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Chicago City Council
Quick Hit
by Angela Caputo
12:33pm
Tue Mar 16, 2010

Daley's Failing Grades

Over the past year, Mayor Daley managed to ram through an ill-conceived parking meter lease, hand millions in tax increment financing money over to deep-pocketed corporations, and charter out more local schools to private operators despite no clear evidence that they provide a better education. So it's no surprise that a coalition of civic groups -- organized under the Developing Government Accountability to the People (DGAP) project -- has given the mayor a failing grade for his job performance over the past year. Here are the toplines from their annual scorecard:

Criminal justice (D); economic development (D); education (D+); environment (B); ethics and corruption (D+); housing (F); and transportation (D).

“Despite all of its efforts to beautify and modernize the city through environmentally sound technologies," concludes DGAP director Michaela Purdue of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, "local government does not adequately and equitably serve all of its communities, particularly those most deeply and often most negatively impacted by key, issue-based policies.”  Sounds a lot like Amy Dean's appraisal last October.

You can read DGAP's recommendations for boosting those scores here.

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
11:42am
Tue Mar 16, 2010
4 comments

As Foreclosures Spread, Bankers Say: "We're Doing Our Best"

Housing

Ald. Ray Suarez (31st Ward) and State Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) called a joint meeting in Chicago on Monday to pressure the banks to do a better job maintaining foreclosed properties and to speed up the unduly slow modification process to keep more people in their homes.

Quick Hit
by Adam Doster
1:52pm
Mon Mar 15, 2010

A Baby Step In The Right Direction

Chicago city government is finally moving out of the technological stone age. Two years ago, the City Council gave City Clerk Miguel del Valle permission to stream full council meetings live on the city's website. Now, his office is archiving full videos of the proceedings online.

That's a basic, yet valuable, step towards increasing transparency at City Hall. "It’s important as citizens that we hold them accountable," Dick Simpson told the Tribune, "and we’re able to see exactly what they do, how they do it and whether they are truly representing us.”  The next step, according to Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association, would be to broadcast the meetings live on television.

Quick Hit
by Angela Caputo
11:51am
Fri Mar 12, 2010

Privatizer Beware

Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th Ward) is one of five aldermen who, in late 2008, voted against Mayor Daley's plan to lease the city's parking meter system to a private company for 75 years.  This week, she took her show on the road, flying to Pittsburgh (on her own dime) to warn her Steel City peers against making a snap decision on a similar privatization deal.  Hairston warned the council members that they won't escape public outrage once private operators jack up parking rates, telling them: "You are the ones whose feet are held to the fire."

Apparently, Morgan Stanley -- the lead investor in the Chicago meter deal -- is trying to convince Pittsburgh officials that an independent, outside evaluation of leasing parking garages, and possibly meters, would scare off investors. Unlike Chicago's sheepish council, they're not buying it though. For that, Hairston praised them: "You all should be complimented for having the guts — and I do mean the guts — to take this on and to challenge it and to question it." (H/T The Expired Meter)

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
12:39pm
Thu Mar 11, 2010
1 comment

Immigrant Youth To Durbin: "Take The Lead" (VIDEO)

Immigration Reform

Illinois' immigrant rights activists are keeping the pressure on Congress and the White House to quickly take up comprehensive reforms, and it appears that they're making inroads.

Quick Hit
by Angela Caputo
1:47pm
Wed Mar 10, 2010
17 comments

"We Won't Be Denied" (UPDATED)

Turns out Chicago Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th Ward) will carry the torch on creating a living-wage law that would require stores with 50 or more employees to pay those workers $11.03 an hour if they benefit from tax increment financing (TIF) or other public subsidies. When Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) first floated the legislation (in response to opposition over Wal-Mart's proposed expansion), we noted how it represented a new twist on TIF reform. To her credit, Lyle is expanding the population who would benefit from the higher wages even further. In an ordinance introduced today, she proposes that those providing contracted services -- like cleaning or landscaping -- benefit from the living wage law as well.  The bill is headed to the Burke's Finance Committee next. (See update below.)

"We've come too far to go back now," said Rev. Booker Vance of the Good Jobs Chicago Coalition  at a City Hall press conference today. "We won't be denied." Watch:

UPDATE (4:18 pm): According to folks with the Good Jobs Chicago Coalition, Ald. Lyle did not introduce the living wage bill today. There seems to have been some miscommuncation between the alderman and the organizers. We will provide further detail when it becomes available.

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
4:23pm
Mon Mar 8, 2010

Bringing TIF Back To Its Roots (VIDEO)

Tax Increment Financing

On Wednesday, Chicago Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward) and a handful of co-sponsors will introduce an ordinance that would require the city to set aside 20 percent of all new tax increment financing (TIF) revenue to jumpstart affordable housing projects. We look at how such an investment would buoy the city's housing market and create jobs.