January 7
At its meeting, the Chicago City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate approved the sale of four vacant City-owned parcels in Englewood, South Chicago, and West Garfield Park to be redeveloped as outdoor community spaces. They were sold for ten percent of market value through ChiBlockBuilder, the city’s application portal for encouraging the purchase and redevelopment of vacant land in partnership with community stakeholders. The City has acquired thousands of lots through foreclosures, scavenger sales, property condemnation, and other scenarios. Much of the land has belonged to the City since the early 1980s. Plans for the lots include a plaza in collaboration with artist-activist Tonika Lewis Johnson and a garden music venue connected to The Record Track, a music shop in South Chicago. “I unexpectedly inherited a record shop from my uncle and my original plan was to get my money out as fast as possible,” said The Record Track owner Clifton Muhammad, as he explained why he turned a vacant lot into a hands-on music experience. “But the community in so many ways told us that they didn’t want another vacant storefront.”
January 9
At its meeting the Chicago City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards approved a zoning change in Wicker Park that will allow a developer to continue work on a multi-use building at 1239 North Wood Street. The approval came after years of community resistance and a threatened lawsuit. Under the zoning change, the developer may complete a fourth-floor addition and build a new addition east of the existing building. Those changes will provide a total of twenty-six residential units of studios, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, and thirteen parking spaces for the building. Property owners Yourgie, LLC, and Michael Mertz changed the original proposal after significant pressure from the community. Neighborhood residents contended that the developer was overreaching, that the expansion would cause density problems on the streets, and that the project would disturb the look and feel of the historic Wicker Park neighborhood. Built in 1903, the building was an orphanage for Jewish children, the site of an Army Veterans Association, and most recently a gallery.
January 13
At its meeting the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority Task Force on Missing and Murdered Chicago Women heard a presentation by Jennifer Greene, director of policy and advocacy at Life Span, which covered topics related to the task force’s mission to “examine and report on the systemic causes behind violence that Chicago women and girls experience.” Life Span serves Chicago and Cook County by providing “legal representation, counseling, court advocacy, and immigration legal services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking,” according to its website. Greene’s presentation was designed to educate task force members about some factors that influence their work, specifically sexual assault and human trafficking. (A previous meeting reviewed domestic violence fatalities, another important focus of the task force.) Greene defined and described terminology and interactions, including human trafficking, the nature of the traffickers, why identifying the act is so difficult, the differences between trafficking and sex work, and engaging with victims and survivors. Discussion reviewed the status of bills before the legislature to improve response to human trafficking and to decriminalize sex work; whether task force members have access to training on trafficking; the role of the state’s Department of Children and Family Services; and related statistics. Members were referred to the National Human Trafficking Hotline website for additional information. Part Six of the Pulitzer Prize-winning series “Missing in Chicago” by City Bureau and Invisible Institute focuses on the task force. Information about the series can be found at chicagomissingpersons.com.
January 14
Members of the Chicago City Council Committee on Public Safety were briefed at a meeting about the increasing risks of extreme weather events, including severe winter weather, flooding, tornadoes, and others. Updates were drawn from the Hazard Mitigation Plan for Chicago and Cook County. The plan is “multi-jurisdictional,” according to the county’s emergency management and regional security website. Updating the plan involves 125 “municipal planning partners.” Among the plan’s goals are ensuring that participating jurisdictions qualify for federal funding before disasters, identifying “common threats and hazards,” developing a “comprehensive and county-wide approach” to “mitigation strategies,” building partnerships among the county’s various government entities, and increasing the public’s “knowledge and preparedness” about and for hazards the area might face. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) describes hazard mitigation as “the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters.” To receive funding from FEMA, jurisdictions must update their plans every five years. Public comments and suggestions are welcome at Hazard Mitigation Feedback.
This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.