Find out the latest legislative updates from this month’s City Council!
Legislative Updates
Sustainable Parkways Resolution
City Council passed the Sustainable Parkways Resolution (SR2025-0016566), which is the first piece of legislation developed and drafted by the 40th Ward Environmental Board! This resolution is a first step in making the over 7,000 acres of Chicago parkways more sustainable.
Currently, it is customary (though not required by municipal code) for parkways to be planted with turfgrass. But while turfgrass might be what we’re used to, it’s not well-suited to Chicago’s ecosystem and often creates a lot of extra work for adjacent property owners, who are responsible for watering, weeding, and mowing their parkways, while also looking sub-par.
A growing number of Chicagoans, including many in the 40th Ward, feel that parkways should provide more benefits to our environment. Planting parkways with native plants can help mitigate street flooding, provide relief from heat islands and air pollution, and attract pollinators to our neighborhoods. While many neighbors are voluntarily turning their parkways into pollinator gardens, many other Chicago neighborhoods do not have the time or resources to create and maintain their own gardens.
This resolution is the beginning of a conversation on what the City can do to leverage our parkways to mitigate extreme weather and increase biodiversity—while also making neighbors’ lives easier, by minimizing street flooding and maintenance of their parkways.
We are so grateful to the 40th Ward Environmental Board, especially Paul Naylor, Tricia Van Eck, and Roxane Assaf Lynn, for their incredible work in drafting this resolution. We look forward to continuing your great work!
Chicago Parking Meter Sale
Earlier this week, the Committee on Finance voted to hold off on approving the sale of Chicago’s parking meters to Stonepeak Partners, a private equity firm that also owns Omni Air International, which is one of ICE’s largest contractors of deportation flights. According to reporting from Mother Jones, Omni has a history of human rights abuses on these flights––shackling one migrant for over 80 hours, and stranding roughly 100 detainees in a blizzard at a New Hampshire airport for about 13 hours while shackled. Ald. Vasquez and other City Council members have raised concerns about a company that financially benefits from these human rights abuses also benefitting from Chicago infrastructure.
This is one of many concerns City Council members have raised about the sale, which has been cloaked in secrecy. Given the history of how the sale of Chicago’s parking meters has impacted our financial future, it is crucial to make sure we learn from those mistakes instead of repeating them. For the first time since the meters were sold, City Council has leverage to prevent this sale. Under Article 17 of the amended Concession Agreement and Section 15 of the authorizing ordinance, the current owners City Councilmembers are empowered to evaluate whether to approve the proposed sale based on the background, reputation, and performance of the buyer.
The proposal was discussed in the Committee on Finance this past Tuesday, but was held for further discussion. We urge Chicagoans to contact their Alders and ask that they vote no on this deal if and when it is brought back up for a vote. You can visit bit.ly/m/chirejectsstonepeak for resources, instructions, and templates.
Referendum Questions
City Council voted to advance several questions to be put forward to a public referendum on the ballot for the November 3rd election, including:
- Whether Chicago should create a permanent festival and outdoor event space for large events (introduced by 11th Ward Ald. Nicole Lee)
- Whether Chicago should restart use of a gunshot detection technology system, such as ShotSpotter (introduced by 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn)
The following questions were rejected:
- Whether Chicago should pursue reimbursement in federal funding for the costs and lost tax revenue from Operation Midway Blitz (introduced by Mayor Johnson)
- Whether Chicago should make its legally-required contributions to city pension funds in the first-quarter of every year to reduce long-term debt (introduced by 35th Ward Ald. Samantha Nugent)
Police Settlements
City Council voted to approve a $9 million settlement for the wrongful conviction of Daniel Alberto Ochoa, who spent 17 years in prison for the wrongful conviction of a murder that resulted from a gang-related drive-by shooting.
Wrongful convictions account for most of the funds spent on police misconduct in Chicago; according to WTTW analysis, taxpayers have spent $131.5 million on wrongful convictions alone in the first six months of 2026.
Resolution Calling for the Resignation of U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros
City Council voted to pass a resolution (R2026-0026273) calling for the resignation of U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutrous, after his unprecedented misconduct in the prosecution of the Broadview 6.
While our criminal legal system is not perfect, it is built on a foundation of political independence, and that independence is non-negotiable if the U.S. Attorney’s office is going to come close to its stated goal of seeking and providing justice to the people of Illinois and this country. Andrew Boutros’s conduct does not align with any of those goals. At every stage of his prosecution against the Broadview 6, he has demonstrated not impartiality and a dedication to justice, but deception, unprecedented misconduct, and a willingness to throw away the values of his office and this country in order to secure a political win for this administration.
This behavior isn’t just unethical. It is antithetical to a just society, and we cannot let it stand. In a truly just version of reality, Andrew Boutrous wouldn’t just resign: he would be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. But in the absence of principled leaders who will do the right thing, we have to do whatever we can to call out the injustice we see, and put pressure on our elected officials to act on it. We are grateful to City Council members for doing just that, and voting to pass this resolution.
Legislative Introductions
We introduced three pieces of legislation this month:
- Make Way for People Program at Ainslie Arts Plaza: this ordinance empowers Ald. Vasquez to approve public events in Ainslie Arts Plaza, in coordination with the Department of Transportation, without requiring some of the cumbersome aspects of a traditional permit. This includes eliminating application and payment to the City to obtain a modified permit for certain smaller events community members want to host at Ainslie Arts Plaza. The ordinance has been referred to the Committee on Special Events.
- Chicago Independent Budget Office Ordinance: this ordinance would establish an Independent Budget Office to provide officials and the general public independent, objective, and impartial analyses of the City’s budget, revenue projections, fiscal condition, and the fiscal impact of proposed legislation or policies. Given Chicago’s budget challenges, we believe an Independent Budget Office funded by the City, similar to the Office of the Inspector General, would allow us to meet those challenges in a more impartial and objective way. The ordinance has been referred to the Committee on Rules, but we look forward to working with the appropriate Committee chairs to get it re-referred.
- CCPSA District Council Structure Amendments: CCPSA District Councilors are currently prevented by the state’s Open Meetings Act (OMA) from being able to effectively meet and plan for each of their individual districts. This ordinance would combine all of the councilors in each district to create one 66-person body, instead of twenty 3-person bodies, which will allow them to be able to meet as individual districts, without violating the OMA. The ordinance has been referred to the Committee on Public Safety.