documenters, scott pemberton, india daniels, rocio villaseñor

ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD

The City Council approved a new contract for Chicago police that includes retroactive pay and an immediate 10.5 percent pay raise to cover the four years the police worked without a contract. Mayor Lori Lightfoot recognized Hispanic Heritage Month and essential workers at the meeting. The council passed a resolution honoring Jesus ‘Chuy’ Negrete, a Chicano “corrido” singer who recently passed away. Sarah Brune, Neighborhood Housing Services director, advocated for the Lending Equity ordinance, which passed. Brune said the rate of Black homeownership is thirty percent lower than the rate of white homeownership, and noted that hasn’t changed since the 1960s. The Committee on Health and Human Relations endorsed the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act currently in the U.S. Senate.

A residential and business development proposal was approved for the West Loop at the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) Plan Commission meeting. The proposed twenty-nine-story development would have 282 residential units and eighty-nine parking spaces. It would be located at 160 N. Morgan St., near the Morgan Green Line station. The developer, Sterling Bay, would provide only twenty-eight affordable units, and pay $5.3 million in affordable housing fees and $2 million into the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. This development proposal is the first in which the new affordable requirements ordinance (ARO) is “playing out,” said Department of Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara. The proposal moved to the Committee on Zoning.

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) has downsized its footprint in its headquarters building, now occupies only floors seven through twelve, and intends to sublease the other floors, said Chief Operating Officer James Bebley at the CHA Board of Commissioners meeting. Other 2022 projections include the delivery of 282 new housing units, the conversion of 1,100 public housing units to Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) project-based vouchers, and $120.4 million toward planned capital expenditures. Due to the pandemic, there was only one in-person public comment event, but three virtual events. Commissioner Francine Washington noted that there is very little to any resident representation on the boards of associations for CHA’s mixed-income developments: “We can’t have folks make decisions for us without us. We are getting the short end of the stick…cut us in or cut us out.”

Commissioner Chris Brown said at the Chicago Public Library Board meeting that fifty-five percent of library branches now offer Sunday hours, with the goal to have all branches open on Sundays by the end of the year. Over the summer, CPL staff was given a virtual tour of the library branch and the entire Obama Presidential Center (OPC), according to Commissioner Chris Brown. The next step is to work with OPC staff to plan an operational programming menu to inform the design of the library branch. Public commenters commended the staff and technological facilities at the Harold Washington Branch, which just had its 30th anniversary, for its ease of access for the visually impaired.

BY DOCUMENTERS, SCOTT PEMBERTON, INDIA DANIELS, AND ROCIO VILLASEÑOR

Only two members out of nine were present during the Commission on Chicago Landmarks Program Committee meeting. Nonetheless, all three nominees for designation on the National Register of Historic Places were moved forward to the full committee by members Suellen Burns and the Rev. Richard Tolliver. The nominees were the Altgeld Gardens-Phillip Murray Homes Historic District, the Ramova Theater, and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s house. Twenty new public nominations were introduced and included churches, banks, parks, school buildings, gardens, and homes as well as the former residence of Donda and Kanye West. If the James R. Thompson Center nomination is approved, it would be the first postmodern building in Illinois to be listed in the National Register.

At its monthly meeting, the Chicago Police Board unanimously voted to suspend Detective Jason Villareal for 180 days on charges of misconduct that were filed by First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter. Superintendent David Brown recommended Villareal be discharged, but revoked that recommendation after the parties agreed to settle. Carter also reported on homicide clearances, which are at forty-five percent for the year to date. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) arrested 1,007 people on carjacking-related offenses this year. Carter explained that the vehicular hijacking task force has doubled in size to eighty officers and reported that 9,093 firearms were recovered.

The City’s 911 call center is experiencing high employee turnover and is seeking to fill eighty-two vacancies, Richard Guidice, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, reported at the City Council Committee on Budget and Operations Hearings. Guidice added that the co-responder pilot program began on September 30 in a North Side police district and, when operational, will send a crisis intervention team (CIT) to respond in some situations. CITs are to include a mental health professional, an emergency medical technician, and CIT-trained police officers. No CITs had responded to calls at the time of the hearing. The Department of Water Management is planning an 8.3-mile tunnel to reduce flooding and sewer issues on the Southwest Side, according to Andrea Cheng, the department’s commissioner.

The average person will no longer be able to tune in to police scanners. The Chicago Police Department expects to begin encrypting its radio feeds to prevent interruptions by the end of the year, Superintendent Brown told council members at the City Council Committee on Budget and Operations Hearings. During the ten-hour hearing on the proposed $1.89 billion CPD budget, council members questioned Brown on topics ranging from carjackings and illegal firearm possession to recruitment of new officers and potential use of drones. About 150 written comments, many challenging the ShotSpotter contract, were submitted by members of the public. The president of the Chicago Police Board, Ghian Foreman, said that the board is “more than willing” to pass some of its responsibilities on to the newly created Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, which is scheduled to be set up in 2022.

This information was collected in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.