June 12
At its meeting the 2nd Police District Council—Bronzeville/Washington Park/Hyde Park shared a packet titled “Background: Community Focused Policing Project & Workforce Allocation Study,” which is part of an effort to integrate community-policing departments throughout the city. Committee Chair Ephraim Lee said that a goal is to help people “see each other” by building bridges with police officers. For about nine months, the Chicago Police Department has been gathering information about “alternate response models” from individuals, community groups, and national experts “aimed at strengthening safety citywide,” according to CPD. Respondents said they wanted, among other things, better response times, more visibility, proactive engagement with the community other than during crises, meaningful performance metrics, and more transparency. Committee member Alexander Perez attended a related conference in New York to learn more about potential methods to be used in Chicago, and the city is working with Evanston to develop Chicago’s capabilities. The Committee also discussed a vehicle violation debt relief program that ends on July 31. The program began April 1 and temporarily waives penalties and fees for “eligible parking, standing, compliance, and automated speed and red light camera violations” that are fully paid by the end of this month. Waived items may include fees for collections, late payments, and returned checks, default, tow, boot, and storage. For the most part, eligible violations include tickets for which “Notice of Final Determination has been issued on or before December 31, 2023.”
June 18
At its meeting, the Chicago Police Board remembered slain Chicago police officer Krystal Rivera and offered condolences to her family. The thirty-six-year-old Rivera was shot accidentally by her partner, Carlos Baker, as they confronted an armed suspect on the South Side, police said. Baker reportedly has a lengthy disciplinary record. Board President Kyle Cooper encouraged officers to “elect to have their cases heard before the police board,” saying forty-three cases have been heard since 2021. Two public commenters spoke. One said that police ignored a noise complaint, passing by without addressing it. Another complained that inappropriate behaviors continue because they are allowed to continue: “You blame the victim,” they told the board. The Chicago Police Board is an independent civilian body that decides disciplinary cases involving Chicago police officers.
June 24
Compliance with a federal consent decree mandating reforms in the Chicago Police Department is improving, said Maggie Hickey, at a meeting of the 4th Police District Council—Avalon Park/South Chicago/East Side/Hegewisch. Hickey leads an independent team monitoring the department’s compliance. The city has achieved “some level of compliance” in ninety-two percent of the sections detailed in the consent decree, according to Hickey’s most recent report, which evaluated the second half of 2024. The city is in full compliance with 16 percent of the sections. Court-ordered reforms were implemented in 2019 in an effort to stop CPD from violating individual rights. Last December, the federal judge overseeing the reforms called the city’s work “unsatisfying.” The department has not yet implemented a “long-overdue” suicide prevention program, Hickey said, or ramped up scenario-based training on foot pursuits and crisis intervention.
June 26
Community members and elected officials spent hours sounding off about money troubles for the city’s schools and recent layoffs during a meeting of the Chicago Board of Education. CPS laid off 161 employees in May, with more layoffs likely as CPS wrestles with a deficit of $734 million, reported Chalkbeat. That deficit is a significant increase over a previously projected deficit of $529 million, due in part to a large pension payment to the city and the cost of taking on five Acero schools that the charter network wanted to shutter. Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) president Stacy Davis Gates told the Board that parents are asking her, “‘Why is my favorite teacher, why is the paraprofessional that takes care of us, why are they fearful of receiving a layoff notice?’” The 2025-26 CPS budget presentation is weeks behind schedule. The CTU wants district leaders to avoid more layoffs and push the state to increase CPS funding. “Chicago Public Schools has never been funded at the rate in which it deserves to be, so this is not a new issue,” Davis Gates said. The meeting also marked the first for new interim CEO Macquline King after CEO Pedro Martínez’s forced departure.
June 27
Despite stiff neighborhood opposition, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) confirmed at a public meeting the City’s intention to tear down the Damen Silos at 2860 S. Damen Ave. Permits have been approved; the demolition will not involve implosions or explosives. Data from air-monitoring stations set up to measure pollution levels every fifteen minutes have not been shared by the City. CDPH Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo Ige noted air monitoring is done by a third-party contractor, making data release problematic. City officials plan to be on site to stop demolition if necessary, Ige said. After a messy 2020 demolition of a coal plant chimney in Little Village, the city placed a moratorium on using explosives to demolish buildings. The state sold the site to a private company in 2022, which has not announced plans for the property. A petition to use the property as festival grounds and a public park, preserving the silos, had nine hundred signatures, reported the McKinley Park Development Council, a community group. “We’re here because there’s no trust,” said Kate Eakin, the group’s managing director, during public comment. “And so I want to point out that we are also bringing an alternative plan. We have…a petition for the city to entertain a sale to someone who cares.”
July 1
Was Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance violated by Chicago Police during an ICE raid in the South Loop on June 4? Council members and attendees called for an investigation at a meeting of the City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights. As reported by multiple outlets, including the Weekly, several community members reported receiving text messages to report for a check-in with the federal Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which is a Department of Homeland Security initiative monitoring noncitizens detained and then released pending removal or immigration proceedings. The concern is whether police violated local sanctuary city protections when they established a perimeter around a South Loop building. At least ten individuals were detained by federal agents. The ordinance prohibits police from setting up a traffic perimeter or helping federal immigration agents with enforcement. Enacted in 2017, the Illinois TRUST Act of 2017 also blocks local police from assisting in immigration enforcement. Police officials have denied working with federal authorities. CPD officers were at the location for “public safety reasons,” a spokesperson said, and did not make arrests. The committee approved a proposed measure that if passed by City Council would require CPD, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC), and the Mayor’s Office to release all communications and records related to the June 4 operation.
This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.