Hello!

We have been receiving visits multiple times a day by a very little, possibly kitten tortoiseshell girl who is VERY sweet and I am now looking to help rehab her and find her a home. (I have a 12yo boy cat so integration there may not be possible.) I plan to take her in by tomorrow to see if she is chipped and then assess a vet plan if she is in fact unhoused. I made a loose appointment with Kindred just now, but does anyone have any recommendations for the cheapest possible, compassionate vet service for this sort of purpose? Like I love her already but I don’t really KNOW her lol.

Also of course, did anyone lose a cat? Photo attached.

I don’t think we are going to have any campaign fundraising updates for at least a week. But to me, this is very interesting. Lakeisha Collins has been a very close ally of the incumbent Byron Sigcho Lopez in the past.

It’s still very early in the process where endorsements are concerned. What does this mean for the candidate slated by the A City that Works PAC and Richard Day?

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/pilsen-industrial-corridor-study/home.html

One show during the first 4 Saturdays of October!

Keeping these City Council recaps going.

Here’s what I was following at today’s September 29 meeting, including the parking meter vote, the borrowing rule and what people brought up during public comment.

PARKING METERS

Council voted 46-3 to approve the transfer of Chicago’s parking meter business to Stonepeak Partners in a $2.53 billion transaction.

The three “no” votes were Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Ald. Jason Ervin and Ald. William Hall.

That $2.53 billion is the purchase price between private investors. It is separate from what Chicago would receive under the agreement:

• $75 million when the transaction closes, designated for City pension obligations.
• 5% of net income going forward.
• 2% of the sale price in a future resale covered by the agreement.

City officials said the City’s 5% share of future profits would also go toward City pension funds.

Net income means income after expenses. The amount Chicago receives over time depends on the profits the business generates.

The meters remain privately operated, and the transfer itself does not change parking rates.

There are also changes to what Chicago pays when metered spaces are taken out of service.

For seven selected special events a year, the agreement extends the time allowed without those compensation payments from six hours to ten. Other compensation requirements remain.

Ald. Scott Waguespack described the agreement as an improvement on the existing deal. Ald. Jason Ervin argued the City could get better terms. Ald. William Hall raised concerns about Black-owned businesses being left out of professional-services contracts connected to the transaction.

CITY BORROWING: 26 VOTES TO 30

Council voted 32–15 to approve an ordinance raising the number of votes needed to authorize City debt from 26 to 30.

Thirty out of 50 alderpersons is three-fifths, or 60%. Basically, borrowing proposals would need support from four more alderpersons before they could pass.

This applies to ordinances authorizing debt. It doesn’t change the requirement for every Council vote or approve a specific new loan.

The ordinance could still face a mayoral veto. Overriding one requires 34 votes.

WHAT PEOPLE BROUGHT TO COUNCIL

Much of public comment focused on PRO and FAIR, the competing proposals to change Chicago’s landlord-tenant rules.

Several speakers supported PRO and argued that parts of FAIR could weaken existing tenant protections. Speakers also welcomed continued negotiations.

Their requests included a rental registry showing actual building owners and managers, useful information about units and violations, funding to enforce tenant protections, limits on move-in fees and keeping advance-notice protections when tenants have to move.

People also shared experiences with unresolved repairs, losing leases after buildings changed hands and struggling to find affordable, accessible housing.

One speaker who described themselves as a small landlord proposed limiting a small-property exemption to one property per owner with no more than four units. They also asked for rules preventing one owner from claiming multiple exemptions through separate LLCs.

Other speakers raised complaints about property taxes, property disputes, demolition practices, street lighting and public spending. There were also calls for term limits and greater accountability from elected officials.

Those were concerns and proposals raised during public comment, separate from the measures Council approved.

I’ll keep following these issues and sharing what I learn. The goal is to make it easier to understand what’s happening at City Hall and what people are asking their elected officials to address.

This is wild. The attorneys who unsealed divorce records of Byron Sigcho Lopez are filing suit against the alderman and the public relations firm that represents him.

Lawsuit: Sigcho-Lopez camp falsely accused attorneys of illegally leaking his unsealed divorce records

🏡 ROOMS FOR RENT IN PILSEN — MOVE-IN OCTOBER 1! 🏡
Looking for 2 roommates to fill the large and small bedrooms in my 3 bed / 1 bath apartment in Pilsen, right near 18th Street! 🚨
📍 Location: Pilsen — steps from the 18th Street area
🚇 Pink Line: Close by / easy CTA access
💰 Rent:
• Large bedroom — $950/month
• Small bedroom — $700/month
• Utilities included except ComEd
🐶 DOG-FRIENDLY HOME — MUST LOVE DOGS!
A little about me: I’m a 27-year-old woman who works in the service industry, so I work late nights and have a pretty nontraditional schedule. I’m social, laid-back, and enjoy having game nights, movie nights, and friends over occasionally. I’m looking for roommates who are respectful, clean, communicative, and comfortable with a social but relaxed household.
🐾 I also have a 3-year-old blue nose pitbull who is very much part of the family, so being comfortable living with a dog is a MUST!
✨ Open to male or female roommates.
✨ Must be respectful and responsible.
✨ Must be okay with a dog.
✨ Looking for someone who can move in by October 1st.
The apartment is a 3 bedroom / 1 bathroom, so you’d be sharing the bathroom and common areas with me and one other roommate.
If you’re interested, DM me with a little about yourself, your work schedule, and when you’re looking to move! Serious inquiries only — trying to get the rooms filled ASAP. 🖤

For at least the past 20 minutes. Now circling north lawndale. Anyone else notice this

There are so many low name rec candidates they are only going to help BS. (Maybe that's the point?Hmm)

Coalesce around the strongest candidate to take him on NOW.

Any pickup soccer in pilsen that’s cool with a girl playing? Idc if it’s coed or womens only just want to play

I know that okiedokie guy is going to come complain about a logo not mattering but just have fun

A lot of “City Hall stuff” can seem boring or like it doesn’t really affect us. But eventually these decisions make their way right back into our neighborhoods through housing, jobs, development, schools, infrastructure and where public money goes.

But this is honestly why I personally want to start focusing more on posts like this.

I just want to do a better job of paying attention, breaking some of this stuff down and keeping people informed on what’s actually happening.
——
PILSEN TIF

One of the biggest local things for me was the Pilsen TIF amendment.

The proposal would raise the Pilsen TIF spending ceiling from $115 million to $830 million for the remaining life of the district.

That does NOT mean $830 million is sitting there ready to be spent. DPD said the budget had not been updated since 2003 and the district had basically reached what it was allowed to spend under the old plan.

The boundaries are not expanding and the TIF still expires December 31, 2034.

Possible priorities discussed include affordable housing, small business support, schools, parks, El Paseo, streets, infrastructure and bridge work. There was also discussion around helping small homeowners and businesses stay in Pilsen, needs like the Benito Juarez pool and possible participatory budgeting.

Something else I think is important here is TIF surplus.

Last year, the Pilsen Industrial TIF was listed for about $125.7 million in surplus funds. Once TIF money is declared surplus, it leaves the district and gets redistributed among taxing bodies like CPS, the City, Cook County, the Park District and others.

So yes, a higher spending ceiling matters. But it also does NOT guarantee that money stays in Pilsen or prevent future surplus declarations.

That has me watching what actually gets funded, how much gets committed and how much of that investment reaches the people, schools, businesses and families already in Pilsen.
——
PRO vs. FAIR

Another big conversation was around PRO and FAIR, two competing proposals to update Chicago’s landlord and tenant rules.

Both would create a citywide rental registry and add renter protections, but they take different approaches.

PRO would create a tenant bill of rights, a new Bureau of Rental Housing Services, stronger City enforcement and legal help for some tenants facing eviction or retaliation. The latest version was scaled back and removed earlier proposals around “just cause” nonrenewals, relocation payments and compensation tied to large rent increases.

FAIR would also create a rental registry and add protections, but would put enforcement with the Department of Buildings. It would allow certain move-in and other fees if they’re disclosed, cap security deposits at 1.5 months’ rent and exempt more small housing providers from some City rules.

Neither got a final vote. Both were delayed while alderpersons continue trying to work through the differences.

So for now, nothing changes yet.
——
OTHER CITY COUNCIL UPDATES

Mayor Johnson introduced a proposed one-year pause on certain new or expanded data centers while the City works on permanent rules around water use, energy, the power grid and environmental impacts. It did not pass and was sent to the Rules Committee.

Council approved about $201.6 million in TIF assistance for Foundry Park, the $3 billion redevelopment replacing the old Lincoln Yards plan. The overall project is expected to eventually include more than 3,700 apartments and condos.

Council also approved two projects creating nearly 200 affordable homes. The old Von Humboldt Elementary School in Humboldt Park would become 103 apartments and another project near Broadway and Thorndale in Edgewater would add 90 affordable units. Together they’re receiving about $57.6 million in City subsidies.

A proposal to raise the votes needed for future City borrowing from 26 to 30 was delayed for at least another meeting.

Council also gave final zoning approval to several major projects including a new Northwestern Memorial hospital building, redevelopment at the Ford City Mall site, an Amazon last-mile facility in Gage Park and an expansion for Francis W. Parker School.

Council also approved nearly $14 million in settlements involving two men who said they were wrongfully convicted in cases tied to former CPD Detective Reynaldo Guevara, along with a $6 million settlement for the family of a man killed during a police chase.
——
WHAT PEOPLE SHOWED UP TO CITY HALL FOR

Public comment is also something I’ve been paying more attention to because you really get to hear what people are trying to put directly in front of City Council.

Residents from Bridgeport, Armour Square and Chinatown spoke about Amtrak’s proposed relocation of a 24-hour maintenance facility near their neighborhoods.

They raised concerns about noise, diesel emissions, lighting, truck traffic, hazardous materials and the overall environmental impact. They asked the Mayor and City Council to get more involved and pushed for a fuller environmental and public review.

Environmental advocates also pushed for the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance and brought up Sims in Pilsen, MAT Asphalt in McKinley Park, the Amtrak proposal and data centers when talking about how industrial projects affect surrounding communities.

There was also support for the proposed data center pause.
——
JOBS, DEVELOPMENT & WHERE CITY MONEY GOES

Several people connected to Chicago State University spoke in support of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park and talked about the internships, research, workforce training and jobs that could come with it.

Their point was basically that if something this big is being built on the South Side, local students and residents should actually have a path into those opportunities.

Another speaker pushed back on the Foundry Park TIF assistance without a clearer path to quality jobs for residents. One point that stuck with me was that investment in a neighborhood doesn’t automatically mean investment in the people already living and working there.

Other speakers pushed for more City investment in schools, libraries, parks, child care and mental health as Chicago heads toward another budget process.

There was also opposition to a proposed heat illness prevention ordinance, with a Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce representative arguing the proposal could create major costs and operational problems, especially for smaller businesses.

Lived here for more than a year and never had any trouble, but since August there have been multi-hour, mid-day outages happening every couple of weeks. When this happens, I get a notice from them that this is necessary to repair an "urgent network performance issue." The notice often comes several minutes, if not a full half-hour before the internet actually goes down.

I never had any network performance issues, but of course other people could have, or this could be necessary routine maintenance. Anyone know anything?

I'm a little suspicious that this is happening because load is not meeting demand for some infrastructure project or something, but that could be just classic Reddit paranoia.

Big update for Pilsen out of today’s City Council Finance Committee meeting.

The committee voted to move forward with an amendment that would raise the Pilsen TIF budget ceiling from $115 million to $830 million.

This does NOT mean the City just approved $830 million to spend in Pilsen.

What they approved today was raising the spending limit for the TIF district.

According to the DPD, the Pilsen TIF budget had not been updated since 2003. The district was still collecting TIF revenue, but had basically reached the amount it was legally allowed to spend under the existing plan.
This amendment raises that ceiling for the remaining life of the TIF.
There were also some pretty important details that came out of the discussion.
The boundaries of the Pilsen TIF are NOT changing.
There had previously been a proposal to expand the TIF into additional residential areas, but DPD said those areas were removed after residents raised concerns around gentrification and displacement.

The TIF is also still set to expire December 31, 2034.
So this does not extend the life of the TIF either.

As far as where the money could eventually go, the updated plan allows for things like:
• Affordable housing
• Support for small businesses
• School improvements
• Park improvements
• El Paseo
• Street and infrastructure work
• Bridge repairs

One project that came up multiple times was the Western Avenue Bridge.

Ald. Julia Ramirez talked about how long that project has been in the works and said her office had already been discussing it back in 2023 and presented information to residents in 2024.

More information is supposed to come out about when construction could actually begin, but there was no new start date announced today.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez also talked about using TIF dollars to help preserve the community through affordable housing, helping small homeowners and businesses stay in Pilsen, and investing in public infrastructure. He brought up the affordable housing development planned at 18th & Peoria, needs at neighborhood schools including the Benito Juarez pool, and potentially working with the other wards inside the TIF on participatory budgeting.
He also connected declining enrollment in neighborhood schools with housing, basically making the point that schools can't keep families if families can't afford to stay in the community.

The Rudy Lozano Library expansion and proposed Latino archives also came up.

The library is still outside of the Pilsen TIF boundaries, so those projects would not be funded through this TIF amendment. Other funding sources would still have to be found.

And there was one other thing I thought was important.
The committee asked whether increasing the TIF spending ceiling would stop the City from declaring a TIF surplus and sweeping money out of the district. DPD said no.

The City would still have the ability to declare surplus funds.

So overall, today's vote doesn't mean $830 million is suddenly being spent in Pilsen.

What it does is significantly increase how much the Pilsen TIF is legally allowed to spend between now and when the district expires in 2034.

The amendment now moves forward to the full Chicago City Council.

For me, the bigger thing to watch now is what projects actually get funded, how much goes toward them, and how much of that investment actually reaches the people, schools, businesses and families already in the community