Public Meetings Report

ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD/SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

BY DOCUMENTERS AND SCOTT PEMBERTON

May 10

About sixty-five to seventy people attended the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability CPD Superintendent Public Forum #5 meeting, including several City Council members who commented on the selection of a new CPD superintendent. Public commenters, police officers, and news media were also present. Citing a goal of a “transparent, collaborative, [and] open” hiring process, the commission provided some information on current applicants. The total of fifty-three is about twice the number received the last time the superintendent’s position was open. The current applicants include eleven women, forty-two men, twenty-two Black people, twentyfour white people, and seven Latinx people. Fourteen have experience as police chiefs, and the applicants represent ten states, Washington, D.C., and one foreign country. The commission must present the mayor with three choices for the position by July 14. The mayor then has thirty days to select one of the finalists or ask for three new names.

May 12

The main topic considered by the Cook County Board of Commissioners Justice Advisory Council at its meeting was the actions and results of the county’s postincarceration re-entry program. The Justice Advisory Council (JAC) coordinates and implements criminal and juvenile justice reform efforts and community safety policy development, according to its website. The JAC has grown to seventeen members from five last year and hopes to reach the full participation of twenty-five, according to county official Avik Das. Service Coordinator Faith Hong reported that JAC “placed 2,000 people into housing, 1,500 males and ninety females” in 2021-2022 as well as “transgender-identifying participants.” Saint Leonard’s House provides interim housing and services for previously incarcerated individuals identifying as men re-entering communities from Illinois prisons, a representative reported. The program has beds for thirty-six individuals. Saint Leonard’s offers a holistic programming approach, in part because two-thirds of its employees have been incarcerated themselves. The organization, under the name Saint Leonard's Ministries, provides services for men and women.

At its first meeting the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability Police District 19 Town Hall focused on ways to connect and communicate effectively with the district police and with organizations that can impact community safety. “The more of us having conversations with them [police] the better,” said one council member. Suggestions for learning about the community’s policing issues included ride-a-longs with patrol officers and with a “crisis assistance response and engagement,” or CARE, team.

Launched in September 2021, CARE teams have various configurations—for example, a multidisciplinary team includes a paramedic, mental health clinical professional and a police officer trained in de-escalating mental health crises. The CARE program is designed to “ensure that individuals experiencing a mental health crisis are assisted by teams of behavioral health professionals, with resources to address their unmet health and social needs,” according to the City’s CARE web page.

May 16

At a meeting of the Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, CEO Tracey Scott reported that 1,650 mixed-income units are under construction by the CHA and its partners. Five hundred households are on a waitlist for those units out of a total of 44,000 families. In 2021, the City reported a shortage of 120,000 units. Public commenters complained of quality issues. One resident described CHA work as “inadequate,” amounting to “senior abuse,” and suggested that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development investigate. Another commenter noted a lack of security in some senior buildings that allowed drug dealing and the use of laundry equipment by non-residents in unsecured buildings. The board authorized $28 million for “integrated pest management” services at the discretion of the CEO.

May 18

At its meeting, the Chicago Police Board heard a report from Damon Smith, deputy director of Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, who oversees the newly elected police district councils for the commission. He described the nature, purpose, and structure of the councils. The CPD will ensure that district commanders or other police leaders in each district will attend council meetings. Council members, who number sixty-six with three for each of the CPD’s twenty-two districts, received three days of training on current police and accountability structures. The members are charged, in part, with implementing restorative justice practices and identifying other potential changes to local policing. They are elected every four years.

May 22

At the first regular meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability 18th Police District Council—Near North, Council Chair Brad Kessler reported that sixty-seven migrants had been housed in the police district’s station to date. Currently, twenty-one adults and nine children, mostly Venezuelans and Colombians who arrived from Texas, are at the station, which has one bathroom and no showers. The council has organized restaurants and volunteers to provide lunches and dinners each day. Migrants generally move to shelters or respite centers within three weeks. Members heard several public commenters, some representing organizations and others speaking for themselves. Topics included encouraging police to hold bar and restaurant owners accountable for public disturbances related to their businesses, protecting school personnel and students from gun violence, and controlling crimes and gatherings prompted through social media with gang members coming from other areas. Council members also elected officers, outlined police council responsibilities, and designated the fourth Tuesday of each month as their regular meeting date. Newly instituted this year, the twenty-two councils represent each of Chicago’s police districts; each council’s three members are elected every four years.

This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.