DEVELOPMENT Full-time warehouse workers at the distribution center will be eligible to receive a starting wage of $18.00 per hour, while overnight shifts start at $19.50, according to Target’s employment application portal. Employees are eligible for 401(k) options after completing 1,000 hours of work. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for employment, as applicants must provide proof of legal eligibility to work. Irma Morales, president and cofounder of Únete La Villita, said that Únete and other community organizations will continue to assemble protests in opposition of the Target distribution facility. LVEJO and other community organizations plan to tally the number of diesel trucks at high-volume intersections near the distribution center with the hope of “trying to figure out ways to also work with those truck drivers” to prevent them from traveling through residential streets, said Tovar. “The facility was designed for sustainability and safety—which will be the largest LEED-certified building in the state,” Target said. “The development included major improvements to the surrounding area, including native landscaping, modified intersections and redesigned street routes to limit traffic in the neighborhood.”
Other activist demands include that solar panels be installed atop the distribution center to power residential homes in the area, air filters to be distributed to residences near the warehouse, and that Target commit to electrifying their truck fleet within the first year of operation in La Villita. Target and Hilco are here to stay for now. But, a question still hangs in the balance: Will all of the jobs Target promised to offer to the community be provided to local residents? “There's no guarantee that's going to happen,” Garibay said. “We are also here to remind Little Village residents and folks... that this campaign is not over, that just because they are doing their ribbon-cutting ceremony doesn’t mean our campaign ends here,” said Tovar. “We are here telling Target to end their lease with Hilco Redevelopment Partners.” Wasserman also has a clear message for future employees in the distribution center: “If you want to unionize, let us know. We will support you. We will bring resources to support you.” ¬ Peter Winslow is a freelance journalist and investigative journalism student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He last wrote about the uptick in street overdoses in late 2020 for the Weekly
PHOTO BY PETER WINSLOW
18 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
¬ AUGUST 19, 2021
ART BY ZAHID KHALIL
Out of Control
Last year Superintendent David Brown ordered deputy chiefs to approve all overtime. Internal records don’t show that it’s happening. BY JIM DALEY AND KIRAN MISRA
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hortly after taking command of the Chicago Police Department in April 2020, Superintendent David Brown moved to curtail overtime spending by issuing an order requiring supervisors who are ranked deputy chief or higher to approve all overtime requests. More than a year later, it’s unclear whether that order had any effect. Records obtained by the Weekly appear to indicate the vast majority of overtime clocked by officers since Brown issued the directive has been approved by lower-ranking officers such as lieutenants and sergeants, who seem to still be primarily responsible for managing its oversight. The department claims that is simply because lower-ranking supervisors are entering the data, and insists all overtime is being authorized by deputy chiefs and above. The directive—one of Brown’s first as superintendent—followed a similar one issued in late 2019 by thenInterim Superintendent Charlie Beck that elevated overtime supervision to district commanders, rather than leaving it in the hands of lieutenants and
sergeants. Making district- and arealevel supervisors such as commanders (as Beck did) and deputy chiefs (per Brown’s order) responsible for approving overtime apparently had little effect on spending. Overtime expenditures rose steadily each year from around $45 million at the start of the decade until 2017, when the department spent $161 million on it. That year, the City’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audited the department’s use of overtime, and found CPD lacked “basic operational controls” for spending. Following the audit, overtime spending fell to $122.5 million in 2018, but rose again the following year. In 2020, CPD broke department records by spending more than $177 million on overtime. Last week, City Budget Director Susie Park told the Sun-Times she anticipates spending at least $150 million on it this year. At a press conference last year, Brown shrugged off the Weekly’s question about overtime supervision. “Nothing to see here. We are good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars and we don’t apologize for that,” he said. “We wanted to ensure
