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A South Side land giveaway that would pave the way for Chicago’s first-ever indoor, all-night skateboard park sailed through a City Council committee Monday, but it will be built only if Mayor Rahm Emanuel authorizes $2 million in tax-increment-financing.

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley proposed the innovative idea while presiding over his last City Council meeting.

It calls for selling four city-owned parcels at 1600-to-1752 S. Clark Street that once housed a Trailways bus barn to the Chicago Park District for a token price of $1.

The open garage that the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation has been using for the last 10 years as a headquarters for its Loop snow operations would be transformed into Chicago’s first indoor skate park.

On Monday, the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate approved the land deal, but not before project manager Michael Lang disclosed that the Park District was requesting a $2 million subsidy from the local TIF district at a time when Emanuel has promised to rein in TIF spending.

The $2 million plan calls for rehabilitating the existing building and turning the 27,000-square-foot of space into an indoor skateboard complex that includes a lobby, locker rooms, a skating surface and viewing area with spectator seating.

The plan also calls for improvements to the building’s exterior, landscaping and a parking lot. The skating area will include traditional skateboard elements, including ramps, ledges and paths with “unique obstacles,” officials said.

“This is a cool project. I just told Danny [Solis, whose 25th Ward includes the project] that I want him to buy me a new pair of roller skates so I can practice,” said Committee Chairman Ray Suarez (31st).

Solis promised community meetings before the TIF subsidy is approved. But, he called the skate park a wonderful addition to “almost adjacent” — and soon to be expanding — Ping Tom Park.

“This skate park will just add to what will hopefully be one of the premier parks in Chicago. I look forward to having this park be one of the jewels of the city,” Solis said.

Still, Solis acknowledged that “there is some concern from residents — not just in my ward, but other wards” about the indoor skate park that will allow skateboarders to blow off steam day or night.

“This is simply an acquisition. There will be a number of community meetings to allow input and refine how we put this park together,” he said.

On the day he proposed the park, Daley said the idea came from “a number of people working in various restaurants — young people who want to do some physical activity.”

“It’s gonna be an indoor park and it’s gonna be fabulous for skateboarders. It’s gonna be open 24-hours-a-day,” he said then.

“A lot of young people work at night. They get off at one or two o’clock in the morning. Of course, they want to skate around the city. So, this will be a great indoor facility. It’ll be the only one of its kind in the country. It’ll be a public park. It’s fabulous.”

The Park District currently owns and operates four outdoor skateboard parks, but no indoor park. The closest indoor park is located in Tinley Park.
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Source: The Chicago Sun-Times

Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) will stay on as chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee — but his power will be somewhat diluted by the creation of a new committee chaired by Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s closest ally — under a reorganization plan expected to be ratified next week.

After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, City Hall sources said Emanuel has settled on a City Council reorganization that reduces the number of standing committees from 19 to 16 and cuts spending by ten percent or roughly $470,000.

Instead of funneling all major legislation through the Finance Committee, the shake-up calls for creating a new Committee on Workforce Development and Audit chaired by Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th). O’Connor served as Mayor Daley’s unofficial floor leader and will play an even more prominent role in an Emanuel administration.

O’Connor acknowledged that Burke would relinquish some control in the new line-up. But, he said the goal is simply to move the issues that Emanuel outlined as his priorities during the mayoral campaign. Burke and his staff have been “very collaborative” about the idea,” O’Connor said.

“The intent is not to dilute his power. … It’s not about power and this committee vs. that committee. It’s about making the committee structure make sense and having the ability to respond to today’s challenges,” he said.

Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) will become president pro tem, chairing Council meetings in Emanuel’s absence after relinquishing the Police Committee she now chairs to Ald. James Balcer (11th).

Housing Committee Chairman Ray Suarez (31st) will also serve as vice-mayor.

Aldermen chairing committees for the first time include: Tom Tunney (44th), Economic, Capital and Technology Development; George Cardenas (12th) Health and Environment Protection; Michael Zalewski (23rd) Aviation and Joe Moore (49th) Human Relations.

The line-up also includes: Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin (34th); Education Committee Chairman Latasha Thomas (17th); License and Consumer Protection Committee Chairman Emma Mitts (37th); Special Events Committee Chairman Walter Burnett (27th); Traffic Committee Chairman Marge Laurino (39th); Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9th); Zoning Committee Chairman Danny Solis (25th); and Rules Committee Chairman Richard Mell (33rd).

Of the 16 Council committees, five will be chaired by African-Americans, a loss of one. Seven committees will be chaired by white aldermen, down from eleven currently. The number of Hispanic committee chairmen will go from two to three.

Two committees — Buildings and Landmarks — will be folded into the Zoning Committee. The Environment Committee will be eliminated and merged with the Health Committee. The Parks Recreation Committee will be folded into Special Events and Cultural Affairs.

The Buildings Committee and the Landmarks Committee will be folded into the Zoning Committee. The Environment Committee will be eliminated and merged with the Health Committee.

Chicago taxpayers currently spend $19.5 million-a-year to maintain 50 aldermen and an additional $4.7 million-a-year for the 19 standing committees.

The changes will save roughly $470,000, a largely-symbolic, but nevertheless important move to usher in an era of shared sacrifice needed to erase an annual structural deficit that, Emanuel has claimed, could approach $1.2 billion.

Emanuel rocked the boat with a pre-election threat to re-organize the City Council — and strip Burke of his police bodyguards and, possibly, his chairmanship.

The mayor-elect blames Burke for laying the groundwork for the residency challenge that nearly knocked the former White House chief of staff off the ballot.

But, with an annual structural deficit approaching $1.2 billion, Emanuel ultimately decided to work with Burke and avoid a repeat of the 1980’s power struggle known as Council Wars that saw 29 aldermen, most of them white, thwart then-Mayor Harold Washington’s every move.

Sources said the proposed reorganization has been cleared with all 50 aldermen and is expected to be ratified May 18, when Emanuel presides over his first City Council meeting.
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Source: The Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago aldermen are paying tribute today to Mayor Richard Daley as he presides over his final City Council meeting.

Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, is up first as the dean of the council, praising his onetime political foe.

With many of the 50 council members likely wanting to have their thoughts recorded, the praise could last for hours.

At the start of his last meeting, Daley took the occasion of honoring police officers for their heroism to highlight his longtime backing of gun control laws.

“This is our country, and why is it that we subject, every day, citizens and law enforcement to the destruction of guns in America, without anyone getting upset?” Daley asked.

Daley’s son Patrick and eldest daughter, Nora Conroy are present at today’s meeting. First lady Maggie Daley is believe to still be in the hospital after being readmitted for what her doctor said was flu-like symptoms.

Prior to the meeting, Daley shared hugs and banter with aldermen, including several who will stay on and others who will be departing come May 16, when the new mayor and council are sworn in. He smiled as he posed for pictures with several of the aldermen, as well as some council staff members, while TV cameras recorded the ritual.

Daley started presiding over council meetings in 1989 after being sworn in following a decade marked by racially-tinged Council Wars. The mayor eventually cemented power, partly due to the fact that he got to appoint so many aldermen who vacated their seats due to corruption convictions, new jobs or retirements.

Come May 16, Daley will be a private citizen once again and Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel will learn on the job how to run a council meeting and build the coalitions he needs to get his agenda approved.

Daley has been on a neighborhood farewell tour and his last council meeting marks a historic moment for him.
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Source: The Chicago Tribune

Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel said Monday he’s not troubled by a federal discrimination lawsuit filed against his new schools CEO because similar charges were made against U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan when he ran Chicago schools.

“The Secretary of Education Arne Duncan — similar lawsuit in his background. That comes with the territory of trying to make change when stakeholders realize that, you know what, they may not be the beneficiary anymore,” Emanuel said.

“There’s only one beneficiary when it comes to the Chicago Public School system: the kids.”

Emanuel also sloughed off questions raised by the graduation rates in Rochester, N.Y. that Jean-Claude Brizard claimed on his resume.

“Any way you slice or dice it, graduation rates are up. Any way you slice or dice it, the actual diplomas that kids are earning are higher. Any way you slice or dice it, he’s kept kids — rather than in truancy programs — in the school system. … His elementary reading and math scores are up,” Emanuel said.

“Did he ruffle feathers? Well, when you have a 39 percent drop-out rate, I sure hope he did.”

Brizard was named in two federal lawsuits during his three-year stint as Rochester schools superintendent.

One accused him of firing a deputy “without cause” after making disparaging remarks about her age and about tensions caused by “strong black women.” The other accused Brizard of instituting a policy of sending teachers under investigation to a do-nothing alternative work location branded the “rubber room.”

Last summer, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found probable cause that the 58-year-old deputy had been fired because of her sex, age and race.

An outside investigation commissioned by the Rochester Board of Education found no evidence of bias.

Pressed to describe the similar allegations against Duncan, Emanuel aides pointed to a 2004 lawsuit that accused Duncan of firing an employee he had accused of being “dishonest” and mismanaging money.

The lawsuit did not accuse Duncan of being insensitive to age, race or sex.

Also on Monday, Emanuel hinted strongly that he has decided to retain Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) as chairman of the City Council’s powerful Finance Committee, but shrink the roster and spending of City Council committees, as reported last week by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Emanuel described the ice-breaking session he had with Burke at the home of Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th) as a “good meeting” that reaffirmed his view that the City Council is ready for reform.

“All the members want to see change — even the [Finance] chairman. They all know this was an election about reform,” Emanuel said.

“City Hall cannot be in a change-free zone. We’re gonna be part of the change. That’s gonna be true in the mayor’s office. That’s gonna be true in City Council. And that’s gonna be true about how we work together and how we reflect the interests, the expectations of the voters and taxpayers.”
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Source: The Chicago Sun-Times

Mayor Daley has agreed to put a cap on relocation expenses that must be paid to displaced renters to salvage reforms that came too late to protect consumers from Chicago’s condominium conversion epidemic.

Instead of requiring developers to pay $1,500 or one month’s rent, whichever is greater, the mandatory relocation cost would be capped at $2,500.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) pushed for the ceiling to prevent corporate executives renting $9,000-a-month lakefront penthouses from cashing in on a perk that’s intended for struggling families.

But, Reilly said Tuesday he has other problems with the watered-down ordinance, scheduled to be considered by a joint City Council committee later this week.

Chief among them is the mayor’s plan to more than double — from four months to nine months — the advance notice to tenants before condo conversions.

“That’s a 125 percent increase in the notice period. That’s gonna raise the cost for construction loans. That, in turn, raises the cost of condo units,” Reilly said.

“If our goal here is to keep housing affordable in Chicago, this well-intentioned ordinance is falling short.”

If the mayor’s revised ordinance is not approved by May 16, it will die along with the old City Council. Reilly said that’s fine with him.

“This will have a profound impact on the housing market. More time and negotiation is required. This ordinance has been in the works for three years. We can afford to wait 60 more days to make sure we get it right,” he said.

The $2,500 cap was not enough to appease the Chicago Association of Realtors, either. The group is threatening to file a lawsuit to challenge a relocation fee it views as unconstitutional and ill-advised.

“If you impose a fee when the housing market starts to turn around, it’s a warning sign that Chicago is a tough town to do business. It could stifle residential development, construction jobs, material sales and transfer taxes,” said association spokesman Brian Bernardoni.

Bernardoni noted that the Chicago Association of Realtors pushed hard for the mayor’s proposal to require a standardized disclosure summary and enhanced property report to inform tenants about the physical condition of buildings targeted for conversion and the financial requirements upon occupancy.

“It would be a fundamental shift in how condos are bought and sold. We may end up losing a very strong consumer protection by working against this ordinance, which is frustrating and unfortunate,” he said.

Despite the lingering concerns, retiring Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) said she would push for a final vote at Thursday’s meeting of the Buildings and Housing Committees.

“Their position is we shouldn’t be discouraging condo conversion in a down general economy. My position is, this is the right time to re-set the rules as the economy is re-setting itself so that, when things do pick up, we will have addressed the excesses,” Shiller said.

“Everyone doesn’t always agree on what is and isn’t legal. This is one of those instances. It may end up getting litigated. But, we need to address issues that affected condo owners and renters.”

Three years ago, Daley appointed a condominium task force to address ways to protect consumers from the wave of condo conversions gobbling up rental housing and displacing families.

The panel took so long to study the issue, the condo conversion epidemic has long since passed. The problem now is condo owners who cannot sell their units renting them out in buildings hovering near foreclosure.
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Source: The Chicago Sun-Times

When the hands come off the holy books at swearing-in ceremonies next month, Chicago will have a City Council churned by turnover of more than a third of its 50 members along with a new mayor, Rahm Emanuel.

The new council will be without its second-longest-serving member, 50th Ward Ald. Bernard Stone, who suffered a crushing loss. Also gone is 6th Ward Ald. Freddrenna Lyle, a veteran African-American leader who went down in a narrow defeat.

Not even the 36th Ward, long a Democratic machine bastion, was safe from change. Appointed Ald. John Rice, the former driver for political powerbroker William J.P. Banks, lost to a little-known firefighter, Nicholas Sposato.

The new aldermen were elected Tuesday in runoffs in 14 wards where no candidate scored a majority on Feb. 22. In the intervening six weeks, more than $2.4 million poured into the runoff campaigns, with most of the cash coming from unions, politicians and business interests hoping to shape the council.

Emanuel lost the Lyle and Rice races and one other, but his candidates emerged victorious in the other seven contests where the mayor-elect backed a candidate. Last weekend, Emanuel walked door-to-door on the Far North Side with Debra Silverstein, who defeated Stone.

Aides to Emanuel said Silverstein was the first person he called to congratulate Tuesday evening, even as Silverstein sought to dispel the notion that she would do the new mayor’s bidding.

“I’m here to represent the people of the 50th Ward,” said Silverstein, who is married to state Sen. Ira Silverstein, the ward’s Democratic committeeman. “I’m looking forward to being an independent person.”

Stone scored just 38 percent in losing his first council election since 1973.

“It would appear that this will be my last term,” Stone said, cameras snapping around him. “It’s been a good run. I will be satisfied with what I’ve done to help the people in the 50th Ward, and I feel sorry for them from this point on, but I wish them well.”

On the South Side, Lyle lost to second-generation politician Roderick Sawyer, the son of the late former Mayor Eugene Sawyer. The defeat came despite support from Emanuel, powerful Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, and unions.

“They are unhappy and disgruntled with the face of government,” said Lyle, whose largely middle-class ward saw the murder of two police officers in the past year. “And I am the face of government.”

Sposato, whose 36th Ward campaign got some of its money from firefighter unions, said he was surprised to get more than 56 percent against Rice. “I thought I had a 50-50 chance,” Sposato said. “Basically, I was up against an army.”

All told, the council will have 18 new faces. Thirteen new aldermen were elected this year and five more have little experience after being recently appointed by outgoing Mayor Richard Daley.

Rapper “Rhymefest” loses

The 20th Ward contest drew outsize attention because it featured a retired cop running against a rap artist with a rap sheet.

In the end, Ald. Willie Cochran won a second term by collecting 54 percent of the vote, to 46 percent for Grammy winner Che “Rhymefest” Smith. Cochran got Emanuel’s support about a week ago, while Smith from the start had some of the unions in his corner. In defeat, Smith raised questions about whether people voted from abandoned buildings or from outside the ward.

Two other first-term aldermen from economically struggling South Side neighborhoods beat back challenges with help from unions and Emanuel.

In the 15th Ward, Ald. Toni Foulkes, a former grocery store bakery worker, got 69 percent of the vote, while Raymond Lopez, a Southwest Airlines skycap, got 31 percent.

In the 16th Ward, Ald. JoAnn Thompson, a former Cook County sheriff’s lieutenant, scored 56 percent of the vote to defeat Hal Baskin, a community anti-violence coordinator and frequent candidate who got 44 percent. Baskin was charged with two misdemeanors after getting into an argument with an election judge.

In the 17th Ward, Ald. Latasha Thomas, an 11-year council veteran, got major help from Emanuel to fend off a challenge. Thomas is the former chief of staff to the previous alderman, Terry Peterson — who’s now CTA chairman and an Emanuel political ally.

Thomas scored more than 52 percent of the vote to 47 percent for David Moore, a top aide at the county tax appeals board and a former operative in the Democratic ward organization when it was led by Peterson.

Republicans fighting elimination

Republicans were hoping to avoid being wiped out of the council entirely, even though city offices are officially non-partisan these days.

The 45th Ward appears headed for a recount as John Arena led John Garrido by 29 votes out of more than 12,000 cast. Garrido said he’ll ask for a recount.

Arena is a business owner and longtime community activist who had all-out support from the Service Employees International Union. Garrido is a Chicago police lieutenant who ran last year in the Republican primary for Cook County Board president. He was backed by the Fraternal Order of Police and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

One of Mayor Daley’s appointed aldermen won Tuesday. In the 38th Ward, Ald. Timothy Cullerton, 38th, rode his famous family name and support from Emanuel and Burke to victory. Cullerton, a former first deputy commissioner in the buildings department, got nearly 60 percent to 40 percent for Tom Caravette, a real estate agent who owns several properties in the ward.

Lakefront squeaker

Longtime North Side Aldermen Vi Daley and Helen Shiller didn’t run again, leading to a pair of hard-fought races.

In Uptown’s 46th Ward, James Cappleman, a social worker and longtime community activist backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, downed Molly Phelan, who was backed by Burke and Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd. Cappleman got nearly 56 percent to 44 percent for Phelan.

In Lincoln Park’s 43rd Ward, Michele Smith held a 220-vote lead over Tim Egan.

Smith, an attorney, is the ward’s Democratic committeeman. Egan is a hospital executive backed by a pro-Emanuel fund.

Southwest: Solis in close one

In the largely Latino 25th Ward, well-connected Ald. Daniel “Danny” Solis, fended off a spirited challenge from Cuahutemoc Morfin, a community activist and vice president of his family’s construction firm.

Solis, who was backed by Emanuel, Burke, SEIU and business interests, got 54 percent. Morfin, who campaigned on a promise to clean up a pollution-spewing coal plant in Pilsen, got nearly 46 percent.

In an acknowledgment of the traction Morfin gained pushing the power plant issue, Solis told supporters he is committed to passing a clean-air ordinance. Solis said he believes the ordinance will be challenged in the courts, but realizes that it is too important to his constituents not to support it.

Solis said he was surprised by how close Morfin came to beating him, and realized his opponent was scoring points with the air-quality issue.

On the West Side, first-term 24th Ward Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon lost a grudge rematch to former Ald. Michael Chandler, who scored more than 60 percent after losing a runoff four years ago.
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Source: The Chicago Tribune

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in mailings and phone calls; thousands of hours putting up signs and passing out fliers — now it comes down to which voters are willing to get out and cast ballots on Tuesday.

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners predicts fewer than one in four voters will turn out in the 14 wards around the city where run-off elections for alderman are scheduled.

A low turnout generally — though not always — favors incumbents, even recent appointees such as Ald. Tim Cullerton and Ald. John Rice in the Northwest Side 38th and 36th Wards respectively, where they face challenges from property manager Tom Caravette and firefighter Nick Sposato.

In four wards, the 41st, 43rd, 45th and 46th, all on the North Side, the incumbent has retired and the wards will get a new alderman no matter who wins.

Absentee and early voting ballots are running highest in the far Northwest Side 41st Ward, where longtime Ald. Brian Doherty, the city council’s lone Republican, is retiring.

Though the elections are non-partisans, the 41st and 45th wards on the Northwest Side offer voters a choice between Democrats and Republicans with appreciable ideological differences on social and economic issues.

Polls are showing the incumbents — most of them supported by mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and unions — with comfortable leads in most cases.

“I need a new partner … that partner is a City Council that wants to work in the spirit of reform and change to the way business is conducted in city government,” Emanuel said Monday. Though he has endorsed mainly incumbents who had wide leads over their challengers in the first round of voting, Emanuel said he endorsed those committed to supporting his changes for schools, ethics laws, no-bid contracts and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, he said.

Bernie Stone, 83, one of the longest-serving aldermen, faces a spirited challenge in the Far North Side 50th Ward from CPA Debra Silverstein, wife of State Sen. Ira Silverstein.

The Council already has six new aldermen elected in the first round set to join the ranks. At least four more new aldermen will be elected Tuesday from the open seats.

For profiles on the 14 run-offs, go to http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections

The Cook County State’s Attorney will have prosecutors on hand Tuesday to monitor against vote fraud. In Chinatown, where incumbent Ald. Dan Solis (25th) faces a challenge from community activist Cuahutemoc “Temoc” Morfin, prosecutors fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese will be on hand to guard against electioneering, the State’s Attorney’s office said.

Suburban voters will see races for village boards, school boards and city councils, as well as some high-profile referenda.

Residents in several towns will be electing mayors, including Naperville, Oak Brook, Chicago Heights, Highland Park and Joliet, where voters will choose a replacement for retiring five-term mayor Art Schultz.

Other races of note feature well known atheist Rob Sherman running for Buffalo Grove village clerk and Joanne Ring on the ballot for the Blue Island Park District board, which has been beset by controversy since a Calumet Township official drowned at a park district pool last summer. Ring died suddenly last month, and unless a write-in candidate gets more votes than her, the park board chairman will choose who fills the seat.

And voters in Lockport Township High School District 205 for the sixth time will cast ballots on a tax increase to build a new high school.
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Source: The Chicago Sun-Times

A slew of City Council hopefuls in next week’s runoff election find themselves showered with attention from three influential suitors.

Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, powerful Ald. Edward Burke and big labor are providing campaign cash, workers and endorsements.

In some wards, they’re backing different candidates. But they stand behind the same ones in nearly as many — an indication that the choices made by political heavyweights in the 14 runoff contests is as much about stockpiling allies as it is about battling rivals.

For Emanuel, it’s about building support for his agenda on a council he hasn’t worked with before. Burke is trying to hold onto his influential post as Finance Committee chairman. And the unions are aiming to preserve city workers’ jobs and salaries during a budget crisis, as well as promote policies they say will protect the working class.

“It’s more about relationship building than supporting the people you think will vote with you,” said David Morrison, assistant director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

Many of the contributions defy the notion that Burke and Emanuel will go to war to control a majority of the 50-member council. The political dynamic of the new City Council could be one of shifting alliances based on issues rather than one controlled by a strong mayor or polarized by a racially-tinged battle for power.

A prime example of this phenomenon is the campaign of Ald. Freddrenna Lyle, who has represented the South Side’s 6th Ward for 13 years. She’s backed by Emanuel, Burke, the unions and even a number of business interests.

Lyle faces a fierce challenge Tuesday from Roderick Sawyer. He’s the son of Eugene Sawyer, the former alderman the City Council picked to replace Mayor Harold Washington after his death in office.

Lyle has received nearly $25,000 from the New Chicago Committee fund created by Emanuel that so far has made contributions to seven candidates. She’s also gotten more than $135,000 from the unions that together are putting far more money into the races than any other politician or group.

Lyle also got an endorsement from Burke, whose backing historically signals to others that it’s OK to follow suit.

Council colleagues also have chipped in by helping Lyle on the campaign and contributing thousands of dollars. For those helping Lyle, it’s a way to court favor with other aldermen who hold her in high esteem.

“It has been humbling,” Lyle said of the outpouring of support. “They see what I do, how hard I work, and they believe that as we move forward with a new mayor, it will be important to have me on the council.”

Another alderman drawing strong support from Emanuel, Burke, the Service Employees International Union and businesses is Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th. The chairman of the council’s important Zoning Committee faces a challenge from Cuahutemoc Morfin, a construction company vice president and activist from the Pilsen neighborhood.

Appointed Ald. Timothy Cullerton also hit the campaign cash trifecta as he seeks to hold onto the 38th Ward seat his family has held for most of the years since the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. He’s being challenged by Tom Caravette, a real estate agent.

In that race, Burke has weighed in with contributions totaling $5,000, more than the alderman with the $8 million sitting in his campaign funds typically doles out in such contests.

“I’ve known Ed Burke and his wife for 25 years, at least,” said Cullerton, who had a long career in the city Buildings Department. He said Burke was also “a very good friend” of his father, Thomas Cullerton, who was a longtime alderman.

Those three are among the nine candidates Emanuel endorsed in the runoffs. All have received New Chicago Committee money with the exception of Ald. John Rice, 36th, who is being challenged by firefighter Nicholas Sposato, and Ald. Willie Cochran, 20th, who expects to have two mailers funded by the committee as he’s being challenged by rap artist Che “Rhymefest” Smith.

One race where Emanuel and Burke are going head to head is in the 50th Ward, where longtime Ald. Bernard Stone is being challenged by accountant Debra Silverstein, who is married to Sen. Ira Silverstein, the Democratic ward committeeman.

New Chicago already has given Silverstein nearly $50,000 — the maximum amount now allowed. She’s also a favorite among the unions. But Burke and Ald. Richard Mell, 33rd, took the unusual step Wednesday of holding a fundraiser for Stone, their longtime colleague.

It took place at Manny’s, the venerable South Loop delicatessen that Chicago politicians from Mayor Richard Daley to Emanuel to President Barack Obama have had on their campaign itineraries for years. Burke was there, as he has been at fundraisers for at least four other candidates.

Joined by a handful of fellow aldermen at the event, which had prices ranging from $250 to $5,000, Stone held court at a table where old friends stopped by to wish him luck. City Hall real estate lobbyists — who count on Stone’s support as chairman of the council Building Committee — ate corned beef sandwiches and chatted with Stone staffers.

Since the Feb. 22 election, nearly $2 million has poured into the 14 council contests, either through contributions to the candidates or direct SEIU payments for media buys to promote or attack candidates, according to state records. Emanuel’s New Chicago Committee so far has given more than $223,000 directly to candidates, more than any other political action committee.

The For a Better Chicago political fund, which has aligned itself with Emanuel’s interests, has given nearly $70,000 — with $11,000 going to 17th Ward Ald. Latasha Thomas, who also is backed by Burke and Emanuel. Thomas was the chief of staff to predecessor Terry Peterson, now a political force in his own right and an Emanuel political operative.

By contrast, Burke so far has only given about $11,500 to candidates in runoffs, plus $3,000 to Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, who has contributed $9,000 to Lyle. But he’s also shown up at fundraisers for at least five candidates — three of whom also have Emanuel’s backing.

But the biggest contributors are the unions. SEIU, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Unite Here fund will have pumped more than $3 million into aldermanic races since Jan. 1.

“Our goal is getting involved not only in the City Council, but in politics in general to impact public policy,” said SEIU Illinois Council President Tom Balanoff, who noted that his union has 100,000 members in Chicago but fewer than one out of 15 works for the city. “We try to speak for low wage workers and service workers in general.”
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Source: The Chicago Tribune

Under fire to deliver suburban-style curbside recycling to 359,000 Chicago households without it, the Daley administration has decided to privatize the service by signing a 10-year contract with Waste Management, a union leader has been told.

Lou Phillips, business manager of Laborers Local 1001, said the city would be divided into six zones, with four of them awarded to the waste-hauling giant.

Brackenbox, supplier of giant Dumpsters known as “roll-off boxes” used to replace Hired Trucks, is expected to get at least one zone, he said.

Although a city official said the contracts were still being evaluated, Phillips said he has been told that Mayor Daley intends to sign the recycling contracts early next month to get ahead of a union-backed ordinance designed to keep the work in-house. It would require a two-thirds vote by the City Council before assets are sold and city services are privatized.

“They don’t have money to pay my members overtime or holidays, but they can bring companies in to do recycling. It’s a kick in the ass to the people of Chicago and to my members. These are the guys who stood up and took comp time and furlough days. Now they’re giving our work away,” Phillips said.

“Maybe it’s one last sweetheart deal. But the citizens will be left holding the bag. You won’t have a city work force anymore. Eventually, you’ll have a 1-800 number to call for your problems. It could lead to fees. This contract will start out costing $600,000 a month. I don’t see the city being able to absorb the cost.”

Phillips has been lobbying aldermen to impose a $10 monthly fee for recycling pickups to raise $72 million — enough to bankroll the citywide switch to curbside recycling now stuck at 241,000 households.

“A $10 user fee is gonna be cheap two years from now. Once these companies have got it for 10 years” the sky’s the limit.

Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said Wednesday he had “no information” on the recycling contracts.

But Procurement Services spokeswoman Shannon Andrews said a Jan. 12 bid opening attracted eight proposals that were still being reviewed.

“This contract has not been awarded and the bids are still under evaluation,’’ Andrews said Wednesday.

The Laborers contract requires the city to inform the union when it intends to privatize the jobs of its members. The union is then given one last chance to submit a competing bid, now scheduled for April 6.

But Phillips charged Wednesday that the city is just going through the motions. Last summer, aldermen from across the city demanded to know why curbside recycling has come to only one-third of Chicago households.

A few weeks later, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that at least 22,000 blue recycling carts — with a pricetag of $1 million — were stashed away in a Far South Side warehouse because City Hall bought them to make the citywide switch but ran out of money one-third of the way through.
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Source: The Chicago Sun-Times

A South Side alderman on Monday lashed out at the Chicago Public Schools for forging ahead with discussions to consolidate at least 10 schools without the early warning promised to parents, community leaders and elected officials.

Last summer, Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) was so upset about the top-down process that had targeted two schools in her South Side ward, she co-sponsored a City Council resolution demanding a moratorium on closings.

She backed off, only after then-Schools CEO Ron Huberman promised to implement a five-step process designed to allow more time for community and school input.

On Monday, Lyle lashed out at interim CEO Terry Mazany for blindsiding neighborhoods with school consolidations.

“If a letter had gone out that a particular school was in danger because of low enrollment, parents might have made different decisions at the start of the school year to avoid the disruption. But, these decisions were made without any notice, discussion, assembly or letters,” Lyle said.

“The community is gonna have no input. That is totally contrary to everything we talked about. Promises made to us were totally ignored. The admission that last year’s closings were poorly rolled out has been forgotten.”

She added, “I just don’t know why they’re moving on such a large scale when we don’t know what the new [CPS] administration’s vision is because we don’t’ have a new administration. … They need to tread very cautiously … when they want to come into communities and disrupt them. Neighborhood schools do more than educate kids.”

Another alderman who asked to remain anonymous, said, “It’s clearly counter to what they said they were gonna do. And when you take this shove-it-down-your-throat decision with the promise to increase access to selective enrollment schools, it’s a pretty mixed message.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday that CPS was actively discussing consolidating at least ten schools. The newspaper also reported that specific plans could be unveiled this week for implementation this fall.

A school board vote on the matter is not expected until next month at the earliest, allowing some time for public hearings.

The proposals being discussed include plans to consolidate Schneider Elementary into Jahn Elementary, Carpenter Elementary into Talcott Elementary, Andersen into LaSalle II and Avondale Elementary into Logandale Middle, officials said.

Another action under consideration is moving Cather Elementary, which currently shares a building with Urban Prep Charter High-East Garfield Park, into Beidler Elementary, sources said.

Newly-elected Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) said CPS officials briefed him late last week on consolidations that could impact as many as three schools in his West Side ward. One of them is a charter high school operating out of an elementary school, he said, refusing to identify the schools involved.

Ervin said he’s waiting for school officials to answer a series of questions he posed about “boundaries, demographics and capacity” before deciding whether or not to support the consolidations.

“It is gut-wrenching. Change is difficult. But in some cases, it may be necessary,” Ervin said.

Ervin said he’s hardly in a position to complain about a lack of warning, considering that he was appointed just six weeks ago to succeed retired Ald. Ed Smith (28th).

“I can’t say something is being sprung on me. I haven’t been here long enough,” he said.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said he was briefed last week about plans to fold the 1st Ward’s Schneider Elementary into Jahn Elementary, which is located in the 32nd Ward.

“I knew changes would be made once the CHA started redeveloping Lathrop Homes. The entire complex is almost shut down. It’s dropped to 130 families from 700. CPS … can’t do too much with it except try to consolidate. There’s so few kids there,” Waguespack said.

“We’re in support of re-invigorating my school, Jahn, which we’ve been working on for three years. … We haven’t found it to be much of an issue. It’s part of a longer-term plan that everybody’s been working on. We assumed a lot of this.”

Bowing to complaints about a secretive process for determining school closings and consolidations, Huberman appeared before a City Council committee last year to outline a process that, he promised, would start the summer before the school board vote.

That would have given parents and community leaders more than six months to either embrace the idea, counter the evidence or find another way to improve school performance.

The five-step process was designed to start with letters to parents and easier-to-read “school scorecards” that “build awareness of school performance” and continue with focus groups and town hall meetings to “weigh improvement options.”

In the past, the dreaded list was handed down from on high in January and ratified by the Board of Education in February.

In early March, Mazany said as many as 30 CPS schools were seriously under-used and he favored using the summer and fall to identify them so their buildings could ultimately be given to high-performing charter schools.

However, also earlier this month, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel told high school students that CPS needs to move to quickly to close under-utilized schools. He noted that some schools built for 500 were operating with only 100 students.

Emanuel spokesman Ben LaBolt insisted Monday that the mayor-elect was not consulted about the proposed consolidations.

Noting that Emanuel has talked repeatedly about Chicago having “one mayor at a time,” LaBolt said, “We won’t be approving our vetoing decisions” made before Emanuel takes office on May 16.
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Source: The Chicago Sun-Times