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 see such disruptive conduct
and failure to comply will result in.
Remember to log into your devices. Thank you.
City of Chicago City Council.
Rules of Conduct for Public Meetings 2023 to 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, conducting others'
presentations is not permitted.
Banners, pliers 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 six inches will be permitted in
our 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 comments 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 see 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
to 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, pliers 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 six inches will be permitted in our 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 comments 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 viewer.
Hearing of other individuals, individuals
or groups failing to adhere to these rules will be asked
to see such disruptive conduct
and failure to comply will result in their being subject
to removal from the meeting by the Sergeant at Arms.
Good afternoon, members of the city council. Welcome.
Please remember to log into your devices.
The meeting will begin shortly.
City of Chicago City Council Rules of Conduct
for Public Meetings 2023 to 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, pliers 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 six inches will be permitted in our 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 comments 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 see 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 to 2027.
Pursuant to the Chicago City Council rules of Order
and Procedure Rule 49,
the sergeant at ARM sets forth the following rules
of convict 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, pliers 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 six inches will be permitted in our 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 comments 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 see such disruptive conduct
and failure to comply will result in their being subject
to removal from the meeting by the Sergeant at Arms.
Good afternoon. Members of the city council.
Please remember to log into your devices.
The meeting will begin shortly.
Good afternoon. Good morning.
The council will come to order.
Good afternoon. The council will come to order.
Madam Clerk, please take a roll Quorum. Roll call.
Ready.
The voting is now open.
Please mark yourself present for quorum.
Okay, well now call on those that are in chambers
and have not yet voted.
Alder person Robinson not present.
Alderwoman Harris Alderwoman Harris Present.
Alderman Beal. Alderman Beal is present.
Alderwoman Gutierrez not present.
Alderwoman Coleman not present.
Alderman Moore not present. Alderman Curtis.
Alderman Curtis is present.
Alderman Mosley not Alderman.
Ris not present.
Alderman Burnett Present.
Thank you. Alderman
Lawson not present.
Alderwoman Monet Howorth. Alderwoman Howorth is present.
Where? Where is? Oh.
Alder Women Tobar Present
and Alderwoman Gutierrez present.
Okay. Believe we got everybody. Okay. Okay.
Okay. Voting is now closed.
There there are 39 members present. We do have a quorum.
There are a number of ALS who've requested
to participate in today's meeting remotely
for reasons stated in Rule 59.
They are as as following Alders Robinson,
Julia Ramirez, Jeanette Taylor, Byron Scho Lopez,
Ana Rodriguez Sanchez, Angela Clay
and Debra Sil Silverstein.
Can I get a motion to approve the remote participation?
It's been moved. All those in favor signify by saying Aye.
All those opposed say nay. And the pen of the chair.
The ayes have it. Madam Clerk,
please mark the following alders, participating remotely
as present on the quorum call, please rise
for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands, one nation,
nation under God, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all.
Please remain standing for our invocation,
which will be delivered today
by Pastor Alderman William Hall,
Our heads, let's bow our heads.
God, we first of all say thank you that goodness
and mercy has followed us into this day.
God, as we handle your business, may our hearts be right,
may our minds be clear and God may compassion
and empathy be our motivation today.
God, we pray for differences to be a opportunity to discover
and may hope rise in the presence of hate.
So God help us as we try to work together, continue
to strengthen our mayor, continue to strengthen our city.
We ask these things in your name, amen.
Amen. May be seated.
This is the portion of the meeting for public comments.
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 all automatic review.
Our first speaker this this afternoon is Carlos Calleros.
Hello. Good afternoon, mayor Johnson
and members of the City Council.
My name is Carlos Eros.
I am a resident of Chicago,
more specifically the Gage Park area.
I'm with the Chicago Workers Collaborative.
We are members of the Illinois Coalition
for Immigrants and Refugee Rights.
We focus on assisting currently migrating families
with informing them about neighborhood resources as well
as providing workshops for them to inform them of the rights
that workers have despite the immigration status.
We've come across immigrants that have been victims
of trafficking.
We've come across, uh, single mothers, elderly people.
Um, we all want the same possibility
and the same possibility at a better life.
Now, while I'm here to encourage a yes vote on the
appropriation for new arrivals today, it is time
to start making the pivot to, uh, long-term solutions
for Chicagoans.
Chicago has long been a welcoming city
and we're committed to ensuring it remains that way
while we are facing challenging moment.
It's nothing that Chicago hasn't faced before as a city.
I'm confident that you all that with you all
that we can work together to come up
with an inclusive long-term solution
that benefits all Chicagoans
and lay the groundwork for future residents.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Sanjay Kumar.
Hi, good afternoon. Uh, my name is Sanjay Kumar.
I'm a leader with Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago
and I live in the 46th Ward.
Um, I'm calling on City Council not only
to approve the $70 million for new arrivals, uh,
but to cancel the Shot spotter contract,
which has wasted tens of millions of dollars on a piece
of surveillance technology that doesn't work.
As a reminder, shot Spotter is a gunshot detection system
that is easily fooled
by loud noises from cars back far firing to fireworks.
Uh, CPD has showed up
to more than 40,000 unfounded shot spotter initiated
deployments over over 21
and a half months, which is about 61
dead end deployments a day.
Uh, and the state's attorney office reported
that shot spotter related arrests lead
to convictions only about 1% of the time.
This is a massive waste of City U Resources
and for a piece of technology
that studies have shown has absolutely zero effect on
preventing violence in the city.
Rather than wasting money on this useless piece
of surveillance technology, we are urging city council
to invest in our communities, in schools
and mental health clinics to address the cost
of living crisis where food prices, rent
and childcare costs continue to rise,
and thousands of our neighbors sleep on the streets.
Um, we are urging you to vote against the order that calls
for Alders to be able to choose whether
to remove the sound Thinking shot spotter technology on
award by ward basis and calls for any decisions related
to violence prevention funding to be brought
to the Public Safety Committee
and full city council for the decisions.
We je we reject the intention and outcomes of this order
and we support Mayor Brandon Johnson's decision
to cancel the contract with Shots Spotter Citywide.
Thank you. Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Kiara Cortes Larios.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
My name is Kiara Cortes Larios
and I'm here from a nonprofit NA organization in Casa Micka.
I'm here to advocate on behalf of all those asylum seekers
who are looking to stay in Chicago.
I am the first generation Latina.
My parents came to this country 33 years ago.
Um, as well my parents
and, um, my whole family, including grandparents, including,
um, uh, uncles, aunts,
and, um, as whole cousins.
As a child, an immigrant, I understand that my parents came
to this country for a better living conditions
and for a bright future for us and their children.
They ca they have not only given us a bright future,
but what Casa Michan we have been able
to help our com community settle in.
I have seen the firsthand the dedication
and the struggle this recent migrants experience coming in
the country seeking for the, for that same opportunity.
They have not only given us a bright future,
but I'm sorry they're all human.
And the serve the right to look for a better future
for not only recent migrants,
but for those who have been here for decades.
This money is crucial to keep
migrants in a better condition.
There are preventable diseases that children are dying from.
These people are treating treated like livestock
with little accessibility to care,
investing in immigration, not only our duty
as a sanctuary city,
but a right humans looking out for each other.
We're working for a better life
and citizenship status should not be a barrier,
especially in our country that has no direct pathway
to citizenship.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Our next speaker is
Sarah Tomas Lima.
Good morning. My name is Sarah Tomas Lemna.
I'm a community organizer
with Asian Americans Advancing Justice,
which is a member organization of the Illinois Coalition
for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
and I live in the Fifth Ward.
Today I am calling on the city council
to approve $70 million in funding to support new arrivals
until the end of the year.
Advancing Justice Chicago organizes for immigrant justice
through monthly mutual aid mobilizations through being part
of coalitions that advocate for long-term solutions such
as the Bring Chicago Home Campaign
and the Stop Shot Spotter Coalition
and have long advocated
for solutions like treatment, not trauma.
This moment where we anticipate welcoming more new arrivals
to the city of Chicago is clearly dividing our city.
And this is exactly what governor Greg Abbott has intended.
He intended to catch our communities unprepared
and while many individuals, faith leaders
and community organizations have stepped up
to support our new neighbors this moment has also exposed
some of the deficiencies in our social services,
in our housing systems, in our
and in our family support that have existed
for decades in Chicago.
This is evidence of a broken system
that we must reimagine together.
It's the system that has maintained generational
disinvestment in communities of color in Chicago
for far too long.
And this systemic racism is what has prevented our city, one
of the richest cities in the world from paying more into the
public safety net system.
But today, you have the opportunity to right those wrongs
by voting to support $70 million
to fund supportive services for new arrivals.
And in addition, you have the opportunities
to support long-term solutions to fund affordable housing
and economic development for all Chicagoans by voting
to borrow $1.25 million over the next five years to make
economic security a reality for more of our neighbors.
I also urge you today to vote against the order that calls
for alders to be able to choose whether
to remove shot spotter technology on award by ward basis
and also calls for violence prevention funding decisions
to be, to be brought to the public safety committee
and the full city council.
We reject the intention and outcomes of this order
and support Mayor Brandon Johnson's decision
to cancel the contract with Shot Spotter Citywide
Chicago will remain a welcoming city while we work together
to pass funding
and to provide supportive services
for everyone in this city.
We can work together for inclusive long-term solutions
that benefit all Chicagoans
and also lay the groundwork for future residents.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Eduardo Fuentes.
Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, mayor. My name is Eduardo Fuentes.
I am the director for New Life Centers
and it has been an honor
and a privilege being able to work
with our new arrivals at new Life Centers.
We've been able to help resettle over 4,000 families,
including 16,000 individuals.
We care for over 300 people in shelters currently.
We have distributed over 250 items across
the shelter network.
We provided fresh food to over 6,000 neighbors to month.
When I speak of migrants, let us not reduce them
to mere statistics and headlines.
They are fathers, mothers, sons and daughters just like us.
They are, they embark on a dangerous journey, leaving
behind everything they know in search
of safety opportunity and a better life.
How can we in good health
and consciousness look a blind eye to that?
Think of the families torn apart,
the children separated from their parents,
the individuals fleeting violence and persecution.
These are our fellow human beings
and they are counting on us
to show them compassion and solidarity.
In Matthew 25, verse 35 to 40, Jesus reminds us
of our duty to care for the most vulnerable among us
where I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger to you
and you gave me something to get to know you.
Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least
of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
These words resonate deeply within me.
I'm sure they do with many of you.
They call us to action, to extend a hand in kindness
and hospitality to those in need, regardless
of their background or their circumstances.
And let us not forget the countless biblical injunctions
to care for a stranger and the foreigner amongst us.
Leviticus 1934 implores us the foreigner reciting among you
must be treated as your native born.
Love them as yourself for you.
Were foreigners in Egypt and I am the Lord.
Dear God, my friends, we have the moral obligation to care
for, to care for migrants, immigrants in our communities.
It is not just a matter of policy or politics.
It is a matter of compassion and humanity.
Let us rise to the occasion.
Let us stand in solidarity with our migrant brothers
and sisters and let us ensure
that they are given the dignity, respect,
and support that they need.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Yolanda Pena.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, mayor Johnson,
members of the council.
My name is Yolanda Pena
and I reside in the North Austin community.
We have a facility in Austin community as well as
that we have a facility in the Hermosa community
predominantly where there's migrants.
And although I am the co-founder
of Life Impactors Foundation
and members of the Unity Initiative with Pastor John
and Grace and Peace Church.
And although our organization focuses on reentry,
we felt the need to pivot at the moment.
And we've been working to support new arrivals
for over two years now.
Um, this moment is clearly
dividing Chicagoans, which is just
as Governor Abbott in Texas has intended.
He also intended on catching our communities unprepared.
And while many individuals, faith leaders
and community organizations have stepped up
to support our new neighbors, this moment has exposed some
of the deficiencies in social services, housing
and family support that have existed for decades in Chicago.
And while I'm here to encourage a yes vote on the
appropriation for new revivals today, it is time
to start making the pivot to long-term solutions
that help Chicagoans long-term support
for unhoused residents.
I can speak in my experience,
we've had over 600 individuals
stay at our facility
and I'm proud to say that we've been able to establish all
For the exception of seven individuals.
Sometimes we understand that we can't help all,
but I'm proud to say that we've been able
to help everyone else.
Chicago has long been a welcoming city
and we're committed to ensuring it remains that way.
While we are facing a challenging moment, it is nothing
that Chicago hasn't faced before.
And as a city, I'm confident that we can work together
to come up with inclusive long-term solutions
that benefit all Chicagoans
and lay the groundwork for future residents
as well. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your comments.
Our next speaker is Swathi Staley.
Good afternoon, mayor Johnson,
city Council members of city government.
Thank you for allowing my comments today
on this important matter.
My name is Swathi Staley.
I'm the Chief Community Investment Officer
and general counsel for the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.
I am also the daughter of immigrants who arrived in Chicago
and succeeded in contributing deeply to the fabric
of this city and providing a life
of opportunity for me and my sister.
I'm here to urge city council to pass the funding request
to continue supporting the migrant crisis.
The reality of the situation is that the influx
of new Americans and asylum seekers
to Chicago is happening in real time.
We have thousands of new arrivals in Chicago who are in need
of our support and in need of community.
The YMCA has support has stepped up as a Chicago institution
to support families as to support the sheltering of adults
and families and the education
and enrichment of youth arriving in our city.
We at the y know
that this is not the sole issue facing the city at this
time, but it is an urgent, immediate humanitarian crisis
of historic proportions that we cannot turn our back on.
We are known as the city of Big Shoulders.
We are known as a city
that figures out solutions to big problems.
Today we face an immediate
and acute crisis with the current new arrival situation
and chronic crises of the lack of access
and support for long-term un undocumented residents
and African Americans who continue
to be the most economically disenfranchised in our city.
We do not need to pick groups against each other.
We have the capacity to solve these crises for everyone.
When it comes to ingenuity, we need to remember who we are.
We need to call upon the defiant yet welcoming spirit
that we are known for, to do the impossible
to address these crises.
As Muhammad Ali once said, impossible is nothing
but a word thrown around by small men who find it easier
to live in the world as it is, as it is than
to explore the power that they have to change it.
History will remember this moment
and how we rose to the occasion
to support all of our neighbors.
We are a city built to do great things.
We must extend funding and to address the immediate, urgent
and historic issue facing the city today, I ask
that the city council approve the funding
for the continued support
of this humanitarian crisis. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Our next speaker this afternoon is Melvin Bailey.
Hey, thank you mayor. Thank you city
council for having me again.
You know, my fight is always about this violence
going on in this community.
Now look, now we talk about migrant,
but what about them kids with them guns in the hand.
Them kids running them cars downtown. Let's talk about that.
Let's talk about creating opportunity.
And we talk about thank you mayor, for doing at least trying
to, uh, talk about housing.
You know, if you give me these vacant lots,
I can build quicker and I can get some
of these kids off the street.
And let's talk about the project
that's going on right across the street.
Right across the street.
We, all of us should walk over there and shut that down.
I don't care who money it is, I don't care. Google own it.
I don't care who own it.
It should be some black kids in there working.
Somebody should be in there working
where they can stop thinking about waking up in the morning
saying, I'm gonna commit a crime today.
Matter of fact, I'm gonna wait till tonight.
I'm gonna steal me a car. I'm gonna hurt a innocent baby.
I'm gonna rat. And you know
what the young kids tell me when I talk to 'em, man,
what happen when you run, run over a person?
Oh, well they shouldn't have been in a way.
That's the mindset they got.
So what I wanna do, let's talk about,
let's talk about the workforce ordinance
that's been on the books forever.
It's the workforce ordinance.
Uh, it is a residence ordinance.
Chicago municipal code two dash
nine two dash 30.
All you lawyers are here. Look that up.
And you'll see the workforce hours.
I don't care what construction sites
you on should be going to.
Residence in the community should be going
to residents in this neighborhood
so we can stop some of this violence.
Oh, we falling asleep. We've been logged asleep now.
I mean, I don't hear nobody saying, man,
only time we come out is when uh,
when when a baby get killed, somebody get hurt.
We need to come out before that.
And then let's talk about these construction companies.
Let's talk about the black folks.
And I told them this every time.
They want me to help them get a contract.
They mail will help me get the contract,
but now they get the contract.
I can't find 'em. Can't see 'em. And they can't hide nobody.
'cause they hired behind the union.
Oh, the union won't let me hire them.
The union won't let me hire. Come on. What?
You ain't say that when you was in,
in my office talking about the job, the contract,
these big contracts you get.
You ain't say that then. So now I go back to you
to ask you to hire somebody.
Now, you know, can't hire nobody.
And I want to talk about we got to do something
with this O'Hare Airport, with Jamie Reed.
I I, I told Jamie, listen,
we got some contracts out there doing, um, installation.
I said, my company can do installation.
We could have some folks. Oh, Melvin called me. Call me Amy.
Don't even pick up the phone no more.
See, this is what I'm talking about. Stop looking high.
Stop sitting high and looking low on our community.
Stop it man.
All this violence going on in our neighborhood, man.
Y'all see these kids and guess what? We go talk to 'em.
I don't care where they at, south and west side updo we are.
Talk to 'em and let 'em know, man, we fighting for you.
But they say, big brother, if you ain't got no job for me,
man, I got a pistol and some dope and I'm gone.
That's the mindset. They have a pistol and, and I got a gun
and some dope and I'm finna get me some money.
Come on man. We gotta do better.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Mack McLaren.
Good day everyone.
Um, this is probably one
of the hardest junctures in human history.
How we gonna get past what we look like?
'cause we all people, I think in the end of, uh, Matthew
12, 30, 31,
the only unforgivable sin is blaspheming the Holy Ghost.
So Jesus, Allah, whatever you want to go.
But let's get back to charity begins at Home Chicago.
So to bring Chicago home, we have
to institute charity at home.
Now in human history, we have a lot of turmoil based on, uh,
colorism faced, um, this Castillo system
of putting people down based on the color of their skin.
Um, but people like peoples and rocks
and animals come in all colors and shades.
There were people here already.
I'm a newcomer in a sense
'cause I represent the 51st Ward here.
Anybody here, anybody sitting here
that represented the 51st Ward?
Do, do you know what it's like to be hungry for real?
'cause y'all sitting there, you looking good?
Some people say, I look good
so you don't see my pain and my struggle.
I worked almost 20 years.
Um, Morell Elementary, Donald Elma, uh, Morell Elementary,
uh, which was purported and named
after a judge who supported immigrants.
Um, our fine city is named, uh, recently,
uh, d Savo Drive, uh, John Baptist Dvo, an immigrant,
a black immigrant who came here, traveled the world, um,
met an uh, Indian woman here.
They got married and he had his family and,
and tried to make a way.
Um, I speak multiple languages, not as well.
Um, but I support this one thing about human nature.
We all eat beans and rice
and we predominantly want our
families to grow and be healthy.
So how do we share resources to do that?
You want to end violence.
Well, can we start with clean water? Clean air.
Monsanto, you owe the people of Chicago 700 billion.
And then we don't have to sit here begging
for a golden ticket to get in here
and see when and can we speak.
Utilities should be free.
It's breaking the backs of people
and more black people will come,
come down here to tell you how they feel.
But they have to work, work two shifts, 16 hours
to raise those kids that never get to see their parents
'cause they working for pennies.
So the black people here that are disenfranchised,
if you ever had your application
that you filled out when you had to get all those papers,
proved who you are, that when you were born here,
your birth certificate so scared, all that stuff.
And then it still gets lost
and they never get your paperwork.
I understand and I hear you,
but I still know what it's like to be in a situation
where you knew I got hit
by a car serving the people in my community in the city
of Chicago who gonna keep me safe.
I can't get medical help
for this brain injury because I'm black.
I can't get quality medical care where you get that at.
You gotta wait months and months and months and months
and months and months and months and months and months
and wait on the mistakes.
It's no time to wait. You all, if you are a true American,
this racism, it's gonna tear up the infrastructure
of our entire country.
So you can take your paper money 'cause it's not real. Thank
You very much for your Thank you.
Thank you very much. However your time has expired.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Thank you very much. Our next speaker, just a second, Mr.
Clerk. Just a second.
Thank you Mr. Clerk.
Our next speaker is Reverend CJ Hawking.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Afternoon.
Good afternoon to the staff of the alders
and to the alders as well.
I'm Reverend CJ Hawking.
I'm the executive director of Rise Chicago
and I am also a United Methodist pastor.
So as I rise today, I want to give thanks for the life
of Reverend Slim Coleman who died just a few days ago.
Global injustice
and climate catastrophe has brought migrants all over
Europe during the past two decades.
It at accelerated rates, the surge
of migrants coming into the US
are due in large measure to just to economic
practices that have been exploited and initiated
and perpetrated by the US government like Europe.
The number of migrants coming into the US
will continue to grow.
They are at our doorstep. They are in our doors.
Hospitality costs money. Civilization costs money.
According to the World Economic Forum, cities
with higher shares of migrants are often voted
as the most desirable places to live.
As their local economies grow and improve
and they become more vibrant and dynamic.
Chicago land has a great opportunity for growth.
After the 1871 fire,
a hundred thousand people in Chicago were homeless.
Our city population at the time was only 300,000.
So a third of Chicago was homeless.
The city was in ashes.
Initially, smoke and despair permeated the air,
but then faith communities
and neighbors leaned in, the government pitched in
and optimism for a new future grew.
No one had a car, no one had a cell
phone or social media.
But our ancestors rose to the vision of
what Chicago could be
and they said about it and they built it.
Currently, southern governors are
executing hate-filled politics by moving migrants
around like chess pieces in order
to gain a wrong sided political advantage.
Thank you. Thank you very much for Reverend, your Honor.
There are no further speakers
who have timely signed up for the public comment. Thank
You very much.
Uh, for resolutions. We don't have any today.
So, uh, next up then communications.
Uh, excuse me, the chair recognizes Alderman David Moore.
Thank you Mr. President. Please count me,
Uh, towards, um, Forum.
Mr. Clerk, could you please add Alderman
David Moore to the forum?
Roll call chair recognizes
Alderman Mosley, thank Mr.
President would like to be reflected
as president for more Mr.
Clerk, could you please add Alderman Mosley
to the Corrum roll call?
The chair recognizes Alderman Lawson.
Can I please be added to the roll call as well? The clerk.
Thank you. Thank you. Could you please add Alderman
Lawson to the Corrum roll call?
Are there any other Als that wish to be added to the roll?
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Coleman President.
Please add me to quorum as I have recorded.
Thank you very much. Mr.
Clerk, please add Alderwoman col uh,
Coleman to the Quorum roll call.
Alright, very well. Communications Mr. Clerk,
City Clerk Anna Valencia hereby informs the city council
that the report of the Committee on Finance
and the associated ordinance regarding the issuance
of general obligation and
or sales tax securitization corporation bonds
for the economic development
and affordable housing programs, which was deferred in order
to publish at the city council meeting of April 17th, 2024,
was published in pamphlet form on April 19th, 2024.
City Clerk Valencia also informs the city council
that the report of the committee on the budget
and government operations and the associated substitute
ordinance regarding the supplemental appropriation
and amendment of the year 2024 annual
appropriation ordinance within the fund.
9 9 25, which was deferred.
An order published at the city council meeting
of April 17th, 2024,
was published in pamphlet form on April 19th, 2024.
City Clerk Valencia also informed the city council
that the report of the committee on the budget
and government operations
and the associated ordinance
regarding the supplemental appropriation
and amendment of the year 2024 annual
appropriation ordinance within the fund.
Zero 100, which was deferred.
An order published at the city council meeting
of April 17th, 2024,
was published in pamphlet form on April 19th, 2024.
Your Honor, that concludes the reports
and communications from city officers
Very well. Thank you very
much. Next up we have committed reports.
Um, we only have, uh, well, we have one for economic capital
and technology development Chair recognizes Chairman Viegas.
Good afternoon, Ms. The president, members
of the city council reporting
for the Committee on Economic Capital
and Technology Development,
which held the meeting on Tuesday, February 13th.
The committee held the meeting and recommends
the passage of the following item.
Item one on the report is an ordinance
to approve the issuance of a Class L tax incentive.
The property located at 4 65 West Cmac Road in the 11th
ward, introduced by Mayor Johnson
during the January 24th, 2024 City Council meeting.
I move for passes this item
by this first favorable roll call.
No, I'm sorry. Uh, roll call vote please.
We could do a, uh, would you,
are you requesting a voice? Vote
Yes. Oh, there we go. Yes.
We'll request a voice vote. Okay.
All right. Thank you very much.
There's a motion on the floor, the passage
of this item by voice vote.
All those in favor signify by saying aye.
All those opposed saying nay being the chair.
The ayes have it. Ottman Mitchell for the, uh, motion
to reconsider President.
Move to reconsider the vote. There's a motion on the
floor to reconsider this vote.
All those in favor signify by saying Aye.
All those opposed say no. This motion fails.
Does that conclude your report,
Mr. President? That concludes
my
Report. Thank you very much, Mr.
Chair.
Uh, for the agreed upon calendar,
the chair recognizes all the woman Harris. Mr.
President, there are no resolutions submitted
to Clerk Anna, uh, in Valencia for the April 19th, 2024.
Agree to, uh, calendar
Very well. Thank
you very much, uh, for any new business. Mr.
Clerk, beginning with Wards, beginning with the First Ward
Zoning amendments refer
to the committee on zoning landmarks
and billing 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.
An exemption from physical barrier requirements
for commercial driveway alley access for parking facilities,
which are referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Public Way.
Almond Lopez has proposed ordinance for amendment
of Municipal code Title three
by adding a new chapter three dash 76 entitled,
automated Self-Checkout Kiosk Task Imposing Policies
and Penalties for Retailer Paid Tax on Use
of Self-Checkout Kiosk Devices, which is referred
to Committee on License and Consumer Protection.
Almond Spto has a proposed ordinance for amendment
of mc code section four dash 60 dash 22
to allow additional alcoholic liquor licenses on a portion
of West Irving Park Road, which is referred
to the Committee on License and Consumer Protection.
Your Honor, that concludes the presentation
of all the medic introductions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Clark.
Uh, now for unfinished
business chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell.
President, I am aware of three pieces
of unfinished business.
The first piece of unfinished business was filed
by Alderman Irvin and calls
for a vote on substitute ordinance ordinance
2 0 2 4 0 0 0 8 3 4 5,
which was deferred and published on April 17th, 2024.
Thank you very much. Altman Mitchell,
the chair recognizes Altman Irvin.
Mr. President, I filed a Rule 41 notice with the clerk
of my intent to call for a vote on substitute ordinance
0 20 24 0 0 0 8 3 4 5.
A substitute ordinance concerning the annual
appropriation ordinance year 2024 Amendment within Fund
9 2 5 for the Department of Public Health.
Following any debate, reserve the right to close
Very well. Alman
Irvin has asked for the right to
either final speaker on this item.
Are there any elders that wish to speak to this item?
Seeing no hands, the chair recognizes Chairman Irvin,
Uh, move forward. Dawson,
be vo voice vote.
Okay. There is a motion on the floor for a roll call.
Uh, Madam Clerk, uh, members,
please use Evo application to record your vote.
At this time
as the chair recognizes Alderman deal, I,
You know, we don't have a thorough agenda on the order
and what's being called, uh, what language is being called.
We are, we are throwing out a bunch of numbers
without knowing what the language is.
And I think right now there's a little bit of confusion on
what is coming before us.
So if we could articulate through the chair to the chairman,
which item are we voting for?
Is it the bond issue?
Is it the, the, uh, you know,
the 70 million? Which one is it?
Thank you very much. Alderman Bill, Mr.
Chair, do you care to offer more clarification
besides the number that you've offered?
This is the, uh, 9 2 5 amendment
For, for public, for the public health.
The, the voting is still open.
If, if, if individuals are believing
that this is the 70 million appropriation.
70, I'm sorry. This is not that. Okay.
The, uh, uh, could let me,
the chair recognizes Alderman Bill,
Mr. Chairman, all
I'm asking for
and my colleagues, I'm hearing the little voices behind me.
We would like to know exactly what it is
that we're voting on and just not give us numbers.
Okay. Mr. Chair.
Chair recognizes Chairman Irvin.
So this grant that we are receiving,
could you please just thank you Mr.
Chair.
Just a second.
Okay. The point the 9 2 5
in this case has.
So 2024 additional funding for the Department
of Housing, the Department of Public Health,
the Mayor's Office of People with Disabilities,
the Department of Family and Support Services,
the Department of Police and the Department of Water.
Thank you for that. This is a Substitute
ordinance to pass out a
committee on uh, Monday.
Thank you for that clarity. Mr. Chair.
The chair recognizes Alderman Lopez for
No, you don't need anything else.
Alright, thank you. I was just gonna clarify. Alright.
It's been clarified. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Um, the voting is still open.
Okay. I will now call on those who have not
yet used their device to vote.
Alder person
Robinson Alderwoman Ramirez.
Yes. Alderwoman Ramirez is a yes.
Alderwoman Taylor? Yes.
Alderwoman Taylor is a yes. Alderman Si Cho Lopez.
Yes. Alderman Si. Cho Lopez is a yes. Alder person.
Rodriguez Sanchez.
Alder person. Rodriguez Sanchez.
Alderman Napolitano. Alderman Napolitano is a yes.
Alderman Gardner. Alderman Gardner is a yes.
Alderwoman Clay? Yes.
Alderman Clay is a yes. Alderwoman Silverstein?
Yes. Alderwoman Silverstein is a yes.
Um, Alder person. Robinson.
Okay. Alder person. Rodriguez Sanchez.
Okay, voting is now
Closed.
Thank you very much. Madam Clerk.
There are 48 yays zero nays.
This motion passes Ottman Mitchell on the motion
to reconsider I
Move to reconsider the vote.
All those in favor signify by saying aye.
All those opposed say no. This motion fails.
Ottman Mitchell on the second piece,
The second piece of unfinished business was filed
by Alderman Irving and calls
for a vote on ordinance
2 0 2 4 0 0 0 8 8 4 2,
which was deferred and published on April 17th, 2024.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Chairman Irvin,
Mr. President,
I filed Rule 41 notice with the clerk
of my intent to call for a vote on ordinance
20 24 0 0 0 8 8 4 2 in ordinance amending
the 2024 appropriation ordinance.
This is the 70 million.
You are welcome Following any debate.
I reserve the right to close.
Thank you very much. Alderman Irvin has asked
for the right to close.
The chair recognizes Alderman Bill.
Thank you Mr. President and thank you Chairman Irvin.
That was extremely easy. Um, Mr.
President, I rise in total opposition of
appropriating $70 million at this particular time.
I said back in November,
and I think I repeated myself three times,
that we did not have a balanced budget.
We didn't have a balanced budget.
We did not have a balanced budget. And here we are.
I said that we will be be back here in April
because we will be out of money.
We can rewind the tape.
I said we will be outta money in April. Well here we are.
Here we are in April looking to appropriate
another $70 million.
However, right
after the budget was passed in November, we found
miraculously $95 million
just popped outta nowhere.
$95 million right after we voted for the budget.
Now you cannot tell me we did not know we had 70,
I mean $95 million after we voted on that budget.
You cannot tell me as smart as our budget director is
that we didn't know that we were gonna come back in December
and sweep without this council's approval.
$95 million again for residents
who are not paying taxes here in the city of Chicago.
So now we're asking
to match the state and the co uh,
and the county to get us more money for the rest
of the year, which still is not gonna be enough money
to get us through the rest of the year.
Why? Because we're anticipating
that we're gonna have about 5,000 people a week coming,
starting in just a few days.
So that means we're going
to need more money for this problem.
Meanwhile, our seniors are still suffering.
And let me just digress.
I appreciate the governor
and our county board president for helping us out.
I do. But can anybody tell me how many migrants we got
outside the city of Chicago in the county or in the state?
Can anybody answer that question?
The question is, we don't have any.
They're all in the city of Chicago
because the rest of the county mayor said,
mayor said no thanks.
The rest of the state said thanks but no thanks.
But here in the city of Chicago, we said come on to Chicago,
we got healthcare for you, we got childcare for you, we got
all kind of housing, we got education for you,
we got housing vouchers for you, we got it all.
That's why everybody's coming to Chicago.
But if you cut off the funding spigot, they won't come.
Come, they won't come. But as long
as we continue to fund this problem, they're going
to continue to come to Chicago.
Now, from what I understand,
there's absolutely no crime in Venezuela right now.
Why? Because they sent all they problems to us.
They sent them all to us to deal with.
So now Venezuelan is the place to be
because there's no crime, there's no problems.
Just keep coming to Chicago.
So here we are
targeted to spend over a billion dollars this year alone.
When you add up the city, the state, the county,
and what we get from the federal government,
a billion dollars is what we are targeted to spend.
Give the south and the west side a billion dollars
and see what happens to crime here in the city of Chicago.
Give us those kinda resources and watch crime go down.
Because we can create jobs
and opportunity, we can create a better education system.
We can do things necessary
to make our communities a better place to live and play.
But as long as we keep doing the same old
thing And what's the same old thing?
The same old thing is voting. Yes.
As long as we continue to vote yes.
Nothing is gonna change y'all.
Nothing is gonna change when you vote no
and have the courage to vote.
No thank you.
Courage to vote, no things change.
And we go back to the drawing board to make things better
for our communities.
Now I'm gonna just say there's 20 black
aldermen here in the city of Chicago.
We only need 26 to pass anything, right?
There's no reason why we cannot leverage those 20 votes
to make our communities a better place.
We use those 20 votes to make sure
that we get our fair share of everything in this city.
It takes courage. But if we continue to just vote yes,
then we are gonna continue to get the least
of these resources in this city.
So I'm just asking to have a little courage
and I guarantee you if you show a little courage
and vote no, we go back to the drawing board,
make this thing a little better, our communities get better.
The south and west side get better. That's all I'm saying.
But a billion dollars now
we're facing a billion dollar deficit coming up this fall.
That's just our operating budget.
That's not including migrant money y'all
of over a billion dollar deficit this year.
And next year we gotta come up with over $2 billion,
probably close to 2.5, maybe 2.6 give or take.
And that's not including migrant money.
So what are we gonna do? We gonna go to my taxpayers
that I can't help and tell 'em to give me more
to help people who ain't even paying into the system.
They're not even paying into the system.
But we telling my seniors you can't have resources.
We can't give you a roof.
We can't give you a hot water heater.
We can't give you a porch.
We can't give you a furnace
'cause we don't have the resources in these departments.
But god darn it, we can find $70 million
to keep burning up out the batter.
That's all we're doing is burning money.
Y'all give, give me that, that money in my community.
And I guarantee you we'll turn some things around.
We can turn things around in this city if we just keep
fighting for what's right and stop doing the same old thing.
'cause that's what we're doing. The same old thing.
So let's talk about the elephant in the room.
We're not even talking about what CPS is going to ask for.
That's going to hurt our taxpayers.
So we going hit 'em with taxes this year,
then we going hit 'em with a huge tax on CPS.
The residents of the city
of Chicago are going to bear that brunt.
Where's all this money coming from?
So we have a reassessment that's coming that's going
to raise people's taxes here in this city.
So what I'm describing y'all is the elephant in the room
that the taxpayers of the city of Chicago are about
to get hit and they're about to get hit hard
and they gonna get hit from all angles.
Now let's also talk about
the casino deal that's about to blow up.
That's supposed to go towards pensions
because they're capitalized that we're,
we have a huge shortfall from the money
that the casino's supposed to bring us.
And we don't even know if the ma,
the main casino isn't even gonna get approved
because they're about to go under.
So where's that money gonna come from?
We're not addressing the crime in this city.
We're not hiring more police.
Our residents are being put outta their houses.
I mean, I can go on and on about the problems
that we're plaguing that we have in this city.
My seniors are hurting, but we can continue to find billions
of dollars to pay for people who don't pay into this system.
We're using arc money that's supposed to come
to us in this city.
The federal relief money was designed to help the people
of the city of Chicago money that was supposed
to go towards our seniors that were hurt
by the Covid problem.
It was basically the covid problem that hurt all of us here.
All the jobs that were being, that we lost,
all the people that we lost.
That money is supposed to go towards us,
but we use that our money
and we're just going to use it on people
who were not even affected
by covid here in the city of Chicago.
When are we gonna help us?
When are we gonna help the people here?
That's all I'm saying. Help the people here
so we can find money for everybody else but us.
Ladies and gentlemen, our priorities are wrong.
Our priorities are wrong in this city.
And I'm gonna close on this note, the people
of Chicago spoke when they voted against bring
Chicago home, bring Chicago home.
They voted against it, right?
So they said no to Sha bring, bring Chicago home.
So what they're telling us today is to leave Chicago alone.
And that's what we need to do.
Leave Chicago alone, take care of our own,
and let's do the right thing by our
people here in the city of Chicago.
Ladies and gentlemen, vote no.
Show some courage and let's do the right thing
by the people here that are paying taxes every single day.
Thank you Mr. President. Thank
You Alderman. The chair
recognizes Alderman Gardner.
Thank you Mr. President.
Um, you know, I think back to November
of 23 when we were going through the budget talks
and we talked about, um, the budget for 2024
and how we set aside $150 million for migrants.
And I think about how we said on average we're spending
about $35 million a month to go towards migrants.
So therefore, as my colleague, alderman Beal just mentioned,
this would only last four months, $150 million.
And sure enough, here on April 19th, we're asking
for an additional $70 million.
Not to mention the $600 million already from the state
and the county, which brings us somewhere near about
that $1 billion mark, which alderman Bill just mentioned.
My concern is that in July we're gonna ask for another 60,
70 or $80 million.
You know what we're gonna do? We'll blame it on the DNCs
coming or we'll blame it on that bad man in Texas,
governor, governor Abbott.
And we'll try to shine the light away from the reckless
spending that we're agreeing on right now.
That's what we'll do. And where's the money going?
Who's the money getting, who's getting the money?
Good question. At ain't Chicagoans
and it ain't the migrants.
I read it. I read an article last year about the $51 million
that we agreed that we would give towards the migrants.
And of that 51 million,
47 million went towards administrative cost.
In November I pleaded
and I said right here, we need
to pump the brakes on this bus
before we go over the financial cliff,
which is only hurting taxpayers in this city.
Come October, you know what we'll do?
We'll ask for another property tax increase.
You know the game, no property tax increase in 24,
but as I said in November,
we will damn sure have one in 25 in 26.
But we won't do it in 27
'cause that's an election year, as I said.
And we don't ask all the men
to vote on a property tax increase when it's
time for reelection.
I also mentioned you can order steaks all you want from the
menu, but somebody's gotta pay.
Problem is the ones paying ain't eating.
Only ones eating are those with the contracts
and they're at an all you can eat buffet.
My community and many other Chicagoans are fed up.
People are leaving this city and can you blame them?
You have a 67-year-old woman
in Portage Park walking down the street at
11:15 AM to the grocery store.
She gets beat up by up by four thugs, who takes her,
takes her phone, and any other little miscellaneous
things that she had.
Here's a crazy idea.
Let's take that $1 billion and let's start addressing crime.
Let's invest in our black, brown
and white communities to help.
I don't know, Chicagoans,
let's help veterans find housing.
Let's build better schools and parks for our kids.
The only difference from where I stand now
and where I stood in November
and May of last year was that I was a no then
today I'm a hell no.
And until we start addressing the crime in this city
and start help helping Chicagoans, I'll continue
to be a hard hell no. Thank you.
Thank you Altman. The chair recognizes Altman six Lopez.
Thank you. Thank you, uh, Mr. President.
And, um, what we see today
and again, um, is the bigotry,
the bigotry and the ignorance of the same people
that are likely going to vote against the very same thing
that they're claiming to put $1.2 billion
in the poorest areas of the city of Chicago.
You are going to see the hypocrisy of the bigotry
and ignorance of the same people in 2019
voted in favor of $2.3 billion
for two developers
that promised over 20,000 units of housing.
We had to see a unit from the same people
who pay these puppets, these bigots
and ignorance that continue to pitch us against each other.
Today we even hear some nonsense about the city,
the city creating these problems.
Is the city putting people inhumane conditions in buses
to come to this, to come to a city?
Or is the fastest government governor of Texas
who continues to do
that despite all the efforts to stop him?
These are the same bigots
and the same people that we battle for so long.
I wanna remember my good friend who just passed away,
pastors Lynn Coleman who warn us about these hypocrites.
The same people who say that
immigrants will pay into the system.
Shame on you for discounting the reality and the facts.
Immigrants contribute.
Make our cities and a strong call
for the same party that is forgetting them.
We were just a few years ago called essential workers.
Today we're called criminals.
But the same bigots, the same Lia 29 that tried
to divide us in the eighties.
They're coming back. You'll see the next
vote and it start counting.
Those are the people who we should label as those
who support Abbott in their mission
to create chaos in the city.
There's no mistake that Abbott has made as a target
because of the DNC
and they continue to try to pitch us against each other.
They continue to tell us that we need to look the other way
to the inhumanity.
So today what we're saying is that our city needs help.
That's what Mayor Johnson and many of us,
and I thank my colleagues who have come to the border
to look at the facts and will continue
to ask the federal government to take action.
I'm thankful for the state and the county to sit with us.
Now finally, so
that we have a united front against bigotry and ignorance.
The same ignorance. They're talking
about a billion dollar deficit.
This is a $70 million
that comes from an emergency and reserves.
And we would make no mistake,
we're gonna ask the federal government to reimburse
because we are doing their billing, their job,
and the $5 billion.
And I'm here. In fact, I'm talking with many colleagues
of the other five destination cities
that are forgotten and immigrants.
Make no mistake about it, just
that our black residents on a white pool residence, as,
as Reverend Coleman remind us, made the court
and the social fabric of the city.
We, together we gotta condemn the racism, the bigotry
that continues to try to separate us, the audacity in 2019
to vote for $2.3 billion with no outcome.
And I, you see the same bigots.
We're gonna vote no on the two
and 1.2 billion
that we wanna put in the poorest areas of the city of Chicago.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room though.
The 80,000 units that are vacant in the city of Chicago,
while the same developers hoard the property, hijack rents
and make sure that black and brown
and working poor people pay those subsidies.
That is the elephant in the room
and the billions of dollars that receive on top of that,
that is the bigotry, that is the
elephant in the room that they talked about.
So let's today remember who are those interests trying
to divide us and make sure that we do justice
to the injustices that we see this 70 million will do.
Just the minimum to prevent chaos.
To say that we are looking
and that we are doing this
to ourselves is not only ignorant, but is malicious.
And we together as a city, we prevail as in the eighties.
Mayor Ja, mayor Washington, prevail today as my colleagues,
as an immigrant, not a criminal
and immigrant, a father like many others that contribute
to the system, that contribute to taxes.
And make no mistake, make no mistake that that is a way
to stop a pension problem as well.
So as my colleagues to do the minimum
and work with us to make sure
that we ask the federal government
to reimburse us the minimum they can do.
And let's do the minimum to prevent chaos in the city.
I am in full support to vote yes on the 70 million
and to to stop the bigotry
and ignorance that tried to divide us and conquer.
Thank you so much, president.
Thank you Alderman.
The chair recognizes, chair recognizes alderman.
David Moore.
Thank you. Um, Mr. President.
Um, first of all, uh, the people
who spoke, um, earlier,
some are people from public comments spoke out, um, in favor
of the, um, 70 million,
but also spoke out against, uh, shots.
Spotter, unfortunately are the voices
that are not representative of those communities
that this are affected by.
And um, one of the things that I did, um, well,
lemme start with this story.
This word conundrum comes up
because what I see in my community, I see
residents calling me, saying, how can I help the migrants?
Where can I give some clothes, some food?
I see myself when I'm driving through the alleys, looking
around trying to keep our alleys clean
or you know, see what, um, potholes are out there,
migrants going through the garbage, looking for something.
Then I find myself going back to my house,
finding some clothes because that's my heart.
But the conundrum comes the same people
that when I reach out to and say, how should I vote on this?
They say no. They say no
because they say alderman, as much as my heart goes out
and as much as our hearts goes out,
we're not seeing it in our community.
And that's a conundrum.
That means they want to help, but they want help.
I say, well, I fought and I argue in the mayor
and administration put $10 million in
and they listen for, um, so you don't have to go
through a lottery program for roof and porch.
He said, David, where's that? I'm saying
they're waiting to roll out the program.
I'm asking steal nothing.
I can't help Ms. Jones when her, her porch is falling down.
I have to give something.
I got my little kid saying, alderman,
we're gonna get a new field house.
I'm saying, I'm working on it. Well, why you working on it?
And this is coming up and happening.
I got a situation where our SSA has expired in 32, no fault
of the organization of its own.
And we supposed to help support that SSA this year.
But they saying they can't find any money.
I have to go back and tell them that in the face of saying,
but yet they found money for this.
That's the conundrum. That's the conundrum.
And so as I, as I I put this, um, vote out
as I always listen to my residents,
whether it's via Facebook, email, phone calls,
response back, people that supported me by saying, no,
they put put me in office.
I have to listen to my residents.
I'm mandated to listen to my residents.
I think we're all mandated
'cause they're your residents as well.
And that loud voice is saying no.
And so we have to make sure that
these things we put in place
or any programs that we put in place
that they're rolling out and seeing the benefits of it.
So they won't be in this conundrum to want to give,
but yet have to say no because they're not getting.
And so I have to stand to, um, speak not on behalf
of David Moore,
but on behalf of those 17th ward residents
who told me what to vote today.
And so I have to be a know on this item.
Thank you so much. Thank
You Alderman. The chair
recognizes Alderman, ADA.
Hey, thank you very much, chair.
I I will say if I had known that there would be
so many elephants in the room today, would've been invited,
my daughter, big fan of Elephant,
would've loved this meeting on a serious note.
Um, two things that come to mind on this.
When we talk about our migrants not being able
to pay taxes, you're right.
Like that is truly frustrating.
And the fact is, it's really hard to pay taxes in the city
where the federal government will not permit you to work.
And so I'm glad that Secretary Mayorkas is on the back end
of his nonsensical impeachment trial,
couple thousand miles away from here, so that he can get
to work with you with Governor Pritzker on significant
public benefit so we can fill these labor gaps in our city
so that we can allow people who want to work to work.
Now with my colleagues talking about
this investment in their community like
that truly is heartbreaking and frustrating.
And I will say to that, I, I hope folks even
now who are getting no votes ready for this ordinance,
if you are, are getting their yes votes ready for an hour
or so from now.
'cause we've got the ordinance that people are looking for.
If you want this city to spend hundreds of millions
of dollars on economic development, on housing,
on small homeowner repair, on home ownership opportunities,
on affordable rental in your communities to say nothing
of returning hundreds of millions of dollars to CPS,
to the park district so that they can look
for the bond issuance authority against that
to do more robust, uh, capital budgets of their own.
We've got that ordinance.
It's a beautiful, thoughtful ordinance
and I'm excited to vote yes on that one first, uh, second.
But let's move through this because it's thoughtful.
Again, very, very comprehensive rethinks by
your team who have literally predicted the erraticness
the pace of what, uh,
and the number of folks that we're expecting to receive,
they have thought really thoughtfully on cost cutting
by hiring more Chicagos, by working
with more Chicago based NGOs.
What we are doing is creating a sustainable path until
that point that the federal government does
what they should have done a year ago
and create the pathway to economic sustainability
for these new residents of ours.
But they are Chicagoans.
Everyone who is here is a Chicagoan, regardless
of their citizenship, regardless of their status,
their Chicagoans.
And I firmly believe anyone
who is a Chicagoan deserves our care,
our generosity, and our compassion. Thank you, sir.
Thank you Alderman. The chair recognizes Alderwoman.
Nicole Lee.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, you know, I've, I've stood here
and I've talked a lot about the migrant crisis.
Um, and in the 11th ward we've never had a shelter.
We regularly had up
to 300, 350 migrants in front of our police station.
And, uh, right across the border between 11
and 25 is the Halsted, uh,
and CMAC shelter where there's some 2000, um, migrants
in this, uh, in this building.
And I think we need to do better
as a city managing our money.
We definitely do. I think you've heard here today, um,
and from a lot of the public comment
and from constituents alike about
where's all this money going?
I mean, the reality is,
and I I'm a person that will call us Spade a spade.
Look, we are, uh, we're paying Ritz Carlton rates
for, for Super eight service.
I wouldn't wanna be a migrant living in the shelter
at on Halstead.
Um, we've, we've had a, a free shop that we've run
with volunteers and mutual aid group, um,
for a little over a year now.
And, um, we've heard from migrants
what their experiences have been.
And I was one of the first ones
to raise concerns about the shelter on Halston,
about the living conditions.
Um, and then unfortunately a little boy died, um, there
and then we got the measles outbreak
and we heard about tuberculosis.
Um, and last week I talked about herpes. There.
There's a lot that needs to be done.
We need to be taking better care
of people who are in our care.
Um, and the reality is
this $70 million is going to help us lock arms
with the county and with the state together, um, to do this.
But we have to do that in a way that, uh, is transparent
and we owe that to all of the residents of the city
of Chicago because nobody's wrong in this conversation
and it shouldn't be a choice of either or.
This absolutely and must be a both.
And this proposed transition
to a unified shelter system is absolutely necessary.
Um, and you know, if we had a time machine, uh,
I think we probably would've done it
by now, but we're working on it.
I wish we were working faster
and that we were six months a year ahead from now, so
that we could have a unified system
that addresses this entire crisis, um, of the unhoused
and that we're not fitting one group against another, uh,
but not injecting funds into the handling
of this crisis would absolutely be
irresponsible at this point.
We don't control the flow.
We got hit with tens of thousands of people
and we're expecting to get hit with tens of thousands more.
And if we don't do that, my fear is that
what we saw last summer with 350 people regularly in front
of my police district, turns into 3000,
just a long Halstead Street.
We talk about the root crosses of crime, unemployment,
housing instability, and education.
Um, without investing
and investing responsibly in solutions
for these migrants that are here.
And our hands are tied because they can't have work
permits, most of them.
And we have to continue to insist and lobby
and I think get better organized on how we get
to the federal government
about the help that they're sending.
Yes, we're getting $20 million in grant money.
Great, that'll get us through half a month.
I'm not ungrateful for the money
that's coming from the federal government,
but I think we would all agree in here
that it needs to be a hell of a lot more.
That said, um,
this $70 million is the responsible thing to do.
And how these funds are dispersed has
to be shared transparently, uh, with the city council
and in detail our contracts, uh,
our contracts have been bloated and we know that
and we have to continue to work to make sure
that money is flowing back into the pockets of Chicagoans,
higher city workers, local firms, and fewer contractors out.
You know, if we didn't have so many contractors
and we were hiring people full-time, guess what?
They'd be feeding into the pension system too.
Um, with that, Mr. President, I thank you.
I'm gonna sit down now. Um, vote your conscience here guys.
Thank you. Alderwoman Chair recognizes Alderman Lopez.
Thank you Mr. President
and good Friday afternoon to everyone.
Before I begin, I wanna just give a quick
recognition to all
of the undocumented individuals in my ward,
in our communities who came here
without manipulating asylum
and have never once been given dollar one
as they pursued their American dream.
Here they are the backbone
that everyone is referring to,
not the individuals we're talking about today.
We've heard many individuals,
and to be clear, we are talking about
the 39,000 individuals out of the nearly 7 million
who over the last three years
have crossed borders in California, in Arizona
and Texas from 150 different countries
and have manipulated our asylum process
to come in through the back door.
Worse, we could blame
Governor Abbott for getting the ball
rolling on this discussion.
Absolutely, because he did.
DeSantis tried, but Abbott got it going.
But the real fault lies in the fact
that our own federal government has prided itself
on propping open the back door
because the front door doesn't work.
They've acknowledged time
and time again over the last three years
using this manipulation of asylum, of which there are only
half a dozen categories to achieve asylum,
and stating that we're going to use this process
to get people into this country.
Overwhelmingly, asylum cases are based on the claim
of economic opportunity.
Incidentally, not one
of the six to grant merit.
And here we are, Mr.
President
discussing the border crisis.
As I've said time and time again,
that has become our backyard crisis.
We have seen
a saga play out from one administration to the next.
And I've said, to be perfectly fair to you, Mr.
President, God bless you, whoever sneezed
that this did not start with you.
Our former mayor thought a few,
a few tirades on TV was gonna scare
elected officials from sending people here.
It did not. It hardened the resolve to prove a point then,
which has now been doubled over as the DNC chooses
to make Chicago its home in a few months.
But as we talk about the treatment,
as we talk about what's going on, we have to also recognize
that our own federal government has also sent people here
that our own fellow democratic leaders who intend to show up
and parade themselves up
and down the city of Chicago in August,
have sent people here.
Denver is not a Republican controlled city,
and yet they will openly tell people, go to Chicago
because we're all booked here.
The city of New York, Eric Adams, another democratic leader,
go to Chicago because we have no more money we can build.
No more tents go there.
Everyone, Democrat or Republican
or anything in between is saying, go, go, go.
'cause as my colleague said, the spigot still flows.
And what is that spigot paying for?
Some of our speakers, even some of our colleagues have said,
people have been treated like livestock,
they've been treated inhumanely,
and they've been treated like that by the hands of the city
of Chicago right here in our own neighborhood.
As our other colleague just pointed out, Jean Carlos
Martinez Rivera was the little boy who was killed
because of our ineptitude, died in a filthy warehouse
with sewage and cockroaches, lice, measles, tuberculosis,
everything that we warned this administration, this city
that was on its way that was here,
and everyone chose to ignore it
because we are all about the politics
and not about the people that we were
trying supposedly to help.
That's the hypocrisy that ladies
and gentlemen is our failure.
And it's a failure that continues
because we are under an emergency declaration,
which is still in effect signed
by a former mayor Lightfoot on her way out,
declaring this migrant crisis and emergency.
It was confirmed again after committee,
and it refers to a section,
especially when we talk about money,
that the administration,
our departments are required
to report quarterly in not an executive order,
but in the municipal code.
Our own laws say that we must hear
quarterly in an emergency situation where the money goes.
If we spend over a million dollars,
we're already past $200 million this year alone.
I have yet to see a report this quarter,
last quarter, the quarter before that
or the quarter before that.
You could talk about dashboards,
you could talk about, it's here, it's there.
The law is clear what is required.
And now we're being asked to take $70 million
to add to the 150 to get us at some point
to $600 million out of the city of Chicago by 2024.
But Mr. President, we must be clear
that this isn't found money.
This isn't new money.
This is money which came from the unassigned surpluses
in budgets past 2022.
To be specific, when we talk
to our constituents
and say, we're taxing you X amount of dollars, it's
with the anticipation
that those dollars are gonna be used in the budget,
which is this thick funding every department
to provide services of every variety, whether it's road
and abatement, whether it's helping businesses,
whether it's picking up garbage, poli,
you name it, we appropriated it.
That's our job to say, this is
where the money's going to go.
And then we find out, no, it didn't.
Then we find out we just happen to have
$1.6 billion floating around.
Do you know where those surpluses were?
Sometimes it's from extra money that comes in,
but mostly it's not enough money going out, going out
to folks like one of my residents named Mary
who came to see me yesterday.
Mr. President Mary is a 94-year-old African
American senior.
She has been trying to get
home repairs that have been awarded to her, not once,
not twice, but three times over four years
because we can't get the process right in this building.
She came to see me today, yesterday, excuse me,
because as the conditions get worse,
she's still waiting and holding out hope, Mr.
President that we at some point in this
building are going to deliver.
Her sink stopped working. She has issues in her bathroom.
I repeat she's 94 years old.
Going down the front steps is a crapshoot.
If she's gonna land on two feet
or land on her face, she doesn't have the resources
to do the repairs, which is
where these programs come in so handy.
But yet we saw from Covid up until last year
with the administration change, the $8 million
that we budgeted never went out the door.
That is the surplus that we're gonna tell people we found
to go give to these individuals here.
Mary will be dead by the time we get to finally helping her
with programs that were meant to help them.
And that story, Mr. President, isn't unique
to the African American community,
Latino community, or any other community.
We have folks all across the city that need help.
And yet the answer
that we're gonna tell them is our surplus.
Your help is going elsewhere. I can't do it.
All the quotes that I keep hearing people make
biblical references about
one of them sticks to mine.
Do unto others as you would do unto yourself.
Look at what we're doing to our Chicagoans
by failing to help them.
We have to take care of our problems first then
as all of our communities are taking care of
or see that there's light at the end of the tunnel
to help them, I guarantee you,
not a single person in this room, Mr.
President, would be in opposition to helping deal
with the federal government's failures.
But we're not. The west side still has yet to recover from
a flooding event in July a year ago.
We have communities where trees are falling out
of abandoned building from vacant lots onto
buildings, can't help anybody.
We can do better, Mr.
President, because the only hypocrisy here
is this notion that we are taking care
of both sides equally.
We are not. We are failing again.
And we have to recognize one last
thing, and I'll close with this.
What I closed with in committee,
there's only one true elephant in the room since
that's the choice of the day.
And that's the anticipation that Biden's going to win
and somehow bring money.
So we have to clear up a couple things.
One, Biden's not touching this in an election year.
Not gonna happen. What we got is what we got.
Two, he's in a competitive race
where it literally separates two points from Donald Trump.
I don't wanna see the return of Donald Trump,
but if that happens, how much money do
you think Trump's gonna give us?
Where's that reimbursement gonna come from?
When the Make America great flag is flying over the White
House again, it won't come here.
And we are steadily building
and building an infrastructure on the hopes
and dreams that the federal government's gonna bail us out.
That is a inaccurate
and an incorrect gamble to make
with the citizens of Chicago's money.
We are, we are not getting bailed out.
We are not getting reimbursed.
And no one's gonna come with a federal check to pay
for what's been happening.
It will be on our residence and it never should have been.
I urge all my colleagues to say no
for a whole host of reasons.
Thank you. Thank
You Alderman. The chair
recognizes Alder Fuentes.
Thank you Mr. President.
I wanna acknowledge that today we're
gonna be voting on two things.
We're gonna be voting on 70 million,
and we're gonna be voting on $1.25 billion
to say yes to economic development across the city
of Chicago, acknowledging
that it is the very backbone of our city.
And we're gonna go, we're gonna vote yes for housing
as a right, a bond issuance that understands
that we have to house people
who are currently living in tents, that we need
to increase the funds to repair roofs,
porches, and furnaces.
That we need to preserve SROs
and build affordable housing today.
We're not just voting on 70 million
to continue the migrant mission.
We're voting on $1.25 billion to say
that we also see the need of Chicago residents.
And so I hear what some of my colleagues are saying,
I just don't want us to forget.
There's another item on the agenda today.
There's a lot of theoretical talk
and a lot of wondering what if, when
and how this may happen.
Just wanna talk about a couple of facts.
We have 3,200 children,
3,200 children in our shelter system.
Where will they go when we can no longer
operate our shelters?
Now, these children from being two months,
a couple weeks old to 12, 13, 14-year-old children
didn't charter those buses and ask to come to Chicago,
but they are here in our care.
17,000. Over 17,000 children
have enrolled in CPS right here in this city,
getting an education with us.
Thousands of families who have come from Venezuela
and parts of Central America
to the United States to seek a better life.
My sister, who was 100% Cuban, migrated here at the age
of nine and was lucky
to have a government that wrapped around her.
She's now a doctor serving this country.
My sister-in-Law migrated here at the age
of eight from Trinidad.
She's now helping young people get all
of their student loans forgiven.
There are people who have migrated here
from all over the world.
And this is not the first time
that has happened here in the city of Chicago.
In fact, in the 1950s
and sixties, we've seen a mass migration
of Puerto Ricans to Chicago.
And I happen to represent the largest Puerto Rican community
in this city, filled with individuals who have chosen
to do great things for this city.
This rhetoric that Venezuela is without crime.
It's such a wild remark to make.
It's not rooted in anything that's factual,
but merely a statement to incite fear.
Look, Chicago we have are issues.
Issues that many of us
who got elected are working every day to resolve.
And I know for my colleagues who represent west
and south side communities
that have historically been disinvested in, I know
how frustrating it might be to hear some
of us say we're heartbroken.
And that's the reality.
And that's not enough to hear us say that we want better,
but rather we must do the work to make sure
that we invest in those communities.
Today I'll be voting yes on 70 million
and I'm also gonna vote yes on the $1.25 billion bond
issuance so that we can make those investments.
I asked my colleagues who may have walked in here today
with the plan to vote known.
Ask yourselves, what happens to those children?
What happens to those parents who came here to make sure
that their children can have a better life?
What happens when they don't have a shelter
system that can support them?
What happens when they don't have a bed to sleep in?
What happens when they don't have food?
What happens when they go to school the next morning hungry?
It's the same issue that we are saying that we need
to resolve here in the city of Chicago,
but we're willing to exacerbate it
by voting no on 70 million.
I know that this issue is complicated.
I do, I fully understand how complicated it is,
but we all got elected to try to resolve
for some real complicated issues.
It's what, it's what allowed us
to feel like we had any capacity
or potential to be an elected office.
And we have a lot of hard conversations ahead of us.
I just ask ourselves to consider all of the lives
that are in our care when we're voting
for this budget amendment.
Mr. President, I'll be voting yes on 70 million.
I'll be voting yes on $1.25 billion
and I'll vote yes for everything that ensures that people
who newly arrive to the city of Chicago
or people who have lived here their entire lives have the
right to housing, healthcare, education
and a safe community.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank
You.
I have one more, I have one more speaker
before the chair.
There's one more speaker before the chair,
unless there's anyone else wishes to speak.
Okay. Vazquez
and Wapac and Yancy.
So sorry Mr. Chair.
There are now four more speakers before the chair closes.
Chair recognizes Ottman Rodriguez.
Thank you Mr. President.
And, um, it's always an honor to serve here
with my colleagues regardless if we're on the same
side of issues or not.
You know, I I I gotta admit, I I do learn a lot.
Um, and we're not on this issue.
Hopefully we'll be on the next couple,
but this one's really important.
This one's very important for our city of Chicago.
Um, you know, I want to thank the folks who came to speak,
who are working day in
and day out on this great opportunity for our city,
this great challenge for our city.
Um, you know, I in little village, I I,
I heard Eddie speak earlier, you know, day in and day out.
This guy's working 24 7, grew up in the neighborhood,
still lives in the great city of Chicago
and is one of those people who's giving his heart
and soul to try
and make sure, uh, those young people that Jesse spoke of
have a semi-decent place to stay.
And let me tell you where Eddie's working.
He's working at a former CVS
that was closed in my ward that was abandoned,
that is now a shelter where children
are living on cots and getting fed a couple meals a day,
but on stripped floors that aren't even painted.
But Eddie and his crew, they went in there
and they got some donations
and there's a couple of children's book now there.
Um, they've done their best to provide very basic needs
for, uh, the migrants who are coming today.
Thank you Eddie, for, for your work.
And thank you to the Chicagoans who are stepping up, uh,
in this critical moment.
I also wanna tell a story about, uh, a woman by the name
of Maria, obviously from the African diaspora
who came, came to this country
and one of was one of the first residents
of Petski Park when we opened back in Feb, uh, may
of last year, Maria brought a one-year-old
and a three-year-old and a husband looking for work.
Real nice family, beautiful family.
I got to know the kids, got to know the family.
And man, they're just, just beautiful people.
Just beautiful people looking for a better life.
They're just beautiful people looking for a way forward.
Similar to the people who came
to this country 150 years ago, the Italians
and Irish in the front paper, front pages of the Chicago,
sometimes Chicago Tribune.
Go back, you can read it.
Said, why are these criminals coming to our city
150 years later here in this council?
We have that same rhetoric.
That ain't right. Maria
and her two children
and her husband came to this country for a better life.
I didn't see Maria for months, up until November
of this year, this past year where the Chicago Bears came
to Salvation Army, Chicago Bear, DJ Moore,
and Chicago Bears was there at Salvation Army on 25th
and Millard right down the street, uh,
from North Lawndale in Little Village.
And we were serving the poor meal.
I got a tour of the Salvation Army that day.
And in the back of that Salvation Army, I met some
of the women who were creating, who were making the food
for the individuals to be served that day.
And who did I see that day after months? It was Maria.
She was there in the back serving that food
to our newest residence.
She told me that her husband got a work authorization
and was now working in the construction field.
And Maria was there to serve the community.
That's what we're doing here.
That's what we're doing here in our council.
We are joining the ci, the, the county
and the state who we called out some months ago.
We are now joining them
on this migrant mission.
And I thank Governor Pritzker
and the state legislature who I know will step up
after we step up.
I thank Cook County Board President, Tony Proc, Winko
and the Cook County Board
that voted unanimously on this issue.
Let us join the commissioners at Cook County
and hopefully after our vote, let us join the governor
and our legislature who at the tune of 180 million have rose
to the challenge and will rise to the challenge.
I urge my colleagues who I serve with day in
and day out to look in their hearts, look in their minds,
and think critically about what this $70 million means.
It means that Eddie will get to go back to work
and serve the basic, basic needs, very basic needs
of those migrants who are coming here.
And we are making a small investment
in the future of our great city.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you.
The chair recognizes Alder Vazquez.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Um, I just wanna thank our colleagues here, um,
for being here for the conversation.
Um, every single member here
has a population that they serve
and we as a city recognize
how big this challenging crisis has been.
Um, but I wanted to talk about a couple things
that I've heard in this meeting that I wanted
to ground us in 'cause they're a bit concerning.
Um, when I hear, uh, Ottoman Beal, Ottoman Moore,
alderman Gardner and Otterman Lopez raise up concerns
about the folks who have been here prior to this crisis
and how those populations haven't been served.
That's not bigotry to me when
Alderman Gardner says, we've got a lot of Chicago funds
that aren't going to either the migrants or the Chicagoans.
That's not bigotry to me.
And the reason why I wanna ground that it and is
because I don't think the way to have this conversation is
to question any of our colleagues' values
or where their hearts are at.
It is a clear thing that we've seen out here
that sometimes the people
that have been harmed the most are the most willing
to extend their hand and hearts to help out somebody else.
We have a community here, a Chicago that
for over a hundred years has been maligned, has been broken,
has been segregated, hasn't been invested in.
So when I hear folks bringing up concerns,
I don't hear anger, I hear hurt.
I hear pain of a city that hasn't invested in people
for decades, four generations,
and us living through the city that bears the ramifications
of that lack of investment.
So when I hear a colleague say, Hey,
what about the people that have been here for decades?
Where's the money for them? Where, where is that at?
Where's the investment we need when we have people
who are here before the migrants who also needed housing,
who also needed support, who also needed jobs,
who also needed an investment.
It is a reality that we understand
that it hasn't been there.
And the reason why I wanna ground us in that is
because this isn't a question of somebody's values.
It's not. This is is
the exploitation of a division
that we know has been in the city for a long time.
And whenever that exploitation occurs, which happens often
in our society, you gotta think about who benefits from
that division when we're arguing amongst ourselves
because we're all hurt in different manners
'cause we're representing different populations
that have different perspectives.
When we voice that pain
and that division, who do you think is
enjoying that situation?
Because there's not, it's not a coincidence
that buses are being sent here.
It's not a coincidence.
That narrative about Chicago has been what it has been
for decades from those who are
outside looking in and live in cities.
I would never want to trade places with
because this is the best city in the country and world.
But think about who benefits from that.
The folks that are sending buses out here want to see all
of us fighting because this is Chicago,
which is hosting the Democratic Convention.
The reason I mention that is whether you vote
for the 70 million or not, whether it gets approved
or not, you are kidding yourselves.
If you think that's gonna slow any of the buses down,
whether you call it a sanctuary city
or not, you are kidding yourself.
If you think that's gonna slow the bus down,
the whole goal has been to disrupt the city and to break it
and have us fighting amongst ourselves.
And right now everything is according to plan.
The more people are watching, not just our city,
the whole country, different parties
are watching us fight right now.
And if someone's intent is to exploit
and divide us, they are, they are racking up the scoreboard.
Nothing about what's happening now is telling them, Hey,
we should chill on the buses.
What they're saying is amp up whether
they get the 7 million or not.
These people are fighting amongst themselves
and we get to point the camera at
Chicago and say, look at that.
They're hosting the Democratic Party.
The party's a disaster. They're a disaster.
Their their, their nominee is a disaster.
So when it comes to November,
you probably don't wanna support that.
And if you think that not voting for 70 million changes that
then you haven't been around in politics long enough
and you haven't been in these positions.
Now do we have questions
that are real questions from our colleagues about the
management of what's going on,
about accountability, about transparency?
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Y'all have seen me publicly raise up my concerns as well.
But we also have to understand the challenges.
We have a mayor who isn't here a year yet that
on upon day one it was already a crisis.
The first month the buses started and continued ramping up.
While he was still building relationship with some of us,
getting to know what things are important in our wards,
getting to know what are the priorities for the city.
This thing was moving, this bus was going
and there were plenty of 'em happening
and we hadn't yet had the opportunity
to build a relationship to really move
as co-equal branches of government.
If we did, we would be on the same page asking for Biden
to do what he needs to do
to make sure Chicago is actually where it needs to be.
Yeah, we can be grateful that we got 19 million,
that's two weeks the amount of money Chicago's put up
to make sure we're moving forward.
And it's not about the federal government giving us money
'cause it is not the federal government's money.
It is the taxpayers here and everywhere else in the country.
It is our money we're talking about.
So when we as a city and one nation are saying we need the
help, we need to be seeing that support.
I'm not gonna blame Governor Abbott either
because if you were on the border
and you saw 10 times the amount that we're seeing,
you would be trying to figure out how
to solve yourself outta a situation.
So it's not one person saying, Hey,
let's just go send it in a fight.
It's also somebody trying to handle it in their own city,
but a whole party that knows
that they could benefit from us fighting.
Are there things we can do
together to get the process better?
Absolutely. I appreciate
that the governor is putting funds in.
I appreciate that the board president are putting funds in.
This is probably the first time they've gone
to their legislative branch to ask for this.
We've had to do it multiple times, four
or five times over, which is why people are tired,
which is why people are hurt here right now.
So I understand why folks may not be on the same page,
but I want people to keep an eye on
what this is actually looking like.
The buses aren't gonna stop.
The question you have to ask yourself is for the 70 million,
do you wanna see 11,000 people inside of shelter
or outside of buildings?
People do not disappear because the money doesn't show up.
You're gonna see your parks,
they're gonna look like it's a camping trip every day.
Your viaducts your streets, all that increases.
Our mayor in the last budget put $250 million toward the
existing unhoused population.
What we all know because we live here is that
that's a drop in the bucket.
If 250 million could
solve the problem, it would've been solved.
We're asking for 70 to sustain this situation
because the buses are not gonna stop.
They're gonna ramp up between now and the convention.
And if we don't do those funds,
what people aren't considering is
what Chicago looks like at that point.
Let's, let's keep it a hundred.
If all of us here were not able to work
and didn't have a place to live,
what would you do to survive?
What would you do so your kids could eat?
What would you do to make sure
that you could see tomorrow and try to be safe?
I'm gonna tell you what the reality is.
You do whatever you could to try to figure out money
to get food on the table that would lead
to more exploitation, trafficking concerns,
which we already hear about and increase in shoplifting
and petty crime as people try to figure out
what they need to do to survive.
Those are all realities as well.
And we all know from the young males
that have been here even before the new arrivals,
if they don't have any sense of community who provides
that sense of community for them when they don't feel it,
what gang decides, Hey, you ain't got nothing
to eat, come roll with us.
We'll make sure you got some food.
We'll make sure you're hooked up
what you're doing By not voting on the 70 million
isn't solving a problem, it's making it worse.
And I apologize for even getting to that part of it
'cause I don't like talking about it publicly.
But each of us know when we talk to our constituents
what those concerns are on the ground right now without even
that investment to carry us through the year.
So yes, I know it's pressure.
I know our, our constituents are asking us like,
when's this thing gonna stop?
When, when did we have to? Like why do we have to continue?
Keep it real with 'em. It ain't stopping until after August.
If that, if anything, it's ramping up.
So we have to do the responsible thing even though it's
difficult to make sure this doesn't
go off the rails further.
And so I appreciate all of my colleagues.
Again, I'm not questioning any
of your values in the conversations
'cause I get when we have to talk to our
constituents what that looks like.
But I also know how hard the job is
because the responsibilities you all take on every day,
I would really hope that you all have the conversation
with your neighbor so they have an understanding.
People don't disappear. 'cause the money does.
It's gonna keep happening
and we have to do the right thing here,
which is why I am in support.
And I would say to our governor, to the state,
we have a whole bunch of municipalities in this state.
We appreciate the 180 million.
We need some more of these cities to take on some
level of capacity as well.
Chicago is shouldering a lot
'cause we believe in people, we invest in people.
We gotta make sure the city's
going forward and not getting worse.
That's why I'll be in support.
I ask our colleagues to do the same. Thank you.
Thank you Chair
recognizes alderman Waga back.
Thank you Mr. President. Um, at my core, Mr.
President, I want to help these immigrants
and do what we can for them
to get a better life in this country
as I have done for many years.
All of them want a better life.
Just like the constituents
that my fellow alderman have talked about today
that are speaking out against approving this funding.
And by the way, on a side note, um,
I apologize if I didn't call a rule six.
For our colleague who is demonizing
and calling names of people
or inferring that people are bigots in this body, that
kind of rhetoric has to stop.
My residents are torn on this issue because of the mishaps
and fails over the past year.
And I have been too. They want appropriate spending.
They want accountability. And so do I.
But I look at this with a slightly different lens.
Last year we watched as Governor Pritzker who had asked us
to approve the first TRA of funding was vilified
by people in this administration for his efforts
to increase oversight
and transparency over state funding for migrants.
There was massive waste taking place with Garda
with favorite and all of us wanted to put a stop to it.
They wanted accountability at the state level as well.
And why wouldn't he want oversight?
He has to be held account for all the dollars
that come from throughout the state.
But at the time, was there pushback on this rhetoric? No.
There were people pushed onto a toxic waste dump
until the governor stepped in and did something right
and took the potential hell away from these immigrants
who would experience living on a toxic waste site.
When elected officials asked for transparency,
specifically when I asked
why males in my migrant shelter in the 32nd ward
were wearing electronic monitoring around schools parks,
and with children in that shelter, I got zero response zero.
And that was unacceptable.
We have to expect answers on behalf of our residents
and we deserve, deserve that.
On the county side, they agreed
to migrant funding this week.
And one commissioner stated the amount of money
that's being dedicated to this humanitarian effort
is impacting other communities in a way that is so visceral
and is blowing back on the people that represent them.
And that is Commissioner Tara stamps from the west side.
So I understand what some of my colleagues are going
through in those other areas
as their constituents say no to additional funding.
There was the CDC stepping in to deal
with the first major measles outbreak originating in a
self-made shelter that anywhere else in the United States
would've been shut down overnight.
And why wasn't it? We decry the death
of a five-year-old child, John Carlos Martinez Rivera,
that shook everyone to the core,
but was brushed off as someone else's fault.
We knew. And we said that the 2024 budget wasn't done
with honesty that we were coming,
we were gonna hear somebody come back for more money.
I voted against it for several reasons
and one of those included as Alderman Beal said,
now 99% of these migrants deserve the respect
and the opportunity to make a life here.
They deserve more than the rhetoric
and gamesmanship this vote has created.
There needs to be a toning down
of the talking points though.
There needs to be people advocating
for accountable funding by management.
And if you cut a deal with the president
or the governor, stand by that deal.
Be honest and upfront.
We need accountability, transparency,
and abolish the rhetoric that's ruining our, our ability
to govern our residents.
I don't want any more kids to die on this watch just like
you or be turned into a political prop.
I don't want to see migrants gett up down on the streets
and end up in our via ducts.
And that is why we wrote, signed that letter
to push back on kicking them out of the shelters.
I don't want more of our officers,
our police officers beaten down while they're trying
to help the migrants and then brushed off
as that's their job.
I don't wanna hear about blaming some demon
in Texas anymore.
It's our responsibility.
So even if this moves forward today,
you can expect a lot more pushback on the expenditures that
are not a personal piggy bank operating without oversight
that our taxpayers demand.
So despite all the problems this issue has brought
to the city, I'm gonna vote in favor of this funding today.
But I really expect the nonsense to stop.
I think everybody in this room has had enough.
I've had enough of the name calling.
I've had enough of the attacks on our colleagues
without a word, Mr.
President to say, put a stop to it.
And again, I apologize for one
of our colleagues going off today and doing that,
but it also is incumbent upon you to help us get
to quorum back in this room.
I am gonna vote for this today,
but I wanna see accountability.
I wanna see transparency across the board
and I don't wanna have us keep coming back
and having to fight these fights over and over again
and deal with an issue I understand was not our making,
but now that it's in our lap, it is ours
and we need to be held accountable for it.
Thank you Mr. President. Thank
You. The chair
recognizes Alderman Yancy.
Thank you Mr. President.
Uh, I feel like once again,
black people in this city are being put in a position
to vote against our own interests
for the lose lose proposition that asks us to be noble
and sacrifice for others
or wait on help that may never come.
The city's migrant mission is black.
Chicagoan is frustrated
because your election, the election of a black mayor
could finally mean that the chief executive
of the city will break the decades long,
traditionally leaving black folks for last.
Our streets are crumbling, our storefronts are vacant,
our neighborhoods are unsafe.
Young people are hopeless,
and our elders are losing their homes.
Everything that is not on the south
and west sides are thriving and we can't get any relief.
I don't think the pain could be any more obvious.
The South Shore community, uh,
zip code 6 0 6 4 9 is now home
to more resettled migrants than any
other zip code in the city.
In fact, the top five zip codes are in black neighborhoods.
This is significant because 30 years ago, the CHA plan
for transformation relocated thousands
of displaced CHA residents in South Shore
and other neighborhoods without the resources
to support this new population.
This once thriving and vibrant black community is now a
shell of its former self and a ghetto stands in its place.
Now 30 years later, the South shore community has the
distinction of being one of the most affordable in the city
while having the highest eviction rate in the city.
The average rent for a one bedroom apartment is
around $1,200 a month.
While the median income is just over 2000 per month.
Over 60% of South Shore residents spend more than a third
of their income on housing related costs.
And more than half of South shore residents
live below the poverty line.
Black Chicago is still feeling the effects
of Chicago's racist housing covenants,
which denied black families access to the American dream
of home ownership and to billions
of dollars in generational wealth.
This city owes a debt to black Chicago
and it's time to pay up.
Now this migrant issue has been placed right in the
laps of those same black folks.
As I said, thousands of migrants have resettled in South
Shore except this time, the city, county,
and state have a plan to support them.
Today, aldermen and women are being asked
to support a new $70 million
investment in our migrant mission.
That coupled with money from the state
and county will equal $300 million.
The additional $230 million won't come if
we don't come up with our portion.
So this feels like strong armed robbery.
Now some of my colleagues have the luxury of being able
to vote no on this matter
because it doesn't directly impact their wards.
But I don't, as I stated earlier, thousands
of migrants have resettled in the South shore
and without securing $300 million now
we'll surely spend more than $70 million later.
Voting no won't stop.
Migrants from coming here won't make 'em leave.
And I can't cut off my nose despite my face.
So while the city was able to tap in the rainy day fund
to come up with $70 million to bring the migrants inside,
black folks are left standing outside in the rain.
Again, Mr.
President, this is your chance to be bold and courageous
and preserve the soul of Chicago
by committing the same amount of money
to black neighborhoods that has been spent
to date on our migrant mission.
$300 million since August of 2022.
That money directed to black wards could drive
infrastructure projects that put our residents to work,
provide good jobs that build families
and grow safe communities.
But more than that, it signals
that this administration will no longer put black
Chicago on the back part.
I invite you to work with the Black Caucus to develop a plan
that puts those dollars to good use.
And I invite the rest of my colleagues in this body
to support the plan to resuscitate black Chicago
as the whole is only equal to the sum of its parts.
Black Chicago is on life support
and the cure rest with this body. Thank you.
Thank you. Chair recognizes woman mi.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Originally I said I wasn't gonna say anything
and just vote no.
But I feel like my colleagues need to know
that it's just not about the migrants,
it's about the disinvestment, the neglect, the racism
where black peoples came from.
Knowing that many of you, and I've said it before, are here
because of the work that black folks did.
I was born in 1955,
Tippo, Mississippi, not far from
where Emmett Till was killed at.
I don't think any of you
around here know anything about working in no field.
Eight hours a day for $4 a day.
You think you in the line for food to eat.
That was my history, my story
on the farms topping cotton.
That's because making it for
the young generation that you're now.
But as I look back, my community is still struggling,
still struggling today.
And it's only because of racism.
Racism. When you're black, you can't change your color.
So you gonna have to work that much
harder when you're black.
You gotta know how to walk a line in order to be able
to succeed When you're black, you got to have
that family structure of value that holds you
where you won't end up incarcerated in jail,
out on the street, smoking dope
or left out on the street homeless when you're black.
It's a struggle every day.
And don't think it's nothing about migraines.
I don't hate nobody. In fact, I was the first one
to help the migrants coming in this city.
Pastor Johns eyes raised in peace over there
to give 'em food because that's what we do help folks.
But I'll be doggone,
I don't see the black folks getting that kinda help.
I don't see my kids and my children
in my neighborhood getting that type of support.
I have to tell you that even coming out of the covid
was the help for them to be able to get back up.
They was already at the back. What you want us to do?
Keep getting back. I don't wanna leave this world
and know that we havet left anything
for the children behind us.
They can't get a house. Why?
Because they don't speak bilingual.
Y'all, you follow me? I hope you feel me.
And you wanna put a whole nother generation in
and yet they don't speak two language.
English supposed to be the American language.
But no, not now. Because you go get a job.
If you don't speak bilingual, you're not qualified.
You can't get the job. So now we losing jobs.
I just want you to know I'm not voting no
because I don't like someone.
I'm voting no because no one bothered to try to help me
or help any of my peoples.
That 68 years I've been on earth
and not only let my mother, my grandparents,
my grandparents riding boats.
Y'all don't know riding horses.
Y'all wasn't back there during that time.
They done pay to wait for you.
And now we gonna just give everything. Just give it over.
I got issues right now. Mayor used with it yesterday. What?
The kids said, they don't feel safe.
The only place they feel safe at is in their home.
In their home. Damn. I said, why?
I know I don't feel safe in the neighborhood,
but when the kids start sand it
and the seniors start sand it, then we had a problem.
So why aren't we looking at some money for safety so
that we can move to and from?
'cause if you ain't got safety, you don't feel safe.
What do you have? That's a serious problem.
How can they get an education? They don't feel safe.
All I can say, Lord, help us.
You know, you quoing the Bible.
Bible say, love your neighbor.
Ask yourself now you tell me
I gotta love somebody I don't even know.
I can't talk to, I can't see 'em
and I'm gonna love them as myself.
What about the people right there next to me?
Can I help them? And I don't even have to tell you.
You don't know about the flood? We still struggling. Yeah.
Yeah. How many people every day still got more in the
house begging for help?
Thank, thank the Lord. We still trying to help them.
I'll never give up on them,
but I ain't finna put somebody else over them
because they're the ones that's here trying
to stay in these houses, trying
to stay here while others trying to take,
wanna take something from 'em.
You can't pay your taxes. I'm gonna take it.
You can't fix up your house. I'm gonna turn you in.
I'm gonna turn, I'm gonna turn you
in 'cause I want your house.
Y'all know what we got going on out there.
Stop trying to take, lemme tell my, my,
my colleagues on the other side of the block.
Anything you wanna do, why don't you try
to cut down on the Reddit
and stop trying to take, ain't nothing gotta be taken.
We can work together. You talk one thing
and doing another stop, stop talking outta both sides
of your mouth and be truthful to what you're saying.
You call it black and brown when you want to,
but when it comes to really being black,
then we gotta get back
because Brown gotta get stop playing that game.
I'm just gonna tell you like it is. 'cause I got so old.
I don't have nothing to lose, Mr. Mayor.
I don't have nothing to lose at this point.
And I can stand and say, say it loud.
I'm still black and I'm proud.
Thank you. Oh, that is our last speaker.
So the chair recognizes for the final comments,
chair recognizes Chairman Irvin.
Somebody had their Wheaties this morning, huh?
Well, let's, let's uh,
look at a couple of things here.
I tell people all the time, everybody's entitled
to their own opinion,
but you're not entitled to your own set of facts.
And the fact of the matter is that as a city,
not only do we have a responsibility,
we have an obligation
to deal with the challenges.
However, they have made it here,
but are here this year we
will appropriate with this $220 million
toward this unfortunate circumstance,
we'll appropriate additional funding toward
other circumstances.
But at the end of the day, it's, it is incumbent upon us
to try to figure out how do we work together
to solve the challenges that we face.
All this conversation, we talking about $70 million.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a 16
and a half billion dollar corporation.
And if we can't find resources
to work and help the challenges, again, hear a lot of nos,
I hear a lot of people say, let's work
16 and a half billion dollars in the book.
I'm sure we can figure out if we work collectively.
I told somebody this the other day.
Division is more than the street between crystal and hat.
It's a form of subtraction.
It's how we divide ourselves and subtract that.
We can't figure out how to come together
and who wins in division.
That's the question. Who wins in division?
That's gonna take all of us to work together to come up
with solutions, not just on this,
but the challenges that Alderman miss talked about,
the challenges that the Alderman Lopez talked about,
the challenges that we all talk about.
'cause we're all in this together.
We are all Chicago wins
and we have to work toward the challenges of Chicago.
Yes. Today is this.
Tomorrow I'm sure it'll be something else.
One of the things we, we talk about,
I say this all the time, that fair exchange is not robbery.
And I would hope that we figure out a way to work together.
'cause again, there are going to be points
where it may not be an instant of benefit
or my residence or for your residence,
but it's through the collective
that if we can help build Chicago, we all win.
They said a rising tide lifts all boats.
But again, we cannot continue
to divide ourselves into such small pieces
that we become ineffective and who wins.
Then I'm sure the commentators on Fox will talk about
this and that.
But again, the politics of division, the politics
of subtraction is not going to benefit us as a whole.
And I'll stand ready to work
with my colleagues from the Latino caucus,
the Women's Caucus, the Veterans Caucus.
'cause again, it's about helping everybody.
Ain't no doubt about I'm gonna work
with the people in the black caucus even though
some of us can't work together.
But we have to figure out what we can do
to help lift everyone.
Now granted, nobody's jumping up
and down to go drop this type of money anywhere,
but we have a responsibility
as elected officials in this city, in this body, to do right
by everybody, not
by your own little narrow piece of the pie.
Because again, we have a responsibility and an obligation.
That same responsibility
and obligation goes toward everybody else in this city.
And so, again, I stand ready to work with everyone
to work to solve the challenges
and problems, not just along the migrant mission.
Not just on the west side, not just on the south side,
not just on the north side, but through all Chicago.
Of course, yes. Do we wanna see our own folks do better?
Everybody wants to see their communities do better,
but at the same time, you can't do it by yourself.
So we have to figure out ways to work together
to get things done and to move this ball forward.
Yes. Is this a challenge? Yes.
Do we, do we wanna spend this money like this right now?
Of course not. But again, we have an obligation
and we have a responsibility to move this ball forward.
And with that, I'll move Pastor this
by roll call vote. Thank
You very much. There's a motion
to move this item by roll call.
So Alders, please use your Evo application
to record your vote at this time.
Adam Clerk.
Okay. Voting is now open.
Please hit refresh and please mark your vote.
Okay, I will now call on those
who have not yet marked their vote.
Alder person Robinson.
Yes. Alder person Robinson is a yes.
Alderman Chico not present. Alderwoman Ramirez.
Yes. Alderwoman Ramirez is a yes. Alderwoman Taylor.
No. Alderwoman Taylor is a no. Alderman Scho Lopez.
Yeah. Alderman Scho Lopez is a yes. Alder person.
Rodriguez Sanchez.
Alder person. Rodriguez
Sanchez Alderwoman Clay.
Yes. Alderwoman Clay is a yes.
Alderwoman Silverstein. Yes. Alder woman.
Silverstein is a yes. Alder woman.
Rodriguez Sanchez.
Voting is now closed.
There are 30 yays. 18 Nas.
This motion passes the motion to reconsider.
The chair recognizes Alderman Vazquez on the motion.
To reconsider on the motion To reconsider the chair
recognizes Alderman Vazquez.
Mr. Chair, Mr. President,
I move to reconsider the vote on the motion to reconsider.
All those in favor signify by saying Aye.
All those opposed say no. This motion fails.
Chair recognizes Alderman Mitchell. On the third piece, the
Third piece of unfinished business was filed
by Alderman Dow
and calls for a vote on substitute ordinance
2 0 2 4 0 0 0 7 8 3 8,
which was deferred and published on April 17th, 2024.
Thank you Alderman. The chair recognizes
chairperson Chairwoman Dow.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I filed a Rule 41 notice with the clerk of my intent
to call for a vote on,
so 20 24 0 0 0 78 38.
A substitute ordinance concerning issuance of
$1.25 billion, general obligation and
or securitization corporation bonds for Housing
and Economic Development programs.
Um, following debate on this item,
I reserve the right to close.
Thank you. Chair recognizes alderman. Bill. Thank
You, Mr.
President. Mr. President.
I rise, um, once again to
not support this ordinance.
Not because I don't think it's a good idea.
I believe that we need development in this city.
No question about it. I believe we need housing.
I'm all for it. But the only reason
that I'm not supporting it is
because we could not make one small amendment.
And that is to take the threshold from
5 million to 1 million.
And doing that, that will empower this body to have more
transparency, more input
on what's going on with this bond issues.
Now, when we have the Civic Federation in support of
reducing the threshold from 5 million to 1 million,
we have other experts saying we need to reduce the
threshold from 5 million to 1 million.
I think sometimes we need to listen
to those people since we don't have our own budget analysis,
our own parliamentarian
and our own legal department, that represents us
to really get down to the root cause.
Now, again, I support the concept.
I support the mission. I just don't support the threshold.
And there's about, I think 12 other aldermen
that feel the same way.
So if we could have just negotiated in good faith
and reduce that threshold, we could add instead
of subtract, because that's what we need to do in this body
by bringing people together, is to get everybody on board.
And so if we could just make
that one provision, I'm all for it.
I'll support it. I think the concept of it is good,
but just that one issue.
And before I close, Mr. Mr.
President, uh, I want to go on the record
and ask for a public apology from Alderman Cito Lopez
for the name calling
and the, the just the consistent disrespect
of people in this body.
And I think he needs to apologize
because that, that type of behavior is not called
for in this body.
Thank you Mr. President. Thank
You. Chair recognizes
Alderman Conway.
Did Alderman Beal make a formal motion or
No? He did not, but thank you
for asking that question.
Okay, thank you. Please continue. Alman. Um,
We have a housing shortage in this city, which has led
to an affordable housing shortage.
And I support this initiative to spur development,
to address this shortage and, and invest in all of Chicago.
And I commend, uh, you Mayor Johnson and, and the CFO and,
and, uh, DPD and
and DOH commissioners for working to address it.
I had asked in committee to reduce the authorization, uh,
to a $350 million pilot program,
which mirrors the cumulative total tiff
expiration in the next four years.
There wasn't an appetite for that drastic of a cut.
And I get that. Um,
and I wanna be clear that my,
my objective was not about if we did this, but,
but how we do it.
We all know our city is in perilous financial shape
and taking out a billion dollar loan
or even hundreds of millions as a big obligation.
I feel strongly on behalf of taxpayers that we need
to do this right, not just fast.
And as the CFO said Wednesday morning in committee,
the maximum they plan on issuing is $250 million per year.
Now, we were merely elected to be stewards
of taxpayer dollars for the next three years.
Now, Mr. Mayor, you'll be here another 23 years,
but the rest of us may not be.
So we should limit that obligation to the years
that we were elected to serve and keep this to three years
and change the authorization to 750 million.
So what I'm proposing is to keep everything identical
to the mayor's initiative,
but limit the obligation of the years we were elected
to serve, and therefore change the total authorization
of 750 million.
So, so my specific motion is
to amend everywhere it says
one million one billion two hundred fifty million
to 750 million.
And again, keep everything I else identical.
So I specifically move under Rule 29
to amend the whereas clauses section 1.2
and two places Section 2.2, a 3.1 D
3.2 A to read 750 million instead
of 1.25 million.
Thank you, uh, Mr. Chair and I ask for a roll call.
Vote on that. Thank you. There's a motion on the floor.
The chair recognizes Alderman LaSpada.
Yes, Mr. President with respect.
Motion to lay that motion on the table.
There's a motion on the floor
to lay the motion made by Alderman Conway.
On the table, there's a,
there's a roll call request.
So with the motion on the table to lay
Alderman Conway's motion on the table,
A yes vote means you wish to continue
with the original ordinance, which is for $1.25 billion.
If you vote no, you wish
to have the conversation about the original motion
for Con from Alderman Conway.
To lower that amount,
please use your Evo, um, application
to record your vote. Madam Clerk,
The voting is now open.
Please use your devices to mark your vote.
If you are having difficulty, please raise your hand.
Hey, I will now call on those who have not
yet cast their vote.
Alder person. Robinson.
Yes. Alder person Robinson is a yes. Alder woman.
Ramirez? Yes.
Alder woman Ramirez is a yes. Alder woman. Taylor?
Yes. Alderwoman Taylor is a yes.
Alderman Scho Lopez. Yes.
Alderman Scho Lopez is a yes.
Alderman Talia Farrow not present.
Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez? Yes.
Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez is a yes. Alder woman. Clay?
Yes. Alderwoman Clay is a yes. Alderwoman Silverstein.
Nay Alderwoman Silverstein is a no.
Okay. Okay. Voting is now closed.
There are 31 yays. There are 18 nays.
The motion to latest item on the table passes
Chair recognizes Alderman.
David Moore.
Thank you, uh, Mr. President.
Um, as I stand to discuss this,
um, bond deal, um, one of the things that came
to mind is tools.
Tools, um, that we need to succeed.
It also came to mind is, um, people
in which you brought before us, Mr.
President, to, um,
to vote on for these positions.
So like, we voted for Superintendent Snelling,
who we felt, or Phil was going to do a great job.
He's asking for a tool like ShotSpotter
that I think we should have.
'cause he said he needs that tool.
I cannot be a hypocrite because I trust, and I voted for
and believe in the person you put in as development.
And she says she needs this too, to help West Inglewood
to help places like 69th Street between Ashland
and Damon that has not had any investment in 23 years.
Do you have a tiff over there, alderman? No.
This is what you need.
So if you voted for me,
and I'm telling you I need this too, at least trust me
as the subject matter expert.
And that's what I'm doing here, Ms.
La Mayor, I'm trusting her as that subject matter expert
because we voted her in
and she said she need this too.
Said the same thing about Superintendent Snelling.
So I can't be a hypocrite and say no to this.
I also think it's a, um, a tool
that we have to have right now, um,
to be able to work with.
We are limited on tools.
We, when we talk about TIFF even, and even our TIF areas,
and hopefully we can still utilize some of those,
which in the briefings we said we di that we discussed.
We said we'll do, but like from the conversations
and as I'm looking at the numbers, some
of those TIF districts are what poor.
And we can't do the things that we need to do.
And so I'm standing in support
and asking my other colleagues to support this
as we unanimously voted to put in Commissioner Vote Wright.
And let's give her the tools that she need to do the things
that she need to do to help develop
these challenging communities.
So I stand in support of this, uh, Mr.
Mayor, and I hope my colleagues will
support it as well. Thank you.
Thank you. The chair recognizes older woman Nugent.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Like many of my colleagues,
I have been thinking about this ordinance in what it means
for our city for many days now.
And I support using money from expired tiffs to back bonds,
especially since this doesn't raise taxes.
I agree that we should repurpose revenue to support housing
and economic development.
That's a really good thing.
However, we are being asked to sign a $1.25 billion check
and we just don't know what we're buying.
A major issue for me is transparency
and checks and balances.
Mr. President, your office has placed a $5 million
threshold for council review.
And I have, as I have shared with many of you
and the administration, this threshold is just too high.
$5 million is a lot of money.
That's the entire infrastructure budget
for three over three entire wards, which is my second point.
Most of us use TIFF money
to supplement our infrastructure budgets to pave streets,
to install new light poles
and work on quality of life issues in all of our wards.
I have asked the administration in the finance committee
how we plan to address the loss
of TIFF infrastructure funding
as we sunset these TI have been met
with silence on this issue.
At the end of the day, I have
and will continue to support my colleagues in
their really good projects.
Allowing these projects to be approved
through council at the $1 million threshold is another
opportunity for transparency for colleagues to share
and showcase their projects before this body
and for these projects to be shared
and showcased to the public,
we should be welcoming this type of transparency.
I will be voting no today on this ordinance.
The threshold is too high for oversight
and there is not enough transparency.
I do not believe that simply putting projects on a website
is particularly transparent or is a pass for oversight.
A webpage is not a substitute
for robust dialogue in our committees nor in this body.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
The chair recognizes older woman hadn't.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, um, I, um,
will be supporting this ordinance
and I really wanted
to commend our leadership in the Department of Housing
and the Department of Development
and their teams over there.
Um, just a bit of a round of applause for you guys
for working on this for so many months.
However, people are voting today.
Um, today I'm voting for this
because, um, I, I,
you know, my colleague said many people use their tiffs, um,
to help supplement infrastructure needs.
Um, my other colleague mentioned not having tiffs
or having tiffs that are too poor.
And that's more the situation that the 49th ward is in.
We have a lot of inequity actually
around the city in our wards.
Whether, you know, it's menu money
that doesn't go far enough
because of the geographic size, um, of needs that you've got
to cover, or the fact
that maybe one community has TIF dollars that they can use
to help supplement their infrastructure.
They can have nicer parks,
they can give more things to their schools.
And then you've got communities like
mine that can't do that.
And we have I think, more
of those throughout the city than the other kind.
I know that, um, this project
and the type of economic development it's going to allow,
it's gonna support some things
that we didn't really put enough money into already
and that we need to find support for outside
of ARPA dollars, like our community
wealth building initiatives.
When I think about the needs along Howard Street
or Morris Avenue, or Sheridan Road
or Clark Street, um,
we don't have tiffs not in a neighborhood opportunity zone.
We're on the edge of the city.
And the divestment that we've experienced for decades, um,
has really gone unnoticed by the city.
It's gone unnoticed by previous departments of developments.
And of course, we didn't have the Department
of Housing for quite some time.
Um, so I'm excited that communities like Rogers Park, um,
like Englewood, like Auburn Gresham
and other parts of the city
who don't have development tools are finally going
to get some attention, um, to concerns about the threshold.
I think it's great, um,
and definitely see the reasoning that some
of my colleagues have some concerns.
Um, but we also just spoke a lot.
$5 million is not a lot of money.
And when I think about the projects
that we're working on already, uh, in, in parts of my ward,
$5 million is a drop in the bucket.
And I know because we've already had this experience, um,
with this administration,
and particularly with the leaders
that this administration has picked for those departments,
that it's not just the mayor's office coming up
with some plan for economic
and community development in our communities.
They're supporting our plans.
They're working with our residents.
We're having inclusive community processes
where community members
and constituents in our wards are gonna be
supporting these projects.
So when we talk about that approval limit, yes,
technically these are things that aren't gonna have
to be signed off by all of city council.
But I think with the processes that we have in place
with the leadership that we have in those departments
and the experiences that I have had already,
I have full confidence
that my community's gonna be at the table.
And I know that yours can too.
If you are working on projects through this,
your community will be at the table.
Your voice is going to be heard.
And we know with the cost of capital projects these days,
5 million is nothing.
A million is nothing, you guys.
So I think this threshold is very appropriate, um,
to concerns about wanting a pilot.
We're trying to cut the red tape,
these pilots setting up a pilot setting time limits,
wanting to come back.
Um, I hear a lot from colleagues about wanting
to erase bureaucracy or limit bureaucracy.
Um, and I think that some of the amendments made, uh,
both in committee
and today are just going to do the opposite.
So thank you again to the DOH and DPD team. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor, for your office
and your team, uh, for bringing this forward.
I am excited to get us moving forward on something
that every single one of us has talked about
that we need in our communities, especially those
of us who aren't downtown.
For those of us who don't have these tiffs, for these tiffs
that are expiring, I am so glad
that they served your communities.
I'm looking forward to this money being
returned to our agencies.
And I'm looking forward to this revenue being used
to help support a new wave
of economic development through the city
of Chicago. Thank you.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Alder LaSpada.
Right? Very well. The chair recognizes Alder Will Hall.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I think the debate has been had.
Um, I move a motion to call for the question.
Okay. There's, uh, a motion to call the question.
First of all, hold on, hold on a second.
We just had a conversation you all about de about decorum.
Okay. So let's not, we don't have to shout.
We're gonna work it through. Okay.
Just everybody, just take a deep breath, please. All right.
Alder Hall, there are just a few more speakers that wish
to speak, um, out of the interest of those voices,
would you be willing to withdraw your motion?
Yes, Mr. President, That worked very nicely. Thank you.
Alder. His motion has been withdrawn.
Alder Hall, do you wish to speak or have you already?
I spoken. Okay. Very well.
The chair recognizes Alder Viegas.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
Uh, alderman Hoffer for closing that back.
Mr. President. Um, couple of things.
During the committee meeting, there were requests
that were made that really I think would've made
this a better ordinance.
And everyone that knows me is that every everyone
that knows me knows that when I introduce an ordinance,
I listen to my colleagues
and try to figure out a way, not just to get to 26 or 30,
but really to try to get as high as possible, understanding
that everyone's not gonna agree with me.
But here are some things that I wanted included.
There was, there was no commitment from,
I requested a threshold drop down to 2.5 billion.
I know there's been some, some debate million, 3 million.
Again, I think five million's too high.
That's just my personal opinion.
But these are important, other important things
that I think need to be talked about
as we're making these investments.
1.25 billion.
I think it's important that we have us DOL apprenticeship
programs in place to make sure that the investments
that we're making are built, are being built by tradesmen
and women that have experience.
Also requiring the contractors to have apprenticeship hours
so that way we can help diversify the workforce,
whether it's at a 10%
or a 25%, requiring that U-S-D-O-L language.
I'd also requested that funds be parked in corridors so
that way developers can take a look at where the need is at
and if they're used to working in certain areas
that they can go ahead and pursue that work.
Again, no commitment.
I'd ask for a trailer ordinance of some sort, similar to
what we did with the O'Hare modernization.
$8 billion. Let's have some type of advi oversight committee
advisory council, so
that way we're not waiting five years and say, guess what?
It didn't accomplish what it accomplished, what,
what it was meant to accomplish.
Rather,
again, transparency.
I've voted for every Invest Southwest Project at every
neighborhood Opportunity Fund project.
Every one of them, understanding
that we gotta make these investments.
42.5 million, 11.8 40, 40.2 million,
17.5 million, 51.7 million, 62.3 million, and so on.
I voted for every one of them. It's the right thing to do.
I was also in the last term, the architect
around the capital bill,
$3.7 billion for a five year program.
And what that capital bill appropriation taught me was
that you got a line item these projects
or else you might not get one.
So to solve that, that's why I had
requested having corridors.
So at least as we're putting forward
and voting on a $1.25 billion deal,
legislators can go back to their co to their residents
and say, Hey, I supported this,
but we know there's an opportunity
of projects coming this way.
I just, I'm just not there with this.
And the fact that this administration did not want
to even take one of these things
and commit to it, that's not how I negotiate.
And anytime something starts with a b in the billions,
knowing that my community is not gonna see a billion dollars
of investments, there has to be some commitments.
$3.7 billion capital bill.
And I'm over here fighting for sidewalks, fighting
for minor investments, begging the administration
for simple things.
And I'm the one, one of the, one of the aldermen that voted
for this, for that appropriation.
So I cannot
in good conscience vote on $1.25 billion without knowing
that there's some funds
that are gonna be parked in corridor.
So that way we could pursue it.
I've spoken to the planning, uh, planning commissioner
have all the faith in which she does.
This is not against her,
nor against the housing commissioner.
This is about not wanting to be full again.
And so I've learned, uh, in my third term here,
that if you don't line item it,
then I'm at the mercy of the administration.
And so I'm not going to put myself in that position.
And so I'll be voting no on this.
I hope that this, I hope I'm wrong as it relates
to the tools, but I think that we need to make sure
that there's accountability, transparency, making sure that
men and women associated
with organized labor are participating on these contracts,
making sure that we have apprenticeship hours put in place
so we can get our high school students an
opportunity to get into this career.
I'll be voting. No. Thank you, Mr. President
Chair recognizes Alder ri Alderman Riley.
Uh, thank you, Mr. President.
Um, I wanted to talk about just a couple of things.
I know we're all getting ready to go here.
Um, to Alderman Conway and, and Beal and,
and Nugent and Viegas.
Uh, I share their concerns.
Um, I I do think that this could be a very powerful, uh,
and impactful program.
Um, but we weren't given some of the adjustments
that we had requested.
And, you know, Alden Conway wanted to see a smaller tranche
of, of money initially.
That was something I had an interest in.
Um, but the biggest sticking point
for me really is on the transparency issue.
Um, and it was raised by all
of those folks I just mentioned.
Um, the $5 million cap
for Aldermanic City Council approval
of projects is far too high.
And we are talking about a massive amount of money here.
And I would have a lot more trust in the program if I knew
any investment over a million bucks needs to be vetted
and approved by the 50 people who serve on the city council.
And not just
because, uh, it's, uh, our role
as legislators to appropriate.
Um, but because the public then would get
to see these projects before they're approved.
A big part of having aldermanic oversight and approval.
Yes, it's, it's about voting on actual issues,
but it's really bringing in the light of day
so our constituents can understand
what it is we're spending money on.
And I did not think that, um, lowering the threshold
to $1 million would unnecessarily gum up the works.
Um, one of my colleagues mentioned 5 million
bucks is a drop in the bucket.
No big deal. Last time I checked,
5 million bucks is a lot of money.
And these aren't our dollars. This, this isn't play money.
This, this money belongs to the taxpayer.
And the way I look at things,
we should be treating tax dollars like they're our
very last ones.
Not that we have endless supplies of them 'cause we don't.
So I don't understand why us
as legislators would not support lowering this
cap to $1 million.
Taking ourselves out of the conversation.
What are we doing here? So I wanna give you mayor,
the opportunity to get a whole bunch more votes
for this program, which is why pursuant to Rule 29,
I'm making a motion to amend the ordinance
section 2.19 H on page 24, striking $5 million
and replacing it one with $1 million.
And I've even brought physical copies for each
of my colleagues if you'd like to see it.
But it's really just one change. We're changing one number.
And I would love to hear the explanation to,
to not support this initiative when one of our primary
responsibilities as alderman is to serve as fiscal stewards.
It's our job. Let's do it.
So that said, mayor, I make my motion
and I would encourage my
colleagues to support it. Thank you.
Thank you. There is a motion to strike the $5 million
as the threshold.
The chair recognizes Alder LaSpada.
Yes. With respect. Motion.
To lay this motion on the table,
There's a motion to lay the initial motion made
by Alder rally on the table.
Just for clarity, if you vote yes
to lay this motion on the table, you wish to continue
to proceed with the original ordinance.
If you vote no, you wish for a discussion
on Alder O'Reilly's, motion to strike $5 million
as the threshold members, please use your EVO application
to cash Cashier vote.
Adam Clark
Should be popping up.
One second.
Come on. There we go.
Voting is now open.
Please use your devices to mark your vote.
Okay, I will now call on those who have not
yet cast their vote.
Alder person Robinson. Yes. Alder person Robinson is a yes.
Alderwoman Ramirez. Yes.
Alderwoman Ramirez is a yes. Alder woman. Taylor,
No. Alder
woman. Taylor is a no. Alderman Lopez?
Yes. Alderman. Si Cho Lopez is a yes.
Alderman. Talia Farrow, not present. Alder person.
Rodriguez Sanchez.
Yes. Alder person. Rodriguez Sanchez is a yes. Alder woman.
Clay? Yes. Alderwoman Clay is a yes.
Alderwoman Silverstein.
No Alderwoman Silverstein is a
no voting.
Do you get Silverstein? Talia Faroh
not present in chambers.
Voting is now closed.
Thank you Madam Clerk there. Our 27 yays and 22 nays.
The motion to lay the initial motion on the table passes
chair recognizes Alderman Burnett. Thank
You, you very much, Mr. President.
So first of all, I'm supporting this,
um, this ordinance.
Um, and it's $1.25 billion bond.
And from what I understand is that the tiffs, um,
related to this is due to expire in the next five years.
And I was looking at the list of the tips
that's due to expire.
And most of the biggest ones come from the 27 Ward.
Um, the Central West tip, $41 million.
The River West tip, $41 million.
The Kingsbury Tiff, $41 million.
Chicago Kingsbury, TIFF, $41 million.
That's a, a large percentage
of this money is gonna be leveraged for a bond.
So we've been blessed in our ward that, um, you know,
that we've been,
our increment has been going up for a long time.
Uh, I remember back in the day, uh,
I had mostly Tiff on the east side.
I had to fight to get a tip on the west side,
the Central West, the, the
Central Park Tiff.
I had to fight to get in 'cause I was like, why?
I just have Tiff in the areas where it's expensive at.
I need Tiff on the west side
because, you know, this area needs development
and one day money is gonna come that way.
So we, we were blessed that we did that.
'cause now we poured money from the Kinzie tiff.
But also we've been blessed to help balance the budget, uh,
for many years in this city.
Uh, coming from, starting from Mayor Rom Emanuel,
using our Sur surplus, mostly from our Tiffs.
In order to do that, of course me
and Alderman Rally, um, both are blessed
and some, some of his tiffs go into that.
Uh, also. But for the most part, ours, you know,
the the unique thing about Tiffs is that
when you do a surplus, we only get 20% in the city
because the rest of it goes to the other taxing bodies.
And then all of those other taxing bodies,
their budgets get balanced
because of what we have done here.
Coincidentally, when these tips expire,
the same thing happen.
So we won't have to worry about the board of education
'cause they getting ready to get a whole bunch of money
when these till expire.
When we expire these till the board
of education gonna get a whole bunch of money,
the park district is gonna get a whole bunch of money.
The water reclamation district, the forest preserve,
you know, I can go on and on.
All, all of those. I think it's
what five other taxing bodies is a cook.
They all gonna get money.
So we don't need
to worry about the till supplementing those things anymore
'cause they're getting ready to get money, right?
But that money is going into their general funds
and now they'd be able to spend it in other places.
You know, one of the things I find in areas where
folks don't have tips,
and some of my colleagues mentioned it, I think, you know,
uh, alderman Moore, I have to say some
of your comments was very articulate, uh, in reference to
the tips and all of those things that some
areas don't have Tiff
and they get lost out.
Because right now you have all, everybody,
I I'm telling you, every other sister agency,
when they want to do something,
alderman, we want to do this.
Fix these schools up. Can I get some of your TIFF money?
Alderman, we wanna fix this park up.
Can I get some of your tiff money, money?
You know, all these other sister agencies come to you
'cause they utilize all your tiff money in order
to make these things happen.
But in the areas where you don't have tiffs,
you don't have anything in the areas
where you don't have tiffs.
When the, when the park district say they don't have no
money, can't get nothing done with your park, the areas
where you don't have t where the board
of education say they don't have the money,
you can't get anything done now.
But those areas that don't have ts this leverage
of this bond is gonna help
those areas, which is not my ward.
I'm blessed about more than 75%
of my ward is in the tip right now.
Now less now after we do this.
But 75% of my ward is healthy
and have leverage of dollars.
But a lot of other wards don't.
And a lot of people who've been voting against these things
have some of those war
and I don't understand why they voting against it.
Because this will give them an opportunity to negotiate,
to try to get some things done
that they don't necessarily have the resources
to do in their wards right now.
I I, I don't understand it.
I'm, I'm, I'm like, you know, dumbfounded by that.
But at the same time we talk about these bonds
and spending the money and all of those things.
Well when these tips expire,
this money goes back into the corporate fund.
When it goes back into the corporate fund
who runs a corporate fund.
You run a corporate fund, I'm like, what's the big deal?
It didn't expire anyway, it's gonna go back
to the corporate fund.
Then you can say where it go.
Let's stop playing then all these little
things remind me of council wars, man.
I'm telling you, this is starting to remind me more
and more of council's wars.
You know it's interesting, every time there's a black dude
up there, we see all this stuff going on.
This is, I didn't see this with nobody else.
It is like we playing.
It is like, I don't know what's going on.
I feel like I'm in the middle
of another game that's going on.
You know, it's another game going on
and I feel like I'm sitting here like, okay,
I wish they had stopped playing that game.
So we can do what we do here, right?
This is an opportunity.
We have three years,
guys, three years.
Lemme tell you something, I do a lot
of development in my ward.
I do a ribbon cut, I do a groundbreaking.
It take about three years before there's a ribbon cutting.
If you all wanna keep playing with this stuff
and not have any ribbon cuttings to show your community
that you did in your community,
keep playing, keep playing.
But if you wanna take the opportunity to negotiate
with planning and housing
and possibly some more infrastructure money outside of
what you get outta your regular menu,
get on board, man.
Take care of your business. Take care of your ward.
This stuff was happening today.
Half the people don't even see this stuff.
It's going to be gone. What they gonna recognize is
what you did in your ward.
What did you do in your ward? What ribbon cuttings.
Groundbreakings. What kind
of development is happening in your ward right now?
The last administration had a lot
of great ideas at best Southwest, you know, you know,
of course you know I'm the theater ward.
They fed off of the neighborhood opportunity funds.
They started in my ward, got a lot of money.
They getting something from Autum rallies, ward Yo Ward,
you know, some of us downtown Pat dos Ward, right?
We the BEAT awards, right?
But right now we not feeding too well.
We not feeding too well because of the interest rates.
I had. Like I had three things.
I had the three things on planning, uh, yesterday, you know,
thank God haven't been getting a lot
of things on planning lately.
One of 'em was a major development that's gonna bring a lot
of NOF money
and a lot of, uh, tax dollars to the city of Chicago
and some money in that tiff over there
that probably they probably gonna take the surplus out of,
which is McKenzie till and balance the budget again.
But it's slowing down
real slow because of the banks and the interest rates.
Guys, the mayor, the last mayor started a lot
of things with the neighborhood opportunity fund, you know,
um, and started to invest Southwest.
But a lot of those things don't have money.
A lot of projects are on hold
on the west and the south side.
But also there's potential projects that could happen
on the northwest side.
On the southwest side.
Y'all just gotta work this stuff, man.
I don't know what y'all doing.
Y'all gotta work this thing man, and make it work.
You got somebody willing to work with you if you just try
to work it, you know, I mean fighting all the time.
You know, we leaving people behind.
There's opportunities to do things in the city in your wards
with this bond deal that's going down.
I, you know, if I was you,
I wouldn't wanna be on the other side of this bond deal.
I want to be on the inside of this bond deal
so I can get stuff done in my ward.
So when that three years is up,
I have something to point to.
But the thing is, if we don't do anything,
if we don't do anything right now to help with this, the,
the, you know, and the, the reason why I support
a lot of money coming from our ward
and going into all Invest Southwest
and you know, helping with the budget and all that stuff is
because I know what happens to one of us affects all of us.
You know, if somebody bills, if somebody,
like right now she got a big project in her ward,
a big hospital project.
She builds over there, utilize some
of the money from my ward,
it is gonna spread over to my ward.
So now all those people working at
that hospital may wanna move.
Well they may wanna move to my ward so it helps
with development and so on and so forth.
And she said, no, you can't have it all now, uh,
I'm giving you some money over there,
but at the same time we need to spread this tax base
across the city.
We cannot keep taking money just from the central area.
And the only way that we can spread this tax base
if we spark development across the city,
if we spark development
and attract people to come all over the city
and fill in all these vacant,
could you imagine if all the vacant lots in the city was
filled up, how much tax dollars the city would get,
how balanced our budgets would be, how many more things
that we can do, we need
to help our colleagues.
Yeah, it'll help the mayor.
But we need to help our colleagues.
We need to help our other communities to be able to develop,
to be able to spread the wealth across the city
because it helps everybody else.
'cause I know when Michelle's ward doing is doing good
and people moving over there and they moving to the city
and our population grows
and we able to get more money from the state
and the federal government.
I know a lot of those people gonna come to my ward
and spend some money and my business is gonna do good
and my people gonna be able to work
and my schools get filled up and then
and so on and so forth.
Guys, this is an opportunity to leverage some dollars
that's gonna go to the general funds anyway.
It's gonna be in the general funds anyway.
He is gonna control it anyway.
It is gonna be in the general funds anyway
'cause it's expiring.
Let's leverage those dollars, make something happen,
make some things happen in our award.
I support this. Mayor, thank you very
Much. Thank you much
Alderman Chair recognizes Alderman.
Raymond Lopez.
Thank you Mr. President.
And again, good afternoon members of the city council.
You know, I just wanna take a moment to give a shout out
to Walter for hitting the high note five
times in his speech.
And I was truly gonna go. You go for six. Go ahead.
Um, I was sitting here counting it. I was just in, in awe.
And believe it or not, Mr.
President, I'm almost in agreement with everything
that my colleague said.
Like so many in this room, we have long advocated
for resources that go beyond the TIF district that go
beyond the enterprise zones that go beyond
the neighborhood opportunity, uh, fund, which just
so everyone remembers, you know, we did
that under Mayor Emanuel
and I'm proud to say that, you know, we are, I was able
to include the back of the yards
and new city areas as the only Latino district at that time
that was part of this program.
But I take umbrage with the comments we just heard.
'cause all of that was predicated on having a partner who,
and I quote, is willing to work with you.
What we just saw not 10 minutes ago is
a partner unwilling to work
with 22 members of the city council
on addressing a singular concern over
how much should be the proper threshold.
We've been having this debate, this discussion, which seems
to be a sticking point for nearly 45%
of the people in this room ever since this original
proposal was made almost unanimously.
Mr. President, this debate, this,
these discussions has not been about the magnitude
of your vision or the need for this opportunity community.
It's been about our participation.
And I will remind members of the city council
that the original bill actually had us never meeting
or doing anything for four years
because it was written saying that it's too cumbersome
and unproductive to have us include
included in that process.
And I'm very thankful to Chairman Dowell
and your team for removing that outrageous
language when this was originally introduced.
But sadly, that sentiment, that feeling
that we are a hindrance in supporting each
other still remains.
I have never seen scenarios
where we did not support each other when it came
to investing in our communities.
Every request for as long as I've been here has usually gone
through unanimously when it came time to using,
whether it was grant money, tiff money, whatever, money
into another alderman's ward.
Because collectively we understand that
while it may not be my ward, you are the best steward
of your ward and should be part of that discussion,
should be leading the charge, as my colleague stated.
But that requires us to be able to have a partner
who listens, who hears, and who brings us to the table.
We are now at the cusp of willingfully allowing us not
to be a part of this discussion on
$258 million every year.
If I'm not mistaken, we won't know what the projects are
because the language was changed in the last substitute
to say that it's not a matter of reporting what is being
earmarked, but what is being spent
after it's finally outlaid
making participation, making transparency even harder.
Because this says that we're not gonna tell you
until the check is written.
So I won't even know what you're planning, what
the bureaucratic machine upstairs is planning.
And that has also, by the way, been a major criticism
for three mayors that I've now served under
because all of us know about the, for those of you
who have tiffs, the TIFF Investment Committee, the tick,
which meets usually without us to decide what projects
and how much, especially when they're not coming here.
Hundreds of millions of dollars,
especially under the last administration,
went out without us ever being a part of the equation.
But yet we are here today to try
and replicate that same failed lack of transparency.
I told your team, Mr.
President, that I actually wanted
and looked forward to supporting this, that I believed
that there were two things that had to be fixed.
But I'll settle on the one
and it's the same one that my colleagues have brought up
time and time again
because I think that our goal, your goal shouldn't be
to follow the same path as your predecessor who said,
I'm only gonna govern to 26, that we're only going
to go for the bare minimum to move forward.
We saw how that worked out for her.
And we also saw how that program
of Invest Southwest worked out for our communities.
It didn't. We should be able
to create a collaborative process that works better,
builds better, builds stronger, all of the key words
that you push forward.
This could be the catalyst for that.
I have faith in your team
and the commissioners who are there, believe it
or not, excited to talk and discuss and happy.
But there should be compromise in a way to include all
of this body back in that conversation.
Mr. President, for everybody that I keep seeing
moving to table, every kind of change tells me
we don't have partners willing to work together.
That we have individuals who are more obsessed
with keeping it in their wheelhouse than trying
to including, including all of us.
So I'm gonna try again
because I too, Mr.
President, take issue with section 2.19 H,
but I'll split the baby
and give us one last time to find a way to make this
as almost a unanimous approval as possible by moving
to amend on its face under Rule 29,
section 2.195 million to two and a half million.
That is more than what most want, less than what you want.
But it gives us the opportunity to have that conversation.
And I would call the question after that motion,
There's a motion on the floor to
lower the threshold from
5 million to two and a half million. And
I call the Chair recognizes Alderman lasa.
Yes. Thank you Mr. President. The chair
recognizes Alderman Lasa.
Thank you Mr. President.
I motion to lay that motion on the table.
There's a motion on the floor
to lay Alderman Lopez's motion on the table.
Please use your
it is not out of order.
Okay, there's already a motion on the floor
and that motion has been accepted.
Madam Clerk Alders, please use your EVO
applications to make to, to cash your vote.
I do not recognize.
So you may cash your votes now
if you vote yes.
If you vote yes, you wish to continue
with the original ordinance, $1.25 billion
with a $5 million threshold if you vote no.
You wish to consider the motion
Alderman Lopez to lower the threshold from 5 million
to 2.5 million.
The motion to lay Alderman Lopez's motion
on the table is now open for voting.
Just refreshing,
Going up a second.
There we go. Motion is open.
Please mark your vote on your devices.
I'll now call on those who have not yet,
um, cast their vote.
Alder person Robinson. Yes. Alder person Robinson is a yes.
Alderman Mitchell. Alder Mitchell,
uh, Alderwoman Ramirez.
Yes. Alderwoman Ramirez.
Yes. Can you speak up please?
We can't hear you. Alderwoman Ramirez?
Yes. Yes.
Alderwoman Ramirez.
That's a yes. Yes. Sad Yes. Alderwoman Taylor?
Yes. Alderwoman Taylor, uh, is a yes.
Alderman Scho Lopez? Yes.
Alderman Scho Lopez is a yes.
Alderman Talia Faroh not present.
Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez. Yes.
Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez is a yes. Alderwoman Clay?
Yes. Alderwoman Clay is a yes. Alderwoman Silverstein.
Nay Alderwoman Silverstein is a no.
Okay. And the voting is now
we got closed. Thank you.
There are 28 yays. 21 Nays.
The motion to lay alderman Lopez's motion
on the table has passed.
The chair recognizes Alderwoman Lee. Thank
You Mr. President.
Um, oh boy.
To have to follow, uh, alderman Burnett
and Alderman Lopez is a not a fun thing to do.
I'm gonna give it a try here.
Um, you know, I attended every single one of the hearings
that we had on this bond measure.
Um, and, and since getting into office
and learning more about how things are publicly financed,
I know that tiff's, um,
tiffs haven't been the most effective tools and,
and it's really evident that we need something better.
So in the course of these hearings, um, I understood that,
uh, the, the teams from both, uh, the Department of Housing
and DPD went and went
and talked to a whole bunch of organizations, chambers, um,
community organs organizations
and the like, which I think was exactly the right way to go.
We need to make sure that we're bringing
people along with us on this.
Um, I was however very disappointed to find
that there was one, only one Asian American organization,
uh, that was, um, engaged in this conversation.
And when I raised this issue, your team immediately
responded, um,
and organized a meeting, which I was very pleased for and
and grateful for because I know that took something, um,
to get everybody over the weekend to pull that together.
And I hope that we're never in that position again.
Um, because our communities are also ones that need funding.
I happen to live in a ward now where we have several tiffs,
but I also have several areas that are not TIFF eligible
that can use the additional funding.
So I agree. And my community has called me to go ahead
and support this bond initiative,
which I will do today despite the fact that I have had all
of these concerns about transparency.
And I'm not going to make another motion
to lower the threshold.
I think everybody wants to go home soon, guys.
Um, so I wanna say that it's incumbent upon all
of us to do whatever we can to make sure
that people in this city have every opportunity,
whoever they are to succeed.
And I believe that this funding will do that.
I also think, I also think
that it's our responsibility.
Thank you, sir. Um, I also think
that we do have a responsibility as stewards of the finances
of this city to make sure
that everything is being spent responsibly and above board
and that it's done in an equitable manner.
And I believe that we've seen here
that this council will hold everybody accountable
for every penny of this money that's spent.
And while this isn't a pilot, we have
reporting requirements that are going to be part
of this, uh, ordinance.
And we should be watching at every single step
how money is being spent.
And if it's not being done in a way that agrees with all
of us, we should absolutely come back
and demand changes to this ordinance.
There's nothing stopping us from doing that.
So I'm here to say that I am excited
to support this initiative
that will bring funding opportunities
that have not been available
before to parts of this city, um,
that have been disinvested or need additional funding.
But I also wanna call out too, uh, just for the record,
money is going back to the taxing bodies.
Yes, CPS is gonna be in really good shape,
but the parks will not be.
So let's not forget that because all of us use TIFF funds
to fund park district initiatives.
In fact, during the hearings I called, uh,
I requested information about
how many projects have been funded by Tiffs
for park districts over the last five years
because we've got projections that tell us
that something like $50 million is gonna be returned
to the taxing body for the TE Park District.
But in the last five years,
we've funded $110 million in projects.
So let's not lose track of who's getting more money back
through the taxing districts and who's not.
And tips are not going away.
And we're gonna continue to use those
in the way that makes sense.
But this bond gives us a much more equitable way, um,
to make sure that things are not geographically restricted
and that more people have the opportunities.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Ottoman Ramirez. Rosa,
Uh, thank you so much Mr.
Chair. Today I rise in support
of this 1.25 billion affordable housing bond
because put quite simply, housing is a human right.
And I know that our city's TIF dollars can work for all
of Chicago, not just an affluent flu.
This affordable housing bond is a big win for all
of our communities and resulted from years of advocacy
for tax increment financing reform
and equitable redistribution of TIF dollars.
Voting yes will result in the Department of Housing
to invest six, 625 million in the construction
and preservation of affordable rental homes,
the construction and preservation of home ownership
or affordable owner-occupied housing,
and the conservation of single room occupancy housing.
So if you wanna help homes impacted
by flooding on the west side, if you wanna help that senior
with a home that's falling apart on the south side,
vote yes today for this bond.
Voting yes will result in the Department of Planning
and Development, allocating 625 million
for neighborhood development grants, small business support,
middle housing, infill, and workforce development.
So if you wanna provide job opportunities to our youth,
if you wanna provide job opportunities
to every single Chicagoan vote yes on this bond.
Many of us have long advocated for these types
of equitable investments
because significant public investment is needed
to tackle the housing crisis
and to provide our fellow Chicagoans with good jobs.
I'm excited that
after years of advocating for major tip reform,
our city under the leadership of this mayor Brandon Johnson,
is finally delivering on significant programs
that will equitably redistribute tip dollars, mainly
to historically disinvested communities.
Housing is a human right,
and I want to sincerely thank everyone
who worked on this historic legislation,
particularly Daniel Hertz, Tim Jeffries, our DOH
and DPD commissioners, Necca, and I'm so sorry.
Necca Necca and Gabby Nelson in the mayor's office.
Kudos for all of your work, and thank you, Mr.
Mayor, for delivering on your promise to invest in all
of Chicago, not just downtown.
Thank you. The chair recognizes Alderman, Nick Sdo.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Very much so since you make up mix up
Lata and sdo a lot with that, enough is enough.
I motion to lay us on the table and call for the vote
and I am not backing down. All
Right, thank you.
I don't know if that motion is yet.
Yeah.
Okay. Thank you very much.
All right. Calls to the question. All
Right, thank you. Alder.
Armin, spaza, Pado.
So, so, uh, is your motion to call the question? Yes,
Sir. Thank you, Mr.
President. Okay, thank you. So there's a motion on the
floor to call the question,
however, we have just two more speakers technically,
and that includes the chair.
So if the two that are left would be Alder Lata,
and then the close would be chairwoman Dow.
If it's okay with this body,
if those are the last two speakers I can make,
can make a promise to that.
Okay.
One minute each. That's the only way I'll agree.
That's the only way I will agree.
Okay. You can't Have another 20 minute talk.
All right. So I guess at some point a
threshold vote is gonna win.
All right. So would you be willing
to withdraw your motion though?
Only if they agree to take one minute each. Wow.
All right. So there's a thank
you for withdrawing that motion.
Our final two speakers,
the chair recognizes Alderman LaSpada.
I'll take the minute. 4 26 17.
If you put forward five motions to table, you deserve
to give an explanation for that.
I didn't do it to be obstructionist.
I didn't do it to be disagreeable.
I didn't do it to be funny.
I did it because I believe in this ordinance.
I don't believe in 95% of it. I don't believe in 98% of it.
I believe in 100% of this ordinance
since the time I was in Chicago reading about tiff, I wanted
to see a path forward path tips.
I am glad that I came here, that I've lived
and served long enough to be a part of that opportunity.
And I believe in robust transformative tools, tools
that outlive my time in office.
I believe in the people who put this together,
who have proved their competency, their ability to review
and do these grants well.
And I believe in the transparency
and the mechanisms that we put in place to make sure
that this is a strong and effective tool.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Chairwoman Dow.
Uh, thank you, Mr. President.
I, uh, this, I'm gonna be more than one minute.
Take your time. Thank you all. The woman, take your,
You know, Mr. President.
I started my day off today, uh,
with a ribbon cutting at Park Boulevard.
And as I was driving downtown, I was thinking about how
historic this ordinance is that we
can finally make some investments in housing
and economic development in Chicago.
And I know like many of my colleagues,
you have a clear demand going on in your community about
wanting to see housing
and economic development in your ward.
And all of this leads to job creation as we know.
You know, I was talking to, uh,
commissioner Castaneda this morning,
and she has more projects
that she's thinking about and reviewing.
Then there's money to address.
And in the Department of Planning,
there's over 140 applications for the bond
financing that's just sitting there.
So if we don't do anything, we need to pass this ordinance
because if we do not pass this ordinance, there is nothing
that we're gonna be able to do in our respective wars.
I wanna address a couple of things.
You know, I listened to my colleagues
and there were many substantive changes made
to this proposal, which I wanna remind you is a
funding proposal.
It is not a program proposal or a policy proposal.
It is a funding proposal,
and we have made some changes that people wanted.
Specifically, we've increased transparency in ways
that require quarterly reporting, uh,
from twice a year reporting.
And we have stipulated that the public portal has data in it
with elements, data elements that many
of you have already pointed out
and wanted to see in that portal.
We've increased the oversight of spending, um,
by requiring city council oversight over $5 million.
And everybody keeps talking about 1000002.5 million.
The reality is that what we already approve is an average
of 10 to $11 million.
That's what we see.
We've actually lowered the threshold, which is a compromise,
I believe, between one
and whatever, 51 million, 61 million
that Alderman Vasquez was.
I mean, s was talking about 5 million is reasonable.
If we were to go to 1 million,
we're putting an unnecessary burden
on the development process,
and we already know that we're existing in a fragile
market right now.
We don't need to add more red tape to the developers
that want to invest in our neighborhoods
and invest in our city.
To the point about, oh, this is just a blank check.
It's not the ordinance specifically names the types
of programs and the spending amounts
authorized in each bond.
Many are for existing programs that we lament about
that already have oversight models on them.
The home repair program, the community development grants,
SRO preservation is someone mentioned earlier.
And let's not forget that every project that comes
through finance usually has a touchpoint
and eyesight oversight in the housing
and real estate committee, or the zoning committee,
or other committees that we all serve on.
I wanna say that this ordinance allows us
for, to support a greater range of projects.
Tips can't support building new grocery stores
or other retail in our food deserts,
but the bonds can bonds help fund
affordable housing in already.
Well-established neighborhoods
and economic development projects in areas on the north
and northwest side, we can use bond funds for that.
This is not a blank check,
and funds cannot be used to support purposes
that are not written in the ordinance.
Finally, I just wanna say that I think
that this is a very good compromise
that fixes a real immediate problem.
We just don't have the money and we need the resources.
And as someone mentioned earlier, if we don't like
what we see as we move forward, thank you.
Ultimately, we have an opportunity to amend
and tweak the ordinance.
And as long as I'm the finance chair, I have the,
you can come to me and we will talk about it.
You know, I'm fair. Once again, I would like
to thank Mayor Johnson for your leadership.
We do need this money, Mr. Mayor.
And I want to thank you for the, uh, you know,
for pushing this forward.
I want to thank DPD and DOH staff.
I want to thank, uh, Jill Jaworski. Uh, Daniel Herz.
Thank you so much, Mr. McDonald from the law department,
Tim Jeffries from the planning department
for working hard on crafting this proposal.
And I ask that our colleagues join me today in voting yes
for a proposal that's gonna do good work in every single
neighborhood in the city of Chicago. Thank you.
You are welcome. Chairwoman Dowell on your motion.
Chairwoman Dowell on your motion. You
Move? Yes. I move
that we, uh, do a roll call. Vote on this one.
All right. There's a motion on the floor for the passage
of this item by a roll call vote.
Members, please use your Evo application
to record your vote at this time.
Madam Clerk.
Second.
Okay. Voting is now open. Voting is now open.
Please use your devices to mark your vote.
Okay. I will now call on those who have not
yet cast their vote.
Alder person Robinson.
Yes. Alder person Robinson is a yes.
Alderwoman Ramirez. Yes.
Alderwoman Ramirez is a yes. Alderwoman Taylor. Yes.
Alderwoman Taylor is a yes. Alderman Cho Lopez. Yes.
Alderman? Si. Cho Lopez is a yes. Alderman Talia.
Faroh not present in chambers.
Alder person Rodriguez Sanchez. Yes. Alder person.
Rodriguez Sanchez is a yes. Alderman and clay
And the voice of Alder Sdo.
Alderwoman Clay is a yes. And Alderwoman Silverstein.
No. Alderwoman Silverstein is a no.
Okay. Silverstein there. Okay.
Voting is now closed.
Thank you. There are 32 yays. There are 17 nays.
This motion passes Alderman Mitchell on
a motion to reconsider.
Motion to reconsider the
Vote. All those in favor
signify by saying Aye.
All those opposed say no. This motion fails. Thank you.
Miscellaneous business chair recognizes Altman Mitchell
Except for the ordinance.
Set the date and time of the next meeting.
I am not aware of any miscellaneous business
Very much.
Alright. For the date
and time of the next meeting, Altman Mitchell,
I've handed up an ordinance
to the clerk set in the date and time of the next meeting.
Clerk, could you please read that Ordinance, ordinance you
Ordained by the city Council of the City
of Chicago, section one.
The next regular meeting of the city council of the City
of Chicago shall be held on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024,
beginning at 10:00 AM in the council chamber
and the second four of City Hall 1 21 North
of South Street, Chicago, Illinois.
Section two. This ordinance shall take effect
and be enforce from an after it passage.
Altman Mitchell, Mr.
President, I move that matters in the omnibus be passed
by the first most favorable roll call vote
by the Committee on Economic Capital
and Technology Development
and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Farewell hearing. No
objection. So ordered Ottman
Mitchell on a motion to adjourn.
I'm sorry. Being No, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on.
On your motion to move for passage of the date
and time of the next meeting.
My apologies. Thought he did that.
Oh, I move passage.
Oh yes. All there's a motion.
See omnibus in the omnibus
for the date and time of the next meeting.
Hearing no objections. So ordered.
Catch now for the omnibus alderman Mitchell. Catch.
Okay, I move that matters in the omnibus be passed
by the first most favor, roll call vote
by the Committee on Economic Capital
and Technology Development
and the associated unsuccessful motion to reconsider
Hearing no objections. So
ordered. And then of course,
on the motion to adjourn. There
Being no further business
for this body. I moved that way.
Ad Wait, hold on a second. What, what now
Again, is tired, man, I, I broke fast.
Late tired. I'm hungry. Yeah, I'm on.
We're fine. On the motion to adjourn Alderman Mitchell
on the motion to adjourn.
Alderman Mitchell to
Adjourn. There's no further
business before this body.
I move that we adjourn.
Hearing No objection. So order meetings adjourned.