Several aldermen are unconvinced that the city should ink a new franchise agreement with ComEd — and Chicago may have other options, officials said.
Byron Sigcho-Lopez
The firm also vowed to fight climate change and reduce shut-offs
Since 1997, rent control has been banned in Illinois. A bill working its way through the General Assembly would give cities and towns the chance to hold a referendum vote on whether their municipality should allow it.
The 42-8 vote was a victory for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who promised during the campaign to overhaul the city’s laws to reduce the affordable housing gap of nearly 120,000 homes in Chicago.
Four aldermen say the guilty verdicts will likely avert large protests and civil unrest in Chicago — while acknowledging they have much more work to do to reform the Chicago Police Department, particularly in the wake of the police shooting death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.
Aldermen on Tuesday advanced a plan designed to boost the number of affordable homes across Chicago by requiring developers that get special permission from the city or a subsidy to build more units and pay higher fees.
Aldermen are sharply divided on the issue after a proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot was significantly revised. Alds. Jason Ervin, Maria Hadden, Byron Sigcho-Lopez and George Cardenas weigh in.
The revised measure is designed to tighten regulations on recycling centers and industrial operations in an effort to reduce air pollution on the South and West sides. A final vote is scheduled for the full City Council meeting on March 24.
This month’s deep freeze has left Chicago’s homeless residents in deadly peril. But housing insecurity is not just an extreme-weather problem, some advocates say, and the city needs to take a bolder approach to housing policy.
Pilsen has long been an enclave for immigrants, and right now, it’s a community with many residents who are struggling because of the coronavirus.
A rancorous debate that stretched for more than 18 months ended Tuesday with a unanimous vote of the City Council’s Zoning Committee to reject an effort to landmark more than 900 buildings and murals in Pilsen.
A weekend protest that turned violent has spurred calls for answers from top cop David Brown — and even a call for his resignation. What’s next after the latest skirmish between law enforcement and those who want to defund the police?
An increasing number of complaints that Chicago officials decided to protect downtown at the expense of neighborhoods on the South and West sides are “not true and illogical,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday.
The Little Village community has already been hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19. Now, residents are fuming about the demolition of a smokestack that gave rise to a plume of dust and particulate matter that wafted through the neighborhood.
Community leaders are pushing the postal service for answers – and changes – after a customer reported a clerk who refused to help Spanish-speaking customers.
The Pilsen neighborhood has been at the center of battles over gentrification. Now the longtime Mexican American community is facing a new twist involving old buildings.
Tuesday’s runoff election brought to a close aldermanic battles in 15 wards across the city. We speak with Alds.-elect Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward), Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward), Samantha “Sam” Nugent (39th Ward) and Matt Martin (40th Ward).
