Chicago Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady answers questions during a budget hearing on Thursday. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare a wide range of racial inequities among Chicagoans, and the leader of the city’s public health department hopes to address those issues as the city moves out of the pandemic, she said Thursday. 

Andrea Kersten, interim chief of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, answers questions during a budget hearing Thursday.

The city agency tasked with investigating police misconduct complaints continues to see an increase in the number of complaints filed, but for the first time in four years, the office has cleared a backlog of cases left behind by its predecessor agency, the office’s interim leader announced Thursday. 

Leaders from the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications are scheduled Friday to brief aldermen on the office’s 2022 spending plan. [OEMC]

The City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations is scheduled on Friday to ask the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, water department and aviation department to defend their proposed 2022 budgets, which together come out to more than $1.6 billion. Friday’s three department budget hearings will close out day six of the 11-day marathon of budget committee hearings on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed spending plan.  

Chief Procurement Officer Aileen Velazquez (second from left) answers questions during a budget hearing on Wednesday 

The share of dollars being awarded to minority- and women-owned companies for city contracts has grown nearly across the board since 2020, but some aldermen continued pushing city leaders Wednesday on ways to grow the work it awards to minority contractors.  

Mamadou Diakhate, executive director of Chicago Animal Care and Control (second from left), answers questions during a budget hearing Wednesday. 

Chicago Animal Care and Control brought in more than 8,400 animals and transferred or adopted out more than 5,400 in the first eight months of the 2021, officials said Wednesday. Department employees also provide medical care for animals and run pet vaccination and microchip programs — all without city dollars dedicated to marketing their services. 

Voters prepare to cast their ballots in November 2020 at Monroe Elementary in Logan Square. [Mina Bloom/Block Club Chicago]

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners is planning to consolidate precincts and bring back ballot drop boxes to keep up with trends in the way people cast their votes, officials said Tuesday. 

Department of Family and Support Services Comm. Brandie Knazze (second from left) answers questions during a Monday budget hearing. 

Aldermen focused much of their time on Monday questioning the leader of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services on how the city is addressing homelessness and whether certain initiatives would continue beyond the life of the pandemic. 

Chicago Board of Election Commissioners chair Marisel Hernandez speaks to reporters during a March 2020 news conference. [The Daily Line/Alex Nitkin]

Tuesday will mark day three of the City Council’s departmental budget hearings as aldermen are set to hear from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners on its proposed budget swell to handle the 2022 primary and general elections and the implementation of a new ward map. Members of the council’s Committee on Budget and Government Operations are also scheduled to hear from leaders of the administrative hearings and human resources departments on their proposed budget increases. 

City budget officials address questions from Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) during a Friday hearing on the proposed 2022 budget.

Aldermen spent part of the City Council’s first hearing on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed 2022 budget on Friday raising concerns over the sustainability of new programs proposed to be funded with the one-time federal stimulus dollars, probing city finance officials over whether the city has enough employees to carry out the programs.  

Mayor Lori Lightfoot plans to use $46 million in federal recovery funds to plant 75,000 new trees in Chicago during the next five years.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s pitch to add 75,000 new trees to the city’s canopy during the next five years could have little impact unless the city also works to maintain existing trees and ensure new trees receive proper care, according to one conservation group.

Attorney Michael Kasper gives a presentation on ward remapping during a public hearing on Wednesday.

The City Council’s inaugural public hearing on its decennial ward remap lasted less than one hour, fielding questions from only a handful of aldermen and comments from six members of the public. 

Nubia Willman (left), director of The Office of New Americans, and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) speak during a committee meeting Wednesday.

City officials need to work more closely with aldermen, hold additional hearings and provide resources as Chicago is set to resettle at least 500 refugees from Afghanistan, aldermen charged Wednesday during a City Council committee meeting.

The City Council’s Committee on Committees and Rules is set to host a public hearing on redistricting Wednesday afternoon.

The first city-run public hearing on Chicago’s once-in-a-decade ward remap is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) said during a news conference before Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget address that her administration had been "copying" the Chicago Rescue Plan "coalition's homework." [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

As part of her third budget address Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled her $2.5 billion Chicago Recovery Plan, her proposal for using the city’s nearly $1.9 billion in federal pandemic-related stimulus funds and other new spending to aid in recovery from the pandemic.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9) speaks during the City Council meeting on Monday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

The City Council gave a delayed stamp of approval on Monday to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to lower regulatory barriers to pot dispensaries and grow operations, overcoming a speedbump set by a pair of critical aldermen. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to introduce her 2022 budget proposal on Monday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is set to unveil her 2022 spending plan Monday, about one month earlier than the city’s typical budget schedule, amid calls for the city to pump directly into communities nearly $1.9 billion in federal pandemic-related grant money.

Aldermen on Friday re-referred three proposals related to public safety that had been temporarily banished to the council’s Committee on Committees and Rules. And the City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight advanced the nominations of two members of a search committee tasked with finding the city’s next inspector general.

The Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved plans for a 282-unit residential building proposed for 160 N. Morgan St.

A 282-unit Near West Side residential building approved by the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday would be the first major development required to meet the demands of the city’s new Affordable Requirements Ordinance, officials said. 

Rush University Medical Center is proposing to build a new five-story inpatient hospital building in the 28th Ward. 

Two Chicago hospitals are seeking approval from the city to add new medical buildings to their campuses. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaking during a news conference after Tuesday's City Council meeting [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

The City Council voted on Tuesday to approve a collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago Police Department’s rank-and-file employees, ending the union’s four-year absence of a contract.