity of longer than 271 days without certain conditions being met. The city’s independent municipal advisor, Martin Luby, and the Council’s Office of Financial Analysis, headed by Ben Winick, would each be required prepare reports detailing the risks and whether issuing new debt is in the best interest of the city. City CFO Carole Brown would be required, 45 days before a City Council vote, to submit a plain-English summary of the issuance, and an annual report that describes the financial performance of each transaction.

• Abolition of IPRA - Somewhat mirroring Police Accountability Task Force (PATF) recommendations leaked to the Chicago Tribune yesterday, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) drafted an ordinance calls for the abolition of the Independent Police Review Authority. It would be replaced with a so-called, “Independent Citizen Police Monitor” that would open up police and misconduct data to the public, widen the scope of the Chief Administrator’s powers, and hasten the release of information and the conclusion of investigations. The Monitor’s office would maintain at least one full-time investigator for every 100 sworn officers in the Chicago Police Department. CPD has more than 12,000 sworn members, as of its 2010 annual report. The office’s budget would be roughly $21.7 million, more than double IPRA’s current appropriation.

• FAIR COPS - Ald. Jason Ervin (28) plans to hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. this morning to discuss an ordinance that would put the departments that investigate allegations of police misconduct under the jurisdiction of the city’s Inspector General. The ordinance he plans to introduce is modeled after a similar measure first proposed by the Community Renewal Society in December. The ordinance establishes a Deputy Inspector General for Police Functions to be appointed by a five-member selection committee chosen by current IG Joe Ferguson. The Deputy IG has 20 listed powers, including the authority to: review, audit, collect, analyze, propose recommendations, and investigate any police-related matters under IPRA, Police Board, or CPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau. The concept of a police inspector general was also mentioned in the leaked executive summary of the PATF report. Several off-limits areas would also be open to public inspection, including reports on use of body cameras, contact cards, citizen complaints, and misconduct investigations, which would all be published on the OIG’s website. Similar to Hairston’s ordinance, the office would be funded by a portion of the Police Department’s $1.45 billion appropriation–no less than one percent, or approximately $14.6 million. There would be one full-time employee for every 250 sworn officers in the department.

Aldertrack has learned that Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to officially introduce legislation today to overhaul the city’s density bonus system and create a new Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus in today’s full City Council meeting. Specific details are embargoed until the ordinance is introduced, sources tell us, because the Department of Planning and Development was still working on final changes as late as yesterday afternoon.

Aldertrack sources say the ordinance would completely revamp a section in the city’s zoning code that lets developers build bigger and taller buildings in the city’s downtown area in exchange for money that would help support investment opportunities in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. DPD has been holding meetings with aldermen for the past several weeks, and sources say told “big changes” should be expected.

One issue of contention, according to two sources at those briefings, is the issue of how the fees levied would be allocated and which agency would administer them. It’s likely that issue will be left to be determined in committee.

Back in February, Mayor Emanuel announced that he would work with newly appointed DPD Commissioner David Reifman, who was recruited from national law firm DLA Piper, to update the zoning bonus system by eliminating outdated bonuses.

At the time, the Mayor’s Office said the money collected from the new Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus would help support, “business development and job growth in neighborhoods facing poverty, high unemployment and other indicators of underinvestment by the private market.”  

According to statistics provided by DPD, since 2012, approximately 24 projects took advantage of 37 bonuses for an additional 1.49 million square feet of space. That includes:

• 14 Affordable Housing Density Bonuses  
• 11 Upper Level Setback Bonuses  
• 1 Arcade Bonus
• 2 Green Roof Bonuses
• 1 Concealed Parking Bonus
• 1 Underground Parking Bonus
• 1 Lower Level Planting Bonus
• 2 Adopt-a-Landmark Bonuses
• 2 Transit Bonuses
• 1 Plaza Bonus
• 1 Sidewalk Widening Bonus

Despite reservations that they were setting a concerning precedent, aldermen on the Council’s Public Safety Committee overwhelmingly approved a one-time exemption to city law, giving Mayor Emanuel the authority to appoint interim Police Supt. Eddie Johnson to a permanent post. They then spent more than two hours vetting him before unanimously recommending his appointment.

Attendance: Chairman Ariel Reboyras (30), Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Rod Sawyer (6), Gregory Michell (7), Anthony Beale (9), Sue Sadlowski Garza (10) Patrick Daley Thompson (11), George Cardenas (12), Ed Burke (14), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Derek Curtis (18), Matt O’Shea (19), Willie Cochran (20), Rick Munoz (22), Danny Solis (25), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett (27), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Scott Waguespack (32), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Emma Mitts (37), Nick Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Anthony Napolitano (41), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), Ameya Pawar (47) Harry Osterman (48), Deb Silverstein (50)

The ordinance the Public Safety Committee approved would temporarily suspend the Police Board’s role in the police superintendent search process, so the Mayor could immediately appoint interim Police Supt. Johnson to the post without having to assemble a new search.

According to the city’s Chief Assistant Corporation Counsel Jeff Levine, the ordinance, if approved by the full City Council today, would take effect immediately. After a month, the municipal code would revert back to the status quo, putting the authority of searching and vetting for a new police superintendent back in the hands of the Police Board.  

But several aldermen expressed that they were essentially setting precedent by giving the Mayor the ability to change the rules whenever it suits his needs.

“I don’t think this was transparent. Everything was thrown out the window. And we did everything we wanted to do anyway,” Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10) said, adding that “rules were made to be followed,” not “tweaked.”

Nearly all of those aldermen who took issue to changing the law said it was the process, not the individual, they had issue with, explaining they, too, think Johnson is the best man to lead the department, especially at a time when crime rates have spiked and morale among rank and file is at an all-time low.

To address those concerns about precedent, Levine told aldermen that it was an “extraordinary time,” and this law would not “set a trend.”  

“What’s the purpose of amending this order? Are we saving money? Shortening the process?” Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), a former police officer, asked Levine, expressing confusion over the legal implications of keeping Johnson as an interim until proper protocol is followed. In response, Levine said it wasn’t “ideal” to keep the position occupied on an interim basis for an indefinite period of time.

He also said it was “conceivable” that the appointment of Johnson to the permanent position without changing the law would be perceived as “not legally proper.” But he dismissed concerns that possible legal action could be taken against the city, and said this was just a matter of making sure “all the legal i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.”

Only one alderman, Patrick Daley Thompson (11), voted against the law change and pushed back harder than anyone else on the council. “What is the urgency, and why can’t we follow that process?” he asked. He said Johnson did not go through the same vetting as the candidates who submitted applications and were interviewed by the Police Board.

Levine said interim Police Supt. Johnson went through “the same level of scrutiny and review” as the rest of the Police Board finalists, but couldn’t name who specifically conducted that vetting.

Several aldermen who were strongly in favor of the change argued it was an opportunity to finally get the search over with and suggested they use this meeting to vet Johnson. Committee Vice Chair Willie Cochran (20) called it was a “unique opportunity.”

Others said they were tired of the “charade” over the police search and wanted to get someone in the post and move on before crime gets worse.

“This is a unique situation and it requires unique ideas,” Ald. Nick Sposato (38) said, echoing a common phrase used by proponents of changing the law. “We need to stop the charade here, we don’t need to go on and act like we’re doing another search. The mayor has who he wants, the council’s happy with him. We need to move forward, get somebody in there.”

“The reason we need somebody to take over this department right now is because overtime is running amok, crime is running amok, the Police Department morale is down, and we need someone to get ahold of this ship and turn it around,” Ald. Anthony Beale (9) said. “And we don’t have another three or four months to do that.”

But as the meeting was laid out, aldermen couldn’t vet or ask Johnson questions until they approved the law change. That’s because Chairman Ariel Reboyras (30) chose to hold separate votes on each item–the amendment to the municipal code and the appointment of Johnson to the superintendent position. One couldn’t move forward until the other was approved, which Ald. Jason Ervin (28) said didn’t make sense. “Why not have that conversation first?” he asked.

When aldermen were finally given the opportunity to question Johnson, police overtime was the most common issue brought up. Aldermen urged him to get it under control, complaining that year after year, during every budget season, former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy promised to rein in overtime spending, only to bill more than the year before.

Yesterday’s meeting was also Johnson’s first opportunity to outline his goals for the department, even if most of them have yet to be worked out.

Among those plans include increasing foot and bike patrols and police presence at schools, and working on a legislative agenda in Springfield that would include cracking down on straw purchasing of guns and stronger sentencing for people found with an illegal gun.

As Mayor Emanuel asks the City Council to give him a one-time exemption to circumvent city law and make interim Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson the permanent pick, some aldermen are working to restructure the organizations that oversee the police department with an eye toward more transparency.

Today, the Council’s Public Safety Committee will be asked to consider an ordinance from Mayor Rahm Emanuel that would give him a one-time exemption to bypass the Police Board and appoint Johnson to officially succeed former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, who was ousted from his seat following the public outcry of the department’s handling of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald. After considering and voting on that measure, aldermen will then be asked to confirm interim Police Supt. Johnson to the post. Johnson is expected to be on hand to answer questions from committee members.

This comes just a day before the monthly City Council meeting, where two South Side aldermen, Leslie Hairston (5) and Jason Ervin (28) are expected to introduce two separate proposals to reform how cases of police misconduct are handled by oversight agencies. Later that afternoon, aldermen are scheduled to briefed on the findings from Mayor Emanuel’s Police Accountability Task Force, which will be publicly released on Friday.

And for the most part, despite being critical of the Mayor’s handling of the superintendent search last month, aldermen have accepted that Johnson will be taking the helm of the department, saying the cost and time required to launch a new search would be wasteful.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), Chairman of the Council’s Black Caucus, said that while the Caucus is “not ecstatic about the process,” they are satisfied with the selection of Johnson.

“Our concerns, especially on the South and West Side, is getting a superintendent in there to hit the ground running, start working,” Ald. Sawyer said to reporters Monday. “[The] process, we have some issues with. But the most important thing is getting somebody on the job that can help us, and the situation we are experiencing right now.”

“I wish that the process would have been followed but it’s kind of tough when you as the mayor say what you want to see, and the board gives you something different,” echoed Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), who noted that about “90 percent” of the rank and file officers he spoke to say Johnson is a “good guy.”

“But in this case, I think it’s too late where we’re at right now, and the mayor said he wants Johnson, so why would we spend money doing another search just to get the result of Johnson?” Villegas added. Last week, the Sun-Times reported the city spent $500,000 to conduct a nationwide search and pick three finalists for former Supt. Garry McCarthy’s replacement.

Ald. Emma Mitts (37) expressed a similar desire to move forward, rather than spend taxpayer money on another search.

Under city code, when there is a vacancy in the superintendent of police position, the Police Board is required to nominate three candidates to fill the position and to submit those nominations to the mayor.

“In designating the nominees for the position of superintendent of police, the board shall be governed solely by the professional and executive qualifications required for the position which shall be without reference to the residence of the nominees,” according to the section of the Municipal Code related to the board’s powers and duties. “If none of the nominees accept appointment, the board shall submit new lists of three nominees until the position is filled.”

Today, aldermen will vote on a one-time exemption. The amendment to the municipal code “lifts the requirement that the Police Board go through its process and then it reinstates it after a short period of time,” Ald. John Arena (45) said, explaining that he was told by representatives from the Mayor’s office. “So it really is just isolated to this one appointment. But that begs the question: if we do that, then why do we do the process in the first place?”

The Police Board was put in place in 1960 by then-Mayor Richard J. Daley, following the infamous Summerdale Scandal. Mayor Daley appointed criminologistOrlando W. Wilson as superintendent of police. Wilson would go on to move the superintendent’s office from City Hall to Police Headquarters, de-politicize promotions with the department, and usher in the creation of the Police Board.

Fifty-six years later, and the council’s longest serving alderman, Ed Burke (14), said that he didn’t think aldermen should be concerned that the Mayor wants to forego the entire process. “What the citizens need, and what the men and women of the police department need, is certainty about who is going to lead the police department during these critical times,” Burke said, adding that Johnson fits that bill.

“Whatever it is, it’s going to be the Mayor’s choice,” Ald. Sawyer said, adding that the Police Board could conduct multiple searches, but at the end of the day, it’s the mayor who gets to decide who should get the job. “Any mayor who does not have the authority to pick their superintendent has the risk of having that office failing, because he’s not controlling that portion of it. Not to say that person shouldn’t have autonomy...but it’s going to be the Mayor’s pick.”

Late Monday night, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced plans to appoint non-profit leader Sophia King to replace Will Burns for an interim term as 4th Ward Alderman. Aldertrack had previously reported King as one of the potential candidates for the vacancy, but when Aldertrack called early yesterday evening to confirm with King, the chairman of her political campaign fund for 4th Ward Alderman, Evonne Taylor, said, “I didn’t hear that” King was a finalist and that her appointment was news to her, though the Mayor’s office said he interviewed finalists last week.

The term will only extend to Spring 2017, when the city will conduct a special election for the seat. King will appear in front of the Rules Committee today and will face a confirmation vote by the City Council on Wednesday, and then, once approved, will be sworn in as part of the full meeting of the Council, the Mayor’s Office says.

The appointment had been closely held secret for weeks. During City Council committee meetings yesterday, some aldermen present told Aldertrack they hadn’t heard any updates, other than receiving notice that a name would be released today, which was included on the Rules agenda released last week. Others had heard three finalists had been picked, but could not name any of them. Eighteen people applied for the position, according to the Mayor’s Office. The Mayor’s Office has refused to release a list of candidate names or finalists.

Following three hours of testimony focused heavily on aldermen expressing the need for better excessive force and mental health training for police officers, aldermen reluctantly approved two payouts totaling $6.45 million to families who say their sons died at the hands of police officers.

Attendance: Chairman Ed Burke (14), Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Rod Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Anthony Beale (9), Sue Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Mike Zalewski (23), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett (27) Jason Ervin (28), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Carrie Austin (34), Emma Mitts (37), Gilbert Villegas (36),  Nick Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), Ameya Pawar (47),  Harry Osterman (48), Deb Silverstein (50).

The larger of the two settlements, a $4.95 million payout, would go to the family of Philip Coleman. The suit names 13 police officers and one detention aide, and alleges their use of excessive force, which included tasing Coleman more than a dozen times, and refusal to take Coleman, who was experiencing a psychotic episode, to a hospital, as the cause of Coleman’s death. Harrison Coleman, Philip’s father, was a retired CHA police officer, and has told reporters, “I helped put my son in the paddy wagon. That was the last time I saw my son alive."

According to Steve Patton, Corporation Counsel with the city’s Law Department, the Medical Examiner ruled that Coleman died from a “rare allergic reaction” to an antipsychotic drug provided to him when he was brought to the hospital.

Patton said if the case had gone to trial, the plaintiffs would have provided “the foremost expert” in the subject of the drug and its side effects, which they retained for this case. That expert would have argued Coleman’s death was the result of his treatment in lockup: dehydration, stress, and physical encounters with the police; not the drug. Patton also characterized Coleman, a University of Chicago graduate who was on his way to get his Masters in Public Health, as a “sympathetic plaintiff” with a “bright future,” which would have made it a hard case to win by jury.

Police officers were called to Coleman’s home where he suffered an “acute mental breakdown,” Patton explained, as he described the incident that resulted in the lawsuit. It was Coleman’s mother who called the police after her son chased her around the house and physically attacked her. She retreated and climbed out the bathroom window to “escape this mad rage,” Patton continued, describing Coleman as “acting like an airplane” and rolling around the ground when police arrived at the scene.

Data retrieved from the officers show that Coleman was tased 13 times, but according to Patton, that doesn’t mean the charges hit Coleman, but rather that the trigger was pulled that many times.

Coleman was a constituent of Ald. Carrie Austin (34), who did not take kindly to Patton’s characterization that Coleman was “acting crazy.”

“In your next deliberation, please don’t use that kind of language of this young man ‘being acting crazy’, because he is absolutely not. Anybody can have a breakdown. I’m sure that you’ve had one, and some of your children, as well,” Ald. Austin scolded Patton. She said she knew Coleman’s parents because they went to her for help following their son’s death. ”So don’t use that language on him, ‘cause this was a young man that you didn’t know personally.”

The conversation focused heavily on the need for better police training, especially as it relates to mental health issues, during this and the subsequent settlement the council approved–a $1.5 million payout to the family of Justin Cook, who died from suffocation after officers allegedly failed to administer his inhaler to him during an asthma attack.

“We are constantly paying out large settlements because of lack of training and lack of resources,” said Ald. Anthony Beale (9), who also knew the Coleman family. He pushed for Patton and Bureau of Internal Affairs Deputy Chief Eddie Welch, who was on hand to testify on proper police protocol, to do better.

“We don’t choose to defend these cases,” Patton later told reporters when asked to respond to public claims that the city’s process of settling cases enables police misconduct. “I think that’s absolutely false.”

“We’ve been a voice for trying to manage risk, is a polite way of saying it,” Patton continued, “trying to see what problems have led to lawsuits and try to prevent them from recurring, but there is a lot more work to be done. And as soon as we get that wood chopped and that work done, the better off we’ll be.”  

The Cook settlement stemmed from an incident on Sept. 20, 2014, when two officers who had recently finished probation were on duty when they saw Cook drive through a stop sign, said Patton.

The officers followed Cook to an alley, where he and a fellow passenger pulled over and proceeded to run from the officers, said Patton. According to the officer’s account, as relayed by Patton, Cook dropped a gun that he had on him. The plaintiffs refute that claim. Both sides agree that Cook was an asthmatic, although how the officers handled that is a point of contention, said Patton.

The two officers said they retrieved Cook’s inhaler and sprayed it into his mouth when they approached him in the alley, then again when he was handcuffed in the squad car. But four eye witnesses, one of whom made a 911 call at the scene, said the officers deliberately withheld his inhaler, some claimed one of the officers threw the inhaler at Cook. Patton said one witness reported hearing the officer say to Cook, “Is this what you want? Well you are not going to get it.”

Patton said it was because of these witnesses that the city chose to settle out of court. The $1.5 million payout would be a structured settlement with payments over time to Cook’s three children. Both cases are currently being investigated by IPRA. None of the officers mentioned have been relieved of their police duties.

Other Items Approved by Finance Committee

• Financial Transparency Resolution. The resolution from Ald. John Arena(45) that the committee approved requests that the council draft an ordinance that would require more transparency and oversight for the city when it tries to enter into risky financial agreements with banks. According to Ald. Arena, that official ordinance is set to be introduced Wednesday. The resolution called for a hearing, but after three hours of testimony on the settlements, hardly anyone was in the chambers by the time it was called up. Ald. Arena and the rest of the Progressive Caucus has been meeting with the administration for “several weeks” to draft the language, beginning when the caucus objected to a $200 water revenue bond deal that included so-called toxic swaps.

• A Loan Modification agreement for LMR United Inc. This project is in the 24th Ward and Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24) testified in favor. When it was voted on and approved, Burke abstained.

• Amendment to a redevelopment agreement with Devon, NJ. This item passed in committee, but Chairman Burke said he would hold it, pending the resolution of an issue involving unpaid taxes that the Department of Planning Development is scheduled to settle this week. This amendment transfers ownership of a city-supported mixed-use housing development at 6401-6415 N Rockwell Ave. in the city’s 50th Ward. It’s a 30-unit, approximately 24,800-square-foot building with 232 parking stalls. According to Mary Bonome, a deputy commissioner with DPD, the development company that previously bought the land from the city, ASAT, Inc., went bankrupt and illegally sold the land in a short sale before the project was complete. ASAT, Inc. had bought the land worth $915k from the city for $1 in 2011 and got TIF funds to support construction. This ordinance transfers the project over to Devon, NJ LLC, a developer who completed the project, eliminates the TIF assistance, and designated 195 parking spaces for public use. But there is an issue over taxes on the project due to the city, which Bonome said DPD is in the process of recouping through legal channels.

The Council’s License Committee today will consider an ordinance from Ald. Ed Burke (14) that would make legalize the ability to sell flowers on city streets. Burke’s ordinance would strike from the municipal code the section barring peddlers from selling flowers. According to Donal Quinlan, a spokesperson for Ald. Burke, no one knows why the ban was instituted in the first place, but removing it from the code would let anyone with a peddler’s license sell flowers.

The Council’s Finance Committee will consider paying out $6.45 million to two families of men who allegedly died at the hands of Chicago Police.

This morning, the Law Department will ask aldermen to approve settling two police misconduct cases. One of those lawsuits, filed by the family of Philip Coleman, will cost the city $4.9 million. The lawsuit stems from a 2012 incident when six Chicago police officers were caught on video using a Taser on, and dragging Coleman out of his cell. Coleman suffered severe trauma and was admitted to Roseland Community Hospital where he was later pronounced dead after a bad reaction to an antipsychotic drug.

The City released the video in December of 2015, around the time protesters took over city streets to voice their outrage of the mishandling of the the Laquan McDonald shooting. IPRA Chief Administrator Sharon Fairley re-opened the agency’s investigation into Coleman’s death, “to determine if the officers' actions are within department guidelines and, if so, whether policy changes are needed to avoid another incident like this in the future."

Aldermen will be asked to settle another police-related case, this one involving Justin Cook, who also died in police custody after an asthma attack. The city plans to pay the Cook family $1.5 million to keep the case out of court.

Other Items on the Finance Agenda

Financial Oversight - Ald. John Arena (45), a member of the council’s Progressive Caucus, wants the City Council to devise an ordinance that would create new review standards for the city’s major financial transactions. Ald. Arena, on behalf of the Caucus, introduced a resolution calling on his colleagues to do just that: “undertake to collaborate on creating a Financial Transparency and Accountability Ordinance that imposes rigorous review standards for extraordinary financial transactions.” It’s unclear if those details will be discussed in committee.

TIF $ For Schools - Two public elementary schools will receive a total of $1.04 million in tax increment financing dollars under an ordinance from the Department of Planning and Development. Hope College Preparatory in the city’s Englewood neighborhood (5515 S. Lowe St.) would receive $287,000 in TIF funds for the planning, design and construction of a new playground. And Roald Amundsen High School in the city’s Lincoln Square neighborhood would receive $760,000 in TIF funds for the construction of new game programing and web design labs. That will pay for only part of the project, the Board of Education will pick up the rest of the tab, paying $796,000.  According to a press release from the mayor’s office, this is the latest of several TIF investments that have been made at the Lincoln Square high school. The school previously received a total of $3.1 million in TIF funding, including $2.6 million for a new gym.

The city commission in charge of animal control would be expanded to 11 seats under an ordinance before the Council’s Health and Environmental Protection Committee today.

The ordinance, sponsored by Mayor Emanuel on behalf of the Executive Director of Animal Care and Control, would increase membership on the mayor-appointed commission from nine to eleven members–although three of those seats are set aside for representatives of the Police, Health, and Sanitation Departments–in addition to requiring that all members be Chicago residents.

While the City Council must approve the expansion of the board, their approval is not required for appointments to the board made by the mayor.

Tomorrow, aldermen on the Council’s Public Safety Committee will be asked to change a city law mandating how the city picks its police superintendents and appoint interim Supt. Eddie Johnson as the next permanent top cop.

According to Stephen Spector, a spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the measure before the Council would be a one-time fix. “This measure, which would create a one-time exemption to allow City Council to confirm Eddie Johnson as superintendent, will bring much-needed resolution and allow the Chicago Police Department to focus on the significant challenges and reforms that lie ahead,” Spector said in an emailed statement Friday.

When asked for a copy of resolution on Friday, Spector said it was still being drafted in consultation with aldermen.

The Public Safety agenda, published last Friday morning, lists two items: an ordinance that would amend the chapter of the municipal code regarding the appointment of the city’s top cop, and a communication appointing Eddie T. Johnson as Superintendent of Police. As the code is currently written (2-84-030), that job is left to the Police Board: “When a vacancy occurs in the position of superintendent of police, to nominate three candidates to fill the position and to submit those nominations to the mayor.” The Superintendent “shall be appointed by the mayor upon recommendation of the police board and with the advice and consent of the city council and shall serve at the pleasure of the mayor.”

The Police Board did just that already, spending about $500,000 on the search, according to the Chicago Sun Times. But the mayor threw out those recommendations, which he’s reminded reporters has been done before. In 2007, Mayor Richard M. Daley threw out the Police Board’s recommendations, but he didn’t change the law – the board conducted another search and submitted three new names. Eight months later, Daley appointed Jody Weis to take over. The Police Board issued a release April 1 saying it would "see how these developments play out before taking any formal action," to start a new search.

Mayor Emanuel is shaking up the city-run board in charge of approving tax increment financing (TIF) for development projects and Redevelopment Area designations, appointing three new members, all of whom come from private industry.

The Council’s Committee on Economic and Capital Development is scheduled to consider three appointments and reappointments to the the Community Development Commission, an 11-member, mayor-appointed board that meets once a month in the City Council Chambers to recommend the creation of TIF districts or use of TIF funds for development plans.

The board is also in charge of approving the sale of surplus, city-owned land for neighborhood redevelopment activities or use eminent domain for land acquisition, as was the case of the Old Chicago Main Post Office seizure the board approved earlier this year.

The new appointments include:

• Nicholas J. Delgado to replace Omar Duque. Duque resigned from the board before his term expired. A former employee of Merrill Lynch, Delgado left the investment firm in 2009, shortly after the financial crisis, and founded Digitas, an investment bank and family office for “founder and family run enterprises,” according to its website. Investment News named Delgado in its list of 40 under 40, and according to the Chicago Reader, Delgado was instrumental in getting a reluctant City Council to approve WalMart’s move to Chicago. The board member who Delgado will replace, Duque, is the President and CEO of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

• Dwight Curtis to replace Board Chair Marina Carrot, who is leaving her post this summer. Curtis, the Vice Chairman of label-making company Labelmaster, will finish out Carrot’s term. Carrot is an independent consultant, a member of the city’s Library Board, and was a one-time Commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing.

• Mae C. Whiteside to succeed Lynda A. Olander, an executive with Precision Plating Company. The resolution appointing Whiteside gives no mention to the reason why Olander is stepping down from her post. Whiteside is a principal at CKL Engineers.

Jorge Perez, the Executive Director of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association and the board’s current Vice Chair, will be re-appointed alongside Roxanne Ward, Chief of Staff for the Women's Business Development Center. Perez will take over Carrot’s position as Chair.

Joseph Rinella, an employee with the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation Bureau of Forestry, filed a lawsuit against his supervisor, Charles Wagner, alleging that he has suffered “severe emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, in addition to loss of wages and other compensation.”

In the federal lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois, Rinella alleges that Wagner unfairly targeted him, denied him a promotion and used his political clout to make work life unbearable. Rinella alleges Wagner called him a “rat,” purposefully sent him to trim trees in locations “far away” from his home, and one time said, “It’s 6:03, you’re on my f*** time. Let’s go, get to work.”

Rinella alleges his supervisor violated the city’s Shakman Decree, among other damages, because he “gave the forestry supervisor positions at issue to friends over more qualified employees and/or more senior employees.”

Karen Lewis will keep her job as President of the Chicago Teachers Union for another three-year term. The Chicago Teachers’ Union announced yesterday that its House of Delegates voted “overwhelmingly” Wednesday night to cancel this year’s CTU elections, because there was no opposition for the union’s slate of candidates for officer and executive board positions.

By choosing not to hold the elections, which costs the union about $200,000-$300,000 in printing and courier costs, the delegates instead accepted the list of eligible candidates, including Lewis, to be seated for the new term.  

That means starting July 1, 2016, Lewis will start her third term as president of the CTU, a position she was first elected to in 2010 in an aggressive run-off election fueled by the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE), an organization within CTU that Lewis co-founded.

A significant portion of the union’s rank and file are now members or supporters of CORE, which represents teachers, retirees, paraprofessionals, parents, community members, and other public education stakeholders. CORE members make up a large portion of public school employees; and a notable number of the CTU’s House of Delegates (the group that recently rejected a tentative contract with the Board of Education and voted to authorize a strike on April 1st) are CORE members or supporters, according to the group’s Co-Chair, Sarah Chambers.

“No one else ran because our members are happy with [CORE’s] leadership,” Chambers wrote to Aldertrack. “[CORE] and CTU have created a movement in this city with a broad coalition of community organization. Because of our power, we have completely dethroned Rahm Emanuel who is now down to an 18% approval rating. He has no control over the city anymore. We are powerful in Springfield too, we won 8 out of 9 endorsed candidates in the last primary election.”

In February, when the House of Delegates voted against the tentative contract with Chicago Public Schools, Lewis expressed her surprise that the group rejected the deal, saying, “There were a lot of things [in the contract] that were great.”

Chambers said that a substitute teacher, Pat Breckinridge, made an attempt for Lewis’ seat, but “she received very few signatures.”

That contested 2010 election that placed Lewis at the helm of the teachers’ union also led to the decline of another sub-group within the union: the United Progressive Caucus. Lewis’ predecessor, Marilyn Stewart, was a member. Chambers said that group received a “minimal” percentage of the vote and, to her knowledge, they don’t flyer or run candidates for election anymore.

In fact, the number of active caucuses within CTU has declined since Lewis took over. In 2010, five caucuses each ran a candidate for the executive board, in the subsequent 2013 election, two caucuses, including CORE, combined to offer a slate, and this year, CORE was the only caucus with a slate of candidates. Kristine Mayle, who as Financial Secretary for CTU organizes the CTU elections, said CORE is really the only active caucus right now.

The other three officers that will join Lewis on the executive board include Jesse Sharkey, who will keep his job at Vice President, Michael Brunson as recording secretary, and Maria Moreno as financial secretary.

The Council’s Aviation Committee approved a ground lease agreement for American Airlines in what was described as one of the final opportunities for gate expansion at O’Hare Airport.

Present: Chairman Mike Zalewski (23), Pat Dowell (3), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Derrick Curtis (18), Willie Cochran (20), Danny Solis (25), Walter Burnett (27),  Ariel Reboyras (30), Gilbert Villegas (36),  Emma Mitts (37), Anthony Napolitano (41), Ameya Pawar (47)

According to Jessica Sampson, General Counsel for the Department of Aviation, the ordinance aldermen approved authorizes a lease agreement with American, which will allow the airline to begin construction on five new gates at the end of Terminal 3. The gates are known as the L Stringer Gates, with a total space of about 165,000 feet, comprised of new waiting areas and concession stands, among other amenities. The gates are scheduled to open in 2018, with the open bid for concessionaires scheduled for next year.

As is common when discussing city contracts in Council committees, most of the conversation revolved around minority hiring, with several aldermen asking for stats on internal minority hiring and goals for American Airlines, and at O’Hare. (The “through the chair requests,” are all due to aldermen before next Wednesday’s monthly City Council meeting, when they will have to vote on the agreement as a full body. Some of those requests got so in the weeds that one alderman even asked for the number of employees that were turned down because they failed the federal background check that is required for all potential airport hires.)

But there was some dialogue concerning the airliner's new crop of planes and how that could help mitigate the issue of jet noise that took up an entire Aviation Committee meeting last month when freshman alderman Anthony Napolitano (41) proposed a plan to put the city council in charge of runway construction. Billy Glunz, a Regional Director of Governmental Affairs for American Airlines, testified that they currently have the youngest fleet in the industry, putting out a new plane every four-and-a-half days. Glunz said that they expect most of the fleet to be replaced by this summer.

Two City Clerk-backed parking ordinances moved through the Council’s Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee with relative ease, only one alderman vocally expressed his concern that lifting the city’s little-known ban on pickup trucks parking on residential streets would lead to an influx of suburban trucks parked in his ward.

Present: Chairman Walter Burnett (27), Brian Hopkins (2), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Derrick Curtis (18), Willie Cochran (20), Jason Ervin (28), Chris Taliaferro (29), Deb Mell (33), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Anthony Napolitano (41), James Cappleman (46)

City Clerk Susana Mendoza’s ordinance would end the “dog and pony show,” as Ald. Emma Mitts (37) dubbed it, of requiring pickup trucks owners apply for a special city-issued sticker from their local alderman to legally park their car in front of their house or anywhere else in the city.

While free, that sticker must be renewed every year, on top of the optional zone and mandatory city sticker that all Chicago car owners must purchase. It was a way for aldermen to determine what residents were using those pickup trucks for and to make sure junk trucks stayed out of sight.

This ordinance would eliminate that cumbersome burden, Clerk Mendoza testified, by letting personal pickup trucks park on all residential and business streets in the city as long as they have a city sticker. Commercial trucks and junk trucks–as in pickup trucks specially outfitted to hold scrap metal or other treasures found in city alleys–would still be prohibited from parking along city streets.

But Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) who represents the city’s Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s westernmost border, took issue with Clerk Mendoza’s plan and asked her to amend it during the meeting. “How does this play out in my ward?” Ald. Taliaferro asked, noting that he is near three suburbs: Elmwood Park, Oak Park, and Cicero.

Taliaferro said that oftentimes he sees people from Elmwood Park, which has stricter street parking rules, park their cars in his ward, pull a bike out, and bike the rest of the way home. “I’m probably going to get a lot more trucks in my ward as a result of this ordinance,” Taliaferro explained. He asked Mendoza if she would consider adding a ban on overnight parking for pickup trucks not registered with the city.

“Let’s see how this plays out. I have a feeling that it won’t be as impactful as you think it might be, but let’s see,” Mendoza said the first time he asked. The second time, Committee Chair Walter Burnett, Jr. (27) poked holes in his plan, asking Taliaferro how he would institute a ban. What about the people who go out for dinner or to bars, Burnett asked somewhat rhetorically.

The committee eventually approved the ordinance, without dissent, and another ordinance from Mendoza that made minor language changes and “technical corrections” to an ordinance the council already passed establishing a pilot program that provides universal parking passes to Chicago realtors.

The ban on serving alcoholic drinks at nude strip clubs in Chicago would soon be done away with under an ordinance the Council’s Zoning Committee approved yesterday. The ordinance was technically introduced by Ald. Emma Mitts (37). Ald. Ed Burke (14), recently tried and failed to get a similar ordinance through the previous council.

Present: Chairman Danny Solis (25), Vice Chair James Cappleman (46), Joe Moreno (1), Michelle Harris (8), Ed Burke (14), David Moore (17), Walter Burnett (27), Deb Mell (33), Carrie Austin (34), Emma Mitts (37), Marge Laurino (39), Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44), Ameya Pawar (47).

Ald. Burke, who rarely attends zoning meetings unless there is a matter affecting his ward or an item he drafted up for consideration, showed up in the middle of yesterday’s meeting with his entourage of staffers by his side. Shortly after he entered the chambers, Ald. Mitts, who had arrived just minutes prior to Burke, was called to testify on behalf of the ordinance loosening restrictions on adult entertainment venues.

“I am asking the City Council to look in favor of supporting this ordinance so that we can level the playing field and create a few more dollars, and make it safer for these adult entertainments in the city of Chicago,” Ald. Mitts testified. There was no debate and the item passed almost immediately. At the time of the vote, another Council heavyweight, Ald. Carrie Austin (34), noted that she had “extreme reservations on part of it,” but still joined in with Ald. Burke on the motion to call for a vote. Three aldermen present–Deb Mell (33), Brendan Reilly (42), and James Cappleman(46)–asked to be recorded as voting no.

The ordinance, which was replaced with a substitute in committee, distinguishes between live and non-live adult entertainment, allowing venues with live shows, like strip clubs and cabarets, to serve alcohol and allow partially nude dancers. (The ordinance goes into explicit detail as to which body parts can be shown.)

Owners of non-live adult establishments, like bookstores and adult theaters, would be barred from changing their zoning designation to a live-use without first obtaining a special use permit. That change evidently closes a “loophole” in the municipal code, according to Ald. Mitts. She also testified the ordinance, “clarifies ambiguous language that resulted in two decades of litigation and it cost the city millions of dollars.”

Ald. Mitts noted that “out of the four licensed adult entertainments in the city, one has many issues with crime.” That establishment, said Mitts, is located in Ald. Anthony Beale’s 9th Ward on the city’s far South Side, and most of the crime occurred because of the owner’s BYOB policy, which she said made it hard to control patrons’ level of drinking.

According to the Chicago Tribune, almost a year to this day, Ald. Burke told reportershe didn’t bring up a similar ordinance he drafted last year because he didn’t think he had the votes. That meeting in question would have been the last time Burke could have brought up the item for a vote, because it was the last monthly meeting before the new council was sworn in, clearing all pending legislative items from the docket.

Burke maintained distance from this ordinance, verifying with Chairman Solis only that the city’s Law Department and Zoning Administrator looked over the language of the ordinance and were in agreement.

Highlights 

• Some aldermen pushed back on a series of applications Ald. Matt O’Shea(19) introduced to downzone commercial strips in his ward to the lowest density allowable: B1-1 (Neighborhood Shopping District). An aide for Ald. O’Shea testified that the aldermen filed the applications to “keep consistent our business district,” and that most of the ward’s commercial streets already conform to that zoning designation. Ald. Reilly asked if there was a development plan for the area coming down the pipeline, to which Ald. O’Shea’s aide said no. Ald. Tom Tunney (44), who said that while he understood this was a “planning tool” aldermen use, agreed to support the zoning change, after he was assured the local chamber of commerce approved of it. As a business owner, Tunney said he knew the issues that businesses have to deal with when their zoning is changed and their establishment is subsequently found nonconforming. Ald. Austin (34) voted no.

• At the very beginning of the meeting, when the committee was approving billboard signs, Ald. Tunney suggested that Chairman Solis do something to address illuminated billboards, because “the [zoning] code really doesn’t address this issue” and it is a “quality of life” issue for most residents. Tunney expressed worry that the city was opening itself up to a lawsuit because it was approving these type of signs so close to residential buildings. Chairman Solis suggested they create a sub-committee to look at it. Zoning Administrator Patti Scudiero said there is already a sub-committee on signs, but it’s possible that sub-committee, could be broken down to another sub-committee focused just on illuminated signs.

The mayor’s appointment of Andrea Yao to the Board of Local Improvements is the only non-routine item on the agenda for today’s Transportation Committee meeting. Yao, lead counsel to Feeding America, a national charity the operates food banks across the country, is the mayor’s fourth appointment to the board this year.

The five-member Board of Local Improvements oversees street infrastructure improvements necessitated by private development. Before a private developer can build anything along the public way, the board must approve the plans and financing. The appointment is directed to the Transportation Committee because the board serves under the capacity of the Department of Transportation.

Three other appointments to the Board were Christopher M. Michalek, Edward T. McKinnie, Sr., and Paul Connolly. Michalek is a partner at consulting firm McGuire Woods, LLP, McKinnie, Sr. is the President of the Board of Directors for Black Contractors United, and Connolly is the recording secretary for Laborers Local Number 4.

Pedestrian and Traffic Safety

City Clerk Susana Mendoza is making good on a promise she made to aldermen during the budget hearings by letting pickup trucks park on residential streets. The Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety will meet at noon to consider an ordinance that would make it official. But so-called “junk vehicles”- any car with an unenclosed cargo bed that has been modified to increase the car’s capacity to transport of carry items - are still barred from city-streets. If the ordinance passes in committee and later by the full City Council, trucks with a curb weight of less than 8,000 pounds and not considered a commercial vehicle will be offered a spot on the curb should the owner pay for a city sticker. Ald. Brian Hopkins (2), Raymond Lopez (15), and Deb Mell (33) are listed as co-sponsors.

The other parking-related matter, also sponsored by Clerk Mendoza, would amend a recently-approved pilot program in the City Clerk’s Office that lets Realtors apply for a universal parking pass to park their cars in residentially-zoned streets. The change has to do with the transfer of the universal pass. The owner still needs to fill out an application with the City Clerk, but the ordinance removes the details of what is needed in that application.

Aviation

A month after the Council’s Aviation Committee overwhelmingly voted against a plan to halt construction at O’Hare Airport, its members will meet again this afternoon to consider a ground lease agreement with American Airlines. The airliner is interested in leasing parts of the airport for the purposes of “developing, constructing, and operating five airline gates.” Those gates are referred to as the L Stringer Gates. American will pay a base rent of $369,000 a year, or $30,750 a month

Similar to the zoning opportunity bonus announcement Mayor Rahm Emanuel made in February, which was big on goals and light on details, the Mayor announced yesterday that the Department of Planning and Development will review and improve the city’s zoning code as it relates to another major zoning issue: what to do with its large, and in some cases underutilized, industrial corridors.

The Mayor’s office announced the city will launch a review process with public input “focused on modernizing restrictive zoning in these corridors.” The city currently has 26 industrial corridors, 12 of which have 15 sub-areas designated as Planned Manufacturing Districts, or PMDs.

These areas were put in a strict zoning boundary to promote and protect manufacturing businesses in the city by preventing developers from buying up old and vacant industrial sites and converting them into office, residential, or other uses. In fact, residential and commercial uses are prohibited in PMDs.

One of those sites, the Clybourn PMD, which includes the decommissioned Finkl Steel Plant, is the subject of a lot of development interest for its central location in Lincoln Park, and size: the 115 acre site is bounded by Clybourn Avenue, the Chicago River, North Avenue, and Southport Avenue.

The Mayor’s announcement comes as one local alderman, Brian Hopkins (2), is in the process of getting DPD to eliminate the Clybourn PMD to facilitate a broader range of development for the neighborhood.

Ald. Hopkins told Aldertrack that he already has a community meeting on the books for May 3rd at DePaul University for residents and “community stakeholders” to discuss what kinds of development they’d like to see replace the old steel plant. “It’s a significant amount of acreage...ideas run the gamut,” Hopkins said.

But Hopkins stressed that he did not want to use Clybourn as a test case for the city to eliminate the city’s 14 other PMDs, four of which are partially located within his ward, as part of the North Branch Industrial Corridor.

The Clybourn PMD is the oldest in the city, created in 1988 as a way to halt residential development from encroaching on the industrial site. But since the plant’s owners decision to move to the city’s South Side, the area has remained vacant, and prohibitive zoning has prevented development on the site.

Any effort to the rezone the Clybourn PMD would have to be introduced in the form of a zoning amendment, likely by the Mayor on behalf of the Department of Planning and Development. The timetable on that ordinance is unknown, as is the zoning designation. Ald. Hopkins said he didn’t know if the city would choose one underlying zoning designation for the entire property, or if it would be zoned in sections. And the mayor’s office, when asked about the Clybourn downzone,  said yesterday’s announcement just “starts the process of looking at Chicago’s industrial areas.”

So, it's unclear if the Clybourn plan will move forward on its own path, or if the city will hold off until it conducts its review of all industrial sites across the city. Either way, no formal plan has been made.

Still, Hopkins said he wants to “proceed without delay...before the city gets caught in another economic downturn.”

According to the mayor’s press release, the review process will lead to formal zoning changes that will have to be approved by the City Council. Those changes, the release notes, aim to accomplish three goals:

• Determine which industrial corridors have the “potential for new or continued manufacturing growth” through market research.

• “Reform some industrial corridors to unlock new economic growth where industry is no longer the main driver.” Under this point, the Finkl Steel Plant is mentioned: “In areas such as the North Branch, where traditional industry is no longer the main economic driver and properties like the former A. Finkl & Sons Co. site are stagnant, the city will review existing and potential land uses to accommodate market demand for potential technology, commercial, residential or retail development.”

• A proposed fee on non-industrial developments in industrial corridors. The fee structure would factor the impact the development would have on the city’s overall industrial landscape. Money generated from the new fee would pay for industrial and manufacturing jobs in nearby neighborhoods and the cost of infrastructure improvements to industrial corridors transitioning to other uses.