Erin Hegarty has covered City Hall for The Daily Line since September 2020. She previously covered the City of Naperville for the Naperville Sun/Chicago Tribune for four years, and prior to that covered the northwest suburbs for the Daily Herald. Erin enjoys biking around the city and eating her way through different neighborhoods.
Contact Erin at [email protected]
Bio
Covering Chicago City Hall for @thedailylinechi. Send tips to [email protected]. More coffee, always.Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin more than doubled the money in her campaign account between July and September.
Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin added more than $111,000 to her campaign fund during the past three months, more than her account had in it at the beginning of July and significantly more than she’s raised during past quarters.
Conyears-Ervin more than doubles campaign chest in big 3rd-quarter haul
Department of Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady [right] disagrees with a proposal drafted by Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33) and backed by more than half of the City Council to reopen shuttered public mental health clinics.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is pushing back hard on a proposal from the City Council to reshuffle mental health spending to reopen city-backed clinics, saying the plan would veer the city off its existing path to widening psychiatric outreach.
Arwady clashes with City Council on mental health clinics amid gush of budget amendments
Members of the City Council Latino Caucus speak during a press conference the morning of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget address. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]
As budget negotiations heat up, leaders of the City Council Latino Caucus are hoping their proposal for a “Hispanic Inclusion Plan” will push the city closer to racial parity among city employees, particularly those in top leadership positions.
Latino aldermen redouble push for racial parity in hiring as Lightfoot digs in
Pictured above are models of designs for the 100 new affordable homes set to be built in North Lawndale.
A sweeping plan to build 100 new affordable single-family homes in North Lawndale is one step closer to full approval after a City Council committee gave the proposal unanimous support on Friday.
Sale of city-owned land for 100 new affordable homes in North Lawndale approved by key committee
Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference Thursday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]
E-scooter companies officially got the greenlight on Thursday to come back to Chicago with the City Council’s approval of a citywide program for the controversial two-wheeled modes of transportation.
Scooter program approved; budget watchdog peppers critiques amid ‘overall support’ for Lightfoot’s 2022 plan
Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson published a report Wednesday analyzing City Council committees. [Heather Cherone/The Daily Line]
Aldermen who chair City Council committees allowed committee employees to work on non-committee matters, including attending groundbreaking ceremonies in their wards, and some committees with the biggest budgets failed to maintain complete records, an investigation published Wednesday by Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found.
Council committee chairs used committee employees to perform ward work, rebuffed calls for change: Inspector General
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40) [left] and Ald. Matt Martin (47) discuss their proposed ordinance during a committee meeting Wednesday.
A proposed expansion of a major city-backed grant program to include bars, small hotels and motels has some aldermen concerned that “nuisance” nightclubs and businesses could end up getting the grants.
Expanding city-backed grant program to bars, hotels could benefit ‘nuisance’ nightclubs, some aldermen fear
Department of Buildings Comm. Matthew Beaudet details plumbing code updates for aldermen during a committee meeting.
Updates to Chicago’s plumbing code that would expand the use of PVC plastic piping and make gender-neutral bathrooms more “usable” and “accessible” are now one vote away from final approval.
Plumbing code updates expanding use of PVC pipes, provisions for gender-neutral bathrooms head to City Council
Aldermen are set to rescue two of Ald. Anthony Beale’s (9) proposals from the Committee on Committees and Rules. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]
Two proposals from Ald. Anthony Beale (9) are set to be rescued on Tuesday from the City Council’s rules committee and reassigned to their respective committees for discussion and a potential vote.
Speed camera ordinance, City Council legal counsel proposal set for rescue from rules committee
Sports betting would be legalized at Wrigley Field and four other sports venues under an ordinance proposed by Ald. Walter Burnett (27). [wallyg on Flickr]
A City Council vote on whether Chicago should legalize sports betting will have to wait following the cancelation of a meeting that was scheduled for this week on the topic.
Sports betting ordinance shelved; zoning committee to consider updates to plumbing code
CDOT Comm. Gia Biagi answers questions during a budget hearing on Friday.
A new division of Chicago’s Department of Transportation would oversee key transportation agreements starting next year, including the city’s growing contract for the Divvy bike share program and an agreement for a planned e-scooter program, transportation officials told aldermen on Friday.
New CDOT division would oversee ‘key’ city contracts including controversial bus shelter agreement set to expire next year
A coach house on Chicago’s Northwest Side. [Lichter Realty]
Aldermen used the city’s Department of Housing budget hearing to prod housing officials on how new initiatives, like the legalization of coach houses, and ongoing recovery efforts are helping grow affordable housing and ensure Chicago residents can stay in their homes.
Housing officials tout coach houses, SROs among tools to expand affordable housing: ‘it’s no one thing’
Department of Planning and Development Comm. Maurice Cox answers questions from aldermen during a budget hearing on Thursday.
The tone of Thursday’s budget hearing for the city’s Department of Planning and Development was much less critical of department leadership than last year’s hearing, when the City Council complained of a closed-off relationship with city planners. But aldermen are still unsatisfied with months-long backlogs in the sales of city-owned lots, they said.
Aldermen press planning officials on buildup of city-owned vacant lots
Comm. Gia Biagi on Friday will answer aldermen’s question on CDOT’s proposed 2022 budget.
Leaders of the Chicago Public Library system, the Department of Law and the Department of Transportation (CDOT) will defend proposed increases in their budgets on Friday during the final day of departmental budget hearings.
Chicago Public Library, law and transportation departments to detail their budgets on final day of hearings
Department of Planning Development Comm. Maurice Cox and Deputy Comm. Eleanor Gorski took flak from aldermen during their budget hearing last year.
In the penultimate day of departmental budget hearings, leaders of the city’s Department of Housing, Department of Planning and Development and Office of Inspector General are set to detail their 2022 budgets in what will likely be another marathon day of meetings.
Housing, planning departments and Inspector General set to detail budgets as hearings near a close
Department of Streets and Sanitation acting Comm. Cole Stallard answered questions during a budget hearing on Tuesday.
It now takes city workers a full year to respond to requests for trees to be trimmed, but a near-doubling of crews the city sends out to do the work is expected to shrink that lag time, leaders of the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation told aldermen on Tuesday.
Aldermen decry city’s year-long tree trimming backlog: ‘I can't say it enough — forestry, forestry, forestry’
Chicago Fire Department Comm. Annette Nance-Holt is set to answer questions from aldermen during her first budget hearing at the helm of the department. [Mayor's Office/ Twitter]
Aldermen are scheduled on Wednesday to examine next year’s proposed budgets the Mayor’s Office of People with Disabilities, Chicago Fire Department, Commission on Human Relations and the Office of Public Safety Administration during the ninth day of departmental budget hearings.
CFD, Public Safety Administration, disability office, Commission on Human Relations set to defend budgets
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown responded to nearly nine hours of questions from aldermen during a Monday budget hearing.
The city’s controversial contract with gunshot detection technology company ShotSpotter came under heavy scrutiny during a Monday hearing on the Chicago Police Department’s budget, even as police leaders deflected responsibility for the partnership to a different department.
ShotSpotter contract, officer shortages come under microscope during 9-hour CPD budget hearing
The Chicago Department of Water Management has so far only replaced 10 of the city's approximately 400,000 lead service lines, Comm. Andrea Cheng said during a budget hearing on Friday. [Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago]
The share of contracts the city’s water department awarded to African American-owned companies in the past year has not met multiple aldermen’s expectations, they said Friday.
Aldermen rail on water officials for lack of diverse contracting, slow replacement of lead lines
Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications Executive Director Rich Guidice answers questions during a budget hearing Friday.
Employees in Chicago’s 911 response center are “very excited” about a co-responder pilot program the city launched to send combinations of mental health professionals, paramedics, police officers and substance abuse clinicians to residents experiencing mental health crises, the office’s leader said Friday.
OEMC’s role in co-responder pilot poised to expand under 2022 budget, director says
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Covering Chicago City Hall for @thedailylinechi. Send tips to [email protected]. More coffee, always.
