“(Mayor Brandon) Johnson’s solution is telling. Rather than address the underlying conditions, he is suggesting a solution that has failed historically — government-run stores. Indeed, the failure in dealing with crime and hostile business environments has allowed socialist activists to realize a major new socialist agenda item.”

Aldermen voted to use $1.5 million in tax increment financing to buy a 10.7-acre property along the North Branch of the Chicago RIver, from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Once the city makes repairs to the building’s heating and air conditioning systems, the city plans to house up to about 550 migrants there as soon as next month.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said the restaurant industry’s latest proposal to raise the minimum wages for tipped workers to $20.54 an hour at Chicago restaurants with more than $3 million in annual revenue is “dead on arrival.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lead a tour of New York City’s migrant shelters Friday for Chicago Reps Chuy Garcia, Delia Ramirez, Mike Quigley and other House members. Emergency tent shelters have been built across NYC, including at the parking lot of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital in Queens and a field in Randall’s Island.

The Chicago-based U.S. Soccer Federation is moving its headquarters to the Atlanta area, where it is going to build a training center, the organization said today. Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, who owns soccer team Atlanta United, is contributing $50 million to the effort, the federation said in a press release today. The press release is here.

Proposals that hit City Hall Thursday run the gamut from efforts to fund homeless prevention to increasing the minimum wage for tipped workers to a working group to explore the so-called Treatment Not Trauma mental health initiative. “It does feel like a really important moment and then at the same time, I am very aware of all the work that it is going to take not only to figure out how to build it, but also how to make sure that we’re convincing all of our colleagues that this is the route to take,” Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez said.

While Ald. Brendan Reilly and the city both noted that there are no street closures planned as of Thursday, outside of those slated for parade routes, some could be implemented should caravans arrive in the city.

Chicago property owners have started receiving postcards in the mail urging opposition to the proposed increase in the real estate transfer tax that would fund the city’s efforts against homelessness.

“However moronic she appears, Stacy Davis Gates and the Covid Democrat shut-down artists reveal much about themselves whenever they speak. They prevented most of us from attending school and church and synagogue during the pandemic to ‘protect’ us, even as they themselves went out and got their hair done (Lori Lightfoot, Nancy Pelosi); sent their kids to Florida to escape government shut-downs (Gov. JB Pritzker); or shut down schools and businesses while going maskless at Michelin restaurants like The French Laundry (California Gov. Gavin Newsom) and getting their hair done (Lightfoot, Pelosi) again. It’s always for thee but not for

“Something will happen, we all know that, because we don’t have a crystal ball,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, a staunch supporter. “We are dealing with humans and humans have a tendency to do human things, like mess up … It will not tell the true story of the literally 90% of those who go out and nothing happens.”

As of Sept. 10, robberies are up 24 percent citywide compared to the same point in 2022, and 45 percent compared to the same period in 2021, according to police data. “Look, I understand the concern, I do. It’s not lost on anyone that the rise in robberies has left a great deal of trepidation and anxiety,” the mayor said, offering few details on the overall crime plan.

Nonbinding referendums in February found widespread support for protections from gentrifcation among residents near the Obama Center, as well as for a plan to build affordable housing on the largest city-owned lot in Woodlawn. Thursday, two City Council members introduced a proposal to expand protections in place in Woodlawn to include South Shore, as well as $12 million set aside for grants and down-payment assistance, $20 million for home improvement grants, and $2.3 million for grants to pay off property tax debt incurred by long-term residents.

Developers of new high-rise or single-family homes are now required to provide the electrical equipment necessary to establish EV parking spots. Mayor Brandon Johnson applauded the move – calling it “another important step in ensuring that Chicagoans will have cleaner air to breathe.”

The city will use the Parthenon guest house near Jackson and Halsted as a temporary emergency shelter for asylum seekers. In a statement, Ald. Bill Conway described the city’s approach to the migrant crisis as “inefficient and unsustainable.”

Johnson’s administration late last month decided to end the city’s long legal fight to keep confidential a 2020 letter that laid out the accusations of misconduct against Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin by an attorney for two former treasurer employees whom Conyears-Ervin fired. Although the city’s Law Department settled the lawsuit, the allegations against Conyears-Ervin highlight weaknesses in the city’s internal system to mete out accountability.

Of the $33 million, $19.8 million is earmarked for the cost of food and $13.2 for the cost of shelter spaces, according to The Daily Line. The ordinance also included other federal and state funds for the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Police Department.

The forecast, the first for Johnson since he took office in May, projects an overall $538 million shortfall due to “rising personnel, pension, and contractual costs, as well as the cost to care for new migrants arriving to the city,” according to the shortfall report.

Muni market participants from investors to ratings agencies are watching closely to see how the new administration tackles the city’s biggest pressures, from underfunded pensions to crime, and whether Johnson will continue former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s path toward structural balance that was rewarded with a series of rating upgrades.