india daniels, documenters and jacqueline serrato

Public Meetings Report

ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD

May 24

The final redevelopment phase of the former Henry Horner Homes site on the West Side will receive up to $27 million from the City in multi-family revenue bonds. In the City Council Committee on Finance meeting, Chicago Department of Housing project manager Jim O’Connell said that this Plan for Transformation site was the first to be demolished. It will undergo complete redevelopment as Westhaven Park and is expected to create about one hundred units, approximately thirty percent of which would be public housing.

The third version of an ordinance to create a City-maintained police misconduct database remains in committee after discussion during a joint meeting of the City Council Committees on Finance and Public Safety devolved into confusion. It specifies that completed disciplinary investigations would be included in the database regardless of outcome. Also included would be records from the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs and oversight agencies created before the Civilian Office of Police Accountability was established in 2017. Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, whose office would maintain the database, wasn’t invited to the meeting, said Ald. Scott Waguespack, the chief architect of the ordinance.

Tree roots don’t disrupt sewer lines—that’s an urban myth worth dispelling, said Malcolm Whiteside Jr., who manages the Bureau of Forestry under the Department of Streets and Sanitation. Whiteside and other City employees spoke at the City Council Committee on Finance meeting in favor of creating an Urban Forestry Advisory Board comprising thirteen relevant officials to protect the City’s tree canopy.

During the Cook County Board of Commissioners Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee meeting, descendants of Black people enslaved by Native tribes who traveled the Trail of Tears called in from Oklahoma to delay the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Cook County. Black Freedmen drew attention to their fight for acceptance in Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole nations and demanded recognition. Many public commenters said replacing Columbus Day was anti-Italian but supported a separate day for Indigenous peoples. DePaul Professor John Burton pointed out Columbus was arrested when he returned to Spain due to his unjust treatment of Native Americans.

May 25

The Forum, the historic Bronzeville jazz venue near the 43rd Street Green Line stop, was rezoned from a residential multi-unit district to a community shopping district. Owner Bernard Loyd continues to work on needed building renovations and envisions ground floor retail space, with restaurants, a bookstore, art gallery, and music school. The zoning reclassification passed the vote of the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards and the full City Council this week.

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level for the June 10 issue.

BY INDIA DANIELS, DOCUMENTERS AND JACQUELINE SERRATO

May 26

An affordable housing development near a McKinley Park asphalt plant got the City Council votes needed for rezoning as a planned development and neighborhood mixed-use district, The new zoning paves the way for renovation into lofts and commercial space. Thirty-six Council members voted in favor and sixteen against after a motion to reconsider failed. Previously zoned light industrial use, the property contains two unused warehouses. Meanwhile, Council members deferred a vote on an ordinance to rename outer Lake Shore Drive after Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable for another month. Sponsoring Ald. David Moore retaliated by redirecting two dozen newly proposed ordinances to the Committee on Committees and Rules.

How to use surplus funds from the 53rd Street Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District—including supporting school improvements—was discussed at the HydePark Kenwood Community Action Council meeting. Ideas included a pedway connecting Canter Middle School to Kenwood Academy, lighting for the Nichols Park baseball field, and parking lot repairs at Reavis High School.

Jun 1

The city will excavate about 17,400 cubic yards of radioactive soil in Bronzeville, pack it in sealed bags, and ship it to a lab in Texas, officials said at a community meeting hosted by the 4th Ward Office and the Department of Assets, Information and Services. The site is near several senior housing apartments. From about 1915 to 1921, Carnotite Reduction Company’s elemental radium separation and refining facility operated at the north end of the former Michael Reese Hospital site. In 1979, state agencies determined that the contaminated soil was not a health threat but that dust raised during construction might be. Water misting will minimize spread of dust during the excavation, project representatives said, and because the level of radioactivity is not volatile, the work team will not install a circus tent over the site. City environmental engineer Abby Mazza added that weekly reports, daily data readings, and a live video feed will be posted publicly online.

The Illinois Senate voted to pass an amendment for HB 2908, which would create an elected and representative school board for Chicago. Co-sponsor Rep. Delia Ramírez said she intends to call the bill for a concurrence vote by the House when it reconvenes in the coming weeks. “I am disappointed that the timeline for implementation is not what the community has demanded,” she said. “However, this bill still gets us to a fully elected board.”

Jun 3

Homeowners who opt in to the Affordable Homeownership and Housing Pilot program will not necessarily receive lower property taxes, board members explained at the Chicago Community Land Trust meeting. This program benefit has been touted as a way to stabilize gentrifying neighborhoods. But staff and board member calculations show that houses with a market rate value of less than 120 percent of the area median income are less likely to see lower taxes. The board agreed to emphasize other benefits of the opt-in program, which include grants of up to $30,000 for building renovations. ¬

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