Test, test, test. One, two, three, test, test. Can you hear me? Test.
Yeah, it's good. It's good. We're good.
All right. Good morning, everyone. The Committee on Transportation and Public Way is now called to order.
Waiting on the door too close. We will now have a roll call to establish a quorum.
Will the Alderman please make sure their microphones are unmuted?
Please note that your yes or present response will be deemed to be a yes vote when the quorum roll call is used as reference vote for a later item.
Thank you. Chairman Mitchell, present. Vice Chair Vasquez.
Auderman Conway. Auderman Irving. Auderman Fuentes. Auderman Gutierrez.
Auderman Harris. Auderman Hopkins. Auderman Moore.
Auderman Mosley. Auderman Nugent. Auderman Rodriguez.
Auderman Wadgespey. Auderman Yancey. There are seven members present. We have a quorum.
Auderman Mosley has requested remote participation under Rule 59.
Can I have a motion to allow remote participation for the above mentioned Auderman?
So moved.
Auderman Conway. So moves on the motion. All those in favor say aye.
Opposed no. Any opinion of the chair? The ayes have it.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
At this time, we will begin the public comment period.
Out of respect for everybody's time, public comment will be limited to 30 minutes.
Any speaker is limited to three minutes.
I saw that, well, we have Jessica Jackson, and I just saw her.
Where did she go? I actually want to give her an opportunity because she did sign up.
Come on, Jessica. Yes, please. Bear with me, guys.
I want to make sure people who sign up for public comment actually have an opportunity to speak.
I'm sure she's going to come and just say a lot of nice things to all of us.
Yeah.
Especially you, Mr. Chairman.
No good deed goes unpunished. We're going to feel that punishment here in a while.
Amen.
Okay.
Why the spike is on its way?
No, huh?
Yeah.
Who knows how close the public comment?
All right.
Ms. Jackson, you signed up for public comment, so I wanted to make sure you had an opportunity to speak.
Everybody graciously rated for your press.
Oh, you're up.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Well, thank you for allowing public speaking and for me to public speak because it's very important.
I believe in giving credit where credit is due.
As my alderman, Greg Mitchell, has done the things that I've asked.
Now, the issue of the illegal immigrants being over on the southeast side, and we've discussed this, that's a major problem.
It's a major problem.
And what we know is, while we were in the meetings and I saw that you did not vote for a lot of the illegal immigration money, but it was not enough pushback to Desmond Yancey,
Jeanette Taylor, and the like, to get to put those illegals in our neighborhood.
Now, we asked the Democratic Party to not do it, and the Democratic Party still did it.
So that's an issue for the voters now because we cannot act like that did not happen.
We cannot act like all our property taxes and all.
That are raised because of illegal immigration.
Now, I'm asking you to be different from Desmond Yancey.
Desmond Yancey is bought and sold him and his big wide hips.
His big wide hips, bigger than mine, have sat up here, claimed to be a Haitian at the last minute, and switches his brick house 36, 24, 36 body shape around City Hall and around Hyatt Park and South Shore like it's the thing to do.
He got to go.
Now, the problem is J.B. Prister has paid for so many of these public officials to stay in these seats.
It's a problem that you can't get a lot of you all out of your seats.
But I want to commend you, Alderman Mitchell, for trying to keep our streets clean, for having people who are cleaners out there to pick up trash, to do and the buildings over there.
Because all those things drive down our property values.
But this issue with those illegal immigrants, you're going to have to find a way to deal with Desmond Yancey and Jeanette Taylor and what they have done to the southeast side of Chicago.
And Hopkins, too, why he in here?
Because he's refusing to deal with public safety.
He's refusing to do it.
So we got to get them out their seats.
And it's probably going to take the feds to do it.
But thank you again for allowing me to speak.
And get that brick house.
Yancey.
That brick house.
All right.
Thank you, Ms. Jackson.
All right.
That concludes the public comment period.
I move to approve the Rule 45 report for the Committee on Transportation and Public Way meeting held on July 14, 2026.
Can I get a motion from Alderman Conway to recommend approval of this item?
So move.
Alderman Conway.
So moves.
On the motion, all in favor say aye.
Opposed no.
Independently share the ayes have it.
Today, we have 10 agenda items.
Page 2, item 1, a call on the Department of Transportation to rename Lincoln Central Park, resolution 20260027468, and call on the Department of Transportation to rename Lincoln Central Park to Deidre's Garden, Deidre's Garden, in honor of Deidre Grazano.
Can I get a motion to recommend approval of this item?
All right.
Opposed on the motion, all in favor say aye.
Opposed no.
In your opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
Page 3, item 1, the appointment of Albert D. Reniva, Amendment 20260027351.
The appointment of Albert D. Reniva as a member of the Illinois International Port District Board for a term effective immediately and expiring July 20, 2029.
Here to speak, we have Albert Rivini.
And please, I apologize in advance if I did not pronounce your last name correctly.
All right.
Come up here.
Thank you.
Before we start, I want to make sure we have Audubon Mosley participating through Rule 59.
Audubon Mosley?
Okay.
He'll check back when.
Yeah.
And at this point, I want to acknowledge Audubon Harris for purposes of quorum.
All right.
Mr. Reniva.
Okay.
Reniva?
Reniva.
Reniva.
All right.
Thank you, Chairman Mitchell, Vice Chair Vasquez, and members of the committee.
My name is Albert Reniva.
I am a Filipino-American, a native Chicagoan, and a Chicago-based attorney.
And it is an honor to appear before you for my confirmation to the board of the Illinois International Port District.
I bring three areas of experience directly relevant to this board.
First, as a real estate transaction development and leasing attorney with more than three decades of experience,
currently a partner and business unit leader at Kelly Cronenberg and previously head of the Chicago real estate practices at Retzel-Landres and at Pugh-Jones & Johnson,
my career has centered on precisely the kind of work this board oversees on a recurring basis,
negotiating and structuring ground leases, master leases, and lease amendments for landlords, tenants, and developers.
Second, executive leadership experience in the real estate industry itself.
For seven years, I served as senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of a real estate development company,
where I sat on the executive team overseeing corporate governance, board presentations, and lender relations,
led the $24 million acquisition and development of a 330-unit mixed-use project,
and directed the legal integration of more than 400 acquired assets in a two-year period.
That experience means I understand this role not only as an outside counsel would,
but as someone who would sit on the other side of the table, accountable for an organization's governance and its bottom line.
Third, direct experience with major public infrastructure transactions.
I served as one of the primary real estate attorneys for the city of Chicago's team
in its negotiation of the proposed privatization of Midway International Airport
and as outside counsel to Cook County on the public redevelopment of the John H. Stroger Junior Hospital campus,
both work that required evaluating significant public assets from the government's perspective,
balancing operational and community and financial considerations together.
The port district's core function as master landlord across the Iroquois Landing and Lake Calumet facilities
is built in exactly this combination of legal, executive, and real estate development experience.
I believe it allows me to contribute meaningfully to the board's work from my first day on.
Beyond my professional practice, I have devoted significant time to civic and community service.
As a board member of the Asian American Bar Association and the Filipino American Lawyers Association
and as general counsel and board member to Congressman Bobby L. Rush's Center for Flourishing Communities.
Additionally, since 2016, I've also served as an assistant coach for the Lane Tech High School varsity baseball team,
giving back to my own alma mater.
I understand that public service on a board like this one carries a responsibility not just to sound governance,
but to the communities the port district exists to serve, and I would approach this role with that responsibility in mind.
I respectfully ask for the committee's fair rule of recommendation, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
I'll start entertaining questions.
Audubon Conway?
Yes.
Mr. Reniv, I want to thank you for stepping up to potentially fill this role.
You spoke at length about your qualifications, which you certainly seem, from my estimation, more than qualified to be on this board.
But you sort of didn't talk about what you think the future of the Port Authority could be or some things the Port Authority could do better,
you know, for the city of Chicago.
So if you have any thoughts on that, I think this committee would be interested in hearing them.
Oh, sure.
That's a great question.
At this moment, I really don't know the – I can't really opine specifically on certain issues,
but once I am – if I am confirmed, I would look at all the grants, the rules, the regulations, its statement, its governing body,
all the legislation – I mean, all the meetings that it may have had.
And for me, I would believe modernization, community outreach, more transparency, things of that nature.
And I believe my 30 years of experience dealing with various communities and various legislative bodies and boards,
I believe, will contribute significantly to that.
No, I think your governance background lends itself very much to that.
And, Mr. Chairman, if there is other questions, of course, defer, but certainly move to pass on Mr. Reniva's nomination.
And be acknowledged at a later time.
Alderman Moore?
Let me turn on my mic here.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, I got to get into the most – I think the most important thing is that as a coach at Lane Tech,
I just got to look up to make sure you didn't beat Simeon at any time because this would disqualify you.
But first of all, I want to commend the mayor on this appointment.
I mean, one of the things the mayor tried to do is make sure that we have diversity.
And that's something I truly support in our – not only in our city, but especially on boards that we have.
And not just for diversity's sake, but –
people who are qualified as well. And from your perspective, being a Filipino-American,
it's very important that we have that diversity. But what I'm excited about, because it's more
than just the mayoral appointees that sit on this board. I think the governor makes some
appointments to this board. It's going to be critical for us to have someone who is there
that has the knowledge, that can also work with, but also push back if needed, based on
the knowledge that they have when we're making decisions at that port authority. People look
at this as just another space, but there's a lot of money, contracts, different things
that run through that port authority. And it's going to be very important to have someone
of your caliber that's there. One of the phrases we use in Chicago is, we don't want nobody,
nobody sent. A lot of people spoke up for you. A lot of people know you. That's because
you're involved in the community. That's because you know people who are connected to the community,
and that's because you also give back to the community. And so I want to say thank you.
As the vice chair of budget said that, what's your name again? Conway said that it's important
that we have somebody there that not only know what they're doing, but want to be there. Your
resume far exceeds a lot of people that have been there. And I just want to say thank you for willing
to step up and take this appointment. And I second Jim Conway's motion.
Thank you, Alderman.
All right. I will table that to the appropriate time. Alderman Harris?
Again, I'm going to be redundant and say I want to thank the mayor for this appointment. I think
that your expertise and your knowledge will be very valuable. And with that, I'm going to give you my
full support and say congratulations before we vote on it. And I wish you well. I wish that you would
continue on behalf of the citizens of the city of Chicago to keep us informed, maybe through some
brief newsletter on some of the issues going on over there. So thank you so much. And again,
you have my complete support.
Thank you, Alderman.
Thank you, Alderman.
Mr. Ravina, as an attorney, are you familiar with maritime law?
Vaguely, but my firm is very, very well informed with maritime law. Yes.
Okay. And so that means you, for me, with the kind of industries. Yes. That's shaping up to be very
important for the port. So I'm going to ask you a couple of good questions just to kind of see where
you are. Because I think paving the way or being open to maritime businesses will be proved to be an
asset, the best use of our asset, let me say it like that. So just lawyer, real estate agent, what
specific incentives or terms would you use to attract these type of maritime businesses?
I believe to attract businesses would be tax incentives, community outreach to make sure that
they understand that when they come in to work with the port district, that there is a labor force
in the immediate wards that will benefit with the businesses that will be coming in and that
it will, we will be open as a city, as the wards to, again, attract the best jobs and labor force and
to, again, to, to basically entice more businesses and to
basically enhance the development and economic development for the ward, the community and
the city. Okay. So you, you wouldn't just default to who has the, who pays the most?
No, sir. No, sir. All right. All right. In evaluating the lease or development proposal,
as you mentioned, how do you distinguish, how would you distinguish between a maritime asset,
like a dock, berth, cargo terminal, or waterway access? And what, what criteria would you, would
you use to draw the line? Well, a lot of these, and based on my 30 years plus of experience,
a lot of the terminologies like that are based on what are the clauses in the agreements. So what I
would do is first is I would evaluate and review the, the specific document, determine what that
specific definition is. And again, different agreements have different definitions and different
attorneys, different lay people have different definitions. So I would fall back on that and then
apply the definition accordingly. Okay. I want to fall back on one of your responses earlier. So
if we have a maritime development proposal and the company has a higher paying land lease
for the same parcel, how would you weigh the long-term maritime value against near-term
income, lease income? At this point, again, it'd be on, I don't think I could opine on that
specifically, but generally I would look at the, again, the, the economic impact that the contracts,
the two agreements would have long-term versus short-term, not just to the port, specifically
to the port, but to the community. And I don't believe we can immediately declare one agreement
better than the other. I mean, if the port and the other party to the agreement are in full compliance,
we've got to live up to our obligations. But at the same time, I would review the documents
and review it in terms of what is in the best interest of the port, what is in the best interest
of the outlying community. Okay. No, I appreciate that. I don't know if you, you take, taking a look
over there, but between the 10th ward, the 7th ward and the 8th ward, we already have a lot of commerce
coming over there by our railroad, by the, via the railroad tracks. Yes, sir. A lot is coming.
And so now you, you, you, you factor that in with the port. And then I think it's just a great time
to open it up to, to track more of these types of businesses. So we can have that increased commerce
coming through the Southeast side. Cause there's a lot happening on the Southeast side. A lot
happening. All right. All right. Well, uh, I know, uh, Alderman, first of all, let me recognize
Alderman Wines back for purposes of quorum. And would you like to have an opportunity to ask a question
at this time? Okay. All right. So, uh, with that said, I'll, uh, ask Alderman Conway to renew his
motion for, uh, approval of this item. So moved and renewed. All right. And Alderman, more seconds
that all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed. In the opinion, share the ayes having.
Congratulations. Go forward to working with you. Thank you. Thank you.
Doing another check. Uh, is, uh, Alderman Hopkins. You're online. Alderman Mosley.
Present chair. Okay. Alderman Mosley. Present again. Alderman Hopkins. Okay. All right. Going
out of order page six item five and page eight item three are direct introductions. Can I get
Mr. Mr. Chairman, sorry. It took me a minute to unmute. I did not. Uh, uh, Mosley. Yes. Uh,
I'm gonna come back for Hopkins. Thank you. Can I get a, get a motion to accept direct
instructions into committee? So move. Uh, Alderman Harris. So moves on the motion. All in favor,
say aye. Aye. Opposed. No. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Um, before I continue,
Alderman Hopkins has requested remote participation under rule 59. Alderman Hopkins.
Present. Thank you. All right. All those, uh, can I get a motion to allow remote participation
for, uh, Alderman Hopkins? To move. Alderman, wide respect. So moves on the motion. All in favor,
say aye. Opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Um, going out of order on page
four item two and page seven item one are substitute ordinances. Can I get a motion from Alderman Conway
to accept the substitute ordinances into committee? Alderman Conway. So moves on the motion. All in
favor, say aye. Opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Ages four through six
include 28 ordinances for miscellaneous items introduced by the local Alderman from wards
one, two, three, eight, 10, 18, 25 through 28, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 40, 41, 44, 46, and 47. Can I get a motion from Alderman
Harris to recommend approval of these items? Alderman Harris. So moves on the motion. All in favor,
say aye. Opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Page seven, item one,
river ward re-subdivision. Substitute ordinance 20260026499. A proposed re-subdivision bounded by
West Oakdale Avenue, North Leavitt Avenue, North Oakley Avenue, and North Branch of the Chicago
River. Here to speak, I have witnessed Michael Esger, attorney, Acosta Esger, LLC. I'm assuming
the gentleman with the tie? Yes. All right.
Thought I should. All right. So before, before you speak, I want to acknowledge.
I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge.
I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge.
I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge.
I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge.
I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge.
Alderman Urban, for purposes of quorum, all right, take the floor.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
Yes, again, Michael Esger, on behalf of the applicant, ZSD River Ward.
And with me today is Stefan Tepsik, project manager from ZSD, the developer.
I'm glad that we have Alderman Wagaspak here with us, who's been very helpful in the approval of this project,
which consists of originally 35 townhomes, four-sale townhomes on the river.
And that was recently expanded at Plan Commission to add an additional 14 homes.
And we have a unique way of approaching the affordable housing as well.
This subdivision here today allows for the sale of the individual lots.
And we're trying to pull up the slides.
I could present this to you if we do that.
But essentially, this is subdividing the individual lots for an approved project.
It was also approved by CDOT, of course, because we went to Plan Commission and City Council.
All right.
I have my computer with it on it, if that helps.
If we have the VGA.
So I sent it to Michael Esger, sent it to Stephanie, right?
That's 4,000 Marine.
That's the second one.
The first one, maybe there's another email from her.
We should probably send all the two separate.
While they're getting that together.
Sir, what is your name again?
Or for the developer, ZFD.
And who's the developer again?
ZSD Oakdale, LLC.
Okay.
ZSD Oakdale.
Okay.
Yeah, I think we got it now.
Well, it's up on this.
Okay, there we go.
So here we are.
Sorry for the delay.
This is the site itself.
Again, on the, thank you very much, north side of the east side, northeast side of the river.
The, this is a view of the townhomes.
They're in progress right now being built.
And this is a view from the southwest.
And here's a view of those same townhomes from the northeast.
And finally, the Platyvary subdivision.
Again, just for the purpose of dividing these into individual lots so that they can be sold to the buyers.
And with that, we're available for any questions that you might have.
I have a initial question.
When you said sold to the buyers, so is it, is it the, the buyer of the finished product?
Oh, okay.
That's correct.
Not just the buyer of the lots.
Correct.
The buyer of the finished product.
The, the construction is in progress.
I mean, correct.
Can you tell us where we're at in the construction?
Yes, lots 10 through 14, 15 through 22, and one through nine are all anticipated to start closings or this November through the end of the year.
And then the balance would be, call it first quarter of next year through the early part of the second quarter.
Are they, are all the homes going to be the same?
Yes.
Okay.
What, what are we looking at as far as price for these homes?
Between 1.2 to 2 million, roughly.
Approximately.
Yep.
All right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
All right.
Does anyone have any questions prior to letting Alderman?
Well, I just may close this item out.
Alderman here.
Don't we?
Vasquez?
Nugent?
All right.
All right.
Close it out, Alderman.
Thank you, Chairman.
I want to thank both of the gentlemen here today because we have been working on a lot of different issues with this site.
Several changes over the last few years.
This used to be in the first ward.
And when we got it in 32, you know, immediately tried to get it working with the development team to get this thing going.
And I just want to thank them for working on these modifications.
There's sewer, sanitation, water issues.
This is an old industrial area that had certain access to sewer and water, but I think with the new site, a lot of changes have gone into play here to really make sure that we could start to redevelop this area in a way that I think not only enhances the access to the river for the first time ever,
or first time in probably 100 years, but also, as I mentioned, adds to the property tax base of the city in a substantive way.
So I want to just thank them for their efforts.
And we have a lot more going on in this area that probably will come back to the committee in the future on.
So thank you.
And ask for the committee's favorable approval of this item.
Okay.
Some just came up with what he mentioned the water.
So what does that look like?
I'm on the southeast side, and a lot of my lakefront properties have a part of the – their property is – they personally own the property that leads out into the water.
How does that look with this development?
Does any of the access to the water –
So as part of the – that's a great question.
And we went through a long meeting with the river ecology folks, sustainability, working closely with the aldermen to make sure that we were extending the riverwalk, the publicly accessible riverwalk, from the Lathrop Homes to our east.
And then we now connected it all across our site.
So that's publicly open.
And we have bird-friendly lighting, for example, a nice wide path so that it's, again, publicly accessible.
One of the challenges was, okay, how do we get down to it?
And we had signage that runs through this project.
But the good news is that recently we were at Plan Commission a few weeks ago, and there was another lot that was – another industrial site that was sort of closing the street off.
It was actually hurting our – on Oakley Avenue.
So we've now worked with CDOT and the alderman's office closely to open that up and to create a really beautifully paved and a landscaped, I should say, pathway that would be publicly accessible so that people in the neighborhood can come down Oakley.
There will be appropriate signage.
And with a nice cul-de-sac at the end, and we worked all that out with, again, CDOT, Fire Department, the alderman's office.
And so now we have a really nice publicly accessible pathway to the river.
So this is a good – end up being a good result.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you for that information.
So there is no compensation due for this project.
The committee has received and reviewed a letter of support from Alderman Wadgespeck.
And Alderman Wadgespeck recommends approvals – makes a motion to recommend approve this item.
On the motion, all those in favor say aye.
Aye.
Opposed no.
Independent chair, the ayes have it.
Congratulations.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Moving along.
Page seven, item two.
4,000 Marine Drive, LLC.
Ordinance 20260027473, a proposed subdivision in the block bounded by West Bittersweet Avenue, North Marine Drive, West Irving Park Road, and North Clarendon Avenue.
Here to speak, we have Michael Asger, attorney, Acosta, Asger, LLC.
All right.
All right.
You have me again.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
Again, for the record, exactly.
I'm warmed up.
Michael Asger on behalf of the applicant, 4,000 Marine Drive, LLC.
And this is another project that had gone through an extensive review and approval process.
There was a planned development approved some years ago for what people sometimes refer to as the Immaculata site, the American Islamic College.
It's on Lakeshore Drive, on Irving Park, on the south, and Bittersweet on the north.
Finally able to move forward with the project and doing it in two phases.
So, what we're looking at here is the property in the area of the subdivision.
Thank you very much.
And there's some existing on the south side, and I'll go to the next slide.
The south side of the site, sub area A, has existing residents and classrooms that we are prepared to move forward.
And it's really an interior remodeling of this space and creating 213 new residential units.
Again, all interior remodeling.
And the sub-area B portion would be new construction in the future.
And that is not happening at this point.
Our client owns sub-area A only.
So the subdivision really just breaks those two areas from lot A and lot B.
We believe the lot B will be owned by a separate group who will come in later and perhaps be before this committee on a new construction project.
I don't have details on that.
And in conclusion, I just have the CDOT approved site plan from when the project was approved.
And so with that, I'll turn it over to you for any questions.
I know that we also, I should say, that we've been working closely with Alderwoman Clay and have a letter of support from her office on file.
All right.
Are there any questions from members of the committee?
All right.
There's no compensation due to this project.
And as the attorney mentioned, we received and reviewed a letter of support from Alderman Clay.
Can I get a motion to recommend approval of this item?
So moved.
Alderman Conway, so moves.
On the motion, all in favor say aye.
Opposed, no.
In your opinion, chair, the ayes have it.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Page eight.
Item one.
New Life Covenant SE.
Ordinance 2026-0023391.
A proposed vacation of a portion of the North South Alley and all of the existing East West Alley.
And a proposed dedication of an East West Alley within the area bounded by South Dobson Avenue to the West, East 76th Street to the North, South Greenwood Avenue to the East, and East 77th Street to the South.
Here to speak, we have Rodney Mitchell, licensed plumber, Sarah Gaines, is she here?
Oh, oh, Sarah Gaines, site designer, Eric, and Eric Bankey, civil engineer.
All right.
So I'll let you have the floor.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
My name is Kareem Musawi.
I'm actually sitting in a substitute for our engineer, Eric Gaines, Eric Bankey.
And we're here on behalf of Southeast, excuse me, New Life Covenant Southeast Church and their application to provide, to unify their site for the purposes of rezoning and expanding their campus in order, their campus in order to establish two additional parking lots.
And the alley vacation and dedication that we're speaking of here would have separated two different lots.
And by this proposal, we would turn that into one lot, and it would be a continuous site.
And then in addition to that, I don't know if the other parking lot is not a part of this application,
but it's going to be established at the southwest corner of 77th and Greenwood Avenue.
Sarah here is a part of the design team, and I'm a part of the land use and zoning team.
We are posing an expansion of Plan Development 1220 in order to allow this proposal.
All right.
Do we have any questions for members of the body?
Excuse me.
The civil engineer, what firm are you representing?
Myself, sir?
Kareem Musawi, land use and zoning consultant.
Okay.
All right.
Alderman Harris, would you like to say some, have some words on this project?
I'm sorry, I had to be in my mouth.
I'm in total support of this project for years, new life.
I've been down there working hard, changing the universe down there, and that portion of Grand Crossing.
And I'm ecstatic for the opportunity for them to be in my community and my war and transforming the universe down there.
I was just down there this weekend for an event.
And I got to say that I'm just super proud of everything that new life is doing down there.
Again, it's amazing, the transformation with the public art, now an art center.
And I just think that the world can't do anything but go up, and they are, again, transforming the universe.
So, I am in full support of this project and wish I could duplicate it all over my ward just like this.
Thank you.
Thank you, Alderman Harris.
The appraised value of the to-be-vacated rights of ways is about $40,000.
However, no money is due from the applicant because it applied under CDOT's not-for-profit vacation program.
The applicant must execute a redevelopment agreement or a similar instrument that restricts the use of the to-be-vacated property to social services.
The committee has received and reviewed a letter of support from Alderman Harris.
Can I get a motion to recommend approval of this item?
Alderman Vasquez, Chairman Vice Chair Vasquez, so moves.
On the motion, all in favor say aye.
Aye.
Opposed, no.
In the opinion of the chairs, the ayes have it.
Congratulations.
Thank you so much.
All right.
Next item, South Burley Avenue.
Okay.
Next item, a proposed vacation of a portion of South Burley Avenue from East 130th Street to East 126th Street.
Ordinance 2026-0027-065.
Here to speak, we have Arthur Delinsky.
Good morning.
For the record, I'm Arthur Delinsky with the City's Law Department.
I'm here to testify regarding Vacation Ordinance 02026-0027-065.
From 1951 to 1977, Republic Steel's stored and dumped slag, a waste byproduct left over from the process of smelting ore or refining metal,
on property located near 126th Street and Avenue O.
That land is currently known as the Shroud Site.
The Shroud Site is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund site.
The Vacation Ordinance that City Council passed on March 28th, 2001, was intended to vacate all the public way in the Shroud Site.
However, it inadvertently did not include a 33-foot wide strip of South Burley Avenue from East 130th Street to East 126th Street.
The Vacation Ordinance currently before this committee will vacate that remaining 33-foot wide strip of public way.
The City and U.S. EPA have worked together to erect fencing to limit access to the site.
U.S. EPA is currently conducting extensive sampling on and near the site, which will inform their next steps.
It is likely that the sampling will be completed in the third quarter of 2027.
Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, which is commonly referred to as CERCLA,
the U.S. EPA's and U.S. Department of Justice's practice is to, where possible,
seek recovery of expended CERCLA funds from potentially responsible parties, which includes current owners and operators.
In this case, the U.S. EPA has expended funds for the fence, sampling, and project oversight.
The U.S. EPA will expend additional funds for more sampling and remediation.
The City's potential liability under CERCLA may be reduced following the proposed vacation because there will be no public right-of-way located in the shroud site.
Thank you for your consideration of this ordinance.
Thank you, Counselor.
Any questions from Mr. Badi regarding this item?
All right.
There is no conversation due for this project.
The committee has received and reviewed a letter of support from Alderman Chico.
Can I get a motion from Vice Chair Vasquez to recommend approval?
On the motion, all in favor say aye.
Opposed, no.
In the opinion of the chairs, the ayes have it.
Thank you.
All right.
Item 10.
6200 Higgins, LLC, Ordinance 2026-0028-119.
A proposed vacation of public alleys in the area bounded by North Melvina Avenue, West Higgins Avenue, North Mobile Avenue, Mobile Avenue, and West Foster Avenue.
At our meeting on May 13, 2026, the committee discussed and recommended for approval Ordinance 2026-0023406.
It was subsequently determined that the conversation amount due had inadvertently been omitted, inadvertently omitted publication of the CJP, and therefore...
This item is coming before the committee again for recommendation of approval.
The compensation due for this project is $365,000.
The committee has received and reviewed a letter of support from Alderman Gardner.
Can I get a motion to recommend approval of this item?
Vice Chair Vasquez so moves on the motion.
All in favor say aye.
Opposed, no.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
All right.
There being no further business before the committee, can I get a motion to adjourn?
Vice Chair Vasquez so moves on the meet.
The meeting of the committee on transportation and public way is now adjourned.
Thank you.
Have a good day.