June 18
At its meeting, the Metra Board of Directors looked toward the future as it took these steps: extending Axon’s contract to March 2030, which emphasizes AI’s role in Metra’s policing methods; highlighting the need to update an aging IT infrastructure in connection with ticketing management and customer service, and projecting cautious optimism about avoiding the projected fiscal cliff in 2026. The Axon website describes the company as “the leading operating system for public safety.” Services in the form of branded products, for example, claim to cut report-writing time by law enforcement “in half” by transcribing and organizing video footage; to scan more license plates faster, and surveil public air space to track “unauthorized drones.” Before the Board of Directors meeting, Metra’s chief financial officer, John Morris, reported on behalf of the Committee on Finance and Budget. He noted that operating revenue is $10 million higher than the projected 2025 budget, offsetting less-than-anticipated revenue from passenger services. At the time of the meeting, expenses for operations were $31.1 million under budget with expenses for May being $8.1 million under budget. Morris attributes the savings to reduced administrative costs. The Capital Delivery and Project Management Office Report was presented by Phil Pasterak, program manager. Thirty-one projects have been completed since 2019, forty-three have begun construction and another fifty-four projects are in preliminary engineering. A majority of projects discussed affected the Metra Electric line. The Board also received a presentation on “Metra’s Comprehensive Approach to Bridges.” Metra lines cross 926 bridges each day, 446 of which Metra owns. A program is designed to replace five bridges and rehabilitate five bridges each year over twenty years. The estimated minimum cost is $140 million annually. There were no public comments.
June 23
The meeting of Police District Council 005: Roseland/Pullman/Riverdale focused on two main topics: the district’s strategic plan and an expected workforce allocation study. In a presentation, council member Thomas L. McMahon reviewed the priorities the council had set in the district’s strategic plan. Shootings were identified as the top priority, and the plan specified “the highest concentration of these shootings occurred on beat 511, which encompasses the area of 95th to 103rd” streets or essentially from Harvard Avenue to Stony Island Avenue. The second priority was robberies, which McMahon described as being in the “20th sector out south.” Third on the priorities list, McMahon said, were drug sales and littering at 111th and State Street. In the development of the district’s strategic plan, he explained that police are believed to be the crime experts but that community engagement needs stronger advocacy. He also suggests the district’s strategic plan can be improved by transparency and measures of progress. The councils are looking to the police department’s superintendent, Larry Snelling, to include meaningful input from the councils. Regarding workforce allocation, McMahon outlined the question of whether to use police officers from established beats, tactical teams or Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) teams. Police district councils were recommended by the Community Policing Advisory Panel in 2017 to increase community involvement in “crime reduction and problem-solving strategies” and to ensure “programming … consistent with the principles of community policing.” There are twenty-five councils, seven of which provide reports in Spanish and one that offers its reports in Chinese.
July 8
At its meeting, the fourteen-member City Council Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety approved without objection “direct” items for prohibited disabled parking spots, recommended items for stop signs and prohibited disabled parking spots, and “no-recommendation” items for stop signs, prohibited disabled parking spots, repeals to prohibited disabled parking spots, residential permit parking zones, and parking restrictions. Committee Chair Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) explained that “no-recommendation” items have not received recommendations from City departments but were submitted as “overrides.” There was one public commenter, George Blakemore, who is known as “Concerned Citizen” and the “51st Alderman” because he has for years attended and spoken out at City Council meetings. In his allotted three minutes, he proceeded to recognize the presence of City staff members, calling them “disgraceful” and saying they “set a bad example”; called for the Council meetings to be televised; claimed most of the few attendees were being paid [to attend]; and concluded with “There’s something evil here; there’s something un-American here.” Chair La Spata told Blakemore, “There’s a line and you are stepping on it.” Blakemore left the meeting shouting. Although “safety” in its title, officially, this Committee has “jurisdiction over all orders, ordinances, resolutions and matters relating to regulating vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic,” according to Chicago Councilmatic. That jurisdiction extends to matters that affect the bureaus of Street Traffic, of Parking, and of Police Traffic.
July 17
The Chicago Plan Commission considered and acted on four items at its meeting. A residential plan to expand the XS tennis site at 5301 South State was approved. The plan proposes rezoning the area into a community shopping district (B3-3) from its current designation as a limited manufacturing/business park district. The developer plans to construct a five-story building with fifty-one affordable housing units and a six-story, 125-key Marriott Hotel that would include seventy-two parking spaces. The $25 million project would create one hundred temporary jobs and result in twenty-five permanent jobs, the developer claims. It would also provide two thousand square feet of commercial business space. One public commenter, who said her family has lived in the area since 1914, supported the project but criticized the building’s height and the disruption it would cause during construction. Another commenter compared the process to the gentrification of Bronzeville, complaining that residents have not been involved enough and that the focus has been on “elites” or visitors. Three other proposals were also approved. A one-million dollar park at 141 West Diversey Parkway, which was applied for by the Chicago Park District under the Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance, would occupy 26,781 square feet. The Commission also approved a proposal by Loyola for a six-story building no more than ninety-feet high at 6551-6581 North Sheridan Road. The space will be used for classrooms, research, and laboratories. The Burnside, Calumet, and Pullman Industrial Corridors were approved for remediation of environmental issues over several years. Job creation along with improved health and safety are the hoped-for results.
This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.