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Alderman Hall. Present.
Alderman Mitchell, not President Chambers.
Alderwoman Harris Harris is present.
Alman Beal not present in chambers. Alderwoman Ramirez.
Not present in chambers.
Alderwoman Gutierrez not present in chambers.
Alderwoman Coleman. Present. Alderman Curtis.
Present Alder O'Shea.
Present Alderwoman Scott.
Uh, Scott is present. Alderman Ferro.
Present Alderman Waga Pack Present.
Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez.
Present, alderman Viegas not present in chambers.
Alderwoman mitt not present in chambers.
Alderman Sato Sato is present.
Alderman Napolitano Napolitano is present. Alderman Riley.
Riley is not present in chambers.
Alderman Knudsen Knudsen is present.
Alderman Gardner not present in chambers.
Alderwoman Hadden Hadden is present.
Alderwoman Silverstein Silverstein is present.
Mayor, we have a quorum.
Very well. Thank you Madam Clerk.
We have 40, 42 present.
Eight are absent. So we do have a quorum.
Alder Viegas, um, has requested
to participate in today's meeting remotely
for reasons stated in Rule 49.
Madam Clerk, can you confirm Alder Viegas presence online?
Alderman Viegas.
Alderman Viegas not present
Very well.
Okay. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all.
If you would please remain standing for our invocation,
which will be delivered today
by Reverend Otis Moss II from Trinity
United Church of Christ,
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
We the citizens of the city
of big shoulders and diverse dreams.
May we be unafraid to calibrate our moral compass to justice
and our ethical responsibility toward equity.
May we invest in our youth cover our seniors,
protect the marginalized,
never allow our moral responsibility to be disrupted
by Confederate fan boys masquerading as men.
May we speak this day with words that elevate in ideas
that empower all citizens of this city.
We the city of Big Shoulders let our vision
be wide enough to include all.
And may we speak with words that will com encompass
and lift, bless and hold.
And may we be unafraid of holy mischief that
transforms our city and the mighty
and wonderful name of Jesus.
We offer this prayer
and the people of God who believe in the power
of this city may say amen.
Amen. You may be seated.
This is the portion of the meeting for public comments.
Um, could we just ask for the chamber to be
a bit more respectful and quiet
as we prepare for public comments?
Mr. Clerk,
The council will now begin the public comment period,
which is limited to a maximum of 30 minutes.
Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
Speakers cannot yield
or transfer their time to another speaker.
Any written comments that have been submitted will be posted
and made available for Alder Medic Review.
The first speaker this morning is Lindsay Wack.
Just a second please. It's a little bit too loud here.
You all. Can we just bring it down just a little bit so
that we can hear the public speakers?
Alright. Please continue. Our
First speaker this morning is Lindsay w
Hello. Can you hear me?
Yes. Good morning. Good morning.
Um, I would like to comment on why I stand
with Mayor Johnson's veto, um,
of the curfew ordinance.
First, I would like to thank the mayor for the veto
and his willingness to stand up against racist
and reactionary attacks like this ordinance we saw in 2020
during the George Floyd uprisings.
Um, Lori Lightfoot implemented a curfew
where people were not properly informed in time.
And this repression resulted in police brutality
and misconduct across the city.
Curfews only put Chicago youth
and the community at risk resulting in more police crimes
and unnecessary detainment.
This specific ordinance would allow CPD
to call a curfew at any time
and arrest anyone under 18 found outside 30 minutes
after the call is made, our youth deserve less contact
with the police, not more.
The broader threat of this ordinance will also be used
to repress any gatherings of people, including protests,
which is a threat to our democratic rights.
The ordinance was legally dubious as well, so
probably would've been sued, costing taxpayers money.
To support Chicago's youth, we should invest in things
that are proven to keep them off the streets
and out of the prison cycle, like youth jobs
and youth programming, public mental health centers
and non-police crisis response.
This ordinance is a direct product
of the racist climate created by the Trump administration.
These types of tactics are local manifestations
of this agenda that we have to name and fight against.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Nate Holers.
Nate Ho is not here.
Our next speaker is Danny Smith.
Hello. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Welcome.
Hi, my name is Dania. I'm attended at 76 and Kohl's.
I live in a building managed by Halstead Taylor
and owned by Laura Lambert and her group of investors.
Part of a portfolio about 30 buildings, formerly managed
by CKO real estate.
I'm a member of the South Shore Tenants Union
and South Side together,
and I'm here to talk about the issues in my building.
My alderman is Greg Mitchell.
In my building, there's no communication between
the tenants and the landlords.
The landlords, they communicate with us,
but when we talk about repairs, it takes them 24 to 48 hours
to get back in contact with us.
And then they constantly text us about rent and rent
and ha harass us.
But they do not fix the problems
that's going on in our building.
We have been dealing with problems way
before Halstead came about like, we don't have no hot water,
no heat, and there's a rodent infestation,
there's a water problem,
there's water leaking all through the building.
People's ceilings have been collapsing.
I've also experienced a break in,
and they literally just sent someone just to come
Relu relu the panel, and that was it.
The city inspector told them they needed to fix that problem
because it's still a safety hazard.
They still never came. All they did was send someone the day
of and say, Hey, someone's there.
Like, there was no prior communication or no heads up.
I was at work. I have a job. We all have jobs.
The landlords need to take our demand serious.
All we want is them to just fix our repairs.
This is, this is our living conditions.
This is where we live, and I lay our heads.
They do not have to deal with this when they go home.
So they want us to pay
but yet come home to steal no hot water,
water leaking everywhere.
That's just not fair to us.
And and shouldn't and they shouldn't think that's fair.
We need them to take everything that's serious
because we don't have a problem with paying anything.
And also I would definitely like our aldermen
to be supportive in attendance unions.
I definitely need him to step up a little bit more
and become more involved because this is becoming a problem.
They have now been serving 48 hour notice in five day
notices to people,
but yet they still do not want to fix the problem
that's going on with the buildings.
That's it. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Scarlet Johnson.
Hello. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Welcome.
Thank you. Um, well, hello everyone.
Uh, I want to start today by thanking Mayor Brandon Johnson
for standing up for the youth of this city
and using his video on the Snap Q curfew ordinance.
It was voted on last month.
I was in audience that day when city council voted,
and I was so disheartened
and disappointed to hear the racist reactionary attacks
against Chicago's youth from far too many here in city
council attacks.
That seems straight out of the, out
of the Clinton Super Predator days.
These attacks are how the racist climate
of Trump is manifesting in our city.
In these difficult times, we need to come together as a city
and protect our youth and their futures fund the Peace book
ordinance and not past legally dubious ordinances
that will increase the use contact of CPD
and must increase their chance
of serious harm or loss of life.
This curfew is a palate attempt to real public safety.
The real public safety we can build
through community control of the police that can be created
with the community control over the police
that can be created with the community
power over policing ordinance.
Another way we can get real public safety right now is
by ensuring there is no collaboration between CPD and ice.
You can do that now by releasing the body cam footage
of the officers who are collaborating
with ICE in the in the South Loop facility.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Gabriel Miller.
Hello. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Welcome.
Good morning. As a member
of the Chicago Alliance against Racist
and Political Repression
and organization fighting to stop police crimes, I want
to thank Mayor Johnson for vetoing the racist
map curfew ordinance.
We support your willingness, mayor Johnson,
to stand up against reactionary facts like this one,
to threaten the democratic rights of Chicagoans.
Not only is the Snap curfew ordinance a lawsuit waiting
to happen, but also a racist piece of legislation
and the increasing contact between black youth
and CPD in the same city
where police murdered Laquan McDonald,
Dexter Reed and Adam Toledo.
Our youth need a system where working
and oppressed people have power over
CPD, not the other way around.
Beyond giving CPD greater scope to repress black
and brown youth, this ordinance also threatens any gathering
of people including protest.
Chicago's history of struggle is something to be proud of
and something to build on.
And we will not let this backwards ordinance get in the way
of our collective struggle for a better city.
It also is not lost on us.
This proposed ew, that tanning love
with Trump's sleeping attacks against all workers.
Shame on the alders who contributed
to this reactionary climate.
By supporting this ordinance, even
as this curfew is defeated, we will continue
to fight for real public safety.
We will fight to pass a budget amendment,
takes money away from CPD misuse of over time vacancies,
invest instead, youth jobs, mental health centers, youth
or trauma
and other important investments
that actually help the people in Chicago.
And most importantly, we will fight to win the referendum
for community power over policing so that the people
of Chicago can determine for ourselves
only we can stop.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Priscilla Tito.
Hello. Good morning. Uh, my name is Priscilla.
I'm a youth organizer, um,
and I'm from the west side of Chicago, Austin.
Um, I'm here today to say thank you to the mayor
for vetoing the Snap curfew ordinance,
and thank you to every single older person that stood
by his side and is standing by his side.
Um, young people need investment.
They need spaces in their communities
where they feel appreciated, where they feel valued
and not criminalized.
Um, this summer alone,
my organization hired over a hundred students, um,
through one summer Chicago programs.
Um, and every single one of those students tells me
that there's a lack of spaces in their community
where they feel safe, where they could hang out
with friends, spaces in the community
that are deemed accessible, aren't they?
Criminalize them, push them out,
make them feel like they're a burden.
Um, so that's why I think we need to continue the investment
of year long jobs and programs.
We should establish more community oriented spaces,
create affordable
and recreational activities, are you deserve to thrive
and be in community and not limited
through ordinances like this.
So thank you to all the other people
that are standing by our mayor.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Leila
Ambrosio sga.
Hi, my name is Leila Ambrosio. I am 19 years old.
I'm a youth housing organizer.
I have lived in Belmont Craig my whole entire life,
and I, my older person is gonna be, is Felix Cardona.
To me, the Northwest Housing Preservation Ordinance is
important because it is there to protect the kind of housing
that has shaped my life.
I live in a three flat in, uh, uh, Belmont Craig homes
that are affordable and allow big families
like mine to stay together.
When I left for college to Bentley University,
Massachusetts, I realized that how unique
and valuable our houses are in Chicago,
in other places like Massachusetts,
I barely spotted these affordable, hou affordable buildings.
These homes are more than just buildings.
They're where culture, connection and community grow.
Losing that could change everything.
It could change the way we move,
the way we support each other,
the way our neighborhoods feel.
The Northwest Housing Preservation Ordinance
is fighting to protect that.
Specifically. They're working to make sure
that people like me, my family, my neighbors,
are staying rooted in the communities that we have built.
Um, that's why I stand with the ordinance
because I will not sit down, watch the feeling
of home disappear to me, my to my older men.
Felix Cardona, please stand by.
Our constitute constitutes we need protection
and a bigger voice.
We want to do your, we want you to do your job right.
Reconsider this project, please.
Finally, let's support communities demands for a full
investigation on CPDs action on June 4th.
We're safer when ICE is not in our communities. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Linda Gregory.
Hi, I am Linda Gregory.
I'm here because I, um, I woke up this morning.
I'm, I'm just a mom and, um, my children.
I'm with, um, a program called Southside Together
and we are, uh, bringing, um, the community together, um,
for, um, just to, uh, for kids
to have something to do.
It's, it is so amazing that my children get up every day
and they go to this program that, that was just created.
And I'm, I'm so amazed.
I, um, the, i, I came today
because the, um, it just reminds me
of my childhood when they had a ordinance of, um, curfew.
Curfew and it, it didn't work back then.
I don't think it's gonna work right now.
So we shouldn't punish our children.
We should, um, be bracing them
for entrepreneurship, you know?
'cause a lot of the jobs right now is, is leaving
and then we should, the, uh, technology is, it's a lot
of things that's going on right now.
And we just want to prep the children for the future.
For, um, um, so I'm starting a, a a,
a game called Alternate Creativity Freedom.
And I just want to, uh, bring the children into,
'cause they, I wanna get on they level.
Like they, they like to play games.
And I, I wanted to give them a way
to make money by playing a game.
So the reason why I'm here is, um,
today is I just want somebody they believed in me
as I I was a child.
They, they took the time to, um, when I was messing up
and doing bad things, they took the time to love me
and told me, girl, don't do it this way.
Don't, don't do it that way. They took time and loved on me.
And that's what we should do for the children,
to love the children and,
and show them a better way of doing things.
Thank you so much. I tell my children every day, you smart,
you wise, you intelligent.
Your mind is open and ready to learn something new.
Just because it's hard, don't mean you can't do it.
You can do hard things. You can do incredible things.
You can and you will. Thank you so much for the time.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Laura Goldberg.
Hi, my name is Laura Goldberg. I live in the 35th Ward.
I have been a Chicago resident for 13 years,
and I've lived in and around the city for my entire life.
I work at the Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC,
as their Midwest Regional Impact Director
and have worked on environmental
and affordability issues in Chicago
and the Midwest for the past 17 years.
I care deeply about the city and region
and want to see Chicago leading on critical
environmental justice issues.
That's why I'm here today in strong support
of the Hazel m Johnson Cumulative Impacts ordinance.
Early in my time at NRDC, I had the privilege of meeting
and eventually working closely
with Hazel's daughter Cheryl Johnson.
Now the executive director of the amazing organization,
people for Community Recovery, the Environmental Justice
and Affordable Housing nonprofit that Hazel founded.
I learned about Hazel's legacy
and the decades of work she led here in Chicago
and at the federal level, pushing
for fair equitable treatment of the people in her community
of Alt Guil Gardens
and similar communities across this country
that have faced serious health consequences
because industry was placed over people again and again.
This ordinance is an opportunity to honor Hazel's legacy
and continue her fight for clean air, environmental justice
and fairness in how decisions are made.
Decades of harmful zoning
and land use policies have concentrated the most toxic
polluters in Chicago, especially in communities of color.
These zoning decisions pushed heavy
industry into already dis disinvested areas
with devastating effects.
This ordinance proposes common sense updates
to our zoning code to make the process more fair,
more transparent and inclusive
of recommendations from community voices.
It would bring more opportunity for meaningful participation
by residents and their elders
and ensure that the full picture, the cumulative impact
of past and present pollution is considered when evaluating
new industrial proposals.
Importantly, this is not a blanket
restriction on development.
It is not unnecessary red tape.
This ordinance specifically looks at a narrow class
of the most intensive pollution generating industries
and tests them with making sure their impacts on the
surrounding landscape are understood rather than, um,
simply giving them the right to do so.
This ordinance is a smarter, more equitable approach
to planning and permitting.
One that will prevent future conflict, reduce health
and environmental harms,
and build trust between communities in the city.
Chicago has a chance
to be a leader on this issue at a time when federal
environmental justice rules,
including the ones Hazel fought hard for,
are being rescinded by the current administration.
Hazel's legacy is on the line,
and this is an opportunity
to support her community in those just like it.
I ask the city council to review and vote yes on the Hazel.
I'm Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance
when it comes up for a vote.
Thanks for your time.
Our next speaker this morning is Brenda Sono.
Hi, my name is Brenda Sono.
I live in Pilsen in the 25th Ward. I work for Family Focus.
Family Focus serves communities across 2000 square miles
around Chicago and surrounding areas.
We do. We serve people regardless
of their immigration status.
And we're also members of the Illinois Coalition
for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, also known as icer.
ICER played a strong leadership role in developing
and advocating for the welcoming city ordinance, as did many
of our city representatives,
which restricts city engagement in immigration enforcement.
We were therefore appalled to see
what happened this past June 4th at the Isab
location in the South Loop.
We showed up to the Committee on immigrant
and refugee rights meeting earlier this month to ask
for transparency related
to the Chicago Police Department's involvement
and accountability for any violations
to the welcoming city ordinance.
To recount the events of June 4th, the US Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE lured people
who were already subject to electronic monitoring
to show up on short notice only to get abducted
by ICE when they reported,
we saw Chicago police officers setting up perimeters
around the IAP site site and apparently communicating
and possibly cooperating with ICE agents.
This deployment appeared
to violate the welcoming city ordinance as well
as the Illinois Trust Act,
which prohibits police co cooperation
with immigration enforcement across our state.
This incident happened as ISIS continuing,
continuing its onslaught against our communities
and against our institutions.
ICE is using our state of Freedom of Information Act
to get records from our police department.
ICE is also trying to get information from our city clerk
regarding people who applied
for the city Key Municipal ID program,
a program we worked really hard to limit
what information gets collected
and to carry out their hateful national deportation quota.
Trump has deputized agents from across federal government
to focus on our neighbors
and family members during
operations like the one on June 4th.
Let me be clear, I exist to separate families
cause fear and disrupt normalcy in all, sit in all
of our communities, immigrants
and citizens alike,
a crucial step toward accountability in our city.
And our state will be approving the order approved
by the Committee on Immigrant
and Refugee Rights directing the police
and other city agencies to share their records
and incident as part of an investigation.
We hope the entire council will approve this order
and take further steps to demand CPD accountable,
demonstrate transparency and protect all of our communities.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comments, your Honor.
There are no further speakers who have timely signed up
for the public comment period.
Burwell, thank you to all the public comments today.
Now we move forward with resolutions, but
before we do that, there are six alders that wish
to make acknowledgement.
So what I would ask is that for each alder
that is making the acknowledgement
that you be the only speaker
and that we move with some expediency,
have a very full agenda today.
And with that, the first acknowledgement will be from
Alderman David Moore, who would wish
to acknowledge the Leo Catholic High School Boys Choir.
The chair recognizes Alderman Moore.
Thank you Mr. Uh, president
and I, I got some other directions from the team,
so I'll, but I'll be quick. Thank
You very much. Um, um,
the, I would like
for the interns from Learn Charter School just
to stand and raise their hand.
We always gotta recognize our young people when they come
down, so I appreciate them for being down here. Thank
You.
But what you stated, I am just so excited and, and,
and I, I know everybody
or a lot of people watch America Got Talent.
And in Chicago on the south side of Chicago,
in the 17th Ward in Auburn Gresham,
we have the Leo High School Boys Choir,
world renowned Leo High School Boys Choir.
Y'all make some noise for him.
They are under the leadership of the President, Dan McGrath,
who had the knowledge
and the foresight to hire a principal by the name of Dr.
Chaka Raws, who then had the foresight to hire a young lady
by the name of Yolanda Hor Horton, who's the coordinator
and community partnership
and, um, student engagement for college persistence.
But more importantly, years ago.
And she's recently retired,
but she's still working with these boards boys.
Ms. LaDonna Hill,
who is the music and choir director for the, um,
world renowned Leo Boys choir who took them to a GT
and they touched our hearts.
They, they stole our hearts.
They made us cry with their redemption of they belong.
We belong. And I appreciate them. And we so excited.
They made Chicago proud. They made the South side proud.
They made all of us proud.
So again, give a big warm welcome
and uh, thank you for the boys Leo High School,
world renowned choir.
Thank you so much. You may be seated.
The mayor may have some comments later on,
but we're gonna, um, continue
to move on 'cause we got a long meeting.
Um, if you all will, um, my colleagues, bear with me.
The, um, this city within the past few months,
lost two major icons
and, um, pastor LK Curry whose, um, son is here.
Pastor Augustus Curry from Atlanta, Georgia.
Um, and also, uh, Paul Stewart, who's a deacon there.
Um, but everybody also know, um, DC Curry if you ever,
ever watch, um, Friday after next his son.
But Pastor Curry was a, a leader here in this city
and served at Emanuel Baptist Church for many years.
Alderman Stephanie Coleman is gonna speak more to that,
but we also stand in, in honor of Thank you mayor
for honoring Mama Louella Evans Reed.
Um, the other day, you, granted you did a great job.
And if everybody know Mama Lou was one
of the five founding members
and the last founding member
of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, um,
under the leadership of Reverend Clay Evans.
And she passed two days before her 95th birthday.
Our hearts are broken, but I promise you, the life she lived
and the way she died taught us many lessons.
And so, if you all don't mind, my colleagues
and everybody's standing in a moment of silence for Dr.
LK Curry and Dr.
Louella Evans Reed, officially known as Mama Lou. Very
Well. Thank you Alderman
Moore.
If we could just stand for a moment in silence
of these two great leaders and champions.
Thank you all so much. And then thank you.
I'm pa passing this on to Alderman Stephanie Coleman,
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Stephanie Coleman.
Thank you Mr. President.
I would like to officially as both chair
of the Chicago Alderman Black Caucus
and proud alderman of, uh, pastor LaDonna Hill of the great,
uh, Leo Mill course I did.
Let's give him a hand of applause one more time.
I do wanna recognize the family
and trustees of Emmanuel Baptist Church.
We are joined with Pastor Eddie Williams.
Will you please stand?
Pastor Augustus Curry,
who is here from Fayetteville, Georgia.
Trustee Kenneth Gunn, trustee Thomas Long,
and of course, Emmanuel Light trustee Paul Stewart.
Uh, Dr. Curry was truly a man, uh, and father of faith
and education and Emmanuel Baptist Church.
Then Emmanuel Christian School has been a pillar in the
Auburn Gresham community for over 50 years.
And we are so grateful for 98 years of Bible teaching,
Bible preaching and fearing man of God.
So I'm so grateful for you all.
Uh, alderman Moore mentioned some of the greats
that have come out of Emanuel,
like comedian Don DC Curry Grammy Award-winning j Ivy,
the first last
and only cannabis czar in the city
of Chicago, Mr. Paul Stewart.
And of course, a girl from Inglewood
that is leading in the 16th Ward.
And so many doctors and attorneys
and pastors, uh, even our, our friend pastor, um,
him, him, uh, in Texas that I can't think of.
But we are so grateful for the life of you.
Thank you for joining us, and thank you for allowing us
and our mayor and opportunity to honor such a great man.
Thank
You.
As it relates to Dr.
Luella Evans Reed, um, there are, there are not many words
because we were able to, in 2022, give Dr.
Mama Lou's flowers, yet while she can smell them,
and to all of the members of Fellowship Baptist Church
of Chicago under the leadership of Pastor Reginald, uh,
sharp, the only thing
that we can say is when peace like a river,
attended my way when sorrows like sea billow roll,
whatever my LT thou has taught us to say it is well,
it is well with my soul.
And we know that there is a new name written in glory
by the name of Louella Evans Street.
Thank you Mr. President for this opportunity.
Thank you. Thank you.
Alder Men Moore and Alderwoman
Stephanie Coleman And now Alder.
My, now Howorth would like to memorialize.
Bob Newhart chair recognizes
Alder Min not Howorth very well.
Alderman Sig Cho Lopez is next.
He's not in the room. I know Alderman Conway would like
to acknowledge the 20, the 258th anniversary of the US Army.
The chair recognizes Alderman Conway. Thank
You Mr. Chairman. 12
score. And 10 years ago on June 14th, 1775,
the United States Army was founded
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
George Washington was appointed
to lead this army the very next day.
And for generations since that the US Army has
proudly stood ready to answer our nation's call,
representing the very best of what America has to offer,
whether in times of conflict, times
of peace at home or abroad.
Army soldiers have always placed the mission
first and served with honor.
So I'm proud to stand and recognize all those
who have worn the uniform and those
who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom.
In this 250 year milestone is a testament
to the Army's timeless principles
and represents the collective strength
of the American people in the face of great conflict.
Now, as a US Navy veteran myself, I'm honored to
recognize not only the soldiers themselves,
but also the families who have supported them
through every deployment, every homecoming
and every sacrifice.
As, as I could tell you, my wife
and children could, could justify as well.
The strength and support of these families is incredible
and worthy of our praise.
Chicago proudly stands
and celebrates its many, many army veterans
and soldiers products of our very own neighborhoods
and hardworking family throughout this city.
At this time, I'd like to recognize the army veterans
with here, here with us today, specifically Mr.
Steve Herman, who is Civilian aid to the Secretary
of the Army, as well as the leadership team of the US Army,
Chicago Recruiting Battalion,
and also our own alderman, Chris Telio Farro,
who is an Army veteran as well.
So please, uh, please stand up
and be recognized in any other
army veterans we have amongst us.
There you go. Thank, thank you all
for your service to our great nation.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you
Alderman. The chair recognizes
Alderman Siho Lopez.
Thank you. Uh, thank you Mr. President.
Um, I would like to, um, recognize, um,
an important part of our award.
We represent Pilsen Little Village
and also, um, the University Village, uh, university
of Commons Neighborhood Association.
Um, I'd like to recognize, uh,
I know here is Cecilia Salinas, Chloe Ville, Chloe
Jia Pegas, and Matthew Chloe Wick.
If you can please rise to recognize you.
I think that they were still in the back.
I was looking for them, but they are.
They represented, um, university Commons neighborhood.
And today we celebrate a hundred years since the founding
of the South Water Market, uh,
cornerstone in the Chicago's economic history
and a hallmark of the 20th century urban
planning and architecture.
The South market market Mar the South Mar water market was
the largest produce or market in the United States area.
And, um, 75 for 75 years.
And in the last 25 years, this is an example
of urban development
and the character of our neighborhoods
to redevelop now a community-driven development
and now a vibrant neighborhood
that is part of the 25th Ward.
We take the occasions to celebrate
and reflect on the contributions, not only
of the marching class, the architects, the labor force,
and the civic leaders that continue, uh,
to make vibrant neighborhoods and, and worse like mine.
And that is why we present this resolution presented
to University Commons Neighborhood Association,
and a to as a token of gratitude to the cities, uh, uh,
to the from the City Council Gratitude
Administration for them.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alder Vasquez.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Um, I rise in recognition
and tribute of the great sister Rosemary Connolly,
a beloved member of our community
who passed away peacefully at home.
And misery Cordia Heart of Mercy on June 19th.
Uh, I wanna, wanted to recognize her loved ones, uh,
who have come to honor her today.
We have Father Jack Claire,
if you all would please rise those.
Uh, we have Father, uh, Jack Claire, Kevin Connolly,
Lois Gates, Bob Noga, Julia o' Sullivan.
And, uh, we have two mayors here today. Uh, Mr.
Cordia, resident Mayor Terry Morrisey, also with us here.
Uh, uh, sister Rosemary joined Ms.
Cordia on August 20th, 1969
and went on to serve the community for 56 years.
Uh, she devoted over half a century
of her life to the residents of Ms.
Cordia and changed the lives of thousands
of children and families.
Uh, those who have seen the work that Ms.
Cordia does, or I have even sampled any of the baked goods,
know of the impact that, uh, sister Rosemary
and the organization have on, on our city,
but on more than just our city, uh,
it's particularly appropriate
that we are putting forth this resolution on disability
pride month, uh,
because it would be hard to find a fiercer advocate
for people with disabilities than Sister Rosemary.
She believed deeply in every person's right to, as she said,
uh, live a she per every person's right to, as she said,
a life and one worth living.
When she first started out in Mr.
Accordion in 1969, there were no services
for children, children with disabilities.
She responded by creating a model of care for people
with intellectual and developmental disabilities
that is now recognized nationwide
and serves more than 600 children and adults each year.
We're talking about people having a full life occupation,
responsibility, a sense of duty, uh, and understanding that
before Sister Rosemary was on the scene that did not exist.
Uh, we owe so much to Sister Rosemary.
She's an embodiment of the motto she
had inscribed on her ring.
Love serves joyfully.
I'm extremely proud to introduce this resolution,
declaring August 20th
as Sister Rosemary Connolly Day for the model.
She provided us all for how to serve our communities
with love and joy.
We will miss her deeply, but we know her
legacy will live on in Mr.
Accordia and the City of Chicago.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Thank you, Alder Vasquez.
Next we have Alder Rodriguez,
who would like to make an acknowledgement.
The security guards at Little Village.
Lawndale High School Chair recognizes Aldo Rodriguez.
Thank you, Mr. President.
And, uh, it's, uh, it's a special, uh, opportunity for me
to recognize, uh, two heroes of our community.
Two individuals, officer Richard Christian,
school Security Officer, Richard Christian
and school security Officer Hector Rodriguez
for their courage and their commitment
to safety of our students.
Officer Christian has served CPS since 1996,
uh, nearly 30 years of service,
but he's also the head coach
of the football team at the school.
And Officer Rodriguez, uh, unrelated, um,
is a lifelong Chicagoan of 57 years, and he is a mentor
and coaches youth baseball at the school.
Recently at our Little Village Lawndale High School,
both officers acted bravely
and quickly in a moment
that could have ended very differently.
You see, their response helped protect against the
abduction of a young girl.
Um, not only did they stop this abduction
of this young lady, they also followed this individual
and led to the arrest of this alleged perpetrator.
They deserve our heartfelt thanks for their work.
You know, I was, I was there in 2001, uh,
when we had a hunger strike
for a high school there at 31st and Costner.
I was there every day, the hunger strike,
although I, I ate, I was one of the youth organizers.
Um, but I remember entering the school, uh,
in 2005
and shortly thereafter, officer Christian was one
of the first employees of the school.
And not couple of months ago, I was there
for a all day chess tournament where 500 students
were at the Little Village Lawndale High
School on a Saturday.
And Officer Rodriguez was there, uh,
making sure on his time off he was supporting, uh,
our school community.
Those are just examples of what these two guys are.
They're the best of us.
They're black, they're brown,
they're unapologetically leaders in our community.
And I want to thank them for going above
and beyond their job of duty to make sure
that our young students are safe and secure.
So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so very much
for serving our community,
and please give them one more round of applause.
Thank you, Alder Rodriguez.
Next we have, um, a memorial, a tribute
to Officer Pete Kovich,
who's an officer here at City Hall.
Chair recognizes,
thank you very much.
Then the chair will then recognize
and
very well, those are all the acknowledgements that we have.
We will now move for our resolutions.
We have three resolutions today,
celebrating Disability pride month honoring Doug Bruno
and honoring Craig Delamore.
Four. The chair recognizes
Alderwoman Harris and your move
for the temporary suspension, temporary
Suspension of the rouge to allow us
to hear the, uh, resolutions
For immediate consideration. Immediate
Consideration, sir. Very well,
thank you for that move hearing no objections.
So ordered in the interest
of respecting people's time today.
Uh, we will forego reading the resolutions
and go straight to the remarks.
Um, from city council members, again, our first resolution
is celebrating disability pride month.
The chair recognizes Alder LaSpada for closing remarks.
Right. I would prefer to close. Yes. Thank you, sir.
Are there any other, the chair recognizes Alder David Moore.
I'm sorry. Excuse me. Yes,
the chair recognizes Alderwoman. Miss
President, I'd like to be recorded.
Present for roll call.
Very well, thank you. Could you please
add Alderwoman mitt?
Um, as present chair recognizes Alderman Riley.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like
to be recognized as President for the Purpose Court.
Thank you Mr. Clerk. Could you add Alderman Riley
to the role chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell.
Morning, Mr. President. I'd like to be recognized
as president for purposes of roll call.
Very well. We can do that. Thank you. Mr.
Clerk Chair recognizes Alderman Gardner.
Uh, good morning, Mr. President.
Uh, please add me to the role as well.
Very well, thank you all.
Alders will be added to the role
chair recognizes Alderman Moore to speak to the resolution
in honor of disability pride month.
Thank you Mr. President.
I stand in support of this, um, resolution.
Um, first and foremost, um, I want to, um, thank, um,
our commissioner, uh, Rachel Offerer for doing such a
excellent job, um, in that department.
Um, we talk about accessibility
and she's a person that is very accessible
and, um, accessible because we have a lot of veterans
and people, um, with, um, what I call abilities,
um, in our community.
And Southside Occupational School is a school
that's in my ward from us doing, um, special Olympics
with them and just giving them a, an avenue
to work real jobs.
And that's what I like.
They add so much value to our, um, city in many ways.
And we have to make this city more accessible
and user friendly for them.
And that's what I'm gonna continue to work towards.
And so everybody here, I appreciate and I honor each
and every one of you as we celebrate, um, this day.
God bless you. And, um, thank you so much, Mr. President.
You're welcome. Thank you.
The chair recognizes Alder Ramirez.
Um, first I do wanna be recorded as president.
Thank you so much, Claire. Welcome. Awesome. Hi everybody.
Good morning. Good morning.
Good morning Commission. Just a second.
Absolutely. Wonderful. Just a second older woman.
Um, yes, just a second. Yeah, there's just,
there's a few folks that are clearing out.
Let's allow these students to clear out
and then you can Wonderful.
Begin again. Yeah. Last song,
Mr. President.
I'm good.
You sure? Yeah, I'm good. All right. Thank you. Let's
Here. Okay. Awesome. Please.
Okay. Good morning, once more.
Um, commissioner, you are wonderful. You light up the room.
Um, I am so grateful for the work
that you have transcended here at the city of Chicago.
Um, I'm lucky
and fortunate enough to have not just colleagues,
but friends in the box today, uh, like Nick, Eli.
Laura, thank you so much for everything
that you guys continue to educate.
Um, I'm so glad that we get to celebrate you today.
I think now more than ever,
especially in this political climate, you guys make sure
that we remember what it means to be inclusive, empathetic,
and have this pursuit of equality for really all people.
Um, in my journey throughout my education
as a social worker, um,
I watched a documentary on the disability movement in the
seventies, um, and it was really transcending of the work
that I was unfamiliar with.
And so I appreciate the ways in which you guys educate,
not just the city of Chicago,
but the work that you guys do at a state level,
and especially nationally.
As I know Nick, I follow you on TikTok.
You guys have to follow Nick Boyle.
Um, really proud of the work that you've been doing
and the work that you look forward to do in dc.
Um, so I just really wanna thank everybody in the,
in the box and just really talk about the activism
that you guys inspire for us and how it transcends
and really conveys, um, the mission at hand
and the essential fuel for all social and cultural
and political movement, um,
that you guys inspire today. So thank you so much.
Thank you. The chair,
chair recognizes Alder Hadden.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I too rise to be associated with this resolution, um, to all
of our guests in the box.
Thank you. Um,
and Alderwoman Ramirez, um, she said all the things
that were kind of fantastic.
Um, so I want a plus one to everything that she said and,
and, and just add that.
Um, and our current climate, your fight,
your work and everything that you show up for putting your
bodies on the line, um, for all of us is so important.
So I thank you for all the work that you've done,
but also the work that we have to do.
Um, I know these are scary times,
but know that, um, you know, 49th Ward has your back.
You represent the 49th Ward.
Um, and we're all together in fighting for the continued
rights, visibility
and, um, services that are due to your community
because the disability community is one
of the few communities that represents all of us.
Um, all of us. Um, thank you so much
and thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You.
Chair recognizes Matt O'Shea.
Thank you Mr. President. I too
Risens Board of this resolution.
I think it's important to note when we talk about this,
the Special Olympics movement started
right here in our city.
Millions and millions
of athletes across the globe have participated
in Special Olympics programs.
It started here on
July 20th, 1968 at Soldier Field.
That is an unbelievable thing to say that
that started here in Chicago.
I'd like to also recognize, uh, my colleague,
alderman Vasquez, recognized sister Rosemary
Connolly, a living saint.
She was, I worked closely with her
for many years at Miscordia, and what a terrible loss.
I can only hope that others are willing to pick up
that mantle of what Sister Rosemary did, uh, advocating
and fighting for those in our disability community.
I'd also right, like to recognize the many schools I have in
my community that have cluster programs
for our special needs population,
Mount Greenwood Elementary School, Casal Elementary School,
CLAL Elementary School, Barbara Vick,
early Childhood Learning Center,
and the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences,
the second largest population offering programs
citywide for our community.
And finally, special children's charities
and organization I've been involved with
for many years we're the ones
that put on the Chicago Polar Plunge.
We are committed to continue working
with Hugh Commissioner Arfa to supporting your mission.
We are committed to working with supporting programs
and schools and parks all across our city.
Thank you very much for this. Thank you, Mr.
President. Thank you, alderman. The chair recognizes
the chair recognizes Alder.
Matt Martin.
Thank you Mr. President, and good morning.
I wanna take a minute and acknowledge Victoria Prince, uh,
who is the, uh, service coordinator at Silent Co-Op,
where she has worked for the last 27 years,
helping residents
and members across our community thrive by assisting
with access to meals, healthcare, utilities,
providing wellness checks, and others.
Uh, Victoria's parents were both deaf, um, which meant that
as growing as she was growing up,
she had a keen understanding of how important it was
for them to have an advocate and a voice, uh,
and has made that experience a essential part of her life.
Uh, and her work at Silent Cooperative, uh,
this is an organization that opened in 1985,
and it made it the nation's first housing cooperatives,
specifically designed to ensure safety
and community for deaf and hard of hearing residents.
And while this, uh,
terrific organization now serves residents with a wide range
of physical disabilities
and other needs, prioritizing specialized care for, uh, deaf
and, uh, hearing impaired members remains a top priority.
Uh, I I want to, uh, uplift their work
and say thank you on behalf
of very grateful community. Thank you.
Chair recognizes Alder. Mana Hop Penworth.
Thank you, chair. Today,
Chicago celebrates disability pride month
by honoring our past, acknowledging our present,
and reaffirming our commitment to fight for a more inclusive
and equitable future for all.
Thank you, commissioner.
For People with Disabilities, Rachel Arfa, who collaborates
with many groups such as a group near
and dear to my heart, access Living.
And thank you for Laura
and Nick for being in the box today with us.
Uh, shout out to my colleague Daniel LaSpada,
in the first word for fighting with coalitions on policies
that benefit us all, including plow the sidewalks
of which the pilot is coming to the 48th floor.
And we're very excited about it.
Our first disabled US president was Franklin d Roosevelt.
He was a survivor of polio.
Unlike our current sitting, president, FDR used his platform
as a legislator in chief to protect the rights
and of, of our human dignity, dignity, um,
and of our most vulnerable.
In June of 1934, he announced that he was going
to undertake the great task of furthering the security
of the citizen and his family through social insurance.
FDR unified the country at a time of great uncertainty
and planted the seeds
for our current sta current social safety net.
FDR passed the Social Security Act in 1935,
which created the senior and unemployment insurance systems.
We have today, people with disabilities
and allies continue to be at the forefront in the fight
for equity and human rights.
And we are fortunate to have many
of those fighters in the box today.
Thank you for being here.
Representing the great 48th
for Disability Pride month is Sarah Hollenbeck.
Hi, Sarah.
Sarah Hollenbeck is the co-owner of Women
and Children First Bookstore, a trans inclusive shop
in Andersonville, one
of the last remaining feminist bookstores in the country
whose mission is to celebrate the writing of women, people
of color, LGBTQ plus authors and other marginalized voices.
Sarah and I served on the Diversity, equity
and Inclusion Committee at the
Andersonville Chamber of Commerce.
Her community values are reflected in providing a safe
and equitable working
and environment for her staff with co-owner Lynn Mooney.
When not at the bookstore,
you can find Sarah chasing her very active three-year-old
around in their favorite neighborhood parks as a graduate
of Northwestern University's MFA program.
Sarah's writing has been featured in several
literary journals, including her essay, A Gold Goldmine,
which won the Grand Prize in the 2013
Dogwood Literary Contest.
She has been nominated for a Pushkar prize
and received a notable mention in Best American essays.
Her essay, as long as It's Healthy,
appeared in the anthology, nasty Women.
Sarah's work grapples with sexuality, femininity,
physical disability, and gaze, often exploring
how we perceive ourselves, how we are perceived by others,
and the tender space in between.
Sarah, you're an entrepreneur, a community connector,
a writer, a mother, and I'm proud to call us friends.
In the face of threats From the federal level,
localism matters more than ever.
And today, Chicago recognizes local leaders in the box
today, including my friend Sarah Hollenbeck
for Disability Pride Month.
Please, Sarah, stand up so we can recognize you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alder Fuentes.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Uh, after two years, it's really
nice to see you sitting down.
Uh, first and foremost, I stand, uh, in support
of this resolution.
I wanna thank, uh, commissioner Arfa for
her transformative leadership.
I think when we think about the Office of People
with Disabilities, we want to ensure
that we are advancing the city of Chicago
to provide the most equitable opportunities
for every citizen in the city of Chicago.
And I cannot think of a better person to do
that work than Commissioner Arfa.
So first and foremost, thank you for all that you do.
Uh, second, I I wanna acknowledge someone
that I invited to the box today.
Uh, her name is Sonida Lopez.
Uh, she's lived in Humble Park for a very long time
with the Lopez family.
Uh, and I've known Sonida since the age of 15.
And there is no one I've seen, uh, who can work as hard
as Anada traveling across the world, whether it was around,
uh, the fight for the freedom of her brother OCA Lopez ra,
whether it's around educating people around anti-colonialism
and all the things
that Puerto Rico needs are right on Division Street,
where she runs ELTE
and L-G-B-T-Q Shelter for young people,
ensuring despite their abilities or despite their gender
or sexuality, they can get the housing that they deserve.
And so I'm so excited
to have a leader like Sonida in our community,
but to also know that she provides no limits on herself.
Uh, she will go across the world, uh, even if it means
that she's in physical pain.
And often I, I see her walking on Division Street
or attending a protest
or maybe coming to an Allman event, um, trying to overcome,
uh, physical pain.
And I just, I wanna say thank you, Sonida.
If people in our community have not told you, thank you
for your leadership, I want you to know, uh,
that the 16-year-old, uh, Jesse that you mentored
and the older person of the 26th Ward, thanks you
for your leadership in all of the work.
Often people with disabilities are not affirmed, dignified,
or even recognized, uh, for their work.
But more importantly, we know that there are still
systemic barriers in the city of Chicago
to make it quite difficult for people with disabilities
to get jobs to lead, to be agents
of change in our community.
And with the commissioner, with the mayor, with the office,
I'm confident that we will see a new
day in the city of Chicago.
And it is because of people in the box like you all, uh,
to make this, uh, important moment,
but more importantly, a step
in the right direction for our city.
So, Sai, I thank you, commissioner. Thank you.
And everyone in the box congratulations.
Thank you. The chair
recognizes Nick Alder.
Nicole Lee
Chair recognizes Alderman Will Hall.
Thank you so much, Mr. President.
I rise to, to first of all recognize a young man
who has been an advocate for his brother, uh, Nick Boyle.
Uh, Nick has been a true fighter for those
with any disabilities of any kind.
And Mr. President, he left our campaign
to continue to fight for his brother.
And so I'm grateful for his witness
and his work, and I'm grateful.
Lastly, for our commissioner, commissioner Rachel,
who has been most hospitable to anyone, especially those
who don't have voice in heart.
And so I'm grateful for this resolution, standard support
with great pride for the work
that's being done in this city. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you.
Okay. Are there any other alders that wish to speak?
Because Alder LaSpada wishes to close
chair recognizes Alder Vazquez.
Thank you, uh, very much, Mr. President.
Um, I stand, uh, in proud support of this resolution.
Um, we can acknowledge, uh, a lot
of the accomplishments in organizations like Mr.
Accordia, as I mentioned earlier and others have done.
But I really would like to devote the time more to make
a stronger commitment than we have as a city.
Uh, when we think about how we build our city,
how people get along, get from one place to the other,
we have done a disservice to our, uh, disabled community.
We have not yet done the work necessary to make sure
that people can access every inch of the city equally.
Uh, and what we know is that when we as a city accomplish
that goal, it makes everything easier for all
of us to be able to access.
And so whether it's, uh, trying to identify some
of the traffic signals to make sure that our folks
that are blind are able to, to cross the street properly,
uh, even some of the, uh, crosswalks not being
where they need to, I know that we have tons of work to do,
even at that very base and fundamental level.
And so what I would ask of each of you is
that you challenge us,
that you don't accept anything less than what you deserve
when you're here in Chicago.
Um, whether it's Access Living or other organizations
or just neighbors in each ward, definitely reach out
to our offices, come to our offices
and demand that we do the work necessary to create the city
that everyone can enjoy.
And it's not everyone until you all are included in
every facet of it.
So thank you so much for everything that you do.
Uh, and our commitment is to continue to be here to,
to work on legislation, but push us, don't accept
anything less than that kind of work from us.
So thank you so much, and thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes
Alderwoman Nicole Lee.
Thank you Mr. President
and I too rise in support of this resolution.
Um, thank you to everybody in the box for everything
that you do every day, um, to make
our society more inclusive so that all of our, um, all
of our community members, our friends, our families, uh, can
live and exist in whatever way they want
to in everyday society.
Um, I went to a high school that happened
to have a hearing impaired program, um,
at Whitney Young High School.
Uh, and it was the first time that I'd been, uh, exposed
to individuals with disabilities.
And you know what was great? They were just like we were,
they had the same interests.
Um, we had the same hopes and dreams
and struggles as teenagers.
Um, and it really gave me insight as to what it's like
to live in a world that's not really built for you.
So it's all the more important, the work
that you do every day to ensure
that we have a society that is inclusive.
I also had the great fortune to do some work
with Special Olympics as well.
And it is wonderful that, um, it started here in Chicago
and that we have this rich heritage.
Uh, and I think one of the things
that I have taken away from those experiences too, is
that it's, it goes beyond just being treated equally,
walking around, being able to get around.
But how do you support yourself in all of that too?
So, you know, as older people, I think it's really important
for us, uh, to continue to look for opportunities
to promote job opportunities for people with, uh,
with disabilities both visible and invisible.
Let's not forget about those as well.
Um, so as we are celebrating Disability Pride month, I,
I just wanna echo the thanks
and gratitude for all of the work that you continue to do.
Know that you have support from this council, um, to,
to further pursue all of those things.
Thank you. Alright,
the final two speakers, unless
otherwise, we have Alderman Irvin,
and then Alderman La Spotter for the close.
Very well. The chair recognizes Alderman Irvin.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, rise in support of this, um, resolution.
Um, disability is something that
in many cases happens in an instant.
Um, I am grateful to the work
of the disabled community.
Um, just a personal story.
One day my mother-in-law passed,
my wife has a disabled sister who now resides with us.
And when you begin to see up close
and personal, the challenges, the resources,
or lack thereof, kinda brings a, an awareness to you
that you sometimes don't think it's like you don't have
children, so you don't think about certain things.
But I will say this, uh, I am pleased with the level of, of
interest and the advocacy that I see, uh, MOPD doing,
the commissioners doing on behalf of a good section
of our population.
Because believe it or not,
there are more disabled people than you believe.
Just because you may not be able to see the disability,
it does not mean it does not exist.
So, uh, continue the good work
that you all are doing in the department.
Continue to advocacy, uh, for disabled community
as Alder Vasquez talked about, from our, uh,
visually impaired to all of our disabled community,
that we continue to advocate
and make sure that the resources are needed,
because that could be us.
We always have to think about that.
You could be one banana peel
or one accident away from having to be in a state
where you need constant care.
So again, let's be mindful.
Let's think about those who may not
be able to take care of
themselves. Thank you, and God bless you.
Thank you. For our final speaker on this
resolution, the chair recognizes Alderman LaSpada.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I'm very glad to stand in the support of this resolution.
Our colleagues are right disabled,
Chica Lagoons are more individuals than we think.
In fact, in talking to Commissioner Arfa earlier today,
she reminded me that one in four Chicagoans self-identifies
as being disabled.
When I think of this resolution, I think of my parents,
both of whom struggled
with disabilities towards the end of their lives.
My dad from Parkinson's, my mom from
severe workplace related injuries.
And when she was older
and we, I thought about my mom potentially moving out here
to be closer to us.
I thought about how would she access most
of the housing around us.
In the first Ward, I thought about
how would she possibly be able to access most
of the public transit stations around us.
And it made me angry and frustrated to think about the city
that we would've been welcoming her into
for all the progress that we are making.
I'm very grateful for everyone in the box.
I'm particularly grateful to see Adam Ballard here,
who is one of the most talented
organizers I have ever known.
I'm very grateful to have Laura Saltzman
and Carol Ari here from Access Living.
Your organizing, your advocacy, the intersectionality
of your work, the gutsy accountability
that you bring to all of us.
I deeply appreciate, I am so grateful
to have Jean Drew from Espanza Community Services with us,
the way you helped me to be
clear-eyed about the challenges
and the potential facing a lot of folks in Chicago
with deep disabilities.
And I want to speak to that
because I'm, I'm trying to be magnanimous
and I try to be apolitical.
But to say, to pretend that disability is not a matter
of urgent political concern
in this country is to be dishonest.
So let's talk about that.
Let's talk about folks who talk about autism as an epidemic,
who say that it destroys families.
That it is an individual tragedy.
And say that the tragedy of autism for children is
that they will, quote, never pay taxes
and never hold a job that is abhorrent.
It's gross and it's nonsense.
'cause I wanna say I know a lot of folks with disabilities
who are civil rights attorneys.
I know folks with disabilities who are therapists
who serve in elected office and in government,
but it is not your work.
Or the amount of taxes that you pay
that makes your life have value.
Everyone has intrinsic value, has intrinsic dignity,
and is worthy of our care and compassion and respect.
So let's all be deeply clear on that.
I could go in depth, I could examine all
of the systemic issues
as colleagues have talked about today,
but I'm gonna talk about that briefly and close.
Let's talk about the Americans with Disabilities Act.
We have a banner that celebrates 35 years of that act,
and I'm grateful for that.
And I'm grateful for the work that we've done.
And I know that any municipality within employment,
over 20 people, more than 20 people in the war room,
is required to have what's called a transition plan.
And this comprehensively outlines the barriers
to accessibility in the city, the timeline
for addressing those barriers,
and who are the responsible leaders.
And in the, those 35 years, Evanston has a transition plan.
Cook County is on their second iteration of that plan.
Chicago in 35 years, has never had a transition plan.
We can do that. We can do that.
That's the call in to the city.
And I know that the talent and capabilities are in the room.
And on behalf of the folks in this room, I want
to share my commitment to seeing
that transition plan become a reality.
Thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership,
for your honoring of this work
and for being a part of this
resolution today. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
So, every July we come together to recognize
and honor our disability community
and commemorate the passage of the Americans
with Disabilities Act.
This year is a milestone year as we celebrate 35 years
of the a DA when you came to City Hall.
Today, you can see that we have put up banners
and the disability pride flag to honor this milestone.
We will also honor this anniversary on Tuesday,
July 22nd at Malcolm X College.
Unlike other protected classes, anyone can become disabled
and join the disability community at any time of their life.
Disability can be acquired as a result of gun
and community violence, and we are here to support all those
who have experienced violence.
And as a result, as led to a disability,
I honor our disability community who fought
and advocated for the passage of the a DA
This year on the 35th anniversary, we are still fighting
to protect so many civil and disability rights.
This year's anniversary is even more important as we work
to ensure that people with disabilities can continue
to live, work, and play in our beloved city.
And this is why our Mayor's office for people
with disabilities is working so hard to ensure
that the disability community has access, resources,
services, and full support that's needed to live safe,
productive, and successful lives.
I will continue to champion disability rights alongside
of our Commissioner of MOPD, Rachel Arfa this month.
And every month, we not only celebrate the work
that has been done, but we also continue to commit ourselves
to this important work as we aspire to achieve the promise
of the A DAI administration is committed
to making Chicago the most accessible
and inclusive city in the entire world.
And that is why I'm proud to join you all in the recognition
and the celebration of Disability Pride month.
Thank you all very much.
So to Commissioner Rachel Afo, Arfa, Eli Rotman, Nick Boyle,
Bernardo Gomez, Joanna Wagner, Adam Bellard, Caleb Bellard,
Victoria Prince, Sarah Hollenbeck, Jane Drew,
Michelle Garcia, Zia, Zaida Lopez,
Carol Ari, Laura Salzman,
Hugh Woodson Di Avery, Bob Shia, Edgar Ed,
Cesar Mendez, and all those in the box.
Again, we celebrate you. And we thank you.
Thank you very much,
alderman Mitchell, can I get a motion
for the passage of this resolution?
Mr. President, I move passage in the honor us hearing no
objections, so ordered.
As the box clears, we'll prepare for the next resolution.
Honoring Doug Bruno.
Mr. President, I got you. I got you.
While the box clears, alderman Viegas has requested
to participate in today's meeting remotely, uh,
for reason stated in Rule 59.
Uh, can we just confirm that Alderman Viegas is online?
I'm present. Alderman Viega. Viegas, are you present?
Present, Alderman Viegas Viegas is present.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Can I get a motion
to approve the remote participation
and have Alder Viegas added to the roll call?
It's been moved. All those in favor signify by saying aye.
Any opposed, say nay. And Penny of the chair.
The ayes had it. Have it.
Madam Clerk, please add Alderman Viegas to the roll call.
Are there any alders that wish to speak
to the upcoming resolution?
I know Alderman, Nick Podo has requested to speak first.
If you wish to be acknowledged, please, uh, raise your hand
and we'll add you to the list of speakers.
Very well, thank you. The Bruno family is, uh, now seated.
The chair recognizes Alderman, Nick Podo.
Thank you Mr. President.
And thank you for honoring this great man.
Uh, a ton of accomplishments, unfortunately, a coach
and mayor.
And you only got one page here,
but you probably deserve more like a phone
book of accolades.
So, uh, um,
but, uh, I encourage my colleagues, if you don't know
who Coach Bruno is, uh, Google him, check him out.
He's truly a legend, not just in Chicago, but Route America.
He's done a ton for women's sports, uh, women's sports,
not only in Chicago, but throughout the nation.
Um, unfortunately, he's in the tough,
pretty tough division nowadays.
But, uh, or the end of his career.
But he still had a great career.
725 wins, I believe it was Coach.
So that's, if you get,
if you get 70, 70, 75 wins in a career,
that was a pretty, pretty damn good career.
So, uh, just wanna say, we appreciate you for all you did.
It's an honor and a pleasure to be here.
Excuse me. Honor.
Honor and a pleasure, honor,
and a pleasure to be recognizing you
for this great accomplishment.
So I wish you the best. I know, uh,
hopefully the program's in good hands.
I'm sure they are, uh,
to keep up the good work that you have done.
Uh, also everybody, I think it's a, it's a,
certainly a Chica is a Chicago record for, uh, most wins.
Is that, did you, did you win more than Phil Jackson?
I think so. Right. So just, just thank you so much, Mr.
President. He's a, he's, he is a great individual.
He is just done so much for the city, so much
for women's basketball, women's sports.
So I just appreciate you
and it's honor to, it's an honor to honor you today.
So, best wishes to you and your family.
Thank you, Mr. President. Very
Well. Thank you. Alman
Spaza, the chair recognizes all the women.
Pat Dowell.
Uh, thank you, Mr. President.
I am, uh, truly excited to, uh, be able to be a part
of this resolution today.
Um, Doug, I know you
and I are both making a sacrifice being here today.
'cause the sky are playing right now. Right?
Um, but, um, I wanted to say that, uh, you are
a trailblazer for women's basketball
and a cheerleader for the sport.
And I want to, uh, just give you your flowers today,
38 years as the coach of DePaul's women's team.
Um, you've helped to, uh, make basketball,
women's basketball important in the city of Chicago.
I appreciate the, uh, attention that you
and DePaul University gave to Lynn Park with the creation
of a new, uh, basketball court, um, new lights,
everything that you've done for the sport.
Um, I'm gonna go back a little ways
because I don't know if people know
that you were the first coach
of the Women's Professional Basketball League, um,
for the Chicago Hustle.
And I had an opportunity at one time to, uh,
be a member of that team.
But you all only paid $28,000 a year.
And I just couldn't, I just couldn't do it.
Um, and I became a social worker instead, A move
that I've never regretted.
But I thank you for, you know, being, uh,
laying the groundwork for the WNBA, um,
and for being one of the best coaches in America
to take young girls
and to teach them how basketball can transform their lives.
How they can help them be competitive, how they help them
to, uh, play a sport, uh, that many people
don't really think girls and women should play.
Uh, so I thank you for your contributions to the city
of Chicago, to the United States in this particular sport.
And may you find happiness
and peace with all that you're gonna do in your retirement.
Thank you so much. I love you.
Oh, thank you. Alderwoman Dow,
chair recognizes Alderman Knutson.
Thank you, mayor. Um, coach Bruno, I just want
to say thank you on behalf of the 43rd Ward
and Lincoln Park community.
There's no doubt you're, you've been an incredible coach
with an incredible legacy,
but that also means a lot to DePaul
and the greater neighborhood of DePaul.
We talk a lot members in the box about how DePaul athletics
is an attraction to the community.
How most of the athletic games are are free
now, which is incredible.
Anyone can come and watch them.
So, when we were talking about this
as a team yesterday in the 43rd Ward office,
we dove into some fun facts about you.
Of course, I've got a different win number
than Alderman Bodo said.
I think you shortchanged him a little bit.
I've got 786 wins. Uh, so we'll go with that.
We'll go with the higher number of course.
Um, but also I want to just recognize that, um, that you
and your wife Patty, are our parents to six sons, um,
uh, and with 12 grandchildren.
Is that correct? So
that's a pretty incredible team right there, I would say.
And I know your coaching extends to that.
Um, I know you're not done,
you're not done being a strong community member.
I love seeing you out at our meetings.
Um, and I just want to say congratulations to you
and, um, good luck on this next chapter.
It'll be an exciting one.
And also to just, you know, say
how much we support in our fans
of DePaul from the 43rd Ward office.
So, thank you.
Thank you. Alderman Chair recognizes Alderman Hall.
Thank you so much, Mr. President.
As an alumni of DePaul, um, walking through the campus, um,
especially during game days and
after game days, the win on the court was one thing,
but thank you for always being humble, approachable,
and setting out wins through the character
that you displayed off the court.
And so, not only did you inspire us as students,
but you inspired us to come to games
and to be a part of a community that is better
because of your presence.
So thank you for wins on the court
and off the court, and go Boo Davis.
Very well. Thank you, alderman Hall.
Are there any other alders that wish to speak?
The chair recognizes Alder Gardner.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, Your resume speaks
for itself, Mr.
Bruno. Um, I cannot thank you enough, uh, for all
that you have done for our city,
for our state men and women.
Um, and, and when I'm just looking over this resolution
and seeing all of your accolades
and how successful you were
as a coach, uh, I can't help.
The thing that sticks out to me is
that you've mentored 80,000 young athletes,
80,000 young athletes.
Um, and, and as anybody who's played sports,
but especially basketball, I know Chairman Dow
and all the Bedo mentioned earlier,
I know they played basketball and their careers.
Um, there's a lot of life lessons in basketball.
I think anybody who plays any sport learns life lessons.
Uh, but to think
that you have had an impact on people's lives, not only
as far as their athletic careers, uh,
but who they become as a man, as a woman, as a father,
as a mother, um, it's incredible.
And I couldn't do it justice, uh, in a, in a speech.
Um, but I just wanna sincerely thank you upon, um,
the countless number of souls
that you have had a positive impact on.
And, and I'm sure those same people
that you have had a direct impact on,
they have had an impact on other generations to come.
So, uh, from the bottom of my heart, I want
to thank the Bruno family,
and thank you for everything you've done for our city.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
Chair recognizes Alderman. Raymond Lopez.
Thank you chairman, and good
morning members of the committee.
Actually, I just rise because I know the coach is chomping
at the bit to impart some wisdom on us all.
So I would move leave of the body
to give him the opportunity to speak
before us today when appropriate.
Okay, so you don't want to add anything else, just leave
to allow the coach to speak.
It's not my decision. All right.
So if there are no other speakers, then
with Lee from the body, we'll allow Coach Bruno
to get us all hyped up.
Right? God,
You have to speak today.
No, I was told a hundred times.
No, you will not have to speak.
I just wanted to make sure that I acknowledge
and thank everybody.
No coach, no player achieves any
athletic success by themselves.
It's called a team for a reason.
Every success
of any individual athlete on any individual team,
it's the result of the team.
And I just can't thank enough my team for the years.
My DePaul team, who is with me here today, you know, I, I,
my athletic director, Dwayne Peevy,
my longtime athletic director
and former player, gene Leny Ponsetto, these people,
you could not do this without them.
Jill Holby, who is here as an associate athletic director,
you know, Taylor Stapleton.
I, I, I just can't thank all my staff at DePaul University,
my bosses enough.
I can't thank the players through the years.
So I can't start mentioning all these players
because they've all been just so, so good
and faithful to this DePaul University program.
The fans, the people that come
and watch women play sports,
it has not been easy to get the jaded male fan
of America to appreciate that females can play
athletic sports and team sports just as well,
and just as entertaining as the guys
that play team sports.
So, I, I, I can't thank them you all enough.
And most importantly here,
and I, I'm sure I've forgotten a a ton of people,
but I've been blessed to have a great
supportive coach's family.
No coach can do this without a family.
The family sits there at home
and does all the hard work
behind the scenes while you're out there
coaching other kids', kids.
My wife Patty sits here, six children of our own.
They're beautiful. Six, they're beautiful wives.
Six sons, in fact.
So there's six beautiful wives, four beautiful wives
that are actually married, but a lot of beautiful wives.
And these grandchildren, 12 grandchildren.
So I've just been very blessed and I'm rambled on enough.
Alls I wanna do is just tell everybody thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you coach. To Patricia, Brian, David, Brendan,
Patrick Bradley, uh, Dwayne pv, Taylor Stapleton, uh,
Jill Hol beak, Peter Coffee, Jill pdi,
Jean Lente Ponto,
and Joe Pento to all of the, uh, members
of the Bruno family.
Special shout out to Detective Bruno.
He's doing an amazing job in our police department.
Um, we recognize that you are not just a, a coach, Mr.
Bruno. Uh, you are Chicago's institution.
And for decades, you have led DePaul University's women's
basketball program with unmatched passion,
integrity, and grit.
I'm just gonna do what politicians do.
I'm gonna round up to almost 800 wins.
Um, countless NNC AA tournament appearances.
Uh, you have built and shaped lives
and powered the young women
and elevated the game of basketball in our city.
Um, northwest side of Chicago, graduate
of Quigley Preparatory Seminary,
DePaul University Coach Bruno.
Uh, your roots are profound, and you are Chicago.
Chicago, uh, having played
for the demons under the legendary Ray Meyer,
and went on to make his own mark as de in DePaul's history,
becoming the head coach in a great year, 1976.
And as Alder woman Dowell indicated
coaching the Chicago Hustle.
So thank you for opening up pathways for women's basketball,
uh, to be what it is today.
You have produced all Americans, WNBA players, Olympians,
while keeping education, teamwork, discipline,
and community service, front and center, a coach.
You represent, uh, Chicago on a national
and international stages, including serving
as the assistant assistant coach
to two US Olympic gold medal winning teams.
Um, you're a hall of famer in every single word,
not just in title, but in spirit.
Um, you have mentored generations of athletes.
You led with heart. You never once forgot the
community that raised you.
Um, you brought pride to Lincoln Park and to DePaul
and throughout the city as a whole.
So today, we don't just celebrate a coach,
we honor a leader, a teacher,
and a son of the greatest F city in the
world, the city of Chicago.
Here's to coach Bruno
Alderman Mitchell, can I get a motion for the passage
of this resolution, Mr.
President, I move passes in the honorable
hearing, no objections.
So ordered. We just have one more resolution.
So as, uh, the Bruno family exits the box, we'll prepare
for the last resolution.
This final resolution is an honor of the career
of Mr. Craig Delamore of WBBM News.
If you wish to speak to this resolution,
please raise your hand and we will record you.
The chair recognizes all the woman Michelle Harris.
Good morning. Good morning. Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise to be associated with this resolution. Mr.
Delamore, 42 years of a beautiful career.
Um, what an amazing life lived, uh, especially hanging out
with the likes of us.
What a beautiful career.
Uh, I have wonderful memories of you in your early days.
Um, I was fortunate enough to be raised by my parents,
and our radio was locked on WBBM.
We were not allowed to touch it no matter
how long the trip was, no matter where we went,
we was listening to WBBM from till we get down somewhere
down in Mississippi, and it would just cut off.
And so today, I have all these wonderful memories
of when you actually came on radio
and we're listening as we took those wonderful trips every
year to Mississippi in the car.
Uh, and so my parents,
and even in our home, was locked on WBBM.
So when I became an alderman, I was down here, I was like,
oh my God, my favorite radio personality.
And so you have been an amazing example of
what a media leader is, and someone who is always fair
and compassionate and telling a story.
So today, I'm here to say thank you
for being a gentleman in radio and in news
and leading, always leading in the perfect story,
always being, delivering a real story,
and giving us real information behind the story.
You have been an amazing example for me.
Uh, you have lifted me up in your stories, that issue, uh,
the family, we listen to act issue on a regular basis.
So I am so grateful that you have been a wonderful part
of the thread of city council.
And, uh, your influence will always be remembered,
will always be part of what we do here in city Council.
You will forever be a part of what makes Chicago great.
So today, I am grateful, uh, that you're moving on
to a new part of your life for whatever your reason,
but I'm telling you, I'm gonna miss you.
So thank you so much again for all your commitment
to getting the story right.
Thank you, Alder Woman Harris,
the chair recognizes Alder woman Dow.
I thank you, Mr. President.
I too rise to be associated with this, uh, resolution.
Uh, Craig, I just wanted to, um, say
that you've had a stellar career in journalism, um,
in the pause of this building
and outside of the halls of this building.
And as someone who knows about life in South Jamaica,
New York, which is where we bonded, how we bonded, um,
I just wanna, uh, tell you,
I appreciate your professionalism.
Um, you know, sometimes I don't like talking to the press,
but I knew if I talked to you, um, it would always be fair
and balanced and, uh, within context.
How about that? So, uh, I thank you for, uh, just, uh,
being a part of Chicago
and telling our stories from
what happens inside this building.
I wish you and your wife
and son, well as you move forward in your
retirement. God bless you.
Thank you. Alderwoman Dow the chair
recognizes wo Nicole Lee.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Uh, I too enthusiastically rise in
support of this resolution.
Although it's bittersweet, I think we can all agree.
Um, I'm so glad you're here today, Craig.
Um, I, I was, uh, I was caught unaware
of when your last day was going to be in the office.
Um, and, and I thought I was not going
to have the opportunity to, um, do this recognition of,
of all of your accomplishments.
Uh, Craig, you know, the,
the first time I met you, I got so excited.
It was probably my most exciting moment,
my fan girl moment when I met Craig.
'cause I'd never seen Craig Delmar's face before.
I had only ever listened to him on the radio.
Um, because my father listened
to WBBM News Radio all the time.
So you, you kept me company in the car too.
Um, and when I met you, my face lit up.
I was like, oh my God, you're Craig Delamore.
Um, it was one of the coolest moments, um,
of becoming an alderman for me.
But what's been more precious
to me has been getting to know you.
Um, I will miss being able to walk out of council meetings
or committee meetings and see you sitting at your desk
and knock on the door and just come
and have a chat with you about the craziness of council, uh,
about how your father's doing, how your family's doing.
I wanna thank your wife
and your son, your family, for sharing us, uh, sharing you
with us, because you've been one of the greatest gifts
to the city of Chicago, um, to all of us here with the work
that you've done, the reporting that you've done,
and really the friend that you've been to me.
So thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Chico.
Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Craig.
You were my first radio interview, and
although I was a little nervous, uh, you put me at ease
and you made me very comfortable.
And after we did the half hour interview,
you forgot to hit the record button.
So they called me the next day and say, can you do it again?
And I gladly, uh, accepted it
because it was you and your professionalism.
So thank you once again for everything.
Thank you. Alderman Chico,
the chair recognizes Alderman Moore.
Thank you. Um, Mr.
President, I stand in support of this resolution.
And lemme start by saying, Greg, you always been this, like,
this smooth guy.
And, but when I saw your wife, I was like,
man, you smoothing.
And I, I thought, she is so beautiful. And, uh, no, she is.
Come on now. But, um, when we listen
to you, we used to call you the voice.
I mean, you may not see anybody,
but what gets you to listen?
First of all, something gotta capture you.
And it was two things for me.
The voice, and then the, the way
that you tell the story, you capture it.
But not only do you capture it in a way
that someone can feel it,
but then you get, you get truth,
you get fairness, and you get integrity.
And that's what you've been to this, um, this industry and,
and media, if you wanted the truth, we hear a lot of stuff.
Hey, let's listen to Craig Delmore and see what he's saying.
And you can then get through with some
of the people's emotional things
or people in media who trying to just sell, um,
rather than get to, um, the truth and have integrity
and fairness with the story.
Um, Delmar Cobb, who I work with closely, has been a big fan
of yours, and you guys have worked together.
Um, but it's exciting
to know when you have people like my state senator,
my forever state senator, Jackie Collins, who have worked
with you at
CBS, where, um, where you guys met.
And when someone like that respects you,
because she is well respected that shows the type
of person that you are.
So I want, I wish you well
and joy, do not bug her if she called me
and say, you bugging her too much.
I'm coming to get you, Craig.
But, um, she said she gonna have you in
that basement working though.
And, um, but, um, thank you young man.
'cause you've had to share him with so many as a son.
And we say thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts,
and, um, just enjoy your retirement,
enjoy your family. God bless you.
Thank you. Alderman Moore,
the chair recognizes Alderman Sig Cho Lopez. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. President.
And, um, um, I also rise in support of this resolution,
and I had the opportunity
and pleasure, um, to, to have several interviews
with Greg over the years.
And, um, I think that he, he, he exemplifies the integrity,
fairness, and,
and real comprehensive research, uh, of journalism.
And today, more than ever, I think that it is important
to recognize important
and invaluable contributions that such reporting, uh,
plays in our communities.
Uh, I think that today, I think we all see the importance
of, um, the voice of Greg in WBBM
and the many other outlets would've had the opportunity, uh,
to see him in action.
And, um, as someone that, uh, um, have talked
to him in detail about Mayor Washington administration,
he came to Chicago right about
that time in a historic moment.
And, um, what a, what a journey
and a what a way to, to wrap it up
and full circle to come here to city council
after decades of critical and, and fair reporting.
It is important to recognize.
I wanna thank you, Greg, on behalf of our communities,
because fair and journalism with integrity,
like you make our messages possible.
Without that, I think that the task
of elected officials is even, even harder.
So, on behalf of the 25th Ward, we rising support.
And I wish you well, you and your family,
and your well-deserved retirement.
Thank you for the service of communication
and informing our communities to the city of Chicago.
Thank you. Alderman Chair recognizes
Alderman. Nick pdo.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I, I see him.
I wanna see him. I'm trying to see him. Thank you.
Thank, thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
Boy, this is well deserved. You.
He, you know, you had a grand slam with this one, Mr.
President. Um, we never got a chance
to say goodbye on his last day.
I was all bummed out about it,
and, um, kinda left three days
before the last council meeting, I believe.
But, uh, Craig, you're an honor to work with.
You're a pleasure to work with
and an honor to get to know you.
Um, I will say one thing about you
and, uh, no, uh, disrespect to some of, uh, some
of the other press over there, but I,
I don't think anybody did not
answer the phone when you called.
So, like, I know some of my colleagues, I, I think when some
of my colleagues, they get called from some
of you, they don't answer 'em.
But when Craig calls, everybody answers.
So, um, I just wanna say congratulations.
It was a pleasure to know you work with you.
You're always a, just a pleasure to deal with.
And I, I do think he, you got a great side business going,
and I think voiceovers, you're the guy, robocalls,
political robocalls.
Call Craig. I'm, I'm starting 'em off on a new business.
Got a great soothing voice.
So, but Craig, best wishes to you and your family.
Uh, you're awesome individual.
Uh, enjoy the rest of your life,
and, uh, God bless you and your family.
Thank you so much, Mr.
President for this one. Thank you. Thank
You, thank you.
The chair recognizes Alderman Will Hall.
Thank you so much, Mr. President.
The, um, first time I heard your voice was on the radio.
Uh, my dad wasn't a fan of rap.
And so hearing your voice, um, as a child growing up
and then finally meeting you at Saint Bin with Father Mike
as Senator Collins was sitting in the second row, first row,
um, allowed me to see what strong dedication
to our city looked like.
And coming down to the hallways of City Hall,
you've been consistent in expressing the truth behind
what happens behind the curtain,
what happens behind the door.
So thank you for your consistency
and thank you for being a role model to me as a young man on
what it means to serve a family and celebrating your son.
Every time I came in,
you had something to say about your son.
And so to see the son that you talked about along
with the wife that held you down, it's a day
to remember today in Chicago. Thank you so much, Craig.
Thank you, alderman. The chair recognizes Alderman.
Scott Wapac.
Thank you, Mr. President. Um, Mr. Delamore.
Craig, thank you for, um, your cordiality from day one.
When I first started in 2007, kind
of walking into these halls was, uh,
a very interesting thing to do when there was an, you know,
sort of a, a mayor daily, uh, way of running things.
Um, I just wanna say that, uh, as Alderman
and Harris said, you have been a true gentleman throughout
my time here in the council, and I really appreciate that.
Um, I appreciate that you were always well-informed, I think
before you asked questions,
which made your job hopefully a lot easier
when you were talking to us.
But it was also a pleasure to talk to you each time.
Um, you know,
and listening to you, uh, on the radio, listening
to you on things like, I think Weekend and Review,
or some of the shows where you were a contributor
with several other journalists,
reporters was always interesting
because you, you always were able to kind
of piece things together, uh, for the portion
that was discussing city council.
And, um, I never had to sit there
and go, no, no, no, that's not what happened.
Um, you were always right on topic.
So, um, I just want to say thank you for all those, uh,
stories and, and contributions
that you've made over your time here in City Hall.
And I hope that in your retirement, you can take a lot
of hikes and enjoy that time out in the open space.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alderman Irvin.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, Craig, I, I think, um,
there's only one other person I think
that's been in this building, uh, longer than you.
And, uh, she's kind of been in and out.
Uh, I think you are our resident encyclopedia on the ins
and outs of our doings in this council.
Um, you have been, uh, I'll been honest, um,
and been someone I think that has been fair to all of us,
even the good, the bad, or the indifferent.
And we appreciate you coming from our community,
given a perspective of what's happening
and the impact that it has on our community.
So we appreciate your work.
We hope you enjoy your retirement,
and I agree with Altman Spaza about
another business line for you.
If you need your first client, come holler at me.
We will put you on. Thank you. And God bless you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes all the women,
Julia Ramirez.
Craig, you are an icon. Your voice is therapeutic.
Um, it's amazing to hear the many stories of my colleagues
and the way that you've transcended, um,
the airwaves of now.
I'm realizing all cultures, all ethnicities,
all ages as well.
Um, I will say I do get nervous when I'm around you.
Um, it makes me emotional actually being able
to speak in front of you today.
Um, I mean that wholeheartedly,
that when I didn't wanna be in the news is when you spoke
to me the first time.
And, um, there's been many other times
that I've crossed you in the hallways,
and I almost wish that I do get a chance to speak to you.
And so hopefully I can take a picture with you now that, uh,
this is your last day.
Um, but thank you so much for everything
and the way that you've, um, influenced the way
that we get news down here in City Hall.
So the best to you. Thank you. Thank
You all to women.
The chair recognizes Vice Mayor Burnett.
Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor.
Also stand support of this resolution.
Uh, you know, Craig is a funny thing.
Um, my first classes in college,
one was a journalism class,
and the other one was like a political class.
I did better in the journalism class than I did
in a political class.
Uh, and one of the things in that journalism class
that I took, they expressed in that class
that journalism
and journalism, you have a higher duty to the public.
A duty not to be biased,
but a duty to give people options
to think about what's going on and make their own opinion.
Craig, that's what you do. You don't be biased.
You don't use your own feelings.
You just give people the news
and you allow them to make their opinion of what's going on.
I want to thank you for being fair.
I want to thank you for being truthful.
Uh, I would say I, I'm gonna miss you around here, but me
and you probably be seeing each other outside of here.
But I want to also thank you for all
of the conversations that we had.
I mean, you're such a nice guy, uh, easy to talk to.
And like everyone said, nobody runs from you.
Uh, if, if Craig Delamore comes in the room,
you're not like, okay, uh, oh, here come Craig.
Right? Everybody looks forward to talking to you
'cause you're such a gentleman.
So I want to thank you for your service to the public,
to the people of Chicago.
Thank you very much, Craig. Pleasure working with you.
Thank you. Chair recognizes all the woman Nugent.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I too stand in support
of this resolution honoring Craig Delamore.
If you poll city hall or a gathering of government staff
or pro professionals at a reception
or a party, no one has a bad thing
to say about Craig Delamore.
And that's because he's fair, he's inquisitive,
and he's a gentleman.
And being a gentleman seems to be a lost art in the era
of shock and awe media and the gotcha text or tweet.
Uh, but Craig personifies respect and integrity
and kindness, consideration for others.
And it has a strong sense of responsibility.
Craig is a true gentleman,
and in interviews that I followed with Craig,
he references being a good listener
and giving a voice to communities
that didn't always get coverage like the south suburbs.
Now we, when we in the room at some point, look to retire
or to move on to different roles,
how are others gonna describe us?
And I think we all hope to be referred
to as a gentle person.
And if you currently would not meet that criteria,
I encourage all of you to work on it
myself, probably included.
So Craig, thank you for your fairness and your kindness
and your commitment to the profession.
And in your case, I would say vocation of journalism.
Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You. Chair
recognizes Alderman. Ktin.
Thank you, Mr. President Craig.
I couldn't go this meeting without just
saying thank you as well.
I think similar to what a lot of people have mentioned is,
um, really have enjoyed interviews with you.
Uh, good memory. We have together.
I remember we did an interview during the convention
on the steps, uh, the Chicago and the Chicago River.
And, uh, even just,
you make people very comfortable in interviews,
which I'm told don't get too comfortable, right?
It's still an interview.
Um, but once the mic went off, it was great just sitting
with you, learning about you.
I've had a really good time reading
and hearing you on, um, Fran's podcast, for example,
reflecting on your career.
It's a really fascinating career.
I mean, your view on Mayor Harold Washington, the rise
of President Obama, I'm hoping
after this you think about writing a book, doing a podcast
that's a little bit different
because I'm sure your stories are endless
and stories that a lot of us just want to hear.
Um, so I, I I just wanna say thank you.
I know that the whole City Hall Press Corps
is really gonna miss you.
We all obviously are gonna miss you in here,
but we're not strangers and we'll be, we'll be friends.
So congratulations.
Thank you. It's a lot of job applications for a brother
who just retired chair recognizes Alderman O'Shea.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I two rise in support of this resolution.
How nice is it for your family to hear such heartfelt words
from a room, even this room, um,
to the other media?
Here you are an example of
what a gentleman can be, to be fair, to do the research.
It's, it's been said many times.
You did the research, you didn't just go into an interview.
You, you looked up things up, you knew what was going on
before you walked into that room and you were always fair.
And I've heard it more and more and more.
You were gentlemen, you truly are, uh,
these last several years, it was always nice for me
to walk down that hallway and take a look.
And if you were sitting there, I'd always stop
and we might just talk for a minute or two.
We, when we were talking, um, uh,
about your son's former career in law enforcement
and uh, we should talk about you a lot.
Um, I'm just gonna miss you
'cause you're just a good person and to your family.
I hope you get to spend a little more time with 'em.
I hope you get to travel, but I hope you're not done.
'cause I really think, uh, podcast or a book
or something should be in your future
because, uh, you got a wonderful story to tell.
All the best.
Thank you Alderman. The chair recognizes all the women.
Hello Gutierrez.
Thank you Mr. President.
I also wanted to, um, thank you for reporting
with the heart, for always saying the truth about the
work we're doing here.
Thank you for that report
that you did last year about me being the first woman in
office, having a baby.
It was really kind of you and to share that story
'cause many people maybe didn't know.
But how you growed it, how you spoke about it, make me feel
that yes, we're in this fight together
and it's an inspiration for more women.
It, and it was because how you spoke about it,
if it would've been by someone else,
maybe it would've taken another route.
But you truly always are an inspiration.
Um, how you always talk about issues here in the council
and out there in our communities.
Thank you for always leading with truth, saying
what is really happening and we will really miss you.
You will always say hi to us with a big smile, always
also pumping us up.
You know, sometimes there are hard
days, but you're always there.
Um, and we will really miss you.
And I wish you a blessed retirement to enjoy
where your family travel.
Wake up late, right?
Sip that coffee at home, having not
to rush downtown in the traffic as well.
Thank you for all your work
and I know you're gonna continue
to report in some little things out there.
Not as right now you need to, uh,
really have a good retirement, but I know, uh,
and I hope you continue to report in an issue.
So we continue to hear you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alderman, Raymond Lopez.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning.
Members of the city council.
I rise in support of this appointment of Dale
as the replacement of Craig Delamore.
Oh wait, wrong retirement. I'm sorry.
It is a tradition here in city council
to replace ourselves with our children.
So I was hoping we could sneak one in.
Oh, you know, I love you. No,
but I I wanted to rise today, Mr.
President, because I think back of all the interviews
that we've had, we don't get to laugh as as much
as we should with our reporter friends, um,
because though we are sometimes at odds
because of the nature of the business,
we are still human beings.
And I believe that that is something
that you never lost an appreciation
for the humanity of the room.
And so many of us today have recognized, um, our role in
that and your role in that
and how that is permeated with the family
that you've brought here today.
Um, so I wish you godspeed in all your, uh, endeavors.
I urge you to ignore all the calls to go back to work
because retirement should be exactly that
you've put in your due.
I think at some point, you know, we'll have a, a,
a memorial wall of all of our news media
that have spent decades in this room, reporting not on us,
but reporting for the people of the city of Chicago.
Your value as journalists cannot be understated.
It's something that is enshrined in the constitution,
a free press, but that also requires the press to be able
to do what they need to do, to ask the questions
to be available, to occupy that room, which is right next
to us, to make sure that the press room is right here,
right there, right there,
and even upstairs to make sure that the answers
that people care about are being presented in ways
that are understandable and relevant
and not just being regurgitated by politicians.
And I think that's something that no one can ever
say is true about you.
So thank you for 10 years of being together here.
Thank you for sharing him with us
and thank you for being a model for all of them over there
who are typing away
because in this business,
the reporter should never be the story,
but you are the story today.
Thank you
Chair recognizes Alder Hadden.
I too rise to be associated with this resolution.
Um, hi Craig.
So I think you were my second, the second
after I won the first election, my second media appearance,
uh, I believe was on your show.
And, um, it was so cool to get to go to the studio.
I remember just like being nervous and being stressed.
I was gonna get to be interviewed by Craig Delmore.
I get to sit in the radio studio,
which is somehow more intimidating, I feel like,
than like the camera studio.
The radio studio is intimidating.
Um, plus one
to all the kind things that people said.
Every, every word of this resolution rings true
and is also my experience.
Um, I think that
in this time I hope
of your own accord and on your own time
that you continue to stay.
Um, curious. I feel like
you have such interesting takes on things
because you're so curious
and you do bring a lot of objectivity to things in a way
that helps people to learn.
And we, it's something that we don't always have a lot
of opportunity to do in our everyday lives,
whether it's people are just, they're busy,
they're working too hard, they're raising their families,
they're worrying about, you know, their bills,
their stresses, their job, their health.
Um, having that space for curiosity
and like just learning for the sake of learning
and asking these questions just
for the sake of the information.
Like that is an art form.
And it is so important to not just, um, you know, our brains
and our learning, but to our democracy, right?
Like having people who have a profession and a right
and a space and are supported to do that type of learning
and sharing is core to exposing other people to that
and it's facts, right?
In a time of fake news
like billionaire tyrants controlling our media, um,
private equity firms taking it for profit
and you know, anti-democratic
folks in the White House, defunding public media.
These are scary times where facts, objectivity,
curiosity and what makes us, um, a great country
and a great city are all at risk.
And you have done so much to contribute to that,
that I hope in your spare time that, um,
you find a way to continue to do that.
And I have a feeling that you will continue to do that.
Like, so I don't think you can stop doing that.
Um, but I look forward to hearing your stories, um,
reading your stories, listening
to your stories in whichever way you continue to tell them.
And thank you so much for the service
that you have given to the people of Chicago.
It was Okay, the chair recognizes Alderman Beal.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I will be remiss if I didn't rise
and congratulate you on your retirement.
Um, you know, I'm the second longest serving alderman here
that has worked with you
and, um, only a few aldermen here today.
Actually. Remember the times where we used
to actually play a softball game against the press.
Uh, it was the alderman against the press
and that was an opportunity for us to work with the press
and, you know, have a relationship outside
of this particular building
to understand the press is not your enemy.
The press are people doing their jobs.
And that was a great opportunity for us
to really just have a, um, a, a relationship outside
of this body.
But Craig, you have always been steadfast,
you have always been even killed the same person.
You know, I don't think anybody's ever seen you upset.
May maybe your wife and your son,
but we have never seen you upset, um,
because you were always even keel.
And I would tell you when I, when I first got here
some years ago, I would always look at you
and say, why do all the other reporters
have a small recorder?
And this guy has a brick hanging off of him
that he's carrying around with a microphone.
I said, is he ever going to update his technology in order
to, uh, report his stories?
But I understood and I understand it now.
Um, but I just want again to congratulate you, man.
This is so well worth your retirement, the fact
that you've worked all these years
and just have a stellar career without a blemish.
And that is something to really hang your hat on, man.
So congratulations, many years of happiness.
Enjoy your retirement
and please, when you walk out the door, don't look back.
Thank you so much and God bless you.
Thank you. Are there any other elders that wish
to speak to this resolution?
Very well. Seeing no other hands.
Thank you, uh, Barbara and Dale for being here.
Senator Collins, thank you for being here as well.
You know, before coming to Chicago, um, Mr.
Delamore had the opportunity, uh, to work
with the Associated Press Radio in Washington, DC.
Uh, but but coming to Chicago, Mr.
Delamore provided a great deal of dedication
and hard work that allowed him to rise to the ranks
and eventually becoming the political editor of WBBM, um,
news Radio in 2001.
Throughout your career, you have been able
to cover countless news stories from national political
conventions, landmark events,
and of course the changing political landscape here at City
Hall has been stated.
Your fairness, your death of knowledge,
and your respect for all sides is
what has earned you the accolades
and the awards, um, from your peers
and of course the people of Chicago.
I will also just say
and conclude with thank you for your de dedication
and all of the contributions that are being felt
and even as people go down memory lane, it's um,
it's a very powerful testament, uh, to know
that you are leaving a legacy for posterity
with more than 40 years of dedication.
I hope you do get the rest that you need and deserve.
And as you embark upon this new adventure, I hope
that you breathe and take it all in.
So I'm very proud to to honor you today
and thank you for your in indelible contributions
to not just radio news media, but to the people of Chicago.
Here's to Craig Delamore.
Welcome
Altman Mitchell. Can
I get a motion for the approval of this resolution? Mr.
President, I move passes in the omnibus hearing.
No objections. So ordered. Congratulations again.
Mr. Craig Delamore,
chair recognizes Altman Mitchell PI move
that we return to the regular order hearing.
No objections. So ordered communications.
Thank you Madam Clerk
Communications from this honor, the mayor
to the Honorable the City Council.
The City of Chicago. Ladies
and gentlemen, request the
Commissioner of Planning and Development.
I transmit here with an ordinance authorizing an execution
of redevelopment agreement with Steep Theater Corporation
to provide TIFF funds for improvements at the Steep theater.
Your favorable consideration
of this ordinance be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson, mayor
for the Committee on Finance.
Ladies and gentlemen, request the
Commissioner of Planning and Development.
I transmit here with an ordinance authorizing the execution
of redevelopment agreement with 1 0 5 Adams Development LLC
to provide TIFF funds
for improvements at the Clark Adams Building your
consideration, this ordinance be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson Mayor referred the
Committee on finance at the request of uh, the Commissioner
of Housing and Transman here
with an ordinance authorizing the issuance of TIF assistance
for the adaptive reuse
of the building located at 1 35 Southwest South Street.
Your consideration of this ordinance be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson
Mayor referred the committee on finance.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the request Request request the
Commissioner Planning and Development.
I transmit here with an ordinance authorized an execution
of a TIF redevelopment agreement
after School Matters Incorporated to provide funds
for improvements at the afterschool matters
Orleans Teen Center.
Your favorable will consider this
ordinance will be appreciated very two years.
Brandon Johnson, mayor Bri, the Committee on Finance.
Ladies and gentlemen, at the request
of the commissioner planning and Development, I transit here
with an ordinance authorized an execution
of redevelopment agreement
with rage economic uplifting project LLC
to provide neighborhood opportunity funds
for improvements at 1210 West 59th Street.
Your consideration for this ordinance will be appreciated.
Very truly, your Brandon Johnson Mayor for the Committee
of Budget and Government Operations ladies
and gentlemen, request the Commissioner Procurement Services
are transmitted here with an ordinance amending section two
dash 92 dash four 90 of the municipal code
regarding the removal of certification fees.
Your consideration of this ordinance will be appreciated.
Very to yours, Brandon Johnson, mayor
for the Committee on Contracting oversight and equity.
Ladies and gentlemen, request the Commissioner
of Procurement Services I transmit here
with an ordinance amending the municipal code
to add the non-construction small business
initiative procurement program.
Your consideration of this ordinance will be appreciated.
Vary to yours Brandon Johnson, mayor.
Further the Committee on Contracting Oversight
and equity Ladies
and gentlemen, request the commissioner Planning
and Development I transmit here
with an ordinance authorizing as amended.
2025 Budget and service provider agreement
with Quad Communities Development Corporation
of Special Service Area 47.
Your favorite consideration
of this ordinance would be appreciated.
Very two years. Brandon Johnson Mayor referred
to the Committee on Economic
Capital and Technology Development.
Ladies and gentlemen, request the commissioner are planning
and development a transmit here
with ordinances authorizing favorable tax incentive
classifications for specified
properties located within the city.
Your consideration these ordinances be will be appreciated.
Very truly. Your as Brandon Johnson, mayor
for the Community Economic
Capital and Technology Development.
Ladies and John Gentlemen, request the Commissioner
of Housing a transfer with an ordinance authorizing this
disillusion of the Chicago Community Land Trust.
Your consideration of this ordinance will be appreciated.
Very true. Yours, Brandon Johnson, mayor
for the Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
Ladies and gentlemen, request the Commissioner of Housing
and transmit here with an ordinance authorizing the sale
of city owned property located at
52 30 North Lincoln Avenue.
If you have a consideration, this
ordinance will be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson, mayor
for the Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
Ladies and gentlemen, at the request of Commissioner
of Planning and Development, I transmit here
with ordinances authorizing the
sale of city owned properties.
Your consideration, this ordinances will be appreciated.
Very two years. Brandon Johnson, mayor
for the Command Housing and real Estate.
Ladies and gentlemen, requested
Commissioner of Planning and Development.
I transmit here with an ordinance authorize
and execution of an amended redevelopment agreement.
This inter court development LLC, vis sale
and redevelopment of City lots.
Your consideration of the ordinance will be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson Mayor referred the
Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
Ladies and gentlemen,
at I transmit an ordinance amending the municipal code
regarding residential search warrants.
Your consideration of this ordinance will be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson Mayor referred the
committee on police and fire.
Ladies and gentlemen, request the
Department of Planning and Development.
I transmit here with an ordinance authorized
and execution of service provider agreement,
the Magnificent Mile Association
for Public Safety improvements in the
area surrounding the casino.
Your consideration of this ordinance will
be appreciated very two years.
Brandon Johnson, mayor for the Committee on Public Safety.
Ladies and gentlemen are transmit here with appointments
of various special service areas.
Your consideration of these
appointments will be appreciated.
Very two years. Brandon Johnson, mayor
for the Committee on Economic
Capital and Technology Development.
Ladies and gentlemen of trans here with appointments
to the City College's Board for consideration.
These appointments will be appreciated. Very two years.
Brandon Johnson, mayor
for the Committee on Education and Child Development.
I city clerk Anna Valencia hereby informed the city council.
The following documents were filed in my office relating
to respective subjects as made as follows,
executive order number 20 25 2.
Amending executive order number 2023 dash 14
concerning procurement and payment for con
contracted vendors and development projects.
Executed executive order number 2025 dash three
Concerning city, city of Chicago.
Skill-based hiring determination.
Certificate of City of Chicago Re regarding issuance of up
to $40 million.
Water system line of credit notes
with PNC Bank National Association on City revolving line
of credit agreement dated March 14th, 2012.
Notification of Sales City
of Chicago General Obligation Bond series 2025.
A notification of Sales City
of Chicago General obligation Bond series 2025 B.
Notification of Sales City
of Chicago General Obligation Bond series 2025 C
and taxable services.
D. Notification of Sales City
of Chicago General Obligation Bond series 2025 E
Notification of Sales City Chicago General Obligation Bond
series 2025 F
and taxable series 2020 5G City's funding requirement
for Chicago police, policemen and Annuity
and Benefit Fund for year 2026.
And a report of fireman's annuity
and benefit fund of Chicago.
Certificate for certification of city funding requirements
for labor and laborers
and retirement board employees annuity
and benefit fund of Chicago for tax Levy year 2026.
Payment year 2027.
Office of Inspector General's Second quarter report
for year 2025.
Civilian Office of Police Accountability
quarterly report for period.
Ended June 30th, 2025.
Expression of opposition to proposed zoning.
Reclassification of property at 57 10 North Broadway.
Expression of opposition in proposed zoning.
Reclassification of property 58 57 18 North Broadway.
We have a couple Oh sure.
Mm-hmm. Rule stating in Rule 59,
alderman LaSpada has requested
to participate in this portion of the meeting remotely.
Madam Clerk, can you con, can you confirm
Alderman LaSpada is present online?
Alderman LaSpada, are you there?
I am present. Alright, alderman LaSpada present.
Can I get a motion to approve the remote
participation for Alderman LaSpada?
All those in favor signify by saying aye.
Any opposed, say nay and the P of the chair.
The ayes have it. Please continue. Madam Clerk
Expression of opposition to propose zoning.
Reclassification of property at 57 25 North Broadway.
Expression of opposition to proposed zoning
and classification of property at 57 30 North Broadway.
Expression of opposition to proposed zoning
and classification of property at 57 34 North Broadway.
Expression of opposition to proposed zoning
and classification of property at 5,200 dash 63 50
and 5 0 51 0 1 dash 63 51 North Broadway.
Expression of opposition to proposed zoning.
Classification of property at 1110 dash 1110 1100 dash 1110
Westville Avenue.
1113 dash 1117 versus Grandville Avenue
and 6 61 72 North Winthrop Avenue.
Expression of opposition to proposed zoning.
Classification of property at 52 46 dash 53 0 6 North
Winthrop Avenue I City clerk Anna Valencia informed the city
council that all those matters, which were considered
by the city council at the regular meeting held on
June 18th, 2025
and to be required by state statute
to be published in Booker pamphlet form or in one
or more newspapers were published in pamphlet form on
July 16th, 2025.
Being printed in full text and printed pamphlet.
Copies of journal proceedings of the city council, city
of Chicago I city clerk also transmit here
with the following miscellaneous communications reports
requiring city council action zoning classifications
of particular areas with the referred
to the committee on zoning landmarks of building standards,
things against city Chicago.
Referred to Committee on Finance amendment of ordinance,
which would class reclassified area shown on map number 20
dash B for property at 808,001 dash 80 59 5
Muskegon Avenue, 8,000 dash 80 58 South Escanaba Avenue,
8,001 dash 80 59 South Escanaba Avenue,
8,000 dash eight D 58 South Exchange Avenue 29 49 dash
30 25 East 80th Street, 29 48 dash 30 24 East 80th Place,
29 49 dash 30 25 East 80th Place
and 29 48 dash 3 30 24 East 81st Street, which is deferred
to the committee on zoning landmarks and building standards.
The following veto letter from the Ann Honorable Brennan
Johnson Mayor was filed the office
of city clerk on June 20th, 2025
to the Honorable the city council, the city of Chicago
and City Clerk Valencia.
I returned herewith without my approval.
An ordinance passed by the city council on June 18th, 2025.
So 2 25 dash 1 6 7 32 regarding authority
to impose snap curfews at a time when violent crimes to tend
continues to tend trend down across the city of Chicago.
It is critical that we continue our investments in community
safety strategies that a proven track record of success
in two short years.
We have seen a measurable sustained decline in
crime and violence in our city.
It is the focus of my administration to continue working
with the full force of government, community organizations,
business and philanthropy to solve a decades long problem
with effective policing
and new investments in youth jobs, safe spaces
for young people and mental health care.
For the above stated reasons, it is my duty
to reto this ordinance.
Madame Clerk, please read this letter at the July 16th, 2025
City Council meeting under the headings of reports
and communications from the mayor and other city officers.
Sincerely, Brandon Johnson. Mayor.
Very well. Thank you Madam Clerk,
Your honor. That concludes
the reports and communications from
Thank you Chair recognizes Alderman Hopkins.
Uh, thank you Mr. President for the recognition.
Uh, I move to adopt proposed ordinance 20 25 1 6 7 3 2,
which amends municipal code sections 8 16 21
and 22 regarding declaration of curfew for mass gatherings
and custody procedures as previously adopted
by this city council at its regular meeting
of June 18th, 2025.
Notwithstanding the mayoral veto submitted
to the city clerk on June 20th, 25
and transmitted to this body during this meeting.
Uh, and Mr. President, I would ask
for an immediate roll call vote on my motion. Thank you.
Very well. There's a motion to override the veto
vote on this motion will be taken by roll call.
The question has been called for immediate under state law.
Just for reference, there are 34 votes that are needed
in order to override this veto members.
Please use your EVO application
to record your vote at this time.
Okay,
the voting is now open.
The voting is now open. Please use your eev device.
If you need help logging in, please raise your hand.
The voting is now open.
I will now call on those
who have not used the e-voting device or their voice vote.
Alderman Lata. No. Lata is a no.
Alderman Yancy
Alderman Nancy.
That is correct, correct?
No. All alderman
Beal not present.
Alderman osha. OSHA is a yes.
Alderman Viegas?
Uh, yes. Alderman Viegas is a yes.
All those who voted who wish.
All right. The voting is now closed. 27.
There are 27 yays. 22 nays.
The motion to override this Vito fails.
Next up we have our committee reports. Your,
Oh, your Honor, that concludes the reports
of communications from the mayor and other city officers.
Thank you Madam Clerk for committee reports.
Our first committee is on finance.
The chair recognizes Chairwoman doo.
Uh, thank you Mr. President
and members of the city council reporting for the Committee
on Finance, which held a committee meeting on
July 14th, 2025.
The following items received a due pass
recommendation from the committee.
Item number one is the substitute ordinance authorizing the
execution of a redevelopment agreement
and the issuance of tax increment financing funds
to South Bridge one C housing LLC
and conveyance of city owned property to C two TCB dash
DS for the project at 2311 through 15 South State Street,
also known as three
through five East 23rd Street in the third ward.
Mr. President, I,
unless someone wishes to speak on this item, I move passage
of this item by roll call vote
Farewell. Seeing
no hands,
this mo motion will be taken, taken
by roll call members.
Please use your EVO application
to record your votes at this time.
The voting is now open. The voting is now open.
Please use your Eev device.
If you need help logging in, please raise your hand.
I will now call those who have not
voted yet with their eev device.
Alderman ada? Yes, ADA is a yes.
Alderman osha. OSHA is a yes.
Alderwoman Tabba Tabba is a yes.
Alderman Viegas. Yes. Yes. Viegas is a yes.
Alderman Lawson. Yes. Lawson is a yes.
Oh, I'm sorry. Lawson is a Yes. Sorry.
Lawson is a yes.
It's summertime shy.
We get it. The voting is now closed.
Thank you. There are 50 yays and zero nays.
This motion passes on the motion to reconsider.
Chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell
as President Motion will reconsider vote.
All those in favor of the reconsideration
of this vote signify by saying Aye.
Those opposed say nay. This motion fails.
The chair recognizes all Chairwoman Dow.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Item number two is an ordinance authorizing the bond
inducement for the Holman Square apartment Phase four
project at
36 0 7, 36 21, 36 45 West
Polk Street, 9 0 6 and 9 0 8 South Central Park Avenue
and 9 21 South Lawndale Avenue.
In the 24th ward, I move passage of this item
by the first most favorable roll call vote
of the Committee on Finance report in the associated
and unsuccessful motion to reconsider hearing.
No objection. So order
Item number three is the
communication appointing Mike Belsky
as city comptroller following deliberations on this matter.
Mr. President, I move passage of this item
by the same motion.
I reserve the right to close
Very well as Mr.
Belsky takes the box.
If there are any individuals that wish to speak to this item
or this appointment, this will be the opportunity to do so.
Now.
Very well. The chair recognizes all the women. Sam Nugent.
Thank you, Mr. President. Uh,
I, I rise in support of Mr.
Belsky confirmation as our city comptroller.
He has extensive experience working in state
and local governments and specifically
surrounding municipal finance.
His reputation in the field is stellar
and he's eager to work with us here in council.
In the short time that he has been working with us,
he's helped me tremendously
and always offers, uh,
to break down complex financial concepts.
And he's even agreed to present one
of his municipal bond finance classes to me and my team.
So I commend you, Mr. President, on an excellent choice
for comptroller and I'm happy to support him. Thank you.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alderman Raymond Lopez.
Good afternoon, Mr. President
and members of the City council.
I rise in support of your nomination
of Michael Belsky City Comptroller,
and I commend you on your choice.
We had the pleasure of welcoming your appointee
to the 15th ward,
and while he was able to get firsthand knowledge of
what we deal with on a daily basis in terms of enforcement,
uh, one thing was very clear to me
and to my team, uh, a focus
on not leaving money on the table that we should be able
to collect simply by enforcing the laws on our streets.
Many of us in this council have introduced ordinances
to deal with towing, to deal with illegal car sales, to deal
with, uh, ticket enforcement
and things of that nature, all of which is important to our,
not only to our quality of life,
but to impacting the bottom line of the city of Chicago.
We know that we have challenges facing us
as we go into the budget season, challenges
that he will be a part of,
but he is also with his Department
of Revenue, part of the solution.
And I believe that if we allow them to be fully funded,
fully operational, that he is knows how to ensure
that his entire team remains a net gain for the city
of Chicago when it comes to enforcement.
This is what we need in our communities.
This is what our residents ask for.
And having seen it firsthand, I'm confident
that we could count on our new city comptroller
to continue the pa the march forward to enforcing our laws
as they were meant to be enforced throughout all
77 neighborhoods.
So I thank you for your appointment
and I look forward to seeing him officially take the
reins in this new role.
Thank you. Thank
You. The chair
recognizes Alderman Matte.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I too rise in support of this appointment. Uh, Mr.
Belsky has an extensive record, uh, in public policy.
Uh, specifically I think his work at Fitz Ratings
and at the University
of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.
Um, in his short time, I've had the opportunity to meet
with him, um,
and welcome working with him moving forward.
We have a tremendous amount of difficult work ahead
of us when we talk about our city's financial future,
but he is the right person at the right time
to take the comptroller's office.
Um, thank you Michael and to your family.
Uh, thank you for allowing him to,
to take on this difficult role.
Uh, look forward to working with you, sir.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alderman Irvin.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, not, uh, many times do you find someone with the level
of experience both in industry, uh, elected
and academic that we have here, uh, with Comptroller Belsky.
Uh, the one thing that really took me, um, anybody
that's been in accounting, uh,
GASB standards are not very easy to deal with.
And to have someone who's actually settled on the GASB
to be our comptroller says volumes about this man's
experience about, uh, his ability to, uh, negotiate, uh,
tough situations because GS b work is,
is not, uh, for the faint of heart.
So, again, great choice, great selection.
We look forward to continued working, uh, with you
and continue, uh, working to help solve some
of the challenges our city face. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alderman Gardner.
Thank you, Mr. Mr. President.
Um, I too rise in support of this resolution.
Um, Mike, I've never had the opportunity, um,
to meet you in person before,
but you look like a numbers guy.
You and I, I mean that in the most complimentary of ways.
Um, and I've heard nothing, to be honest with you, nothing
but positive things about you and your character.
Um, so if I was going to choose somebody in this room
to look after our finances or accounting, it would be you.
Um, uh, but again, I I mean
that in the most complimentary, respectful ways.
And if you're even half, uh, as respectful
and polite as you were yesterday when I spoke
to you on the phone and help me navigate the situation I was
going through, um, I will be more than happy, uh, to partner
with you, um, in your duties.
So thank you for taking this position, and thank you, Mr.
President, uh, for an excellent choice.
So thank you very much.
Alderman Wag is back.
Thank you, Mr. President, I to rise in support
of this appointment, uh, for Mr.
Bosky as the comptroller.
Um, he has well-rounded experience, ladies
and gentlemen that, uh,
often in these days is in short supply from here to dc.
Um, I think he will be a great asset for you, Mr.
Mayor, and for the city council and the people of this city.
Um, I don't think you can improve too much on the great
experience and staff
that you have in the Committee on Finance except,
or excuse me, through the Department of Finance, except
through adding some of that technology
and, uh, more efficiencies that you will see, uh,
added to their toolkit.
So, um, I hope that what you do is build on that experience,
um, you know, work with the staff that are there to
do great things for the city in the years to come.
And, uh, glad to see your appointment go through today.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes all the women
woman Nicole Lee.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I too rise in support of this appointment.
Um, I have had a couple of opportunities to speak
with Mike on the phone, um, in the,
I'm gonna have a little Whitney young moment.
He can go Whitney Young, but he did,
he comes from the Harris School of Public Policy, as do I.
So it's gonna be like that. Um, I guess it's a,
it's a prerequisite now for comptrollers, um,
to have an association with the Harris School.
Um, but that notwithstanding, uh, one of the questions
that I asked you when we talked on the phone was, Mike,
why did, why do you wanna do this?
Um, and you know, I I was really, I was very struck
by your answer, you know, um, you could be doing a lot
of other things, frankly.
Um, and this is not an easy job. This is no easy task.
And the, the fact that you were willing to take it on
because you saw an opportunity to help,
and I think that resonates with a lot
of us sitting in this room today, um, that in the service
of this great city, you're willing to come and do this.
And so, I, I thank you for that.
And really, um, I can't
say enough good things about your team.
Um, I, I call Chuck Billows only
after five o'clock on Fridays when I need stuff.
Uh, but he always picks up the phone
and as does everybody else on your staff.
So, um, I wish you all the best of luck, uh, and,
and here to, to be, uh, partners with you to make sure
that we can keep the city on good footing. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Hall.
Thank you so much, Mr. President.
I stand in support of this appoint from day one.
The conversations have been many, uh,
but you've been consistent in the interim.
So I'm grateful for the transition to this new complete, uh,
position and grateful for what you've done
so far in the sixth Ward,
and making sure that the wrong guys are not parking
on the wrong street.
So, thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Curtis.
Thank you, Mr. President. I too rise to support this, uh,
I as we, as we talked the other day.
Um, I really, I really do appreciate you coming.
I, I, uh, you, you already have a great team.
Uh, I just think they, they needed a, um, a good leader.
I think you are that good leader.
Um, you know, I, I had issues, uh,
with a lot of truck parking in the community,
and we already talked about that.
You already rolled up your sleeves and,
and already talking about hiring more, um, uh,
agents to, to work on our, uh, streets.
So I appreciate you wanting to accept, uh, this position
and, uh, and the time that we're in right now.
And, uh, we definitely need your support and help
and your expertise.
Thank you, uh, Mr. Mayor.
Uh, great choice. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any other Als that wish to speak?
The chair has one more. Uh, chairwoman.
Uh, we have one more. The chair recognizes Alderman Conway.
Thank you. Uh, Mr. Belski.
As I said in, in confirmation,
my only concern here is you're wildly
overqualified for this job.
Uh, and as you know, we face a very
difficult time in our fiscal health,
and I just wanted to add my thank you for taking this on.
That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for the close of this appointment.
The chair recognizes Chairwoman Dow. Uh,
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I wanna commend you as well, um,
on this appointment of, uh, Mike Belsky, um,
as our new comptroller.
It was a stellar appointment as people have already.
Um, said he is, uh, exceptionally qualified,
and, uh, he has deep experience in the municipal
finance area.
Um, I think he's gonna, I told him, uh, yesterday
or when at the committee meeting that I,
he's known in the community as a problem solver,
but now he also has to be a traffic cop.
Um, so, uh, we look forward to, uh, that as well,
because he rounds out a very excellent finance team.
And Jill Jaworski and Annette Guzman.
So, um, with that, Mr. President,
Before your motion, Renew
My motion, just want to just shout out real quick, uh,
the Belsky family, Julia Lynn, Jared, Andrew, Brandy,
Noah, Zoe.
And then we have Mike, uh, moon Hall, Enza, FRA,
Joel Flores, Elaine Herman, Chuck Billows, Koran,
Coca, uh, to the entire Belsky family.
And all of those are in the box. Thank you for being here.
Uh, the motion has been renewed, um, by Alderwoman Doo,
seeing no other hands, hearing, no objections,
the most favorable roll call on the subsequent motion
to reconsider that failed.
Um, so ordered congratulations, Mr. Besley.
Standing next to Joe
Chair recognizes Chairwoman Dow.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Item number four is an ordinance amending the municipal code
section seven dash 28 dash 2 35.
To align the senior sewer exemption
and the Senior Refuse discount program, I move passage
of this item by the same motion hearing,
No objection. So, ordered
Item number five is the substitute ordinance amending
municipal code section two dash 44 dash 1 42
dash 45 dash one 10
and 14 a dash three dash three 13.6.
Regarding lien assignments, I move passage
of this item by the same Motion
Chair recognizes Alderman Lopez.
Thank you, chairman and members of the committee.
I rise in opposition to this substitute ordinance.
As we discussed in committee, I feel
that this is a solution in search of a problem.
As we heard that there were only three properties
at the time where the, of all the thousands of properties
that have liens, only three would be impacted by this.
I think there are concerns that I have
that went unanswered in committee.
There's information that was requested with regards
to the amount of total valuation of all debt liens
the city currently has across the entire city.
That has not been shared as of my standing in this moment.
And there are some unanswered questions with regards
to person to person sales,
where we are effectively removing debt on a property
and then reassigning it to a new owner.
There are other ways that we can address these issues, Mr.
President issues that are already legal, where we would go
to court, take a property that has a debt lien assigned
to it, put it in our inventory,
and then provide a clean bill of sale
and title to individuals if we are trying to work with them
to provide housing or other things.
Quite frankly, Mr. President, this is not the way.
I'm not going to defer and publish,
but I would like to be recorded as voting no on this item.
Thank you very well,
Uh, despite the division, uh, your motion.
Uh, thank you, Mr. President.
Item number six is an ordinance concern.
Hold on a second. Just make the motion
again. All the woman do.
Uh, okay. I move passage of this item by the same motion,
with the exception of, uh, alderman Lopez Voting No.
Very well, Mr. Clerk, could you go, uh,
Madam Clerk record, alderman Lopez.
Raymond Lopez, as I know,
despite the division Hearing No objections.
This is sole ordered. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Item number six is an ordinance
concerning the execution of a redevelopment agreement,
an issuance of tax increment financing funds
to Black Ensemble Theater Corporation for improvements
of the Black Ensemble Studio Theater at 44 40
through 44 50 North Clark Street in the 47th Ward.
I move passage of this item by the same motion
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered.
Item number seven is a communication transmitting reports
of cases in which verdicts, judgments,
or settlements were entered into for the month
of June, 2025.
This will be placed on file with the clerk.
Item number eight A is an order
authorizing the corporation counsel to enter into
and execute a settlement order in the case
of Felicia Nas Bradley versus City of Chicago in the amount
of $400,000.
I move passage of this item
by the first most favorable roll call vote
of the Committee on Finance Report
and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered
Item number eight B is an order authorizing corporation
counsel to enter into an execute a settlement order
in the case of Gilbert Mendez versus City of Chicago
in the amount of 2.5 million.
I move passage of this item by the same motion,
with the exception of Alderman Spto voting, no
Hearing, no objections. So ordered.
Item number eight C is an order
authorizing corporation counsel to enter into
and execute a settlement order in the case
of Marley Aguilar versus Eric Duran et al in the amount
of $3 million.
I move passage of this item by the same motion,
with the exception of Alderman Conway Hopkins,
bill Quinn Lopez, osha, Scott Cardona,
SPTO, Riley Silverstein,
and Nugent, who all wish to be recorded
as voting no on this matter.
Well, the chair recognizes Alman Lopez.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise again in opposition to this settlement.
This was an individual who,
in a known area within Brighton Park that I formally
represented, was engaged in activity that was
a detriment to the quality of life in our communities,
was running from police
and was occupying a space for illicit business
that we should not be rewarding today.
Had he simply complied, not tried to evade capture
for his illegal and illicit activities,
we would not be having this discussion today.
Many of us, as I mentioned during committee, voted in,
in opposition to this,
and I would encourage those who have not had the chance
to do so to join us in opposition today. Thank you.
Chair recognizes Alman Napolitano.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like
To be recorded as a No, please.
Very well hearing no other chair recognizes Alderman.
Curtis
Put a No. Can
we just roll call please.
Chair recognizes Alderman Gardner. Thank you.
Mr. President. Please record me as a no as well.
Chair recognizes Alderman Chico.
Mr. President can be recorded as a No.
Did we count 'em all up, Mr. Clerk?
Okay. We can, we can do a roll call on Mr.
Alright. There's a motion on the floor for a roll call.
Vote for item eight C.
Mr. President, I, i, I, I do wanna correct something.
This is a gentleman who did not have a criminal record.
Uh, just 'cause he was, uh,
he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Chair recognizes Alderman Irvin.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Uh, I, if, if the memory serves me, correct me,
I think the police car rolled over this kid's head
and he's got screws, plates,
and other things in his face.
Um, I understand the gentleman's point from the 15th ward
again, our chairman has stated, man had no criminal record.
Uh, just because I happened to be somewhere, I happen
to live somewhere does not make me a criminal.
I think we need to think through some of these items.
Uh, and look at the other side of this picture.
Now, granted you, we got challenges,
but there's a man no criminal record.
Car rolls over him, crushes his head,
and we wanna argue over that.
I, I, I think we gotta start
thinking a little deeper than that, sir.
Again, thank you, Mr. President. You're
Welcome. There's been a motion,
there's a request
for a roll call Vote on item eight C.
Madam Clerk, could you make the application available
and members of the city council, please use your
EVO application to record your vote at this time.
Item eight C,
The voting is now open. Please use your e device.
If you need help logging in, please raise your hand.
The voting is now open.
I will now take a voice. Vote for those.
Do not use their Eev device. Alderman LaSpada.
Alderman LaSpada is a yes.
LaSpada is a yes. Alderman Hopkins not present.
Alderwoman Coleman Alderwoman.
Oh, yes. Okay. Alderwoman Coleman is a yes. Alderman.
OSHA Alderman. OSHA is a yes.
Alderwoman Tabba
Tabba is a no.
Alderwoman Cruz not President Chambers.
Alderman Viegas. You there? Okay.
Voting is now closed.
32 15.
There are 32 Yays. 15 nays.
This motion passes Alderman Mitchell on a motion
to reconsider this vote.
Who to reconsider the vote?
All those in favor of the reconsideration of this vote,
signify by saying Aye.
And opposed say nay. Motion fails.
Chair recognizes Chairwoman Dow.
Uh, thank you, Mr. President.
Item number eight D is an order authorizing the corporation
counsel to enter into
and execute a settlement order in the case
of Jackie Wilson versus John Burge, et al in the amount
of $12.7 million.
Alderman Conway of the 34th Ward recused himself from voting
on this matter under Rule 14, as he worked
with Nick Ko at the state's attorney's office
for four years in the public corruption slash
Financial Crimes unit.
Though the incidents in this case proceeded Alderman
Conway's time at the office, he recused himself out
of an abundance of caution.
I move passage of this item by the same motion as applied to
eight A with the exception of Alderman Lopez,
Scott Hopkins,
and Spto, who all wish to be recorded No, on this matter,
Very well, despite the division
hearing, no other objections. So ordered.
Item number eight E is an order
authorizing the corporation counsel to enter into
and execute a settlement order in the case of Roberto Aldo
Almo Debar versus Ronaldo, Ronaldo Rivera,
et al in the amount of $17 million.
I move passage of this item by the same motion
as supplied to eight a
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered
Items number nine in 10 consist of orders of authorization
for the payment of various small claims against the city
of Chicago and the denial of payment
of various small claims against the city of Chicago.
If there are no objections, I will move
that these items be placed in the passage in the
omnibus. Here
The chair recognizes Alderman, Nicks Podo.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanna go on record.
I I made a mistake. I know I can't be corrected.
I told Madame Chair that put me down
for a no on item eight B, I meant to say C.
So I just wanted to go on the record that I made a mistake.
I do support item eight B. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
The motion has been made for items nine and 10.
Hearing no objections. So ordered.
Item number 11 is a proposed order
authorizing two charitable solicit
solicitation on the public way.
Permit one permit is for the Knights
of Columbus Citywide from September 18th, 2025
to September 21st, 2025.
Uh, please note that the dates
of solicitation were incorrectly read into the record
during the finance committee meeting.
The second permit is for the American Civil Liberties Union,
uh, citywide from July 31st, 2025
to December 31st, 2025.
These two will be placed on file with the clerk.
The following item received a do not pass
recommendation from the committee.
Item number 12 is an ordinance introduced
by Alderman Marty Quinn of the 13th Ward,
amending municipal code chapter two dash eight
by adding a new section two dash eight dash oh three six
issuance of bonds
and other indebt indebtedness ordinance requirements.
Uh, the President Pro tem Samantha Nugent,
exercised her right under Rule 36 to serve
as an ex-officio member and participated in the vote.
Uh, that concludes my report. Mr. President.
Thank you Madam Chair. Committee on Budget
and Government Operations.
Um, the chair recognizes Alderman Bill
President. I had to
step out and use the bathroom,
uh, during the first vote.
I just wanted to be recorded as I on the first, uh, vote,
uh, for the override.
If there are no objections,
Alderman, bill that I cannot add you.
The vote had been closed. Thank you.
The chair recognizes Alderman Bill.
Thank you, Mr. President. Um, we have presidents, uh,
doing this in the past if a person was in the
back or in the bathroom.
Um, and long as there's no objection from the body
to add a person to the role.
Yeah. The precedent that we typically establish is the
first most favorable roll call in this instance.
Um, I'm not aware of any precedent that allows for a vote
to be added after the closure of a vote, I think.
Right.
Are there any objections from the body for Alderman Bill
to be added as a, as a yes.
Vote for the vote
to override the veto.
Are there any objections from the body? All right.
Hearing no objections.
We will add, we'll hearing no objections.
We will add Alderman bill as a yes.
Vote for the, uh, override veto measure.
Very well. Thank you. Uh, while we have the attention
of everyone, um, I do wanna just take a moment
to recognize, well, just two things.
One, there are a number of once Summer Chicago interns, uh,
that are in the room today,
or have been here throughout the day, many of them
who have been interning for automatic offices.
We thank them for their work
and we hope that we continue to have a budget that allows
for the continuation of our investments in youth employment.
With that,
there are any interns, please stand.
There's some of them are over there.
Very well. Thank you. So I know it's been a long day
for them, but, um, this is a great exercise.
Um,
chair recognizes Alderman wa back. Thank
You, Mr. President. Uh,
just to add on to what you said there,
I know one summer students and interns are here,
and we also have Mikva Challenge students here
As well. Oh, okay, great.
Which I know you've, uh, supported in the past.
Yeah. Are there Mikva student Mikva students?
Could you please stand or mikva? Let's give. Okay.
We have a couple, one that's still here.
Well, how cool is that?
You got your own personal standing ovation.
As a former public school teacher
and as the, um, as the teacher leader
for Mikvah Challenge when I was at Westinghouse.
Thank you for your contribution.
Uh, for, um, uh, this was raised up earlier,
but now we have the family here, I believe.
And, um, we, I mentioned earlier that one of our officers
who's a part of the detail
and is an officer, uh, was an officer here at City Hall.
Officer Pete Kovich,
and I understand that his family members are here.
And Alder woman, Sam Nugent, wishes to bring attention
and to recognize this family,
the chair recognizes Alderwoman. Sam Nugent.
Uh, thank you, Mr. President.
I move for the temporary suspension of the rules
to honor Sergeant Pete Kovich,
If there are no objections, sole ordered.
Thank you. Um, welcome.
Today we honor our colleague, Pete Kovich,
as a 27 year veteran of the Chicago Police Department.
Sergeant Kovich kept watch here at City Hall,
ensuring the safety of everyone in here day in and day out.
Sergeant Kovich was a friend
and a constituent in the 39th Board.
I have the pleasure of knowing his lovely wife
and beautiful children who are here with us today.
Uh, to Yvette and the girls
and all of Pete's family and friends.
Please accept my con sincere condolences in the condolences
of the entire 39th Ward.
God bless you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You. Chair recognizes
Altman Napolitano.
Thank you, Mr. President. I too rise in support of this,
um, to Pete's family.
Um, it was an absolutely beautiful ceremony.
Um, as we sent Pete off, I refer to him as pretty Pete.
Very tough last two months.
Um, my heart goes out to you.
God bless you, you and your family. Thank you, president.
Thank you. Uh, could we just, um,
offer up a just a standing rise of honor
for our fallen brother?
Uh, I didn't see your hand. Y'all just relax. I missed it.
The chair recognizes. Okay.
Um, alderman Moore, please,
while we stand, give you a few moments.
No, I was just saying that, you know, um, we,
and maybe we'll come back and do something else.
Um, but if y'all don't know,
realize the impact this man had on people's,
um, lives down here.
Um, always kept a great smile, being positive
and treated everybody with respect.
I mean, when we talk about, we, it, it, I know we, we,
we are busy today and we got a lot going on,
but when somebody like this, um, have an impact on you
and change the city, I saw
how he treat people when people are down here, no matter
what color you were, no ethnicity, anything.
He treated you with respect.
And he always had a good joke for you, boy, and so
and so family.
Thank you so much. And I, I,
I'm hoping we'll probably do something even bigger or better
because he deserves that.
And he's a person that, uh, was loved
by many of us down here.
So thank you all and thank you, Mr.
Mayor for, um, making this recognition. Thank
You, Altman. Nick pdo.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be real quick.
I just wanna tell Ive her daughters
Pete was a true blessing to me.
I have a, a few more challenges and most of you do,
but Pete was always there for me.
Thank you.
Let's have a moment of silence for Officer Kovich.
Thank you very much. Thank you all. The woman Nugent.
Now for the committee on Budget
and Government Operations,
the chair recognizes Chairman Irvin.
Thank you, Mr. President
and members of the council reporting
for your committee on budget and government operations,
which held the meeting on July 14th.
The committee has a series
of reports recommending passage of the following items.
Item number one is a communication recommending a proposed
ordinance concerning an annual appropriation ordinance year
2025, amendment within fund 9 2 5, a move passage
of this item by the first favorable roll call
of the Committee on Finance
and the associated unsuccessful
motion to reconsider hearing.
No objection. So ordered
Item number two is a transfer
of funds within the 47th Ward wage allowance
and automatic expense account for year 2025.
I make the same motion if there is no objection hearing.
So ordered. Um, that
before I conclude, um, I know that we will be, uh,
adjourning for the summer.
Uh, a schedule on our budget process for 2026,
uh, is our goal to get that out before the end of the month.
Please keep in mind we will have mid-year budget hearings
beginning the second week in September.
So, uh, we will be doing that
and we'll provide a schedule that will take us
through the balance of the year
so we can all get our ducks lined up in a row.
Again. Uh, we will have, uh, aspirin, ibuprofen,
sleeping bags, and other items available for those
that need them.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Our next committee is a Committee on Economic
Capital Technology and Development.
The chair recognizes Vice Chair Mosley.
Thank you Mr. President.
Reporting for the Committee on Economic Capital
and Technology Development.
On Thursday, July 10th, 2025.
The committee had a held a meeting
and recommended passage of the following items.
Uh, items one through five are a series
of SSA appointments and reappointments.
Items one through three are Reappointments
of Michael J. Parker, Ola, F uh, Ken B,
and Andrea Minz, Gil Gail rif as members
of Special Service Area number 31 Greater
Ravenswood Commission.
Items four and five are appointments of Connie Coleman
and Christie Casey as members
of Special Service Area number 47, the 47 Street
and Cottage Grove Commission
and Special Service Area number 61,
the Hyde Park Commission, respectively.
I move for passage of these items by the first favor.
Roll call of the Committee on Finance
and associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered.
Thank you. Item six
and seven on the report are Tax Incentives ordinance
that were approved by the committee.
Item number six on the report is a Class L tax incentive
Substitute ordinance for property at 900 West Lake Street
and 200 North Peoria Street in the 27th Ward.
Item seven on the report is a Class eight tax incentive
Ordinance at 4,000 West Diversity Avenue in
the 31st Ward.
I move for passage of these items by the first favor.
Roll call for the vote of the Committee on Finance
and associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider hearing.
No objection. So ordered.
Thank you, Mr. President. That concludes my report.
Thank you. Our next committee is on Ethics
Government oversight.
The chair recognizes Chairman Martin.
Thank you Mr. President
and members of City Council reporting
for your committee on Ethics
and Government Oversight, which held a committee meeting on
Monday, July 14th, uh, 2025.
The committee recommends passage of the following item.
Item number one is substitute Ordinance
2 0 2 5 0 1 5 5 83,
which is an amendment of section two dash 56
of the municipal code to modify powers
and duties of the Office of Inspector General.
The, the substitute was circulated
and accepted by the committee,
and the item passed unanimously amongst all members present,
I would like to briefly thank our corporation council,
our Inspector General,
their departmental colleagues in the Legislative Reference
Bureau for their collaboration
and dedication on this ordinance.
And I moves passage of this item
by the first favorable roll call vote
of the Committee on Finance and the associated unsuccessful
motion to reconsider hearing
Chair recognizes Alderman and Gardner.
Um, yes, I, I just, uh, would like
to speak on this matter briefly, if that's okay.
Mr. President, please. The floor is yours. Thank you.
Um, so I spoke on this
last month, and I'm not going to beat a dead horse.
Um, the purpose of me speaking last week, and, and,
and I also wanna make a point,
I'm not gonna throw shade at anybody.
That is not my objective here.
My objective here is to try to bring to light what is right
and us as good stewards of our community, of our residents,
it's important, it's imperative upon us to do what is right,
even if it's unpopular.
And I understand this vote is going to be heavily in favor,
and I'll probably be the only person
who actually votes against it, which is fine.
And I'm sure the headline would read in the media
that Alderman Gardner votes against
transparency and accountability.
And that's not the case.
What I am trying to do, regardless of
where you stand on your political spectrum, is stand up.
Because as I said
before, what could happen to one
of us can happen to all of us.
And alls that I would like to see moving forward
is proper guardrails for everyone.
Right? What has happened to me?
And not just include in what, just
what I spoke about last month,
I would not wish upon anybody, any,
I I wouldn't wish this upon anybody in this room
or anybody on, on the face
of this planet because it was evil.
I do wanna speak and, and,
and try to advocate for every single person in here,
because I think it's very important for everybody
to realize what we are doing.
And it's, it's almost comparable
for those of us who have kids.
When you have a 19-year-old
and they're driving the Ford, right?
And they're doing a good job of driving the Ford,
and they say, Hey, mom, hey dad, I, I, I'd really like
to drive the Corvette in the garage, right?
I'd really like to take that out and take that for a spin.
And I think it's really important, right?
For as parents, as good guardians,
as good stewards, we say, you know what?
Let's, let's, let's make sure that you know how
to do the right things with what you have right now
until we have proper guardrails in place.
What I am trying to say is that
with great power comes great responsibility,
and I just don't know if we have the proper guardrails
in place right now to move forward with granting,
um, more privilege.
And it's, it's ironic
because it appears as if that I am fighting
for the mayor's office or the law department, who I have
politely disagreed.
I, we've had our differences of opinion,
but regardless of where we stand, as I said earlier,
where we stand on the political spectrum, I will advocate
for you, I will advocate
for somebody even if we have differences of opinion.
And again, I know many of us cannot take this vote.
We can't take a, we can't take a no vote.
But I at least want to take a minute to stand and just say,
and I'd like to ensure that
We have the proper oversight
of all departments in our local government.
And until we do so, I think it would be wise for us
to press pause and, and, and ensure that that is in place
before we move forward.
Regardless of where you are on this vote, I respect you.
I respect you as a colleague.
I respect anybody who do, who is here working for the city
of Chicago, working for the betterment of our city.
Um, and I will continue to take a stand for
what I believe is right.
And I believe that voting against this
is the right thing to do. Thank you for your time.
The chair recognizes Alderman Hadden.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I implore my colleagues to vote I on this
because it is what is right with
great power does come great responsibility.
We have so many, we have so many
important responsibilities as elected officials, especially
as Chicago elder persons in a body, uh, in a city,
in a state with, uh, notorious history of elected officials
convicted of wrongdoing, people abusing power,
people abusing the public trust,
graft, theft, stealing there.
There's a lot of things that some people do
when they have power.
Um, power can corrupt even the best of us.
When I, um, was granted this
position by the voters of the 49th Ward, and even
before then, I knew that one
of my responsibilities to honor my constituents, the city
of Chicago, the great state of Illinois
and our country, would be to be above reproach.
We've gotta be the best.
The example, we have an OIGA Board
of ethics, uh, department of law, a lot of colleagues
and people to help us know what the rules are,
know how to follow them.
We don't have the excuse of not knowing.
And one of the standards
that we have is even if we haven't done something, we have
to be beyond questioning of that.
We have to be better. It's not enough to,
to follow the rules.
We cannot give the appearance of impropriety.
We should not open ourselves up to that kind of issue.
'cause we have, even for those of us holding ourselves
to this high, high standard, we still have problems.
We still have people we know. We all deal with issues.
Um, someone, you know, political opponents, people
who are upset, people who are uninformed.
There are so many things that we struggle
with in our office while trying to serve our constituents.
And for the 99.9% of the time,
and for the 90% of us that are holding ourselves to
that extra standard, this
ordinance is going to help us.
We have a responsibility to earn
and keep the trust of the constituents
of the city of Chicago.
And that means working hard every day to be above reproach.
That means not trying to weaken efforts
for government oversight.
That means not trying to miss, um,
to color these efforts
as something other than what they are.
That means not taking a personal issue
and trying to undermine the entire
ethics reform for the city of Chicago.
We must move forward. We must be better.
We must be stronger.
And for those of us who have experienced these issues
before, we know that we're here
to help each other and support each other.
And these are departments in this ordinance.
This is going to help the OIG make sure that
we don't have false issues brought against us.
That they have strong powers of investigation to make sure
that the truth comes out.
Construing this as anything other than
that is a mistake.
It's unwise. It's not responsible.
It doesn't make sense.
Urging this body to vote against, this
doesn't make any sense.
Um, vote for this.
Let us continue to strive to serve our great city
to respect the constituents who put us here
and who trust and count on us to do our jobs.
And if those standards get higher, we will rise
to the challenge of those standards,
because that's what we were elected to do.
I urge my colleagues to support this.
Thank you, um, alderman Martin
for bringing it forward, and thank you, Mr.
President
Chair recognized. Thank
you. The chair recognizes Alderman Wapac.
Uh, thank you, Mr. President.
Uh, colleagues, I would urge you to vote in favor of this,
uh, ethics ordinance.
Um, this, this was prompted by a case, I believe,
back in 2007 with city contractors,
and then, uh, kind
of culminated in the Supreme Court ruling in Ferguson v
Patterson, um, about 12, 13 years ago.
So this has been a long time coming, uh, for,
I think changes, uh, to the Inspector General's office
and the, and the duties that they have.
So it's more based on, uh, some activities that took place,
um, quite a while ago, almost two decades now.
Um, I also think that, you know,
as we've tried over the years to increase the ability
of the Inspector General to do things the right way, um,
we saw changes back in 2012.
Um, a lot of you who were here, remember the, uh,
legislative Inspector general office, which, uh, turned out
to be, uh, something that did not work.
We were able to, uh, get rid of that
and really make a more robust office
of the Inspector General.
Um, finally, Mr.
President, I want to thank, uh, your department of law.
Were really working hard.
I think Alderman Martin, uh, was working up
until the last minute as well with them to craft
or amend the language to still make it strong for
what the Inspector General needs,
but also to make sure that the Department
of law is at the table and, uh, protecting the rights
and making sure that city employees have the legal
representation that they need, uh,
the attorney client privilege that they need, um,
as they move forward on these cases.
So, I, I think a lot of credit goes to, uh,
Mary Richardson Lowry
and her staff were making sure that
what the final product was, was something that DOL,
the Inspector General and the City Council can work with
and, and pass here today. So thank you very much.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Scho Lopez.
Thank you, Mr. President.
And I do wanna thank both, um, corporation Council
and, uh, alderman Martin on reaching an agreement
in the best interest of the City of Chicago.
Um, ethics reform in our council is, is long overdue
and desperately needed, but it's important that we do it
always with the best interest of our constituents,
the best interest of the city,
and not with ulterior motives.
Not to weaponize investigations for political gain.
And that is something that we all must agree
even is playing out at the federal level
when files are being withhold,
what evidence have been withhold
to hide the truth and hide the facts.
So I do not wanna dismiss the issues that were in front
of us, and I'm glad that we are moving with experience,
but also being responsible with the needs
and priorities of our city.
We're seeing how
investigations are taking place.
At the same time with urgent matters are also taking place.
We saw how the gift room investigation took precedent
as our own communities were terrorized.
But a federal government that did not,
does not believe in the Constitution.
I am not going to stand for that, but I'm glad,
and I'm glad that the city
of Chicago is moving in the right direction, putting forward
a compromise that does justice to what the goals
and aspirations that we have in our council,
but also in the city of Chicago, where is much expected
of city council, which is due process
and upholding the values and principles
and our Constitution.
So with that, I wanna thank again, corporation Council
and Alderman Martin to reach an agreement that is
what we should be doing as legislators.
And I think this forward is a
compromise that move us forward.
And my commitment to ethics reform always in the best
interest of the city of Chicago and our best
and all, especially interest groups.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chairman is placed on the floor a motion
to approve this item with the most favorable roll call
that was taken in the finance committee
and the associated, uh, motion to reconsider.
And it's, it's failure, the associated motion
to reconsider if there are no other comments
unless the chairman wishes to close Very well hearing
and just for clarity, Altman Gardner, you wish
to be recorded as a no.
O Okay. The chair recognizes Altman
Irvin, you missing him in that coat.
You got jokes, huh? All.
Um, let, let's, uh, I think we have
to separate the policy from the person.
Uh, there has been some challenges
and allegations around an individual.
However, uh, the policy that's set forth, um,
that has been negotiated between the, uh, chair people,
inspector and, uh, our corporation council is,
uh, is meaningful.
Uh, whatever has transpired, uh, that needs to be dealt with
and dealt with in the way it needs to be dealt with.
And I think this ordinance creates
the path for that to happen.
So let's not marry the policy and the person,
but let's separate them and let them be, be dealt
with appropriately so that we can deliver on the forms
that are necessary while at the same time restoring, uh,
and generating additional integrity to the process.
Very well. The motion is still on the floor.
Alderman Gardner wishes to be recorded as I know,
seeing no other hands, hearing, no other objections.
So ordered. Chairman Martin.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The committee also held a subject matter hearing on updates
to the draft policy on Ineligibility for rehire
by the Department of Human Resources.
No votes were taken. Thank you.
And that concludes my report.
Thank you for the Committee on Health and Human Relations.
The chair recognizes chairperson Rodriguez Sanchez.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Reporting for the Committee on Health
and Human Relations,
which met on May 28th, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
Item number one in the agenda was a
2 2 5 0 0 1 6 6 7.
The mayor appointment of Dr.
Annu Shaq to the Board of Health,
which received a due pass recommendation from the committee.
Mr. President, I move passage of this item
by the first most favorable roll call vote on the Committee
on Finance and the associated unsuccessful motion
to reconsider hearing,
No objection. So ordered.
The committee also held a subject matter hearing
with the Chicago Department of Public Health
regarding the strategic plan.
And summer strategy
where we learn about the department's efforts
to control exposure
to the West Nile virus within Chicago Food safety
inspections, opioid overdose prevention strategies,
and gun violence intervention strategies.
I'm happy to connect any of my colleagues
with the resources shared, and I highly encourage everyone
to watch the recording of the hearing.
No vote was taken on this matter. Thank you, Mr.
President. That concludes my report.
Thank you. The Committee on Housing
and Real Estate Chair recognizes Chair Sig Lopez.
Thank you Mr. President
and members of the City council reporting
for your Committee on Housing
and Real Estate, which held a meeting on July 9th, 2025.
The committee has a series of reports recommending passage
of seven appointments and 14 ordinances.
This include a right of entry agreement,
three public way matters and various land sales.
Item one through seven are for appointments to the board
of directors for the Residential Investment Corporation.
They are Christine Horne, Don Vilar, William W Towns,
Edith Tobar with Doling, Hatten Butler,
Daniel Hertz, and Juanita Garcia.
And move passes of these seven items
by the first most favorable roll call vote on the Committee
on Finance and associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered.
The next item is from the Department of Fleet
and Facility Management Ordinance 20 25 0 0 18 1 7 1
Second Amendment to right entry use agreement
with Lincoln Parks or Logical Society in the 42nd Ward.
A move passes of this item by the same motion hearing.
No objection. So ordered.
Item 10 on the summary report is from the Department
of Housing, a substitute ordinance
20 25 0 0 18 22 2.
First Amendment to City, lots of Working Families program
for city owned vacant land to developers for construction
of affordable single family homes
or two flat buildings, including changes to lot size,
lot value thresholds, city hiring requirements,
and other participatory or qualifying amendments.
I move passage of this item by the same motion hearing.
No objection. So ordered
Item 11 through 13 are from the Department
of Transportation for projects within the 45th, 10th,
and 22nd on 23rd wards.
The ordinance numbers are Ordinance
20 25 0 18, 20 20 25,
ordinance 20 25 0 0 18, 1 90,
and the last one, which was a substitute
or, uh, the substitute ordinance 20 25 0 18 18 94.
Move passes of, of these three items
by the same motion, hearing,
No objection. So ordered.
The remaining items are
for the Department of Planning and Development.
Item 14, substitute 2025 dash 0 0 18 2 5 0.
Sale of Vacant City owned properties at 30 36 35
dash 36 37 West Douglas Boulevard, 1501, um,
1859 and 1900 South Springfield Avenue, 1524
and 1613 South Avers Avenue
and 14 0 0 2 South Independence Boulevard.
Two redevelopment agreement
with missing Middle Chicago LLC under the Check Block
Builder platform for construction
of eight residential buildings in the 24th.
Ward. Move passes of this item by the same motion hearing,
No objection, sole ordered.
The next two items are, uh, uh,
pre-check block builder cells
of vacant city owned properties.
Uh, ordinance 2025 dash 0 0 18 2 54 in the 29th Ward
and Ordinance 2025 dash 0 0 18 2 51 in the 27th Ward.
I move passes of these items by the same motion hearing.
No objection. So ordered
Item 17, uh, ordinance 20 25 0 0 18 2 45.
And item 18, 20 25 dash 0 18 2 35.
A sale of vacant city owned property under the side yard
and Urban Agriculture programs on Child Block Builder
platform in the 28th and 21st wards.
AM passages of these two items by the same motion hearing,
No objection. So ordered.
The remaining items are grouped together for convenience.
Items 19 through 22 are for the market rate sale
of city owned land through the CHI Block Builder platform in
the 23rd, 27th, fifth and third words.
I move passes of these items by the same motion
Hearing. No objection.
So in order,
Um, finally,
the committee held a subject matter hearing led
by Chairwoman Rodriguez Sanchez on impacts
of the algorithm price fixing on housing
availability and affordability.
There were no votes taken on this matter. Uh, Mr.
President, this concludes my report.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
For the Committee on Immigrant
and Refugee Rights, the chair recognizes Chair Vasquez.
Uh, thank you Mr. President, uh,
and members of the City Council reporting
for the Committee on Immigrant
and Refugee Rights, which held a committee meeting on
July 1st, uh, 2025.
There were two items on the agenda.
The first being, uh,
order 2 0 2 5 dash 0 1 7 8 1 0 an
order requiring data turnover to city Council from Chi, uh,
Chicago Police Department, office of Emergency Management
and Communications, uh, the mayor's office
regarding the US Department Homeland Security presence at
2245 South Michigan Avenue
and vicinity locations on June 4th, 2025
at Intensive Supervision Appearance program, uh,
b uh, business Inc.
Building, which then passed as a substitute order.
Uh, the second was a subject matter hearing on the
activities of the, uh, chair of the committee,
which I held in order to make more time to hear the
above passed order, uh, I move passage of
SOR 2 0 2 5 dash
0 0 1 7 8 1 0 by the first favorable roll call vote
of the committee on, uh, finance
and associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Chair recognizes Alderman Raymond Lopez.
Thank you, Mr. President Alderman Napolitan Napolitano
and I move to defer and publish this item
Very well. Alderman
Napolitano, can you confirm your agreement to defer
and publish this item?
Alderman Politano, can you confirm your agreement? I agree.
I affirm. All right. This item will be deferred.
Uh, uh, Mr. President, that concludes my
Report. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
For the committee, unlicensed
and Consumer Protection, the chair recognizes
Chair Silverstein.
Thank you, Mr. President and members of the City Council.
I'm reporting for the Committee on License
and Consumer Protection.
We held a meeting on July 8th, 2025,
and the following items were passed by the committee.
Seven Ordinances regarding Liquor Moratoriums in the 15th,
27th, 34th, 37th 40th, 42nd, and 43rd.
Wards Committee has recommended passage
of each of these items.
Oh,
2 2 5 0 0 1 8 0 9 7,
and others ending oh oh
1 7 6 3 7 0 1 7 8 2 1 0 0 1 7 8 3 3 0 0 1 8 1 6, 6 0 0 1, 8 0 2 4
and oh oh 1 8 0 5 8.
Mr. President, I move that the City Council Concur
and the recommendations of the license committee
by the same roll call as item number one
of the Committee on Finance
and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing. No objection. So
ordered.
Mr. President, that concludes my
Report. Thank you, Madam Chair
for the Committee on Pedestrian
and Traffic Safety.
The chair recognizes chair right
for the Committee on Police and Fire.
We'll go to Committee on Police and Fire.
The chair recognizes Chair Talia Farro,
Mr. President and members
of the City Council reporting to, uh,
for your Committee on Police
and Fire, for which a meeting was held on July 10th, 2025.
The committee recommends the passage of the following items.
Item number one was the reappointment of Annette Guzman
as member of the chair as member
and chair of the Chicago Emergency Telephone System Board.
Item two, three, and four was the appointment
of Walter Schroeder, Dr.
Shara, Washington, and Michael Devita as members
of the Chicago Emergency Telephone System Board.
If there's no objection, your, uh, Mr.
President, I move the passage of these items
by the first most favorable roll call voting in the
Committee on Finance and the associated
unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing none so ordered.
Item number five was the amendment
of municipal code section three dash six four dash 100
regarding the composition
of the city's emergency Telephone System Board.
I move the passage of this item
by the same motion. If there are no objections,
Hearing none so ordered In the last item.
Item number six was the appointment of Louis Bermuda
as member of district council for the 17th District.
Move the passage of this item by the same,
most favorable vote in the Committee on Finance
Hearing. No objections.
So ordered.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I have no, that concludes my report.
Thank you, Mr. Chair for the Committee on Public Safety.
The chair recognizes Chair Hopkins.
Uh, thank you Mr. President.
Reporting for your committee on Public Safety held a meeting
on July 15th, 2025.
Uh, your committee adopted a motion discharging itself
of further consideration of proposed ordinance 1 8 1 6 8
for purposes of a re-referral of the matter
to a joint committee of the Committee on Police and Fire
and the Committee on Refugee Rights.
The committee also recommends passage of the following item,
proposed ordinance 20 25 1 8 1 5 4 amendment
of the municipal code creating new Section 8 4 78
regarding assault against public officials.
If no one wishes to speak, I move passage of these two items
by the first favorable roll.
Call the Committee on Finance
and associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider.
See you no hands and hearing, no objections. So ordered.
Thank you, Mr. President. This concludes my report
Very well for the Committee on Special Events Cultural
Affairs and Recreation.
The chair recognizes Chair Spto,
Mr. President and members of
the city council, reporting
for a committee on special events cultural affairs
recreation, also known as the Happy Committee,
which held a meeting on July 8th, 2020, 25.
Uh, committee recommends passes of the following, item
oh
2 2 5 8 5 8,
expenditure of open space impact fee funds
for garden development at 2 6 1 6 North Albany Avenue.
I move passes of this item
by the first favorable roll call vote
of the Committee on Finance
and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered.
Thank you, Mr. President. That concludes my report.
Thank you for the Committee on
Transportation in Public Way.
The chair recognizes Chair Mitchell,
Mr. President and
members of the City Council reporting
for your Committee on Transportation
and Public Way, which held a meeting on July 9th, 2025.
The following items passed
by the majority of the members present.
Page two includes Item
resolution (202) 500-1876,
a call on the Regional Transportation Authority
to create a pilot program to provide safe transportation
to minors with pickup
and drop off services at public events within the 29th ward.
Pages three and four include 12 ordinances
for miscellaneous items introduced
by the local alderman from Wards
1, 6 15, 24, 30, 32, 36, 38, 42,
and 46.
If there is no objection, I move passages of these items
by the first most favorable roll call vote
of the committee on financing,
the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered.
Mr. President, this concludes my report.
Thank you for the Committee on the
Workforce and Development.
The chair recognizes Chair Rodriguez.
Thank you Mr. President reporting
for the Committee on Workforce Development,
which held a meeting on July 7th
and recessed UN until July 15th.
There were two items on the agenda.
R 2 0 2 5 dash 0 0 1 8 0 1 3
and expression of support
for the Paul Simon Job Corps Center.
I want to thank everyone who came to the committee
to hear from the young people that testified
to the importance of the Job Corps program here
and nationally at a time when young people are struggling
to find fulfilling careers,
programs like Job Corps should be
strengthened, not eliminated.
Thank you to all for standing up
for our young people on this resolution,
and I'm proud to say this item passed by unanimous vote
of all members presence.
The second item on the agenda,
oh 2 0 2 5 dash 0 1 8 7 2 8,
a direct introduction authorizing the execution
of the Collective bargaining agreement
with the Public Safety Employees Union Unit two.
The ordinance was approved by a voice vote
of all members present.
I move the first most favorable vote on the Committee in
Finance and the associated motion to reconsider, uh, um,
be applied to both of these items. Very
Well see you no hands
and hearing, no objections. So ordered.
That concludes my report.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And now for our Committee on Pedestrian
and Traffic Safety, the chair recognizes Vice Chair Cruz.
Thank you Mr. Mr. President Reporting for the Committee.
Committee on Pedestrian Traffic Safety
for Meeting was the Health on Thursday, June 26th, 2025,
and Tuesday, July 8th, 2025.
On June 26th, the committee held a hearing pursuant to
R 2 0 2 5 dash
zero zero one six seven five two.
Call for hearing on use of police traffic stops in Chicago,
impacts on Traffic Safety
and reform efforts undertaken by Police Department
and Community Commission for Public Safety
and Accountability sponsored by Alderman Yancy.
No votes were taken at this meeting on Tuesday, July 8th.
There were 190 routine traffic items
before the committee all which passed.
If there are no objections, I move the passage
of these routine traffic items,
but the most favorable roll call vote front committee on
finance in the associ in the Associated Unsu successful
motion to reconsider the vote
Hearing. No objection.
So order
That concludes my report. Thank you.
Thank you, Madame Vice Chair.
Chair recognizes our next committee, our final committee.
This committee on zoning landmarks
and building standards chair recognizes Chairman Burnett.
Thank you Mr. President
and members of the city
council for the last time.
I'm presenting a series of reports
for your committee on zoning landmarks
and building standards,
which held a meeting on July 15th, 2025.
The, the final, the following items were passed
by a majority of the members present,
and our group four convenience,
page one con contains document number
S 0 2 0, no O I'm sorry,
O2 24 dash
0 0 0 8 9 1 8, the, the amendment of
municipal code Title two
and 17 regarding conversions, units
and coach houses, alderman Bennett Larson has,
uh, something to say.
Okay, so for this, there's been a group for convenience,
but this one item we're taken up by itself.
Chair recognizes, uh, vice chair for the committee.
Bennett Lawson,
chair recognizes Alderman Quinn.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, myself
and Alderman Mitchell are gonna
confirm and publish this item.
Okay, alderman Mitchell, can you confirm?
All right, so item is, uh, number
SO 20 24 0 0 0 89 18
will be deferred very well.
The chair recognizes Chairman Burnett,
So I should proceed on please.
So on page one also contains document number
oh 2 0 2 5 dash
0 5 7 7.
That allows for a minimum of street
automobile parking ratio reductions up to 100%
for construction of parking structures near Chicago Transit
Authority or metro rail or bus lines.
I move passage of these items by the same motion.
If there is no objection,
Hearing none so ordered
Page one also contains document number oh
2 0 2 5 0 0 1 8 1 5 6
amending the predominance
of the block 6 0 6 district in the 31st and 36 wards.
I move passage of these items by the same motion.
If there is no objection,
Hearing none so ordered.
Page one also contains document number
oh 2 0 2 5 dash 0 1 8 1 8 9
authorizing the zoning administrator
to approve exemptions from minimum lot areas
for Chicago landmark buildings.
I move passage of these items by the same motion.
If there is no objections,
Hearing none so ordered.
Page one also contains document number oh 2 5 2 0,
I'm sorry, document number oh
2 2 5 0 1 8 6 3
A journal corrections for zoning reclassification map number
five dash G at 2225
North Dayton Street.
I move passage of this item by the same motion.
If there is no objection,
Hearing none so ordered
Page one also contains
and adopt a street landmark grant funding agreement
with Greenstone United Methodist Church
for a preservation project located at
1 1 2 1 1 South St.
Lawrence Avenue. I move passage
of d this item by the same motion.
If there is no objection,
Hearing none so ordered.
Moving on. Pages two
through nine contains various map amendments in the third
eighth, 11th, 17th, 19th, 21st, 25th,
27, 20 eighth, 31st, 32nd, 43rd,
44, 47, 40 eighth, and 50th wars.
Before I move passage on these items, I would like
to recognize Alderman Ci Lopez.
Uh, the chair recognizes Alderman Ccho Lopez,
which item do you wish to speak to? Thank
You, Mr. President, uh,
found on pi on page five, uh,
ordinance 20 23 0 0 0 27 95
for an amendment map located at 700 West
Chicago Alderman Mike Rodriguez.
And I would like to defer and publish this item
Almond Mike Rodriguez, can you confirm your wish?
Let's say yes. So could you repeat
that item again for the clerk?
Is, uh, ordinance 2023 dash 0 0 0 27 95?
Very Well, 7 95.
Very well that item will be deferred. Thank you.
Chair recognizes Ottoman Vazquez.
Alright, uh, please continue. Mr. Chair.
I move passage of these items by the same motion.
If there is no objection
With the exception of the item that has been moved
to be deferred hearing, no other objections.
So order
Lastly, page 10 contains various large signs over 100
square feet in area 24
in area 24 feet above grade,
and wards
11 25, 27, 29, 35, 36, 41, 42, 45,
and 49.
I move passage of these items by the same motion.
If there is no objection,
Hearing none so ordered.
Mr. President, that concludes my last report. Thank you.
You got it.
The chair recognizes Alderman Irvin.
Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr. President.
Um, in light of our, uh, colleagues, uh, last meeting,
uh, I think it will be betting for us to give him some words
of encouragement, uh, some words of, uh, wisdom, uh,
some words of of why.
But what I will say this, um, I first
first met, uh, alderman Burnett, uh, in the young Democrats
back in the, uh, late, late nineties.
Uh, Walter's been involved in this business
for over 40 years.
He's been somebody that has served in order to lead
you must serve.
When I first came here, I was tell,
so someone told me something that's very interesting.
They said, the ballot box, the pine box,
or the jury box, is our people leave this place.
And today we got someone who has done it right,
who has done it well
and has done something that we don't find in the black
community, willing to pass something on
to the next generation so that we
as a community can continue to thrive.
It has been a pleasure to sit here. I've learned so much.
Uh, and one of your, uh, best sayings, I I will say is this.
You said to don't get mad, get ahead.
It's something that he always talked about
and someone that was always willing to try to reach a,
a solution that, uh, everybody could live with.
So, uh, I wish you the best in your, uh, next endeavor,
whatever that, uh, may be.
Um, I'm hopeful that, uh, your replacement will be as,
uh, sharp as you hope.
You're a little taller than you, but as sharp as you.
And, and again, I will continue to work
and support the west side of Chicago
as you have demonstrated during your 30 years
with us in this body.
Thank you. God bless you.
And may God continue to be with you.
Alman, Alman Irvin
Alman Irvin on your motion to suspend the rules.
Yeah, that Okay.
There's a motion on the floor to suspend the rules, uh, so
that we can provide some accolade for, um,
our long serving Alderman Burnett.
If there are no objections, hearing none so ordered,
the rules will be suspended.
The chair recognizes Alderman Rodriguez.
Uh, y'all didn't know this,
but, uh, Alder Burnett is also an honoree
member of the Latino Caucus.
He's Dominican, right? That's right. Um,
he who does not live to serve, does not serve to live
a quote by Ano.
And when I think about that quote,
I think about Walter Burnett,
I think about someone who's lived to serve,
who comes from the communities that are
so desperately in need, who has shown the way
to leadership, and has looked behind
and raised others up.
I've seen it myself. I've felt it myself.
I've received that love
and support that guidance throughout the years in this hall
and in many other halls.
And I just wanna say every step of the way, alderman,
every step of the way, you've been a true leader.
You've been a true bridge builder, a person
who looks at other communities
and thinks about how we can serve together
and come together not just for the benefit of one community,
but for all communities.
And that leadership, my friend,
will stay here in this council.
That spirit will stay. Your spirit will stay.
And I thank you so very much for your countless years
of service to not only your community,
but to our great city of Chicago.
I say thank you so much for giving all of yourself
to our city and to your communities.
Mcha, gracias, ano.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Spaza.
Thank you, Mr. President.
And, and thank you so much, uh, all our men, Irvin,
for suspending the rules.
I knew this love fest would happen.
I just wasn't so sure when we were gonna do it.
So, um, well deserved.
Walter, you were a pleasure to work with.
You're a true gentleman, a generous individual,
an inspiration to many, especially to me.
Um, you're the one guy I believe in this council
that could get along with everybody.
So this, this, that says something,
this is a tough council to get along with each other.
So it's a very divided council,
but you're the one guy that could talk
to everybody and build bridges.
Um, just, you're just a true friend. Uh, I'm gonna miss you.
Uh, that applause was not happy you're leaving.
It was just thanking you for everything.
So you're just a wonderful individual.
Appreciate everything you've done.
Feel free to stop at the office any day for some treats.
Um, you, you will certainly be missed.
Thank you so much for everything.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You. The chair recognizes
Silverstein.
Thank you so much. Um, Walter,
I just wanna wish you a lot of really good luck.
Um, we've been working together for quite some time now,
and you are a true leader.
And, um, I just wanna thank you
for everything that you've done.
Um, I think a lot of us know that you're also multilingual.
So, uh, I'm gonna say to you, Taba
Lara, thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes all the woman Harris.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I stand in sadness to see my brother leave.
We've been working together
for the last, we've been working together. Susan,
Can we have, can we have quiet in the chambers?
Please? Thank you
For the last 40 plus years together in this grind.
Um, and so I couldn't be prouder of him as a yd
as he was the first one to make it to an elected position.
And as we were young people growing up
and working behind the scenes
and supporting other politicians, uh,
he became the first one to get elected
and become one of the aldermen here.
And so it was really a cool thing
that somebody from our universe got here.
And so he became the example of what you should be
and how hard you should work.
But it's your kindness, Walter. It's your forgiving spirit.
It's your never giving up spirit.
It's your working hard spirit that I admire most about you.
Your kindness and your thoughtfulness
will never be forgotten.
It's not been a day that I've put my ear to a phone
and called you and you try, haven't tried to help me
and help my community.
So today I stand here grateful, knowing
that I had the opportunity to work with you.
Um, you're going, moving on to another life.
Um, so I look forward to seeing you in
that next part of that life.
But I love what you've done while
you've been here. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Martin,
the chair recognizes Chair Alderwoman Harris,
At some point, could we suspend the rules
to allow the clerk to speak to after Alderman Martin,
You Got it. Thank you.
Chair recognizes Alderman Martin.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I, I, I wanna share a few things.
One is emphasizing the way in which you've been the
connective tissue for this body, the glue
that holds us together in ways
that probably no single person in this
body fully appreciates.
'cause you talk with this person, you talk with that person,
you smooth this over all in service of the jobs
that we were hired to do, which is serving our communities,
uh, at the end of the day, fixing problems
and not being problems in the process.
Um, we're gonna miss that, and I hope we don't fall apart
after you leave, but we'll, we'll figure it out.
Um, I also want to just underscore
how much you've been an inspiration to me
and others in terms of how you've built up your community,
the ways in which you've made space for thousands
of people in your community, no matter their background,
no matter how much money they've made, what they look like,
where they work, if they work at all.
Um, just to really sit on that
and think, some of us, you know, we fight
for a building here, a few dozen homes there.
You reconstituted an entire community, uh, in ways
that are profound and we're probably not gonna see
again in our lifetimes.
Um, and to do it in a way where, uh, you've engendered
so much support and goodwill, um, I,
I think it's just a two testament to your service.
Um, and you've done all of
that while juggling the
responsibilities that all of us juggle.
And we, we kind of commiserate around.
We don't talk about too much publicly,
but it's hard to do this job well.
And to be a parent, it's hard to do this job well.
And to be a spouse, um, knowing
that you're always gonna have to make challenging decisions
of, can I be here for my, my spouse,
my child is there celebrating milestones,
can I be here for my community?
And giving them the needs, uh, addressing their needs.
And you can't be both of those as much as you want.
Um, but the ways in which you found an opportunity to make
that work, uh, is inspirational.
And then just lastly, on that point, I think we, you
and I had shared a moment earlier this week
where we were talking about what comes next for you and,
and your family and many things.
And, and I just tried to remark simply,
you've done good work, keeping it as simple as that.
And, you know, kind of, you had your own response
to sit and reflect on that.
And for many of us, as we ultimately will leave this body,
um, you know, we'll think about, I'm, I'm proud
of doing this, proud of doing that,
and maybe a few minutes, maybe we're lucky, an hour
where we can really think through
all the things we're proud of.
For you, it's probably days, if not weeks,
what you've given your community,
this body, this entire city.
Um, I don't think that we can really put into words
how thankful we are individually and collectively.
So thank you. And please continue to find opportunities
to serve and and to guide us.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes all alderwoman.
Nicole Lee.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I met Walter Burnett the first time.
Uh, in 2004.
I was working at a little bank that had just opened, uh,
uh, Adams and Ogden.
Uh, and, uh, the Alderman came in.
He was much like he is today.
Um, super happy.
Um, really engaging, really welcoming, um,
and just all around a good guy.
Uh, I, I think there's so many things
that we're gonna miss about you being on this council.
Walter, I know I've only been on here a short time, uh,
but yours was one of the,
the conversations I remembered the most when I made those 49
phone calls over the weekend
before I was confirmed by, before this council.
Um, and you gave me a piece of advice at the end
of our conversation after you showed
me how good your Chinese was.
Of course, um, your Chinese, your tagal,
your Korean, all of it.
Um, but you, you said to me, you know, you know,
I eat an elephant, right?
Uh, and I said, no idea. He said, one bite at a time.
Uh, and I take that advice, uh, to heart every single day
because this job can be completely overwhelming.
Um, the kind of responsibility that each
and every one of us hold within our communities, um,
with the care with which we take, uh, our constituents,
and then the decisions we are, uh, we're sort of shouldered
with here as the council for the entire city.
Um, you're definitely someone that many of us look up to.
Walter. Um, you know,
I just wanna thank you for your service.
You're incredible service, and, um, all that you brought
to this council in terms of just being the guy, right?
Walter walks into the room, everybody just kind
of calms down for a minute on a, you know, I,
I think you have that, uh, effect,
at least from my observation.
Uh, and you'll be sorely missed.
So thank you for all your years of service.
Thank you for absolutely the indelible mark
that you've left on this city, um, in your ward.
On, on the west side, the Fulton Market, uh, uh, as well as,
uh, Randolph Street.
I mean, I think about what
that looked like when I was in high school, um,
and people that were still working the corners versus
what that looks like today.
Um, and, and that is, has been under your stewardship.
So bravo to you.
Good luck to you, um,
and to your wife for all, for all
that you've had to sacrifice as well.
I, it seems to me there's gonna be a lot more like house
dancing parties for you in your future.
Um, and, and a lot more time
to just enjoy life, uh, and well deserved.
So thank you, Walter. Wish you well.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alderman, David Moore,
who did not have those shades on two minutes ago.
See what you don't start it, it,
It's just for my brother here.
Um, first of all, let me say you, you make people
who come out from public housing like myself, very proud
and, um, for what you've done, it's been, um,
been able so somebody can see what they can be.
And so that I appreciate.
Um, we both come out of, um, organization politics,
and, and we learned out of that.
Some of us, um, learned
and got deeper into it,
and some of us took another avenue with it.
Uh, what do you mean, David?
Um, I always say, um, there's politics,
politicians, and servants.
I consider myself a servant.
I consider you a servant and a politician.
Um, and I've seen that you cannot argue with 30 years.
Um, you cannot argue with it.
And what you've been able to do is, um,
not only serve your community,
although sometimes our politics didn't align.
What did align is what you were trying to accomplish, um,
for people, um, that looked like us
and that I never argued with.
And that, 'cause you were always doing that
on many occasions, I hope we all could have stuck, um,
stuck together on issues.
Um, but sometimes people have
to go out there on their own, their on their own.
Me, once I see somebody drowning,
or I see several people drowning,
and I'm trying to save everybody,
but sometimes you only can save everybody if everybody is
willing to save everybody what you've done.
You said, David, I can't let everybody drown. You know?
Uh, I mean, I can't let everybody drown.
I have to save at least one or two.
And that's what you've done.
And, and, and that I, I appreciate about you.
Um, you are someone that
don't take anything so hard
and personally, we can argue, we can disagree.
And then tomorrow we laughing and we shaking hands.
Too many people take things so personal.
You gotta understand, you represent the ward that you have,
and for 30 years they've sent you back.
They could have not done that at any time, but they did it
because you were the right person for the job.
You are also willing, without even people asking.
And this what I appreciate, again, walking up,
how can you add value?
Or maybe you should do this.
You can take, they, people can take your advice
or not, right?
But you came up and you said, this is how I can add value.
This is what I think you should do.
A lot of people, as the old church person
said, let your slip hang.
They'll just let you out there and leave you out there.
And you did not do that for many of us.
And for that, I appreciate it.
I think one of the best things you ever probably done in
life was marry this woman right here.
She is a sweetheart.
Even if I'm upset with you, if she call,
I gotta be nice with you.
She is. She is just that wonderful and has a great heart.
But also, you are a deacon. You are a man of God.
None of us are perfect, okay?
Even disciples that work, work with Christ was not perfect.
But I know where your heart lies,
and that's what I look at a person's heart.
And your heart was in this man,
and your heart is in serving our people.
So, um, I'm not gonna say I miss, I miss you.
I'm gonna miss you. Um,
because I hoping to continue to work with you somewhere.
I'll miss you in this body.
But I'm hoping that, um, we,
you'll be serving in another capacity where we
who lived in public housing can have your voice
and have your leadership.
And so with that, I, I wish you well
and your next endeavors.
And, um, I appreciate being able
to call Walter Burnett friend.
Thank you, alderman. The chair recognizes Alder Fuentes.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Uh, you know, I have the privilege
of having a great relationship with three aldermen
that have sat in this seat, Luis Gutierrez, cacio
and Maldonado.
And as I was transitioning to become the older person,
I wanted to understand sort of the historical memory
and the muscle memory of this seat.
And I met with all three individuals,
and all three had the same thing to say about Walter.
You may not always agree with Walter,
but Walter is always going to be a friend.
And then I met with my greatest mentor, Jose Lopez,
who's the executive director
of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center.
The reason I became politicized
and, you know, even considered electoral politics,
and I asked Jose about his opinions about folks
that were sitting in the chambers.
And he says West side hum Park,
alderman Burnett, he's a friend.
And when I first got elected, you are one
of the first people to greet me.
Actually, you were the one of the first people to call me
after I won my election, uh, to tell me that it wasn't going
to be easy, but to take it one day at a time.
And then about a year ago, uh, my staff called me.
I said, there's this disgruntled man in the lobby,
and he is making a show.
He is turning it up in here.
And so I crossed the street,
and in the lobby is Walter Burnett.
Came in disguise as a disgruntled constituent, wanted to see
how my cons, my employees would serve him.
Uh, and so I take him outside
and he made them really nervous,
and I need to give him a break.
Um, and, you know, he rode his bike to the 26th Ward, just
to check on me, just to ask, how are you doing?
How's your staff? How's your office set up?
Do you need anything? I know it's hard.
It's particularly hard when you're in your first term,
but I'm here.
And then he asked me where to go get coconut oatmeal.
I had to direct him across the street.
But the one thing that, that I'm grateful for, uh, is
to have someone that has shown
what true solidarity looks like in this chamber.
I think that obviously we all have sort
of different political perspectives,
and we all bring so much of ourselves
and our lived experiences into the seat,
and we're not always going to agree.
Uh, nor are we always going to be cordial
or happy with one another
because unfortunately, there's
so much high stakes in this particular field
that it causes a lot of tension.
What I'm grateful for is
that Walter has always helped simmer down the room
when tensions are high, when people are upset, uh,
he reminds us why we're here.
He reminds us what we are fighting for.
He reminds us that there is a middle that we can achieve,
uh, and that if we lighten up just a little bit
and have a few conversations, we can get there.
Uh, in the short period of time that I've had the privilege
of serving with you, Walter, I've learned so much.
Uh, but the one thing that I know
to be true is the 26th Ward is also better because of you,
because you have always been a friend to the people
that have sat in this seat who wanted
to build affordable housing, that wanted
to fight displacement, that wanted to ensure
that working families can stay in humble Park
and many other communities.
And the 27th Ward is a beautiful place.
You've spent the last 30 years putting all of yourself
into housing people, into funding organizations that fight
for public safety into being a friend
with everyday neighbors.
It's not talked about a lot today,
the way it was when you first ran for office.
But your lived experience, your ability to
come into elected office as a young black man
with an encounter in the justice system,
gave someone like me hope to be able to do the same.
And you and your story
and your ability to be here for so long
after an experience like yours as a young person,
it's gonna give a lot of young people hope
that they can have experiences
and maybe they can make mistakes,
but those things don't have to define them.
And that they can be agents of change in their community.
They could be leaders of this city,
and they can transform this world.
You are a living example of that,
and I'm always going to take the privilege
to telling the story of Walter Burnett to many young people,
particularly young black men who need you as an example.
And so, I'm, I'm excited for you
and with deep sadness, uh, to see, you know,
I have the privilege of having you
as my seatmate across the aisle.
So I hope I, I get a great roommate the way you've been a
great roommate, uh, to me.
I, I wish you the best of luck.
And, and to Mrs. Burnett, thank you for tolerating us
and sacrificing time.
Uh, it takes genuine, radical,
and authentic love to be a partner
of someone who's in elected office for this long.
Uh, he's able to walk in and be as strong and confident
and consistent, uh, because you are consistent and strong
and confident at home.
And so thank you for all that you have given us, uh,
in this, in this chamber and in the city of Chicago.
Congratulations, brother.
Thank you. Uh, the chair recognizes Alderman Quinn.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Walter, um,
I jotted down a few thoughts of that came
to my mind when I think of you.
Um, the first is, you're an honest broker.
If you give someone your word, you take that to the bank.
I appreciate that, Walter. The second is your legacy.
You're as accomplished as any alder
that ever walked through this chamber.
But with that legacy, you've also walked
with everybody in your life,
and that's something to be proud of.
The the third thing I wrote down is you're, you're down
to earth man for all your accomplishments.
You've never changed. You've always been Walter.
And, and the last thing I wrote down, and,
and this is, it's probably an inadequate list to describe
who you are, but you're a great Chicagoan
with a great Chicago story.
I'm a better person for knowing you,
and I consider you a friend, Walter, thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Gardner.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, Walter, I want to congratulate you on an amazing career.
Um, as Alderman Quinn just said, I,
I especially appreciate you because you embody Chicago.
Uh, you are undeni undeniably Chicago,
and unfortunately, that is a dying breed even down here,
um, there's a saying that
I'm a I'm a product of my environment.
And maybe at some point in your life
that may have been true,
but more importantly, now, your environment is a product
of you and the work that you have done.
Look at the west side. Look at the West Loop.
I mean, what amazing changes that you have brought there.
Look at all the work that you have done
for the black community, jobs, education opportunities.
And as you know, full well,
opportunities sometimes are the difference
between making it in this world and not making it.
Are you perfect? Absolutely not. No.
That's probably why I like you.
That's probably why a lot of us like you.
Um, I appreciate your imperfections.
I appreciate you taking ownership of your past mistakes
and teaching the next generation not to make the same.
I see the kids, the young men that you bring in here
and that you mentor and you give them
opportunities, you give them jobs.
Um, and I'm not the only one who sees that.
Um, what you have given back
to the city is a priceless commodity,
and it can probably never be repaid.
And you still continue to do it,
and I'm sure you're, you're going to do it in retirement.
Um, so from the bottom of my heart, uh,
in the northwest side of Chicago, we wanna thank you
for your service to this city
and to the next generation that is coming up behind you.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alder Hadden.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, uh, Walter, um,
the first time I got to me, uh,
alderman Burnett was when I was working
with the participatory budgeting project.
And we got to come to, uh, west Humboldt Park
and work with blocks together
and, um, do this fantastic community engagement process,
right, with $2 million in TIFF funds.
And it was a, a wonderful intro to West Hum Park.
And, um, as someone who was
only a couple years into getting to work with, um, alderman
and, and electeds in Chicago, you know, we have all kinds
of perceptions, uh, as regular people outside
of city Council about which Alder does what,
and Alder people are intimidating and mysterious.
You were certainly one of them.
You're always very stylish too, right?
So that, you know, you walk around,
you look like you own the space.
You very much embody, uh, the, the vibes.
Uh, our vice mayor, dean of city council,
um, uh, right?
Yeah, he does, he does.
Um, but, um, I just remember how I got
to know you and what your leadership style was
and how you served your community through the way
that you worked with that organization.
Um, and through that process, um, I've had the opportunity
to get to know several of you, uh,
my colleagues in that way.
Um, but you know,
everything everyone is saying about you is true.
Um, you've been such, uh, a mentor and you're so open.
Um, you're always open, open door policy.
Um, you have a lot of wisdom,
and that's really clear
and you're very generous in what you share.
Um, both in paying for lunch,
for black caucus lunches all the time, thank you.
Um, but, but really generous with all of that wisdom,
that experience, um, the people
that you've touched around this city.
Um, it's just immeasurable.
So, uh, it's a, it's been an honor to serve with you.
Um, I'm excited for whatever you're doing next
and, uh, again, a happy belated 30th anniversary,
um, to the two of you.
But I can't believe you're leaving.
Um, but I'm really glad that you were here. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alder, Sam NuGet.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, as I think about Walter, uh,
how many languages have you
attempted to speak in this chamber?
So here's what I was able to come up with.
Hebrew, Spanish, Chinese, Italian,
every time we see each other, Korean, uh, tagal.
And I think I heard an Irish brogue outta you a couple times
during the high, the holy month.
Um, and this is what I love about Walter.
Um, he finds connectivity with everyone,
with all our diverse communities and our faith groups.
And, and he does it in his own way.
He does it really authentically.
And I think that's why everybody's gotten up
and said how much they love you.
You just, you find a way to find connectivity with all of us
and with your community.
And that's just so important.
And I think we just have to take a second
and think about what you've accomplished, what you've done.
Um, we're all talking about Fulton Market
and the West Loop and the West side, and it's awesome.
It's amazing. But what about housing?
And I think, um, I haven't heard folks mention the reentry
work that you've done, which is
so meaningful and so important.
And, um, I know how much of yourself you put into that,
and the city's city's a better place for that.
So thank you, my friend,
for being a great public servant and a and a great friend.
Best wishes to you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Beal.
Thank you, Mr. President Walter,
my man, my man.
First of all, I'm glad
to see you finally brought your daughter to sit over in the,
in the booth, because everybody knows if,
if you have a spouse,
you gonna be in trouble when Walter meets your spouse.
'cause the first time he met my wife, he said, oh,
alderman, I see you brought your daughter.
And from that point on, from that point on,
my wife says, why can't you be more like Walter?
Walter kept me in trouble.
But the fact that he had a knack
for connecting with everybody.
And that's what everybody is sitting here saying, Walter,
there's nobody that could have,
have developed your ward like you have in 30 years.
And you should really be proud of the work
that you have done because you have been able
to bring people together.
And yesterday was the first time I think I've ever heard you
say, I was at my last community meeting,
and I didn't care what y'all do
because you were always bringing people together
and trying to find the middle ground.
And, and I mean it sincerely, nobody could have done that.
But you, you had the right temperament, the right demeanor,
and the, and the right foresight
for your ward at that particular time.
And I will tell you, when I first got down here,
I would sit back and watch all the development, go
through your ward.
And I learned a lot
because, you know, when I came here,
I had no political experience.
I didn't come up through anybody's organization.
I came through the old fashioned way
and I learned,
and I looked at what you were doing in your ward
and I watched how you maneuver.
And I attribute a lot of the things
that I've done in my ward to the work that you have done
and how you have done it.
So you have impacts on people, whether you know it
or not, when you're doing the right thing.
And so I thank you for that.
And my ward, thank you for that.
At the same time, Walter, you, um, you've maneuvered
through this place, just constantly trying
to bring people together, man.
And you've done that genuinely and sincerely.
And so as we continue to move through this body,
I'm the new dean and you know,
I'm gonna take the new dean to new heights.
We're going from five feet to six two.
Now that's an inside joke because me
and Walter have always,
always cracked jokes on his height and my height.
And we've done that for my 26 years that I have been here.
And so I wish those 26 years, Walter, I can honestly say
that I looked up to you, but I've never looked up to you.
So I just wanted to add a little humor in there, man.
But everything that I've said is genuine.
I appreciate you, man.
And you have a stellar career, and your ward is in the city.
Should forever be grateful for the job that you have done.
Thank you so much. And God bless you, brother.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman, Raymond Lopez.
Thank you Mr. President, all these wonderful a ac
accolades, excuse me
for you Walter, and much deserved.
You know, I try to remember
how many times you were angry with me, happy with me.
I think about how many levels of your voice I've heard
with various speeches where you've gone from baritone
to tenor to alto,
and some of the greatest speeches I've ever heard here.
But I have to say that you have done well.
You are the 31st alderman of the 27th Ward,
and you are probably the only one
that ever anyone's ever gonna remember as being the one
who transformed it the most.
It's remarkable to think of what we're losing
as you turn the chapter.
This body will never be the same
because whether people love you
or hate you, they cannot deny you.
And that has been something that I think you've imparted on
all of us, even as you make fun
of, make fun of us.
I think even just last night, you were telling people
what a big flirt I am.
I don't know what you were
implying, but it's
I get it. You've always been able to see the, the best
and the craziest out of us
and make us understand that is about ourselves as well.
That level of humility that you've always shown us,
that you've tried to impart on all of us.
And having worked
with you now under three different administrations, trying
to find consensus, even in some of my most craziest days.
'cause believe it or not, Mr. President,
there are times I have been crazier than you've known me,
but you've always, yes he can,
but you've always tried to bring and wrangle the cats here.
Um, and I thank you for that
because I think that you've always tried to show us not just
to be show horses, but to be workhorses.
And I think if, as you are moving on
and as people take this day, as a day of reflection of
what you've offered the city for the past three decades,
everything everyone has said so far is true.
But when I think about this room, this role,
and what it is, as one of our colleagues just said,
when you pull the curtain back on what the mysterious role
of the alderman is,
not only have you developed your warden,
not only have you been a leader in this room and
and did been a chairman and been vice mayor now,
but you never forgot your community.
I've seen you at Ward night in your own office.
I've seen you with your residents
focusing on what's truly important, which is the people
that sent you here from every corner of your ward.
That is what we should all emulate.
That is what should inspire us all, every single day.
And I think as, as we all go on
tomorrow, tomorrow, and in the months coming, you know,
your spirit should guide us all.
'cause even though I know you've got the dark glasses on, I
I know your eyes 'cause we've seen it face to face
and the passion, the emotion, it's raw,
it's real, and it's well deserved.
I wish you all the best, my friend.
I'll try not to embarrass you with anything else. Thank you.
Even though you never missed a turn
to embarrass me, but that's okay.
But wish you and your family all the best. Take care.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Lawson.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Uh, my first interaction with, uh, the Vice Mayor.
I was a staffer and, uh, we were at a briefing in person
and at the time, uh, you sit around the big table
and I was sitting next to, uh,
alderman Toney who I worked for.
And as other alderman would come in the room,
the staffers would take the chairs in the back.
He probably doesn't remember this. So I was in the
stinker chair at this table.
Uh, so first of Alderman Pump comes in, I jump up, oh, here,
alderman, uh, take this seat.
And it sinks all the way down
to about six inches above the floor.
And he is fiddling with it, and he is messing with it.
And he turns around to me and he says, man,
I'm too short for this chair.
You gotta trade with me. And I did.
And I've, I've always learned to say yes.
What all been brunette asks, it's usually worth it.
And you're gonna establish a relationship
that's gonna last a long time.
You have an amazing personal story, um,
that is worth sharing, that people are
inspired when they're here.
And I'm so thankful to have been able to work when you
as your vice chair, to learn from you,
to see the amazing things you've done
to transform your community, to add affordability, not
for your area, but all of ours.
As we grow as a city, to have place
for everyone is so important.
I was hoping we get a little more housing done today,
on your last day, but we'll get it done in September
and we'll invite you back
to our party in a coach house maybe.
Uh, I, uh, I loved, uh, you
and I did a, I called it a home and home during the DNC.
We had the welcome party at Wrigley,
and I was beaming and, and so excited.
It was my first one. And the next day we were
touring the United Center.
Just some schlubs old Manhattan was there with us,
a few others, and you were beaming.
You were so excited to welcome volunteers that could come
and see the space and take photos.
Um, and,
and I, I could see how proud you were
of the work you've done around the United Center.
And that's your legacy continues there over the next several
years while they continue to transform that campus.
Your calendar cracks me up because about the first four
or five months, all you're doing is cutting
ribbons the whole time.
And I said, no wonder this guy's smiling all the time.
He's cutting ribbons, he's got development,
he is making things happen in his neighborhood
and should be proud of that.
And we are proud of you for that.
We're proud of you for teaching us how to be better alders
and to, to take care of our wards in the right way.
Um, I didn't hear Croatian on all,
all the women Nugent's list,
but I know you know a little So Alah
and Jio to you.
Thank you Vice Mayor. Thank
You. The chair
recognizes Alderman Knutson. Thank you.
By the way, we're not going in any particular order.
It's just a bunch of you all. So it's a little
Thanks, Mr. President
and Walter, I just want to say thank you.
Um, Thinking of all colleagues,
I've learned a lot from a lot of people.
I truly do think I have learned the most from you.
It goes back to my time on the zoning board of appeals.
I remember my first meeting that I was chairing.
You had a project up and you, there was a lot of tension.
There was objectors, you renegotiated on the spot.
And I, you know, I'm a neurotic attorney.
I didn't know that that was allowed.
Trying to figure it out.
And you got to yes, you got good development through.
And what I've seen from you, is that a desire to get to yes,
A real ease at working with people
and many different people.
And that's how you've achieved what you have.
Over the last few decades, I've taken those lessons in
how I try to do development in my ward.
Um, and that's your legacy. And it's so clear.
Anyone who goes to the West Loop in all your neighborhoods,
see really the prize it is in Chicago for, for tourism,
for business, startups are moving there.
The food scene is incredible,
and a lot of that is because of what you've created.
I wanna say thank you.
I wanna say thank you for what you've done,
but also, uh, you know, for all the,
I'll miss the, the annual gifts.
I've got a Walter Burnett candle,
I've got a Walter Burnett scarf.
There's Walter Burnett faces on bench benches at bus
stops in my ward.
Um, just really, really positive branding things,
and you've been incredible for the city.
I'm friends with, um, both of your sons
and I, you know, I really hope I get the opportunity to,
I work with Omar, he represents part of my ward,
and who knows what's to come next.
Um, and, uh, we'll know each other for a long time.
So thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Yancy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Walter,
uh, known by many titles, chairman, vice mayor,
alderman rapper, boxer,
uh, father, all those things.
Um, the one that means the most to me is brother,
uh, met Walter.
Uh, well, we share a fraternal bond,
but the first thing Walter said to me, I'll never forget it,
it was inauguration day and we were standing backstage.
Do you remember the, we were standing backstage.
And he walks up to me and he goes, man,
I thought you were taller than that.
Uh, I immediately thought the same thing.
But what I, um, what I value most about you, man, is your,
uh, ability to get to the middle, uh,
during a particularly tense moment.
I think it was last year, um, uh,
in a black caucus meeting, uh, Walter offered
just like very sound leadership.
And for him it was more about, um, Hey, we're a team
and we should be that, than it was about anything else
that existed in that time.
And since then, uh, you, you
and I haven't had a ton of conversations,
but you have always offered sound advice,
um, which I valued.
And so in sort of watching you, uh, move through this,
I'm gonna steal a line from Jay-Z.
I'm not gonna steal the whole thing,
but you have shown me how to move
in a room full of vultures.
And so I, you know, between that, your redemption story, um,
from Cabrini to the council, man, um,
you have left quite a legacy.
And, um, I value and appreciate you for that.
And I also, uh, accept the mantle, I guess,
of shortest guy in council now, but nothing
but respect, love, um, honor, uh,
and I pray that all the rest
of your years going forward is just as fruitful.
Thank you, brother.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Sig Cho Lopez.
Thank you, uh, Mr. President.
And I am, I do wanna, um, not only
recognize Alderman Burnett, of course,
but, um, his wife, Ms. Williams and his family.
Uh, you truly are inspiring team.
And, um, I tell you that I, um, have felt at the,
at the personal level, at the human level, your sense
of empathy and your commitment,
um, to the community.
Um, I would like to to remember a few,
few occasions, um, with Alderman Burnett does not,
does not hesitate to take meeting,
but even takes meetings in different languages,
as you can see from many people.
And is an ability,
and, uh, at something that I recognized at the human level.
And Alderman Burnett one time told me something
that really stuck with me.
Um, we both serve as, uh, chair
or co-chairs of the affordable requirement ordinance.
And, uh, one thing that he did tell me,
and, uh, I really stuck with me, is
that I'll never forget where I come from.
And a commitment to public housing
and the desire to see Cabrini Green Rev
revitalized, and to see his home
and his commun community be whole again.
And that really stuck with me, um, as, um, someone that
sees the, the need of coming to consensus and,
and really be honored to the ward and your commitment.
I've seen you taking positions even though sometimes the
pressures, um, to do otherwise are there.
And I've seen you kept your promise and your word.
I cannot thank you enough for the advice
and the multiple times, um,
when you have said that we gotta
do what's right for the city.
And I've seen that, and I really mean that.
'cause it is a, it is not, it is a easy thing to say
and a very, very difficult thing to do.
And I recognize your friendship, your commitment
to the city, and, uh, you'll be missed.
But I'm sure we'll continue
to see you in a different capacity.
So, uh, someone have seen the impact
and the legacy you leave, not only as
currently the longest serving alderman,
but the impact that you have had on your community
and your commitment to housing.
I look forward to keeping in touch with both of you,
Ms. Williams, as well as you.
And, uh, I am thankful for your time, your advice,
and your commitment to what's right for City.
Thank you very much, vice Mayor.
Thank you. The chair recognizes all
the woman Monique Scott.
Thank you, Mr. President.
So, Timmy took my spiel on the, um, the benches
because if you, on the west side, you see half
of Walter's body with a hat.
I mean, that's just something that has been in our
community for a very long time.
So, um, I'm gonna miss that.
Uh, I just wanna say that I am,
um, I'm proud of you.
You know, you have transformed a community.
You know, my dad lived in that ward, so he was
so excited about, uh, Randolph
and the 10 restaurants
that they had when he was living to look at.
I mean, he would be ecstatic today to see what you've done.
Um, you know, when I first came into this position, I,
something I, I kept saying, help me make,
if you did it over there, it can be done in Lawndale.
And I won't stop pushing for that.
I won't stop pushing for housing that you've done.
I won't stop pushing for economic development.
You know, you, your kickoff
for the Reentry Program was in Lawndale,
because that's typically the first zip code
that most people come back to.
And so, you know,
you've done a major mark on the west side,
and it won't be for, it won't be forgotten.
And Delinda darlin, I know that, um,
you getting some, a part of your husband back,
and we thank you for sharing him with us for the,
the last 30 years because I've had the opportunity
to know you both from my family.
And so, um, your work will not be, it won't be forgotten.
And I'm sure that everybody in this room will still be
calling, Hey, Walter, how can I do this?
Or, Hey, Walter, can you, um, let me know
what developer did this or did that?
And so that, you know, that that says a lot.
And, you know, whatever the, the,
the naysayers are saying, you did it.
You did it. And you should be so proud. So proud.
I am so proud. I've watched you my entire
life, and I am proud.
And I thank you for your service. 30 years is a long time.
I don't know if I can do that, but hey, you've done it.
And it was you, you did it gracefully. And thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Lata.
Thank you so much, Mr. President, uh, alderman Burnett.
I, I don't know how to not call you Alderman Burnett.
I hope this is coming through.
My first memory of you is long
before I was in this work,
it was at the Rosa Parks Apartments with Bicker d**e.
I don't know if you remember this,
but you went dancing down that yellow brick road
as we were celebrating that day.
It is indelible in my mind.
And the wonderful thing is from then to now,
I know you as being a joyful person.
I know you as being wonderfully unguarded in the best sense
of the word, and always being kind.
And those are rare traits in
the work that we do.
And in that time in my life,
I never would've dreamed sincerely,
I would have the opportunity to work
with you in this capacity.
I have learned so much from how you do your work,
your presence, again, your joy.
I'm grateful for all of it sincerely,
and I know at some point I'll see you again at Soho House.
And until then, I say, uh, river Dante, sir.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Viega.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I, I would be remiss if I, uh, didn't chime in here as well.
Um, uh, I'm at a National League of Conference, uh, event
and happen to be talking about some issues, uh,
that we're dealing with in the city
and have always been supported by, uh, the Vice Mayor
and, and trying to get 'em engaged in the National League
Cities to to hear what other cities,
states our countries are doing
around solving issues that we have here.
The Vice Mayor has been a strong leader in the city council
for, for as long as I've been there.
And he's been the constant professional, humble,
and can't wait to see the book, uh, when it comes out.
Um, I, uh, he has led a, a career here.
Um, if you take a look at starting in,
in the Chicago Housing Authority to, to where he is now, um,
I'm just very proud to have served with, uh, the Vice Mayor
for over a decade
and looking to continue to work
with him, uh, moving forward.
Uh, I view him not only as a colleague, um,
but I view him as a friend, um, someone that has, uh,
a deep desire and love for the city.
Um, and someone who statistically,
having come from Chicago Housing Authority,
shouldn't be a member of the third largest city,
but said, no, I'm gonna do it.
And just really a tenacious person.
And just, again, the city was lucky
to have him serve for 30 years.
So I would be remiss if I didn't say any words.
Um, and looking forward
to continuing working on the moving forward.
Congratulations, Walter,
and please, please do take a little time off.
Um, and then, um, obviously it's up to you,
but you've earned it.
Congratulations.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alderman. Talia Farro.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I had the pleasure of, uh, meeting Walter,
um, back in 2015, um, on a radio show actually.
Uh, Walter was on the Garfield major show, WVON
and, um, Walter's opponent.
Um, at the time, um,
gentleman running against Walter made a comment,
and for the first time, I, I saw Walter's passion, uh,
not just his passion for the city of Chicago,
but his passion for people
and issues, uh, that we face in our communities.
Um, and, and that has never stopped.
Uh, I, I've actually enjoyed, I'm, I'm one
of very few words, but, um, I, I've enjoyed,
um, Walter's passion.
I think he has the perfect balance of being lighthearted,
um, and exhibiting passion when it comes down the issues
that affect his ward and affect the city.
Uh, to me, Walter, I I say this one all sincerity when I say
that, um, you are the definition of loving people, uh,
because there, there's a, a, a really big difference
between loving the city that you work in
and loving the people that are in this city.
And I can honestly say
that you've exhibited a passion for loving people.
Um, I, I thank you for your mentorship.
Um, I thank you for allowing me to view your leadership.
Um, and you've mentored me, um, as well
as others in this council.
And I think we've all learned from you,
um, in one way or another.
And there's so much more, uh, that we can learn from you.
Um, when it comes down to building an award, um,
I quietly watch what you do,
and I try to emulate that, um, in my ward.
Uh, and you've done a great job at it.
Um, and I don't think anyone can say anything different.
Uh, I, I, I want to say, Walter, that, uh,
I've watched you at the table on the west side in our west
side, black elected officials meetings,
and that same passion and display there,
whether it's your ward, my ward, alderman, Irvin's Ward,
alderman Scott's Ward, if the West Side is being mentioned,
uh, you exhibit your passion about that.
Uh, but I'm gonna tell you one thing that I'm, I'm,
I'm most proud of you.
Um, and, and this is something that
I don't think I've ever told you.
Uh, I met some gentlemen, uh, long time ago at, at a, uh,
I believe it was, um, um, Chicago Football Classic, uh,
that you had mentored.
And these were gentlemen that, um, had a rough start.
And you've mentored them into being businessmen.
And the impact that they told me that you had in their life,
uh, meant a whole lot to me.
Uh, and I I, I've not seen them since,
but, um, if, if you were in their lives,
I'm sure they're doing well.
Um, but that the story that they told me about, uh,
Walter Burnett, um, sticks with me today.
And so when it comes down to, um, how we should view people
that come across our lives, uh, we should add
to their lives, no matter what that is,
if we can do something to add to their life,
uh, then we should.
And, and so that, that story has stuck.
And I'm very proud that you took the time to mentor them
and to being businessmen, uh,
and have somehow changed their trajectory into a life,
um, to whereby they're very proud of what they probably do
and, um, and the families that they're raising.
So thank you for that, Walter. 'cause that is stuck with me.
And I, and I really want to thank your wife.
Um, I know of the sacrifices that, uh, families go
through at times because, um,
Walter's often away from home working.
Um, and, and so I want to thank you for your sacrifices
that you've made, uh, in from the bottom of my heart.
Um, if, if, if he's around the house too much, uh,
you could send him back to us, we'll, we'll take him.
But, uh, Walter, thank you.
Um, thank you for teaching me about passion, um,
and loving people.
Thank you. And congratulations.
You, the chair recognizes Alderman Napolitano.
Thank you, Mr. President Walter.
Uh, simply put for me, you're a great dude.
Um, your ability to, to slide into a, a room full of us
for your colleagues and say hi
to everybody in about 12 different languages, and,
but your collars popped.
You always had a smile on your face and brought a joke in
and, and, and would leave us all with a lasting impression.
And your ability to slide out without us even
knowing was even better.
Um, but the, the biggest take from it is that,
that I wanna thank you for you.
You never, never hesitate to talk to anybody.
Um, what we should take as a council from you, uh, is
how everything ends at that doorway with you.
Whether we agree with each other out here.
The second we crossed that threshold heading outside,
it was over, it was back to just, let's see what we can do
for the betterment of our city, for the betterment
of us being colleagues and brothers and sisters.
And that's, that's a lasting impression
that I wanna thank you for that, that you gave me.
And I think myself
and everyone in here should utilize that a lot more.
'cause it, it was a great talent that you had.
And I appreciate everything you did.
Um, I I, I, I appreciate 10 years ago when I came in
that you, you, you walk up to all the new people
and you, you extend that handshake
and say, however, I can help you.
I'm here for you and you, and you did it.
You did it for as long as I've been here.
So, enjoy retirement, sir.
Uh, God bless you, love being around you.
Um, you, you're leaving an impression on me.
So God bless you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You. Chair
recognizes Alderwoman. Do I,
Because I wanna look at you.
Um, I told you this morning that I hope
that the word I wanna use to describe you wasn't used by any
of the other people today.
And it didn't happen. So, um, Walter, you are a statesman,
a great statesman.
And I have seen you grow into that.
And a statesman is someone who is, uh, experienced
and respected.
They're a leader, and that's what you are.
Um, when I first sat in this seat
after a very contentious race, um,
I came in here thinking I knew, you know,
I knew my stuff, right?
Because I had been a planner in here,
and I sat next to fear Ready.
I couldn't, he didn't know nothing.
And I sat next to Tony Preckwinkle,
who I had a relationship with, and I had her point of view.
And behind me was, I believe Ed Smith.
And, uh, I knew Ed, but not well.
But you opened up your, uh, arms and, uh, welcome me.
And there were times when I would turn this chair around
to ask you your opinion.
And what I admire about you is
that you don't impose your will.
I thank You to the newest short man.
Um, you don't impose your will.
You, uh, give your opinion.
You show people both sides of an issue,
and then you step back.
And that's, that's good. Most people want that.
So I appreciate that. In you, we have a similar award.
You got haves and have nots.
Um, you have to balance what you do.
And I've watched you balance and do it well.
And I've taken some lessons from that.
The, uh, point about, uh,
doing joint ventures between minority
and majority firms, uh,
that is routine with me now.
And I thank you for that.
Paying attention to the details of the development, the
contracts, the subcontracts, even identifying somebody
outside the office to help you look through that
is something that I modeled after you.
Your good use of tax recruitment, financing dollars,
and how to stretch it, how to, um,
pull from different places to get the things done
that you want done.
And to have the support of the people who are around you,
um, is something that I've learned.
Um, I love some other notes.
Um, I think loyalty too
is something that you have.
Um, and I'm gonna tell a story which involves Anna Valencia.
When Anna and I were seeking to, uh, run the same race
I came to you, I thought, you know, 'cause we, you
and I, you know, we sit here, we cool.
Um, but she was part of your organization
and you didn't, um, blow smoke at me.
You, you were straight. And you told me where you stood.
And I appreciate that people need
to be straight shooters and you are that.
Um, I wish you the best as you move forward. Kind of think.
We all think where we know where you're going.
I've learned a lot about that too from you, the CHA
and how to, um, in areas where you
and I both had the same experience
where the transformation plan took place way back when,
and we're still trying
to get people back into the communities, um,
and how to try
to move those things forward against a lot of resistance.
Um, I appreciate that.
So I wish you the best, um, Darlene, take care of 'em now,
and, uh, uh, good luck.
Thank you. Thank
You.
The chair recognizes Alder Vasquez.
Thank you, uh, Mr. President, uh, Walter, I,
I wanna thank you for a number of reasons.
I think there's many things that have been said.
Um, but you are, I think,
something we're not gonna see very often.
Much more in the city of Chicago.
You're very much a lion in this council.
Um, a lion doesn't have to walk
through the jungle roaring all the time.
They already know they run it.
And I think the way you've moved has kind of the leadership,
the weight, but also it's very unassuming.
'cause I think while a lot of people are playing checkers,
you've already won the chess match when it comes to a lot
of the legislation here.
Um, one of our colleagues said, um,
that you're a product of the en your environment.
And I think that is one of the things
that you bring to this council.
That means more than a lot in order to navigate in the world
that a lot of us have come from, you have to learn how
to have conversations with people who don't get along,
where the stakes are higher than just passing an ordinance.
You have to identify how to have a voice and assert yourself
and promote yourself and get things done.
And that's not just the rap CDs,
but that's just everything else that've done.
Those skills are skills
that are not taught in the classroom well enough.
There's a level of street knowledge that comes in
that I think has informed a lot of your value set
and how you move things forward.
Um, before people were identifying as progressive
or not, you were moving the ball forward.
The city council had to change law to catch up
to you when it came to affordable housing
because you knew how to negotiate with anyone
that was at the other side of the table
and do it in a way that was passionate without
being destructive to a conversation.
Even when people may be what feels like miles apart,
you've always understood the value of coming to the table
and having the conversations and hearing people out.
And so there's an example you set for this council
that I think we're all gonna miss.
When this council was fighting over positions,
your name gets brought up
and you get 50, you 49, uh, 50 with you all,
all in agreement, because we all had,
and have the confidence and faith in your leadership
and your integrity in having those conversations.
No one feels like they would get played.
And that's, it's almost an impossible quality
to have out here when we all talk to each other
and have different perspectives
to feel like the person you're talking to is sincere.
Um, we need to see more of it.
I appreciate you for sharing it.
I think when you use every language possible
to greet everybody here,
there are people who could try that.
And it wouldn't come off the same way
because it doesn't come off as sincere.
But when you do it, people know that you have a love
for the culture, the diversity,
and what everybody's perspective is.
And I appreciate you for that
because it's something that we need not only
as council members, but just as people.
And we need it even more during these times.
So I want to thank you for everything you do,
for everything you represent.
How you got me stepping my suit game up.
Just 'cause I'm trying to catch up to the vibe
and I will never, um, I know
that even though we're saying you're retiring, um, my advice
to you and to your wife would be
to get you a new phone with a new phone number.
Because even with you out of this seat, heck, even more so,
I don't doubt we'll be calling you up for advice with a lot
of things that we have to face as this, as this council.
So thank you for making this city better for being a son
of Chicago in every way possible, um,
and for setting a marker that even though I don't think
anyone here will attain, I gives us something to strive for
so that we can follow your example.
So thank you very much and thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alder Manuel Hall.
Thank you so much, Mr. President.
Uh, the first time I met you, vice mayor, you, uh,
gently turned down this grand idea in your ward,
a group of advantageous, um,
athletes wanted to do something.
And, uh, I was just shocked.
We actually got a chance to meet you.
And, uh, you kindly turned us away in a way
that still allowed us to keep thinking.
And, uh, that plan never came into fruition,
but you treated us with a level of respect and dignity.
And years later, that way in which you treated me is a way
in which I try to
and strive to treat the residents in my ward.
So before I even came here, you set a standard of leadership
that truly changed my life before I sit down.
Chicago was grateful for a lot of families, Jacksons leaks,
but Chicago is not Chicago without the Burnetts.
And so to you and your wife, your amazing children,
thank you for serving
and setting a standard of excellence
that will last beyond your gears.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alder, mana Howorth.
Thank you, Mr. President, it's lovely to see you again.
Uh, we were together not too long ago dancing at,
at a birthday party or, uh, Jeanette Taylor and I,
and I hope for you for many, many more hours
and many more days to come.
Maybe somewhere on Randolph, we can meet Alhambra.
I, I wanted to say kaust,
I'm gonna miss our banter.
You know, we talked a lot about, um, what,
what your legacy is about in terms of, uh,
affordable housing,
but I think that, um, alderman, Talia, Farrah got it right.
It's not just about the buildings,
it's about the people inside.
And uh, and that's why I think, uh, representation matters
because you're not just thinking about the buildings,
you're thinking about the people that will help.
So I want to thank you for that.
It wasn't too long ago that, uh, you walked
into council and we sat right over here,
and I remember you had your hat on,
I think it was about a month ago.
And Vice mayor, you came in with your coffee
and you sat down and you said, I've done all
that I wanted to do.
And I remember that you looked like you were at peace.
So I am really happy for you.
I'm happy for you in a way that, that I, uh, am happy
for an artist who's been working on something for 30 years
and can finally step back
and say, I've done it all.
I'm done. I
wanna say that I, I remember a time it was just
outside these doors,
and I as a, a freshman here, um, struggling
to pass my first big piece of legislation in this body.
And I was, I was telling you about it.
I was telling all the things that I was doing.
I was, I was talking all, all to all the people
that I needed to talk to.
And you said to me something like, Lenny, is it,
is it gonna help a lot of people?
Is it, is it gonna benefit Chicago?
And I said, yes, Walter, it is. Do you have any advice?
Do you remember what you said to me?
You, you said pray,
and I, I I laughed at the time
because that was, that's preposterous.
Like, I would just pray about it and it would just come.
But it's exactly what Doo was saying.
You didn't impose your will.
You, you said go, go find it deep within you
and, and it will happen.
So I, I wanna appreciate you for that.
The other thing I wanna say is, as somebody who wants
to make Chicago better through policy, working with people
and, and digging to this higher power through prayer,
I really look to you for, for inspiration and,
and to walk in your way.
And what you have done in the city
of Chicago is transformative.
Uh, we need to do all of that for all the reasons
that you told me that you wanted to do it.
You wanted more affordability,
affordability in your neighborhoods
because you want to keep it diverse.
That's what you want. And I want that too.
So I'm happy for you, vice mayor, I'm happy for you, Walter.
I'm happy for your family and I wish you many more years
of dancing in this city of Chicago,
and I hope to be there with you.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You. The
chair recognizes all the women. Stephanie Coleman.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Everyone is talking about this well dressed Walter Burnett.
But I remember I was about seven years old
and I was seven years old coming down the city,
uh, hall with my mom.
And we had gotten off the elevator
and I saw this little man in this bow tie and suit.
And at the time, the nation was very high in terms
of selling bean pies.
And I thought that Alderman Burnett was one of the brothers.
And you were so kind and so nice
and seeing you, I think you were about 32
or 33 as a freshman alderman.
And the glow up has been real.
Walter, I look at Vice Mayor, I look at you
and you are the epitome of Hope Redemption,
a second chance and what God can truly do
and how God can use us to be levies.
Uh, there will be no office
of reentry if it were not for you.
And your influenced during, uh, the pandemic.
Uh, three months. Just three months ago, you, uh,
said your final goodbye to Mother Briscoe
and you still came to City Council the day
before your mother's funeral,
and you all will probably still be having
to pick me up off the floor four months
later, had it been my mother.
And it just shows your dedication
and your commitment, not only to the 27th Ward,
but to this body.
I am so honored to have served with you
for the last six years.
You told my mother in 2019 that you would take care of me
because I was your neighbor across the office
and I so enjoyed being your neighbor
because Jason Irvin told me you had all of the money.
And so I never bought paper
or ink my first four years as an alderman because of you
and Reggie and everyone.
You just know how to look out
and take care of people
and the people that you love.
Uh, we share stories with being First City Vice shares
of Young Dems being chairs of the Black Caucus.
Thank you for paying your dues.
You know, they are non-refundable.
So I'm so glad that you know that.
And I really just thank God for your life.
And I really thank God for Darlene.
We have found times where I would always end up
with you at some event, DNC, that time
and on the dance floor at the first mirrors, uh, party.
And I thank you for being the rib, the fragrance,
and one of the best, one of the best strategists, uh,
in the city of Chicago that people don't even know
that you really are the secret machete of the 27th Ward.
So thank you Vice Mayor, thank you
for looking out for us.
Thank you for taking care of us.
Thank you for being so unapologetic
about being from Cabrini.
And I know you have sat
with the top billionaires of the world.
You have had some of the best award-winning world renowned
developments, but you have never been ashamed of
where you are from, who you are, where you're from,
and whose you are.
And you have been a model leader and a model servant of God.
So thank you so much.
I cannot wait to, I have more stories,
but I'm gonna tell it at the Black Caucus dinner
that you're gonna pay for.
God bless you, vice Mayor.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alderman Riley,
Right? Walter,
um, gonna miss you.
Uh, you know, when I, when I first got elected in 2007,
I remember I was invited to a lunch at Jean
and Georgetti by Secretary White, and we were having lunch
and he was explaining the history of the relationship
between the old 27th and 42nd wards.
And that goes back to Mr.
Donn and a whole cast of characters.
And at the time I was brand new and a bit overwhelmed
and think I'd just been barely sworn in.
And I wasn't really quite understanding
what this special relationship really meant.
And obviously I'd been a long time fan of Jesse White,
so I just kind of sat there and shut my mouth and smiled.
And I, I can tell you it didn't take a whole lot of time
for me to figure out that, um,
there always has been a special relationship
between the 27th
and 42nd wards, um, for lots of different reasons.
Um, but I can tell you
that there's been a special relationship between the 27th
and 42nd wards since you and I have served together.
And, um, you know, I've worked for a whole bunch
of politicians, uh, in other states around the country, uh,
federal, state, local offices.
And I've been really fortunate to work
with a tremendous number of really talented,
gifted politicians.
Um, and I can tell you this, um, and this is genuine.
Uh, I have never ever worked with a politician
with a natural gift in retail politics like you.
And I've wondered about that.
You know, how is it that Walter's so good at this?
And it took me a while to figure it out, but it's
because you're the genuine article.
Um, you're, you, you're a real person
and it shows you don't put on an act.
Um, you're legit.
And I can tell you that while
we've had about 18 years together in this chamber,
and certainly we've had our, our disagreements, uh,
over the years, um,
after those disagreements, um,
you've always been a gentleman and,
and we've always shaken hands.
And I can tell you, and I've said this a million times
before, 'cause it's true, um,
I have incredible respect for you.
And, and while I've had the, the opportunity
to learn from a lot of other seasoned politicians,
I gotta say I've learned a,
a tremendous amount just working with you.
And, um, I'm gonna miss you and,
and I'm gonna miss your advice.
Uh, and for 18 years you gave me a lot
of fashion advice I didn't take and, and I'm working on it.
Um, but, but again, you know, your sense of humor
and your, your genuine love for people
and your passion for this job show.
Um, and you know, I I know that your,
your successor is gonna have incredibly, uh,
figuratively large shoes to fill.
And and I can tell you that, um, I'm proud
of the relationship that we, we've had, uh,
we had a tremendous time in Copenhagen.
I almost forgot about that.
Uh, and we also promised each other
what happens in Copenhagen stays in Copenhagen.
Um, but we, we put a lot
of miles on some bicycles over there.
And I, I remember, uh, right
after we got back, uh, you were, all
of a sudden you were all about the bicycles.
You you're gonna be bike riding everywhere you go.
And I remember you're telling then cdot Commissioner Gabe
Klein, how excited you were,
and I think it might've been your first or second day back.
You're out there on your bike and off you go.
And within five minutes you get doored by a car
and you're, you're on your head.
And, and, but you know what, to your credit,
you got back on that bike.
And you know what, I think
that tells us a little bit about how you've led your life.
You know, when you've run into roadblocks or,
or hit a hurdle, um, you straightened yourself up and, and,
and gotten right back out there.
And, you know, that's, um,
that's an important quality in people.
Um, and you know, I I was walking, um,
walking your wife into,
into chambers this afternoon for this.
And as we were walking in, I, I asked her, I said, are you,
are you ready for a whole lot more Walter in your life?
I said, 'cause there's about
to be a whole lot more Walter in your life,
and Walter can be a lot.
And she didn't miss a beat.
Uh, Darlene has said, uh, no, don't worry.
I'm sure Walter will find plenty of excuses
to get outta the house, and I have no doubt you will.
And I know that you're not done in public service,
and I don't know what you choose to do next.
Um, but whatever it is you do, I know you'll do it, um,
leading with your heart and with your integrity.
So I, I can tell you, I'm gonna,
I'm gonna miss you tremendously.
Um, I do hope you'll pay us to visit from time to time,
but I, I truly wish you well
and I really am proud to call your friend.
Um, best, best to you, Walter. Take care.
Thank you. There are two more speakers that I have
that wish to speak
before we offer Lee from the body for the city clerk
to, um, offer up some recognition I have
as the final two speakers,
unless anyone else wishes to speak before our clerk.
Okay? Please add Alderman Robinson then.
So we have three more speakers before the clerk, right?
The chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, Burnett, I don't know if you remember this,
it was my first, my first year.
And, um, I was in one
of my communities on a Sunday afternoon.
It was a, we were called to a house
that we had some problems with.
I won't get into all of that,
but the person, the woman that we had one had a problem
with turned to me and said, I'm gonna call Alderman Burnett.
He gonna get you. He, you gonna get in trouble.
And then I said, Burnett, don't run nothing over here.
But, uh, I, I got a lot of stories, a lot of stories.
I'm gonna leave the short, the short, the short jokes alone.
But, um, I too, like Pat wanted to
say something that nobody else said.
And as I sat here
and listened to everybody, it came to me that,
Burnett, you are a historical figure.
And I went and looked it up.
It says, historical figure is a person
who has made a significant impact on history, whether
through their actions, ideas, or contributions to society.
Brunette, you are an individual
that has made a lasting legacy
that influenced subsequent events
and shaped the understanding of our past.
Cabrini Green, west Loop, gr,
Greek Town, east Garfield Park, near Northside,
old Town, west Hum, park, Westtown,
goose Island, the medical district.
You built those. So I couldn't make
any short jokes 'cause you larger than life, man.
You literally built these, these,
these neighborhoods, these communities.
Not bad from somebody from Cabrini Green, former gd.
Oh, did I say that?
Former? So I I
I I'm glad we're taking this opportunity
to give you your roses.
Uh, you have absolutely deserved it.
Uh, 1995 to the present.
You, you have, you have, you, you have shaped Chicago.
You literally have had an impact on
Chicago's history, Chicago's legacy, uh, in listening to
Patal talk, I learned those things from her.
I now, she's giving you credit, so that's part of you.
But as a, as a, a bridge builder, I
remember at your mom's funeral, I think out
of all the interactions you
and I had, that's where we, we settled on the same place.
I 'cause our relationships with our moms.
And, um, I'm sure she's told you, uh, when she was alive,
but I'm, I'm, I know for a fact
that woman was extremely proud of her son.
And when I was going
through, uh, the, the medical issue with my mom
and I told you about, she got out the car one day
and she was laughing.
And, and I said, mom, what, what,
what you, what what you laughing for?
And she turned to me and said, Greg, I'm so glad I got you.
I thought about you and your mom, your mom.
I'm sure she was glad that she had you.
You are a great son to her.
You are a, a great colleague to us,
despite our differences in fraternities.
You are a great brother to me.
And I won't say I'm gonna
miss you 'cause I'm not letting you go.
I'm gonna still call you.
I'm still find you, I'm gonna still talk
about the height difference.
I'm, I'm gonna do all of that. 'cause I still need you.
I'm still growing as a, as a professional.
I'm still growing as a person.
I'm still growing as a young man.
And, um, I resigned to the fact I could learn,
I could learn a lot from a dummy.
So I'm gonna still look for you.
Thank you for everything you put into me from day one.
I love you. And thank you again for being a good brother.
Thank you Jennifer. Thank you.
Chair recognizes Alder, woman mitts.
Thank you. Well, Walter, you know, uh,
it's been a long journey
and I'm glad to see you come at this point in your life
where you can really say, I got enough.
I wanna do something different.
I remember you sitting in the council
and when George Don passed, I'm sitting back here
and you were speaking and you were crying.
And I said, why is he crying?
But you showed the passion that you really felt.
And it wasn't, it had nothing to do with the color.
It had to do with loyalty and how you really
and truly loved him.
Well, you've led your life that way.
The love that you have for the people who support you,
who have embraced you.
Jesse White, you know
how often you talked about Jesse White.
Anytime somebody asks you, can you support something?
I gotta see Jesse White. I gotta see Jesse White.
You and Darna both have, uh,
been out here in campaigns and running these election
and, uh, who is better to receive your accolades,
but you know where your accolades came from.
I want to tell you this, only from the grace
of God, God got you there.
I know this because we are serving in church together.
I see you every Sunday when you are up there as the
elevated to the deacon level.
God brought you from down there, getting pardoned
with the church, going with you all the way back,
and you ain't stopped running since.
And if you wanna know where he got it from,
that's where he got it from.
The love that you have
and the God that dwell within you while we were talking
and everyone talking, pastor,
and call me on the phone, just so you know, you know, we,
I know maybe you wanna talk to me,
but it's just a coincidence
as we are giving you your accolades
and the work that you've done.
I hope you didn't pick that up from the pastor since he
retired either that you wanted to do this.
Oh, okay. And I done got tired now. Okay?
But I'm glad to be able to stand here today with you.
I know it's not, um, the end all for us.
We're gonna ask God to continue to bless us as we continue
to move and as our children grow up and, um, supporting them
and educating them, that's what it's all about.
At the end of the day, all you can do is somebody give it
to you and you pass it on to others so
that they can be as prosper.
And then when our work is done here on this earth, then we,
we can be Lord and rest in peace.
So thank you so much for your service, brother. Love you.
Thank you. Uh, our final speaker,
unless anyone else wishes to add their breath
to this space, the chair recognizes Alderman Robinson
Going to, uh, take a note from my friend
and mentor Chairman Dowell
and look at you, uh, vice Mayor
Burnett
colleagues, there are three things
that Walter continues to
say in this building, outside this building.
One is my wife, my sons
and my ward, my wife,
my sons, and my ward.
What does that mean? That means that
these were three things that
are important to you that Walter,
you focus in on.
And whatever you had in front of you,
your wife, your sons,
and your ward were the utmost important
as someone that you have supported
and the Illinois General Assembly.
And now Alderman of the Fourth Ward,
I'm still scratching my head from time
to time about this last position.
You did tell me, you did tell me,
but you told me that I can move the needle
for my ward.
I can transform my community.
And I'm so appreciative that
you supported me in this position being Alderman
Walter, you are a true testament
to mentorship, leadership,
and being someone that continues
to be levelheaded in the midst of all the things
that go on in life.
What I take from you is continue
to not be too high
and not too low right in the middle.
And focus in on your people
and focus in on your family.
And eight years in this business,
almost six years in the general assembly,
seems like almost 20 years here
as an alderman, although it's been two.
Walter, I take he to that.
And I am grateful for your time and your love
and your patience with me.
And before I wrap up, I want to share with my colleagues,
this is why you have to be nice to people's kids.
Walter Junior was in my mentor program
and I kept hearing his name Walter Burnett.
And I didn't think much of it.
Thank God that I was nice to that kid.
'cause you never know in life
how it's a 365 moment
that I would be working alongside of you
and see all of the accomplishments
that Walter Junior has done.
And I believe that I've been a part
of those accomplishments, being a mentor to your son.
And lastly, Emma mentioned Mr. White,
anytime that we have to go to you for certain things,
it was Mr. White, I know you love him
and I I know you respect him.
I have to ask Mr. White outta all this love
and all the things that he's poured into you,
how you were able to pledge
Phi Sigma Beta fraternity
and not Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, excuse me.
And not the great fraternity of Kappa Alpha side.
But Walter, we love you.
We appreciate you
and thank you for your service not only to the 27th Ward,
but to the, the city of Chicago. Blessings.
Thank you Lee from the body to allow our city clerk
to speak very well.
Thank you. Hearing no objections, Madam Clerk.
Um, you know, I came into this place in 2011
25, had no clue what I was doing,
but I was faking it till I made it.
And Friday, I bushy bushy tailed assigned to gov affairs
and there were some real sharks down here.
It was scary. And some
of them are gone no longer here.
But a few of the city council members really
were, even though we're on the fifth floor,
helped us navigate.
And a lot of us were women and people of color
and first gen college kids
that didn't know if we felt like we could belong
or make it here in this business.
And Walter and Michelle
and a few others were those people for us.
You never forget how to
reach back and bring up that next generation.
And throughout not just being a staffer,
but going into public office, you really made a home
for not only me, but Riyadh in the 27th Ward.
And I felt like you always had our backs, even
through the storms when people don't want anything to do
with you anymore because your name ends
up in the paper of lies.
You reached out to remind me of who I am and whose I am.
And you've always stood with anyone no matter what.
Not passing judgment, but just listening and guiding us.
And I just thank you for that
because I don't think sometimes people always see your
heart, your heart for God, your ministry in the prisons,
your heart for youth, your kindness,
your empathy and compassion
that gets lost in the world of politics today.
And I hope as you move forward that we can make you proud
and we can be the brand of Walter Burnett
and Darlene's politics.
And we can carry those lessons you instilled in about
compromise and finding common ground
and letting that go when we leave this chamber
and seeing each other as human again.
So I promise to keep lean leaning that way
and trying to make you and Secretary White
and all of us that you've put invested into proud.
So thank you for your dedication.
Thank you for, uh, Walter.
'cause he is now a member of our church
and he's in our church leadership and he is a man of God
and he is a man of principles.
And you can tell again how the parents
and the values they instilled by
the legacy of your children.
And you should be proud because not only are your children
like Walter, but all of the kids of the 27th Ward
and throughout the city have a lot to be grateful
for. Thank you my friend.
Thank you Madam Clerk. And I do apologize.
There's one more colleague that wanted to speak, uh,
from the south side 18th Ward chair recognizes Alderman
Curtis and he'll be the final speaker.
Thank you. Um, thank you, uh, chairman Walter,
I know why you won't wear those glasses today.
Um, I'm, I'm glad I wore mine,
but, um, you know, I love you
and that's the reason why I'm not going to,
uh, talk and, and,
and give you all these great accolades, these people saying,
you know, 'cause you, but I'm gonna see you in a
few minutes outside.
I'm well in the back. I, you and Darlene.
I know we'll be seeing each other.
Um, but there are some things that I do want to share, uh,
with you that, uh, that I,
that I just have to share with you.
So I love you, I appreciate you.
Um, and I'll see you really, really,
really soon after you get a few we weeks of rest.
And, um, thank you, uh, chairman
for giving me this opportunity.
Thanks. Thank you brother.
Of course. Thank you all for your kind words.
Um, uh, to our vice mayor, you are a historic figure
as the first ever black vice
mayor in the history of Chicago.
Uh, you certainly imbibe the full, what I call the soul
of Chicago, uh, obviously as you know, since it feels like,
uh, just a blink ago.
But we had the chance to meet when I was just coming up
as an organizer
and, uh, Cabrini Green, working for the new city YMCA
and teaching in your community
to Alderman Lamont, Robinson's point.
Uh, be careful how you treat people, right?
You just never know and you were kind.
And so I'm glad that I treated you well, well enough
to become an historic figure
as the first black vice mayor in the history of Chicago.
But you have given so much to so many people
and for not recruiting me to be a part of your organization
or to have any necessarily, um, overtures of
commitments beyond the community was a true example of
what it means to be a public servant.
So on behalf of the city of Chicago, man, we love you
and we know that God is not done with you yet,
but we certainly are grateful
and we give God the glory
for the things that he has done through you.
So on behalf of the city of Chicago, here's to Vice Mayor,
chairman Alderman, Walter Burnett,
Uh, leave from the body to allow our vice mayor to be able
to speak and to address, um, his colleagues.
He's got his tissue and his glasses. Uh, he's well prepared.
I get him some water too.
I appreciate that. But man,
I thought you was gonna let me speak from up there, man.
What's up?
He's Scared. He's scared.
See you in 27, dog. See you in 27.
First of all, I want to give honor to Guy I,
God has been so good to me in this journey.
Started 41 years ago,
came home at 20 years old, started working for the county
a Monday after I came home.
I thank God for George Dunn, who's my guardian. Angel.
Saw him on February 1st, first, second I was working.
I thank God for Jesse White
who really, uh, embodies the, um,
character of loving people.
Um, you know, I I I, I
read the Bible some years ago
and I lived by this, uh, passage from
first Peter fourth, chapter eight.
First be fervent with charity.
But charity covers the magnitude of all sin.
Or some people say be plentiful with love.
'cause love covers the magnitude of all sin.
And I try to tell my folks who, who work with me, that,
you know, we need to give, we need the help.
We need the love. Because you more, the more you give,
the more you love, the harder it is for people to deny you.
The more you help people
and people I help, it's easy for you to have help.
It's just a, it is just a natural formula in life.
And the other one is talking about formula.
Some of y'all may know that I was trying
to be an engineer one time.
Um, the formula of power
is energy divided by time.
The more energy you put in
and the less amount of time, the more power you have.
You know, and, and I try to live my life by that.
And I, that's why I work so hard.
And I want to thank my wife Darlene,
for allowing me to grind.
He allowed me to grind even before I was alderman.
It was crazy because I was an
engineer in the county building.
I get a couple hours sleep.
I wake up and I go volunteer in George Don's office.
I leave his office, I go be the chairman
of the Young Democrats and work in my news stand.
I had a news stand on Clark in Ohio.
She would come and date me at the news stand
'cause I'd be working so much.
And I've been grinding like that for 40 years nonstop.
And she's been right there with me, except in a few hours
that, you know, we, whatever time we have together,
we cherish every moment, right?
We try to make the most of it, not only with her,
but also with my kids.
And I just want to thank her for raising my kids
through all of this.
You all know my sons, they good people.
I wish I could take all the credit. She gets all the credit.
She's done such a great job.
I also want to thank my parents.
My dad was the one who took me to Georgetown when I,
you know, he actually, when I was in my youth, he,
I was proud to walk on my dad
and Cabrini-Green to knock on doors
because no, there wasn't that many fathers around.
So it was like, and then I would see him help people
and folks would ask him for stuff
and he'd go to the committee and then he'd get it done.
And I'd be like, man, that's like magic. My dad is magic.
He can just make stuff happen for people.
And that just stuck with me with how, you know,
how a little thing for somebody like getting a door fixed
or getting a cabinet fixed in they house from CHA
or whatever the case may be, was such a big thing to people
and such a easy thing for folks to do in government.
And that kinda stuck with me.
And I, and I don't want to be here all day.
I know y'all been here for a long time
and you know, I can talk for a long time.
I know y'all gonna miss that.
But I also would be remiss if I did not thank,
um, Jim Edgar.
Jim Edgar gave me a partner in 1998.
If I wouldn't have got that partner,
I wouldn't have been able to run again.
Uh, so I want to thank him.
I know he's going through cancer right now.
I pray to God that he gives him comfort in his moments.
I wanna say, uh, governor, you did a good thing.
I hope I made you proud.
Also, I be remiss, but I did not say anything about my mom.
You know, my dad is the kinda guy who talked to everybody.
That's who I got that from.
But my mom is a nurturing person who was the mother
for every neighborhood.
She moved in, every neighborhood she moved in,
she was everybody's mother.
She advised folks,
she tell 'em when they doing wrong, she feed folks.
You know? And that's what we, I got the sense of community
and I'm grateful to her.
Both my parents are gone. It's crazy.
My dead dad, right before I got elected in 95
and my mom, dad, right
before, I'm giving up this seat 30 years later.
But I'm grateful to both of them.
I'm grateful to my sons, both of them, for understanding
that, you know, I had to go out
and bring home the bacon, you know, and I appreciate them
and I appreciate them, uh, wanting to help people.
I think that's a great thing.
You know, you, uh, only wish
that your kids would want to emulate you, and,
and that's such a blessing.
Um, I love everyone in this building.
Uh, I've been in this building for 41 years.
I started out over on the county side as a draftsman.
I know just about everybody on the county side
from the janitors to the executives,
because I love people.
I know everybody here.
If you all notice that all of the janitors
that come in here, we talk
because I never underestimate anyone,
and I believe everybody is a human being,
and they're important, and you never know
where they're gonna be in life.
And I thank God for that, that kinda spirit.
I, I love all of you guys.
And let me say this, I think you all are all great.
Everybody got different characteristics,
different personalities, you know,
but everyone has different passions for things
that they care about and they believe in.
I respect that. We all need to learn how to respect
each other in that
and understand what our reasoning is for doing things.
One of the things that Michelle
and I learned in the young Democrats, first thing we, we,
we learned, and I try to, uh, spread it, was we have
to learn to agree to disagree, but there's a bigger picture.
Um, one of the things George Dun had, me
and Jesse White do always work with the leader.
I know you all may not agree on with that,
but that always worked for us.
Always work with the leader and help the leader to do well.
Then everybody else to do well.
Then the establishment that you're working
for would do well.
This have always been a body that got things done.
And the only way it got done
that everyone working together, I thanked his mayor.
He didn't have to make me the vice mayor.
Some of the first African American vice
mayor of the city of Chicago.
I think I'm the longest serving African American
alderman in the city of Chicago.
Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But, uh, I'm grateful.
He has a humbling spirit. He's a man of God.
I believe he's, he's anointed by God
to be doing what he's doing.
And, uh, I really appreciate your grace
and your mercy with me.
Even after I worked, I gave Paul Valez money.
I worked hard against you, man,
and you still make me vice mayor.
And, and, and that's a credit to your humility.
That's a credit to the God inside of you.
And that's why I will always be committed to you
because you didn't have to do that.
Right? And I will always let you know when I don't agree
with you because there's no
sense of being with someone,
and you can't let them know if they right or wrong.
If we real friends, a real friend, don't let you
do things that you don't think is right.
Right? And, and that's what I try to do.
And one of the things I like about him, you know,
when I tell him that I don't think that's right, he say,
yeah, you may be right.
You know, and he look at it, and,
and I'm gonna tell you, all this city would be a better
city, and this council would be a better counselor if we all
literally would just talk to each other
and get things done, you know,
because right now it's about,
I know everybody got political things going on,
and I'm gonna go, I just wanna, I'm gonna go.
'cause I, I, I can go deep on that,
but I want you all to know,
I really appreciate you honor me.
I'd be remiss if I did not thank all of my staff, um, all
of my staff
and, and over th for over 30 years, I've had a lot
of staff people come
through my office and we've helped them.
Uh, and I'm, I'm grateful for them, all
of them wondering right now, you know,
what they going to do.
And uh, that's something we had to deal with.
But God, God always make a way.
And, uh, and they know that I'm, I'm loyal
to them just like they loyal to me.
And we're gonna make sure that they're okay.
But I just want to say thank you everyone.
Thank you for the honor to allow me
to be the vice mayor of the city of Chicago.
Thank you for the honor to allow me to be the zoning chair.
Thank you for the honor for a young kid who made a mistake,
grew up in the projects to be Wyoming today.
Thank you. God bless you.
Wow. Thank you all very much. Okay.
I mean, I hate to do this to you,
but the agreed upon calendar, all right,
matters for the agreed upon.
I'm sorry.
Thank you. On the motion to return
to the regular order of business.
There's a motion. All those in favor signify by saying aye.
By very well hear no objections.
We will return back to the regular order of a bus business.
And now for matters on the agreed
upon calendar, all woman Harris.
Thank you Mr. President.
I've received from the city clerk, Andrea
and Valencia, a total of 101 items proposed
for the agreed calendar, um, consisting of contributory,
commemorative and tribulation resolutions, uh,
from the following, Alder persons, all the person do,
all the person, Yancy, Alder person, Harris,
all the person Lee, all the person.
Quinn, all the person. Lopez, all the person.
Coleman, all the person.
Coleman, Curtis, all the person, uh, Mosley, all the person.
Rodriguez, all the person.
Ccho Lopez, all the person, Tyler Farro,
all the person Conway, all person Viegas, all the person mi,
all the person Gardner.
And two additional resolutions from Alderman Lopez,
animal control, animal care and control.
And from Alderman Harris, a death resolutions.
I move these in the omnibus
Very well hearing no objections.
So ordered. Uh, now for new business,
the clerk will call the wards beginning with the 50th war
Zoning amendments, which are referred
to the committee on zoning landmarks
and building standards traffic controls,
traffic controls signals, traffic regulations
and traffic signs, which are referred
to the Committee on Pedestrian
and Traffic Safety exemption from physical barrier
requirement for commercial driveway alley access
for parking facilities, which are referred
to the Committee on Transportation and Public Way.
All the person all the person had
and has a proposed ordinance for amendment
of municipal code section four dash 60 dash 23
to allow additional package codes, licenses on portions
of West Howard Street, which is referred
to the Committee on License to Consumer Protection.
All the person had and
and others have a proposed resolution for affirmation
of commitment to goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.
And call for the federal government
to support Fossil fueled non-proliferation treaty,
which refer to the community environment Alman Manha.
Haworth has proposed order for the issuance S permits
for signed sign boards at 50 35 North Broadway,
who is referred to the committee as zoning
landmarks and building standards.
Other person, Martin and others have proposed ordinance
for amendment of municipal code chapter five dash 12
regarding regulation of security deposits and move in fees.
We is referred to the Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
Two committees call the Committee on
Housing and the Committee on Rules.
The matter is referred to the
Committee on Committees and Rules.
All the person, Martin and others have proposed resolution
to call on the departments of Procurement Services Finance
and the Office of Budget Management to report on practices
and and processes of current contracts
and grant administration, which is refer
to the committee on the budget and government operations
while the person, Martin and others also have proposed
resolution for submission of public question by referendum,
the Chicago voters at March 17th, 2026,
primary election if City
of Chicago should adopt ranked choice voting system
for mayor, treasurer, clerk,
and Alder person, which is referred
to the Committee on Committees and Rules.
Two committees called the Committee on Rules,
the Committee on Budget Matters, referred
to the Committee on Committees and rules, Alder person NUS
and has proposed resolution for recognition
of the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Chicago Bird Alliance on
launching its rat contraceptive pilot program,
which is referred to the Committee on Environment.
While the person Riley has a proposed order for the issuance
of permits for signed sign boards at 51 East Ohio Street.
It was referred to the committee on zoning
landmarks and building standards.
All the person SDO has proposed ordinance for amendment
of municipal code titles four
and seven prohibiting issuance of license
for permanent animal exhibitions
and any activities involving physical wrestling
to the ground or attempting to mount bucking animals,
which is referred to the Committee on special events.
While the person Viegas has a proposed ordinance
for amendment of municipal code section four, section
section two dash 68 dash zero 50 to require contracts
for storage of city data
to include labor peace agreement prohibiting labor
organization members from engaging in work stoppages,
which is refer to the Committee on Economic Capital
and Technology Development.
Other person, viegas also has opposed ordinance
for an amendment of miss code chapter two dash 92
by adding a new section two dash 92 dash 5 35
to establish program to certify businesses
as city-based small businesses, which referred
to the committee on contracting oversight.
All the person Viegas
and all the person Lopez have proposed resolution to call
for hearings on Chicago animal care
and controls impact on public safety operations
and implications for animal welfare in Chicago,
which is referred to the Committee on Public Safety.
While the per all the person Viegas has a proposed
resolution to call for hearings on the Department
of Water Management's delay
and notifying residents affected
by lead service lines supplying water to their homes,
which is referred to committee environmental protection.
All the person Viegas has a
proposed ordinance for amendment of Ms.
Poco Title four by adding a new chapter four dash 1 55
regarding licensing, location
and regulation of video gaming terminals, which is referred
to a joint committee on aviation and finance.
All the person, ADA
and others have proposed resolution to call
for hearings on the impact
of commercial property tax appeals on residential property
owners in Chicago, which is referred
to the Committee on Finance, which the person ada,
all the person Fuentes, all the person Rodriguez Sanchez,
have proposed orders for amendment
of municipal code Title IX
by modifying sections nine dash 64 dash two 20
and nine dash 100 dash one 30 regarding notice procedures
and fines for stop signs or fire hydrant parking violations.
We should refer to the Committee on
Pedestrian and Traffic Safety.
All the person Conway has proposed orders for the issues
of permits for signed sign boards at 400 South Jefferson
Street, which are referred
to the committee on zoning landmarks and building standards.
All the person Conway also has proposed orders for amendment
of Ms mc code Title four
by adding a new chapter four dash 65
regarding regulation enforcement
and taxation of cannabinoid hemp
and Crate Creighton, which is referred
to the Committee License and Consumer Protection.
All the person Rodriguez Sanchez
and others have hold ordinance for amendment
of MS code section two dash 92 dash three 30
to establish Chicago Construction Workforce Equity Advisory
Board to monitor
and report on participation of targeted populations
and covered projects, which is referred
to Committee on Contracting oversight.
All the person Wapac has proposed orders for the issuance
of permits for signed sign boards at various locations,
which are referred to the committee on zoning
landmarks and building standards.
All the person Cardona has proposed ordinance for amendment
of Ms Mc code chapter 17 dash seven
by adding a new section 17 dash seven dash five 10
establishing Cicero Avenue Light Equipment Sales Rental
Overlay District to remove non-conforming use status for any
for any new businesses, seeking limited business licenses
for auto sales, which is referred
to the committee on zoning landmarks
and building standards while the person Cardona asked also
has a proposed ordinance for an honorary street designation
as honorary Charles E. Lawson Avenue, which is referred
to Committee on Transportation and Public Way.
All the person Cruz has a proposed ordinance for amendment
of Ms mc code section four dash 60 dash 0 23
to allow additional package good licenses on portions
of West Diversity Avenue, which is referred
to Committee on License and Consumer Protection.
All the persons tele Firo Silverstein, city clerk, Valencia,
and others have opposed resolution
to call on the Illinois General Assembly
to amend 10 ILCS five slash seven dash 10
to allow candidates
and officials for elected office
to use partial address on post office boxes on petitions
for nominations, which should refer
to the Committee on Public Safety.
All person Tero
and others have proposed resolution to call for hearings.
All person Tero
and others have a resolution to call for hearings
with Chicago Police Department
and Public Safety Administration to report fiscal impact
of having sworn officers in civilian positions,
which should refer to the Committee on Police and Fire.
All the person Burnett has proposed orders for the Houston
of permits for signed sign boards at 3 45 Northwestern
Avenue, which is referred
to the AS zoning landmarks and building standards.
Other person, Fuentes
and others have proposed resolution to call
for hearings on strengthening animal welfare services
and community engagement in Chicago, which is referred
to Committee on Health and Human Relations,
while the person Fuentes
and others have proposed resolution for condemnation
of Leary Children's Hospital
and Rush Medical Center for ceasing gender affirming care,
which is referred to the Committee on
Health and Human Relations.
All the person Cicio Lopez has proposed has proposed orders
for the Eastern of permits
for signed sign boards at 1625 South Ashland Avenue,
which are referred to committee on
zoning landmarks and building standards.
All the person Cicio Lopez
and others have proposed resolution for condemnation of acts
of domestic terrorism committed in Minnesota
and Idaho in honoring
and honoring the victims of the June, 2025 attacks,
which is referred to Committee on
Health and Human Relations.
While the person Cito Lopez
and other person Burnett have proposed the ordinance
for execution of affordable Housing Covenant
and lien for 1810 West Jackson Boulevard, which is referred
to committee on zoning landmarks and building standards.
Other person debar has proposed order for the issuance
of permits for signed sign boards at 52 31 South Pulaski
Road, which is referred
to committee on zoning landmarks and building standards.
Other person, Rodriguez, other person, Vasquez
and others have proposed resolution
to call on the Illinois General Assembly to pass legislation
to prohibit federal agents from wearing masks while
conducting arrest and to wear appropriate uniforms
and present U, excuse me,
and present identification, which is referred
to the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Two committees have been called the Committee on Immigrant
and Refugee Rights and the Committee on Public Safety.
The matter is referred to the Committee on Committees
and Rules all the person,
Taylor has a proposed ordinance for amendment of Ms.
Mcco, title V by adding a new chapter five dash 25
to promote safety and welfare of seniors, including ability
to live independently and rights to privacy,
which is referred to the Committee on Finance,
while the person O'Shea has a proposed resolution to call
for hearings on safety rate and safety regulation
and use of electric scooters on the public way,
which is referred to the Committee on Pedestrian
and Traffic Safety, while the person Coleman has a
proposed ordinance for amendment of Ms.
Mc code chapter 10 dash 40
by modifying section 10 dash 40 dash two 60
and adding new section 10 dash 40 dash 2 62
to require wearing of personal flotation device by occupants
of vessels used in recreational purposes, which is referred
to the Committee on Transportation and Public Way.
All the person, Lopez and others have proposed the ordinance
for prohibition of any delegate, partner, sister, agency,
or other third party organizations receiving funds from the
city of Chicago to use said funds
for legal actions used against the United States,
which is referred to the Committee in Contracting Oversight.
Two committees call the Committee on Contracting Oversight
and the Committee on Committees and Rules.
The matter is referred to the
Committee on Committees and Rules.
All the person Lopez, all the persons Lopez, Quinn,
and Viegas have proposed resolution
to call on the Yellow Honor general assembly
to pass legislation empowering Chicago to establish
a city charter commission, which is referred
to the committee on the budget and government operations
to committees call the committee on the Budget
and Government Operations,
the Committee on Committees and Rules.
The matter is referred to
the Committee on Committees and Rules.
All the Prim Ramirez has proposed
or order for the Eastern supremacist
for signed sign boards at 1514 West 33rd Street,
which is referred to committee on zoning
landmarks and building standards.
DER person Ramirez also has a proposed ordinance
for amendment of municipal code titles 4, 6, 11
and 17 regarding warehousing, wholesaling
and freight movement, which is referred
to committee on zoning landmarks and building standards.
DER person Lee has proposed ordinance for amendment
of municipal code section 17 dash six dash 4 0 3 F
by requiring special use permits for sports
and recreation participants in plan
manufacturing District eight A.
We refer to the committee on
zoning landmarks and building standards.
All the person Lee has proposed orders for the issu issuance
of permits for signed sign boards at various locations,
which are referred to the committee on loading,
zoning landmarks and building standards.
Other person, Lee also has proposed ordinance for amendment
of Ms mc code section 17 dash six dash 4 0 3
and 17 dash eight dash five
to strike plan manufacturing development district number 11
B from exemption of floor area limit for food
and beverage retail sales, which is referred to committee
and zoning landmarks and building standards.
All the person Lee also has proposed ordinance for amendment
of municipal code section 17 dash six dash 4 0 3 requiring
special use approval permits for sports
and recreation participants in plan manufacturing district
number eight A, which is referred to committee
and zoning landmarks and building standards.
All the person Chico has a proposed ordinance
for an honorary street designation
as the purple hard trail fallen soldier corner,
which is referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Public Way.
Excuse me, all the person Beal has proposed ordinance
for amendment of Ms mc code title four
by adding a new chapter four dash 1 55 regarding licensing
and loca licensing, location
and regulation of video gaming terminals.
This is referred to the Committee on License
and Consumer Protection Alder person.
Yancy has proposed ordinance for designation of 67 56
through 67 58 South Chapel Avenue
as a low affordability community, which is referred
to the Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
Other person DO has proposed resolution to call
for hearings on current state of pension systems in Chicago,
which is referred to the Committee on Finance.
Walter Person do has proposed
or ordinance for amendment
of municipal code section 17 dash 17 dash 400 B
to strike various streets from bus line corridor roadway
segments, which is referred
to the committee on zoning landmarks and building standards.
Alder person Hopkins has a proposed ordinance for amendment
of the annual appropriation ordinance
to transfer funds from the second Ward Alder medic expense
account to Ward allowance account for the year 2025,
which is referred to the committee on the
budget and government operations.
Alder Persons Hopkins and Nugent have proposed resolution
for expression of continued support
for Chicago area Waterway Systems Recla reclamation study,
which is referred to Community on Environment
Environmental Protection.
Your Honor, that concludes the presentation
of all thematic introductions.
Thank you Alderman Mitchell
for the approval of the journal.
I am not aware of any corrections
to the journal from the June 18th, 2025 meeting
and move that at be approved
Hearing. No objections.
So ordered.
Thank you. Thank you
Alderman Mitchell for unfinished business.
Mr. President, I'm aware of two
pieces of unfinished business.
The first item was filed by Alderman Dow and I defer to her
Very well. Thank you very
much. The chair recognizes Alderwoman Dow.
Uh, thank you Mr. President.
I filed a Rule 41 motion notice with the clerk
of my intent to call for a vote on substitute ordinance
S 0 2 0 2 5 dash
0 0 17 47 8.
Is that so? Or S zero S,
So mm-hmm. Yes.
Sorry, I read that one more time.
So 2025 dash
0 0 1 7 4 7 8 regarding the issuance
of Chicago O'Hare International Airport,
senior Lien Revenue Bonds
and Chicago Midway International Airport,
senior lien Revenue Refunding Bonds, which was deferred
and published on June 18th, 2025.
Alderman Viegas has asked to recuse himself out
of an abundance of caution pursuant to Rule 14.
Otherwise, I move passage of this item
by a voice, voice vote.
Very well. Does anyone wish to speak
to this item before we vote on it?
All right. Seeing no hands, all those in favor of this, uh,
item signified by saying aye.
Aye. Any opposed? Say no. Any opinion of the chair?
The ayes have it. Thank you very much, alderman Mitchell.
Uh, the second item on UN of unfinished business was filed
by Alderman Lawson.
However, this item was reported out
of the committee on zoning landmarks
And it was deferred, I believe.
Yeah, it's the same item.
That's bec let's get clarification on
It was reported and deferred. That's right.
Okay. The second item, I finished
business filed by Auman Lawson.
However, this item was deferred in published.
Um, therefore this is, this means this is mute.
That's it. Very well. So, um, if there are no other pieces
of unfinished business, alderman Mitchell, um,
and you, are you aware of anything else?
Uh, I'm aware of one piece of miscellaneous business.
It was filed by Alderman Bill and I defer to him.
I see. So nothing on unfinished business, though.
Very well. Nothing else on unfinished business. Very well.
So for miscellaneous business, you are aware of one piece
and that's, um, by Alderman Beal.
Very well. The chair recognizes Alderman Beal.
Thank you, Mr. President. Um, Mr.
President, um, I actually am calling
for a vote on this particular item, um, because at,
after observing over
and over again, um, this body, um, has, I believe,
has abused the right of the rule, uh, 59
for remote participation.
Uh, and then under my research, uh,
we're the only body still in the country
that is still using remote participation.
Um, Congress isn't using it.
The state isn't using it,
and it was put in place
during the pandemic when we had a problem.
Well, we no longer have a pandemic
and we no longer have a crisis.
Just this past Monday in the finance committee,
we had nine people remote participating.
And I believe that we are abusing
this particular rule.
Uh, and I just believe that we are elected
to come down here and do our jobs.
I believe we are elected to come down here
and, uh, um, you know,
do the job the people have sent us to do.
And so I have put this forward in order to, um, basically,
um, have people come down here, do their jobs
because we are having problems getting
quorum in certain committees.
When you look at the history, people are not coming
to a committee meeting because they're waiting to log in
for remote participation.
And so I say, you know, let's do away with this ordinance.
Let's do away with this
and have people come down so we can have quorums
and we can, um, do the job
that the people have sent us down here to do.
So I ask for a roll call. Vote
Fa Well, the, the chair recognizes Alderman Spto.
Thank you, Mr. President.
This has gotten way too all uncommon.
I mean, we, we have, we're waiting, waiting
for meetings all the time.
You're starting a meeting knowing five
or six people, as many as nine, like you said, sometimes
that are rule 59 in, uh, we have a very slim margin as,
as chairman of, of our committees
to, to hope everybody comes.
I I pound my committee all the time telling 'em
that we already, we have a narrow
margin to make these meetings.
So I, I think it's a very abused tool.
It's not that big of a deal.
People, if you miss a meeting, no big deal if you miss it,
but don't leave us hanging.
Um, I, I also, I support my colleague.
We have to get rid of this and I'm willing
to make a compromise, like
one a year or something like that.
But it has to go. Uh, especially I wasn't aware of the facts
that Alman Beal brought up that nobody else is using it.
So I would hope everybody would say time
to get the business, time to start doing our work
that we elected to do.
And I fully support my colleague in that.
So, but thank you Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes wo NuGet.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I've actually spent a lot of time over the last few years
reflecting on Rule 59
and a few months ago we were in this very same position
and I voted to continue the use of Rule 59
because I have a soft spot for what its intended use is
and was hoping my colleagues would change their behavior.
Unfortunately, behaviors have not changed.
And today I'll be voting to end this policy.
And I wanna share with you guys why in my mind,
rule 59 is an exception.
It's a privilege. It's a once in a very long while way
to participate in council
or committee meetings if an emergency arises.
But that is not what the reality of Rule 59 is in here.
It's a panacea for nobody coming to work.
And over the last couple years, very few
of my committee meetings have started on time.
We have difficulty establishing a quorum. Think about that.
Our job is to show up to come to council
and committee meetings, and we cannot
even establish a quorum.
Everyone has life circumstances. I'm a board ward.
It's safe to say that I have one of the longest commutes
to City Hall, but I get here because it is a priority.
And I understand that our, there are folks
that truly may need this flexibility
and I encourage them to work out arrangements
with their chairman or chairwoman.
But this council has abused a privilege.
Waiting on Quorum is a waste of time and takes me
and my colleagues who do show up away from our wards
and our constituencies
and away from the work of this council.
People who don't respect your time,
just don't respect you further.
As president pro tem,
I can roll call into committees to establish a quorum.
It is embarrassing how many calls I have taken asking if I
can come downtown to help establish Quorum.
It takes me over an hour to get here.
Helping establish Quorum is part of being president pro tem.
But arguably it is not the most important part
or the most important component of this role.
How embarrassing that people can't come to work.
I am sad that it has come to this.
I wish we could keep Rule 59.
So in an emergency, I
and others could exercise this privilege.
But it is clear that this provision is just an excuse
for people not showing up to work.
Chicagoans deserve an engaged council at all times,
but right now, as we enter
what very well will be our most dire budget season,
it is imperative that we are all literally showing up
for our constituents in its present form.
Rule 59 is a cop out and
therefore I will be supporting its abolishment.
I encourage you also to vote in favor of this ordinance.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You. The chair recognizes
Altman Curtis.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I wanna stand and,
and agree with my colleagues.
Um, uh, one,
I I love, I love what I do.
Um, I've been alderman for, uh,
this is my third term.
Uh, and I agree
people, I do feel people have abused the privilege.
Uh, but I would love
to also work on Rule 59 for the reason,
you know, we never planned on getting sick
and for some reason, um, uh,
God has, um, uh,
it's my season, I guess.
Uh, it is my season.
I actually, uh, go to the doctor every single week.
Uh, last week I didn't make it to the doctor at all.
And, and, um, I don't, I don't use it all the time at all.
Uh, but there are times when I, when I do need it.
Uh, but I agree there's sometimes
quite a few people on that, um, rule 59.
But again, I think, uh, we should have it,
but with stipulations.
So that would be the only reason why I,
I would vote against it at this time.
Uh, I don't want to be sick. Uh, I try not to be sick.
Uh, so, um, I did talk with my colleague,
uh, autumn and Bill about it.
And I do understand. I really, really do.
Uh, so I try to get to, uh,
my doctor also understands, uh, that I'm elected official.
They understand what I do, uh, on a day-to-day basis.
They've allowed me to come in, uh, sometimes,
uh, and don't give me a schedule time,
but sometimes when I call
and say I'm on my way, they don't iterate
that to their clerks or something
and they say, well, you can't come,
which means I can't get my shot
or I can't get my blood infusion, or something like that.
So, uh, again, for those only reasons,
I will be voting no to this today. Thank you. Thank
You. The chair recognizes
Alderman Raymond Lopez.
Thank you Mr. President
and good afternoon members of the city council
so that we all remember.
Rule 59 has
five parts to it.
The first part when it comes to how we meet
with regards to remote it, that it has to qualify
for the Opens Meeting Act, which is
what we always have been doing.
We also talk about the terms
of written in writing documents and things of that nature.
And it actually has allowed us
to share things electronically as opposed to requiring us
to always wait for the paper.
But this rule came to be because of the pandemic.
'cause many of you'll remember March 17th, 2020,
we literally had three people in this chamber, along
with the president at the time, Lori Lightfoot, so
that we could gavel in.
We literally had one person standing here, there,
and the other one all the way over there.
'cause we didn't know how far we were
supposed to stand next to each other.
Gaveled in recessed
and then waited for the General Assembly to create avenues
for us to create a way to meet remotely
by a contraption called Zoom,
which none of us knew how to use.
The third paragraph specifically references
disaster declarations.
We are not in a disaster declaration
anymore, to be honest.
We haven't been in a disaster declaration
environment in nearly two or three years,
but yet this rule persists.
The fourth part of this rule deals with the specifics
of not only how you can be counted,
but how you can actually request.
And so that we all remember,
it's says an alder person may attend a city council
or committee meeting remotely in accordance
with subsections, blah, blah, blah.
If a quorum of the members of city council
or committee is physically present, a majority of
that quorum may allow a member to attend the meeting
by audio or vi
or video conference if the member is prevented from
physically attending the meeting because of personal illness
or disability employment of the public employment,
or the business of the public body, or a family
or other emergency.
I am hard pressed to believe that in the
three, in the four
and a half years that we've had this rule in existence,
that every emergency has been used
for people in this room not to be here.
We have individuals who will invoke this rule
so they could sit upstairs in their offices.
We have individuals who've invoked this rule so
that they could go out and do this
offsite while they're at dinner.
And we have a very liberal interpretation of what exactly
business of the public body is
because I know
that there have been members who've been denied while doing
things with their constituents,
doing events in their communities.
We have individuals who routinely simply do not show up
because this has been the best work from home policy
for individuals who are required to be in person at most
five times in a month here at City Hall.
Do I believe that there's some use
and value to make exceptions
for individuals who have medical?
Absolutely. Life happens
a hundred percent and you just never know.
But that is what we should be focusing on how to fix.
And to be fair, our colleague,
the last time we discussed this, I believe two months
or so ago, the chairman of the budget committee said,
then let's come together and figure it out.
And I don't think a single person moved outta their seat
to try to figure it out.
And please correct me if I'm wrong,
if they gave suggestions, if anyone came forward
to present anything, if any committees moved forward
to put things before the body,
or if anyone other than the good alderman of the ninth Ward,
ninth Ward actually wrote anything down on paper
before this body, sometimes you just have
to blow it up to start all over again.
And I think that's where we need to look at this rule.
The disasters are over. The excuses need to come to an end.
And it's time for us to work like normal Chicagoans.
And I encourage all of our, my colleagues to support Alder
and Beal's efforts to repeal this so
that we could actually start from scratch in a functional
and respectful manner.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
The Chair recognizes Alder Vazquez.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Um, I, I appreciate the efforts here.
I know I've been in my share of hearings and meetings.
Uh, I've had meetings of our own committee
that we couldn't move forward
'cause we couldn't find quorum.
So I do recognize the frustration being articulated, uh,
both by our colleagues as well as in what's being presented
by Alderman Beal.
Um, but I do take a little bit of issue
how some of it's presented.
Uh, and so I'm gonna try my best.
But I can't recall any hearings that happened during dinner
in case that was mentioned as far as people hanging out
during dinner for committee hearings.
Didn't happen. Uh, when it comes to only five times a month,
I could call, I know weeks
where it's more than five times during the week.
This past week we had three hearings that all coincided
with each other and we could barely get them happening
because we had to pause one hearing,
just have another one going on.
We had our colleagues the first time this was brought up
because, uh, not only Alderman presented legislation,
there has been multiple times I've introduced re uh,
resolutions calling on a state to actually make amendments
to the OMA so that we can count Rule 59 towards quorum
because people are acting like the only work that happens
as an alder person is in city hall.
And I've got constituents all across our ward
that would beg to differ.
In fact, most of them are going,
what are you guys doing in your little suits in city hall
when you should be taking care of potholes or tree trims
or the garbage or everything else,
or public safety issues that we need in our ward.
So this idea that you're just sitting around
and not working, I don't believe any
of our colleagues here actually believe that at all.
So yes, we did draft legislation to get that moving,
which was dumped into the rules by Alderman Lopez.
So when I hear people saying things that are disingenuous,
I take issue and I'm gonna speak on that.
Um, if we had different ways
to hold accountability, that might make sense.
Perhaps we should publish everyone's attendance
scores at every hearing.
I'll put my score up with anybody in here.
Although Nugent tends to get ahead of mine.
I'll give you your props, right?
But we have a lot of people talking a whole lot
that if you wore your attendance score on your
chest, you'd probably shut up.
'cause you don't go to these meetings,
but you want to talk about it when it comes to legislation.
Please at least have the integrity
to stand on the stuff that you're pushing for.
Or if we had any level of organization related
to scheduling, that doesn't happen
because we all know one day
or another someone doesn't show up to a meeting.
Now you have to reschedule that which
throws off every other schedule.
Now you have to come outta your ward
to go to the city to handle that.
Or we have a city council meeting
that if something gets deferred
and published, now we have another
council meeting on a Friday.
So you've gotta reschedule that.
So let's not act about what the reality
of this role actually is.
Let's act like we know that even in private business,
what we've learned through the pandemic is
that you can go remote and still be every bit
as productive in the job.
We might even save money as it pertains to staff
that we need here all the time when we're
looking to find ways to save money.
So let's just be real about what we can or can't do.
So I would be more than happy to partner with somebody
who wanted to have real accountability
and figure out rules about what might be needed to call
for a rule 59 that would make sense.
Or to look at the open meetings Act to figure out a balance.
'cause when our neighbors, I don't know about y'all,
but when my neighbors are talking
to me about putting in work, they're not picturing me
sitting at a desk here.
They're picturing me showing up to their neighborhoods
to talk to them when they have a neighbor in dispute
or when something happened.
That's part of the job too.
So to act like we're not working, just
'cause we're not sitting here dressed up in
our Seuss is false.
So I will not be in
support. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair work. Recognizers Alderman Irvin.
Thank you Mr. President.
Um, just wanna correct a couple of things.
Um, the ability for a body
to allow members to come in to the meeting
once a quorum is established, predates the pandemic,
predates the pan.
It already had been law that
a legislative body could allow for members
to participate remotely if it meant so in their rules.
This body had never done that.
Pandemic came, the state actually allowed the entirety
of the body to participate remotely without
establishing a physical quorum in the rule.
So this has been the law for a number of years, number one.
Number two, there could be some level
of inclination to agree if
everybody had even workloads.
'cause there's some members in this body
that serve on 10 committees.
There's some members that serve on four or five.
So we need to understand what the workload looks like
before we start down this path
or set forth a point where everyone will have a fairly even
workload to embark on something like this.
I feel for my brother from the 18th ward,
there are reasons why you cannot be here
that are legitimate.
And while I understand there may be some individuals
that use it more than others, everyone is responsible
for providing the necessary documentation to the chair
and sergeant at arms for that.
We have to more
or less, you know, do a little, little more policing
amongst ourselves and look at this
because when I look at certain situations, we do not want
to eliminate something because someone has a very legitimate
reason as to why they cannot be here.
These aren't the days of old things change.
25 years ago, yes, you had to be here to vote.
I can recall when Altman Smith told me somebody rolled in
here in a wheelchair to cast a vote.
I'm, I'm sorry, uh, let me apologize.
Oh,
Thank you all to Ms.
Pdo.
Uh, and I and I, this this predates all to Ms.
Pdo, but an individual who was in the hospital
because that was the rule at the time.
That was where there was not the ability
to participate that way.
As things change, as we evolve, uh, these are things
that we need to consider.
The goal here is to be efficient.
The goal here is to service our constituents while doing the
business legislatively,
but also doing the business in the community.
And sometimes those things conflict.
But again, if we're able to offer our participation, uh, go
through the process and make sure that everybody's able
to participate, that is what we need to be doing.
Secondly, uh, we talked about committees.
We need to talk about scheduling.
We cannot just willy-nilly schedule stuff.
Everybody knows that finance meets the Monday
before City Council.
Everybody knows that zoning meets the Tuesday
before City Council.
To the extent where we can regulate
and work, everybody can do these things,
but we can't do that if we don't have a standardized system.
So there's some things I believe that we need to work on,
but I do not believe we need to throw the baby out
with the bath water in that respect.
So I'll be voting no on this,
but again, I've always been open to looking at alternatives,
always been open to trying to even out the workload so
that everybody shares the same pain. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alder. It's sorry.
The chair recognizes Alder Vasque. I'm sorry. Alder.
Quesada.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I think the reflections
that I've had in my time in this council, um, come
and are informed by my time in the county board,
which actually still has remote participation, uh, policies.
Um, I think there are a couple things.
It's a nuanced conversation
and I think we're all trying to get
to the, the bottom of it.
Um, I think there needs to be more enforcement by the chairs
to make sure that they're advising the committee members
of whether or not there was advanced notice
that was actually sent in time about the listed, um,
you know, reasons why someone should come in remotely.
Um, I also think that we have 21st century standards.
Just because this policy was created
and it was informed by the pandemic doesn't mean
that we should abandon it.
Um, this is actually an opportunity to expand access,
especially what I'm thinking about is our colleagues
who may be expecting mothers, people who have fallen ill
or now, you know, retained some form of disability.
Um, in my time in the county board when I first got on
there, I never personally met my former colleague Dennis
Deere because he was recovering from a double lung
transplant, uh, surgery.
But he has been a fierce fighter, uh,
and advocate for his community.
So I think about my many colleagues here who may not know
that they will fall under ill, uh, you know, uh,
circumstances that prevent them from doing their, their job
and their elected, you know, responsibilities.
So I respect the, the nature of this.
I think that I share the frustration
that Alderman Beal brought is bringing forward
and that informs his, his efforts here.
But I think we need to really have a nuance, uh,
and surgical perspective on how we we come to, uh,
an agreed upon reform on this policy. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Wapac.
Thanks, Mr. President.
Um, a lot of you, you know, heard about, um, a lot
of the work that went into years of service from, um,
our colleagues like, um, alderman Burnett,
many others over the years who, uh, really made an effort
to get down here to these meetings,
whether they were a chair
or not, whether they had other positions or not.
And I frankly have watched over, uh, the last few years
as we, as we really moved away from that integral process,
which takes place in these meetings.
And I've never wanted to really sign on to those ordinance
that were proposed to say, oh, we should go full remote,
because I think that's just wrongheaded
and that's just, just my opinion.
But what I've seen from the, uh, colleagues who needed,
um, to be at home or maternity leave
or uh, healthcare issues, that has never been a problem
for anybody in this council to agree that that is an issue
where somebody, uh, should take that time off,
should be able to either work from home or a hospital bed.
I think the problem here is
that we have seen an abuse of the system.
People are not showing up to meetings when they need to.
People are walking out, going upstairs
or going to the, wherever they're going
and just leaving a lot of people here in this meeting
to do the work that should be done by others
who should be in this council.
Remember, we have to have enough people in the room
to actually approve the people who are supposed to, uh,
get the rule 49.
And very often that's just not happening
because people are bailing on, on the council
before we even even have a chance to start the meeting.
So I have grown frustrated watching more
and more people show up on the monitor while the rest
of us are sitting here trying
to make the meeting happen in the first place.
For years, people talked about, Hey,
could we have a little bit of remote participation
for people who might gravely ill?
I remember Carrie Austin asked one time,
and I don't know if we were able to do it or not,
but just asked if she could do it from a phone, um,
as she was recovering from some type of illness.
But when in years past we couldn't make it to a meeting,
we bet the bullet and we got the UIC report
or some kind of report from the BGA
or somebody else that said, this person showed up 50%
of the time, this person showed up 80%
of the time, whatever that percentage was.
And then you dealt with it
with your constituents in the right way
and said, I couldn't show up because of these reasons.
And you had to explain yourself.
But now we're running into this
where I'm sitting in here meetings waiting 20, 30 minutes
for the meeting to start because 10 people are up on rule 40
pulling a rule 49,
and there's a bunch of people sitting in here
waiting for the meeting to start.
And when you go through the, the information about
what those rule 49 requests are for,
they are not legitimate in every case.
That is the problem here.
So we can't talk about
legitimately representing people when we're using excuses
to go off on remote that are not legitimate by the law.
I would suggest that we scrap this today, vote no on it,
and then we can come back quickly
and say, here are the legitimate reasons, a stronger
course of reasons for wanting to go remotely.
And if they are healthcare related, if they're maternity
or paternity related, I don't have a problem with that.
But the excuses list has grown and grown and grown
and less people are doing the job in here.
And I frankly just don't believe that
after watching decades of people do the job the right way
and be able to get down here and modify their schedules
and sometimes not be able to show up on time.
Because we know some meetings used to go for two
or three minutes and sometimes you would miss 'em
and then you had to explain to people why you did.
But that's, I don't see that as a problem.
I see that as having to get down here, make do with
what we have, hustle between those different meetings
and take on what you have to.
But I feel that, um, the disaster is over.
Do we need to allow for certain circumstances
to be rule 40 or Rule 59?
Absolutely. But we've gone too far
and that's why I'm voting, uh, for Alderman Beal's Resol
or Ordinance today.
Thank you Mr. President.
Thank you. Those are all the hands that I saw that wish
to speak to this item.
Okay? The chair recognizes Alderman sdo. I,
I promise I'll be brief and I say I'll be brief.
I'm brief, but once again, it's not that big
of a deal if you're missing meeting people,
it's too, too disruptive.
Even you Mr.
President running the meetings, he who's yelling in
to say I'm here, wants to talk.
Running a meeting is difficult.
Well, the Minerva and to me actually
agree upon two things today.
I have 10 committees I'm on, I have two commissions I'm on
and I'm a chair and I'll put my record
of briefings against anybody for attending the briefings.
Whether it's police settlement brief
or settlement briefings, I'm sorry, or hearings
or we have briefings.
So I just like you say, we know some of you,
I know some of you are legit.
I think I'm legit If I had a reason, I, I don't,
I don't feel I abuse it,
but it's just something we need to look at.
I'm willing to work this out if we wanna hold this
and like my colleague said,
maybe blow it up and start all over.
I'm all for that. But enough of the nonsense.
It's not that big of a deal if you miss a meeting.
So let's just blow it up. But thank you Mr. President.
Very well for reason stated in Rule 59,
alders Hall, Taylor,
Mosley and Martin, he's already
have all asked to be included in being able
to participate remotely.
Can we confirm that Hall Taylor,
Mosley and Martin
are are online?
Yes I am. Mr. President Alderman Hall, are you on?
Yeah, alderman Hall is here. Thank you Mr. President
Alderman Martin.
I'm on. Thank you. Alderman Alderwoman Taylor.
I'm here. Alderman Mosley
Present.
Can I get a motion for the approval
of these four individuals?
It's been moved. All those in favor
as the chair recognizes Alderman Lopez.
Thank you Mr. President.
So then in accordance with the rules, I'd like
to know the reason for why, why they're requesting Rule 59.
I'd like to plead my Fifth Amendment.
It's just a second.
And I thank Alderman Hall for making the case today.
I
Thanks. Yep.
So again, for reasons stated in Rule 59,
and there are a number of them.
So I of reasons, just a second. So
Just to president, I would like to know which, because
Just a second, alderman
for reasons stated in Rule 59, as in all the others
who are participating remotely, there are a number
of reasons, some of which
I'm not even quite sure if the body is permitted to know all
of the reasons, just know that there are reasons
that are stated in Rule 59.
And then do you wish to go through every single person?
Yes. From the very beginning?
Well, Mr. President, if I may,
we are entertaining a motion for Rule 59
for the several individuals whom you just lifted.
All of whom who were just here.
So one of the reasons
for Rule 59 is physically unable to attend a meeting.
All of them were physically able to attend a meeting.
Did they have a disability
after they left this pla this body?
Are they doing some other business
that is not related to this council?
Are they doing business of this body?
We are allowed to answer
because the city clerk is supposed
to be filed in no a notice as
to why they are not here and why they're
Very well. So based upon
You would like to know what their notice says.
Rule 59. There are different reasons
of why individuals are not able to attend.
What is their physically, what,
What is their reason?
AG again, for reasons in stated in Rule 59.
That's what's been offered.
If you wish to know, if you wish
to know every single person's reason, uh, starting
with those who started off the meeting,
participating remotely, um, you know, we're happy to recess
and we can have them send an email
or send a note of what the reasons are.
So if you wish to know, then again, if you want to know it,
this meeting will s
Mr. President. Okay.
Okay, Mr.
President, with respect,
the clerk is supposed to be filed a notice.
You entertained a motion for those several people.
Those are the only people
who I'm asking why they need rule 59
and what is the reason that was filed with the clerk
for them to have this request made.
That's all I'm asking as it pertains to our rules.
Now, if we are going to ignore our rules,
So thank you again, Alder.
So there's nothing in the rules that necessarily required
to state the reasons.
It's just reasons stated in Rule 59, if
An alder person wishes to attend a meeting by other means,
the alder person must provide the clerk
regarding the city council meeting sufficient notice
to make provision as well.
Un unless otherwise
Exactly. So that notice has
been give has been given. So
What notice did they give The
notice was given to the clerk.
Okay, so again, just can I ask
The clerk that what that notice is? Just, just
A second. I alder
just wanna make sure that we're clear about
what you are arguing over.
You are arguing that they have to state their reason? No,
I'm requesting to know what their reason is
That was filed. That is
der respectfully.
That is not what the,
the rules require. Then I would reflect
The roll call on this motion please.
Alright, thank you. The chair recognizes alderman Bill,
Mr. President.
I think
that proves our case on why we need
to abolish this particular rule.
And so I renew my motion
for a roll call vote on the ordinance.
All right, but before we do that,
there's already a motion on the floor to allow
for participation of these alders remotely.
And there was a motion and then someone,
uh, approved that emotion.
I'm not sure who that was. So now we have to vote.
Understood. But that was before debate the alderman.
So these individuals still have the opportunity
based upon the motion that has been granted for them
to be able to participate remotely.
Now, if we want to do it as we've always have done it
or we do it and we do aro a voice vote, we can do that.
If someone wishes to do it another way,
this body is permitted to do that.
Look, I, I understand the debate you all.
Here's what I would ask.
Let these individuals participate remotely.
Let's move forward with the vote
and then this body is ultimately making this decision.
But to do that in the midst of this, let's just allow
for this process to continue, allow these members
to participate remotely and then
after they, we agree for their participation remotely.
Then to alderman Bill's point, as he has made his case
a point of clarification,
the chair recognizes Alder Vazquez,
I thank you, uh, Mr. President,
I was just unclear on whether the roll call
motion was for, uh, alderman Beal's ordinance
or whether it was for the allowance of the Rule 59.
So I wasn't sure what we were roll
calling on. I just wanted clarify.
Well, we have not made that absolutely determination yet.
Unless Alderman Lopez is calling for a roll call vote
on the participation remotely for Hall Taylor,
Mosley, and Martin.
Okay, there's a roll call, vote for the participation
of remotely of these four individuals.
Madam Clerk, could you please, um, uh,
prepare the application members?
Use your EVO application at this time.
And the vote is concerning allowing for Alders Hall,
Taylor, Mosley, and Martin to participate remotely.
Please use your Evo application at this time.
Good? Yep.
The voting is now open. Please hit refresh.
Mark your vote. If you're having
difficulty, please let us know.
I can only call. Yes.
Ka will now call on those who have not
yet voted. Alderman Lata.
Yes. Alderman Lata is a yes. I,
yeah.
Yep. I understand Alderman. Osha not in chambers.
Alderwoman. Ris not in chambers.
Alderman Tall, farro Alderman. Tall Farro is a yes.
I know, I know. Vie Viegas have already been brought
in earlier
Alderman Viegas.
Alderman Spto.
Alderman Spto is a yes.
Alderman Riley. Not in Chambers. Okay.
Alderman Viegas. Okay.
Everyone in Chambers has voted. Voting is now closed
Very well. So the
voting is closed very well. Thank you.
We have 33 yays and eight nays.
The motion passes very well.
Um, now at this point, alderman Bill.
Yes. The chair recognizes Alderman Mi Mitchell. Uh,
Horn of clarification.
I, I would like some clarity on one of the points that, uh,
alderman, uh, Irvin pointed out
with respect to the, the
Rules. The existence. The existence.
The existence, right?
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Uh, chairman Irvin, if you would like to go through
that again, but essentially what he offered up was
that remote participation has always been a part
of the rules, right?
As what the state of Illinois passed.
Could you offer up clarification?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What I stated was
that remote participation was always
allowed under state law.
It was up to us to adopt rules to allow for it,
but it was always allowed under state law as long
as you had a quorum physically present in the room.
What happened during the pandemic?
Was it allowed for remote participation? Totally.
Without there being a quorum physically in the room,
which then allowed us to meet remotely without coming here.
But the ability to have individuals
to come in remotely has been a part
of state statute for a number of years Now.
How long? I can't tell you.
I defer to corp counsel on that,
but that ability for us to do this has existed pre pandemic
Very well. Thank you.
Does that help? Okay.
So of what Alderman Bill has put forth
is a couple of steps here.
Uh, so the motion is ultimately to discharge, uh,
initially for the, the first step to initially is to vote
to discharge, uh, this item from
the committee on committee
and rules, uh, for further consideration,
uh, very well.
So that's the first step. It has to be discharged.
And then once it's discharged,
then this item would be up now for essentially
what the debate has already consisted of.
So there's a motion to discharge this item.
Are there any other members that wish to speak
before we open up the voting application?
Okay. Very well.
So, members, thank you Madam Clerk members at this time,
use your EVO application to first to D,
determine if this item should be
discharged from the committee.
Okay. The voting is now open.
Please use your device if you're having
difficulties, please raise your hand.
What happened to,
Okay, I'll now call on those who have not
yet voted. Alderman LaSpada.
No. Alderman LaSpada is a no. Alderman Hopkins.
Alderman Hopkins is not in chambers.
Alder Alderman Robinson.
Alderman Robinson is a s Alderman Hall.
Alderman. Hall Alderman
O'Shea Not in chambers.
Alderwoman Taylor.
Hi. Nope. Yes, for Alderwoman Taylor is a note
Yes. For Alderman Hall.
Okay, hold on one second please.
So, Alderwoman Taylor, what is your vote? Was a no. Correct.
Alderwoman Taylor?
Yes. Alder woman Taylor Taylor is a No.
That is correct. That was a yes.
Trying Here, Alder and Taylor, are you a yes
or a no on the motion?
I'm a yes. Oh,
Alderwoman Taylor is a yes on the motion.
Alderman Mosley Mosley is a yes. Alderman Mosley is a yes.
Alderwoman Ris not in chambers.
Alderman Talia Faroh Alderman Talia Faroh is a yes.
Alderman Casada. Alderman Casada is a yes.
Alderman Viegas.
Alderman Sdo Alderman Sposato is a yes.
Alderman. You're welcome.
Alderman Riley, not in chambers. Alderman Martin? Yes.
Alderman Martin is a yes. Alderman Hall?
Yes. Paul is a
Yes. Alderman
Hall is a yes. So Martin, both yeses.
Okay. The voting is now closed.
There are 37 yays. There are eight nays.
This motion passes. This item has been discharged.
The chair recognizes Alderman Bill, Mr.
President, in the entrance of time, uh, on the roll call,
I request to use the same roll call
if there are no objections.
All right, thank you. That that motion,
that motion is out of order.
Motion is out of order,
but if you wish to make another motion Alder for, um,
to move for the adoption of this ordinance,
we will entertain that very well.
So there is a motion to approve this item.
Item number R 2024 dash
0 0 1 1 3.
This item, which was discharged from this committee there,
there's an item to, there's a motion to adopt this item.
And there's been a roll call request
for the adoption of this item.
Adam, clerk members, the city council,
please use your EVO application at this time
to record your vote for the adoption
or not of this item.
Okay, the voting is now open. The voting is now open.
Please raise your hand if you are having
difficulty using the device.
Okay, I will now call on those who have not yet voted.
Alderman Lata. No. No. Alderman Lata is a no.
Alderman Hopkins. Alderman Hopkins,
not president in Chambers.
Alderman Hall.
They Alderman Hall is a no.
Alderman O'Shea. Alderman Oe not president in chambers.
Alderwoman Taylor. No. Alderwoman Taylor is a no.
Alderman. Mosley. Mosley is a no. Alderman. Mosley is a no.
Alderwoman, RIS, Alder and Ris is not in chambers.
Alderman Talia Farro Alderman Talia Farro is a
no Alderman.
Casada. No Alderman. Casada is a no. Alderman Viegas.
Alderman Viegas not present. Alderman Sdo.
Alderman Sposato is a yes. Alderman Riley.
Alderman Riley not present in chambers. Alderman Martin? No.
Alderman Martin is a no. Okay.
Voting is now closed.
He has a voting. Voting is now closed.
There are 17 yays and 28 nays.
This motion fails Alderwoman Harris on the motion
to reconsider moved to reconsider the vote.
All those in favor. The reconsideration
of this vote signify by saying Aye.
Those who oppose say nay. Nay. This motion fails
for the date and time of the next meeting.
Alderman Mitchell,
um, sorry.
You're not aware of any other
miscellaneous business very well.
I'm not aware except for the ordinance setting
The date and time for the next meeting.
I am not aware of any miscellaneous, um,
any further miscellaneous business.
Very well. Hold on guys. Hold on a second.
We're almost done. Mr. Court, please read the ordinance.
Be ordained by the City Council of the City of Chicago.
Section one. The next regular meeting of the city council.
The city of Chicago shall be held on Wednesday,
September 24th, 2025,
beginning at 10:00 AM in the council chamber on the second
floor in City Hall 1 21 North LaSalle Street, Chicago,
Illinois, section two.
This order shall take effect
and be enforced from and after its passage.
Altman Mitchell, I move Passes in the honor
Hearing. No objections.
Sole ordered
for the Omni Omnibus Ro.
First of all, don't, don't yell at me. Y all just relax.
I got you. Just No, no, I'm, no, I'm not.
I'm just, could you just relax for a second?
Just gimme a second.
Could you gimme a second to acknowledge you? Okay.
Talking At five o'clock.
I'm in a rush to get outta here. No, I'm not.
We've been here since 10 o'clock.
Who has what The chair recognizes.
Alder Woman Silverstein.
Uh, Mr. President. September 24th is Rosh Hashanah.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
I moved to amend the ordinance number 17th.
Hey, just, just a second.
Thank you Alder woman Silverstein
for bringing that to our attention.
Yeah. Could you all just do us a favor?
Just give us a second here. Please don't shout.
Is tentatively scheduled on a holiday also
All Tuesday?
Or Tuesday or Tuesday? I do it the 16th. Alright, we got,
All right. Just give us a second
here so
that we can determine the parliamentary procedure
for a new date and time.
17th. Just a week. A week.
Oh,
Jeff. Jeff was working.
We're working down,
Right? The chair
recognizes, excuse me for a second. Uh, yes.
The chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell. Mr.
President, I move to amend the, uh, notice
for the next meeting on his face.
Very. What date? The 25th of September.
Of September.
Okay. 2025.
If there are no objections, uh, this is ordered now.
Do you Still at the move.
So, very well now on your motion to,
for the passage in the omnibus
Spread, I move passage of the omnibus
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered.
As far as October,
no meetings have been Alderwoman Silverstein,
chair Alderwoman Silverstein for October.
No meetings have been scheduled yet. Very well.
Now for the omnibus chair, recognizes Alderman Mitchell, uh,
I move that matters in the omnibus be passed
by the first most favorable roll call vote
by the Committee on Finance
and the unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing. No objection.
So ordered Alderman Mitchell
on a motion to adjourn. Alright, if
There's no further business
before this body, a move that we adjourn
Hearing, no objection.
So ordered this meeting is adjourned.