“Chicago is a city in sharp decline, albeit not necessarily an irreversible one. Still, when looking at contemporary Chicago, it would be wise for lawmakers in the Windy City to consider the fate of Detroit to fully understand how incompetent lawmakers in the Motor City mishandled the situation and led that city into receivership.”

He offered few details on the future effort, but he said more will be shared this spring, and 40 partners would be involved. The committee “will provide business leaders, organizations and key stakeholders with a direct line of communication with my office and all of the city’s departments,” Johnson said. The partners will be “experts at finding existing ideas, as well as new ideas, to improve downtown business so that it really can become even more vibrant.”

In a joint letter sent Tuesday, the Civic Federation, the Better Government Association and the League of Women Voters of Chicago urged Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago’s City Council to improve transparency and public access to information regarding legislation being considered by the council. Read the full letter here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent decision to investigate a contaminated Southwest Side waterway off the canal persuaded garbage hauler LRS to scrap its “sustainable barging” idea that would have loaded garbage from a point along the canal and shiped it more than 100 miles to Henry, saving money and reducing the amount of diesel pollution from trucks that normally haul garbage.

“The CTU’s role in demonizing police undermines the trust needed between police and the community to ensure public safety. That lack of trust has contributed to the abysmal arrest rates.”

The leaders of the Better Government Association, the Civic Federation and the League of Women Voters of Chicago called for more transparency and better public access in the body in a letter Thursday to Johnson and council Rules Committee chair Ald. Michelle Harris. The groups criticized current City Hall leaders for circumventing rules designed to publicize what aldermen are considering and chipping away at public access to meetings.

The hearing, which lasted less than 15 minutes, was the first time Austin has appeared in a federal courtroom since her indictment more than two and a half years ago on charges she took bribes from a developer and lied to FBI agents. Austin earns pension payments of more than $9,500 per month, according to records from the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago.

State Street has a record level of retail and commercial vacancies, around 30%, in 2024. Local leaders said that’s a 12% increase in empty storefronts from last year.

CTU’s foundation is listed as the owner of a West Side property worth $6.6 million, making the teachers union an example of its own distortion. The building is the Chicago Teachers Union Center, with the union’s headquarters, its foundation and leased space in a former valve factory. Under Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan, purchasing CTU’s property would cost an extra $120,102.

Nearly 11 months after he was elected, Mayor Brandon Johnson is still assembling his cabinet. He’s made sudden dismissals that have left departments destabilized, as well as some controversial appointments. Among them, Johnson appointed Alfonzo “Randy” Conner to return to the top job at the Water Department, where he’ll oversee at least $336 million to address lead in Chicago’s water. But in 2018, during his last stint as water commissioner, Conner said Chicago did not have a lead problem, and he actively lobbied to stop Ald. Scott Waguespack from launching public hearings on the matter.

A similar question was narrowly defeated a year ago. Before that election, 11 area mayors and other elected officials circulated a letter in opposition to the new tax, saying property owners were already overtaxed and agencies other than the township were better suited to provide mental health services.

Jim Dey: “Commenters over Zoom made anti-Semitic statements, while a young man sporting sunglasses and a baseball cap bearing the logo of an organization characterized as a ‘hate’ group by the Anti-Defamation League spoke (anti-Semitic comments) in person…The confrontation set off a discussion about what public bodies can and ought to do under similar circumstances. It’s complicated because efforts by some to limit what others can say raise First Amendment free-speech issues.”

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said development is the best way to increase collection percent, and that state legislators could do more to bring additional investment to the south suburbs. “The problem right now is all the dollars are going to migrants,” she said. “All the extra money, it’s going to this migrant situation which is what’s causing a lot of controversy between African Americans and Latinos. African Americans are saying ‘where’s my end?’”

The changes also come as Chicago Public Media, which owns both WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, is undergoing leadership changes. The company is currently searching for a new CEO after Matt Moog, the current CEO of Chicago Public Media, announced in December he’d be stepping down. Shortly after Moog’s announcement, two more executives departed from the organization.

“Nobody knows right now how the ShotSpotter issue will be resolved, but given the principles of both inertia and fantasy-lawmaking which govern Chicago’s politics, the safe guess is that the city will find a way to avoid suddenly switching the program off unceremoniously.”