The Council’s Zoning Committee will consider an ordinance from Ald. Emma Mitts(37) that would change the zoning code for adult establishments by standardizing the definitions of prohibited entertainment activities, while allowing some venues to serve alcohol.

The ordinance would amend the city’s zoning code by distinguishing between “live-use” and “non-live” use venues. Non-live places, like bookstores and video shops, would be barred from serving alcohol or having employees or patrons show their private parts. Live-use places, like cabarets and strip clubs, would be allowed to serve alcohol and have dancers show of a specified list of body parts, which are listed in the ordinance.

All items on the regular agenda are aldermanic-backed applications, including four from Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) to downzone sections of 111st and Western Avenue to the same zoning: B1-1 Neighborhood Shopping District, which allows for small-scale retail and services uses, in addition to residential dwelling uses located above the ground floor.

Two aldermen, Zoning Chairman Danny Solis (25) and Carrie Austin (34), filed applications to rezone expired planned developments in their wards. Ald. Austin wants to end a planned development (no. 901) in the Victory Heights/West Pullman area. The PD was created in 2004 for the construction of a 85-home community called Renaissance Estates, although Ald. Austin chose not to vote on the application, because, at the time, she was considering buying one of the homes. JTA Development built the suburban-style homes located near Marshfield Plaza.

Solis’ application would end a business planned development (no. 1245) in Pilsen that was created in 2014 for the Redmoon Theater. The theater officially closed its doors in December of 2015. According to the Chicago Tribune, the operator could no longer afford its $30,000 monthly rent, and went over budget for its Great Chicago Fire Festival.

Other Big Ticket Zoning Items (all of which are listed on the deferred agenda and received Plan Commission Approval in March):

• Proposed 38-Story Residential High-Rise for West Loop (42nd Ward) Gray Cardiff, from California-based Gray Cardiff & Co., wants to build a 38-story residential high-rise building with 373 dwelling units, 145 parking spaces (41% of dwelling units), and 77 bike spaces at the site of an old train car storage field located between Union Avenue and Green Street. Cardiff received preliminary approval for the zoning change by the Plan Commission in March. Cardiff plans to take advantage of the city’s affordable housing bonus, which allows for a greater floor-area-ratio by paying into the city’s affordable housing trust fund. It’s a move that’s allowed under the affordable housing requirements ordinance, and what Ald. Walter Burnett (27), a member of the Plan Commission, described as taking advantage of a “loophole” in the zoning code. The building would be located near the K2 Apartments and a newly-opened half-acre dog park, which is currently the biggest in the city, according to DNAinfo. Ald. Brendan Reilly and the Neighbors of the West Loop (NOWL) held a community meeting on this project in November. According to the slideshow presentation he provided to residents, a typical residential floor plan would include 13 units per floor: three studios, seven one-bedroom apartments, and two two-bedroom apartments.

• Proposed Hotel Near Fulton Market (27th Ward): Jeffrey Shapack, manager of 200 Green Developer, LLC, filed an application with the city to build an 11-story-story plus penthouse hotel with ground floor retail, restaurant and accessory parking on the corner of Green and Lake Streets. The site Shapack wants to develop at 820-850 W. Lake Street is a block north of the Soho House Hotel that he helped develop in partnership with Chicago-based A.J. Capital Partners. According to the Chicago Architecture Blog, the hotel would include between 167 and 171 guest rooms, a fitness center, and a rooftop pool overlooking the city’s downtown.

• Irving Park Six-Corners Development (45th Ward): CSD Six Corners, LLC, an entity with close to twenty stakeholders listed on the economic disclosure statement, filed a planned development application to build a retail center for the site of the former Bank of America building in Irving Park’s Six-Corners. The four-story “vertical retail center,” would have retail stores on the first and second floor, and parking on the third and fourth. The applicants include Bixby Bridge Fund II, LLC, managed by David Colburn, and Blackfriars Corporation, owned by Keith Colburn, Richard Colburn, and Carol Grigor. Collins Family Limited Partnership is also listed as a stakeholder. The center will contain about 196,000-square-feet of retail and 473 parking spaces.  At the March Plan Commission meeting, it was mentioned that a Ross Dress for Less and Aldi’s Supermarket are planned for the site.

• Sinai Health System, in the 28th Ward, is seeking to amend the boundary of their existing planned development (No. 49) to include two additional city-owned parcels of property (1341 and 1345 S. Fairfield Avenue) the hospital is purchasing. The Mount Sinai Hospital campus is located in North Lawndale on the city’s West Side and is undergoing a $100 million investment: the Sinai Tomorrow Project. The hospital intends to use the satellite property for the health care related uses that were previously approved with the original PD: hospital, day care, government-operated health center, and wireless communications facilities. The amended PD adds new uses, including retail. The property is two blocks from the hospital campus, in a predominantly residential area.

• The National Museum of Mexican Art, in the city’s 25th Ward, is seeking to amend an existing planned development (No. 639) to construct a surface parking lot for 50 cars. According to the application the museum filed with the city, in January, the lot will also serve as an outdoor exhibit space. Representatives with the museum told the Plan Commission that they couldn’t afford to build a parking lot when the museum was built, which is why it is being added on at a later date. They also referenced a lack of street parking due to the influx of new residents to the neighborhood.

Ald. Michelle Harris (8) may have suffered an embarrassing loss to incumbent Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, who is currently the subject of a federal investigation, but she did manage to raise more than $122k in contributions from area business leaders, unions, and other local politicians.

[Our Full Spreadsheet for March]

Grosvenor Capital gave Harris’ campaign $25k, and its CEO, Michael Sacks, a close friend and big financial supporter of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, gave an additional $25k. That’s in addition to a $25k check the company gave her the previous month.

Ald. Harris reported sizable checks from online ticket retailer Classic Tickets ($10k), former Chairman and CEO of the A. Finkl & Sons Steel Plant Bruce Liimatainen($7k), Lincoln Park Ald. Michele Smith (43), and Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s 13th Ward Democratic Organization ($10k). She also received a $1,000 check from Citizens to Elect Lona Lane, the personal campaign fund for the former 18th Ward alderman, who is no longer in politics after losing in a runoff to Derrick Curtis, the ward superintendent at the time.

Harris’ impressive fundraising efforts still didn’t overtake downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), who brought in more than $133k in donations between his personal campaign fund and the 42nd Ward Democratic Organization fund he controls as the ward committeeman. That total does not include a $35k transfer he made between both funds.

Other Highlights

• Former Chicago Board of Elections Commissioner Langdon Neal donated $1,000 to Ald. Brendan Reilly (42). Neal vacated his seat on the three-member board on December 31. The seat was quickly filled by Jonathan Swain, the former Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, who was appointed by Chief Cook County Circuit Court Judge Timothy C. Evans.

• Ujamaa Construction, a Chicago-based minority-owned business that frequently receives praise from Ald. Walter Burnett (27), made $1,000 contributions to three Aldermen: Leslie Hairston (5), David Moore (17), and Michelle Harris (8).

• Former mayoral candidate and current presidential candidate Willie Wilson donated $2k to the 47th Democratic Ward Organization controlled by Paul Rosenfield.

• Ald. Joe Moreno (1) loaned himself $25k on March 21st, six days after the too-close-to-call Election Day for Democratic Ward Committeeman. Moreno narrowly won with a tight 199 vote lead over his opponent, Maria Theresa Gonzales, an Assistant Cook County public defender. He also received a $1,500 contribution from the Tunney Group, a real estate firm managed by Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44) brother Ed.

• J.B. Pritzker of the Pritzker Group gave a $10k check to the 43rd Ward Democratic Organization, which is, as of this most recent election, now controlled by committeeman-elect Lucy Moog, a Lincoln Park resident and former congressional aide who was a one-time neighbor of Mayor Emanuel in Washington D.C.

• Reyes Kurson, a law firm led by former long-time aide to Mayor Richard M. Daley, Victor Reyes, and the one-time chairman of the now-defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization, donated $1k to Ald. Moreno (1) and $1.5k to Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29).  

• Zoning law firm and former employer of Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman, DLA Piper, contributed to the 11th, 44th, and 43rd Democratic Ward Organizations. The checks are in the $1k-$1.5k range.

• The Burnham Committee, a PAC controlled by Ald. Ed Burke (14), wrote a $2.5k check to Ald. Will Burns (4), who retired his Council seat this month. But before he left, Ald. Burns helped Burke champion a diluted version of an ethics oversight ordinance that put the Inspector General in charge of auditing the aldermen and their staff. Under the amended version, workers compensation, controlled by Ald. Burke as Chairman of the Finance Committee, was excluded from such oversight.

• Fred Eychaner, the owner of Newsweb Corporation, a Chicago-based company that owns several ethnic and alternative newspapers, donated money to Ald. Michele Smith (43), Ald. Brendan Reilly (42), and Ald. Toni Foulkes (16), as well as the 43rd Ward Democratic Organization. Last month he gave money to two aldermen, Deb Mell (33) and Scott Waguespack (32). His $1K and $1.5K contribution to each, respectively, dwarfed in comparison to the the $400K he gave to Cook County State’s Attorney candidate Kim Foxx that same month.

• State Rep. Luis Arroyo made two $1k transfers to two freshman aldermen: Chris Taliaferro (29) and Milly Santiago (31). Rep. Arroyo helped Ald. Santiago in her contested campaign against her predecessor, Ray Suarez, who held the post for two decades.

• Old Veteran Construction, Inc, a minority-owned Chicago-based general contractor that worked on the new Malcolm X College campus and the Chicago Housing Authority’s Lake Parc Apartments, gave $1.5k to both Ald. Jason Ervin (28) and Ald. John Arena (45).

• The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters PAC donated $1k each to Ald. Leslie Hairston (5), John Arena (45), and Toni Foulkes (16). The group, which represents “tens of thousands” of members of local construction and maintenance unions, also gave made two separate contributions ($2.5k and $1k) to Ald. Michelle Harris (8). Another building industry group, Construction and General Laborers, which is affiliated with the Laborers’ International Union of America, donated $1.5k to Ald. Carrie Austin (34), $1.9k to the 11th Ward Democratic Organization controlled by Cook County Commissioner John P. Daley, and $1.5k to Ald. Scott Waguespack (32).

• Classic Tickets, Inc., an online ticket seller for major league sports, concert and theater events in Chicago, made two large $10k donations: one to Ald. Harris (8), another to Ald. Reilly’s 42nd Democratic Ward Organization. The company regularly writes $10k donation checks, and records show Reilly received two $10k checks from the company, one in February and one in April 2015.

• John Doerrer, a registered lobbyist with the city and former director of IGA for Mayor Richard M. Daley, donated the maximum contribution allowed under state law, $1.5k to Ald. Ed Burke (14) and $1k to Ald. Michelle Harris (8). Doerrer works for Kaizen, Inc., and represents a variety of clients, including the Chicago Retail Merchants Association, McDonald's Corporation, and Shoreline Sightseeing.

• Aberdeen Development, Inc, a Chicago-based real estate firm that specializes in industrial building conversions, contributed to the personal campaign funds of Ald. George Cardenas (12) and Ald. Joe Moreno (1). They got $5.4k and $1k, respectively.

Notable New (Non-Candidate) D-1s

• Citizens United for a Better West Side - Anthony Embry and Angelina Brigoglio filed the paperwork to establish this PAC on March 3rd, with the purpose of supporting “the progress, policy & ? [sic] candidates to the betterment of the west side.” The group has so far received two donations, each for $5k. Both of the donors, J.R. Davis and Dawn Davis, share the same P.O. box in Barrington, Illinois, it’s the same address shared by Armored Davis Bancorp, Inc. The Davises have in the past contributed to Ald. Reilly, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and former alderman, and failed mayoral and State Rep. candidate Bob Fioretti.

• Illinois Alliance - Former West Side alderman Isaac (Ike) Carothers, who resigned from his post after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, is starting his own PAC. (Being found guilty of improperly using campaign funds does not prohibit you from running your own PAC). The Alliance has a simple mission: “to support various candidate [sic].”  So far, the committee has raised about $15k, including a $10k check from Citizens to Elect Pat Spratt, the personal campaign fund for 7th Subcircuit Judge, who was appointed by the state Supreme Court in August to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Judge Anita Rivkin-Carothers, the former alderman’s aunt.

• 36th Ward PAC - This group, founded by Melissa Angelucci with the Synnov Group, Inc., a construction firm that specializes in major transportation infrastructure projects, including the the new underground World Trade Center Transportation Hub and various other CTA and METRA projects, was created to support candidates “aligned with the committee and to educate voters of the 36th Ward.” 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas has a deep infrastructure and construction background.

We give you the tick tock on the lead up to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to appoint Eddie Johnson to the position of interim Police Superintendent. Black and Latino aldermen form an alliance, and the infamous “Pirates of Lincoln Park” are put on the hot seat at a City Council hearing regarding illegal towing. And the week ends with a day-long strike organized by the Chicago Teachers’ Union.

A for-profit drug rehabilitation center that was denied a special use permit to continue operating a group home in West Town filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Chicago for “discriminatory” zoning practices, asking the court to reverse the Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision, which they claim was improperly influenced by Ald. Joe Moreno (1).

In May 2015, the Zoning Board of Appeals denied A Fresh Start Sober Living’s request for a special use permit to establish a “community home” in a single family home the company leased in August 2013. The home at 530 N. Marshfield Ave. is located in Ald. Moreno’s ward and is zoned for residential use. The suit claims ZBA’s decision to deny the permit violated the federal Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, because it prevented housing for individual residents of the program who are recovering from alcoholism and substance abuse.

According to the lawsuit filed in Federal Court on Thursday, the plaintiffs allege that once neighbors became aware of the rehabilitation center in 2013, they began a “campaign of harassing behavior” against tenants. For two years, the lawsuit claims, neighbors would “hurl insults, call the residents names, often of a vile nature, make racially charged comments, and threaten the residents with bodily harm.”

Two years later, A Fresh Start Sober Living applied for a special use permit with ZBA, the lawsuit notes, after being told by Buildings Commissioner Judith Frydland, with the city’s Law Department at the time, that only eight residents, plus staff, would be allowed to live in the home. Any effort to increase the bed count would require a special use permit establishing a community group home. Zoning Administrator Patti Scudiero is also named in the lawsuit.

The company applied for the permit, and at that May 28, 2015 ZBA meeting, the Board spent nearly four hours hearing testimony on the proposed expansion of the group home. The company’s president, Leonid Goldfarb, testified that his company operates eleven group homes in Chicago for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. The homes don’t accept insurance or offer on-site treatment, none of the staff are trained medical professionals, and the weekly cost of renting a room ranges from $175 to $300, Goldfarb said.

The expansion was necessary to help their mission of “saving people’s lives” because recovering addicts who live in a communal setting are less likely to relapse, Goldfarb continued. He was represented by former Zoning Committee Chairman William J.P. Banks and received support from Robin Belleau, the Executive Director of the Illinois Lawyer’s Assistant Program, which houses many of its law students, lawyers, and judges recovering from alcohol and drug addiction at Fresh Start sites.

But during the lengthy cross-examination and public comment portion of the meeting, a coalition of neighborhood residents, who had created their own legal defense fund, raised safety and legal concerns. They accused the applicant of running the facility like a hostel, underreporting the number of occupants living in the building, and lying about safety measures that had been put in place. The resident group submitted evidence alleging rampant drug use by tenants, police reports that had been filed against residents over the year, and pictures of abandoned cars they believe were left by former tenants.

Ald. Moreno also spoke in opposition. He said while he is usually a proponent of these kinds of facilities, he could not support the applicant because they did not proactively seek his support when they first opened their doors. Part of Moreno’s testimony is mentioned in the lawsuit, as is a letter supporting Moreno’s opposition from neighboring Ald. Scott Waguespack (32). The plaintiff's attorneys argue that it was this unfavorable testimony that led the Zoning Board to reject the permit.

“On the basis of denying the special use permit application was the opposition to it by Alderman Moreno. The reliance on whether an Alderman approves or opposes an application is part of the BZA’s [sic] unwritten de facto policy of denying applications that are opposed by the Aldermen for that particular ward,” the lawsuit claims, in addition to adding other reasons the board rejected the permit, including neighborhood opposition, and that the entity “was putting profits before helping the recovering alcoholics and substance abuser residents.”

Because of this denial, the West Town location closed, and the company is seeking damages. The company has asked for a declaratory judgement to reverse ZBA’s ruling, and pay for all associated attorney fees.

The Chicago Teachers Union is holding a day-long strike today with events planned across the city organized not only by CTU but various other union groups.

Picket lines outside schools will start as early as 6:30 in the morning, and according to CTU’s count, more than 50 union and community organizations are expected to take part in the so-called “Day of Action.” The day will conclude with an afternoon rally at 4:00 p.m. outside the Thompson Center.

Ahead of today’s events, the union released a tentative schedule of schools CTU President Karen Lewis will visit, including:

• King High School (4445 S. Drexel Blvd.)

• Beasley Elementary School (5255 S. State Street)

• Chicago State University Rally for Higher Education (9501 S. King Drive)

• Fund Our Futures Rally (Thompson Center)

In addition to these stops, Lewis will visit other schools along the route. The demonstration at Chicago State University, which is running out of money due to the state budget impasse, is an effort by students and the administration to call on the state to fund higher education. CSU President Thomas Calhoun is scheduled to attend.

The University Professionals of Illinois (Local 1400), which represents more than 3,000 faculty and staff at the state’s public universities, is planning several “Fund our Future” events at campuses around the state. Black Youth Project 100 will also have members organizing an event at Chicago State University’s Student Union.

Other Labor Groups taking part in today’s events: Northeastern University Illinois Faculty Union, Chicago State University Faculty Union, Fight for $15, United Electrical Workers Western Region, Alliance of Charter School Teachers and Staff 4343, SEIU Healthcare Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, Cook County College Teachers Union Local 1600, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, Jobs With Justice, Illinois Association of Retired Americans, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and SEIU Local 73. Close to 30 community groups have also signed up to support CTU.

CPS Outlines Contingency Plans

Citing concern that there will be an unknown number of faculty absences, Chicago Public Schools said it will open more than 250 contingency sites where parents can drop off their kids. The Board of Education is teaming up with the city’s public libraries and Park District to help staff sites around the city, each will provide students with breakfast and lunch.

All afternoon programs will be canceled and CPS-operated buses won’t provide transportation. Instead, CTA will provide free transportation for all students who present a CPS ID.  

• CPS schools and Chicago Park District sites will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• Chicago Public Library sites will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Safe Haven hours, which are 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

CTU & CPS Still Bargaining; Claypool Calls Strike “Illegal”

CTU called for the “unfair labor practice” strike today to show support for increased state revenue and to protest stalled contract negotiations with the Board of Education and “union busting” efforts by Gov. Bruce Rauner.

On Wednesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that while he understands and “shares those concerns” raised by CTU, he didn’t think the union should “take it out on our students.”

“I appreciate the stand with teachers in opposition to what our state’s doing. I ask you not to take it out on our children and their education. You have a political call to action, it is a correct political call, but...the call to action should not lead you to walking out of the classroom,” the mayor said during a media briefing. Asked what course of action he thought the union should take instead of a strike, Emanuel said that’s up to the members. “I’ll join hands with them in trying to get Springfield to change.”

Officials with the Board of Education have called the strike illegal, citing state labor law that says unions are prohibited from picketing in the middle of contract negotiations. CTU and CPS have been bargaining over a new contract since November 2014. Early last month, a CTU bargaining committee voted to reject the tentative agreement for a four-year contract that would have eliminated the Board of Education’s pension pick up and provided net pay raises in the third and fourth years of the contract.

A third party arbitrator is still in the fact finding process required under collective bargaining agreements. That 105 day fact finding period concludes on May 17, about a month before the end of the school year. The union has argued this strike is based on unfair labor practices, not on contract negotiations. CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool said any teacher who walks out won’t get paid.

In response to the Chicago Teachers Union’s decision to strike on April 1st, Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool said the city will open more than 250 contingency sites where parents can drop off their kids, while warning teachers that since the strike is illegal, if they choose to walk out, they won’t get paid that day.

Noting that it’s unlikely there will be enough teachers to staff classrooms because of the strike, Claypool said the district will work with the city’s Park District and Public Libraries to make sure there are enough schools, parks, and libraries properly staffed on that day for students. A list with the exact locations will be sent out to parents next Tuesday.

Claypool also took yesterday’s announcement to warn the union that under state labor law, their “Day of Action” is an illegal one day strike, and therefore teachers won't be compensated unless they hand in a doctor's note. “Employees cannot use personal business days without a demonstrated need to be absent,” the district said in an emailed announcement.

Starting the day with a bang, the Illinois Supreme Court released their ruling on two Chicago pension reformation plans, finding them unconstitutional, saddling the city with increased pension payments and making another set of municipal tax increases a near certainty.

Link To Supreme Court Ruling

“Though disappointing, this ruling does not change my commitment to ensuring employees and retirees have a secure retirement without placing the full burden on Chicago taxpayers,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement.

While the decision was a unanimous 5-0 ruling, Justices Charles Freeman and Anne Burke did not participate in the decision. Their districts both entirely lie within the City of Chicago. Justice Burke is also married to City Council Finance Committee Chairman, Ald. Ed Burke (14). Ald. Burke did not respond to Aldertrack’s request for comment on the pension ruling.

The Mayor’s pension plan was to reduce annuity benefits for public employees, then ramp up pension payments and put both funds on a path toward financial stability.

But there was no guarantee state courts would find it constitutional, so the Mayor and City Council took a series of risky bets last October when they approved the FY2016 budget, and with it a record $543 million property tax increase.

The first risk was when the Mayor’s Office based projected Municipal Employees (MEABF) and Laborers (LABF) pension payments on the law being upheld. Second, Mayoral staff based projected Police and Fire pension payments on the bet that state government would enact a bill to amend that payment schedule. That hoped-for bill, SB777, has passed the legislature, but has languished in legislative purgatory for over a year, passed by the Assembly, but unsigned by Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Amanda Kass, of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, called it a “fundamental misstep” and said that both laws were “very much up in the air” when the budget passed last October. “The city was hedging its bets on long shots,” she told Aldertrack yesterday, and that the record property tax increase was nowhere near what city pension funds needed.

During October’s budget process, several aldermen asked for worst case scenario plans, and suggested a bigger property tax hike might have been better. But the Mayor’s financial team, led by Budget Director Alex Holt and Chief Finance Officer Carole Brown, urged that their budgeted pension payments were safe bets for the time being.

At the time, the City Council’s newly formed Office of Financial Analysis, led by Ben Winick, agreed, concluding that the Mayor had little time to assess other options. “A number of other alternatives have been suggested [like a financial transactions tax, service tax, or commuter tax], and many of them warrant further discussion. But given the timing of when these liabilities are coming due, and the legal impediments to enacting them, the feasibility of assuming those changes to make the legally required pension contributions for 2015 and 2016 would not be a responsible course of action for the City to take.”

In the short-term, the city will actually need to make smaller pension payments, putting roughly $100 million less than originally planned for the FY 2015 payment into the Municipal Employee and Laborer Funds. Yesterday’s ruling means the city has to only make its statutorily required payment, based on a fixed multiplier, not the ramped up funding plan it pushed for in the law just struck down.

So what happens to the extra cash?

“The increased funding is set aside, and the City will make a final decision on how to utilize the additional funds once we’ve determined the next steps for the municipal and laborers pension funds,” Molly Poppe, a spokesperson for the city’s Budget Office told Aldertrack.

Explanation of Supreme Court Case & Ruling

The law the state’s highest court struck down, P.A. 98-641, would have increased city funding and employee contribution rates, while reducing annual increases for current and future retirees for the MEABF and LABF. The attorneys representing the city’s pension funds had argued the changes provided a “net benefit” to the beneficiaries by preventing the two funds from going insolvent in the next decade, and that in the long run, beneficiaries would benefit from a healthier and more stable pension fund.

Members of the two funds, which represent 79,000 city employees and non-teacher employees of CPS, argued the cuts infringed on their right to receive a pension, because under the Illinois constitution, public pension benefits cannot be “diminished or impaired.”

In their decision, the state’s highest court ruled that the city’s “net benefit” argument started from a “flawed premise,” because benefits are already protected under the state’s constitution. “The fact that some of its provisions are directed at improved funding cannot overcome the fact that constitutional rights of employees and retirees would be violated.”

The court also agreed with a lower court ruling that said the city’s argument didn’t hold up, because it had been warned, for years, that the current formula it uses to calculate its contributions was not sufficient to cover benefits, yet “the method of funding remained static.”

For example, in 2014, the city made a $180 million payment to the MEABF, which was based on that fixed multiplier of 1 or 1.25 times the total annual employee contributions. The “actuarially required” amount determined by the pension fund–the amount it needed to pay out owed benefits–was $839 million, a $659 million gap.

“The pension protection clause does not guarantee any particular method of funding, but, rather, guarantees the right to be paid,” the court opinion explained. The drafters’ original intent was to protect benefits, while giving the General Assembly the authority to take the necessary steps to fund the pension obligation.

Ruling May Hurt City Bond Ratings

The Civic Federation said the decision wasn’t a victory for anyone, because it doesn’t address the funds’ projected insolvency and “adds additional financial pressures to an already distressed City government.”

“The ruling also limits the options available to financially strained local governments throughout the State,” the Civic Federation said in an emailed statement, “and points to the need for a constitutional amendment to clarify the State’s pension protection clause. This should be yet another wakeup call to every member of the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor.”

There will likely be an immediate impact on the city’s credit rating. Credit agencies Moody’s and Fitch warned last spring that if the law was struck down, the city’s credit rating could take another hit. In a statement released Thursday morning, Moody’s said it "will continue assessing Chicago's actions to address unfunded pension liabilities, including any initiatives specifically aimed at the plans affected by today's court decision."

Cook County Government Took Action To Avoid Pension Problems

In the 2016 budget, Cook County opted to contribute more to its employee pension fund (County Officers’ and Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Cook County) than what’s required by law. Commissioners approved a 1% sales tax hike in the summer of 2015. In addition to the $195 million pension payment required by law, the county will put an extra $270.5 million in revenue from that sales tax hike toward pensions to hit actuarially required targets.

The county pension fund is currently 57.5% funded, with a $6.5 billion unfunded liability.

There is a one year intergovernmental agreement with the County’s Pension Fund that allows those extra payments starting in April, but ratings agency Fitch said the move leaves “the county vulnerable to potential litigation from taxpayers challenging the increased payments."

The first increased payment will be made April 29. As to whether the additional pension payments might open the county up to a lawsuit, Frank Shuftan, Communications Director for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said, “it is speculative and responding at present would be equally speculative.”

“Our finance staff is reviewing today’s Supreme Court decision to determine how it impacts efforts to ensure long-term fiscal viability for the Pension Fund that serves County employees and retirees,” Shuftan said. “The Court’s decision appears to settle some elements of the law while leaving others open. We will continue our collaboration with all stakeholders to identify appropriate, constitutionally sound measures to restore and preserve the Fund’s long-term solvency.”

The city agency in charge of reviewing cases of alleged police misconduct plans to hire an outside law firm to audit as many as 40 closed officer-involved shooting cases to determine how investigations could be better managed.

Recently-appointed Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) Chief Administrator Sharon Fairley announced yesterday that her office will hire Chicago-based law firm McGuireWoods to head up the six month review to ensure it is conducted “objectively and independently.”

A project team, which will include various subject matter experts on policing issues and use of force procedures, could be put in place as soon as next week, Fairley said. Former US Department of Justice Deputy Attorney and Acting Attorney General George Terwilliger III and Former Deputy Chief Assistant Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois Chicago office, Christina Egan, will lead the team.

“We know that here the trust in the agencies that are responsible for our public safety has been eroded,” Fairley told reporters during a press conference at its headquarters attached to the West Town Library. “And trust in our agency in particular is at an all time low since the agency was formed in 2007. I recognize that in order to restore trust in IPRA, we must understand how we lost public confidence in the first place.”

The cost and the scope of the external audit have yet to be determined. Fairley said McGuireWoods will set the criteria for choosing which cases will be reviewed and in what manner. Any police-involved shooting case dating back to 2008, of which there are closeto 700, is fair game. She offered an estimate of about 20 to 40, saying, “It would be really expensive to go back and look at each and every case.”

The purpose of the audit is not to “reopen” old cases, Fairley explained, but to “assess the quality of the investigative process and the accuracy of the findings and outcomes.”

“We want to make sure that our police department has a use of deadly force policy that allows for these investigations to be resolved fairly and in the interest of justice for everyone involved,” Fairley said.

But it’s unclear if officers previously cleared through the IPRA review process could see new action taken against them. “That may or may not be the case, and that would have to be looked at on a case by case basis,” she said.

Fairley also used yesterday’s media briefing to highlight changes she’s made in her first 100 days, including “completely revamping the leadership” and implementing a performance review process to address conflicts in the chain of command for how a case should be disposed of.

In addition to hiring a new chief of staff, Annette Moore, and a new chief investigator, Jay Westensee, Fairley has since brought on another chief investigator, Mark Garba, and a new Public Information Officer, Mia Sissac.

Like Fairley, two of those new investigators were recruited from the Chicago Office of the Inspector General: Westensee, who has been with the IG since 2005, and Garba, who did a two and a half year stint there as a forensic audit investigator, a job he held in between his time as an investigator for the U.S. Department of Labor and Chicago Public Schools.

Today the Illinois Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of a 2014 state law that overhauled two of the city’s pension funds which cover most city employees and non-teacher employees of Chicago Public Schools. It’s a decision that could not only significantly impact the city’s annual contributions to the funds, but also its ability to borrow in the future.

When Moody’s and Fitch downgraded the city’s credit rating on its outstanding debt last year, both credit agencies indicated that if the IL Supreme Court ruled P.A. 98-641 unconstitutional, additional downgrades would be likely.

That’s because the law modified required contribution and benefit amounts for the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (MEABF) and the Laborers Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (LABF). Without the changes, the city  projected both funds will become insolvent in 11 to 14 years.

The law was promoted as a way to address the underfunding and projected insolvency of the two funds by increasing the city’s and employees’ annual share into both funds, while decreasing (and skipping altogether in some years) the automatic annual increases, or AAIs, to beneficiaries.

When then-Gov. Pat Quinn signed the law, MEABF was 36.9% funded and expected to become insolvent by 2026. LABF was 56.7% funded and projected to be insolvent by 2029.

To mitigate those concerns, the law provides for annual 0.5% increases to employees’ required contribution (currently at 8.5%) until their portion reached 11% in 2019. Once the pensions reach a 90% funded ratio, the rate would go down to 9.75%.

It also amends the multiplier the city uses to calculate its annual contributions, by ramping up the formula, so payments are based on getting both pension funds to a 90% funded ratio by 2055. Under the funding ramp, the city’s portion to MEABF and LABF will grow by an average of 22% each year until reaching an estimated contribution of $622.9 million in 2020.

In December 2014, shortly before the law was to take effect, two lawsuits were filed in Cook County Circuit Court by participants in the two funds. They sought an injunction, arguing the AAI changes violate the pension clause of the state’s constitution, which states, “Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government [...], shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”

On July 24, 2015, a Cook County judge ruled the law unconstitutional, and the city appealed the decision to the state’s highest court.

The city has argued that the law doesn’t violate the Pension Clause of the state constitution because it provides a “net benefit” to the funds’ members, because without it, both funds could become insolvent in the near future.

If the court rules that the law is unconstitutional, the city’s annual payments to fund MEABF and LABF could revert to the prior, lower levels based on the old multiplier formula, which the city has argued is insufficient to cover payouts to retirees.  

Today’s expected ruling comes eight months after the state’s high court ruled a seperate 2013 state pension reform bill was unconstitutional.

The Chicago Teachers Union will hold a vote tonight on whether to cancel classes and organize a city-wide strike on April 1st. Members of CTU’s House of Delegates will meet at the International Operating Engineers Hall at 6:30 tonight to determine if CTU should hold a so-called “Day of Action.”

The union said it wants to shed light on the growing financial problems plaguing the district and put pressure on City Hall and Springfield to find “progressive revenue” ideas to fill the budget hole. One of those ideas, of which there is legislation pending in the State Legislature and City Council, asks that the city use surplus property tax revenue, like TIF funds, to reverse a recent round of budget cuts the district said it needed to finish the school year.

“We do not trust the Board [of Education] and we intend to organize a showdown on April 1st over the question of school funding and educational justice,” CTU President Karen Lewis wrote in a letter sent to union members March 14. Other public service unions and minimum wage workers are expected to participate, she said.

CTU’s call for a day-long strike is also in response to stalled negotiations over the union's new contract, and the Board’s refusal to continue paying members’ share of their pensions. CPS has agreed to continue paying for the 7% “pension pickup” until a deal is reached. CPS CEO Forrest Claypool has said the old contract sunsetted the pension pickup. His office referenced Article 36-4.3, which states: “This pension pick up will not constitute a continuing element of compensation or benefit beyond Fiscal Year 2015 or 2016 should this Agreement be extended for one year.”

The union also wants guaranteed limits on class sizes and caseloads for supportive staff, for CPS to continue the pension pickup, and a moratorium on charter school expansion and school closings.

CTU and CPS have been bargaining over a new contract since November 2014. On February 1 of this year, a CTU bargaining committee voted to reject the tentative agreement for a four-year contract that would have eliminated the pension pick up and provided net pay raises in the third and fourth years of the contract.

The following day, CPS CEO Claypool announced plans to make $100 million in annual cuts to school budgets and recommitted to ending the pickup, which the Board said would save the district $170 million annually.

Any organized strike by the union before May 17 is considered illegal under state labor law. During collective bargaining agreements, unions are prohibited from striking until a third party mediator concludes fact-finding, which in this case, doesn’t end until May 17, about five weeks before the district’s last day of classes. The union has argued this action day is on the basis of unfair labor practices, not on contract negotiations.  

This Friday is the first of three unpaid furlough days for teachers announced at the start of the month. CPS said the move is expected to save $30 million. 

There’s no set plan to hold hearings on any of the aldermanic-backed plans to reform the police department in the wake of the Laquan McDonald dashcam video release. Ald. Ariel Reboyras, Chairman of the Council’s Public Safety Committee told Aldertrack yesterday that he has yet to discuss or determine whether to hold a hearing on any of the aldermanic proposals on things like mandating new use-of-force training, recruitment procedures, and the types of weapons officers should be equipped with.  

There are six police-related items pending in the Public Safety Committee, including one co-sponsored by Chairman Reboyras, which asks the department to reevaluate its entrance exam into the police academy.

The resolution Reboyras co-sponsored with Aldermen Ed Burke (14) and Patrick O'Connor (40) calls for a hearing on the police and fire entrance exam to determine if any of those tests–which include a psychological evaluation–unnecessarily exclude veterans.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) wants every active duty police officer to be equipped with a taser, “which will become part of their uniform,” and have police department require mandatory taser training. He also wants to change the mandatory retirement age for sworn officers.

Another resolution, introduced by Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), and supported by more than half the City Council, urges the department to research and institute procedures that promote alternative methods of force.

“Recent proliferation of high profile fatalities due to the use of deadly force by officers of the Chicago Police Department could have been avoided if an alternative to a lethal weapon had been readily available to them,” the preamble of the resolution states.

Noting that using non-lethal weapons will “drastically reduce the likelihood of serious bodily injury or death in conflict situations that police officers are often called upon to resolve,” Sawyer suggests the department consider various munitions options, such as solid or liquid filled rounds, foam baton rounds, rubber pellets, or bean bag rounds.

A similar ordinance, from Ald. Burke, would establish annual use-of-force and crisis intervention training for all Chicago police officers. Ald. Burke’s plan would amend the Municipal Code to require quarterly firearms training, no less than four hours of use-of-force training, and at least one hour of crisis intervention training annually. Burke directly introduced that ordinance at an 11-hour joint committee hearing on police accountability Ald. Reboyras and Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1) held in December.

A shorter and more pointedly worded order Ald. Rick Munoz (22) introduced makes one request, “ORDERED, that no documents currently in the possession of or hereafter created by and/or maintained by any office within the Chicago Police Department be destroyed for any purpose or under color of any statute between the introduction of this Order and December 31.” More than half the council signed on as a co-sponsor.

Reboyras Discusses Police Supt. Search

Whomever Mayor Rahm Emanuel picks to be the city’s next police superintendent will have to be confirmed by the council’s Public Safety Committee chaired by Ald. Reboyras, who, along with 11 of his colleagues on the City Council’s Latino Caucus, criticized the Police Board’s short list for excluding a Latino candidate. The group sent a letter to the Mayor last Friday demanding that he consider Interim Police Supt. John Escalante for the job.

But speaking to Aldertrack yesterday, Ald. Reboyras demurred as to whether he plans to use his position to put pressure on those demands, only reaffirming his position that a Latino should have been picked for the post.

Two appointments to the city’s Emergency Telephone System Board are up for review today by the Council’s Public Safety Committee.

The five-member, mayor-appointed board helps oversees the city’s 911 emergency call system, which receives approximately 5 million calls a year. The board coordinates and supervises any planned upgrades or maintenance to the call system, in addition to depositing revenue generated from a $3.90 per month surcharge on landlines to a fund that supports the call system. In 2015, when the city raised the surcharge from $2.50, it generated $123 million, a $25.8 million increase over 2014, according to the city’s 2015 Annual Financial Report.

Mayor Emanuel has asked the committee to appoint First Deputy Fire Commissioner Richard C. Ford II to the board. Ford, a 30-year veteran of the city’s Fire Department and a native of the city’s Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, was promoted to the post last month, according to the Chicago Tribune. Ford will fill a vacancy on the board for a term expiring on July 1, 2020.

The reappointment of Benjamin Dieterich, an assistant budget director for the city, to the board is also up for consideration. Dieterich was first appointed to the seat in 2013. Pending Council approval, his term will extend to 2020, as well.

Other than the appointment of Daniel Casey, a deputy director for the city’s Office of Emergency Management, to the board in May 2015, there haven’t been new appointments to the Emergency Telephone system board since 2013.

It’ll be at least another month before the City Council takes up any of the plans that have been introduced to regulate room-sharing businesses like Airbnb in Chicago.

Two competing plans have been referred to a joint committee of the Council’s License and Housing Committees. Yesterday, Bob Fuller, a legislative aide for the Housing Committee, told Aldertrack it’s unlikely that meeting will be scheduled before April’s City Council meeting.

In January, Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced an ordinance on behalf of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection that would regulate the industry by imposing a 2% surcharge on vacation rentals and shared housing units. It’s expected to bring in an estimated $1 million in revenue, which would go towards affordable housing and reducing homelessness. North Side Aldermen Ameya Pawar (47) and Joe Moore (49), chairman of the council’s Housing Committee, are co-sponsors.

The following month, Aldermen Anthony Napolitano (41), Pat O’Connor (40) and Marge Laurino (39), all of which represent heavily residential neighborhoods on the North West Side near O’Hare Airport, 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).

Eleven of the 49 aldermen currently serving on the City Council were appointed to their position by either Mayors Rahm Emanuel or Richard M. Daley, making it a fairly frequent occurrence. But the process remains opaque to public. The Mayor’s Office isn’t releasing details on the search for Ald. Will Burns’ (4) replacement, nor are members of a five-member task-force he created to head up the search.

Aldertrack reached out to three of the five members on the search committee for the 4th Ward vacancy following Ald. Burns’ decision to step down from the Council after he accepted a job at Airbnb as of March 1.

But two of those members, Paula Wolff with the Illinois Justice Project and Bonnie Sanchez-Carlson of the Near South Planning Board, said all questions regarding the search process must be submitted to the Mayor’s Press Office, which in turn told Aldertrack, “We don't have any further updates to share at this time. Feel free to check back at a later date, though.”

One of the 18 applicants who applied for the position, Tracey Bey, who ran and lost against Ald. Burns in 2015, said she has yet to hear from the task force, adding that the only information she’s heard about the search since she applied two weeks ago is from a recent Hyde-Park Herald article. She said that the way she read it, candidates won’t be contacted or interviewed until three finalists are chosen.

Evonne Taylor, the treasurer for Sophia King, who filed a D-1 on March 9th to help support her candidacy for alderman, refused to provide any details on the status of King’s application, saying it was “inappropriate” to discuss the process until it’s complete.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to announce Ald. Burns’ replacement on April 29, and the new alderman will be sworn in at the May 18th City Council meeting.

The Mayor’s Press Office said it “anticipates” a final decision on who will succeed Burns’ as Chairman of the Council’s Education Committee will be released before the April Council Meeting. And that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be filled by the committee’s vice chair, Ald. Michele Smith (43).

In an email sent to Aldertrack, the Mayor’s press office wrote, “The Mayor is in the process of determining who will fill the vacancy. The Vice Chairman of a committee does not automatically succeed the Chair in cases of a vacancy.”

That appointment will be introduced in the form of a resolution to the full City Council for approval.

Aldermen who were appointed to their position (in ward order):

• 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno (2010) - appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley to replace Manny Flores, who resigned to chair the Illinois Commerce Commission

• 8th Ward Ald. Michelle Harris (2006) - Mayor Daley appointed her to fill Todd Stroger's seat after he won Cook County Board President. Prior to her appointment to the City Council, she was secretary to the Cook County Board under former President John Stroger.

• 22nd Ward Ald. Rick Muñoz (1993) - appointed by Mayor Daley to replace his former boss and mentor, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia.

• 25th Ward Ald. Danny Solis (1996) - appointed by Mayor Daley to replace Ambrosio Medrano, who was convicted for accepting bribes as part of the federal Silver Shovel Investigation.

• 26th Ward Ald. Roberto Maldonado (2009) - appointed by Mayor Daley to fill retiring-Ald. Billy Ocasio’s vacant seat

• 28th Ward Ald. Jason Ervin (2011) - appointed to finish mentor Ed Smith’s term in January 2011, and was elected to the seat a month later.

• 33rd Ward Ald. Deb Mell (2013) - appointed by Mayor Emanuel following the retirement of her father, longtime Ald. Dick Mell.

• 34th Ward Ald. Carrie Austin (1994) - appointed by Mayor Daley to fill the vacancy left by her husband, Lemuel Austin, Jr., who died of a heart attack.

• 37th Ward Ald. Emma Mitts (2000) - appointed by Mayor Daley to replace Ald. Percy Giles, who was convicted of bribery as part of the Operation Silver Shovel investigation.

• 39th Ward Ald. Marge Laurino (1994) - appointed by Mayor Daley to replace her father, Alderman and Democratic Committeeman Anthony Laurino.

• 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney (2003) - appointed by Mayor Daley to replace former 44th Ward Alderman Bernard Hansen. Tunney’s appointment over the non-Daley gay independent Rick Ingram was controversial at the time, although the appointment of the city’s first openly gay alderman was widely hailed as a step forward.

The Chicago Police Board named three finalists for the job of police superintendent, and City Council's Latino Caucus called the short list an "insult." Eleven Aldermen voted against the Mayor's plan to increase the smoking age to 21, in addition to setting price floors and raising taxes on cigars, cigarillos, dip, and loose tobacco. But a ban on dip at Cubs and Sox games got unanimous support. We also talk bonds and discuss the winners and losers of this week's primary.

In order to “improve efficiency,” the Department of Planning and Development is slightly changing the way it conducts monthly Plan Commission meetings.

From now on, the department’s project managers will be taking over the responsibility of presenting plan development applications to commissioners, instead of developers, their attorneys or architects, which was how meetings were conducted in the past.  

Newly-appointed DPD Commissioner David Reifman will also change the mayor-appointed land use board’s start time to 10:00 a.m., instead of in the afternoon. Officials with DPD say developers and their attorneys will still be allowed to speak and answer questions from commissioners, but project managers, who are tasked with writing official staff reports for each project, will take over a majority of the PowerPoint presentations.

And the changes made a noticeable difference. Yesterday’s meeting, which had eight zoning applications up for consideration, wrapped in about four hours, adjourning around 2:00 p.m. Last month’s meeting barely met its adjournment deadline, and that was only after Chairman Martin Cabrera’s repeated requests that developers keep their presentations concise.

At past meetings, DPD project managers introduced each application, detailing the zoning change requested and skeletal information of the project. The development team, usually the zoning attorney followed by the architect or lead developer, would then expound on the finer details. More often than not, this method led to drawn-out, marathon-long meetings.

Meeting Highlights 

Only one application on yesterday's agenda, LG Development’s proposed nine-story plus penthouse condo building, garnered significant opposition from the public, with more than a dozen residents, mostly from a neighboring condo building, voicing their opposition. The proposed development would be built on a surface parking lot at 111 South Peoria Street, across from Mary Bartelme Park.

Some opponents argued that the West Loop is getting too dense, and the local transportation infrastructure has not kept up with the building boom (“If I wanted tall, I would have moved to Streeterville,” one complained). Others warned of “dramatic safety concerns” of having such a large residential building, with people coming and going so close to a park where children play. Lighting issues and vehicle traffic worries were frequently brought up, too.

This group was especially organized, with handouts, zoning maps, and presentation boards supplementing testimony. Attorney Ron Cope and city planner Les Pollack were among them.

Even local Ald. Walter Burnett (27) warned fellow commissioners that the project was so controversial in his community, that it was “used against him” during his re-election campaign last year.

Despite the overwhelming opposition from the community, the application still passed unanimously. Speaking to Aldertrack after the meeting, one opponent, Richard Dees, a an attorney from McDermott Will & Emery, said that they may sue the city, alleging the zoning change is inconsistent with previous DPD master zoning plans for the neighborhood. “That is how fed up West Loop residents are,” Dees explained in an email. “The politicians have been picking neighborhoods off separately. We need to stop every upzoning in the West Loop until there is a plan to take care of the people already living there, and that means uniting to oppose every upzoning, no matter how attractive the project appears.”

The remaining seven applications went through mostly without a hitch, and commissioners were noticeably less vocal about affordable housing issues than in past meetings.

Only one development team caught flak for taking advantage of a “loophole” in the city’s old affordable housing requirements: SMATT, LLC, the applicant behind a 513 ft residential high-rise with 500 units planned for 1320 South Michigan Avenue in city’s South Loop.

Ald. Burnett accused developer John Murphy and his zoning attorney Jack George of taking advantage of a “loophole” in the zoning code, because they won’t be adding on-site affordable housing or making an in lieu cash payment into the city’s affordable housing trust fund to make up for those lost units.

Instead, they’re taking advantage of an affordable housing bonus, agreeing to make a $1.96 million payment into the affordable housing trust fund in exchange for the ability to increase building density (Under the new rules, a developer would have to pay per affordable unit not included on site, in addition to the bonus, should they select it.)

When Burnett asked them to explain why they chose not to include the units, Murphy said there’s still an opportunity for it. “I have had discussions with the alderman to integrate affordable housing on site. That has not been determined yet, because it’s something that more recently came up,” he explained.  

“You making a lot of money, man. You got a lot of stuff over there,” Burnett later responded, after it was revealed that the building’s largest apartments, which would be about 1,100-square-feet, are expected to go on the market for about $4,000 a month (about $2.95-per-square-foot), and that 45% of the parking spaces will be leased out to the general public.

Union Concerns Raised at Planned McCormick Place Hotel (3rd Ward)

Draper & Kramer, the development team behind a proposed 22-story hotel and residential high-rise for the corner of Wabash Avenue and Cermak Road got some heat when it was revealed that the hotel wouldn’t employ unionized workers.

According to Larry Devito with Draper & Kramer, the hotel is committed to hiring locally and hosting job fairs, but employees won't be unionized. When Chairman Cabrera asked if “any effort was made to add unionized labor,” Devito’s partner, David Augusta, jumped in to explain that “select service hotels” or limited-service hotels, rarely employ union workers because it doesn’t make sense “economically and from a management standpoint.”   

Local Ald. Pat Dowell (3) later testified that she did “establish conversations” between the development team and Unite Here Local One.

The 144 room, ten-story hotel, which will be near the Cermak stop on the CTA’s Green Line, will employ 35 people when it’s built. The residential building, which will be 22-stories, will be located directly behind the hotel, with a setback along South Wabash Avenue. The development team plans to make ten of the 275 units affordable; those units will be distributed throughout the building. And of the total units, 37% will be efficency, 49% one-bedroom, and 14% two-bedrooms. Draper & Kramer will also take advantage of the adopt a landmark bonus, which lets them increase building density by paying about  $750,000 for building restorations at two landmarked neighborhood churches (Quinn Chapel AME and Second Presbyterian Church).

The city officially opened up the bidding process for developers interested in transforming the Old Main Post Office Complex. Yesterday morning, the Department of Planning and Development issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the massive historic building’s planned redevelopment in the city’s West Loop. A pre-submittal conference is scheduled for April 14. Bidding closes June 10.  

The move comes a week after the city’s Community Development Commission, a mayor-appointed panel, gave preliminary approval for the city to acquire the property from its current owners through eminent domain. 

RFP respondents may choose to redevelop the site in accordance with the existing planned development parameters for the site (PD# 1065), or they can select to amend the PD, which “allows for a wide variety of commercial and residential uses,” the Mayor’s Office said in a release.

Once a developer is chosen, they will have to commit to purchase the property at full market value and pay “all related acquisition costs.”

The U.S. Post Office sold the historic building in 2009 to International Property Developers North America, Inc. (IPD) for $25 million dollars. In 2013, the same developer bought the neighboring annex property for an additional $14 million.

IPD had planned a $3.5 billion mixed-use development to be completed in phases, including three towers and 16-million-square-feet of residential, retail, entertainment and office spaces. In July 2013, the City Council approved an amendment to the planned development for an additional 2,100 residential units in the old post office building. Plans for a hotel and commercial retail space on adjacent land were also approved.

The first phase of the project was scheduled to get underway in early 2015, but according to DPD, no significant redevelopment work has been completed to date.

Opponents of a proposed nine-story condo development planned for a surface parking lot directly across the street from Mary Bartelme Park in the city’s West Loop neighborhood plan to hold a press conference at City Hall ahead of today’s Plan Commission vote on the future of the site.

LG Development is seeking to establish a planned development to build the residential high rise, which would include 95 units, a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units, ranging from 900-square-feet to 2,850-square-feet.   

After several back and forth meetings with the community and local Ald. Walter Burnett (27), the developer filed the zoning application with the city in September 2015, just before Chicago’s beefed up Affordable Housing Requirements took effect.

But the project has remained on the backburner, and some in the community, including one local neighborhood group, is strongly opposed. There’s even a website dedicated to the opposition.  One local resident, who spoke on background, said they’d rather construct a community center on the lot. Local residents have set up a fundraising campaign to get the money to buy the property from the Cacciatore family, the legal title holder.

The project has also gone through numerous revisions. In August 2014, when the project was first presented to the community, LG had planned a 13- story, 173-foot building with 469 single room occupancy units, a roof deck, and 328 parking spaces, according to this letter from the West Loop Community Organization (WLCO). A month later, LG offered an amended plan that cut the building height to 133 feet, reduced the number of units to 210, and downsized parking to 141 spaces. Still unsatisfied with the changes, LG submitted a third proposal in May 2015, that kept the height at 133-feet, but changed the unit breakdown and increased the square-footage of the units.

The Plan Commission will vote today on the fifth version of the original plan. The West Loop Community Organization is still opposed, even after the developer agreed to decrease the number of balconies facing Peoria street, add more glass and stainless steel to balconies, and enhance the main entry of the building. Their objection, according to the letter, is due to the fact that “the developer has not submitted updated renderings as agreed on September 1, 2015.”

LG Development’s application is the last item on the agenda, according to the latest version of the plan commission agenda. Two days ago, it was the fourth item.

Meanwhile, plans for three other residential high-rise towers, two hotels, and a redevelopment plan for Irving Park’s Six-Corners shopping center also await Plan Commission approval today.

• Proposed Hotel Near Fulton Market (27th Ward): Jeffrey Shapack, manager of 200 Green Developer, LLC, filed an application with the city to build an 11-story-story plus penthouse hotel with ground floor retail, restaurant and accessory parking on the corner of Green and Lake Streets. The site Shapack wants to develop at 820-850 W. Lake Street is a block north of the Soho House Hotel that he helped develop in partnership with Chicago-based A.J. Capital Partners. According to the Chicago Architecture Blog, the hotel would include between 167 and 171 guest rooms, a fitness center, and a rooftop pool overlooking the city’s downtown.

• Proposed Hotel-Residential Building for McCormick Place (3rd Ward). Developer Draper & Kramer wants to build a 22-story hotel and residential high-rise with 275 units on the corner of Wabash Avenue and Cermak Road. According to the renderings in the application the developer submitted in September 2015, the hotel and residential tower would be connected on the bottom nine floors, with a service elevator separating the residential side from the hotel. Floors 10 through 21 will be only residential. Other amenities would include a hotel roof deck and and residential sky deck. This is one of three hotels planned for McCormick Place.

• Proposed 38-Story Residential High-Rise for West Loop (42nd Ward) Gray Cardiff, from California-based Gray Cardiff & Co., wants to build a 38-story residential high-rise building with 373 dwelling units, 145 parking spaces (41% of dwelling units), and 77 bike spaces at the site of an old train car storage field located between Union Avenue and Green Street.  According to the application he filed with the city in January, Cardiff plans to take advantage of the city’s affordable housing bonus, which allows for a greater floor-area-ratio by paying into the city’s affordable housing trust fund. The building would be located near the K2 Apartments and its newly-opened half-acre dog park, the biggest in the city, according to DNAinfo. Ald. Brendan Reilly and the Neighbors of the West Loop (NOWL) held a community meeting on this project in November. According to the slideshow presentation he provided to residents, a typical residential floor plan would include 13 units per floor: three studios, seven one-bedroom apartments, and two two-bedroom apartments.

• The National Museum of Mexican Art (25th Ward) is seeking to amend an existing planned development (No. 639) to construct a surface parking lot for 50 cars. According to the application the museum filed with the city, in January, the lot will also serve as an outdoor exhibit space.

• Sinai Health System (28th Ward) is seeking to amend the boundary of their existing planned development (No. 49) to include two additional city-owned parcels of property (1341 and 1345 S. Fairfield Avenue) they’re in the midst of purchasing. The Mount Sinai Hospital campus is located in North Lawndale on the city’s West Side and is undergoing a $100 million investment: the Sinai Tomorrow Project. The hospital intends to use the subject property for the health care related uses that were previously approved with the original PD: hospital, day care, government-operated health center, and wireless communications facilities. The amended PD adds new uses, including retail. The property is two blocks from the hospital campus, in a predominantly residential area.

• Irving Park Six-Corners Development (45th Ward): CSD Six Corners, LLC, an entity with close to twenty stakeholders listed on the economic disclosure statement, filed a planned development application to build a retail center for the site of the former Bank of America building in Irving Park’s Six-Corners. The four-story “vertical retail center,” will have stores on the first and second floor, and parking on the third and fourth. The applicants include Bixby Bridge Fund II, LLC, managed by David Colburn, and Blackfriars Corporation, owned by Keith Colburn, Richard Colburn, and Carol Grigor. Collins Family Limited Partnership is also listed as a stakeholder. The center will contain about 196,000-square-feet of retail and 473 parking spaces.

The $29 million sale of city-owned land for Rush University’s new medical academic village and a new training center for the Chicago Blackhawks is up for consideration by the Council’s Housing Committee this morning.

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 new projects will be built at the now-vacant site of the Malcolm X City Colleges campus in the 27th Ward, represented by Ald. Walter Burnett Jr.

The Housing and Zoning Committees have swiftly approved a series of changes–including land transfers, an upzone, and demolition appropriations–to accommodate the redevelopment plan for the site since Mayor Emanuel announced the plan in July of last year. Students from Malcolm X moved to a new campus in January.

Rush University Sale

The city plans to sell 315,000 square foot vacant lot at a negotiated price for a new $500 million Rush University Medical Center academic village at the site of the former Malcolm X City Colleges site. The development will take place in four separate phases, and will include four LEED designed buildings: three mixed use buildings with educational office, community health, conference, meeting and restaurant spaces. A fourth building will house 300 student residential units. There will also be a green roof, a landscaped open green space, 800 parking spaces and 200 bike spaces.

The negotiated sale price is $17.5 million. A portion of that sum, $1,800,000, will pay for education, scholarships, research, and health and wellness programs over the course of ten years from the closing date of the sale. According to the Mayor’s Office, the project is expected to create 50 permanent and 100 construction jobs as part of its initial phase.

Blackhawks Sale

The new Blackhawks hockey team redevelopment will include a 127,000 square foot facility with full-sized rinks in a dedicated facility for the team and for community hockey training. The facilities will have with 122 parking spaces. The Blackhawks will buy the property for $8.7 million, and $3 million that will be spent on community hockey training programs, fitness and nutritional programs and group events. The fair market value of the property is $9.5 million.

In a press release, the city says “Chicago Blackhawks Charities, the team’s philanthropic arm, will oversee year-round programs and clinics at the training center for the city’s underprivileged youth, ensuring the project’s community benefits extend to those who would otherwise be unable to cover the costs of ice time, equipment and transportation.”

Other Items

• The Department of Planning and Development will present the 2015 Fourth Quarter Progress Report of the city’s five year housing plan to committee members today as well. Usually these presentations are made at a standalone meeting later in the month. You can read prior reports from the city here, and from the Chicago Rehab Network here.

• Three property sales through the Adjacent Neighbors Land Acquisition Program are up for a vote. The properties are in the 27th, 28th, and 4th Wards.   

• A series of right of way changes to accommodate construction of a parking lot for Sinai Health Systems in the 28th Ward is also up for committee consideration.

The Council’s License Committee will resume last week’s meeting to take action on a plan to amend the city’s licensing and application requirements for taxis, ride-share cars, horse-drawn carriages, and pedicabs.

The plan from the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection got shelved at last week’s meeting, after cabbies and taxi industry officials argued the proliferation of ride-share cars is pushing their business towards the verge of collapse. They have been demanding that the city require drivers for Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing apps obtain a public chauffeur's license, which is required of taxi drivers.

The ordinance was drafted in consultation with a task force Mayor Rahm Emanuel put together in 2014 to “strengthen the taxi industry and create a fairer environment for taxicab drivers.” But several members of that Taxicab Driver Fairness Task Force testified the ordinance barely addressed their concerns.