Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by Fran Spielman

Voters won’t get chance to weigh in on Chicago’s sanctuary city status, alderpersons decide

2023-12-14T13:13:19.621-06:00

Ald. Anthony Beale failed in his bid to get an advisory referendum on the March primary ballot that would have asked voters about Chicago’s sanctuary city status.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Mayor Brandon Johnson and his City Council allies on Thursday used a parliamentary maneuver to squelch an advisory referendum that would have allowed Chicago voters to weigh in on whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city.

A special City Council meeting called to consider the issue was over in less than an hour and never got off the ground.

Instead, Johnson ruled that the proposed referendum championed by Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) needed a two-thirds vote, or 33 alderpersons, for the measure to be considered because it had not been approved by the Rules Committee.

The council’s vote was 31-16, which doomed Beale’s bid.

Beale’s proposed referendum would have asked voters in the March 19 primary: “Should the city of Chicago limit its designation as a sanctuary city by placing spending limits on its public funding?”

Before Thursday’s meeting adjourned, Beale did not hold back in lambasting his colleagues.

“It is a shame that you all are scared. What are you scared of? To let the people have a voice? What are you scared of — the truth?” Beale asked. “Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are spending money frivolously? … Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are headed in the wrong direction?”

“I’m all for taking care of people. I am sympathetic as well,” Beale added. “However, I’m more sympathetic for the people in my community who have been paying taxes their entire life, can’t get a furnace, can’t get a roof, can’t get a hot water heater, can’t get a back porch. And my seniors are still starving for resources.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson presides over a special City Council meeting Thursday in which alderpersons defeated Ald. Anthony Beale’s bid for an advisory referendum on Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Beale said there is “no conscionable way” that the Johnson administration should have spent nearly $1 million to build a winterized base camp on a contaminated industrial site in the Brighton Park neighborhood, only to have “the whole thing blown up” after Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency declared the site at 38th Street and California Avenue unsafe.

“I hope you all sleep good tonight knowing that you all continued to turn your backs on the people who are paying taxes in this city,” Beale said.

For weeks, Beale has been trying to put an advisory referendum on the March ballot asking voters to weigh in on an ongoing migrant crisis that has strained the city budget, exacerbated historic political tensions between Black and Hispanic residents, and dominated the first seven months of Johnson’s administration.

Efforts to stymie Beale’s efforts led to a special meeting last month in which bullying allegations were lodged against Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th). The allegations forced Ramirez-Rosa to resign as Johnson’s council floor leader and Zoning Committee chair.

A week later a Rules Committee meeting was called to consider a revised, softer version of Beale’s sanctuary city question. That effort failed during a rowdy meeting that adjourned after council members were shouted down by an angry crowd that Rules Committee Chair Michelle Harris (8th) ordered forcibly removed.

Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the Welcoming City Ordinance that originated with Mayor Harold Washington has “nothing to do with whether or how the city provides shelter or care” to asylum-seekers and repealing it will “do nothing to stop the flow of buses.”

“At best, these moves ... are the result of confusion and misdirection. At worst, they’re cynical ploys that are feeding on fear and resentment. ... They play into the hands of Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump,” Tsao told alderpersons. “If we fall into this trap, shame on us.”

After the special meeting, a coalition of community organizers and council members celebrated the council’s vote, calling it a victory for immigrant communities.

“We will be on the migrant mission, we will support our undocumented and migrant community, and we will continue to invest in our Black communities,” Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) said.

Ald. Jessie Fuentes speaks about the City Council’s vote Thursday that effectively defeated Ald. Anthony Beale’s bid for a nonbinding referendum about Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

“The Trump tactics of the right of sowing division between our communities will end. And our vote today was an indication that there is a City Council that will not allow those tactics to thrive here.”

Contributing: Sophie Sherry

Shelved migrant tent camp cost Chicago almost $1 million

2023-12-13T19:16:52.511-06:00

An aerial view of the migrant camp construction site at 3710 S. California Ave. on Dec. 5. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office shut the project down due to soil contamination.

Brian Ernst/Sun-Times (file)

The city of Chicago spent nearly $1 million to convert a Brighton Park lot into a migrant shelter before the controversial project was shut down this month by Gov. J.B. Pritzker over environmental concerns, city officials confirmed Wednesday.

But Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office says the $985,621.21 of taxpayer money didn’t go to waste because the land at 38th Street and California Avenue “has been assessed and further prepared for future use.”

State environmental regulators determined there were too many harmful metals and other toxic substances detected on the property for it to safely serve as a winterized tent shelter housing up to 2,000 of the asylum-seekers who continue to arrive to Chicago from the southern U.S. border.

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Johnson’s office had contended the land could be made safe for temporary residential use, over the vehement objections of environmental activists and a vocal contingent of Brighton Park residents who protested for weeks against any shelter coming to the Southwest Side neighborhood.

The mayor pushed back Wednesday when asked if the Brighton Park investment was a mistake.

“There were 4,000 people living in police districts and the airports, 4,000 sleeping outside, on the floor,” he said. “Could I ask a different question? Is it a mistake to not address the crisis? To not plan for it? One would say resoundingly that yes, it would be a mistake not to plan for it. I’m planning for it with everything in me.”

Before Pritzker’s office pulled the plug — despite committing $65 million to private contractor GardaWorld for work to create a winterized tent community — city officials spent the $985,600-plus on equipment, materials and professional services.

What defines Pritzker-Johnson relationship so far? Tension

The price tag for the city, which has been leasing the Brighton Park land from a private owner since late October at $91,400 a month, includes the cost of the environmental assessment that found toxic chemicals, including cyanide, pesticides and the long-banned, cancer-causing compounds known as PCBs.

Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, said the city wouldn’t be reimbursed by the state.

“The GardaWorld contract is with the state. So, whatever Garda expenses were incurred, that would be the state’s responsibility,” she said.

A state spokesperson said the Illinois Department of Human Services does not expect to lose money on the Brighton Park site, and plans to use GardaWorld for converting a former CVS in Little Village into a shelter for migrants.

“No money has been paid and there are no plans at present to pay GardaWorld for work done at 38th and California. IDHS appreciates GardaWorld’s partnership and will leverage their expertise and experience to quickly stand up the Little Village site,” the spokesperson said.

The Brighton Park camp is off the table, but the tent city idea is not, Pacione-Zayas said.

“The land assessment is still happening at 115th and Halsted. And right now, we’re looking at 2024 with our predictive models as well as our cost savings and trying to figure out within our [housing and shelter] stock what makes sense to consolidate and what makes sense to continue to expand,” she said.

With all of the controversy generated by the tent city proposal, Pacione-Zayas was asked whether the Johnson administration hoped to avoid using tents.

“My hope is that we’ll be able to shelter people as needed and put them on a path to self-sufficiency. How we get there is highly dependent upon what is incoming and what is available with respect to resources,” she said.

The number of migrants being bused to Chicago — many by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in an effort to shift the burden of resources to cities led by Democrats — has declined in recent weeks since President Joe Biden’s administration reinstituted a policy deporting many Venezuelan arrivals at the border.

More than 25,700 migrants have made it to Chicago since last year, and 13,777 are living in shelters across the city. As of Wednesday morning, another 354 were staying in police stations and 221 were at O’Hare Airport awaiting shelter spots.

City Council member to try again to push through advisory referendum on Chicago’s sanctuary city status

2023-12-13T16:42:15.533-06:00

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) calls for the arrest of protesters interrupting the discussion about arbitration for Chicago police officers during a Chicago City Council meeting on Wednesday.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

After several fits and starts, the City Council will try again Thursday to hold a special meeting to determine whether to give Chicago voters an opportunity to weigh in on the migrant crisis.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) has been trying for weeks to put an advisory referendum on the March ballot asking voters whether or not Chicago should remain a sanctuary city.

Frantic efforts to prevent that from happening at a special meeting last month ultimately resulted in the bullying allegations against Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) that forced Ramirez-Rosa to resign as Mayor Brandon Johnson’s City Council floor leader and Zoning Committee chair.

That was followed one week later by a Rules Committee meeting called to substitute the simple sanctuary city question with a softer, more innocuous version.

That effort failed during a raucous meeting abruptly adjourned after alderpersons were shouted down by an angry crowd that Rules Committee Chair Michelle Harris (8th) ordered forcibly removed.

On Wednesday, Beale tried briefly to suspend the rules for immediate consideration of a new version that states, “Should the city of Chicago limit its designation as a sanctuary city by placing spending limits on its public funding?”

He asked for an immediate vote because “my mother just had a procedure and I’m probably gonna have to take care of her” on Thursday. Beale called it an “olive branch.”

But after conferring with Johnson and his corporation counsel on the rostrum during a brief recess, Beale withdrew his motion. “See you tomorrow,” he told the mayor.

Sources said Johnson has directed his City Council allies to show up and, he hopes, defeat Beale’s advisory referendum.

If the advisory referendum does makes it on the ballot, Beale said he has no doubt Chicago voters will overwhelmingly reject remaining a sanctuary city.

The fact that the city spent $985,621 to prepare a contaminated industrial site in Brighton Park for a tent city that was ultimately rejected by Gov. J.B. Pritzker adds even more fuel to the fire, Beale said. That money — for site preparation, equipment and material — will not be reimbursed by the state.

“This will pass maybe 75-25 or 80-20. That’s how angry people are with the way things are going in this city,” Beale said Wednesday.

“They’re angry about spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and not getting city services. They’re angry about spending money on a humanitarian crisis manufactured by the federal government and we’re bearing the brunt of it. They’re mad that we’re spending money on this and not police and not prevention. They’re mad about raising taxes and not getting anything tangible as a result of it. People are fed up.”

Johnson told reporters during a post-council news conference that he has “de-compressed” 21 of 22 police stations with “only one left.”

Asked whether Chicago would have the capacity to handle another surge of new arrivals without a tent city, the mayor did not answer, saying only that his administration was “searching for property all over the state of Illinois” to house migrants.

In other action at Wednesday’s meeting, the City Council:

• Revamped and strengthened Chicago’s hate crime ordinance for the first time in 30 years. The so-called a “Chi vs. Hate” ordinance would create the category of “hate incident” and allow Chicagoans to report those less serious incidents by calling the city’s 311 nonemergency number or by using the 311 app.

• Signed off on $10.75 million in settlements tied to allegations of police abuse.

• Broadened the definition of registered lobbyists to include nonprofits after adding safeguards to avoid unnecessary costs and red tape.

• Empowered the city to tow and impound buses filled with migrants that violate the city’s ground rules and operating hours.

• Delayed implementation of Chicago’s paid leave ordinance until July 1 and authorized a “cure period” and several other fixes that, business leaders claim, do not go nearly far enough.

• Signed off on an amended tax-increment-financing agreement — with an additional $8 million city subsidy — to help transform a notorious, 21-acre dump site at Roosevelt and Kostner into a solar-powered hub for light manufacturing with two innovation centers for workforce training, a park and retail space.

Should Chicago stay a sanctuary city? Ask voters, Council member says

Police contract approved, arbitrator’s disciplinary ruling rejected at another stormy Chicago City Council meeting

2023-12-13T13:27:19.343-06:00

The Chicago City Council cast two big votes on police matters at Wednesday’s meeting — one officers will like, and one they probably won’t.

Sun-Times file

So much for the détente between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the police union that has bolstered morale among rank-and-file Chicago Police Department officers.

It could be back to the constant bickering and legal wrangling between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police that dominated Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s single term.

A deeply divided City Council on Wednesday laid the groundwork for a return to those tumultuous days by rejecting an arbitrator’s ruling that would have allowed officers recommended for firings or suspensions over one year to bypass the Police Board in favor of an arbitrator who might be more sympathetic and would hold proceedings behind closed doors.

It happened during a stormy meeting that forced Johnson to call for a recess after public observers gathered in the third floor gallery overlooking the Council chambers banged on the glass and shouted from their seats.

“Sergeant-at-arms, please remove those who are being disruptive,” Johnson said. “Those who are banging on the windows, please remove them. Those who are shouting, please remove them.”

Three-fifths of the Council — 30 members — needed to support rejecting that ruling by arbitrator Edwin Benn, and the final vote was 33 to 16. It followed a 42-to-7 vote to ratify Johnson’s decision to double the pay raises Lightfoot negotiated, and extend the police contract for two additional years.

“Those who are banging on the windows, please remove them. Those who are shouting, please remove them,” the mayor said.

The split decision allowed Johnson and his progressive allies to have it both ways.

They delivered a symbolic message underscoring their commitment to police reform and accountability while also throwing a bone to rank-and-file officers.

During a post-Council news conference, Johnson said Chicagoans have “endured a great deal of pain” because of “very horrific acts” committed by some — not all — Chicago police officers.

“The City Council rejected a portion of the contract that does not hold the type of accountability standards that the people of Chicago want. The City Council voted on behalf of the people of Chicago,” Johnson said.

“The violation of trust that has been the prevailing form of style and play here in the city of Chicago — this body rejected that. That’s a good thing. Call that democracy. And I support democracy.”

Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting, where members voted on two key police matters.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Split decision for police union: Council committee OKs contract extension, rejects arbitrator’s ruling on cop discipline

Wednesday’s thumbs-down vote sends the ruling back to Benn, who has made it clear that he is not about to change his mind.

If he again affirms his original ruling, the Council would vote again, followed by an FOP lawsuit that the union’s president, John Catanzara, has no doubt would succeed.

“It’s absolutely labor war at that point. … There will be a price to pay for putting his thumb on the scale to shoot this down,” Catanzara said of Johnson.

“They’re anti-union. And the Democrats are the ones with the convention coming up in eight months. They can wear this as a badge of honor until then,” Catanzara said. “If this is a fight they want, no problem. We proved we’re more than willing to do that with Lightfoot. If that’s the path he wants, then so be it.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson presiding at Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Catanzara refused to say whether his thinly veiled threat means police picketing during the convention, a blue flu-style slowdown, or both. State law prohibits police officers from striking.

Johnson’s progressive Council allies were willing to risk political fallout. That’s how determined they were to avoid depriving the Police Board of its most important disciplinary power and undermining public trust by allowing police officers to, as they put it, “hide behind the closed doors” of arbitration.

Outgoing Police Board president urges City Council to reject arbitrator’s ruling, says it would undermine police reform

“We need to hold bad police officers accountable. ... What good is the Police Board if you could do something so egregious, you have to hide?” said Ald. Maria Hadden (49th).

“It is disgusting to sit in this body and approve millions of dollars every month” for settlements tied to allegations of excessive force and other police wrongdoing, Hadden said.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) added: “How do we build trust without accountability? How do we build a better system when we are trying to take decisions away from the public? ... This [ruling] to put these kinds of decisions out of due process are not going to build trust. It’s going to erode the very little trust that is left.”

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) acknowledged Wednesday’s vote is likely to be reversed — first by the arbitrator, then in court. But he was willing to roll the dice, if only to deliver a symbolic message.

“This is not in the public interest. In this moment, this is just not right. ... We have to be for what the public is calling for. This is not right or just for the constituents we serve,” Ervin said.

Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd), one of the police union’s staunchest Council supporters, warned colleagues the FOP has an “open-and-shut case” that could potentially cost Chicago taxpayers “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“None of us wants public dollars to be awarded in court to bad cops as opposed to mental health clinics or homeless services,” Tabares said.

Tabares noted state law “guarantees Chicago Police officers the right to arbitration in exchange for the right to strike.”

“State law already gives Chicago Police officers the right to arbitration. Regardless, the city has been doing it wrong,” she said.

Declaring himself a “proud Chicago police officer,” Ald. Peter Chico (10th) added, “We can’t go on strike. We can’t form a picket line and say, ‘Enough is enough.’”

Higher pay raises negotiated by Johnson are expected to add $27.7 million in costs to his $16.77 billion 2024 budget.

The contract calls for doubling the annual raise rank-and-file police officers were scheduled to receive in 2024 and 2025 — from 2.5% to 5%. During the two-year extension ending June 30, 2027, police officers will receive annual raises in the 3%-to-5% range, depending on the cost of living.

Instead of giving officers with 20 years of seniority the annual $2,000 retention bonus awarded by an independent arbitrator, the agreement gives a one-time $2,500 retention bonus to all officers, regardless of seniority. There is also a cash incentive to help fill the crucial, but historically-difficult-to-fill role of field training officer.

A crowd waits inside City Hall to get into Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

For Johnson and his newly appointed CPD Supt. Larry Snelling, there is a key operational change that could help boost Chicago’s dismal homicide clearance rates.

The police department won the right to create Los Angeles-style rotating teams of homicide investigators working 10-hour days. Each team would get all of the murders in a given area during a one-week period, then spend the next five weeks trying to solve those homicides without being assigned more cases.

Catanzara spent the last four years battling Lightfoot over myriad law enforcement issues.

Johnson has tried to forge a more collaborative path, despite Catanzara’s warning of an “exodus like we’ve never seen before,” with as many as 1,000 veteran officers choosing not to work for a mayor who had a history of supporting the concept of defunding the police.

At the time the contract extension was hammered out, Catanzara said he was wrong about Chicago’s new mayor.

“We certainly didn’t endorse Mayor Johnson. But I give him kudos for really giving marching orders that labor contracts need to be figured out,” the fiery FOP president said that day.

“From where we were dealing with her,” he added, not mentioning Lightfoot by name, “as opposed to dealing with him, is night and day.”

City Council set to amend paid leave ordinance, but not enough to satisfy business leaders

2023-12-12T14:31:39.183-06:00

The City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a change that would delay the start of mandatory paid leave for Chicago workers until July.

Sun-Times file

The nation’s most aggressive and generous paid leave policy is getting a rewrite after only a month on the books, but the changes are not enough to satisfy Chicago business leaders.

The quick fixes teed up for approval at Wednesday’s City Council meeting include a six-month delay — until July 1 — in the requirement that businesses give their Chicago employees 10 paid days off per year, including five sick days and five vacation days.

The changes would also give businesses 16 days, or “one pay period,” to remedy a problem with paid leave. But the so-called “cure period” would last only one year. After that, employees who believe they have been denied paid leave would be free to sue their employers.

“We’re giving a year and a half until private right of action is implemented. That should be more than enough time for businesses to fix their systems so that there aren’t any of these types of errors,” said Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22nd), chair of the City Council’s Committee on Workforce Development.

“The private right of action is standard in our paid sick leave, in our minimum wage ordinance. This is not anything new. We’re giving more and more time for businesses to be able to catch up here. And this is a respectable on-ramp to that.”

10-day paid leave plan passes City Council: Chicago employers must give workers more time off than others in Illinois

Yet another change would avoid putting Chicago behind the eight ball in the high-stakes competition for conventions and trade shows at McCormick Place and Navy Pier.

It would define “covered employees” in the paid leave ordinance as those who work a minimum of 80 hours in a 120-day period.

Guests at Standard Bar and Grill, 1332 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Wicker Park.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Michael Jacobson, president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, said he is “generally happy” with the convention industry change, which mirrors the language in the city’s sick leave and minimum wage ordinances.

“Originally, it was any employee who worked in the city of Chicago for two hours over the course of two weeks. And that’s where a lot of our convention customers or even just people who send business travelers here for individual meetings said, ‘Hold on a minute. Our employee spends two hours in the city of Chicago? They’re covered under this — even if they’re from Seattle and work in Seattle? That doesn’t make any sense,’ “ Jacobson said.

“So what they changed it to is, now you have to work at least 80 hours in the city of Chicago within four months. So, most business travelers will not be included in this. There is still some concern … around people who set up the conventions because they’re here for weeks in advance and they work more than 80 hours. But they’re all union, and there’s [collective bargaining agreement] carve-out in here. So almost every convention attendee is no longer lumped into this ordinance, which we’re very pleased about.”

Tipped workers look forward to a raise, but some worry about job security

Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jack Lavin and Rob Karr, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said they are not satisfied and believe the 16-day “cure period” to remedy mistakes in paid leave implementation is insufficient.

“We want a notice and cure period that [starts] when the company is told there’s been a mistake and they have a period of time to cure it. This does not do that. It’s when it happens. And many times, the company doesn’t know it happens until the employee tells them. It’s a mistake that was made. Maybe a mistake in how they calculated their pay,” Lavin said.

“When the employee tells the company, that’s when the number of days should start counting, so the employer has the time to correct the mistake. We suggested 30 days. They’re saying in the pay period. We think that’s too short. It’s a talking point that, in the real world, is useless. It does nothing to help small business. We simply wanted what was negotiated between business and labor that’s in the fair workweek ordinance, and they ignored our ask.”

Karr added: “The clock starts ticking when the violation occurs — not when the employer becomes aware of it. So how does an employer have a right to cure [the problem] if they don’t know a problem has occurred?”

Civic Federation names former Chicago inspector general Joe Ferguson as president

2023-12-12T12:00:00-06:00

Former city Inspector General Joe Ferguson is the new president of the Civic Federation.

Rich Hein/Chicago Sun-Times file

The longest-serving, and perhaps, most aggressive inspector general Chicago has ever had is the new president of the Civic Federation.

Joe Ferguson replaces Laurence Msall, the highly respected public finance expert who left a giant hole in the watchdog landscape when he died suddenly this year.

In replacing the low-key Msall with the higher-profile Ferguson, the Civic Federation has charted a new course.

Unlike Msall, Ferguson is not a public finance expert. But he is a dogged and highly respected former federal prosecutor who has never hesitated to investigate and criticize Chicago mayors, their department heads and members of the City Council. He not only doesn’t mind stepping on important toes. He thrives on it.

In an interview with the Sun-Times, Ferguson acknowledged a major component of his career has been “investigations, and in some respects, prosecutions.”

But he also takes credit for building a “national, award-winning performance audit and evaluation section” during his 12 years as inspector general. The unit not only examined “every form of government program that exists at the city level,” he said, but also “built a data portal that does not exist for any oversight watchdog body in the United States.”

“Even though more of what generates public attention are audits, it’s the investigations that really grab everybody’s heart,” Ferguson said.

“So, this actually is completely within the slipstream of what I’ve been doing for a very long time. And even as a prosecutor, a lot of my cases really were complex fraud matters for which inspectors general and their auditors and their analysts were the originators. It’s all of a piece. These things all connect up, and they’re all necessary in order to … improve effectiveness, efficiency and public trust and legitimacy in government. And that’s exactly what the Civic Federation does with a slightly recalibrated tool kit.”

Civic Federation demands more transparency in Chicago Police Department spending

Ferguson, 63, said he has no intention of making the somewhat staid Civic Federation a more aggressive organization.

“That isn’t how reviews and audits and evaluations of government programs work. They’re not adversarial. They involve dialogue, collaboration, sometimes uneasy collaboration because they reveal uncomfortable truths. … But ultimately, everybody appreciates it’s how we get better,” he said.

“Laurence [Msall] was very candid about things that needed to be said while … trying to provide counsel and advice on how to get to a better place. And that’s exactly what I intend to do,” said Ferguson.

Pressed to identify the biggest fiscal challenge facing Chicago, Ferguson talked about the avalanche of federal stimulus funds that is about to dry up.

“A significant amount of expansion occurred without full consideration of sustainable funding streams, which means hard decisions are gonna have to be made, especially considering the debt load that Chicago also carries, both in terms of operations and in terms of its pensions,” Ferguson said.

Noting that Mayor Brandon Johnson balanced his first budget by allocating only $150 million for the migrant crisis, Ferguson said, “We’re heading into the year with a structural deficit. Technically, the budget’s balanced. Structurally, it is not balanced.”

In a news release announcing Ferguson’s appointment, the Civic Federation said its 15-member search committee found the unique mix of qualities it was seeking in him: “strong, strategic leadership inspired by a genuine passion for fiscal accountability and government efficiency” and a “proven relationship-builder.”

Ferguson served with former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the U.S. attorney’s office.

When he was appointed by former Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2009 to replace departing Inspector General David Hoffman, Lightfoot was among those who vouched for and recommended her friend Ferguson.

That close relationship initially raised questions about just how independent Ferguson would be in a Lightfoot administration.

But it wasn’t long before Ferguson’s aggressive investigations alienated Lightfoot and their former friendship was replaced by the behind-the-scenes tension that almost always develops between a mayor and his or her watchdog.

Lightfoot clashed openly and repeatedly with Ferguson and ultimately forced him out. She then declared her desire to find a new inspector general who “understands the importance of staying in their lane.”

That raised legitimate questions about whether Lightfoot would be willing to appoint Deborah Witzburg, Ferguson’s hand-picked deputy inspector general for public safety, as Ferguson’s replacement.

Witzburg had worked with Ferguson to produce reports highly critical of the Lightfoot administration in general and the Chicago Police Department in particular.

After a protracted nine-month search, Lightfoot ultimately did choose Witzburg. But Ferguson accused his former boss of being dragged kicking and screaming into what turned out to be a failed attempt to shore up the progressive base that put her in office.

City Council committee OKs extending lobbyist requirements to nonprofits

2023-12-11T16:59:58.16-06:00

A Chicago City Council committee approved new regulations on lobbying by nonprofit agencies.

Sun-Times file

Chicago is finally getting around to broadening the definition of registered lobbyists to include nonprofits, but only after softening the blow to avoid tying their hands with costly red tape.

Four years ago, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot convinced the City Council to approve the latest in a seemingly endless string of ethics reforms in response to the corruption scandal at the center of the ongoing trial of former Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th).

In addition to forcing Burke to sever his ties to his private law firm specializing in property tax appeals, the ordinance broadened the definition of lobbyists to include nonprofits.

Although Lightfoot agreed at the time to delay the effective date and waive nonprofit registration fees, that portion of the ordinance never took effect.

Nonprofit organizations that do important social service work in Chicago neighborhoods complained they could not afford to jump through regulatory hoops or pay hefty fines in the event of an honest mistake.

On Monday, the Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight passed a revised ordinance aimed at easing those concerns.

It calls for Chicago to join New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia in requiring nonprofit lobbyists to register and file regular reports with the Chicago Board of Ethics.

To minimize the burden, the new requirements would:

• Postpone the effective date until July 1, 2024 to give the Board of Ethics ample time to conduct a “robust public education campaign.”

• Exempt nonprofits with an operating budget, net assets or a fund balance below $5 million.

• Cap all lobbying fines at $20,000 per violation.

• Establish a monetary and hourly threshold for requiring lobbyists to register.

• Clarify “which actions constitute administrative action or legislative action” to make it easier for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations to “understand when their conversations with city officials” constitute lobbying.

• Add a “self-defense communication” that would be “an exemption from lobbying for nonprofits.

• Make it clear that “background work in which lobbyists speak with their employers or clients do not count toward the hourly threshold.”

• Exempt those individuals who communicate with city governmental personnel “solely through participation in temporary youth employment programs.”

• Make clear that public comment, participation on a city advisory committee, or requesting regular city services do not constitute lobbying. Such actions rise to the level of lobbying only when a group advocates for “new resources or programs for their own nonprofits.”

Ethics Committee Chair Matt Martin (47th) said the substitute ordinance approved Monday is the product of “years of work.”

“It clarifies the definition of lobbying to make it easier for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations alike to understand when their conversations with city officials are lobbying,” Martin told his colleagues.

“It relieves the burden of reporting for small nonprofit organizations which are often on the front lines of providing essential services to underserved communities and don’t have additional staff and money to navigate complex red tape.”

Martin said he’s grateful to the “dozens of nonprofits” across the city that “gave their time to provide thoughtful feedback.”

Steve Berlin, longtime executive director of the Chicago Board of Ethics, said 122 individuals “from the not-for-profit community” are already registered as lobbyists.

“I’ve been with the board since September of 1993 and have seen numerous changes and widely different approaches to the city’s regulation of lobbying, specifically lobbying by and on behalf of Chicago’s not-for-profit community,” Berlin said. “Literally, on no other topic on which I’ve worked have I seen such passion.”

Settlement OK’d in case of man killed by Chicago police after he called 911 to say wife threatened him

2023-12-11T15:48:11.885-06:00

Michael Craig’s son John Miller (from left), attorney Michael Oppenheimer, Craig’s son Patrick Jenkins and Craig’s nephew Victor Varner held a news conference in October 2021 to call on Chicago police to release body camera footage of Craig’s death. A Chicago City Council committee on Monday approved an $8.75 million with Craig’s family.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Chicago taxpayers will spend $8.75 million to compensate the family of a 61-year-old man who was shot to death by a Chicago police officer who responded to a call about a woman “threatening her husband with a knife.”

The $8.75 million award to the adult son and minor child of Michael Craig was the largest of three settlements approved Monday by the City Council’s Finance Committee for a total of $11.26 million.

The larger of the other two — for $2 million — was narrowly rejected by the City Council in July. It stems from a 2014 police shooting that killed Darius Cole-Garrit.

Prior to that earlier 26-to-22 vote, Ald. Bill Conway (34th), a former assistant state’s attorney, noted that eight of the shots fired by officers who chased Cole-Garrit on foot were “in the front” of the victim’s body. That means he was facing the officers. Conway voted “no” again Monday.

He has said the Independent Police Review Authority, the oversight body that preceded the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, had cleared the officers involved in the case. There is no bodycam video.

The larger settlement involves Michael Craig, who was shot and killed by Chicago police officer Alberto Covarrubias on Oct. 4, 2021.

Covarrubias, who remains on the force, was responding to the latest in a series of domestic violence calls at that same address.

Michael A. Craig was shot and killed by Chicago police on Oct. 5, 2021.

Provided

This time, Craig had personally called 911 to say his wife had “a knife on me, on the bed, on my throat.”

“She’s got a knife on my neck, I can’t move. If I move she’s gonna kill me,” Craig is heard saying on audio of the 911 call released after the shooting.

The victim is then heard telling his son: “Go downstairs so you can let the police in. Go. Do like I said, go downstairs.”

When Covarrubias arrived at the Gresham apartment building in the 7700 block of South Carpenter, Craig’s 7-year-old son was indeed “standing outside the apartment building waiting for them,” Deputy Corporation Counsel Caroline Fronczak told alderpersons Monday.

“That child indicated that his mother had the knife to his father’s throat,” Fronczak said.

“When the medical examiner reviewed the injuries to Mr. Craig, there were multiple stab wounds on him that she characterized as defensive. … So all indications are that the woman was, in fact, threatening and actually stabbing the man with a knife.”

Body-worn camera footage released by COPA showed Covarrubias walking up the stairs to the couple’s second floor apartment with a Taser in his right hand.

From the stairwell outside the door, the officer announced, “Chicago police” and Craig was heard yelling back: “She got a butcher knife to my neck!”

As the officer prepared to step through the door, Craig’s wife screamed and the officer drew his pistol, switching the Taser to his left hand.

He fired the first shot almost immediately after crossing the threshold of the apartment door, as Craig and his wife appeared to struggle in a narrow hallway between the kitchen and bathroom. Craig and the woman fell to the floor, and the officer fired a second shot as Craig tried to sit up while the officer shouted, “Stop! Stop! Stop touching her.”

The settlement, to be paid to Craig’s adult son Patrick Jenkins and a “minor son,” was approved by a unanimous voice vote.

Family of man shot and killed by Chicago cop demand release of video: ‘Police are being unusually silent.’

“The Department of Law believes the potential exposure in this case is reasonably high, given the 911 calls identifying that the female was the one that was threatening the husband with the knife,” Fronczak said.

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) said there were “things that were shared” during closed-door aldermanic briefings on the case that “make me deeply angry.”

La Spata did not elaborate, but he got Fronczak to acknowledge that the second shot was fired while Craig was on the ground.

“I’m gonna let that sit … for a minute,” the alderperson said.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) added, “He knew the situation and went in shooting?”

Fronczak noted that “only one officer actually saw” the struggle.

“He believed the man was the aggressor toward the woman, but a post-shooting investigation indicates otherwise,” Fronczak said.

COPA and CPD both recommended “discipline” for Covarrubias that is “currently under review in this case,” Fronczak said.

The smallest of the three settlements — for $515,000 — went to a gay Chicago firefighter who went on extended leave after being harassed by a deputy chief who was subsequently disciplined for that behavior.

Officer in fatal shooting of Michael Craig faced firing after 2016 incident

Bears research Soldier Field parking lot for new football stadium

2023-12-07T20:11:31.749-06:00

The South Lot, lower left corner, outside Soldier Field is one of several sites under consideration as a location for a new Bears stadium.

Getty

The Bears’ decision to have a surveyor examine the south parking lot of Soldier Field, as a source confirmed Thursday, is the latest example of the team exploring options for a new stadium beyond Arlington Heights.

This is not necessarily a sign of progress toward a decision — surveying is typically part of a rudimentary information-gathering process. It is, however, the first time since Arlington Heights emerged as an option that the Bears have looked to the lakefront as a possible new venue.

“As we stated in September earlier this year, we want to appropriately explore all opportunities across Chicagoland for the development of a world-class stadium,” the Bears said in a statement Thursday.

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The Bears closed escrow on their $197 million deal to buy the 326-acre Arlington International Racecourse site in February. By June, shortly after receiving permission to demolish the racetrack, the Bears were pushing back against property taxes at the site. They said their plan for a $2.5 billion domed stadium — plus adjacent hotels, restaurants and shopping — was at risk. Arlington Heights no longer remained their singular focus.

Soon afterward, the Bears met with Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Waukegan also offered to pitch the Bears on building a stadium there.

In a letter to season ticket holders in September, new Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren — who agreed to join the Bears just weeks before escrow closed — said the team was “thankful for the vision” provided by Johnson in meetings and remained engaged with Arlington Heights.

In 2022, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot floated the possibility of adding a dome on top of Soldier Field, something the Bears dismissed by saying they were focused on Arlington Heights.

The Bears are renters at Soldier Field, which is owned by the Chicago Park District. The team’s lease runs through 2033. The stadium was renovated in 2003 for $632 million.

A rendering released by the city in 2022 shows a renovated Soldier Field with a dome added.

Landmark Development

Jason Lee, a senior Johnson adviser, said the city did not recommend the parking lot as a site for a new stadium. According to Lee, Johnson said only that the city was interested in working with the team on other Chicago sites besides Soldier Field, and encouraged the Bears to look at options in the city. There are, Lee acknowledged, only a few suitable locations.

As for whether the mayor would expend political capital to help with the cost of a new stadium — and even do so before the bonds for the Soldier Field renovation are paid off — Lee called such speculation “premature” but would not rule out that option.

Johnson has held several meetings with Warren to try to build the kind of trust and rapport that has not existed before between the Bears and City Hall.

If Johnson is willing to help the Bears build a new stadium long before retiring the existing bonds, there are only a few city sites large enough to handle the massive development the Bears envision.

The South Loop site at Clark and Roosevelt known as “The 78” is bisected by an active railroad track, and the University of Illinois is building an academic and research hub there. The contaminated South Works site near 85th and South Shore Drive that formerly housed U.S. Steel has bedeviled every developer who has ever tried to tackle it.

That leaves the old Silver Shovel dump site at Roosevelt and Kostner, the old Finkl Steel site in the middle of Lincoln Park, the now-troubled Lincoln Yards project and McCormick Place East.

Friends of the Parks, a group that advocates for lakefront protection, contends that both the McCormick Place site and the south parking lot would violate an ordinance protecting the lakefront from new development.

Juanita Irizarry, who this week announced she will soon step down as executive director of Friends of the Parks, advised the Bears to save their time and money.

Irizarry’s group also led a legal battle that forced Star Wars movie mogul George Lucas to cancel plans to build a $743 million museum on those same 17 acres.

The lakefront “belongs to the people” and cannot be used for new construction of any kind, Irizarry said Thursday.

“The public trust doctrine applies today the same way that it did when George Lucas tried to build on this site,” Irizarry said. “Our lakefront is not available for development in the private interest. It is surprising that they would even consider it. Anyone who is aware of the history would imagine that their viability study would have to include the certainty of a lawsuit from Friends of the Parks to protect against development on our lakefront.”

Chicagoan Marc Ganis, who has advised numerous NFL teams on stadium financing, said the shortage of available stadium sites within the city limits is why any conversation always returns to the south parking lot.

“Friends of the Parks are powerful. But if you’ve committed to looking at all options in the city to build a new stadium, you can’t ignore that site. It may not work out,” Ganis said.

“Friends of the Parks may block it,” Ganis added. “But if you’ve made a commitment to the mayor that you will, in good faith, look at all potential sites, there are only so many of them.”

City Council committee OKs CPD contract extension, rejects arbitrator’s ruling on police discipline

2023-12-07T15:22:32.674-06:00

A Chicago City Council committee will meet Thursday to consider a new police department contract.

Sun-Times file

A City Council committee on Thursday delivered a symbolic but temporary message underscoring its commitment to police reform and accountability.

Over strenuous objections from the Fraternal Order of Police and its Council allies, the Committee on Workforce Development voted 10-5 to reject an independent arbitrator’s ruling that would allow Chicago police officers accused of the most serious wrongdoing — and recommended for firings or suspensions over one year — to bypass the Police Board in favor of an arbitrator who might be more sympathetic and would hold proceedings behind closed doors.

Before voting on that, however, the committee approved a two-year Chicago Police Department contract extension.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and outgoing Police Board President Ghian Foreman, who spoke Thursday, led the charge in urging the committee to reject the ruling that independent arbitrator Edwin Benn has affirmed and reaffirmed.

They were joined during the public comment period by Anthony Driver Jr., president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability; Craig Futterman, director of the Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project at the University of Chicago; and social worker Anjanette Young.

Young received a $2.9 million settlement from the city after being forced to stand naked while an all-male team of police officers mistakenly raided her home in 2019.

She told alderpersons her story “would have been swept under the rug” had officers involved in the raid been free to “hide behind the doors” of arbitration.

Driver said he was “unequivocally against arbitration” because it “makes a mockery of transparency.” He called it a “slap in the face” to the Council, the civilian oversight commission and to the people of Chicago.

“Arbitration is part of a broader backlash against a movement for community-driven police oversight. This Council needs to stand up for that movement because it took us five decades to get here, and we will not go back,” Driver told alderpersons.

The committee vote to defy Benn was the easy part, requiring just eight votes of the 15-member committee.

Next week’s full Council vote will be harder. It requires a three-fifths vote — 30 members — to defy Benn yet again. And even then, it would only send the matter back to Benn, who has made it clear he would reach the same conclusion.

“If you reject this proposal, and the Council then rejects it on Wednesday, all you are doing is postponing the inevitable. This is protected in labor law. ... It’s a fight you will not end up winning, and you are subjecting ... our members to needless torment,” FOP President John Catanzara told alderpersons.

During an interview with the Sun-Times earlier this week, Catanzara predicted a judge would uphold “a collective bargaining right that cannot be weakened.”

“If there’s that many aldermen who want to take it to court, then I guess we’re going back to war time like we did with [former Mayor Lori] Lightfoot. There’s no need for it to get ugly. But if enough aldermen want to fight, we’ll certainly give ’em a fight,” he said.

Under questioning at Thursday’s hearing, Chicago’s veteran labor negotiator Jim Franczek said it would be a “steep hill to climb” for the city to win an FOP court challenge.

But Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) said he was willing to take that chance to avoid “gutting the Police Board to the point of nonexistence.”

So was Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), who reminded his colleagues there were “118 victims” of the Jon Burge torture era.

“We are a city of an ugly past and an ugly present of police misconduct,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

Noting that police misconduct settlements have cost Chicago taxpayers $710 million since 2011, Ramirez-Rosa said, “We will pay so much more if we gut our city’s efforts toward civilian oversight.”

Ald. Peter Chico (10th), a Chicago police officer, said officers are prohibited from going on strike and should be allowed to choose arbitration given “what we go through every single day as a Chicago police officer on the street.”

“We get things thrown at us. People yell at us. People attack us. We don’t have the ability to strike. We don’t have the ability to take a step back,” he said.

Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd), one of the police union’s staunchest Council supporters, said the arbitrator’s ruling is “not a matter of granting a new avenue to police officers” but about “correcting a wrong based on the fact that Chicago has been using a disciplinary process for police officers for years in violation of state law.”

“When the city of Chicago created the Police Board, it did so in violation of the Illinois Labor Relations Act,” she said.

“Every police officer who has had his or her career impacted by a decision by the Chicago Police Board has been subjected to an illegal process set up by the city to impede their rights as a worker just because he or she is a police officer.”

Given the pyrrhic and possibly temporary nature of Thursday’s vote, senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee was asked what rejecting the ruling accomplishes, beyond giving political cover to alderpersons who also voted to sweeten and extend the police contract Johnson negotiated.

“We have to send a signal to the public about what’s important, what our values are and what the standards should be. … The commitment from the city and the City Council has to be to transparency and public involvement in accountability mechanisms for law enforcement,” Lee said.

“We need to give ourselves an opportunity to potentially have some adjustment to, either the ruling or some other avenue that we might be able to pursue. But it starts with the rejection,” he said. “If you don’t reject it, you foreclose any opportunity to rectify or adjust the ruling or get the ruling changed. There’s no guarantee that this step will ultimately deliver the outcome that we all seek. But we must try.”

Mayor slams move to hide cop misconduct hearings from the public

Even though it handed the FOP a defeat, the Committee on Workforce Development gave the police union an important split decision by approving the two-year contract extension with higher pay raises and operational changes that could help solve murders and reduce CTA crime.

The agreement ratified by voice vote calls for doubling the annual pay raise that rank-and-file police officers were scheduled to receive in 2024 and 2025 — from 2.5% to 5%. During the two year-extension that ends on June 30, 2027, police officers will receive annual pay raises in the 3%-to-5% range, depending on the cost of living.

Instead of giving officers with 20 years’ seniority the annual $2,000 retention bonus awarded by an independent arbitrator, the agreement gives a one-time $2,500 retention bonus to all officers, regardless of seniority. There’s also a cash incentive to help fill the crucial, but historically-difficult-to-fill role of field training officer.

For Johnson and his newly appointed Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling, there is a key operational change that could help boost Chicago’s dismal homicide clearance rates.

The police department won the right to create Los Angeles-style rotating teams of homicide investigators working 10-hour days. Each team would get all of the murders in a given area during a one-week period, then spent the next five weeks trying to solve those homicides without being assigned more cases.

The proposal was the city’s “major ask” during contract talks, according to Catanzara.

Yet another operational change could help reduce violent crime on the CTA. It would reduce — from 80% to 50% — the share of officers assigned to the mass transit detail on the basis of seniority.

Mayor Johnson agrees to sweeten police contract, extend it 2 years