Last week, the Chicago City Council passed an amendment to the Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance. Thanks to the efforts of the Chicago Association of Realtors, this amendment contains changes that make the ordinance somewhat less bad.

This rushed legislation should be more aptly named the Northwest Side Housing Prevention Ordinance (to reflect its actual impact). The sponsors of this bill Carlos Rosa (35th) & Jessie Fuentes (26th) have a long history of simply attacking the housing industry for political points. This law passed with blinding speed and no input from those who actually provide housing.

Most Democratic National Convention (DNC) visitors will likely not see the deep divisions that exist in our city, especially the sacrifice zones that so many Chicagoans live in. There is a long legacy of environmental racism in our city, but that doesn’t mean that has to be the way things always will be. 

I sincerely believe that we have innovative solutions that could serve as a model for other major cities across the country.

For decades, industrial facilities, waste sites, and other sources of pollution have been concentrated in neighborhoods of color, leading to severe health disparities. Residents in areas like the South and West Sides have suffered from higher rates of asthma, cancer, and other pollution-related illnesses compared to their wealthier, predominantly white counterparts.

July 30^th is the United Nations’ World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. It is a call to action to address the shortcomings we’ve seen globally in the effort to put an end to this deplorable crime and accelerate change.

This year’s theme, “Leave No Child Behind in the Fight Against Human Trafficking,” underscores the urgent need for action to end child trafficking, as well as support all survivors of human trafficking, especially our most vulnerable. It also serves as a reminder of the role we all play in addressing this issue head on.

Pilsen is one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods – characterized by a colorful celebration of Latin American and Mexican culture everywhere you look. From the 1,400 businesses that line our streets, the annual Mole De Mayo Festival, and the Buen Provecho Taste of Pilsen, our community has always been a place for people to gather and celebrate their heritage. Yet, hanging over our vibrant community is the growing need to advance commonsense clean air standards.

 

Boasting the most diverse economy in America and the nation’s fifth highest GDP, Illinois relies heavily on our innate infrastructure and logistics advantages to keep us on the right track for continued growth.

One of our greatest strengths is our freight rail network. Illinois has 47 freight railroads that carry almost 500 million tons of goods across our state annually—the equivalent of about 25 million annual truckloads of freight. Any diversion of current rail freight to highways will worsen congestion and road damage while also vastly increasing transportation related emissions and pollution.

Plastic is one of the most common materials used to create many of the products we use and depend on in countless ways. From everyday household items to industrial uses, understanding how this material can and should be properly recycled, and the benefits that come with that, can make a significant impact on protecting our environment.

It’s not every day in Illinois that car companies, environmental organizations, advanced manufacturers, public health advocates and labor unions line up behind the same public policy. Today, that diverse coalition is backing the Powering Up Illinois Act, legislation that would remove the bottlenecks blocking the transition to clean vehicles in our state.  

Good things tend to come in threes and the Chicagoland Apartment Association wants to give credit where credit is due. Mayor Johnson's recent efforts for more vibrant real estate development by streamlining processes and cutting red tape deserves high praise. This an issue that is paramount for housing developers looking to invest in Chicago.

Meeting the international target of no more than 2° Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels is an extraordinary challenge we must meet to address global climate change.

Illinois needs every tool at its disposal to do its part. For more than 20 years, geologists and engineers at the University of Illinois’s Prairie Research Institute (PRI) have been developing and evaluating methods for the safe capture, storage, and re-use of planet-warming CO₂ from power plants and industrial operations.

This process, called carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), can play a critical role in achieving the state’s decarbonization goals by capturing CO₂ that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere. CCUS is widely considered to be essential to meeting emission reduction goals called for in climate models.

For two years, the western half of a beloved local park in my Rogers Park neighborhood was taken over by a homeless tent encampment, while the City and local authorities looked the other way. In time, reports surfaced of illicit criminal activity, mostly drug activity and syringes found around the site, and neighborhood residents, including students from the high school across the street, voiced justifiable concerns regarding safety.

Soon, the Park District was forced to cancel their summer youth programs, and the high school across the street, which had used the park for its outdoor sports activities, could no longer allow its students to safely recreate.