Council approval of Smart Lighting Program exposed communication, transparency issues in city ‘legislative process,’ watchdog finds 

A report published Tuesday by Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson seized on the City Council’s approval of the Smart Lighting Program as an example of problems the office has observed when it comes to communication and transparency with aldermen over items that require their vote. 

Ferguson “conducted an inquiry” into the role the since-disbanded Chicago Infrastructure Trust had in the legislative process that ultimately led to the City Council voting in 2017 to approve the contract for the Smart Lighting Program to modernize the city’s street light system, according to the report, which summarizes investigations conducted by the watchdog office during the final quarter of 2020. While hiccups in the council approval process did not necessarily constitute wrongdoing, a series of communication issues exposed “management problems” among some city agencies, Ferguson wrote. 

Expanded ‘Welcoming City’ ordinance advanced: ‘A long time coming’ on Lightfoot campaign promise 

Advocates for undocumented immigrants celebrated a string of substantive and symbolic victories Tuesday as aldermen advanced a measure to firm up protections for foreign-born residents on President Donald Trump’s last full day in office. 

During their first-ever meeting, the members of the City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights voted unanimously to approve a proposal by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and a handful of aldermen to eliminate carve-outs in the city’s 2012 “Welcoming City” ordinance that allowed police to cooperate with federal immigration agents in some limited cases. The newer ordinance strikes language that allows such cooperation in cases that involve any suspect who has an “outstanding criminal warrant,” has been charged or convicted of a felony or “has been identified as a known gang member either in a law enforcement agency's database or by his own admission.” 

Lawmakers to consider remote voting among key rule change priorities when legislature reconvenes 

Unlike 2020, which was largely a lost year for the Illinois General Assembly, the days and months ahead are expected to be busy for state lawmakers.  

Tasked with resolving  a host of major issues facing the state, including redistricting and a $3.9 billion budget shortfall, lawmakers are set to return later this month although the exact format remains unclear.  

Expanded ‘Welcoming City’ ordinance set for Tuesday committee vote after fresh additions 

A long-promised proposal by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to reinforce city protections for undocumented immigrants is primed for a vote Tuesday after a fresh round of revisions that advocates say will further strengthen the measure. 

An updated version of her proposal to close loopholes in Chicago’s “Welcoming City” ordinance is set to be the first order of business for the City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which the council created at Lightfoot’s urging as part of last year’s budget approval. The committee is set to hold its inaugural meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday. 

Lightfoot’s PAC rakes in cash from unions and delivery apps, shells out for aldermen who supported 2021 budget  

Select aldermen in leadership positions who supported Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2021 pandemic budget and worked to ensure the spending plan addressed key issues for their caucuses benefitted with donations from Lightfoot’s political action committee during the last quarter of 2020, new campaign finance records show.  

Aldermen who support the mayor received a total $1,500 from Lightfoot’s Light PAC, which according to filings was established “to support candidates whose goals reflect those of the Committee.” 

Ethics reforms, revenue savings among proposals likely to be reconsidered when lawmakers return  

Although Illinois lawmakers approved 23 bills during lame duck session that led to the adjournment of the 101st General Assembly on Wednesday, a host of other proposals failed to make it across the finish line. With much of the discussion focused on the approved comprehensive agenda pushed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus last week, bills ranging from ethics and lobbying reform to launching an elected board to oversee the Chicago Public Schools were left unfinished before the new General Assembly was sworn in. As a result, lawmakers are likely to reconsider many of the failed proposals as the regular legislative session gets underway in the coming weeks.  

The following is an overview of some of the most significant pieces of legislation that failed to advance during the lame duck session, and whose advocates are regrouping for another push.  

News in brief: Tickets for speeding 6 MPH over limit begin March 1; Moore moves to sanction Reilly over O’Brien endorsement; COVID variant found in Illinois; Brookins sues ethics board 

Logan Square dispensary, Blue Line power station approved by Zoning Board

A second Logan Square weed dispensary could soon open in a former bank building after a key city permit was approved Friday. 

The Zoning Board of Appeals approved a special-use permit for Chicago-based PharmaCann to open a dispensary under its Verilife brand in the Logan Square Trust & Savings Bank building, 2551 N. Milwaukee Ave. 

Cook County leaders revel in elimination of cash bail, see path to further shrinking jail population 

The leaders in charge of Cook County’s multibillion-dollar jail and courts system praised state lawmakers’ vote this week to phase out the use of cash bail, saying the new law will push forward bail reform efforts they have already pursued for years. 

Prohibiting judges from assigning money bond starting in 2023 was a key plank of the sweeping criminal justice reform package approved by the General Assembly on Wednesday. The bill (HB3653), which Gov. JB Pritzker has indicated he will sign, also ends the practice of “prison gerrymandering” and includes a host of measures aimed at reining in police abuses. 

Union wins, pension tweaks and booze on trains: a look at the 23 bills approved during the lame duck session 

When the dust finally settled on the 101st General Assembly’s whirlwind six-day lame duck session, which included an all-night flurry of activity Tuesday night and early Wednesday, several consequential bills were passed, including a sweeping criminal justice overhaul and a power boost for the Chicago Teachers Union.   

The following is an overview of the most significant pieces of legislation that were passed during the lame duck session. In total, lawmakers approved just 23 bills during the truncated session, most of which passed in the final hours.  They now await Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature or veto. 

News in brief: Lightfoot nudges Pritzker on reopening bars, restaurants;  Aldermen OK open space projects in Lincoln Square, South Deering; Andersonville dispensaries set for Zoning Board approval 

Fines to be hiked for industrial air polluters, but alderman urges more ‘holistic’ work with community organizations  

Aldermen on Thursday approved a proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to hike fines for large industrial polluters, but some aldermen in wards that have been affected by air pollution said more needs to be done, especially with community organizations, to inhibit bad actors. 

Members of the City Council Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy unanimously approved the ordinance (O2020-6200) during its Thursday meeting.  

Black Caucus notches wins on education, criminal justice as health care proposals fall short in lame duck session 

Leaders of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus declared victory Wednesday after lawmakers approved most planks of their sweeping legislative package aimed at stamping out systemic racism during the final hours of the General Assembly’s lame duck session. 

The General Assembly approved bills overhauling state laws on education, criminal justice and economic development, but a companion suite of proposals aimed at closing racial disparities in health care failed to reach the finish line.

Welch elected speaker as Illinois enters new era of government 

Illinois lawmakers thrust the state into a new era Wednesday, passing a comprehensive agenda aimed at rooting out systemic racism and swearing in a new House speaker for the first time in decades.  

Days after Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) scuttled his bid to seek a 19th term, the House elected Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside) to be the chamber’s 70th leader. Welch, who is the first Black House speaker in Illinois history, takes over for the longest serving leader of a legislative body in U.S. history.  

Aldermen to consider proposal to increase fines for industrial air polluters 

Aldermen are scheduled Thursday to consider a proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to increase fines for large industrial air polluters and to hold a hearing on the environmental and health impacts that designated industrial districts have on neighborhoods. 

Lightfoot’s proposal (O2020-6200) would pave the way for the Department of Public Health to enforce higher fines on “industrial facilities and demolition contractors that create dust and risk the health and quality-of-life of residents.” 

Some older Chicagoans could start getting vaccines as early as next week, top doc says 

Chicago could begin pivoting toward the next phase in its mass vaccination campaign as early as next week, but the larger timeline will likely stay murky until President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration takes a firm grip over the federal rollout, the city’s top health officials told aldermen on Wednesday. 

Speaking during a four-hour subject matter hearing hosted by the City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations, Chicago Department of Public Health Comm. Allison Arwady said the city will “likely sometime next week” advise hospitals and other vaccine providers to start vaccinating selected “high-risk” patients over the age of 65 — but only if the hospitals have leftover doses that have gone unclaimed by health care workers, she said.

News in brief: Austin slapped with $145K ethics fine; Proposed legislation could target Trump Tower sign sign; Chicago’s travel order ‘simplified’ to two-tier system

‘Puppy mill’ ordinance stalls again, 6 months after committee passage; aldermen to grill health officials on vaccinations

An ordinance designed to crack down on commercial pet breeders will be put on hold for at least one more month, more than six months after the proposal failed to reach the finish line in the City Council. 

The council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations had been scheduled at 10 a.m. Wednesday to take up the ordinance (SO2020-2827) before holding a subject matter hearing to quiz city health officials about their efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. 

News in brief: @chicagosmayor, City Council rip @FOPChicago7 prez; Brookins to sue over ethics fine; @ChicagoDCASE sets announces $750K for ‘Artist Response Program’

Skeptical aldermen interrogate CPS, public health officials over reopening plan

On the same day the first wave of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students returned to in-person learning for the first time in more than 300 days, aldermen took turns posing searing questions  to  school district officials and the city’s Department of Public Health over their reopening plan. 

The City Council’s Committee on Education and Childhood Development’s subject matter hearing drew aldermen who were frustrated with CPS’ plan to reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic to question schools and health officials for more than seven hours Monday.