August 7
In unanimous votes, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks approved two West Side landmark designations at its meeting. One, the Pioneer Arcade building at 1539 N. Pulaski Road, is a 1925 Spanish Baroque Revival-style structure once home to a bowling and billiards center. The Hispanic Housing Development Corporation’s proposed plan calls for the front thirty-five feet of the building to be landmarked but the rear portion to be redeveloped into six stories of sixty-one units of affordable senior housing. The $36-million project is to be funded with grants and $13.2 million in tax increment financing (TIF) from the city. Crews could break ground in November. The second landmark-designated property is the Fred C. Beeson House #4 at 5830 W. Midway Park. It’s a 1920 Colonial Revival-style building designed by architect Frederick Schock for Beeson, the president of the Chicago Veneer Company. The house includes the original garage, windows, and masonry. Schock designed several iconic buildings in the neighborhood, including train stations, schools, homes, and public buildings. Commissioners compared Schock’s architectural contributions in Austin to that of Frank Lloyd Wright’s early work.
At its regular meeting, the City Colleges of Chicago Board focused on increasing enrollment and graduation rates. Attendance and enrollment have returned to pre-pandemic levels. The Board noted that federal funding reductions by the Department of Education haven’t yet affected the college’s budgeting, but members expect funding to decline eventually. To offset a significant delay in the second installment of county property taxes, the Board approved issuing $60 million in tax anticipation notes (TANS). The county taxes were due August 1. The Department of Education has awarded more than $4.1 million to improve retention of low-income, first-generation college students and students with disabilities. Twelve faculty members applied for sabbaticals. Nine are for this fall, two for spring 2026, and one for the full academic year. The college is looking to add three more housing spots annually to serve homeless students at a cost of $18,000.
August 8
At a meeting held two-and-half years after they were elected, members of the 10th Police District Council—North Lawndale/Little Village found themselves being asked the same question first asked then: What exactly do you do? Both before and after council members presented their agenda items, community members asked for more details about the purpose of police district councils, how they’re structured, and what their relationship is to the rest of the city’s government. “I don’t think a lot of people know what this is. They don’t know that we ran for this position. They don’t know who we are yet, but we’ve been meeting monthly for the last two years,” said Elianne Baneha, nominating chair for the 10th Police District Council. The citywide Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) can hire or fire public safety officials and oversees policy issues affecting the entire police department. The district councils discuss policing issues specific to their district, inform the community about the activities of the CCPSA, gather input from neighbors about public safety, and develop community policing initiatives. In 2026, three positions will be open on the seven-member CCPSA; two must be filled by North Side residents. The city’s municipal code dictates that two of the commissioners be residents from the North Side, two from the South Side, and two from the West Side. “At the height of our meetings, we’ve had about sixty participants,” Bahena said. “Unfortunately, if something bad happens in the community, that’s when people look for a space to gather, and they find our meetings.”
August 13
At its meeting, the Chicago Transit Authority Board received an update from the CTA’s chief innovation officer, Molly Poppe, on how the Authority is trying to improve real-time communications of bus schedules and status with riders. Buses can show up on the transit system’s tracking apps, for instance, but not at scheduled stops—so-called ghost buses. Bus breakdowns, buses removed from service, and unauthorized cars and other vehicles parked in layover locations can cause discrepancies between planned bus schedules and what happens on the ground. Poppe told the Board that a planned disruption management system should be able to identify and communicate the status of individual buses accurately before they “disappear.” The CTA’s Bus Tracker app and third-party apps have shown that a bus has been cancelled rather than providing no information or simply indicating that a bus isn’t running. The new system should also solve complex rerouting issues by showing rerouting in real time. This system would replace the practices of posting hard-copy—paper—flyers at bus stops and relying on riders to watch for alerts on the bus app and CTA website. That approach allowed riders to learn about route changes only when they arrived at their stop, Poppe said. The CTA piloted the new system on St. Patrick’s Day with plans to launch it live on one of the biggest rerouting days and highest ridership of the year: the Chicago Marathon in October.
August 14
At their meeting, commissioners on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Board voted unanimously to renew a contract with public relations consulting firm David Ormsby, Inc. That vote was preceded by discussion of a topic not on the agenda—reuse of water in connection with a $9 billion project planned for the former U.S. Steel South Works site with vendor PsiQuantum. Commissioner Sharon Waller questioned whether David Ormsby, Inc., had enough experience and expertise with water reuse to handle emergency communications in connection with the massive South Works project. Waller has a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Northwestern University and chairs the Board’s Engineering Monitoring & Research Committee. Some discussion followed Waller’s question with the Board ultimately renewing the David Ormsby contract. The Board’s Acting Executive Director John P. Murray said the Board can consider additional communications for water reuse at a future meeting and that officials are open to continuous discussion.
This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.