Progress Illinois

Since the summer, Communities for an Equitable Olympics 2016 (CEO 2016), a coalition of a dozen community and labor organizations from Chicago’s South and West Sides, has been pressing for a living wage and affordable housing agreement as part of the city’s Olympic bid -- so far to no avail. Today the group held a press conference in front of Mayor Daley’s City Hall office to once again to try to bring his attention to this issue. Not surprisingly, Daley didn’t emerge. But that doesn’t mean CEO 2016 is going away, according to organizer Amisha Patel.

“We expect real engagement around this or else the city’s all talk,” Patel told us. “We know this is a long-term fight.”

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Earlier this month, we noted that the financial situation for many nonprofits has grown so dire that even homeless shelters and food pantries are beginning to turn folks away.

Unfortunately, no government intervention plan has surfaced yet. But yesterday the Chicago Community Trust (CCT) launched The Unity Challenge, a fundraising program that could fill $3 million worth of budget gaps this year for agencies addressing issues of homelessness, hunger, foreclosure, unemployment, or domestic violence. 

For every dollar raised, CCT is offering to donate an additional two. While the fundraising has already begun online, the distribution of the money won't begin until early February.

Aside from bringing critical direct relief, CCT’s Jim Lewis tells us that the Trust is also releasing its vital signs reports in conjunction with the campaign. The hope is that by documenting the human toll of the economic crisis, public officials will recognize the urgency of crafting some sort of emergency plan.

“We’re definitely leveraging our resources and connections to provide more emergency services,” Lewis said of the foundation’s well-connected staff and board. “The lines at the food pantries are only growing longer and more people continue to lose their jobs and their homes”

In the meantime, the foundation’s forthcoming grants -- coupled with the state's newly-approved short-term borrowing plan -- should give agencies a much needed shot in the arm.

Yesterday, members of the Chicago City Council made a snap decision to lease off the city’s 36,000 parking meters in exchange for $1.2 billion, marking the fourth time a major public asset has been handed over to private interests in just three years.

Only time will tell if the move was a smart one. It seems the scenario will play out in one of two ways; either the Daley administration will go down in history as the team that was finally able to cut otherwise politically untenable deals and net $5.5 billion on infrastructure -- from parking meters and Midway Airport to the Skyway and downtown parking garages -- or future Chicago officials will be left to grapple with the question, “What happened to all of the city’s revenue?”

We asked Professor Michael Pagano, a public finance and policy expert at the University of Illinois, Chicago, which scenario he thinks is most likely to play out. His conclusion: It depends on what the city actually does with the windfalls.

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Painting themselves as David taking on Goliath, a group of citizen activists from Chicago’s North Side have filed a legal challenge against the city for what they see as another abusive use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

According to the suit, which was filed in Cook County Circuit Court Wednesday, the plaintiffs from Fix Wilson Yard coalition alleged that the city signed off on multi-million dollar project overruns at the Wilson Yard site without following through on the oversight required under state law.

The plaintiffs also argue that city officials, including Ald. Helen Shiller (46th), have been nothing short of sneaky in rolling out the $151 million redevelopment plan. They point to a rushed October decision that handed a golden parachute to developer Peter Holsten as evidence.

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Just months after rolling out an ambitious plan to cut the city's carbon emissions by 25 percent over the next decade, Chicago officials took a long stride toward meeting that goal by adopting stricter building codes yesterday.

Considering that buildings -- and the energy it takes to heat, cool, and illuminate them -- make up for 70 percent of all of the city's greenhouse gas emissions, the new energy efficiency guidelines seem like a logical start.

To keep pace with the "Chicago Climate Action Plan," aldermen agreed to set the bar high. And the result was the adoption of even more stringent guidelines than those set out in the International Energy Conservation Code, a roadmap to building energy sustainability adopted statewide in 2006.

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News that former police commander Jon Burge was arrested yesterday -- three decades after allegations were first raised that his Chicago police detectives tortured murder suspects -- led to some interesting reactions. The first came from Mayor Richard Daley, who at the time Burge was accused, served as Cook County state’s attorney. Two years ago, Daley offered to “apologize to anyone” for the torture.  Yesterday, he changed his tune:

“I was very proud of my role as prosecutor. I was not the mayor. I was not the police chief. I did not promote this man in the ’80’s,” Daley said Tuesday.

“Brzeczek ran against me in ’84. He was the head of the Police Department….The Police Department cleared him and they promoted him in the `80’s. I was not the mayor then.”

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After almost two decades, and albeit in a roundabout way, justice may finally be served. The Tribune is reporting that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald had retired Chicago police commander Jon Burge arrested this morning near his Tampa, Florida home.

The official charge is purgery, not torture. Although a 2006 special prosecutor's probe concluded that dozens of suspects had been tortured by Chicago police under Burge's watch, the statute of limitations had expired on those specific charges, resulting in zero legal repercussions for him or his officers. However, Fitzgerald has now charged Burge with lying during a November 2003 civil suit by providing false written answers to questions on his reign of torture.

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Forget the one-size-fits-all approach. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials have announced they're preparing to open a whole new slate of niche schools next year under the reform initiative Renaissance 2010.

Most will aim to prepare students, particularly high schoolers, for specific industries and trades -- from hospitality to technology to health sciences. Others, like the "gay-friendly" Pride Campus, hope to create an environment where students can learn at ease.

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In response to the news that Mayor Daley's layoffs would largely affect workers in two departments -- Police and Streets and Sanitation -- Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon hit back hard over the weekend. Speaking to the Sun-Times, he offered a litany of ideas for how Daley could make up the $425 million shortfall without laying off any city workers, including raiding the mayor's beloved Tax Increment Financing (TIF) accounts:

Gannon suggested that Daley could wipe out the entire $420 million shortfall without any layoffs. His recipe would call for: raising taxes and fees, possibly including the Laborers Union's proposal for a $10 monthly garbage-collection fee; raiding the $500 million Chicago Skyway fund; sweeping money out of scores of tax-increment-financing districts; reducing consulting fees, and having city employees perform services that have been privatized by the city.

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