This week was a busy one in City Council! See below for a round-up on City Council, including the final passage of the Western Avenue Rezone, our hearing on the Extreme Weather Response, a call for a hearing on the Chicago School Board, and more.
Call for a Hearing on the Chicago School Board
This past Friday, all seven sitting members of the Chicago School Board resigned. I am deeply concerned about these resignations, and many neighbors have reached out to me to express their concern as well. I joined 40 other alders in calling for a hearing to address the resignations. While we originally planned to hold the hearing after Wednesday’s City Council meeting, the administration agreed to a hearing at the Committee on Education, which has been scheduled for October 16th. I look forward to continuing to press for answers and accountability at that meeting, and will continue to keep neighbors informed! In the meantime, you can find the letter posted in full below.
“This past Friday, all seven sitting members of the Chicago School Board resigned. These vacancies, which will now be replaced with direct appointments from the Mayor, will be tasked with overseeing the CPS budget, CEO Martinez’s employment, and the ongoing negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union. This is unprecedented and brings further instability to our school district.
Taking out a $300 million, high-interest payday loan is not a smart decision when CPS is already facing a massive deficit and the city an almost $1 billion deficit. With federal Covid-relief funds having recently expired for CPS, it is critical that CPS leaders keep the interests of taxpayers and our children top of mind as they make budget decisions that will impact the District for decades to come.
CEO Pedro Martinez and the members of the School Board, who have announced their resignation, understood the reality of that situation by passing a budget that did not include this loan. There is extreme cause for concern now that those voices have been diminished.
Earlier this year, legislators in Springfield noted the requests they received from the city’s lobbying efforts. Many of them shared that the requests focused too much on $2 billion for a new Bears stadium, and not enough on additional funds for CPS and other school districts across Illinois. We must find new ways to work with one another, CPS leadership, and our colleagues in Springfield to achieve our shared vision of fully funded schools for all Illinois students.
Additionally, City Council must also convene for a hearing before the end of October, and before any new appointments are established. Chicagoans deserve a voice when it comes to decisions that will affect our school system and city as a whole. A School Board full of lame-duck appointees carrying out only a few months of a term before residents get a chance to elect representatives is not what is in our best interest. A revolving door of CEOs that cannot complete more than a handful of years before transitioning out is not in our best interest.
With the next School Board meeting scheduled for late October, only days away from the general election, it would be a disservice to appoint anyone without thorough vetting – this is not what we fought for in our efforts for a fully elected School Board.
- Daniel La Spata, 1st Ward
- Brian Hopkins, 2nd Ward
- Pat Dowell, 3rd Ward
- Desmon Yancy, 5th Ward
- Michelle A. Harris, 8th Ward
- Anthony Beale, 9th Ward
- Peter Chico, 10th Ward
- Nicole Lee, 11th Ward
- Julia M. Ramirez, 12th Ward
- Marty Quinn, 13th Ward
- Jeylu Gutierrez, 14th Ward
- Raymond Lopez, 15th Ward
- Stephanie Coleman, 16th Ward
- David Moore, 17th Ward
- Derrick Curtis, 18th Ward
- Matthew O’Shea, 19th Ward
- Michael Rodriguez, 22nd Ward
- Silvana Tabares, 23rd Ward
- Monique Scott, 24th Ward
- Felix Cardona, 31st Ward
- Scott Waguespack, 32nd Ward
- Bill Conway, 34th Ward
- Gilbert Villegas, 36th Ward
- Emma Mitts, 37th Ward
- Nicholas Sposato, 38th Ward
- Samantha Nugent, 39th Ward
- Andre Vasquez, 40th Ward
- Anthony Napolitano, 41st Ward
- Brendan Reilly, 42nd Ward
- Timmy Knudsen, 43rd Ward
- Bennett Lawson, 44th Ward
- James Gardiner, 45th Ward
- Angela Clay, 46th Ward
- Matt Martin, 47th Ward
- Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth, 48th Ward
- Maria Hadden, 49th Ward
Western Avenue Rezone
This week, the remaining ordinances related to Western Avenue rezone passed through City Council, which means that the entire 40th Ward stretch has now been rezoned! I’m proud to be part of this historic effort to think through zoning more proactively, to better align our zoning districts with the community’s vision for the future. To find out more about the rezone and view updated zoning maps, visit 40thward.org/WesternRezone.
Extreme Weather Response
This summer, I filed legislation calling for a hearing on Chicago’s Extreme Weather Response Plan. 39 Alders joined the call for improvements in the city’s plan, and the Committee on Public Safety held a public hearing on October 1st.
Currently, Chicago does not offer enough extreme weather resources to unhoused Chicagoans. On our coldest and hottest evenings, unhoused Chicagoans often have no shelter available to them. City shelters are often at capacity, and Chicago does not operate any warming or cooling centers overnight. As a result of the lack of resources, unhoused Chicagoans see a high incidence of both weather-related injuries, like frostbite or amputation, and of weather-related death.
Fortunately, advocates have been organizing around improving Chicago’s extreme weather resources for years, and have formed a vision of how we can improve Chicago’s extreme weather response plan. Nearly all of these advocates share an understanding that unhoused Chicagoans need nighttime refuge from extreme heat + cold.
At our Extreme Weather Response Hearing, a robust panel of experts presented to provide a broad picture of the extreme weather resources and shelter resources to unhoused Chicagoans, and the consequences of some of the gaps in our city’s policies.
- Dr. Lee Friedman from the University of Illinois Chicago spoke on the extreme weather findings from the Illinois Homelessness Morbidity and Mortality Report 2017-2022;
- Owen Lewer from Loyola Street Medicine spoke on homelessness + frostbite research;
- Lonette Sims and Dr. Howard Ehrman, Former Chicago Assistant Health Commissioner and Co-founder of People’s Response Network spoke on the Cool Chi project––which measured heat across communities and found a 22 degree difference between the north side and south and west sides–– how excess deaths during extreme weather are tracked, as well as the current activation criteria for extreme weather response, and why it is insufficient;
- Isabella Mancini, LCSW, RDDP, at Healthcare Alternative Systems, Inc. and Chicago Homelessness and Health Response Group for Equity (CHHRGE) spoke about their outreach efforts and the success of using Harold Washington Library as a 24/7 warming center last winter;
- Erica Jackson from CHHRGE, gave testimony on her lived experience and the CHHRGE Flex Report, a proposal for expanding Chicago’s extreme weather response
- Chuy Campuzano from Access Living’s Disability Rights Action Coalition for Housing gave testimony based on lived experience on how extreme weather is worse for folks with disabilities
- Maxica Williams from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless gave testimony based on lived experience, and spoke on proposals for how to improve Chicago’s extreme weather response
- Dr. Trent Ford, IL State Climatologist, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign spoke on climate change’s effects on extreme weather and the current activation criteria and downsides of using National Weather Services’s Heat Index
- Cheryl Hamilton Hill, Lincoln Park Community Services CEO, CHHRGE Flex spoke on the the need to support delegates to provide enough shelter for this upcoming winter.
Neighbors interested in getting involved can email our office and we will connect them to the advocates pushing for change. The Extreme Weather Response Resolution passed through the Committee on Public Safety, and then through City Council. Our next steps will be ensuring that the Extreme Weather Working Group is formed.
Resolutions and Other Matters
I also co-sponsored several resolutions, including:
- Recognition of second Monday in October as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in Chicago, and commit to fostering a deeper understanding of Indigenous issues, supporting Native American communities in our city, and ensuring their voices are heard and valued in the ongoing discussions concerning Chicago.
- Resolution Recognizing October 11th as the Day of the Girl, a day dedicated to promoting girls’ rights and addressing the injustices and challenges that girls, including girls in Chicago, continue to face globally, such as injustices such as gender-based violence, discrimination, gender stereotypes, limited access to education, healthcare disparities, commercial sexual exploitation, child marriage and lack of education.
- Resolution recognizing October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, to honor those who have experienced domestic violence, mourn those who have died, celebrate those who have survived, and commit to doing everything we can to combat domestic violence in our city.
- Resolution recognizing CTA’s work during the DNC: we passed a resolution acknowledging the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 and 308 on transportation work during 2024 Democratic National Convention.
We also passed several ordinances related to the municipal code, as well as an issuance of TIF funds to support DANK Haus’s renovation project. See below for details!
- Price Ordinance: in honor of Lt. Andre Price, a Chicago firefighter who died in the line of duty last November after falling through a light shaft, we passed legislation to protect Chicago firefighters by amending the city’s municipal code regarding roof and skylight placement.
- Redevelopment Agreement for DANK Haus: we allocated tax increment financing (TIF) funds to the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center to rehabilitate the center for community use. Can’t wait to see the final results!
- Direction Change on N Bell Ave: in response to neighbor petition, we converted N. Bell Avenue from Bowmanville Berwyn to a one-way northbound.
- Stop sign on Ravenswood and Rascher: we also passed legislation to install an all-way stop at W. Rascher Ave and N Ravenswood AveApproaches