bags, and sharp objects are not permitted. Clear bags, not tinted in color, that do not exceed 12
by 12 by 6 inches, will be permitted and are subject to search. Food and beverages, including
in metal canisters, are not permitted. Cell phones must be placed on silent prior to entering the
meeting room. Individuals must remain seated. Public comment speakers are permitted to stand
only when providing public comment. Small handheld devices may be used only while seated, and the
user must refrain from interfering with the view or hearing of other individuals.
Individuals or groups failing to adhere to these rules will be asked to seize such disruptive
conduct and failure to comply will result in their being subject to removal from the
meeting by the sergeant at arms.
City of Chicago City Council Rules of Conduct for Public Meetings, 2023-2027
Pursuant to the Chicago City Council Rules of Order and Procedure, Rule 49,
the sergeant at arm sets forth the following rules of conduct to be followed during the public comment period
and the duration of all committee and city council meetings,
Profane, vulgar, threatening, abusive, or disruptive language is not permitted.
Demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech directed towards others is not permitted.
Disruptive behavior, including disruptive or disrespectful conduct during others' presentations, is not permitted.
Banners, flyers, or signage are not permitted.
Backpacks, large bags, and sharp objects are not permitted.
Clear bags, not tinted in color, that do not exceed 12 by 12 by 6 inches, will be permitted and are subject to search.
Food and beverages, including in metal canisters, are not permitted.
Cell phones must be placed on silent prior to entering the meeting room.
Individuals must remain seated.
Public comment speakers are permitted to stand only when providing public comment.
8. Small handheld devices may be used only while seated and the user must refrain from interfering with the view or hearing of other individuals. Individuals or groups failing to adhere to these rules will be asked to seize such disruptive conduct and failure to comply will result in their being subject to removal from the meeting by the sergeant at arms.
City of Chicago City Council Rules of Conduct for Public Meetings, 2023-2027,
pursuant to the Chicago City Council Rules of Order and Procedure, Rule 49, the sergeant at
arm sets forth the following rules of conduct to be followed during the public comment period
and the duration of all committee and city council meetings. Profane, vulgar, threatening,
abusive, or disruptive language is not permitted. Demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior
and speech directed towards others is not permitted. Disruptive behavior, including
disruptive or disrespectful conduct during others' presentations is not permitted. Banners,
flyers, or signage are not permitted. Backpacks, large bags, and sharp objects are not permitted.
Clear bags, not tinted in color, that do not exceed 12...
Good morning. If you can hear my voice, please log in to your device. Please log in to your device.
As soon as we have quorum, we will begin. Please log in to your device.
If you need help logging into your device or you forgot your credentials, please raise your hand. Thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to today's city council meeting.
At this time, we would appreciate if you would take your seats and silence all of your listening
devices.
And please, be curious of your neighbor.
The meeting will start momentarily.
Thank you.
The council will come to order.
Madam Clerk, please take a quorum roll call.
Good morning.
The roll call is now open.
Please log into your devices and mark yourself present.
The quorum roll call is open.
If you need support, please raise your hand.
Thank you.
I will now take a voice vote for those who have not voted. Alderman Hopkins, not present.
Alderman Hall, Alderman Hall is present. Alderman Beal, not present. Alderman Coleman,
not present
Alderman Curtis is present
Alderman O'Shea
not present
Alderman Mosley
not present
Alderman Rodriguez
not present
Alderman O'Shea is present
Alderman Scott
not present
Alderman Jesse Fuentes
not present
Alderman Burnett
Burnett is present
Alderwoman Rodriguez-Santres
not present
Alderman Ramirez-Rosa
not present
Alderwoman Mitts
not present
Alderman Vasquez
Alderman
I'm sorry, Alderman Vasquez
not present
Alder person Clay, not present.
Alder woman Silverstein, not present.
Alder person Fuentes?
Present, present.
Alderman person Fuentes is present.
Anyone else I missed?
Who else?
Who?
Okay.
Anyone else?
All right, quorum is now closed.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. There are 38 present, so we do have a quorum. There are a number of Alders that have requested to participate in today's meeting remotely for reasons stated in Rule 59. Alders Mitts, Rodriguez-Sanchez, and Silverstein, can I get a motion to approve their remote participation and have them add it to the quorum?
It's been moved.
All those in favor of this motion signify by saying aye.
All those opposed say nay.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
Madam Clerk, please mark the following alders,
Mitz Rodriguez-Sanchez and Silverstein,
participating remotely, president for the roll call.
Very, very well.
Please stand 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.
Please remain standing for the invocation which will be delivered today by Dr. Joel D. Taylor
from St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.
may we bow our heads
eternal God our
father
our creator
redeemer
deliverer
that than which none
greater can be conceived
the father of Abraham
Isaac and Jacob
Rebecca, Leah
and Hannah
a father for the fatherless and a mother for the motherless.
We're cognizant this morning that you have this whole world in the palm of your hand,
which means that you have our mayor, the city of Chicago, and elected officials in your hand.
Lord, let me say thank you for our rich history in this month of Black history.
We thank you for our rich history that gave us Danny Davis, the Sawyers, Strosiers, Austin, William Dawson, Roland Barres, Ralph Matcalf, Jesse White, Carol Mosley Brown, Emile Jones, James Meek, and the Honorable Harold Washington.
We thank you for the past leadership of the Dailies, Emmanuel and Lightfoot.
We thank you for all of our past aldermen and women who have made this city a great city,
on whose shoulders we stand on.
We thank you, Jehovah, for our present mayor, the Honorable Brandon Johnson.
Lord, we pray that you would bless him.
We pray that you would keep him.
We pray that you would give him wisdom and knowledge.
to deal with the city of Chicago.
Lord, we realize that he's in a hot seat
and there's always negativity around him.
But keep him positive and keep him marching forward.
Bless all of our elected officials.
Bless all of the 50 older persons.
Bless our city workers.
Bless their coming out and their coming in.
Give them wisdom and knowledge to deal with our crisis,
our problems, and perplexity.
I thank you for every city council member.
I don't know them all, but I know a few of them.
And I thank you for Anthony Bill, who people in our community are bragging about.
Lord, I thank you for my Christian community friend, David Moore, who I met through Clay Evan.
I thank you for Walter Burnett, Jr. I met through Reverend Griffin.
I thank you for Jason Irvin and his wife, who are personal family friends and friends of our churches.
I thank you for Reverend William Hall and my sister Stephanie Coleman.
But Lord, there's some I don't know, but I want you to bless them.
I want you to keep them.
I want you to help them in their endeavor.
Lord, our city needs you more than we've ever needed you before.
help us lift up the least, the lost, the left out, and left behind. Help us take care of those that
live in the city and not those that's coming in the city. Father, we need you to empower us
to fight crime. You bad people in blue don't make all police officers bad,
but they risk their lives every day. Lord, we need you not to remove technology,
but add more to curtail the violence. Make every city ward safe. We need you to help our city. You
can't drive without smelling dope. We want you to take control of our school system and not have
people bow into unions that are not educating our children. Raise somebody to stand up for our
children. Give us a budget that reflects the interests of our diverse city. Help us provide
for the homeless of our city.
Provide all the finances needed
for our mayor's budget.
Help us, Lord,
to stop worrying about being politically correct
but doing what's correct.
Lord, make Chicago
a beacon light to a murky world.
Make Chicago a city of love, hope, and peace.
Make Chicago a great city
so that I won't be confronted
about negative news
when I travel across this world.
Do it right now.
And we'll be so careful to give you the praise, the glory, and honor you so richly deserve.
In the mighty, majestic, and marvelous name of Jesus, we do pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Mr. Clerk, Madam Clerk, please add Alderman Vasquez to the roll call, please.
Mr. Clerk, please add Alderman Mosley to the roll call, please.
Madam, Mr. Clerk, please add Alderwoman Scott to the roll call, please.
Vasquez, Scott, and Mosley.
You're welcome.
Are there any other members that wish to be added to the roll call?
Very well, then.
Mr. Clerk, public comments now.
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 automatic review our first speaker
today is lisa bowden lisa bowden is not present our next speaker is george blakemore
Good morning to my black people here.
This is disgrace.
This is Black History Month.
And I see some of our beautiful ladies
having on these African garments.
You don't show your blackness for how you dress.
You show your blackness for how you vote.
And some of you voted for sanctuary.
If anybody needs sanctuary, black people need it.
Now this, over here, they very disrespectful.
Michelle Harris and all of them just talking while I'm talking.
They are part of the problem.
The black people have issues because you have poor black leadership.
and Reverend Woo-Woo got somebody up here to pray for us.
Just pray your way out this plantation.
Pray your way into reparation.
This is disgraceful.
No boycott, no black, empty seats of black people.
When it was packed with these illegal immigrants
and packed with these white Jews and white air,
where are the black people?
The ancestors hate you.
They never knew that you were going to turn out like you are and do what you're doing.
You're disgraceful.
The miseducation of the black man, Carter G. Woodson said, the miseducation of the black man.
And what kind of man did they make on the plantation?
Use your imagination. It starts with an end.
We got to purge ourselves for that and become strong black men and women.
You got no representation.
Black faces in high places.
It's sad.
Look at here.
This place should be packed with black people.
You have no quiet.
You're disgraceful.
You to the ancestors.
If that king could see this, Malcolm X and all our heroes and sheroes and Harriet Tubman said, I could have freed no blacks if they knew they were slaves.
Don't you know we feel on the plantation?
Don't let this fool you.
Don't go there.
You're not like these white alchemists.
You're not like these Hispanic alchemists.
You're not like the Asian alchemists.
You are black alchemists.
and remember your blackness.
Remember where you came from
and how you got here.
And you haven't got over,
looking back, how I got over,
you haven't got over
the legacy of slavery.
You'll see us on this
white man's plantation
in a hot...
Mr. Blackmore, thank you very much
for your comments.
Our next speaker is
Tawan Sims.
Hey, good morning, good morning.
I find it courageous, the way the man speaks.
I know y'all think it's entertaining, and a lot of us will bow our heads to it, because
we're convicted by it.
But we're losing in this city, black people.
I'm the young black man that love black people.
I'm a young black man that's wild about black people.
But I'm also the young black man in the city
that's being underserved, mistreated,
and just basically made to be invisible.
I've been attacked in this city, shot multiple times.
I've been pushed to the side by law enforcement.
For what reason, I don't know.
I'm attacked by judges.
For what reason, I don't know.
I guess it's for speaking up for black people.
That's the only thing I could think about.
But we just received new representation
in Brandon Johnson.
I was like, yeah, we got a smart black man in the...
School board, all these little different things.
I was like, yeah.
But then I think about other things.
So to speak about what, I'm from Rogers Park.
I'm from the North side for 30 years.
I'm sure most of you all will hear about Paulina or East Rogers Park and not understand how
can that be a part of the North side of Chicago?
Multiple murders, unsolved.
My brother was killed in 1995.
His name is Walter Sims.
I have not had a follow-up call.
There was a young man murdered, what, a few weeks, not a few months ago when the, what,
the yellow line crashed.
His name is Kenneth.
He was murdered by a young man named Kamari.
I know both of these young kids.
Friends, murdered, but one of them is going to get off because the charges that were filed
against him were rocked.
So the city is showing us that black lives don't matter or black life does not matter
to it.
And we're being condemned in this sense.
We're being forgotten in that thought.
So I'm the young black man, Taiwan Sims, that love black people and want to see some type
of resolve in it. Some reparation, maybe. Some understanding, hopefully. These are our
electeds. We got Maria Haddon, Alderman Building in the far south side. Everybody that should feel
responsible. Everybody lining their pockets. Everybody getting something out of it. Everybody,
except for the people. So we ask, honestly, wholeheartedly, when do we get the consideration?
When? When? Honestly, I'm from your War 49th.
We got a congressional woman been in the office for 24 years.
When do we get some consideration?
No, don't shake your head, Maria, because I've been hitting you up for like, what, the last few weeks?
I'm sleeping in the 24th District, woman, and you still ain't.
Please. But sorry, y'all.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Jessica Jackson.
Good morning.
I'm sure everybody knows about a movie, Scarface, right?
It's a classic, Al Pacino, right?
Everybody knows about that movie.
And we, you know, we focus on the famous lines in that movie.
You know, the acting and the hello to my little friend and all that.
But it's the beginning of that movie that matters.
When those words are coming up on that screen, that's what matters.
And those words say, in May 1980, Fidel Castro opened the harbor at Muriel, Cuba, with the apparent intention of letting some of his people join their relatives in the United States.
Within 72 hours, 3,000 U.S. boats were headed for Cuba.
It soon became evident that Castro was forcing the boat owners to carry back with them not only their relatives, but the dregs of his jails.
Of that 125,000 refugees that landed in Florida, an estimated 25,000 had criminal records.
That's what's up.
That's what has happened in the United States right now.
All this asylum-seeking lie, all this about refugees, no, no, no.
What's happening is they're emptying out the dregs of their jails into the United States, into our communities.
They're junking up our country.
And, yeah, we feel some kind of way about it because it's our country.
It's our country.
People like FastQuest and them, look how disrespectful they are.
Now, you just gave that man a resolution for his father's restaurant.
And every time we get up and talk, he's working this room.
Look at him.
But he wants his resolution for his father to be respected.
Basquiat, Lopez, all them want their people to be respected, but they can't even give us the dignity.
But what we built for them, ain't no question about it.
Yeah, Black History Month, the American descendants of slavery.
And I want you to know, Brandon Johnson, I understand what Blakemore's saying about we still on the plantation.
But what you looking at right now, this is what a free Negro look like.
And I'm telling you, we're going to get our city back.
We're going to stand for our people.
We're going to get them out of our communities because they don't deserve to be there.
anytime they can't give us three lousy minutes of their attention while we sit here and watch y'all
get them all kind of money you watch us we black out here and we're gonna handle our business
you watch that i'm a free black woman this is how we get down
thank you very much for your comments our next speaker is zoe lee
i'm going to start with the words of desmond yancey this behavior is not only acceptable
it is an indication that he is unfit for leadership majority of the people sitting
on city council is unfit for leadership and i know this is not the same yancey that didn't vote
censure carlos ramirez rosa because they would weaponize you none of you public servants cannot
afford to be arguing and fighting like children when it's a whole war outside. Let's get into it.
It's 68,000 Chicagoans that are homeless. Majority of them are black. Our black kids are running
rampant out here. Record carjackings, record auto theft and robberies. Downtown has three to four
illegal families on every block begging for work and selling Kit Kat bars after a billion dollars
was spent on them. Where is that money? Where is the money for the South Side and the West Side
communities, that should be the argument. It's 20 black aldermen and women and a lot of upset
black constituents who voted y'all in. So run into the white media outlets who won't even run a story
about stolen properties being taken in our communities, the displacement of elder people,
the mass illegal evictions happening on the South Side, and the massive bed bug problem that the
Chicago Public Housing Authority has had and is not being addressed. When it's a Chicago bed bug
ordinance that is supposed to charge the landlord $2,000 per day. So just like the Latino order
people in here that stick together, it should be the same with the Blacks. And lastly, when are you
going to find a floor leader? It's been three months. That should be another argument. We also
will be voting no to bring Chicago home on March 19th. And Mayor Johnson, glad to hear you decided
not to ask city council to prove not another dollar for the illegals. If the crisis is so bad,
the city council members who are so concerned to donate their salaries to the cause like a real
public servant should. Happy fucking black history. We just want to remind that speakers
are reminded that people of all ages are listening to the public comments, and we ask that you please
refrain and respect the others and refrain from personal attacks or using profanity. Thank you
very much. Our next speaker is Michael Young Bay.
May I have your undivided attention please? Yes, you do. Good morning.
Okay. Because when someone's speaking up at this mic, shouldn't the alderman be talking or having no sidebar or nothing?
That also is in y'all rules.
Just as well as when the vote is on the table,
when you're doing a roll call,
shouldn't nobody be leaving in and out.
But that happened during the Emmett Mint incident.
You see, y'all not respecting the rules,
and so you're not respecting the public.
And as the chairman, the mayor should be calling y'all out.
That's what a chairman do.
He don't sit back and allow y'all to break the rules.
because if we do something that you don't like,
then you want to call the police.
You want to have a person removed.
You see?
What we've been speaking about is about reparations.
We've been down here speaking about fair wages.
We've been speaking about the homeless of our people.
And for the most part, it's been falling on deaf ears.
It's been falling on deaf ears.
You can say I prophesied this day, because yesterday for the members that were here,
I say it would be us three plus one to do it here today.
I gave honors to Greg Mitchell, and today I give honors to Haddon, for he and my wife,
for helping, assisting, Jeanette Taylor, for bringing us in her office to hear our plea.
So to Yancy, I give high honors to him too for assisting me, etc. We have to show much
love and unity amongst each other because it's a bigger fight out here. It's a real
big fight because I'm actually experiencing all these things. They say they gave migrants
$9,000. Damn, they let us go all the way, months to get in court to where our bill ran
up to $9,000. We came
down here. I gave you a hard
drive with every information
on there, Mayor Johnson, and you still
haven't met with me and my wife.
What's going on?
Why you can't meet with us and the discrimination
that was happening to us? Y'all be talking
this stuff about the children and stuff.
It started over them, over Salvation Army
discriminating against my child.
A five-year-old child. Well, at the time
three. Broke my
daughter hard that she can't go to the class
that they had in the Salvation Army.
She was crying for weeks.
She have a delay right now
because of that.
Because my daughter don't like just toys.
Her number one thing is education,
is school.
You see, I've been fighting a lot
with the nonsense that's been going on.
Then I come down here
and it's the nonsense.
And Sahity Hall is supposed to be something sacred.
But yet y'all got somebody pastoring
saying like he running for a campaign.
Thank you very much, sir, for your comments.
Your Honor, there are no further speakers who have timely signed up for the public comment period.
Thank you very much, resolutions.
We have three resolutions today celebrating Black History Month, honoring the legacy of the Divine Nine,
and honoring the 157th anniversary of Morehouse College.
Alderman Mitchell.
Morning, Mr. President.
I move for the temporary suspension of the rules for the immediate consideration of these resolutions.
Hearing no objections, so ordered in the interest of respecting people's time, we will forego the reading of the resolutions and go straight to remarks from the city council.
So we're going to allow for a moment for the box, for our guests to have an opportunity to get to the box.
But our first resolution is celebrating Black History Month.
If there are alders that wish to speak to this resolution, please indicate and we will place you in the order in which you indicate.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Thank you very much.
As the members that are being honored today
work their way to the box,
we have a few members that wish to speak. The first person, the chair recognizes, Alderman Will Hall.
Thank you, Mr. President. Today, I want to, first of all, say thank you to all of those
who are in the box, some of which I know personally, but I want to highlight a woman
who invited me into her home when I was knocking doors, Ms. Darlene Tribute, who recently celebrated
a birthday and has led the Park Manor neighbors for so many years, longer than I've been alive.
And so I want Chicago and the world to know that there's power in unity.
And so thank you, Ms. Darlene Tribute, for unifying our ward and always showing up and allowing me to speak and always invite me to your dining room table.
God bless you.
Thank you, Alderman Hall.
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Michelle Harris.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Today I'm proud to support this resolution.
I do want to acknowledge one of my personal friends, Chuck Bowen, who is going to be recognized by another word, but to thank him for his years of leadership and commitment and for helping the ministry.
So today, Chuck, a beautiful life and a legacy. Thank you for being here with us today. But one of my very own residents, Paul King, has played a leading role in advocating for the inclusion of Black individuals in the construction and the trades, addressing both underrepresented and systematic barriers by Black builders, contractors.
He began in 1969 and he's worked and still is working out there in the field today to help people and bring black people into the construction venue.
Paul King has been, I just can't even tell you, he changes the life, and he's worked with Springfield to change both local and national levels, resulting in regulation and executive orders that have changed the economic justice for Blacks and minority communities within the industry.
He's a successful entrepreneur.
King founded UBM, which under his leadership became one of the nation's top Black-owned
general contractor for firms.
King is also a writer who has published in the Black Scholar, Black Entrepreneur, the
Chicago Tribune, the Sun-Times, and Indigo.
And he's even authored two books.
Born and raised on the South Side, Mr. King lives with his lovely wife and my soror, Loanne,
Together, they've raised two wonderful sons, Paul III and Tim King.
King's lifelong dedication to social justice, business leadership, and advancement of Black
people in the construction industry and beyond reflects a deep-seated commitment to bettering
his community and serves as a testament to his enduring legacy.
Today, I'm proud to celebrate the life and the legacy of Paul King, who couldn't be here
with us today, but he's out there on the screen. Mr. King, thank you for being a wonderful
resident and taking it and planning it forward. Thank you, Alderman Harris. The chair recognizes
Alderman David Moore. I came in late. That was quick. I don't have my hand up. I thought I was
fifth. Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I stand in support of this resolution. I want to
I commend all of my colleagues who brought someone down because as I look at this box,
many of these people here, y'all made great choices because they just didn't serve your ward.
They served all of us. And I want to thank you all so much for your service. I cannot, before I
get to my person, I want to thank you, Mr. Bowen, for all of your years of service. Thank you for
always being there with and for my leader, Reverend Clay Evans, over the years as you worked
in this administration, allowing me to be in rooms that others couldn't be in so I can get to this
point where I have the knowledge and understanding to operate in government. So thank you so much for
your service over the years. I see Ms. Darley in tribute, even before I became alderman, a person
that was there, supportive, teaching us young people how to lead and be leaders. And so there
are just so many people in this box, even Mr. King, as I was at CHA, the many people that he
helped as Terry Peterson when he was head over there. I just saw the work that you all did,
and I want to say I appreciate you. There's a person that I brought down here. I tell people
there are people in life that you have to sometimes be so afraid of that you are afraid to do anything
bad and disappoint them in life. That person for me in life was Reverend Clay Evans. I wouldn't go
to certain places because I didn't want to mess up his name. And I didn't do certain things because
I didn't want to mess up his name. Well, there's a person in my ward that I don't ever want any bad
news to get back to about me, and that's Ms. Shirley Bryant. That's because of everything
that she's done throughout the 17th Ward and Auburn-Gresham community for many, many years.
From being a B facilitator, still a senior, when people say, I'm afraid of gang members,
I'm afraid of this, she go out there and she talk to them. She don't holler at them, but she's
stern with them like a mother. And to this day, they still respect her. She's on the board of
Target Area Group when we're talking about violence prevention. She sits on that board.
She's on a senior subcommittee for the 6th District Police and also National Night Out Committee on that committee, but also a beat facilitator showing up at all her beat meetings, making sure our community stays safe, but also, also holding her electors accountable.
and I thank you for that.
Trust me, she's got in my behind a few times,
but she's still here because it's about respect.
It's not to hurt you.
It's to make you better.
And I thank you so much, Ms. Bryant,
for making me a better person.
God bless you.
Thank you, Alderman.
When you refer to young people,
were you referring to yourself?
Yes?
I am, yes.
Okay, very good.
All right.
Chair recognizes Alderman Pat Dowell.
Thank you, Mr. President. I too rise to be associated with this resolution. I want to say to Chuck Bowen, good job, Chuck. I'm glad to see you down here.
I guess Lamont and I need to fight over a couple of people in the box, but I'm glad to see that he brought you down here today.
But I rise today because in the third ward, we are fortunate to have a genuine humanitarian in the form of Pastor Earl Granberry.
Will you please stand?
From True Rock Ministries, which is located at 16th and Wabash.
Now, I'm sure many of you are familiar with Reverend Granberry and his acts of kindness truck, because it goes all over the city, giving away toys, furniture, toiletries, food and clothing to people in need.
Just a few weeks ago, he was the person responsible for feeding hundreds of homeless people, migrants, public housing residents that all gathered at his church to get food and clothing when they were in need.
And a few weeks ago, I picked up the phone to call him about a young man at a local school who was living in a situation at home where he didn't have any food, really no security or parents around him.
And Reverend Granberry jumped in immediately, provided that family, the boys' brothers with food, went over to their house in the middle of the night to take care of that family.
This is rare because most pastors, unfortunately, stay within the walls of their church, and
we need to make sure that pastors and celebrate pastors who come outside of the walls of the
church to do good.
No one is immune to the blessings that Pastor Granberry and his acts of kindness trucks
bestows on those in need.
and he's been a pastor now for about 40 years, but he's not just a pastor. He's also an author,
an author of a book called Don't Forget to Close the Door, which you can find on Amazon, by the way,
and he is someone who graduated from DuSable High School. He ran track, right?
and so I want to say that there's enormous need in Chicago and this is a pastor who helps to
fulfill that need in the city of Chicago and for that Pastor Granbury and your commitment to the
city of Chicago the city of Chicago and the residents of the third ward celebrates you today
and acknowledge your lovely wife Mrs. G we all call Pastor Granbury Pastor G and so Mrs. G it's
good to see you here today as well. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for this celebration.
You're welcome, and thank you.
Chair recognizes Alderman Desmond Yancey.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of this resolution. I see a couple friends in the
box I want to acknowledge. First off, Evelyn Johnson, everybody's favorite Mama E. She just
has done so much in this community and I'm just so grateful that she is here. Don't cry.
My cousin Quentin Curtis and Blackfire Brigade, you know, if it wasn't for the work that you
all have done, we have much fewer, much less representation, you know, in our EMS services.
So keep on doing that hard work. And then I want to acknowledge who I brought in from
the fifth ward, the mayor of Greater Grand Cross and Sam Benyon. Sam Benyon and I met
Last fall, about a year and a half ago,
when I decided to run for Alderman and he called me,
didn't know me and said, I'm with you.
And we spent the first few months getting signatures
out of his backyard with a heater in the garage,
old school campaign stuff.
And just grateful to be able to support his work
in Greater Grand Crossing and because of that,
and all you do, also with Operation Neighborhood Safety,
this brother and a bunch of other not so young folks
get out during the summer months
and sit at gas stations to help make sure that people feel safe all along the third district,
second and third district. So, man, brother, thank you so much for all that you do. We love
you, appreciate you, and the Fifth Ward celebrates you. Thank you. Thank you, Alderman.
The chair recognizes Alderman Derek Curtis. Thank you, Mr. President. I, too,
support this resolution. I want to thank and congratulate everyone in the box today.
I want to talk really briefly about a young man that grew up running around in the halls and the courtyards of Cabrini-Green projects.
This young man had a fetish for emergency vehicles.
he always wanted to be a firefighter.
One day, unfortunately, there was a fire.
He saw a fire truck rushing down the street, chasing after this truck.
And he saw a black man firefighter on the back of this truck.
And he said, one day I want to be just like him.
He actually went to a firehouse at a very young age.
They mentored him.
And until he was up to age to take the fire exam, pass the exam.
And after 26 years rising as the rank of lieutenant, he has been actually very successful.
Quentin Curtis, everyone knows him as Q.
Actually hate the name Quentin Curtis.
He had this thing, but hey, call me Q.
He started the Black Fire Brigade, started in 2018,
came together with volunteer firefighters, police officers,
and medical, certified medical technicians
to put together a brigade that will help the kids on the inner city streets of the city of Chicago.
To this day since 2018, the Black Fire Brigade has put 725 young men and women from all across the city and the country through this program.
there's been 225 single moms and the most thing i love about this 14 homeless young men
all of this was done with no city no county and no state funding there was all through
fundraising efforts, which cost about $1,400 to $1,500 per kid to send through this program.
So I want to honor you today, Quentin Curtis, you want to stand, and the Black Fire Brigade.
I bought into this program.
Actually, I hate.
I have on my shirt and my pen.
Made me nervous for a second there.
Hey, I bought into this program because, man, you know,
So the Black Fiber Gay motto is, if you teach a child to save a life, they'll be less likely to take one.
And this is a proven, a proven, proven organization that's been saving the lives of these kids.
We've been trying very hard to get funding because fundraising is hard.
So, again, we'll be advocating for funding from the city.
Mr. President. Again, I thank you guys for being a part of all of the kids life. Thank you, Mr.
President. Thank you. Thank you. Alderwoman Mitch, do you wish to be recognized? The chair recognizes
Alderwoman Emma Mitch. And for the purpose of the quorum as well, Mr. Mitch. Absolutely. You are no longer
remote and we're glad to have you live in the flesh. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the
City Council, I want to stand today and support this resolution.
I take this very personal as we look to pick someone from our community to come down to
be honored today.
And it's certainly a reward that you wouldn't be sitting in that box.
Somebody thought highly enough of you to select you for the work that you've done throughout
the years, and it should be recognized here in the council.
Let me recognize my constituents.
Her name is Ms. Roberta Wilson, a long-time 37 Ward resident and law community activist.
An educator advocate and supporter has worked to improve the life of young people
through education for nearly three decades of giving scholarships. She has served as a tenuous,
pilots, and dedicated liaison between local and state educators, policy makers, and community
residents. She has marked the school choice, a kind, yet outspoken woman.
Ms. Wilson, as I call her the Ottoman, best described her life philosophy in this manner,
where she learned from a favorite aunt who generously gave of her time, talent, and treasure to her family and community.
I've always believed that individuals should have the opportunity to reach their highest potential.
And I know that education is the best way to open the door to the future success.
I was taught to aim high and never give up on your dreams.
She was employed by the Chicago Public Schools for over 27 years.
Ms. Wilson transferred her love of education to several generations of lucky students.
She is very active in the 37th Ward, volunteered for local churches, Black Club president, and energetic members of many local organizations.
Ms. Wilson has reached the 90s now, and she's still on the battlefield.
I've been in office for 24 years.
I would like to say this.
This is a testimony to us when we disagree.
So Ms. Wilson and I haven't always agreed, but yet we may remain compassionate, understanding,
and caring, which gave me even more respect for her and the work that she do, respecting
your elders.
And I applaud you today, Ms. Wilson, giving you your flowers while you live.
Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and congratulations, Ms. Wilson.
Thank you very much, Alderwoman Mitts.
Chair recognizes Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor.
Thank you, Mr. President. Happy Black history. You know, too often these 28 days ain't enough
because I wear this Black skin 24-7. And the thought that people are okay with questioning
what Black leadership is doing is a problem, especially when you don't know what it's like
to walk around with this Black skin. And all Black people do all the time is mind their own
business, but it's funny. Somebody always got something to say for the people who built the
country for free, for the people who are always carrying the water for everybody else. It's the
audacity and the oxygen of some people who sit amongst us to say what black leadership are doing.
Remember, we couldn't be in black leadership. Remember, we couldn't be in this space. And so
forgive us for struggling to hold it together, but stand with us and stop talking about us
because it's easy for you to throw out your talking points and say what you think about us
when you ain't that right with your own community yourself. So let's humble ourselves before we talk
about Black leadership. And so I thought Desmond was going to steal my lady, but Mama E affectionately
belongs to the 20th Ward. Mama Evelyn Jones is a lifelong resident of the city of Chicago.
She's been doing community work since 1972. A member of the seven district caps,
Sissus and Conception. She has worked on numerous campaigns. She's completed six books. Mama E,
you know I love you. You know there's nothing like an elder in your community checking you,
and that's Mama E. I am honored to sit at her feet and learn the lessons of the past,
because the problem with all of this is we ain't learned from our past. Mama E also is a part of
the 2003 Granny's Program, and that's why grandmamas sit on the block and they protect
the young people in there. Last but not least, Mama E also started reclaiming our youth day
back in July of 2011. And it's a day of Black economic development, intergenerational youth
programming, where we teach young Black people to own their own businesses. Mama E, I love you.
I respect you. Thank you for checking me. Thank you for being part of this community. Thank you
for not leaving. Happy Black History Month. To the Black Fire Brigade over there.
To our black firefighters, thank you for your service to our community.
I don't know about y'all, but I don't know if y'all know that the black firefighters
that sued the city of Chicago 17 times and won every time.
But the problem is there is no change behavior for the black brothers and sisters that look after us every day.
And so that is a problem in our city.
So our black firefighters, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for being in our community.
Thank you for wanting to do this work.
Thank you for standing up for this city.
Thank you.
We don't get that district decree back.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Are there any other Alders that wish to speak?
Okay, we have one more, at least two more.
All right, so then we'll go with,
the chair recognizes Alderman Lamont Robinson.
Alderman, be careful who you honor.
If it's a woman, I've noticed that Alderman David Moore
has used this as an opportunity to get free kisses.
So beware.
Chair recognizes Alderman Lamont Robinson.
Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for this opportunity.
There are several folks in the box that I would like to recognize.
I grew up listening to Mama E at Operation Push
talk about the issues and concerns that face our community.
And Mama E, as a former state representative and as a current alderman, I hear you, I love you, and I appreciate you.
To my pops, Pastor G in the box.
Pastor G as Alderman Dow mentioned ladies and gentlemen for 365 days a year
cares for folk not only on the south side of Chicago Mr. Mayor but also on the west side
of Chicago. You see, I thought that I had taken care of all of my seniors, and for whatever reason,
some seniors were missing some Thanksgiving items, food to make Thanksgiving dinner.
and I had exhausted Mr. Mayor all of my resources, all of my favors, but I knew who to call who on
that very day made sure that those 20 seniors received all the necessary trimmings to be able
to have a Thanksgiving dinner. And so Pastor G, I thank you for not only doing that for my seniors,
But as Autumn and Dow mentioned, making sure folks have clothing and other items. Kids have toys on Christmas Day. You are what we consider Jesus like. And we thank you. We honor you. We appreciate you. But you can't do this work alone.
You have a woman sitting by your side and Mama G that pushes you and makes you better every single day and is the woman that you put on me when I go left.
It's not you. It's Mama G that keeps me straight.
And so Mama G, thank you very much and I love you.
To the Black Fire Brigade, I'm honored that Chairwoman Taylor and Chairman Telleferro have allowed me the opportunity to sit at the table, Mr. Mayor, to make sure that we get it right.
We have not done right by our Black firefighters in the city of Chicago, and it is a new day.
And, Mr. Mayor, I know that with this body, you will get it right.
because folks should not have to sue this great city to be able to get in positions that they
deserve. It's wrong and it ain't right. And Mr. Mayor, I know again that you will work with this
body because you get it. You understand these issues. And so thank you to the Blackfire Brigade
by pushing us to make sure that we do right.
If you are running for public office,
particularly on the South Side,
you are asked to go see an individual
by the name of Chuck Bowen.
Chuck, please stand.
At the age of 90, ladies and gentlemen, former Cook County Commissioner Charles R. Bowen,
born on 1923. And in 1948, he joined the 184th Artillery at 35th and Giles. He became the youngest
precinct captain of the old Second Ward under Congressman Bill Dawson of the 1st Congressional
District. In 1991, he was assistant to Mayor M. Daley. And in that capacity, he just did not take
that role and say, okay, I'm the big shot assistant to Mayor Daley. He pushed Mayor Daley to do right.
And his achievement, his crowding achievement, excuse me, is saving the 35th Street Armory
that was going into demolition. All this great history was going to be removed by the city of
Chicago. And so, Chuck, thank you for allowing our kids to attend the thriving Chicago Military
Academy in Bronzeville. Chuck is an avid art collector that supports Black and African artists
all across the world, as well as a historian.
You need to know something about Chicago.
It is Chuck.
And to his lovely wife, thank you, Ms. Bowen.
Please stand.
There you are.
Thank you for doing what you do to take care of one of our prized possessions.
And so, Mr. Mayor, in the African-American community, it takes a village to elevate our
community. Mr. Mayor, from you to our vice mayor behind us, to the city's Chicago treasurer,
to our chairman and our chairwoman, it is all of us, Mr. Mayor, that elevates the African-American
community. And I ask that those of us that are not African-American, that it is your responsibility,
as all those of this great city to do right by the African-American community that for far too long
has not gotten its rights, has not gotten its due. And so I ask every author in this
building to make sure that again, you do your part to elevate our community.
The reason that we have this great city is because of the folks that are here today in this box.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Thank you.
I do apologize, Alderwoman, that you have to come behind that.
I would sing a solo to break it up a little bit, but I don't have time for that.
Chair recognizes Alderwoman Stephanie Coleman.
Thank you, Mr. President.
As a church girl, I will pass a collection plate and say thank you, Reverend Robinson, for that.
In addition to this being celebrating centuries of wisdom, hope, love, Black excellence,
it's also Black Boy Magic Day with being the birthdays of Lamont and David.
So happy birthday to our colleagues.
I would like to recognize Mr. Richard Stamps, who at the age of 102 years old passed away,
but his daughter has kept on the legacy. Before there was a Don Cornelius, there was a
a fine young man from Englewood who was the first African-American to debut on WBBMTV right from the 16th Ward Englewood neighborhood.
Ms. Stamps, will you stand?
And in her day, she was like Blue Ivy because she was just a seventh grader at Copernicus School on 60th and Truth.
and everyone came back to school saying we saw your dad on tv and to be a young black girl in the
1940s and having not witnessed african americans on tv was a major deal and i want to thank you for
continuing on his legacy and making sure that mr sam's name uh is still alive as we as we have
the former alderman shirley coleman who's also here has named the street and the city has
recognized him while he was living. Not only was he a TV personality, but also a radio disc jockey,
as well as an entrepreneur and a comedian. I heard that he would give Richard Pryor a run for his
money. Good thing they couldn't censor back then on the radio, because I think he would have gotten
fined a lot. So Mr. Stamps, born in 1904 in Memphis, Tennessee. What I love about Mr. Stamps,
and I was just eight years old, he never left Inglewood.
He never left 6040 South Racine.
And that house is still in the family.
And I want to thank you again
for not only continuing on the legacy,
but being true diehard Inglewood excellence
and refusing not to leave our beloved community.
We are Inglewood excellence.
And I thank God for you.
And again, I want to acknowledge everyone and the Black Caucus who we chose to honor
our unsung heroes that we do not know every day.
And each and every one of you all have elevated from the fire brigade to Chuck Bowen.
It is the high school that you founded that should be Chuck Bowen Chicago Military Academy
that I graduated from.
each and every one of you have elevated not only the African-American community, but elevated every
one of us right here on this council. God bless you, and thank you, Mr. President. Thank you,
Alderman. So I just, I have two final speakers, unless anyone else wishes to speak. I have two
final. So the chair recognizes Alderman Ronnie Mosley. I got you, brother. Thank you. Thank you,
Mr. President. I rise in support of this resolution and in particular to Mr. Edward H.
Campbell Sr. who was born December 22, 1920, which by my count makes you 103 years old.
Yeah.
Mr. President, Mr. Campbell is one of the 21st Ward's eldest members and the oldest person here in this chamber.
He is a veteran who served from 1939 to 1945 and was gifted an honor in May of 2015 for a service in the Illinois National Guard and the U.S. Army.
rising to the rank of technical sergeant and a member of the 1st Battalion Headquarter Company.
And you know, after his tour of duty, he didn't stop working. He went on to be gainfully employed
by the United Postal Service for almost 40 years. And Mr. President, as we work in this body to
housed, Chicago's unhoused. I have to note that Mr. Campbell is one of the first members to
purchase his home in the historic Maple Park community that was built for the Black community
here in Chicago. And 63 years later, he is still at that same address.
and yes Mr. Campbell has many titles it can be a church deacon can be a large master but I know
that he is proud to be the husband of his wife May Bell who he's married to for 75 years
Mr. Campbell is the father of six children, 12 grandchildren, or the grandfather of 12 grandchildren, who his granddaughter Misty is accompanying him here today.
he has 14 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
So Mr. President, as we honor the Black excellence of this month during Black History Month,
I made sure that the 21st war was well represented in its rich history and all that it contributes
to the city and beyond in honoring and recognizing Mr. Edward H. Campbell Sr. Thank you, sir.
Alderman, I appreciate that. Now we have two final speakers for sure. And thank you,
Mr. Campbell, for your contribution to the Black Census. So Alderman Mosley was making a public
service announcement encouraging more black people to have black children loud and clear.
The chair recognizes Alderman Raymond Lopez.
Good morning, Mr. President, members of the city council.
I rise in support of this resolution and this recognition of our guests here who, through
their actions over their lifetime, have contributed not just to the black experience, but to the
Chicago experience. Though I wasn't asked, I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize some of the pillars
of my ward, representing a diverse ward that includes many African Americans, individuals
like Faye Dickens, who works at Marquette Elementary School, like a den mother for the
children, Evangeline Wynubian, who's a frequent attendee of our city council meetings, resident
of West Englewood and someone who's worked to ensure that the lived Black experience is taught
to younger generations. Gwen Johnson, who is one of my senior council members in the community,
continues to find ways to build a bridge for seniors in the neighborhood. And Verna Swan,
who is a part of We Grow Chicago, continues to find ways to bring people in the neighborhoods
together. But as we are sitting here today, and as the question I pose that's been referenced
numerous times, you know, we cannot, Mr. President, simply talk about history.
Because if we are only looking at what was, we are going to miss what can and should be.
We heard from many of our speakers earlier today, including someone whom I personally believe never
gets the recognition he deserves for being a part of the living Black history, Mr. George Blakemore,
who though I will be the first to admit, sometimes his words sting, but his passion
may be raw, but it is real because his questions have always revolved around three things,
goods, contracts, and jobs. Mr. Blakemore, like so many before him, like so many here with us today,
have always, always advocated to ensure that Chicago's African American community, Chicago's
Black Chicagoans are not forgotten, excluded, or left out. So much so that while we are sitting
here today recognizing our heroes, we are currently suing one of them now for speaking out.
So the challenge while I'm standing here today, Mr. President, is to you and to your administration
to drop the charges against George Blakemore for doing what everyone does on behalf. Thank you.
and while we are here while we are recognizing where we have come where the black community
has come yes we should take note that our mayor our vice mayor our treasurer half the chairman
are all african-american and nearly half of every department head in the city of chicago
is African American. So I say to all of you, then what problem is there within the community that we
cannot fix? It is fair to say that when you have all the levers of power at your disposal,
the only excuse is the one we don't want to say, which is that we are choosing not to uplift
when we are in complete control of what can happen.
I know some have said I have no right to question.
That's fine.
But I also was told that I have to do what I have to do
to stand up for the Black people.
You don't get it both ways in this room,
contrary to what everyone seems to think.
So if you want allies to stand up and defend and fight and push
to ensure that what everyone else has enjoyed,
the community is allowed to enjoy too,
then you're gonna hear it from people like me too.
Because I represent not just Latinos,
but African-Americans as well.
And when they come to my ward night,
everything that I say here is a reflection
of everything they say in my conference room,
not two feet in front of me.
They want to know why our contracting opportunities
are not reflective of their demographics.
Why all of Latino women, African-American,
and Asian have to rely on 26 and 6 when African Americans and Latinos make up two-thirds of this
city. Why we are still refusing to have a discussion about the Friedman classification
for our bid and contracting opportunities, something that's been brought up now to two
different mayors. There is definitely much work to be done, Mr. President. I believe that it can
happen. I believe that many of our residents want it to happen because that is what we should be
taking care of. Chicagoans, first and foremost, who've been waiting for their time. This
is your time. The question is, who will rise up to meet the moment? Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderwoman Maria Haddon.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you to every member of our city that's in the box today.
Thank you to everybody in the audience today. This Black History Month,
I'm going to do that thing that some of my colleagues do that I actually, I don't know
if I've ever said this. I wasn't planning to speak today. Wasn't planning to speak today.
Every year in February in council, we honor Black Chicagoans, we honor legacies, we honor
current works. And as a Black Chicagoan, although a Chicagoan by adopted city, I like to reflect on
both the role and the space that has been made for me, right, by those who've come before me,
and by all the continuing efforts and struggles of the people and the groups and the institutions
that I have been a part of and am currently a part of. Chicago is often in the crosshairs
of negativity around the country, around the state. They hate us. They hate Chicago. They're
always trying to tear Chicago down. And I think one of our biggest challenges within Chicago
is how we don't let that become something that's ingrained within us. How do we not tear each other
down? How do we not use our public platforms to sow negativity? What are we doing with our time
and our energy? I know I'm feeling a little upset today because a colleague of mine who just spoke
started off the day with some statements on social media that were, you know, there's challenges.
we should hold each other accountable. We should challenge one another. I've stood before here and
challenged almost each and every one of you. And I would appreciate when folks do the same to me.
We've got people in the box who I think a common theme that we heard from colleagues was thank you
for holding us accountable, right? To people in our community and not just Black Chicago, right?
To people in our community, to people in this audience, you're here to hold us accountable.
This is what you're here for. And we have to have those standards for ourselves.
But there's a fine line in genuine holding someone accountable out of love, out of shared respect, out of wanting to get to a goal together.
Right. And I know we do hear some things here that can that can feel hurtful, that can be offensive.
but I know a lot of the things that I hear in public comment, I try to listen. I'm always
listening. I'm always discerning. What are people really saying? What need are we not meeting?
Right? We're here in public space. You can throw the tomatoes at us. And in a lot of what people
say, there are grains of truth. There are unmet needs and there are voices of people who we are
not listening to. But when we're inside this house, you should be holding yourself accountable.
You should not be capitalizing on the pain, on the oppression, and on systemic issues
to try and shine a spotlight on your own failures. You can't be part of a group.
We are legislators. If you can't pass legislation, if you can't join a group, if you're not welcome, there might be a reason for that.
If you're not welcomed into a community, if you're not part of the we, then please hold your tongue or come with more respect.
this body, our city wants us to be accountable. The people here, they expect more from us.
And especially for those of us, I don't think there's, there are very few people in this body
who haven't fought long and hard for their position. And I know that we oftentimes disagree
on things, but I know every single person in this body is here because they really want what's best
for their constituents. I know you guys do. That's why we're here. So we need to show up in that
spirit of respect. And on a day, on a day when you know what we're going to be about, you know what
today is. On a day when you know what we're here for, in a time where, with so much Black leadership,
there are a lot of, there are a lot of dog whistle attacks on stuff. And it is hard to make sure
that we can have accountability for a mayor, for a treasurer, for an alderman, right? For everybody
while walking the fine line of not falling into that space of you're actually just using this to
tear people down. You're using this to tear people down. If you have to use someone else's, your
critiques of someone else to lift yourself up, then you're not doing the work that you need to do.
So this Black History Month, I want to lift up the people that are here in this box, the people that are here in this audience, the people that are here on this floor who show up for Chicagoans every day, who show up for Black Chicagoans every day, and who show up in love and in a spirit of respect and shared goals to make this city better.
And again, it's continual work.
This is continual work.
So this is not just about history.
It is about current times.
So I am honored to be a part of this body.
Mr. President, I'm honored to stand in support of this resolution.
And I didn't want that to be the final words or the final mouth that spoke today.
Thank you.
And to close this resolution, we have one final, final speaker.
The chair recognizes the last speaker for this particular resolution, Alderman Jason Irvin.
Thank you, Mr. President.
and thank you, Alderman Hatton, for your words.
Kind of stole some of the words that I was going to say,
but I think they have been said,
and I think that it's clear what this council thinks
and it's clear that our colleague has overstepped the bound.
But we're not going to end on that today.
We're going to continue with the honoring of these heroes
in our communities on the south and west side that the true Chicagoans that have been
through thick and thin have worked for the betterment of our city. One gentleman that I
want to speak of for whatever reason evades this space even though he has the privilege to sit here
amongst us, none other than my predecessor, the former alderman of the 28th Ward,
Alderman Ed Smith, who happens to be sitting behind us and not in the box where he's supposed
to be.
But I do want to honor him.
You understand, sir?
um in the uh there's a caucus west side black elected officials and uh that the alderman
mitts is our chair but he is kind of like the godfather of the west side when it comes to the
politics. Having been one of the longest serving aldermen, black aldermen in our council,
served from 1983 to 2010, 27 and a half years as a member of this body. I continue to ask him if
he wants to come back and he laughs at me and says that, no, not for a million dollars would
I come back. But you guys, as young people, it's my job to help guide the next generation.
and he meant that to heart. It's very rare, especially in politics, especially amongst
African-Americans, that somebody will step aside to bring up the next group. And that is exactly
what Alderman Smith has done when he mentored me, helped me, and essentially launched me into this
very body that I'm here today. So it is with that level of deference and respect that we have
for Alderman Smith, but not thinking just about today, but also thinking about tomorrow and what
it meant to the community to have a vision, to have leadership moving forward, and that they
were not the end-all, be-all of anything that was going to happen on the west side of Chicago. So
I want to thank you publicly as a mentor, as a father figure, as someone who truly leads by
example. He's still, and anybody that knows anything about this man, from the attic to the
basement. He knocks on doors. He's out. He was out the other day doing some work in the precinct. So
he's a true, not only a student, but a teacher of all of us and things that we have learned to do,
things a lot of us sometimes hate to do. But nonetheless, he led the example for us all.
And again, people know him wherever he goes on the west side and through this city as someone who was honorable, someone who was concerned and cared about his community, and someone who was a hard worker and continues to work even to this day, even though he's been retired for over 13 years, still out in the community, still part of the 28th Ward Democratic Organization, still providing counsel, still providing leadership, but not in a way that does not allow the rest of us to continue to work and move forward.
So today, sir, I honor you. I never had a chance to publicly at this floor say this. I love you and we appreciate the work that you've done to make this city great. Thank you.
Well, there are many names. Thank you all for your contributions to this resolution.
There are a number of names that have been read. I would just emphasize them again.
Kenneth Whaley, of course, our honoree today, Edward Amble, Sr., a member of this great city who also fought in World War II.
Wallace Gator Bradley is here. He is the president of United in Peace. We mentioned Misty Campbell.
Portia Ball is here. She's also a West Sider 37th Ward. Shirley Bryan and I know Darlene's name has
been mentioned. So everyone, cue all of you in the box. You know, since our city was founded
by Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable, Chicago has been shaped by the achievements and contributions
of Black people. And though while we strive to uplift and celebrate our Black residents every
day, Black History Month presents us with an opportunity to celebrate the indelible contributions
as well as to honor the sacrifices of those who've came before us, the bravery, fighting for equality,
civil rights and justice for all. Of course, through slavery and segregation, systemic racism,
disparities, mass incarceration, Black people somehow managed to love, support, and lift up
one another because we are truly a resilient people. Time and time again, we have witnessed
the resilience of Black Americans as we work to overcome the barriers that have stood before us.
So I'm proud to stand here as mayor of the city of Chicago.
As we recognize and honor so many people, I think it's also important to note some of the names that were mentioned today.
Because, you know, Roberta Wilson is a very humble, honest woman, but she marched through Marquette Park with Dr. King.
She was a part of the black educators who, along with Al Raby, invited him to this city to fight for housing, fair housing.
It's also, I think, appropriate that Alderman Lamont Robinson mentioned William Dawson.
Just a little social studies history fact.
When Anton Cermak decided to run for mayor in 31, I believe, there was a strong anti-immigrant position in Chicago.
There was one particular group of immigrants that were dominating the politics.
and Anton Cermak convinced William Dawson for the first time in the history,
convinced black Chicagoans to leave the Republican Party
and join the Democratic Party to fight for a pro-immigrant,
anti-black and pro-black liberation movement
that ultimately built a progressive coalition between black and brown people.
That's the legacy of Anton Cermak that led to the most powerful black politician
right here in the city of Chicago be informed.
So I think it's important that even though we believe
that this is the first time that the city of Chicago
has ever experienced turmoil,
be very clear, the resistance that we are experiencing now
is not new.
But what I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt,
that the city of Chicago will be better and stronger and safer
because we have a long history of black liberation
ensuring that.
So with that, I salute all of you in the box, and happy Black History Month.
Just going to give the box a few moments to clear out, okay?
As the box clears out, Alderman Mitchell, can I get a motion for the passage of this
resolution?
Mr. President, I move passage in the omnibus.
Hearing no objections, so order this resolution is passed.
Okay, this meeting will come back to order as the box continues to clear out.
Our next resolution will be honoring the legacy of the Divine Nine.
And so as these members clear out, and members from the Divine Nine, please approach the box.
As the members of the box clear out, I do would like, if I could just have, just quiet for a second, please.
I do think it's appropriate at this point.
For those who may not be aware, for the first time in the history of Chicago,
the transition of power from one black executive to another that happened and so
it is in that spirit as we recognize the leadership of the former mayor
Lori Lightfoot we are also grieving with her today as she lost her mother
So I would just ask this body, as we prepare to transition to the next resolution, if we could just honor the former mayor of the city of Chicago, just in a moment of silence for Ann Lightfoot.
the divine
mind honoring the legacy
if there are any alders that wish to speak
to this resolution
this will be the moment to do that
okay
the chair recognizes
Alderman Desmond Yancey.
Yeah, I rise in support of this resolution.
I am not a member of the Divine Nine,
but I want to shout out some folks that are influential in my life.
My cousin, Nathaniel Prevost,
who was the first college graduate in my family,
who pledged Alpha Phi Alpha at Texas Southern University.
I'm sorry, Preview A&M University.
My cousin, James Pickett,
who did the same at Western Illinois University.
And then, of course, my chief of staff, Charles Kyle,
and Jabari Knox, who works at the clerk's office.
and all of the members of the Divine Nine represented here today.
Thank you all for your service, your dedication to Blackness and uplifting all of us.
Appreciate you.
Thank you, Alderman.
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Pat Dowell.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise to be associated with this resolution, celebrating the Black fraternities and sororities
that comprise the Divine Nine.
I say congratulations to all of you in the box today.
I am a proud member, a new member of the esteemed Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated sorority,
which celebrated its 111th anniversary in January, professing the theme
Forward with Faith, Fortitude, and Social Action.
Our sorority was founded at Howard University in 1913, and we have a rich history of social activism and community involvement, not only during Black History Month, but all year round, all year long.
With us today in the box, we have our dynamic president,
Shaughnessy Curry, who is president of the Chicago,
of the Chicago alumni committee chapter.
Please stand.
And Barbara Keaton-Stubberfield,
who is our first vice president.
Please stand.
Paula Pollard, our second vice president.
Adrienne Bryant Roberts, who many of you know
as a former executive in the fire department,
but she is now the co-chair of our international awareness
and involvement committee.
Karen Freeman Wilson, who is the president and CEO
of Chicago Urban League.
And someone who was with us today, but is not here now,
Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps,
who is a soror of our esteemed sorority.
These dynamic women lead and uplift Delta Sigma Theta
as we've strived to meet our commitment in areas
such as civil rights, women's rights and education.
So today we celebrate you and everyone else that's part of the Divine Nine.
And this is our day.
Thank you.
To the Sigmas, Chair recognizes Vice Mayor Alderman Walter Burnett.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
I also rise in support of this resolution to honor the Divine Nine.
And I just want to thank each organization for giving African American men and women a fraternity to be a part of and a sobriety to be a part of to help not only keep them on track while in college, but also to be able to have a good time and have brotherhood and sisterhood.
But also further than that, want to commend all of you all for becoming role models in our community, being those role models that encourage more young African-American men and women to want to go to college, to want to be successful, because all of you all are successful and always are reaching back.
You know, our fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, and of course, our sisters, Zeta Phi Beta, with the Sigmas, we believe in brotherhood, scholarship and service.
Our motto is culture for service and service for humanity.
I think about some of the great Sigmas that have been in this town who's not with us now, like our former mayor, Earl Washington, and also former Justice Freeman.
and there's many many others in our society that are doing good matter of fact a lot of my brothers
who are part of my group are either working for the park district or working for violence
prevention or our school teachers or police officers matter of fact some of the police
officers in this building are sigmas and probably a lot of other fraternities because all of us
grow up in these fraternities,
are involved in these fraternities,
learn about giving back and helping.
So I just want to commend each and every one of you all
for not just being role models,
but also being that example
to let everyone in our community know
that you can be successful,
but you also can reach back
and help somebody else to be successful also.
God bless you and thank you for being here today.
Thank you.
The chair recognizes, does Alderwoman Harris wish to be recognized?
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Michelle Harris.
Thank you, Mr. President.
And I want to thank Stephanie Coleman for, of course, she is the queen of all things Greek here at City Council.
So thank you for your leadership on this.
Today, I just want to acknowledge three of my sisters that are here with us today before
I thank everybody else for being here.
Gloria Pittman, who is one of our Deputy Commissioners in Streets and Sanitation, is here.
Soror, Gloria Pittman, Soror Elisa Johnson, and Soror Tammy Morgan are here with us today
to round up the AKAs.
I want to thank the Divine Nine.
I want to thank my sister Deltas
for everything that you do.
You, along with all your commitment to service,
is simply amazing.
So I want to thank you all for working hard
and for taking care of our city.
For my other sisters that are here,
thank you for service
because at the heart of every Greek is that background and service and that give back message.
Nobody that's Greek, everybody has this in their mission that we're a give back. And we couldn't
all be so successful without that ability to give back and to pass it on. So today to all my Greek
brothers and sisters, I say thank you for that give back mentality, because if we ever needed it,
we need it now. And so what you do today and passing it on will help save generations of
African-American men and women, and it'll be transforming. So my brothers and my sisters
from the divine land, thank you for what you do. I cannot appreciate you enough for all the hard
work that you do. And don't think because people don't say something, they see it. They see it.
So again, thank you for loving our children and making it possible for women to come in and be a part of something bigger.
Thank you. And for my brothers, the same thing. Thank you all for passing it on.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Alderwoman.
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Stephanie Coleman.
Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank the council for recognizing all of our brothers and sisters of the divine nine to my swords. I'm looking at seven swords that have not only dedicated their lives to all mankind, but we are all serving the city of Chicago.
and that is something to be commended.
I'm looking at the first African-American general counsel
here for the city council.
So are Mary and deputy and Monique.
I'm sorry, gosh.
And Natasha and Lori and Karista and Tammy
and Dr. Alicia and Commissioner Gloria Pittman
And to my devastating divas of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, we are so grateful as you all have the model of intelligence as the torch of wisdom.
And then I had to go on to the S.G. Rose, where greater service and greater progress.
And then to the finer women like Judge Blakely here and my friend Lashem Cates Graham, where
scholarship service, sisterly love, and finer sisterhood has been the motto.
And to all of our Greek brothers, and I know you will be recognized by way of our Greek,
but to Alpha Phi Alpha and Omega Psi Phi and Kappa the noobs.
we're just so grateful um for the service while we all wear different colors we are all about
service and it's like being a member of a different church no matter your religion we all
are to serve god and serve those and be be a role model for the next delta for the next aka
for the next beta and q and and new and sg role um i would like to challenge our divine nine
as studies have come that Black women are the number one victims of crime and to all of the
sororities and fraternities. We make up 16% of Chicago population. However, we are at 39% of
every violent crime here in the city of Chicago. And it is upon us to work with the women of this
council, the African-American women of this council and the entire council for us to change
that narrative, President Karen Freeman Wilson, that we will be working with your great organization,
Chicago Urban League. But I want to impress upon you all to help us help our community
and help us help Black women, the backbone of not only this city, but of the nation.
Congratulations and thank you for being of service to this great city of Chicago.
Thank you.
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Nicole Lee.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I'm honored to stand in support of this resolution.
Some of you who have heard this little speech before might be wondering why I'm getting up to do this.
I went to Indiana University, founding home of Kappa Psi, by the way, for anybody who didn't know that.
that. I did because I went to school there. And as a young person from the city who'd gone to
Magnet and selective enrollment schools who had the advantage, frankly, of having the experience
of having learned side by side with kids that were different from me. And I went to school at
Indiana University in the middle of cornfields where there was not a whole lot of diversity.
And when someone would come into the cafeteria and ask, well, why are all the Black kids sitting
together at the same table? Or are the Asian kids sitting at the same table? I said, well,
do we ever ask why the white kids are sitting together? I found kinship for sure, having gone
to public school here in Chicago and then again in college. And as I met Asian American women,
especially, and we were trying to find our way, the divine nine were there for us to inspire us.
And I want to pick up on something that Chair Harris said, and it's this commitment to service that where we found the most sort of kinship in all of that.
So as we were deciding what to do, my six founding members and I, because we founded the first Asian sorority at Indiana University that's still there today,
out of the inspiration that we got from all of you and the things that you've been able to accomplish.
And your work knows no bounds.
obviously with the leadership here in the city and in this room your your legacy and your
fingerprints and footprints are all over what's good in this city so thank you for your continued
service thank you for all that you do to inspire young people and others to do well and do good
for this community that we love so much thank you very much thank you the chair recognizes alderman
David Moore. I'm gonna try this. I say the Zetas. She didn't play along, but that's okay. I love that song.
I have to stand up because, first of all, let me start with the brothers.
My WIU alum, raise your hand, man.
Good to see you.
And where did John just go?
John Robeson, another Omega man.
And one thing I push in our community is for our Greek organizations to be involved in the community, not just, you know, dance, not just be seen, but to be involved.
And I see that with these two great men standing here.
When I'm out in that community, Joel, he's out in that community.
John is out in that community.
and that's what it's all about.
Not just having three letters attached to you,
but being able to go out there
and have an impact on our young people.
And you all are doing that.
And I want to say thank you so much.
Let me get, I just want to highlight,
and the women do that as well,
but I got to give my men a shout out
because when men stand up, it make a difference.
To the ladies, especially to Delta Sigma Theta
is a close place in my heart.
because of my sister who I still miss,
even to this day morning,
because when you lose somebody unexpectedly
and then you left an only child too,
it's not a good thing.
But Delta Sigma Theta was a big part of her family.
And you all have done so much,
continue to keep her name out there
through your diabetes walk, your health walk, and everything.
So I want to thank you for recognizing my sister, Bernadette Tompkins, each and every year.
Thank you all so much.
Thank you, Alderman.
The chair recognizes Alderman Greg Mitchell.
Thank you, Chairman.
I rise with pride to be associated with this ordinance, I mean, with this resolution.
I'm a proud member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated by way of the Gamma Gamma Chapter Spring of 1990.
My life changed February 9th in 1990.
A group of men embraced me as their brothers, because I didn't grow up with brothers, had all sisters, no brothers.
And through my travels as an Omega, I have more mentors, uncles, fathers.
They have been so influential in my life that I wouldn't be where I am or what I am today without Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated.
And there's three brothers that's in the room I want to acknowledge.
I got one of my big brothers, president of the Divine Nine, Joe Harris.
I got the city's chief operating officer, John Roberson.
And I got my man, the cameraman, Big Terrence Craven.
Thank you for being good brothers to me.
And Joe, you know, I was green when I came back to Chicago, but you got me together, you and the rest of the brothers.
I also want to give a shout out to my ladies.
I adore all my sororities.
I also, it's real interesting about Alpha Kappa Alpha.
My kindergarten teacher was AKA.
My first grade teacher was an AKA.
my second grade teacher was an AK
my third grade teacher was an AK
all my
teachers through grammar school were
AKs. My counselor
that felt I needed to transfer
so she gave me the choice to either go to
Kenwood or Whitney Young
I chose Kenwood
and then when I got
in high school
the Delta stepped in
my division
swim teacher
all Deltas
And then when I got to college, uh-oh, Sigma Gamma Rho, a couple of Zetas came into my life.
And just like I wouldn't be where I am today without being a member of the influence of the members of Omega Psi Phi,
the sororities, the ladies of those sororities contributed to my life as well.
You know, congratulations on this day.
I don't need to get into service because that's a given.
I done cleaned upside of the roads in the country
Picking up possums
And that's the kind of service we had down there
But yeah, I'm not going to get too long-winded
But this is
I'm the first Greek in my family
First Omega
Subsequently made some people after that in my family
And thank you, big brothers
Thank you, brothers
And thank you, sisters
For being who you are and contributing to my life
I wouldn't be who I am today
Without the divine nine
Thank you, Alderman. Those are all the individuals that, so there is one more that wishes to speak. If there's anyone else after this one, please indicate that you wish to be added. If not, our final speaker then will be, Chair recognizes Alderman Lamont Robinson.
Mr. Mayor, thank you. I rise in honor of this resolution. I'm a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated, founded on January 5th, 1911 at Indiana University.
Mr. Mayor, it was my late father who was a Chicago building supervisor here at the city of Chicago, who, as I mentioned before, passed away in between my junior and senior year of high school.
It was his fraternity brothers that wrapped their arms around me and kept me on the right track.
I grew up again between King Drive and Cottage Grove, and Chairwoman Harris spent more time on Cottage than I should have been on King Drive.
But, again, because of those brothers, I am who I am today.
Our motto is achievement in every field of endeavor.
And I'm also a proud member of the first Chicago Alumni Chapter in our entire fraternity that was founded on April 17, 1919.
I have today our poll mark, Tavius Jackson.
For the poll mark, will you please stand and be recognized?
As I mentioned a little earlier, it takes a village to elevate our community.
And in the 20th Ward, in my sister's ward, Chicago alumni have done a couple of great things. Not only have they built out a food pantry that feeds folks weekly, not only in the African American community in the 20th Ward, but from all walks of life.
They have an annual Christmas gift event to make sure that the youth, not only in the 20th Ward, but across the city of Chicago on Christmas, Mr. Mayor, have toys to open up.
making sure that sisters and brothers that need warm clothing items like gloves and hats,
scarves, and then an organization for eight years that I led called the Kappa Leadership Institute,
Mr. Mayor, that has sent hundreds of African-American boys to colleges all across the
country, mentoring these young men out of Kenwood High School, keeping them like me on the right
track, not only sending them to college, sending them to college with money in their pocket,
making sure they matriculate through with little to no debt, and being like Walter
Burnett Jr. who has gone to one of the top colleges in the country
giving back to society it is something that we do
you see again it takes
a village, Mr. Mayor, to do what we do for the city of Chicago, and particularly the African
American community. And so I'm honored to recognize my great fraternity that has given me an honor
to represent my community, to be a mentor to young boys all across the city of Chicago,
to be in the Illinois House, to be an alderman of the city of Chicago,
it is again because of achievement in every field of human endeavor.
Mr. Mayor, before I take my seat, I would also recognize the other fraternity and sororities that are here today.
Thank you for your great work that you do for your organizations, as well as the city of Chicago.
I would be remiss if I did not honor the former mayor of Gary, Indiana, president of the Chicago Urban League.
Thank you for the work that you do to elevate our community 365 days a year.
Mr. Mayor, thank you.
Thank you very much, Alderman Robinson.
So that concludes our speakers.
I believe most of the names have been called. So thank you again.
I know Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps had to leave. Barbara Keaton.
Thank you, Shaughnessy Curry for being here.
Carla, Adrian, Judge Tiana S. Blakely from Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.
Thank you for the acknowledgement. Alderman Moore of Joel Harris.
Christina, Mr. Jackson was honored. Gloria, Carl Bryant.
and, of course, former mayor of Gary Indiana, Dr. Freeman.
So, Audubon Mitchell, can I get a motion for the passage of this resolution?
Spread our move. Passage is being omnibus.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
What before we provide the proclamation, the Divine Nine,
I just wanted to say that the collective historically Black fraternities
and sororities have left an incredible mark on our nation's history,
the culture, and the influence that Black men and women have provided for this city.
Each fraternity and sorority within Divine Nine is unique, but together has been expressed their
collective response and commitment to not just academic excellence, but to community service
is what makes them that much more divine. And so these members take tremendous strives to improve
the lives of all Americans through their service, through education and through scholarships.
I am so proud and grateful that we have such an incredible group of fraternities and sororities
that make up the greatest city in the world.
So here's to the Divine Nine, you all.
All right, y'all, don't go too far.
We have one more still.
Hold on.
We're just going to give the box just a minute to clear out.
All right, our final resolution.
Our final resolution will honor the 157th anniversary Morehouse College.
Are there any alders that wish to speak to this resolution?
The chair recognizes Alderman Will Hall.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I stand in honor of this resolution as a member of the Morehouse Board of Preachers
and also as a friend and a colleague of Alderman Scott
and my friend and colleague, Reverend Javon Moore,
who's watching, my friend, my brother Cornelius,
I just want to say that Morehouse has made so many men better.
And I thank God for all of you,
those who I know individually,
but collectively the nation of Morehouse
has made the nation better.
And so I just want to say thank you, brothers,
for carrying the model
and thank you for carrying the mission and the message
in these trying times.
Thank God for more help.
Thank you.
Sorry, I was thought that Alderwoman Scott
wanted to say something,
but I guess she can't do that publicly.
Chair recognizes Vice Mayor Alderman Walter Burnett.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I rise in support of this resolution
just to commend this great school.
You know, the thing about Morehouse,
you can tell a Morehouse man walking a mile away
because they step up with so much pride.
Some folks, when you see them, you think they arrogant,
but it's not that they arrogant,
it's that they've been groomed to be proud of who they are
and they stand on it because they're educated,
they're sharp and they do a lot of great things.
I just want to commend everybody that I know that's a Morehouse man is very
proud and very successful.
So I commend you all on all of the success that you all have made and the
legacy that you had given, have given our society over the years.
Congratulations to you all.
Thank you Alder.
Are there any other Alders that wish to speak?
The chair recognizes Alderman David Moore.
Thank you so much, Mr. President, for giving us this opportunity to recognize these great gentlemen here and the fine institution of Morehouse.
Many of us didn't have an opportunity to go there for many different reasons, but many of us wanted to attend there.
And I think Vice Mayor Burnett said it so eloquently in his statements.
And so for me, I want to definitely give a shout out to my brother who's online, my nephew, really, my god nephew, Javon Moore, who is not only a preacher, but a businessman doing great work as a Morehouse man.
Jamel Chambers, man, the level of respect and the service that you give to us as aldermen is just great.
There are people who are supposed to are in certain roles and they call me.
I don't deal with them. I go to go to people and you are a go to person because you're responsive and you deliver.
And for that, I appreciate you. Also not here.
My brother, Tony Tidwell, who's a Morehouse man doing great work as a lawyer.
So all these positive things from Morehouse men.
Our friend and our, we say former colleague, but once an alderman in this council is always an alderman.
Mike Scott, I appreciate you so much for the work that you did in this council, but also for what you're doing outside this council.
And yes, I always sometimes have to leave the best for last.
And that's my brother, my friend, Zeb McLaurin, who we've known each other for more than whatever years that is.
We'll leave that alone. But thank you for your leadership in this city.
I recognize you last only because of our friendship, because you are someone who truly believes in development and know about what it means to build in this city and throughout this country.
And so I appreciate you for the work that you're doing to make Chicago a better place to live with the development that you do throughout the city.
And we're going to continue to push development because when people are having jobs, then people don't have to be homeless.
People don't have to be on the street because they have a hammer and tool in their hand and they're building generational wealth that way.
So I appreciate all of you. I appreciate Morehouse for their leadership and the things that they have done for our city by giving us such great men.
God bless you, and thank you so much, Mr. President.
Any other alders that wish to speak to this resolution before I offer deference to the one and the only?
Okay.
Oh, there are two more alders that wish to speak before the one and the only closes out.
Alderman Scott is determined not to say anything, I guess because she helped him with all his homework for all those years there.
Chair recognizes Alderman Jason Irvin.
Thank you. I will say this.
The institution has definitely produced a lot of great men in our community.
We talk about Dr. King all the time.
We talk about some of the other greats that have been that have come from Morehouse.
But I had a very good conversation with Ambassador Andrew Young when he was here about six months ago.
And this is kind of a kind of an interesting line that he said.
He says, you can always tell a Morehouse man, but you can't tell him much, was what was stated.
And my my friend and colleague to the south, Alderman Scott, he and I had plenty of conversations and debates.
And when Mr. Young, Ambassador Young, stated that, it finally clicked because I was dealing with it all the time with my gentleman from the South, Alderman Scott, who has been a fine example for the west side of Chicago, helping us.
And he continues to work in the community, still doing things.
So I want to commend the work that he's done in the community and also thankful that his sister did help him with his homework so that he was able to graduate on time and be of good service for us in the community.
But thank you all for the work that you all are doing and the men that you all have produced in our community that continue to serve and service our community.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Thank you.
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Stephanie Coleman.
Then to the distinguished men of this wonderful institution, I say Morehouse men are the other fraternity because certainly there is just a class of dignity, integrity when I see a Morehouse man, young and old.
to my favorite developer, Mr. Zeb McLaurin.
I thank you for not being one of the Morehouse men
that you can't tell much to
as we have collaborated and Englewood Connect
will certainly come to light under this mayor
and truly what investing in Englewood means
to my former colleague, L.S. Alderman Michael Scott,
Jamil, and I see some Kappa men,
this brother right here, distinguished new.
So just thank you all as your theme, your motto is developing men with disciplined minds who would lead lives of leadership and service.
To every one of you, I see that. I know that being working with you from from the eldest to the youngest.
So proud of you to our president and the work you're doing at CPS.
but being the president of this alumni association and keeping on that
distinguished gentlemen and always being sharp,
but certainly young men see us before they hear us.
And one thing about a Morehouse man, you will see him. Thank you all.
Thank you, Alderwoman. And finally,
to close,
the distinguished gentleman from the 21st Ward chair recognizes all the
Alderman Ronnie Mosley.
Thank you, Mr. President.
You know, in 1867, on February 4th, God once again showed his love for the world and created Morehouse College.
And just like our motto, et facta, et luxe, Morehouse man came to Chicago, so did life.
Let me remind folks that we are an institution that has produced five Rhodes Scholars,
a name that we have rung out throughout this month, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who has a national holiday and a monument on our nation's capital.
And that work didn't just stop with Dr. King.
You see it in Chicago when you talk about Lerone Bennett Jr., the senior editor of Ebony Magazine,
who even challenged us at times to think about the work that Ebony and Jed and those magazines did
when the death and the murder of Emmett Lewis Till.
And I say Lewis because that's the middle name that my mother gave me.
I think about the inspiration that we get from the Reverend Thomas Dorsey
who founded Gospel Music and how it inspires us.
When we talk about gospel, we can go on and on about the luminary preachers,
the reverends, your pastors like Reverend Dr. Otis Moss III, my classmate Reverend Reggie Sharp
at Fellowship. You can talk about Andrew Hunt and Devon Brown and Gary Foster.
The work you see is done throughout the institutions of Chicago. As we mentioned,
Jamel Chambers who works with CPS. We mentioned Mike Merchant who works with Chicago Park District.
Your favorite developer you heard Zeb McLaurin. You think about the leadership that's even on
the campus of Morehouse College whether it's John Watson who's here today, Mike Levesque a great
mentor to me, the man who taught me business in high school, or even Jim Castleberry who is leading
the capital campaign that's ushering Morehouse into its new future, even though it's had a great
157 years. There are brothers who are in the box like Mike Bennett, who brought a UPS store to the
south side of Chicago. I imagine my surprise when I went to go turn my Amazon package and found out
I didn't have to travel all the way to 95th and Kenzie, but I can go to 83rd and Stewart.
my dear brother Corey Hardiman, who started an alternative spring break, bringing the Morehouse
again, that mystique here to Chicago, having our young brothers do something else besides going to
beaches and enjoying that hot weather, but the service that we were all called to, that service
that was produced by great presidents like the ninth president of Morehouse College, Dr. Massey,
Walter E. Massey, Walter Eugene Massey, who gave his time and talent to Chicago, serving as the board president of city colleges.
I think about our first black president of Morehouse College, John Hope, Dr. John Hope, and the inspiration and legacy that he leaves here in the media with Leah Hope at ABC7.
I think about Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, true luminary in education, so much so that there is a school in Chicago named after him.
And of course, I think about a great Chicagoan who was the 10th president of Morehouse College.
President who taught me, Dr. Robert Michael Franklin Jr., who graduated from Morgan Park before he went on to Morehouse College
and gave me the ultimate charge
because each president will tell you
their mission for the man that they are developing.
Walter Massey said,
redefine yourself and you will redefine the world.
It was Dr. Franklin who challenged us
to be Renaissance man,
man of a social conscious,
but a global perspective to uplift and serve.
And he just didn't give us that mission.
He gave us the blueprint.
He said, I want you to be well-read, well-dressed, well-spoken, well-traveled, and well-balanced.
And so you see, yes, 157 years later, that Morehouse mystique is still alive, still exudes
from every Morehouse man that you meet.
And the show over, continue.
So, Mr. President, I'm glad that we take time today to honor Morehouse College, a historically Black college and university.
And as some will question if there's still a need for HBCU, yes, there is still a need and it is still great.
And what it produces is excellence, just like Morehouse College, the international headquarters of Black male excellence.
So thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you.
So again, thank you, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Bryant,
Alderman, Mr. Michael Scott Jr., Mr. Jones,
Brunel, Mr. Burley, Mr. Michael Levesque,
Everett Fonet, thank you for your leadership,
Mr. Watson, Mr. Hardiman,
Zed, Mr. McLaurin, Mr. Bennett, thank you all.
This resolution is an opportunity for us
to recognize this real beacon of light, a beacon of learning and empowerment for black men,
but also, as Alderman Burnett said, it's a source of pride. The alumni of Morehouse have
blazed trails across sectors of a variety of fields of study. They've broken down barriers
and have proved that excellence knows no bounds. That includes, of course, the Chicago Alumni
Association. I support this resolution, but I think it's important that we recognize that
the mark that these men are making on communities and providing hope and direction for posterity
is really what makes this institution remarkable. And so to the Morehouse men who consistently
demonstrate their unique ability to change the world with their leadership through service,
It is unmatched.
Thank you to the Chicago Alumni Association
and congratulations for 157 years.
Alderman Mitchell, can I get a motion
to pass this resolution?
As president, I move passes in the honor of us.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
Congratulations to the Morehouse men.
Alderman Mitchell, an emotion to adjourn.
No, I'm just teasing.
Just teasing.
All right, communications.
Next up, communications.
But let's give folks just a quick moment.
Oh, we do have to return to the regular order of business.
Mr. President, I move that we return to the regular order of business.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
Yep.
All right, next up, communications, Madam Clerk.
Communications from Ms. Honor, the Mayor, to the Honorable, the City Council, the City of Chicago.
Ladies and gentlemen, request the Comptroller to transmit here with an ordinance authorizing the issuance up to $1.25 billion in general obligation
and or sales tax securitization corporation bonds for economic development and affordable
housing programs your favor consideration this ordinance be appreciated barely truly yours
brandon johnson may refer to the committee on finance lance ladies and gentlemen the request
of commission who oh okay oh two committees called at one uh it will go to rules referred to rules
ladies and gentlemen the request of commissioner of housing and transmit here with an ordinance
authorizing the execution of a loan restructuring agreement with Halstead, Limited Partnership.
Your favor and consideration of this ordinance will be appreciated. Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson, Mayor,
for the Committee on Finance. Ladies and gentlemen, request the Commissioner of Housing. I transmit here with an ordinance
authorizing the execution of a loan restructuring agreement with Hollywood House, Limited Partnership.
Your favor and consideration of this ordinance will 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 amended redevelopment agreement with Chicago Corp.
Corp. to provide TIF funds.
Your favorable consideration this ordinance will be appreciated.
Very truly yours.
Brandon Johnson may refer to the Committee on Finance.
Ladies and gentlemen, the request of the Commissioner of Planning and Development
I transmit herewith an ordinance authorizing the execution of an amended redevelopment agreement
with Portage Park Capital LLC to provide TIF funds for improvements at 3657 North Central Avenue.
Your favorable consideration this ordinance will be appreciated.
very true years brandon johnson mayor refer to the committee on finance ladies and gentlemen the
request of the commissioner of planning and development i transmit here with ordinances
authorizing the execution of intergovernmental agreements with the chicago park district
to provide tip funds for improvements at various city parks your favor consideration these
ordinances will be appreciated very truly yours brandon johnson mayor referred the committee on
finance ladies and gentlemen the request of commissioner of aviation i transmit here with
with an ordinance authorizing the execution of a technical service agreement, National
Renewable Energy Laboratory. Your favor and consideration of this ordinance will be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson May. I refer to the Committee on Aviation.
Ladies and gentlemen, at the request of the Budget Director, I transmit here with a
Fund 925 amendment. Your favor and consideration of this ordinance will be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson May. I refer to the Committee on Budget and Government Operations.
Ladies and gentlemen, request the Commissioner of Planning and Development.
I transmit herewith ordinances authorizing the provision of a favorable tax incentives
to various properties within the city.
Your favorable consideration is ordinances will be appreciated very true to yours.
Brandon Johnson, Mayor, referred to the Committee on Economic Capital and Technology Development.
Ladies and gentlemen, the request of the Commissioner of Planning and Development,
I transmit herewith ordinances authorizing the sales to the owned properties.
Your favorable consideration is ordinances will be appreciated very true to yours.
Brandon Johnson, Mayor, referred to the Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
ladies and gentlemen to request the commissioner of transportation i transmit herewith an ordinance
authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement with chicago metropolitan agency for
planning your your favorite consideration of this ordinance be appreciated very to the
years brandon johnson mayor referred the committee on transportation in public way
ladies and gentlemen i have appointed julie hernandez tomlin as the senate commissioner
of department of fleet and facility management your favorite consideration of this appointment
will be appreciated. Very truly yours. Brandon Johnson, Mayor, referred to the Committee on Budget and Government Operations.
Ladies and gentlemen, pursuant to Section 2-80-070 of the Municipal Code of Chicago,
I have appointed Adrian M. Johnson as a member of District Council 001 to fill a current vacancy.
Your favorable consideration of this appointment will be appreciated. Very truly yours.
Brandon Johnson, Mayor, referred to the Committee on Public Police and Fire.
ladies and gentlemen i have appointed roberto raccoe as as a member of the cta or chicago
transit board for a term of effective media and expiring september 1st 2029 to succeed alejandro
silva who has resigned for faithful consideration this appointment will be appreciated very truly
here is brandon johnson may refer to the committee on transportation in public way
ladies and gentlemen i transmit here with appointments to various service
support or special service areas or favor consideration of these appointments be approved
or be appreciated. Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson Mayer, referred to the Committee on Economic
Capital and Technology Development. Ladies and gentlemen, I transmitted herewith appointments
to the City Colleges Board. Your favor of consideration of these appointments be appreciated.
Very truly yours, Brandon Johnson Mayer, referred to the Committee on Education and Child Development.
I, City Clerk Valencia, informed the City Council that the call for the special meeting and the
documents related thereto, which were considered by the City Council, as a special meeting held
on February 15, 2020 form, which were required by a statute to be published in a book or pamphlet
form or in one or more newspapers were published in pamphlet form on february 21st 2024 by being
printed in full text pamphlet copies of the journal proceedings of city council city of chicago
icd clerk valencia also transmitted here with the following miscellaneous communications reports
requiring city council action claims against the city of chicago which referred to the committee
on finance recommendation by commissioner chicago landmarks for designation of phoebe and john gray
house at 4362 west gray street at chicago landmark referred to committee on zoning landmarks and
building standards. Your Honor, that concludes the reports and communications from the Mayor and the
Office and the City, other City Officers. Thank you very much. We now will go to our Committee Reports.
For our Committee Reports, the Chair recognizes our Finance Chairwoman, Chairwoman Dow.
Thank you, Mr. President and members of the City Council. Reporting for the City Council's
Committee on Finance, which held a committee meeting on February 14, 2024. The following
items received a due pass recommendation from the committee. Item number one is the substitute
ordinance concerning the issuance of financial assistance for the Parkside Phase 3 Affordable
housing project at 500 through 520 West Hobby Street, 542, 558 through 76 West Elm Street,
1101 through 29 North Cambridge Avenue, and 1100 through 1128 North Cleveland Avenue in the 27th
in the amount of up to $4.25 million in multifamily funding and up to $16.4 million in TIF.
Mr. President, unless someone wishes to speak on this item, I move passage of this item by a roll call vote.
Seeing no hands, members, please use your e-vote application to record your vote at this time.
The voting is now open.
Please use your e-device.
The voting is now open.
all right i will now call on those that may be virtual or have not voted yet alder woman gutierrez
not oh alder woman gutierrez is a yes alderman rodriguez rodriguez is a yes
Alder person Rodriguez Sanchez.
Yes.
Rodriguez Sanchez is a yes.
Alder person Clay.
Not present.
Alder woman Silverstein.
Yes.
Silverstein is yes.
The voting is now closed.
There are 49 yeas, zero nays.
So this matter has passed.
Alderman Mitchell, move to reconsider this vote.
Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
All those in favor to reconsider this vote signify by saying aye.
All those opposed say no.
This motion fails.
Chair recognizes.
Chairwoman Dow.
Mr. President.
Item number two is the substitute ordinance
concerning the authority to enter into and execute
an intergovernmental agreement
with the Chicago Board of Education
for the provision of tax increment financing funds
for an artificial turf, multi-purpose field
and related improvements at Percy Julian High School
at 10330 South Elizabeth in the 21st Ward
in the amount of $3.5 million.
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.
Chair recognizes Alderman Lopez.
Thank you, Mr. President, and again, good afternoon, members of the City Council.
I rise today while I support my colleagues,
and I am going to vote in support of this investment in the 21st Ward.
I have serious concerns, as do many of my colleagues in this room, about the decisions being made with little or no regard for our concerns here in this room by the Board of Education, particularly as it involves removing security resource officers unilaterally, regardless of what the elected local school councils have said at those individual schools.
I'm bringing this up under this item because the Chicago Board of Education routinely asks
through its alderman for money through TIF to support their capital improvement projects
because they do not invest enough dollars in those projects themselves.
If we are to continue as a body to provide millions of dollars to the Chicago Board of
education, they need to be warned that refusing to listen to us can lead us down a path where
members in this room may choose not to be supportive of those investments. I have schools
that rely on TIF, whether I want them improved or upgraded, and I know that it is a time-honored
tradition in this room to work with each other to try to address this. But this is a part, this is
part of a larger conversation going on in this city right now, where an unelected body is
unilaterally making decisions that will negatively impact our communities. We cannot afford to ignore
that fact. And while I will stand in support today, Mr. President and Madam Chairman, I cannot
guarantee the next time we have a report that includes the Finance Committee TIF report request
for the Board of Education that I will be in support then. Thank you. Thank you. Are there
any other orders that wish to speak to this item? Hearing no objections, the motion on the floors to
pass this with the same favorable roll call that was applied to the first item from this very
committee. So hearing no other objections, so order. Chair recognizes, Chairwoman Dow. Thank you,
Mr. President, item number three is an ordinance concerning an amended redevelopment agreement for Team Pioneer LLC to provide TIF funds for the redevelopment of the former Pioneer Bank building at 4000 through 4008 West North Avenue in the 26th Ward in the amount of $13 million.
I move passage of this item by the same motion.
Hearing no objections, seeing no hands, so ordered.
Item number four and five consist of orders of authorization for the payment of various small claims against the city of Chicago and denial of payments of various small claims against the city of Chicago.
If there are no objections, I move that these items be placed for passage in the omnibus.
Hearing no objections, seeing no hand, so order.
Item number six is the report of cases in which verdicts, judgments, or settlements were entered into for the month of January 2024. This will be placed on file with the clerk.
Item number 7A is an order authorizing Corporation Council to enter into and execute a settlement order in the case of Kevin Lusk versus Philip Renault and the City of Chicago in the amount of $195,000.
I move passage of this item by the same motion.
Hearing no objection, so ordered.
Item number 7B is an order authorizing Corporation Council to enter into and execute a settlement order in the case of Aisha Hurston versus City of Chicago, Darren Easterday, star number 935 in his capacity as a private citizen, as well as in his official capacity as a City of Chicago police sergeant, in the amount of $400,000.
I move passage of this item by the same motion with the exception of Alderman Quinn, who wishes to be recorded as voting no.
I see hands. The chair recognizes Alderman Gardner.
I would like to be recorded as a no as well.
Please mark Alderman Gardner as a no.
Chair recognizes Alderman Napolitano.
Thank you, Mr. President. Please hold me as a no as well.
Alderman Napolitano would also like to be recorded as a no.
Chair recognizes Alderwoman Clay. Good afternoon, President. I would like to be recorded as a yes
vote for the first favorable roll call. Please add Alderwoman Clay as a yes to the first favorable
roll call to the finance committee. Hearing no other objections, despite the division,
this motion carries. It's ordered. Item number 7C is an order authorizing Corporation Council
to enter into and execute a settlement order in the case of Tony Pearson versus City of Chicago
by and through its authorized agents and employees, including but not limited to
Matthew McGirney and Michael, excuse me, Michael McGirney and Michael McGirney individually cited
as 2019 L73747 in the amount of $425,000. I move passage of this item by the same
motion with the exception of Alderman Quinn who wishes to be recorded as voting no.
Chair recognizes Alderman Lopez. Thank you Mr. President if I could be recorded as no.
Please add Alderman Lopez as a no to this item. Alderman Garner would you like to be added as a no?
Are there any other Alders that wish to be added as a no? DePolitano, please Tabarez please add
for good measure, Alderman Riley. Despite the division, seeing no other hands, hearing no
other objections, so ordered. Number 7-D is an order authorizing Corporation Council to enter
into and execute a settlement order in the case of Forestine Williams as independent administrator
of the estate of Martina Stanley versus City of Chicago, Officer Brian Green, badge number 5601,
in the amount of $3.25 million.
I move passage of this item by the same motion.
Hearing no objections, to see no hands, so order.
Mr. President, this concludes my report from the Committee on Finance.
Thank you very much.
For our next committee, the chair recognizes
Chairman of Budget and Government Operations, Chairman Irvin.
Mr. President and members of the council reporting for the Committee on Budget
and Government Operations, which held a meeting on February 20th, 2020.
24 committee has a series of reports recommended passage of the following
items. Item number one is the appointment of
Alfonso Connor Jr.
As commissioner of the department of water management.
Mr. President, I reserve the right to close.
Are there any other aldermen who wish to speak to this
proposed appointment?
Chair recognizes Alderman Brian Hopkins.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I'll be brief.
I just want to commend you for this appointment.
Welcome back, Commissioner.
You've done so much for the city in so many different capacities, but your most recent
experience, I think, navigating a department through some turbulent times speaks for itself.
And I have 100% confidence in you and your leadership in this role.
I look forward to working with you in the future as we have in the past.
Congratulations.
Welcome back.
And we're delighted to support this outstanding appointment, Mr. President.
Thank you, Alderman.
The chair recognizes Vice Mayor Alderman Walter Burnett.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I also rise in support of this appointment.
I think this is a great choice.
thank god that uh that uh afonzo is it alonzo afonzo afonzo randy as we know him uh was willing
to come back i appreciate that and i and i would be remiss uh after the after the divine nine came
i was remiss for not mentioning my sigma brother who randy is he's also a sigma also uh but also
So we travel the same way. Both of us travel to the east.
But I just want to commend this appointment, Mr. Mayor.
You couldn't have picked a better person.
If anybody know where all the bodies are buried, know how to get things back on track, know how the budgets are,
know how to deal with all of the other departments.
Randy is the one to not only to not only help the department that he's going to be in, but also help the other departments in the city, Chicago, because he'd been there.
He'd done that and he can get the job done.
We are all so very secure knowing that Randy is going to be there because we know that when we need something and when we call is going to get done.
Congratulations.
Thank you. Before I recognize Alderman O'Shea, I just want OIG to know there are no buried bodies. None. Please tweet that. Chair recognizes Alderman Matt O'Shea.
Thank you, Mr. President. I too rise in support of this appointment. I go back with Randy pretty far back. In fact, I, for many of you, worked with his uncle Al Conner back in the day.
For those of us that have been around, Randy has always been hands-on.
And I saw this up close and personal a few weeks ago.
I had a very serious water main break after an accident in my community.
There were hundreds of 19th Ward residents without water.
It was about 10 degrees out.
Randy, Commissioner Connor, was out there.
in the early morning hours, was out there with his crew, getting the job done, getting people's
water restored. I think that's what all of us want. You want a leader of a department who stands with
the men and women who work for him. That's who Randy Conner is. I stand in support of this. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderwoman Maria Haddon.
Thank you, Mr. President. I, too, stand in support of this appointment. So as a new older person,
I did have the opportunity to work with you for a short time last term. I don't have much to say
other than I'm thrilled you're back. I'm really excited about your leadership. We oftentimes have
lots of debate and conversation around heavy policy issues, and a lot of times what our
constituents may not read about in the paper is what we're dealing with in our wards, right,
which come down to our core services. And the Department of Water Management is just one of
those things that is so important that we get right. So excited to get to work under your
leadership with your team. And thank you for coming back. Thank you. The chair recognizes
Alderman Derek Curtis. Thank you, Mr. President. I too rise for this resolution. Commissioner,
and we'll have to violate Vice Mayor soon.
You know what we're gonna do to him.
No, but Mayor, this was a great, great appointment.
He came up through the ranks.
He's been through every department.
Again, nobody knows it better.
I love to see people from Chicago doing the work
of the people.
He's been a public servant forever.
and the water department, actually any department,
they respect everything that he do
because he came up through the ranks.
He knows exactly what to do.
Great appointment, Mayor.
Glad you're back.
Appreciate it.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you very much.
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Emma Mitts.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I too rise in support of this appointment.
Randy, welcome back.
I just learned that your name was Alonzo.
I'm like, who is that?
We've been saying Randy all this time?
Why you never corrected us with your name?
But I wanted to say thank you for meeting with us.
I'm looking very forward to working along with you.
As you know, we are still struggling from the flood and your team have met with us.
We're still trying to work out some of the issues.
Some of the families in the war yet have not been recovered, 200 and some.
And your job is helping us to figure out what we can do moving forward because it's not going to stop raining.
So I'm looking forward to working along with you.
And thank you for coming back because I know you know, and I won't say that word you said, Walter, where things need to go so that we can put it in place and make it happen for all of the residents in the ward.
We're counting on the department, the knowledge that you have, and with Waterwick and all of the others, because that's really a heartbreaker to me.
And as we celebrate everything and everything come up in the council, my mind is on the constituents in the ward who are breathing in all of that mold yet.
So thank you for being here.
Looking forward to continuing to working with you.
Thank you, Alderwoman.
and the chair recognizes Alderman William Hall.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I stand to and rise this appointment
thanking you for picking a man of faith.
And thank you, Commissioner.
Already, just 30 minutes ago,
we had a situation and circumstance
and you already have resolved it.
And so thank you for being a bridge over troubled water.
I'm looking forward to working with you in the future.
Thank you.
It's very, very profound, Alderman, there.
It's going to be the new model for your department if you get appointed.
All right.
The chair recognizes Alderman Gil Villegas.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I stand in full support of this appointment.
You know, when you think about the infrastructure departments, water or transportation, I view
them as economic departments where there's tons of construction that's going on.
And I can tell you that I'm glad to see that a manager is back in charge and not a water purifier.
Because when you're running a department, you need to make sure that you're actually performing the work necessary to provide clean water, lead-free water to the residents of the city of Chicago.
You know, under Randy Conner's authority, they were able to successfully put forward 40 miles of water main a year.
with the previous commissioner, we were lucky to get five. Now, the larger contractors are going
to be okay, because if they can't do work here in Chicago, they'll just go to a different state.
But it was the minority women-owned businesses that were really struggling with the previous
administration. And I'm glad to see that Randy's back, because he is a construction manager. He
understands that we got to get the work done, providing clean water to the residents of Chicago,
but at the same time ensuring that small businesses are participating in these types of procurement.
So I'm glad to see that you're back, Randy, and hopefully we can get those miles back up.
Also deal with the hundreds of thousands of lead service lines that are in the city
and looking at them from a way of economic development to provide smaller businesses the opportunity to participate in those contracts.
So I appreciate the appointment from Mayor Johnson and bringing back Randy Conner and full support of the commissioner and looking forward to working. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Ronnie Mosley.
Thank you, Mr. President. And I know you're a Cubs fan, but I'm going to borrow some words from a White Sox player, Sam Ewan, who said hard work spotlights the character of people.
some turn up their sleeves some turn up their noses some don't turn up at all here we have a
man who was back for his second time around and we are thankful for your service we are proud of you
thank you for once again answering the call and our full support of this appointment thank you
Thank you for that. Chair recognizes Alderman Mike Rodriguez.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, forgive me for being a little glum, but the fact is,
is that our city is not immune to global climate change and the impacts that climate change has
on our city's infrastructure. We've seen it in the past year with the flooding
in our communities. We know the access to fresh water here is of vital importance,
not just to our great city, but our region, potentially our country. The impacts of climate
change potentially make this appointment one of the most important appointments of this time.
And I can't think of a better person to put that into the hands to than someone who understands
Chicago government has the relationships and the understanding that we need to get things done.
That's the most important thing for me. We need to move projects forward. I think you get that,
Randy. Forgive me, Alonzo, Alfonso. I'm joining the parade here. Randy, you get that. And listen,
I think we need more folks like you, particularly given the challenges that our great city is
facing. You have no small task ahead of you, but I know you're very much ready for it. So
congratulations and look forward to working with you. Thank you. The chair recognizes the Alderman
Nick Sposato. Thank you, Mr. President. I do support this resolution. Randy will always be
Randy to me. I'm not changing my contacts in my phone book. So happy to have you back. As you know,
you have an awesome team, so I look forward to you leading your awesome team. So congratulations,
look forward to working with you, and Mr. President, great appointment. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman David Moore.
Thank you, Mr. President. I stand in support of this appointment, and thank you,
Mr. Mayor, for making yet another fine appointment in your cabinet. We spoke a lot during committee,
I said a lot during committee and you get an overwhelming and resounding support.
So I don't even know why you brought down the muscle today, man.
Yeah. So but it's good to see you standing here with with him.
And I appreciate what you do, Commissioner Conner.
Let me just state this clearly.
And I've told this story before from when I was in corporate America, working with Ralston Farina.
and when our production lines went down and about close to $400,000 worth of salaries
was sitting in the conference room trying to figure out what was going on with that production line.
And to someone, say, let's go out to the production line and see what's happening.
And within 15 minutes, the problems were resolved.
Commissioner Conner, you're that guy.
You don't sit in that conference room.
You get out there on that line with the people to see what the problem is
so we can get resolutions for our constituents.
And that is why I'm so excited that you're back.
People who don't feel like it's a stress to go out among the people, to go out into community and go to the job site, but want to do it.
And that's who you are.
And for that, I appreciate you.
You have my full support and anything that we can do from this council end to give you the tools that you need to be successful.
Let us know.
Thank you.
Thank you, Alderman.
The chair recognizes Alderman James Gardner.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I, too, rise in support of this appointment.
As Alderman O'Shea and some of my other colleagues mentioned, I've seen you on the streets.
And for me and for the residents in my ward, we truly appreciate that.
It was a few years ago where you helped us on Gray Street, and there was a lot of work involved.
than just having you on the scene and talking to members of your staff. It was very much
appreciated. Last but not least, you know how to treat people as well. From what I hear,
aldermen are not always easy to deal with, but I think you obviously you do an excellent job
of dealing with all of us in our needs. So Mr. Mayor, once again, thank you again for giving
opportunities to the sons and daughters of Chicago. Allowing us to continue to get these
leadership roles is much appreciated, and it's seen by all of us. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Anthony Beal.
Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I too rise to support this resolution and this
appointment. There's no better family than the Conner family. I've known the entire family for
over 25 years, and they are a family of public servants from the top to the bottom. And so
I'm extremely delighted to see that you are giving up of yourself again and your family
to come back and do what you all do best, and that is serve the public. So I have all the
confidence in the world that we know the job that you're going to do. I'm just glad that you decided
to come back in the role that you're coming. So thank you so much and great appointment,
Mr. President. Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Chris Taliafaro. Thank you, Mr. President.
I do rise in support of your appointment and want to congratulate Randy. I thought you had a fishing
boat and you were doing well, but we all welcome you back. And I just recall, Commissioner, when
I believe it was in 2017, when you took over a department that was struggling and that was
going through lawsuits. And you certainly took it on and stepped up to the helmet
at a very critical time. And as you stepped up, you knocked it out of the park and you hit a home
run. And I think all of us during that 2017-2018 timeframe grew to have great confidence in your
leadership because we were able to rise out of the troubles that we were going through
in the water department.
And so I have no doubt that in your service
as a commissioner, once again,
that you'll take on the problems that we may see
with lead service line replacements
and any other problems that you're faced with.
We stand in full confidence of your abilities.
And so thank you for your leadership
and thank you for returning to us once again.
Thank you.
The chair recognizes Alderman Raymond Lopez.
Again, thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon, members of the City Council.
I want to absolutely, unequivocally commend you, Mayor, on convincing Commissioner Conner to return to the City of Chicago and to put his talents to work for the people across all 50 wards for the millions of people that call the City of Chicago home.
I'm not going to comment about our multitude of stories together on the streets because we all I
think thankfully have those experiences or his willingness to call us back unlike the previous
commissioner who called us in days not in hours like Randy's known for doing and yes I do know
you are Randy but ladies and gentlemen I rise today because I also want to stress
not only to this room but to all of Chicago that's watching just what a perilous shape
the water department was left in so that when we are setting expectations for our new commissioner
that we are not holding to a standard without fully understanding what he's inherited he's
inherited a department in complete disarray. And this is not, to be clear, a knock on this
administration, but the last. Because in 2021, the previous administration convinced this body
to borrow $4.4 billion, with a B, billion dollars for infrastructure.
hundreds of millions of dollars from our Water Enterprise Fund alone to cover investments like
the $350 million WIFIA loans, $60 million for lead service replacement for private properties,
$133 million for waterways and pathways, and so much more. As many of us sat in our CIP
briefings, we learned that we not only no longer have the capacity to do this work,
but we're also losing out on the money that we borrowed and having to return funds because we
simply did not get the work done, as some of my colleagues have alluded to. That is a travesty,
Mr. President, because not only does it prevent people, prevent businesses, prevent WMBE opportunities,
It also forces our communities to live with unhealthy options that we could avoid if we were focused on getting the job done.
I am so very thankful that all of us know that Randy's the man to get the job done.
We know our business community and our contractors are anxious because they know he is someone that they could work with.
And I think appointing him in this position, Mr. President, shows that you too understand that we have to get the job done, especially when it comes to a resource that has quality bond rating and the ability to take on the burden financially for the cost of what we need to do to create a healthier Chicago.
So I gladly join my colleagues today in support of this and know that we will all be there for you, my friend, to make sure that everything that I've said, everything that we've said, can help you become successful at.
So thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you.
The chair recognizes Alderman Andre Vasquez.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise in support and want to commend you for this recommendation for appointments.
when we think about what government is supposed to do for folks, right? You got people in Chicago
pay taxes. They want to see a return on that investment when they're paying those taxes,
doing the fundamentals, the bread and butter stuff that hits your door when it comes to water,
when it comes to streets and sanitation, those things are crucial to building confidence in
government. And I am really glad with this appointment because, you know, being a second
term or now, I got to see different levels of leadership as it related to the Department of
Water Management. I think when people pay the taxes and want to see a return on their investment,
what is core is response. That when something goes bad, when there's a water main that's broken,
that there is a response that is a quick response and that it is addressed.
When I first came in the first term, I saw that level of response and then saw a bit of a dip
when there was a change in leadership.
Although I appreciate the focus on data and dashboards
and a lot of things that were added
to the Department of Water Management,
there was a lot of losses that related to response times
and actually getting the job done and fixing issues.
That makes it more difficult for the ward offices
that then have to address things when neighbors come to us
wondering why things aren't being done quickly.
It hinders our ability to execute
on so many other things for our neighbors.
So to see someone coming back into the role
whose focus is primarily that level of response,
who we can reach out, send a text message,
make a phone call to get that improvement to happen
is core and fundamental
to people having confidence in government
and to our neighbors understanding
that when they pay these taxes,
they get a return on that.
And so I wanna commend you on the decision.
I think we're gonna be in really good shape
going forward when it comes to improvement
of lead service lines,
but also just regular water main breakage.
We've got water mains out there
that are over 80 years,
over 100 years that need to be replaced.
And the work that you all do
and how expeditiously you do it
is something that's valued.
So I don't mess up the first name.
We'll say, Mr. Conner, thank you so much
for coming back to service and serving the city.
And we look forward to working with you in partnership
to make sure we improve the lives of all Chicagoans.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you.
I have one more speaker before Alderman Irvin closes.
Are there any other alders that wish to speak
to this proposed appointment?
So with that, these are our final two speakers
The chair recognizes Alderman Napolitano.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I rise in support of this appointment.
In the last couple months, it's very seldom that a city council agrees on something,
but it's great that today we agree on you, Randy.
You're great for the city, for Chicago, from Chicago, by Chicago, everything about the city.
I appreciate all you do.
I appreciate your communication with our offices.
I appreciate staff that you have as well.
I'm positive going forward that this enormous amount of work that your department has in front of you, that you're the right person for the job.
Please lean on us any way we can help as well.
And I'm so happy for this appointment, Mr. President.
Thank you.
Do I see Alderman Silverstein for hand raised?
I just happened to see.
She does.
All right.
Very good.
The chair recognizes Alderman Silverstein.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I just wanted to say welcome back, Randy, and I am looking very forward to working with you again and with your wonderful staff.
So welcome back.
Thank you, Alderwoman.
Are there any other Alders before I offer deference for the final words from Chairman Irvin?
Seeing no other hands for the final word, the chair recognizes Chairman Irvin.
Thank you, Mr. President.
And again, we all speak very highly of, I'm going to stop calling you Alfonso.
I'm going to call you Randy going forward.
I just thought this was interesting.
We learned a lot about people.
You're probably one of the first members of the administration that I met when I became
alderman back in 2011 and trying to help us do things.
And at the end of the day, the bread and butter of all of us is how we serve and service our
constituents.
and Randy was one of those individuals that definitely understands that and helps us to achieve those goals.
As has been stated, and I think Alderman Villegas talked about this,
the Water Department is pretty much like a billion-dollar corporation on its own.
We think about everything that flows through it financially and both operationally,
and I'm going to steal something from Mr. Blakemore, the goods, the contracts, the jobs, and the services
that you are entrusted with to help balance that across our city.
We've had a lot of conversation about MBE, WBE participation, and local participation,
and we know that you understand the job and how it impacts and can impact all of Chicago,
especially those that are most challenged.
Two things, deliver the water, deliver the dollars, and everything, I think everything
from there will flow from there.
And with that, I move passage of this item by the first favorable roll call vote of the Committee on Finance and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider.
And congratulations.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
Congratulations.
Number two is a communication recommended or proposed ordinance concerning the annual appropriation ordinance for year 2024 amendment within fund 925.
I'll make the same motion if there is no objection.
Hearing no objection, so ordered.
Items three, item three are 14 of which 12 are ordinances which are transferring funds between accounts 9008 and account 0017.
All of the ordinances except for items number 5 and 11 are moving funds from account 9008 to account 0017.
Account 9008 is the automatic expense allowance.
Account 0017 is the wage allowance.
So in items 3, 4, 6, 8 through 10, 12, 13, and 14,
all those are moving funds from the automatic expense allowance to the wage allowance
in order to pay for wages for staff.
Those that are going the opposite direction are designed to give the wards more flexibility and expenses.
So again, I make a motion to pass items 3 through 14, with item 7 being deferred at the request of the Alderman of the 26th Ward.
I make the same motion if there is no objection.
Hearing none, so ordered.
Mr. President, that concludes my report.
Thank you very much.
Chairman, now for the Committee on Economic Capital and Technology Development.
The chair recognizes Chairman Villegas.
Thank you, Mr. President and members of the City Council.
Reporting for the Committee on Economic Capital and Technology Development, which met on Tuesday, February 13th,
the committee held a meeting and recommends pass up the following items.
Items 1 through 16 on the report are a series of appointments and reappointments to various special service areas
during the January 24th City Council meeting,
reappointments of A. Thomas Paspalos, Maria M. Surapas, Frank J. Caputo, Anastasia Macradikis to SSA number 16,
reappointments of Jason R. Cross, Anthony A. Quayam, and Nicholas A. Yasan to SSA number 21-2016,
appointment of Jacob Ringer to SSA number 23, appointment of Adam Silverstein to SSA number 33,
Reappointments of Etta B. Kosione, Mark Davis, Kenneth Dotson, Michael Hochhauser, Timothy Joswiak, and Kevin J. Greco to SSA number 35-2015.
Reappointment of Henrik L. Christensen to SSA number 60.
I move for pass of these appointments and reappointments by the first failable roll call of the Committee on Finance and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider.
Hearing no objections, C&O hands, so order.
This is Mr. President.
Members of the City Council, on Tuesday, February 13th, 2024,
the Committee on Economic Capital and Technology Development
passed the resolution to hold the subject matter hearing
on the Illinois data residency.
At this hearing, the committee addressed
why storing data within the state of Illinois
reduces both jurisdictional and security concerns.
Two subject matter experts provided testimony
on the positive economic impact data residency
has had on other states and municipalities.
No votes were taken.
Thank you, Mr. President.
That concludes my report.
Thank you very much.
For the Committee on License and Consumer Protection,
Chair recognizes Chairwoman Silverstein.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I am reporting for the Committee on License and Consumer Protection.
We held a meeting on February 14th, 2024 to consider nine ordinances regarding Glickrum
Horatoriums in the 1st, 16th, 28th, 37th, 39th, and 49th wards.
The committee has recommended passage of each of these items.
02024-0006857 and others ending in 6938-6966. I'm sorry, 6969-7112-7113-7442-7443-7506
and 02023-0006144.
Mr. President, I move that the city council concur
in the recommendations of the License Committee
by the same roll call as item number one
of the Committee on Finance Report
and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider.
Hearing no objections, seeing no hands, so order.
02024-0007355.
an ordinance to amend section 3-50 of the municipal code regarding paper carry-up bag regulations by Alderman Irvin in the 28th Ward.
I move passage of this item by the same motion if there is no objection.
Hearing no objection, so order.
Mr. President, this concludes my report.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
For the Committee on Housing and Real Estate, the chair recognizes Chairman Sigcho Lopez.
thank you mr president uh members of city council reporting for your committee on housing and real
estate which held a meeting on february 16 2024 the committee has a series of reports recommending
passage of 10 ordinances including various agreements land sales and one acquisition
we also had an appointment confirmation where my report begins item number one is appointment
2024-007307, the appointment of Lisette Castaneda as commissioner of the Department of Housing.
Thank you. Are there any Alders that wish to speak to this
appointment? Chair recognizes Alderman Mike Rodriguez.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. I was incredibly, incredibly impressed
not just by the most important fact that you shared with me,
that your favorite tacos are from 26th Street at Totonicos in my ward,
but I was absolutely impressed by your breadth of knowledge
on our city's housing situation,
your thoughtful ideas about how we move forward as a great city into the future.
I think your resume speaks volumes about your commitment to our great city,
your commitment to this most important of institutions and most important of endeavors
leading our city's efforts when it comes to housing. The fact is, is that we've had record
numbers of individuals leaving our great city. We've had significant number of people coming to
our city as well, both wealthy individuals and migrants who have come to the city. Handling
these complexities takes a very, very much nuanced approach. I think you really do have
that nuanced approach. I'm very, very proud to support this appointment, and I'm looking
forward to working with you in this very difficult, challenging job that I think you will do very,
very well at. Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. The chair recognizes Alder Fuentes.
Thank you, Mr. President. I too stand in support of this appointment. I have the privilege of knowing Lisette Castaneda as an organizer, as a practitioner of what it means to bring housing to communities that need it.
I'm also extremely confident in Lisette's ability to address housing as diverse as it is across the city of Chicago.
There are communities like mine that are rapidly being gentrified in which bringing new affordable developments are absolutely necessary.
There are also communities across the city of Chicago that have been historically disinvested in and have not seen any development.
And Lissette has the imagination, the creativity, the rigor, and the hard work ethic to make sure that we get dollars into those communities so that we can sustain families that are homeowners, so that we can house folks that have been unhoused for decades.
And she also understands that we're living in a city and in a moment right now where we have to think about housing creatively.
The systems that currently exist have only gotten us so far.
We need to be able to rethink the systems in which we fund housing in the city of Chicago,
but also how we get creative about how we build revenue sources.
And so, you know, there's not a lot of people who can come to a committee through an appointment
and have organizers, policy wonks, and unions support their appointment.
but someone like Lissette brings that collective and diverse set of people who believe in her
ability to do right by the city of Chicago. I'm excited about this appointment. I'm excited about
all of the relationships and the work that you are going to be able to bring to this great city,
but more importantly, make sure that housing is a right in the third largest city in the country,
not a privilege. Congratulations, Commissioner. Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman Daniel
La Spada. I knew we could do it. Thank you, Mr. President. I am so sincerely honored to stand
in support of this appointment. Commissioner, there's nothing about this moment I could have
imagined or predicted when we first met, but I am glad and truly proud of all of it. I know
our work locally. But I also know that you understand so deeply the varied and complex
housing needs of Chicago, the varied and complex needs of every development moving forward,
whether it's mixed income, affordable market rate housing. How do we get to a community and a city
that everyone can afford, that everyone can thrive in? And if even half of what could happen in this
to deal with the next 60 days does happen in terms of funding affordable housing, the opportunities
for what we can do over the next four years is just outstanding. And I'm beyond thrilled to get
to do this work on this level with you. Thank you for taking up the challenge. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. Are there any other Alders that wish to speak? The chair recognizes Alderman Walter Burnett.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I also rise in support of this appointment. Had the pleasure to meet with the commissioner, know of her work with Lucha. I also know of her work on being on the land trust board, dealing with all of my ARO units that we've got contributed in our ward.
But I think, Mr. Mayor, this is a unique, very unique appointment because of her knowledge from being not only an advocate for affordable housing and a fighter for affordable housing, but also a builder of affordable housing and understand all of the loopholes that people who build affordable housing have to go through.
So that's very unique. And I think this is a blessed time to be the commissioner of the Department of Housing with all of the ammunition that this mayor is giving you in order to make things happen.
So we need to work together and take advantage of it. Although I am a little selfish about my ward, I guess with this new title, I have to care about the rest of the city also.
But I look forward to affordable housing being built all across this city, and we're bringing people up and equalizing this city to make sure everyone has a decent and fair place to stay in the city of Chicago.
Look forward to working with you, Commissioner.
Thank you.
Just for OIG purposes, again, ammunition is a figurative word.
The chair recognizes Alderman Andre Vasquez.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
I stand in support of this appointment.
I want to commend you on the decision.
You know, I think some of us here that have, like, been lifelong Chicagoans understand how challenging it is to really find a place you can call home.
Like, there's many of us whose families have come and rented and gotten displaced multiple times over, been transported from one neighborhood to the other.
and the way that disrupts life and it disrupts safety for our city is something that I think
some of us get not only rhetorically or theoretically, but it's part of our experience.
And so having the conversation with Ms. Castaneda and understanding also living that experience,
bringing that to this position, I believe is crucial and core to solving a lot of the
challenges we see in our city.
I want to thank Alderperson Fuentes who really summed it up. Different parts of town have
different challenges when it relates to housing, right? You've got places like the 40th Ward where
gentrification, one, it's been displacing people there. It becomes a lot harder to find affordability.
And so the ways to do it are different than it might be in other places. You can't find a large
lot to do large developments, but talking about affordable dwelling units or additional dwelling
units and finding different ways to subsidize housing. Coming up with different solutions and
having the impetus and momentum to push them forward is key to moving our city forward. I would
be remiss if I didn't commend Commissioner Navarro for all the work she had done to kind of bring us
to this point and to see that under Ms. Castaneda's leadership we continue that mission and move
forward that we think about not only affordability but really the whole spectrum of housing. When we
have folks who can't afford even affordable housing and we have to think about what permanent
supportive housing looks like what it means to have affordability what it means to have people
who want to become homeowners creating the kind of environment for all those folks to be successful
requires multiple focus on a lot of different things i'm very confident that you'll be able
to deliver as our commissioner in that role um i won't put too much i love the fact that we have
similar experience in what it means to be in Chicago because we want to call a place home.
We don't want to keep moving around. And there's so many people in Chicago that feel the same way
when we think about us being behind 140,000 units of affordability and everything else that's
needed. Being able to have a partner in that position that has the experience that you do
and has the passion that you do for it is something I believe the city will benefit immensely for.
And so I look forward to partnering with you and want to commend you again for the appointment.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Chairman Sigcho Lopez.
Thank you, Mr. President. And I will be brief in my remarks. We had a really good productive meeting during the confirmation hearing in the housing committee.
and I, as chair of the housing committee,
I have full confidence that we will now finally
work together collaboratively
to ensure that we can truly deliver on equity
for the city of Chicago.
The challenges that we have are tremendous.
We have 80,000 people today in the city of Chicago
that continue to be un-house.
We continue to see, unfortunately,
narratives that continue to dehumanize
and house residents, we got to remember we have our constituents that need us to think about
solutions and proactively address the issues of the house that are not unique to any community.
We have seen this is an issue across the city in every single zip code. And as such, we ask that
we not only commit to support the commissioner, but also work together to ensure that we work
with all the weight of government to ensure that we never again see the policies in the past
that saw almost 300,000 black residents displaced from the city of Chicago because of the unwillingness
of the city to address this issue of housing. In the city of Chicago, we see housing as a human
right. And as such, we need to make sure that it's followed with funding and support and smart
policies that come from the ground. I have no doubt in my mind that we have a commissioner today
that represent those communities
that have been victims of violence,
the violence and atrocities,
which is to leave people on house,
evictions, proclosures,
and the displacements of so many people.
Just today in the city of Chicago,
we continue to see the cries of many people
who come here to the council,
asking for the city council to act.
And today we take that step
by appointing a commissioner
that I know has the experience on the ground,
the heart of an scholar
and an activist that will not put in the Helmholtz's commissioner equity in practice.
And that's what people in the city of Chicago want. We are not going to allow the narratives
that want to take us to the back of the civil wars or worse, to create narratives that pitch
against each other. Our commitment to work with every single community, Southwest sides in
particular, being, of course, devastated, but these tragic, flooding, natural disasters that
continue to be an address.
Today, we have the opportunity to work together
and commit and recommit to work together
to make sure that we have in the city of Chicago,
housing as a human right.
So I'm proud to make sure that we have a commissioner
that reflect those values and principle.
So I move passage of these items
by the first most favorable roll call vote
on the Committee on Finance Report
and the associated and association motion to reconsider.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
Congratulations.
Thank you very much, Chairman Sigcho Lopez.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Item number two is ordinance 02024007431,
acquisition of eight-acre property with industrial building at 4130 South Morgan Street from TLP
4130 Morgan LLC for operation of Department of Fleet and Facility Management's streets and
sanitation facility in the 11th Ward. Item number three was a direct introduction 02024007804
lease agreement for use of office space to service the Office of Inspector General at 231
South LaSalle Street in the 34th Ward.
I move passage of these items by the same motion.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
The following items are grouped together
from the Department of Housing.
Item number four is ordinance 2024-0074030,
sale of city-owned lots at 3517, 3431, 3433,
and 3303 in West Flournoy Street
and 3533 West Lexington Street to an execution of redevelopment agreement with Home and Housing LLC
for East Garfield Park Affordable Homes Project under City Lots for Working Families Program
in the 24th Ward. Item number five is Ordinance 2024-007337, restructuring a loan agreement
with Erie Cooperative Limited Partnership for Rehabilitation of Properties in vicinity
of West Huron Street and North Ketsey Avenue in the 27th Ward.
I move passage of these items by the same motion.
Hearing no objection, so ordered.
The remaining items from the Department of Planning and Development
are grouped also for convenience.
Item number six was passed a substitute.
This is S-O-204-0007-432,
First Amendment to Right of Entry Agreement
for time extension to inspect city property at 1325 West 119th Street
and certain adjacent land by West Pullman Development Partners, LLC,
and DL3 Realty Advisors, LLC, in the 21st Ward.
Item number seven is ordinance 02024-0007328,
sale of city-owned property at 6949 South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
to Amanda Crew under adjacent neighbor's land acquisition program in the sixth ward.
Item number eight is 02024007362, sale of vacant city-owned property at 4359 West Monroe Street
to Larry Newman and Venetia Newman through the Chai Block Builder Land Sale Program in the 28th ward.
Item number nine is ordinance 2024-0007369, sale of city-owned bacon property at 1242 South Harding Avenue to Eileen Berg at 4047 West Fifth Avenue to Pamela Walker at 4157 West Fifth Avenue to Valerie Davis and at 1516 South Trip Avenue to Darlett Dobbs Sr. under the Chai Block Builder Land Sale Program in the 24th Ward.
item 10 is ordinance 2024 0007371 sale of 10 city-owned properties in the 17th ward to selected
buyers under the chai block builder land sale program in the 17th ward item 11 is ordinance
2024 00743 sale of vacant city-owned property at 531 north laramie street to roman castrejon
and Jasmine Catrejon through the Chai Block Builder Land Cale Program in the 37th Ward.
I move passage of these items by the same motion.
Hearing no objections, so order.
Mr. President, this concludes my report.
Thank you very much.
For the Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety,
Chair recognizes Chairperson La Spada.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Reporting for your Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety
for which a meeting was held on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
The committee held a subject matter hearing on the Complete Streets Ordinance with the Department of Transportation, and no votes were taken on this topic.
There were 215 other routine traffic items before the committee that passed.
If there are no objections, I move passage of these items by the first most favorable roll call vote from the Committee on Finance and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider the vote.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
That concludes my report.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
For the Committee on Police and Fire.
Chair recognizes Chairman Talia Faro.
Thank you, Mr. President, members of the City Council.
Reporting for your Committee on Police and Fire, for which a meeting was held on February 5, 2024,
there was one item before the committee for which the committee recommends do pass.
Item 1, Order 2023-64-24, the Amendment of the Municipal Code Chapter 2-84,
by adding a new section, 2-84050, establishing a comprehensive staffing analysis for the Chicago Police Department.
Mr. President, I move to passage of this item by the first most favorable roll call vote
in the Committee on the Finance and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider.
Hearing no objections, seeing no hands, so order.
Mr. President, that concludes my report.
Thank you much, Mr. Chairman.
For the Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs, and Recreation, the chair recognizes Chairman Sposato.
Thank you, Mr. President. You're two for two with Lesbada and Sposado.
Reporting on your committee on special events, cultural affairs and recreation, also known as the HAPPY Committee, which was held a meeting on February 14th, 2024.
The committee recommends passage of one item, 02024-0007317, City of Chicago Special Events Ordinance 2024.
I move passage of this item by the first favorable roll call vote on the Committee on Finance and Associated Unsuccessful Motion to Reconsider.
Hearing no objections, seeing no hands, so ordered.
Thank you, Mr. President. That concludes my report.
Thank you, Chairman.
The final committee, Committee on Zoning, Landmarks, and Building Standards.
Chair recognizes Vice Chairperson Lawson.
Thank you, Mr. President and members of the City Council.
presenting a series of reports for your committee on zoning, landmarks, and building standards,
which held a meeting on February 20th, 2024. These reports are grouped for convenience.
The following items were passed by a majority of members present.
Page one contains document number 02023-0007343, the amendment of the Municipal Code Section 17-6-0403-F,
by requiring special use approval for religious assembly permits in PMD 11, located in the 25th Ward.
If no one wishes to speak, I move passage of this item by the first most favorable roll call vote of the Committee on Finance, an unsuccessful motion to reconsider.
Thank you very much. Hearing no objections, so order.
Pages 1 through 2 contain various large signs over 100 square feet in area, 24 feet above grade, in the 3rd, 15th, 21st, 25th, 27th, 28th, 32nd, 41st, 43rd, and 46th wards.
I move passage of these items by the same motion if there is no objection.
Hearing no objection, so order.
Lastly, pages 2 through 12 contain various map amendments in the 1st, 9th, 11th, 12th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 27th, 28th, 30th, 32nd, 35th, 36th, 38th, 40th, 44th, 45th, and 49th wards.
I move passage of these items by the same motion if there is no objection.
Thank you for your enthusiasm.
Hearing no objections, so order.
The long list today.
Thank you, Mr. President.
That concludes my report.
Very well.
for the agreed-upon calendar.
Matters of the agreed-upon calendar,
the chair recognizes Alderwoman Harris.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I've received from Clerk Ana in Valencia
a total of four items proposed for the agreed calendar,
consisting of congratulatory, commemorative,
tributary resolutions from the following Alderpersons.
Alderperson Harris, Alderperson Ramirez,
also Person Rodriguez, Alderperson Gilby Agus,
and I move these to be passed in the omnibus.
Very well.
hearing no objections so ordered new business
thank you mr clerk zoning amendments referred to the committee on zoning landmarks and building
standards traffic regulations traffic control signals and traffic signs which are referred to
the committee on pedestrian and traffic safety grants of privilege on and over the public way
which are referred to the committee on transportation and public way and exemption from physical barrier requirements for commercial driveway alley access for parking facilities,
which are referred to committee on transportation and public way.
Allman Silverstein has proposed ordinance for amendment of municipal code titles two and four by adding new section two dash 36 dash five 20 and new chapter four dash 24 regarding lithium ion battery safety standards for micro mobility devices,
which is referred to the Committee on Police and Fire.
Almond Martin has proposed ordinance for an honorary street designation
as Demetrius Jimmy Pyrus Way,
which is referred to the Committee on Transportation and Public Way.
Almond Martin also has proposed ordinance for an honorary street designation
as Ozzie Gough Way,
which is referred to the Committee on Transportation and Public Way.
Almond Lawson has proposed ordinance for Amendment of Municipal Code
Chapter 4-388 by modifying various sections regarding
sale of licensing for and limitations to alcoholic liquor at wrigley field which is referred to
committee on license and consumer protection almond lawson and others have proposed ordinance
for amendment of municipal code section 2-112-010 by requiring city council advice and consent for
appointment of department of public health commissioner which is referred to the committee
on the budget and government operations almond knutson has the proposed ordinance for amendment
of municipal code section 4-60-073 by increasing number of lakefront venue liquor licenses issued
per period and by including concrete pad at beach house at north avenue beach which is referred to
committee on license and consumer protection almond riley and alderman viegas have a proposed
ordinance for amendment of municipal code chapter 2-8 by adding a new article 5 regarding
implementation of transparency rules by city departments which is referred to the committee
on committees and rules.
Almond Napolitano has proposed ordinance
for amendment of municipal code section 7-28-710
by prohibiting dumping of foodstuffs
that afford food or harborage to wild animals,
which is referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Relations.
Almond Sposato has proposed ordinance
for amendment of municipal code section 4-60-022
to allow additional alcoholic liquor licenses
on a portion of West Addison Street,
which is referred to the Committee on License
and Consumer Protection.
Almond Villegas has proposed ordinance
for a correction of the City Council Journal of Proceedings of November 15, 2023,
which is referred to the Committee on Committees and Rules.
Alma Viegas also has proposed resolution for expression of support
for Illinois Municipal League requests to Governor Pritzker
and the Illinois General Assembly to protect full funding
of local government distributive funds,
which is referred to the Committee on the Budget and Government Operations.
Alma Ramirez-Rosa and others have proposed ordinance
for amendment of municipal code section 2-44-135
by extending expiration date for demolition surcharge to December 31st, 2024,
which is referred to the Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
Allman Wagaspak has proposed orders for the issuance of permits for signed signboards
at 2409 North Elston Avenue, which are referred to the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks, and Building Standards.
Allman Irvin has proposed ordinance for opening of the public way at North Kilbourne Avenue
between West Chicago Avenue and West Ohio Street,
which is referred to the Committee on Transportation and Public Way.
Allman Burnett has proposed ordinance for opening a West Division Street on the north side
between North Halsey Street and North Larrabee Street,
which is referred to the Committee on Transportation and Public Way.
Allman Burnett also has proposed ordinance for amendment of municipal code
Section 17-12-1005D regarding occupancy rates of principal tenants
utilizing high-rise building signs,
which is referred to the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks, and Building Standards.
Allman Lopez has proposed resolution to call for Clemency Investigations, Inc.
to investigate claims of innocence filed by inmates claiming incarceration due to coerced confessions via use of torture,
which is referred to the Committee on Public Safety.
Two committees call the Committee on Public Safety and the Committee on Finance.
The matter is referred to the Committee on Committees and Rules.
Allman Lopez and others have proposed a resolution to call for hearings regarding impact of Chicago Board of Education Resolution 24-0222-RS1,
S1 which seeks to develop new policy that codifies best practices for school safety
which is referred to the committee on education and child development i'm sorry two committees
call the committee on education and the committee on police and fire the matter is referred to the
committee on committees and rules allman ramirez has to propose the ordinance for an honorary
street designation as Nicholas Ramirez Jr. Way, which is referred to the Committee on Transportation
and Public Way. Almond Ramirez also has a proposed ordinance for an honorary street designation as
Eric S. Hernandez Boulevard, which is referred to the Committee on Transportation and Public Way.
Almond Robinson has a proposed ordinance for Amendment of Mismicode Chapter 2-4 by adding a
new Section 2-4-125, establishing Task Force on Hoverty Elimination and Economic Security,
which is referred to the Committee on Health and Human Relations. Almond LaSpada has a proposed
resolution to call for hearings on lowering citywide default speed limit from 30 miles per
hour to 25 miles per hour which is referred to the committee on pedestrian and traffic safety
new committees call the committee on traffic and in the committee on the budget and government
operations the matters referred to the committee on committees and rules
your honor that concludes the presentation of all the magic introductions thank you mr clerk
for the approval of the general journal alderman mitchell for the approval of the journal
Mr. President, I am not aware of any corrections to the journal from the February 15, 2024 special meeting and move that it be approved.
Very well. Hearing no objections. So ordered.
I do believe we have some unfinished business. Alderman Mitchell.
I am aware of one item of unfinished business. It was filed by Alderman O'Shea and calls for a vote on substitute ordinance 2023-0004978, which was deferred and published on January 31st, 2024.
Thank you very much. The chair recognizes Alderman O'Shea.
O'Shea. Thank you, Mr. President. I filed a Rule 41 notice with the clerk of my intent to call for a vote on this substitute ordinance concerning an amendment of the municipal code regarding small box retailers.
If anyone wishes to speak, I request the opportunity to close the debate and for at that time move for a passage by a roll call vote.
Very well, then. Are there any orders that wish to speak to this item?
Chair recognizes Alderman Derek Curtis.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I definitely want to support this resolution that my colleague to the South is introducing.
I have been dealing with this situation with Dollar Tree for the past five years.
I've met with the top leadership with Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, and they came out to my community.
They made me a ton of promises, and they have not kept those promises.
Don't get me wrong.
I love Dollar Tree.
but the Dollar Trees in the suburbs are nothing like the Dollar Trees in the city of Chicago in
our community. I have three Dollar Trees that I approved to come into my community and I do
regret it now. No one likes to see empty stores because all it does is bring down the community,
But Dollar Tree and Family Dollars have been, they have not been such good neighbors.
I purchase a lot of arts and crafts for my after school programs from Dollar Tree, but I don't do it at my own stores in my community.
I have to go to the suburbs to buy arts and crafts for my after school programs.
because they're not the same.
And all I've been asking Dollar Tree to do
is treat our community as they do the suburban community.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you.
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor.
So imagining sending your two daughters to work.
God bless me with the same person's wife.
one is 21 what is 31 one is a carrying conceal one is not and because the store and alderman
and moore's ward kept getting robbed my child was asked to bring her weapon to the store for safety
so imagine how it felt to get a phone call that my oldest daughter was in the back with her
with her carrying conceal but my youngest daughter was at the register getting robbed
robbed at gunpoint. Imagine how that made her oldest sister feel to feel like she couldn't
protect her. And with all due respect to Alderman Moore, who answered my call, who got the
superintendent, who is now the superintendent at the time, he was the commander of the 7th District,
but got him to actually come to the store to make sure folks were okay. Alderman Moore did reach out
to the store and nothing was done. And so it's funny now that one of my colleagues has come up
with an ordinance to hold them accountable. And now we're being asked to wait. What would you say
to me if my daughter had gotten killed? Y'all ain't got enough money to pay me for how I would
have been burning down this city over my kid. And so the thought that we got to have this conversation
about waiting. How much longer do we have to wait for the things we deserve in our community?
The dollar store, dollar general was supposed to be our saving grace. I have a community that has
a bunch of corner stores that don't do right by me. I have a bunch of gas stations that don't do
right by me. And so the thought that the dollar store started off all this great and then decided
all ain't worthy, but makes millions of dollars on the first and the fifth scene. Let's talk about
because our community needs this store,
but not to the point where we are compromising
who we are in our communities and accepting less.
And so I'm going to support Alderman O'Shea,
A, because I said I would,
and B, you don't get to come after the facts.
Who are you?
And y'all came up with this notion,
y'all want to leave, bye.
We're trying to build our own stores
and our own communities anyway.
And so the thought that there is this much chaos
after he put in this ordinance,
says what type of corporation y'all are.
It says what type of business y'all run.
And it's not a good one.
And so why I get, yeah, we go through this thing,
we don't wanna have nothing.
We might as well have nothing.
Coming to a store where it's trash everywhere.
Gentlemen got killed in the dollar store
around the street from my house.
They literally opened the next day
with no support to the workers who were there.
And this incident had nothing to do with the store.
And so tell me how I'm supposed to give you another month.
my daughter probably wouldn't have had another month.
What would you say to me then?
Would your condolences help?
Would you hire people that look like us
and the black and Latino to tell us we should wait a month?
Is that what's going to help?
Let's call this like it is.
I am sick and tired of us waiting.
You should have did your due diligence before.
He's not the first older person to call you.
David Moore talked to me the entire day
to calm me down about my kid.
And so I appreciate him reaching out. And so the thought that you all want to come behind the eight ball and say, oh, we need this and we need that. Not our monkey, not our circus. You have my yes, Alderman O'Shea.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alder Vasquez.
Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank our colleague, Alderman O'Shea, for the work he's done.
We know that in addition to what's been said here, these dollar stores actually undercut the local businesses that are nearby, your corner stores, your grocery stores.
It undercuts dollars that could be coming back to people who own businesses here in our city and all the different neighborhoods.
I will draw a little bit of dissonance from what my colleague Alderman Taylor said.
I don't think that when Mr. O'Shea introduced his ordinance, it brought chaos. It actually brought order. It actually brought a dollar store company to say, oh, now we have liaisons. We'd love to talk to you and figure out what we could fix.
That was not happening prior, but for the fact that the ordinance was introduced, right?
So when we were having conversations and people were like, well, now we have liaisons, so now we should just back off.
Don't fall for the okie-doke, because if this ordinance doesn't pass, those liaisons will disappear in a year or two.
And we'll be right back to the same argument about the support that's necessary.
There's a lot of lobbying and a lot of surface handshakes with members of this council to try to get us to slow things down.
You don't have to. It's proven.
If it wasn't for our colleague introducing the ordinance, the improvement wouldn't have happened.
They don't care about you until the ordinance gets introduced and now they're scared and want to get people to back off of it.
We want to make our city better. We want our businesses to do better.
We don't want people to just come in and become vulture capitalists and get dollars off of us without investing back in the community.
So this, I would argue with our colleagues, is a no-brainer.
It should dang near be a 50-0 in support of this ordinance.
So I support it. I'm not going to count on somebody who gets dollars off of us.
that tells us they're going to be a partner when they haven't proven as such until it becomes to
a boiling point. So yeah, I would recommend to our colleagues as well to support our colleague
Alderman O'Shea's ordinance and get this moving to make our city better. It's a pretty quick vote
to do. Thank you very much for your work. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. The chair recognizes
Alderman Carlos Rosa. Thank you so much, Mr. President. I too want to thank my colleague
for bringing forward this resolution. You know, in the 35th Ward, before we go to the Department
of Streets and Sanitation and ask for enforcement, before we go to the Department of Buildings and
ask for enforcement, we reach out directly to the business, which I'm sure is something that many of
you do. And on Armitage, in what was formerly the 35th Ward for the eight years that I represented
that stretch of Armitage, there is a dollar store there. And for years, we dealt with issues related
to cleanliness, safety, issues that impacted the quality of life of 35th Ward or Mosa residents.
And sometimes the dollar store would be responsive, other times they would not. And when new management
would come in or new staff would come in, suddenly we would have all the same issues that we were
experiencing for months and years at a time. The parking lot was a complete disaster, a complete
mess. We had to get the Department of Street Sanitation in there to go after them and enforce
our city codes. I just recently learned from my colleague who now represents that Dollar Tree,
Alderwoman Jessie Puentes, that those issues continue now, even after eight years of directly
trying to address them with the management there, with the ownership there. So when our attempts to
work with a business fail, we have to look for other solutions. And I think that this is a
solution that has been brought forward that provides us with another tool to ensure that
these businesses are good neighbors and are not negatively impacting the quality of life.
So I commend my colleague and everyone that worked on this ordinance and made changes to it to ensure
that this is the best possible piece of legislation that we can pass today. And I will be voting yes.
Thank you. Thank you. The chair recognizes Nick Sposato. Thank you, Mr. President. I didn't plan
on speaking on this. And this is one of those rare times I was truly undecided about something.
and I made up my mind this morning.
But I just want to say one thing to all my colleagues
and I'm supporting the ordinance, Matt,
as I told you before now.
So I'm with you on this, but,
and I have only one dollar tree in my ward.
But guess what?
They weren't, I didn't feel they were good at business,
just like some other businesses in my ward
weren't good businesses.
But you know what I did, everybody?
I talked to them.
After I talked to them, they shaped up, all right?
It wasn't just them.
It's other businesses in my ward.
I'm sure it's everywhere.
Life's about communication, people.
Talk it out.
talk to them, things will get done. I know some of you had some different stories. I had a different
experience. My dollar store wasn't a good neighbor. We talked to them. They became a good neighbor.
So I just wanted to say that, like I said, I didn't plan on talking, but I do support Matt
in this ordinance. So thank you very much for letting me speak, Mr. President. Of course. Thank
you very much. Are there any other Alders before Alderman O'Shea provides the last comment,
the last word around this. Okay, the chair recognizes Alderman Matt O'Shea.
Thank you, Mr. President. Put your seatbelts on.
The ordinance before you is very simple. It does two things and two things only.
First, it requires dollar stores to post a placard on the outside of their buildings with contact information for elected officials and communities to make a phone call and report a problem with that store.
And what I've heard these past five months from many of you is there are problems with those stores.
Second, it says that a new dollar store cannot open within one mile of an existing dollar store if the two stores are owned by the same company.
It will not impact any existing stores in our city.
It will not prevent an existing store from moving across the street or right next door.
it will not prevent two dollar stores from opening near each other.
Between 2017 and 2023, the companies that own the three dollar stores that operate in our city,
Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar,
they received more than 3,300 code violations.
Repeat that.
In six years, more than 3,300 code violations.
Those violations include, but are not limited to,
the sale of baby formula.
That was six months past accesspiration date.
Medicine, more than a year past the expiration date.
Those stores have also been charged with overtaxing and overcharging customers.
In total, these stores over this six-year period have received more than $600,000 in fines from the city of Chicago.
Again, let me repeat that, $600,000 in fines with no noticeable change in their behavior.
The Illinois Department of Labor is currently investigating claims of more than $80,000 in wage theft against these same companies.
While their Illinois locations have collectively accrued nearly $1 million in fines from OSHA.
for unsafe and unsanitary working conditions.
Aside from those startling figures,
this counsel heard firsthand from our colleague Alderman Taylor
about the horrible treatment her daughters received
as employees of one of those companies.
Now, research shows that dollar stores
have a very unique business model.
They like to operate in proximity to one another.
They like to oversaturate a community.
Today, in the city of Chicago,
we have $149 stores currently operating,
but plenty more on the way.
They're highly concentrated in minority communities.
In the 17th Ward, there are $10 stores.
In the 2nd, 42nd, 43rd, and 44th wards,
there are zero dollar stores.
Drive past any one of those 149 stores today,
and you'll likely see overflowing dumpsters,
broken fences, broken exterior lights,
buildings in disrepair, shopping carts,
overturned on the sidewalk or in the parking lot.
Yet it's funny, when I drive just five or ten minutes outside my community in a predominantly white suburb, I don't see that.
I see cleaned, well-maintained stores and parking lots, probably where my colleague Alderman Curtis goes to shop.
Absolutely, absolutely.
So that begs the question, question that I've been trying to get answers for, for five months.
Why does this Fortune 200 company think that it's okay to maintain stores in suburban white communities and yet ignore stores in your community?
When a dollar store comes into a neighborhood, they undercut other retailers, especially grocery stores.
With other retailers leave, more vacancies pop up, more dollar stores come in, until a dollar store is a community's only option.
Exacerbating our already very serious food desert problem in many neighborhoods we serve.
This ordinance will help stop the proliferation of these stores and allow space for small, independent retailers to establish themselves in the marketplace, an approach that we know already works.
In our license committee hearing, those of you who attended, we had Vanessa Hall Harper.
She works as a councilman in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
We flew her in.
She told us a story of how she was able to bring a new full-service grocery store into her community in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Look it up.
Only after she passed the law.
similar to this one.
That operator told her point blank.
Without that law, they would have never opened
and they would never have been successful,
which they are.
Now, since last October,
and this is really sticking in my crawl,
since last October,
you folks know me.
I'm pragmatic.
I'm willing to work with anybody.
I don't like getting bullshitted.
I don't like getting my chain yanked.
Apologize, Mr. President.
I've been trying to work on this issue in good faith.
Talk to attorneys, talk to lobbyists,
talk to various business organizations,
many of whom I support and have supported,
about how we can address these issues.
in meeting after meeting, phone call after phone call,
email after email.
The mayor's office was involved.
Business Affairs and Consumer Protection was involved.
The law department was involved.
Streets and sanitation was involved.
I've heard the concerns and attempted to work with them
towards an ordinance that everybody in this room
would be comfortable with.
through those discussions,
I've made seven concessions.
We've had 10 iterations of this ordinance
that's before you today.
I've made seven concessions to try to get here.
Dollar stores made zero.
Dollar stores told me one thing on the phone
and then a week later said,
can't afford that.
for years corporate hedge funds have used these stores to pull as much money as possible
out of communities across our city while operating in a way
that contributes significant negative impacts on those very same communities
they've had every opportunity to come to the table not like this morning hold it another month
oh and get this one we're going to sue that's floating around back here folks we're going to sue
bring it on
they have been dishonest brokers if we're serious about working together and addressing
are very significant food desert problems in many of our communities.
If we're serious about helping small businesses continue to rebound from this pandemic
and serious about holding irresponsible corporations accountable
for the harm they do in our communities,
we need to act. We need to act today.
I'm asking all of my colleagues to join me in voting yes for this ordinance.
Thank you.
And on your motion.
On your motion, Alderman O'Shea, your specific motion.
Respectfully, sir, I call for a roll call vote.
Okay.
All right.
Very well.
So there's a motion to approve the substitute ordinance concerning the amendment of the Municipal Code regarding small box retailers.
That motion has been made, and there's also been a request for this vote to be a roll call vote.
So members, please use the e-vote application to record your vote at this time.
Voting is now open. Please mark your vote.
Okay, well now call on those who have not used their devices to vote. Alderperson Robinson, not in the chambers. Alderman Hall. Alderman Hall is a nay.
Alderman Chico? Thank you. Sorry, it didn't show up. Alderman O'Shea? Yes. Alderman O'Shea is a yes. Need to see it.
Um, other person Rodriguez Sanchez. Yes. All the person Rodriguez Sanchez is a yes.
Alderman Riley. Alderman Riley is a yes.
Alderwoman Silverstein. Yes. Alderman Silverstein is a yes.
Voting is now closed.
There are 42 yeas, 7 nays. This matter is passed. On the motion to reconsider, Alderman Mitchell.
President, motion to reconsider the vote.
All those in favor, signify by saying aye. All those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the chair, this motion fails. Alderman Mitchell, are you aware of any other pieces of unfinished business?
I am aware of no other pieces of unfinished business.
Very well.
For miscellaneous business, the chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell.
Yeah.
Except for the ordinance set in the date and time of the next meeting, I am not aware
of any miscellaneous business.
Thank you very much.
For the date and time of the next meeting, the chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell.
I've handed up an ordinance to the clerk set in the date and time of the next meeting.
Very well.
Mr. Clerk, please read the ordinance.
Be ordained by the City Council of the City of Chicago.
Section 1, the next regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Chicago
shall be held on Wednesday, March 20th, 2024, beginning at 10 o'clock a.m.
in the Council Chamber on the second floor in City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois.
Section 2, this order shall take effect and be enforced from and after its passage.
Very well. Chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell.
Passage in the omnibus.
Hearing no objections, so ordered on the omnibus.
Chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell.
President, I move that matters in the omnibus be passed by the first most favorable roll call vote by the Committee on Finance and the Associated Unsuccessful Motion to Reconsider.
All right. Hearing no objections, so ordered.
Alderman Mitchell, on a motion to adjourn.
There being no further business before this body, I move that we adjourn.
Hearing no objections, so ordered. This meeting is adjourned.
Thank you.