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Good
afternoon. Um, ladies and gentlemen, the meeting of Committee on Economic
Capital and Devel- Capitol and Technology Development is called to order.
We'll now have a roll call to establish quorum.
Please use the iPads provided to you and mark yourself present.
Note that your present response will be de- deemed a yes vote when this quorum call
is used as a reference vote for later. Ms.
Banegas, please open the vo- op- open the vote,
please.
Hello.
At
the quorum. So you're able to start when I was... Okay.
Seven. 10 to the minute.
Yeah. We have quorum now.
Perfect.
We're good to go.
All right. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we have
quorum. Um, Aldermans Chico, Mitts, and
Napolitano have requested to participate in today's meeting remotely under Rule 59.
May I get a motion to allow them to participate remotely?
Alderman Lee motions to allow Aldermen Chico, Mitts, and Napolitano to participate
remotely. All those in favor, please say, "Aye." Any opposed, say, "Nay."
Independent chair, the Ayes have it.
The other persons mentioned are permitted to participate remotely today.
They will be marked as present on the quorum call.
We see Mitts. Okay. Thank you. Uh, for
today's meeting, um...
We have one sp- one pub-... We did not receive a general public comment for today's
meeting. At this time, at this time, we will begin the public comment
period. Public comments are limited to 30 minutes out of respect for everyone's
time. Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
I've been informed that we have,
uh, one speaker this morning, um, that has signed up for public comment within the
applicable provisions of the Sergeant-at-Arms Protocol.
Uh, our once, our one speaker today is Mr.
George
Blakemore.
Citizens, citizens,
one public speaker
is not a good look.
You want the public to be involved,
engaged
and involved.
And I'm looking out here, I only see one Black
person on the
committee.
Special service.
What is a special service? You ask the average citizen.
They won't be able to tell
you.
It's just another way of getting
money for the alderman.
It's another way of taxing citizens in a
commercial area.
And some of their so-called responsibility will
be, uh, to keep it clean and keep it
safe.
But who controls that money
in the ghetto? Uh,
SSA, I asked one of... Monique, she says, "No, I
don't have one." So they're really not needed.
Because the, the police can't even keep it safe.
Even in our commercial areas down, town in the
City of Chicago,
crime, killing, shooting,
biting
all over the loop. And they have Mr.
Edwards, a SSA, and he's advocating
for those empty buildings to be, uh,
full with residents,
people. Because the people have
left. The people have
left, so
he wants them back. It's, it's just so much
corruption here.
Somebody should interview me and I could just tell
them about how corrupt this
system, how corrupt these
aldermans.
There's something evil here. You can look
good, you can talk good, you can act
good, you can dress good, you can smell good
and be a piece of
SH-I... Just figure the, figure it
out. There's something evil here.
There's something un-American here.
And they all are part of a corrupt machine, the
Democrats, all of them. And look at
them smiling. Look at them. All of
them!
So now he can get this mic, I hope you understand where
I'm coming from. (phone ringing)
Thank you, Mr. Blakemore. Um,
that concludes the public comment portion of our meeting.
The first order of business is approval of the November 2025 monthly report, which
all members of the committee should have received via the shared drive.
Are there any questions or comments from the committee members regarding the
report?
All right. Um, seeing no questions, may I have a motion to provide...
I'm s- strike that. May I have a motion to recommend approval of the November 2025
monthly report by the same roll call vote as was applied to determine quorum?
Alderman Lospada so moves. Hearing no objection, so order.
Item 1 on the agenda is an ordinance regarding special service area number
3, 63rd Street. The Department of Planning and Development has provided us,
uh, with a substitute ordinance. May I have a motion to accept the
substitute? Alderman Waguespack makes the motion to
accept. All those in favor, please say, "Aye." All those
opposed? The Ayes have it. The substitute has been adopted.
Um, Mark Roschen, Deputy Commissioner for Department of Planning, as well as
Ann Kaplan-Perkins, Supervising Assistant Corporation Counsel for the
Department of Law, are here to present for this item and will be
available for any questions. Uh, Mr.
Roschen
and Ann, uh, please begin pres- presentation when you are ready.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
My name is Mark Roschen, an assistant commissioner with the Department of Planning
and Development. We are requesting support to advance
budget-only ordinances for SSA number 3 and number
59-2022. This will secure
2026 funding while allowing more time to address concerns
with the current service, service provider.
Today's meeting is the final opportunity to approve
2026 SSA levies before the county filing deadline quickly
approaching on December 30th.Without these filings, essential
SSA services such as snow removal, supplemental garbage collection, litter
abatement, and security ambassadors will not occur in these two
SSAs in 2026. These ordinances were held
at the last committee meeting due to concerns that some of the six affected
alders, uh, have, of, insufficient briefings from the service provider.
In response, DPD requested and the Law Department has prepared
substitute budget-only ordinances.
Advancing the SSA levies at this stage simply preserves funding so that they
have time and space to address the concerns that some of the alders have raised
about the service provider's performance.
These ordinances will not commit the city to returning to the
current service provider. Pending support of these ordinances,
DPD will coordinate discussions with the six affected alders to resolve service
provider-related issues.
These include selecting an interim service provider to assume management of these,
of this, these SSAs by mid-January, in conjunction with conducting
an RFP process to select the formal service provider for
2026. Once a decision can be
reached, the service provider
would be designated in separate ordinances.
Our goal would be to have the provider ordinance approved in April with a May
1st starting date. In addition, responding to Aldermanic
concerns, DPD is requiring an SSA go through, SSA number three
go through a re-establishment process in 2027.
This process will require these SSAs to go through the same process as other
renewing SSAs must do, including conducting community meetings and collecting
signatures of support from at least 20% of the pin
owners. DPD understands and respects, and we remain
committed to working with all six affected, affected alders to address these
concerns and to ensure the best outcomes for these communities.
We ask for the committee's recommendation of these budget-only ordinances.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Roshen. Um, are there any questions
or comments regarding the SSA?
Alderman Lopez?
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, members of the committee.
First and foremost, please allow me to apologize to the public for our
40-minute delay. We were working this out, so I know, Mr.
Blakemore, you like us starting on time, so I can, I will personally take
responsibility for that. I want to also thank the Department, thank
you, um, for, and you, Chairman,
um, for listening and adding our amendment to this ordinance
so that we could accommodate the concerns of some of our colleagues who are
impacted, uh, by this SSA and as well
the next SSA.
Um,
we don't want to see a disruption of service or projects in the
communities that the SSA covers, and I believe that this
ordinance allows us to move forward in doing that.
It's a shame because the Greater Southwest
Development Corporation, which is the service provider for the Special Service
Area, um,
has a storied history in one of the oldest SSAs in the City
of Chicago, probably the oldest if I'm not m- well,
top three. Correct?
I've lived in Chicago Lawn
for 15 years before I became an alderman
and I remember all of the great things that SSAs, and
particularly, uh, this one, administered by this organization, used
to do in that community. But times have
changed. Responsiveness has changed
and interactions have changed, so now we too must change.
Special Service Areas are an additional property tax on
top of all the other taxes that we ask people to
pay. There should be some responsibility and
accountability, not only to us, who sets this into motion,
but to the Board of Commissioners and to the business community that pays for this
and the greater communities that are served.
Hopefully, this gets us in the right direction, um, and I
look forward to hopefully having a productive meeting with the
SSA provider tomorrow so that we can move
forward.
Because I will say this now, if they don't show
up and if we don't have
resolution, I can assure you, this will not be moving
forward at City Council tomorrow.
So I know they are watching, I hope they are listening,
and I, if no one else has anything to say, Chairman, I move to
pass on this item.
Thank you, Alderman Lopez. We will revisit that motion, uh, um, our
alderman from the 23rd Ward has, uh, wants to be acknowledged.
Alderwoman Terbatis?
Yes, thank you, Chairman Villegas and members of the committee.
Uh, I want to thank the Department of Planning and Development for bringing
this forward. I want to thank my colleague of the 15th Ward for adding this
amendment. Um, I have a very good
relationship with the Greater Southwest Development Corporation
since I started alderman in 2018. They email my office, I
respond. They call my office, I respond.
I work with them very closely for input with our
businesses, with the viaducts in
our, in our ward. They, um,
they also have come down to testify with me down at the Board of
Education for an annex for a high school that is severely
overcrowded, and they work with the community, especially the
West Lawn Community, where they work closely with Chicago
Artopia in bringing free concerts, free community concerts to the
neighborhood. We have a very good relationship.
We want to continue that relationship.
Um, this amendment, um, thank you for bringing this
forward. I just want to clarify, any, any
projects that have been approved by the
SSA3 Commissioners in
2025-Any projects that have
been voted on from the commissioners of SSA thr-
SSA3, um, in the past for
2025,
will those projects be,
come to fruition next year in 2026 with this amendment?
Just want to clarify.
Yes. Again, Mark Roschen, Department of Planning and Development.
Uh, any, um, projects that were
approved in 2025 by the SSA
Commission, uh, will be, uh, unaffected
by any change in the service provider.
Okay. It's my understanding that there are a lot of projects that are
pending that were voted on in 2025, um,
for businesses and for other projects that
are, um, pending as well. I just wanted to make sure that those projects
that were voted on by the SSA3 commissioners, um,
will proceed with the monies that we approve, um,
from 2025 will be
executed in 2026.
That is correct. The, the SSA service provider simply
is, uh, charged with carrying out the, um, directions as
authorized by the SSA Commission.
Well, I look for- I look forward to working with the department as
well as with my colleagues in this
SSA3 in choos- in, in,
in the process of choosing a provider,
whether it's the Greater Southwest or another provider.
But I, I'm, I look forward to working with my colleagues to making sure that we
all, um, work together on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Alderman, uh, Tabares.
Alderman, Aldwoman, uh, Helu, uh, Gutierrez?
Yes. Thank you, Chairman. I also will- wanted to...
Can you hear me? Yes? Thank you. Um, as you all know,
I've been an alderwoman for two years and a half, and those two years and a half
have been a great ex- working experience with SSA number three, with the
Greater Southwest Development Corporation.
As I was mentioning to my colleagues, we've hosted several events
together, workshops. We've always met with the businesses in
order to help them out if they have any questions or if they need any type of
resources. So, I'm looking forward, uh, to, for them to continue, uh, the
great work they've done over the years.
I know I've been there for two years and a half, as I said, but they've been there
for so many years before. And yeah, there may be room for
improvement. There may be room for us to come together and,
um, maybe come up with new ideas and work
as, um, all together with the SSA. I just wanted also to
mention that, um, even though he has a 2%,
um, our colleague in the 17th Ward needs to be added into this
as well 'cause it's six of us. And, um, s- 17th
Ward is not listed here. So, would like to include him as well, and
I know he'll be interested in being part of this conversation, as he always are,
is. Um, so just wanted to look forward for the conversation tomorrow and
see, um, what we come up with, uh, but in total support of,
um, Greater Southwest Development Corporation in moving this levy
forward. Thank you.
Thank you for that, um, Alderman Gutierrez.
Um, and then a- again, a message to DPD, like, let's not wait till the twelfth hour
to get here. There's been a lot of issues, a lot of concerns brought up over the,
over the p- past year. Um, and every alderman that's part of
any SSA, um, all aldermen should be treated the same
way and nothing different. Everyone's contributing.
Everyone's trying to get, uh, their corridors in a position that they can
thrive and help the city, uh, generate revenue for, for the city's
budget. So, we wanna make sure that there's some consistency there.
Um, and so with that, I've, uh, will entertain,
um, Alderman Lopez's motion to, um,
recommend pass of this, a substitute ordinance by the same roll call vote that was
applied to establish quorum. Um,
do I have a motion on, uh, Alderman Lopez has it, or I'm sorry, hearing no
objections, so ordered. The due pass recommendation will be reported out the next
city council meeting. Um,
item two on the agenda is an ordinance regarding special service area number
59-2022, 59th Street. Department of Planning and
Development has provided us with a substitute ordinance.
Uh, may I have a motion to accept the substitute?
Alderman Mitchell makes the motion to accept.
All those in favor say, "Aye." All those oppose say, "Nay," and independent chair,
the ayes have it. The substitute has been adopted.
Uh, Mark Roschen, deputy commissioner for Department of Planning and Development,
as well as Ann Kaplan-Perkins, supervising assistant corporation counsel from the
Department of Law, are here to present th- for this item and will be able to answer
any questions. Mr. B- Mr. Roschen, please begin, begin the presentation when you
are ready.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mark Roschen, an assistant commissioner with the
Department of Planning and Development.
Um, I have no further comments for this second, uh, um,
SSA ordinance. It, uh, uh, is the same service
provider, um, which is not, uh, it's, I should say it's
a budget-only ordinance, just as SSA3.
Uh, it'll have the same, um, conditional,
um, uh, amendment as, uh, approved for
SSA3. And, uh, um, the department,
um, recommends that, uh, version of the
ordinance. Thank you.
All right. Any questions or comments from members?
Alderman Lopez?
Ditto.
Right. Now-
Um, actually I'm not gonna repeat myself for the sake of time.
Um, as Mr. Roschen said, all the same, all the same
commentary, all the same words. I just do want to point out, if I may,
uh, make a motion to amend a scrivener's error on section B.
There should be a period at the end of that whole
subsection. Other than that, move to
pass.
All right. Uh, Alderman... Any other questions from members of the
committee? All right. Uh, Alderman Lopez made a motion to recommend pass of this
item, by this ordinance rather, by the
w, uh, by the s- by the substitute with the addition of the scrivener's, uh, uh,
fixing the scrivener's error, by the same roll call vote that was applied to
establish quorum. Um,
hearing no objections, so ordered, to due pass recommendation, it will be reported
out at the next city council meeting.
Uh, ladies and gentlemen, since there's no further business, may I have a motion to
adjourn by the same roll call vote as before?
Chairman Villegas.
Uh, oh, before we... Alderman Napolitano, we
have, uh, recognized, uh, you as well as, uh, Alderman Metz for
the purposes of quorum. Did you have a question
for me- Thank you, Chairman.
... ordinance?
Uh, no. Thank you, Chairman. Just wanted to be reported as, uh, present for quorum,
and I, and I'm a little aggravated that Ray beat me to that scrivener's error.
I was about to point that out before he got to it-
Okay.
... but thank you.
Thank you. And on that note, Alderman, uh, Napolitano makes a motion, so
moves, uh, that we adjourn, hearing no objections, so ordered.
The c- meeting of the Committee on Economic Capital and Tech- Technology
Development is adjourned. Thank you,
everyone.