Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being patient. I do have a few quick updates on our
work to make Chicago the most affordable, the safest city in America, and then we'll take time
to answer your questions. For those of you who have been with us for a while, I'm sure you remember
the executive order that I signed more than two years ago. In the last year, we have made
significant progress on the initiative to make it easier to build housing and start your business
in Chicago. We have been able to cut the average application times for the planned commission from
135 days to 79 days. We've made it easier to buy and develop city-owned land, and we've cut
the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting lengths by half. This work to cut down on red tape
had led to significant investments into our city.
Last year, the Planned Commission moved projects with more than $10 billion in total costs,
representing 12,400 units, 37,000 construction jobs, and 1,700 permanent jobs.
We've also been proactive about moving forward with rezonings that make it easier to build housing across our city.
In the last year, we've moved forward with nearly 5,000 parcels across 16 wards.
We've also been strategic about community wealth building and home ownership opportunities.
Through our Missing Middle program, we have made progress on 137 buildings in strategic neighborhoods,
led by development teams that look like the neighborhoods that they're rebuilding in.
But developing safe and affordable communities takes more than just housing.
It's also about community development and small businesses, which is why we have been intentional about allocating grant funding to promising projects in every corner of our city.
Since we took office, we have allocated more than $670 million in total grant funds to more than 760 projects, totally more than $1.8 billion in project costs.
These are community centers, restaurants, mental health sites, youth centers, everything that we need to build strong communities and a stronger city.
complementing the neighborhood level projects are the mega projects that bring jobs and economic
vitality to our city the 1901 project on the near west side 78 foundry park 370 north morgan
all of these projects demonstrate that chicago continues to attract major investment and that
momentum is only growing. And finally, we have seen tremendous success with our LaSalle
revitalization work, both the city-assisted conversions and the more than a dozen privately
financed conversions that represent more than $1.6 billion in investment and more than 3,500
units of housing. Altogether, we are making it easier to build in Chicago. We are making our
city more dynamic and competitive, and we are making our city more affordable for working
families. Over the next year, we will continue to build on that progress. Thank you all. And with
that, I'm pleased to answer all of your questions today.