Public Meetings Report

representing several of the nine infrastructure programs in the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) initiative review their annual and five-year plans. The $12.8 billion program is “dedicated to building a world-class city,” according to the CIP website. Presenters reported on progress in programs covering aviation, water management, assets and information services, and transportation. Other areas include city space, economic development, lakefront-shoreline, municipal facilities, and neighborhood infrastructure.

The Community Development Commission approved four property purchases or negotiations by the Chicago Department of Planning and Development (CPD) at its meeting. The commission approved $4 million in City tax increment financing (TIF) funds for the United Yards mixed-use project at the old Goldblatt’s property on 47th Street and Ashland Avenue. It also approved the purchase of about 1.6 acres of land adjacent to the 18th & Peoria Development Framework parcel sites, which have long been slated for mixed-use affordable development. The approval to acquire three sites in the Madison/Austin Corridor TIF redevelopment area made use of a novel approach in which the City proposes a use for an area—in this case, a new grocery store within a mixed-use development–and then seeks developers. The traditional approach is to wait for proposals from developers.

BY DOCUMENTERS AND SCOTT PEMBERTON

January 6

At its meeting, the City Council Committee on Workforce Development heard conflicting views on a proposed ordinance about licensing crane operators. The ordinance would require operators using hoisting machinery with a 1,000 pound weight capacity or higher to be licensed and to be covered by commercial general liability insurance. The current law, which aligns with federal labor standards, sets the capacity at 2,000 pounds. One concern was that, if passed, the new ordinance could affect forklift operators at retail stores. Another was that the change should have been handled by the Chicago Building Trades, a group of local construction unions, not the City Council.

January 10

At its meeting, the City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate received the first results from ChiBlockBuilder, a new program and web portal launched in November to facilitate the sale of roughly 2,000 City-owned vacant lots. So far, the portal has received 325 applications, reported Maggie Cassidy, program director at the Department of Planning and Development (DPD). The primary goal, notes the program’s website, is to “encourage the purchase and redevelopment of City-owned vacant land in partnership with community stakeholders.” Cassidy said that about half of the applicants want to buy a vacant lot to use as a side yard or open space. The remaining applications were either for commercial use or market-rate or affordable housing. Kathy Dickhut, deputy commissioner of DPD emphasized that increasing the city’s housing stock is an important goal. Committee members Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) and Roberto Maldonado (26th Ward) expressed concern that land-use applications from outside developers might be chosen over those of local residents.

During its meeting, the City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development approved tax incentives for the Tierra Hermosa waste recycling center transfer station site in Brighton Park to make further development possible. In 2021, the City issued a $10.8 million building permit to Flood Brothers, a disposal and recycling services firm, to begin development by building a one-story recyclable material transfer in the area. The committee also heard City departments

January 13

Two public commenters at a joint meeting of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Committee on Finance, Audit & Budget and Board focused in detail on inconsistent CTA service, including “ghost” buses and trains that are scheduled on the CTA’s tracker app but don’t arrive. The commenters acknowledged CTA staffing shortages but emphasized that commuters and others are willing to, and even want to, take public transportation, in part because of anticipated convenience and of heightened concerns about climate change. In other words, the market is there but the CTA is not serving it well. The CTA reported that it is attempting to resolve staff shortages with job fairs and other initiatives. A pilot program with Amazon to install lockers for pickup and delivery of packages at CTA stations is continuing with adjustments documented in the form of “amendments” to a developing contract. There have been no security issues to date. Jeremy Fine, the CTA’s chief financial officer, reported that figures for November 2022 were about $12.4 million better than both the amended budget and amended budget basis. In an eighteen-minute closed-door session, the Committee approved a negotiated CTA settlement of $20 million to resolve a lawsuit brought by a pedestrian struck by a CTA bus at Fairbanks and Ontario in September 2019.

The City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations approved a request from Latoya Vaughn, the City’s deputy budget director, at its meeting. The request was for $61,000 from a federal government grant for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to support four programs related to, in effect, drunk driving. The request covers overtime to conduct twenty-four hours of sessions of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) standard field sobriety courses; sixteen hours of sessions of the advanced roadside impaired-driving enforcement course and twelve eight-hour sessions of the NHTSA’s standard field sobriety testing course refresher; continuing training for CPD Academy instructors on impaired driving enforcement; purchase of the Safety Administration standard field sobriety testing, training equipment, and supplies. The grant is administered by local authorities. The impaired driving training program is anticipated to serve roughly twenty to twentyfour participants per class, and reach more than four hundred CPD officers total. The approval of requested funds was passed by the Committee with no further discussion.

South Side Weekly

The South Side Weekly is an independent non-profit newspaper by and for the South Side of Chicago. We provide high-quality, critical arts and public interest coverage, and equip and develop journalists, artists, photographers, and mediamakers of all backgrounds.

Volume 10, Issue 9

Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato

Managing Editor Adam Przybyl

Senior Editors Martha Bayne

Christopher Good Olivia Stovicek

Sam Stecklow

Immigration Editor Alma Campos

Community Builder Chima Ikoro

Contributing Editors Jocelyn Vega

Francisco Ramírez Pinedo

Scott Pemberton

Visuals Editor Bridget Killian

Deputy Visuals Editor Shane Tolentino

Staff Illustrators Mell Montezuma

Shane Tolentino