It may have been bitter cold outside, but the tension was boiling last night at a Galewood community meeting over plans for a fifth pawn shop along a half-mile stretch of North Avenue near the Oak Park border. Progress Illinois was there and has more on the community debate over the controversial shop.
Ald. Danny Solis (25th), head of the city council's Zoning Committee, says he plans to start enforcing the new city ward map, which is bad news for many aldermen who say the map does not fulfill the wishes of voters.
On Thursday, the Chicago City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that will make the city a national leader in the protection of employee wages. Employers in the city will be held accountable if found guilty of wage theft, thanks to the new ordinance, and could have their business licenses revoked, making the city one of only two municipalities in the nation that has such a law on its books. San Francisco is the only other American city to have similar wage theft safeguards.
“This ordinance helps change the conversation about good business. To be pro-business also includes caring about how employees are treated,” said Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th), who worked with Arise Chicago to get the ordinance passed. “I think this marks an important step in leveling the playing field for the many ethical business owners in our city."
Consumers in five Chicago Wards will be seeing new bags to carry their purchases, though they may not notice the difference unless it’s pointed out to them.
It’s all part of a larger effort to ban plastic bags at large retailers in Chicago. The proposed ordinance, introduced by Ald. Proco “Joe’’ Moreno (1st), would encourage people to bring reusable bags to the store and charge a nickel for paper or so-called plastic alternative bags at retailers of 5,000 square feet or more.
Cheers resonated throughout Chicago’s North Side yesterday as hundreds of thousands
of people gathered to celebrate diversity and call for equal rights for
the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LBGT) community at the
43rd Annual Chicago Pride Parade. Progress Illinois was there for the festivities, along with several of the couples fighting for marriage equality in the Land of Lincoln.
Chicago's Environmental Law and Policy Center projects that after years of protests, "hearings," and damning scientific studies, there are finally enough votes in Chicago's City Council to pass the Clean Power Ordinance. The bill would require the Crawford and Fisk coal-fired power plants in the city's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods, respectively, to undergo major
modifications to upgrade their pollution controls. Emissions from the two plants cause 41 premature deaths and 550 emergency room
visits annually for ailments like asthma, heart disease, and cancer.
After supporting their opponents in the first round of voting, the SEIU State Council, which sponsors this site, announced it will endorse Ald. Daniel Solis (25th Ward) and John Arena, who is running in the 45th Ward, in the run-off election.
Ald. Daniel Solis (25th Ward), a longtime opponent of the Clean Power Ordinance, legislation that seeks to force two Southwest Side coal-fired power plants to curb their emissions, now says he will support the measure if re-elected to City Council. Solis faces Cuahutemoc Morfin, who has repeatedly criticized Solis for his failure to get behind the bill, in the 25th Ward run-off election.
In an interview with the Chicago News Cooperative, Solis said (subscription required) he would introduce the measure in the new council. He decided to switch his position after a meeting with SEIU, the News Cooperative reports, which backed one of Solis' opponents in the first round of voting in February and sent out mailings blasting him for failing to support the measure (the SEIU State Council sponsors this website). Solis previously called the Clean Power Ordinance "redundant" and argued coal plant emissions was an issue that should be left to the federal government. Morfin points to the $50,000 in campaign donations Solis received from Midwest Generation, which operates the Fisk coal-fired plant, which is in Solis' ward.
Solis has been a target of environmentalists, who see him as an important symbolic roadblock to the ordinance's chances of passage. The day before the February 22 election, the Chicago Tribunereported that Midwest Generation was taking as much time as possible before fixing the pollution, which stood in contrast to the company's past comments that their plants' environmental hazards were a top priority. The Tribune report added that the plants are the area's "biggest sources of smog- and soot-forming sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxides" and are "some of the top sources of toxic mercury that
contaminates fish in the Great Lakes and other waterways."
On Thursday, the Chicago City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that will make the city a national leader in the protection of employee wages. Employers in the city will be held accountable if found guilty of wage theft, thanks to the new ordinance, and could have their business licenses revoked, making the city one of only two municipalities in the nation that has such a law on its books. San Francisco is the only other American city to have similar wage theft safeguards.
Consumers in five Chicago Wards will be seeing new bags to carry their purchases, though they may not notice the difference unless it’s pointed out to them.
Chicago's Environmental Law and Policy Center projects that after years of protests, "
Ald. Daniel Solis (25th Ward), a longtime opponent of the Clean Power Ordinance, legislation that seeks to force two Southwest Side coal-fired power plants to curb their emissions, now says he will support the measure if re-elected to City Council. Solis faces Cuahutemoc Morfin, who has repeatedly criticized Solis for his failure to get behind the bill, in the 25th Ward run-off election.