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All right, everybody. Sorry, sorry for the delay.
There was a problem with the live feed, and we couldn't start till the live feed is
up, and now it, now it's up, so... Plus, we had some members in,
finance, waiting for the call.
So
are we all set here?
Yeah. Go ahead.
What?
Yeah.
They're coming in now?
No, go ahead and read. We're good.
Okay. All right. All right.
We're good.
Good morning, everyone. Today, Friday the 13th, of course, as we know,
meeting on special events, cultural affairs, recreation, also known as the Happy
Committee, is called to order. Uh, we'll now have a roll call, establish our
quorum. Uh, Chairman Sposato, I am here.
Uh, Vice Chair Scott is on vacation or out of town. I'm sorry.
Alderman Hopkins, I didn't see him.
Alderman Robinson, I did not see him.
Alderman Hall is here. Alderman Coleman, I don't see
her. Curtis, I don't see him. O'Shea is
here. Mosley. Uh, Cruise is
here. Conway, here. Waguespack,
here. Nugent, here. Napolitano, not
coming. Lawson, here. Gardner, don't see
him, and Silverstein is here.
Gardner... So, so, so just
hang on. Two, three, four, five- Gardner's, via Zoom.
And...
Okay. There are 10 members present.
We have a quorum. Uh, we have two committee
members that requested Rule 59, Alderman
Mosley and Alderman Gardner. Um, is there a motion
to add these members to the roll and approve their remote
participation? So moved by
Alderwoman Cruise. Uh,
motion to approve the remote participation.
All in favor, signify by "aye."
Aye. All that disagree, say "nay." Nay. I'm the one nay.
Uh, nothing personal, guys, but I say nay for everybody.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
Um,
public comment. We have three members for public comment.
We will start off first. Okay, guys. Come on. Shh, shh. Come on. Let's...
Make sure you-
Please
... time everyone's minutes.
Okay. We have a, we have a, we have three members signed up for public
comment. The period is up to 30 minutes.
Each speaker will receive three minutes, and we only have three speakers.
First speaker, Melissa Burks. Melissa, come on
up. Melissa, you're followed by
Patricia... All right. Okay.
Patricia, you're following Melissa. Melissa?
Hi.
I go?
Yep.
All right. My name is Melissa Burks, thank you.
I have lived in Chicago on and off for 20 years.
I'm here today because-
Can't really hear her.
Okay. Can you hear me now?
All right. I'm here today because you folks have
jurisdiction over DCASE. DCASE administers a
very popular grant program for artists, gives millions
of taxpayer dollars every year, but that program is shrouded in
a lack of transparency, and you folks have the ability to hold
DCASE accountable for what is a, again, a very popular program, and I'm
here to tell you why that's important.
The program is the Individual Artists Program.
Last year, DCASE very proudly publicly announced a record
expansion, 245 awards.
That's great. The problem is what DCASE does not tell us.
Here's my experience. I'm an aspiring screenwriter with an MFA
in scr- screenwriting from DePaul. I applied in 2025.
I didn't get it. It's okay. It's a competitive award, I understand.
I applied again this year, and I thought, well, I want, I wanted to know what
projects DCASE actually funded because I thought maybe that would
help my own application. And so I asked that one question, and over the
course of 58 days in communication with DCASE,
all I got was a surprising and alarming lack of
transparency. Two fronts I'll talk about briefly.
First, what is DCASE funding? What are the projects?
Well, apparently by policy, they don't tell you what projects.
They just tell you the names of the recipients.
The director of cultural grants confirmed this in a phone call.
She didn't give a reason. I'm not sure why DCASE would not
publicly trumpet these artists and their
awards, what they worked hard for, but really all you get is a na- is a
list of names. The public has a right to know what their
taxpayers are funding and who is receiving the taxpayer
dollars. Number two, how is DCASE judging these
applicants? The answer is, before an application makes its
way to the external experts, it goes through this internal gatekeeping
device called the weighted lottery.
The weighted lottery prioritizes applicants who meet five
criteria. The problem is DCASE doesn't explain how
these five categories are weighted, or it do- and it doesn't
define many of them, like underrepresented disciplines.
I think the d- the public has a right to know how DCASE is deciding
to give away this money. So I'm calling on you today to investigate this
grant. I have a handy, a summary of questions that I could love
to give you later, and I hope the, media who are here and
listening accept the call as well. I thank you very much for your time.
I'm Melissa.
Thank you for your comments, Melissa. We appreciate it.
Patricia, followed by Ilania.
I'm not gonna try to say your last name, Ilania.
Thank you for listening to me. On November 21st,
2025, when they o- turned on
the lights of the Christmas tree, I went to an event.
Beautiful event. I enjoyed it. I danced.
I sang. It was awesome. The problem is that
at the end, they had a, a
entrance this small, this
wide, that there were
100, more than 100 people trying to get
out. It was like having
cattle there and trying to... You know, it
was really, really bad. The other thing is
that gang members,
they starting pushing themselves.
They starting hitting. They starting doing
things. And then you had the law
enforcement outside, seven or eight
people, and I have the picture of the law enforcement
outside. What's the purpose of them being outside and
all the, all this thing happening ins- inside
while it's barricaded? Please
make the exit a little bit
wider. That is the day that
this kid was shot. Why? Because of
what happened
inside that event.
They start... You know, people wanna get out.
They start pushing each other, and then while they're pushing each, each other,
they notice that it's, oh, it's this gang.
Oh, it's that gang. Please try to make your exit
wider and please, what is the purpose of the
police officers being outside and not seeing what's
happening inside? And that's it. That
was my concern. Unfortunately, a child had to
be killed
and, you know, you guys could have prevented it.
Thank
you.
All right, it's Judkiewicz, but that's okay. Yeah.
Uh, good morning. My name is Eliana Judkiewicz, and I'm the proud
principal of Disney II Magnet on the northwest side of
Chicago, home of the Titans. We are a
CPS arts and technology magnet school serving students from
grades pre-school through 12th grade, where 80%
of our students come from all over the city of Chicago, representing 44
different zip codes. We have two campuses, a high school
campus and an elementary school campus, and our elementary school
campus sits on approximately four beautiful acres
of underutilized land. Our community
dreams of developing and cultivating this land to be
sustainable and provide an outdoor classroom for our
students. I envision a gorgeous pollinator
garden with monarch butterflies and bees where students can come
outside and learn about the life cycle of these important
pollinators, learn about land conservation, and where
our families and community members can come together to
tend to our beautiful new garden pathway.
I've started making this dream come true with a grant that helped us to
begin our Ravinia-style outdoor space, but the
reality is we need funds to help manage irrigation and
develop the garden walk space. I'm so grateful for this
opportunity to present you with our Titan Pollinator
Garden and outdoors performance space, and I thank you so much for your
time.
Dan logging. Okay.
Thanks.
Motion by Alderwoman Nugent.
Pass. All in favor signify by aye.
Aye.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, everybody. No.
Okay. Do I have to start all over? Did we hear none of it?
There you go.
All right. Okay. R- motion to pass Rule 45, motion
by Alderwoman Nugent to mo- to pass.
Uh, all in favor signify by aye. Aye.
Opposed say nay. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
The second item on the agenda is a ordinance
02026-0022518,
expenditure of open space impact fee funds for
del- development of turf field at Frank W.
Riley Elementary School at 3650 West School
Street. Here today to present the project is our, our old
friend- ... Meg
Gustafson from the Department of Planning and Development.
Also here to answer any questions from Chicago Public Schools is Sean
Newhart. Meg, are you ready for us?
Yeah, I am. Thank you so much.
Thanks, thanks as always, Meg. Thank you.
Uh, Meg Gustafson, Department of Planning and Development.
I have three impact fee expenditures today for you.
Uh, the first one, Riley Elementary School.
Um, this is located in Avondale, Alderman Cruz's
ward. Um, the pur- the address is 3650 West
School.
The open space impact fee ask is
$286,000.
Um, here is a context map. Um, we see it's on School Street
just west of the expressway in Avondale.
Um, the budget, total budget is
$726,000. Um, the impact fee ask
is 286. The other funds are coming from
CPS Capital and, DCO, state
grant funds. Um, here is the
proposed project. Um, it is an artificial turf
field, located on a
asphalt area at, that is existing at the school t-
today. So it's taking an unused asphalt area and
programming it with, artificial turf, that will also
take care of the drainage, on the site.
Um, that is my last slide for this one.
If, you have any detailed questions, I have Sean here from
CPS. Um, thank you very much.
Thank you, Meg. Um,
Alderwoman Cruz is gonna t- take her opportunity to speak after, after the
second, presentation. So are we approving this one first?
Yeah, if there's any, anyone has questions.
Okay. No- nobody has any questions? Nobody on the committee? Okay.
Uh, no, no questions regarding. Motion to pass by, Alderman
Lawson. Uh, so moved. All in favor signify by
aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes
have it. Uh, the do pass recommendation of this ordinance will be reported out at
the next city council meeting on March 18th, 2026.
The third item on the agenda is an ordinance
02026-0022519,
expenditure of open space impact fee funds for outdoor space
improvements at Disney II Magnet Elementary School at
3815 North Kedvale. Meg, Meg is here once
again, uh-
Great. Thank you
... to present once again, Meg. So go ahead and...
Uh, Meg Gustafson, Department of Planning and Development.
Uh, Disney II Elementary School open space impact fee expenditure
ordinance before you.
Um, as you heard in the comments today, this is for a pollinator
garden. The address is 3815 North Kedvale
in Alderman Cruz's ward, the Irving Park community area.
The open space impact fee ask is
$200,000. Um, here's a context map.
Um, this is at GraceUm, just north of
Grace Street. Um, I have the budget here, I'll do
that first. Um, the total budget for this project is
all coming from impact fees of $200,000.
Um, this will have a concrete stage,
and a garden. Uh, we have water, a garden hose,
native landscaping, and a pollinator
garden. Let's see. Here
is, the site. Uh, currently it is an
unprogrammed space that's not draining.
Um, and here are some of the inspiration pictures
for the pollinator garden. Uh, we have the principal here
and, a CPS representative if you have detailed questions.
Thank you very much.
Thanks again, Meg. Does anybody have any questions for Meg
before... Okay, well, that's right, we got to recognize Alderman
Hopkins, I'm sorry, and Alderman Robinson are here for the forum.
Um, with that, anybody have any questions for Meg? Ryan?
Now, does the pollinator garden include milkweed,
specifically for monarchs?
Great question. I'm gonna defer to
CPS on that one. Do you know what the, plant
mix is, please? Thank you.
Sean Neuert from CPS. A- as Meg mentioned, those are
inspirational, photos. Right now we have not done the actual
design yet, so I honestly do not have the answer on what type of
plants will be used, but it will be native plants for a butterfly
garden. Um, but the ac- exact plants have not been identified yet.
O- okay, then,
metamorphosize, to use an insect word, my
question, into a request.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, please add milkweed to the mix-
Okay
... 'cause, monarchs are very particular and that's their preferred plant,
and we're trying to do our best to help that endangered species. So thank you.
Good to know. Thank you.
Thank you, Sean. Thanks for your question, Alderman. I've never heard that before.
By learn- you learn something new every day.
Uh, anybody else have any questions or comments before, Alderman Cruz,
would like to talk about this awesome project?
All right.
Alderman.
Thank you. Thank you, Chairman. Um-
Best time for it today, so...
Yeah, thank you. Uh, with much pride and excitement and,
gratitude, for the partnership with CPS, Open
Space. Meg, you have been great navigatin- helping us navigate through the
process. Uh, we will be bringing this two outstanding projects to
the ward. And not only with Riley now our kids will have a
place to play soccer or any other activities, and really
utilizing a space that, again, it was say was just concrete, now w-
we can have a lot of opportunities for the kids and to enjoy it.
And also when it comes to, this need to have the
opportunity to have a garden, kids to be outside, we all have a
responsibility to have some sort of impact in our schools,
whether it's inside the classroom, outside the classroom.
So it's a great honor for me to have that opportunity to bring something outside of
the classroom, keep our kids healthy, but also protecting the
wildlife as well when it comes to the learning
experience. And I just wanna say that
many schools, like many in the ward and many, throughout the
city, we have two great principals.
Um, you know, with our principal, Ileana, from
Disney and, Mr. Costilla from Riley.
They're definitely making, a great impact in our schools.
And we- I just wanna say thank you for being here. I know M- Mr.
Costilla would have loved to be here, but had, other meetings.
But thank you, and again, Meg, for guiding us through,
through the process. Thank you, Chairman.
Thank, thank you, Alderman Cruz. A great project.
Always happy, like I say, and nothing but happy stuff going on in this committee,
so... Uh, motion by Alderman Robinson, for the due
pass, due passes of this item. A- all in favor signify by
aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. An opinion to chair, the ayes
have it. I'm sorry. All right, the due pass recommendation of this ordinance
will be reported out at the next city council meeting on Wednesday, March
18th, 2026. The fourth and final item on the agenda is
an ordinance
02026-0023318,
expenditure of open space impact fee funds for
outdoor improvements at the Nettlehorst Elementary School
at 3252 North Broadway. Meg is still here
to report on this. Uh, Meg, what do you have for us?
Thank you. Great. Uh, Meg Gustafson, Department of Planning and Development.
Uh, Nettlehorst School, is located at
3252 North Broadway. Uh, this is in Alderman Lawson's
ward. Um, the open space request is
$577,000. Um, here's the context
map for you. And the budget. Um,
this project is a little bigger than our last two.
The total project cost is $1.96
million. Um, the open space impact fee contribution
will be 577. Um,
this, is the site plan. Um, the
open space impact fee funds will be used towards the,
demolition of... Oh, sorry, towards the landscaping,
seating and sports netting, that will be a brand-new addition to this
school, and, to the new
playground. Other funding sources include a DCEO grant and
then CPS capital. Um, here
is the site plan with all the amenities, which
include a running path,
a new, artificial turf field,
and, a new playground.
I, can conclude with this. And if you have any specific questions,
we have Alderman, Lawson here, who's been,
championing this project for quite some time.
We're happy to finally be at Impact Fee Committee here.
Um, and I have Sean Neuert from CPS.
Thank you, Meg.
Thank you.
Be- before Alderman Lawson wraps up on this, does any of my colleagues have any
questions or comments about this project?No? Okay.
Alderman Lawson?
Thank you, Chairman. Um, and thank you, Meg and Shawn.
Uh, you're right, this has been a long time in coming.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, we have over a million dollars in state money here, through our state
senator. I think initially she was still a state representative, Sara Feigenholtz.
Um, but this school is tight. Um, it's in a dense neighborhood.
There is not, much green space at all, so every
inch really makes a difference. Um, it's also a community school.
Um, our- we have neighbors that go to other schools that k- their kids play
there. It hosts a French market. Um, it is busy in the summer.
Um, it is busy so late that some of the neighbors, complain because it's so
well used. Um, so the need is definitely there.
Um, and I, I just wanna thank everybody. This is my first OSF, so thank you, Meg.
Um, we'll be back for some more, in the Lakeview area,
but, really happy to get this going.
My understanding is this work should all happen over the summer break as well.
Um, they did the roof last summer, and now we have the playground, and,
we'll, not disrupt the chickens like we did last summer with the roof.
So thank you, all. I appreciate your support.
Thank you for your comments, Alderman.
Thank you, Meg and Shawn, for, being here.
Uh, with that, motion by Alderman Hopkins,
recommending to do passage of this item. All in favor signify by aye.
Aye. Opposed say nay. The opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
The do pass recommendation of this ordinance will be reported out at our next city
council meeting on Wednesday, March 18th, 2026.
There being no further business before the committee, do I hear a motion to
adjourn? Motion by, well, by everybody, Alderman
Hopkins, to adjourn, so moves.
Hearing no objection, so ordered.
The meeting on, committee, the Committee on Special Events Cultural Affairs,
also known as the Happy Committee, is now adjourned. Thank you, everybody.
Sorry for the delay and the
mix-up.