Public Meetings Report. Illustration by Holley Appold/South Side Weekly
Public Meetings Report. Illustration by Holley Appold/South Side Weekly
  1. Public Meetings Report – March 18, 2021
  2. Public Meetings Report – April 1, 2021
  3. Public Meetings Report – April 15, 2021
  4. Public Meetings Report – April 29, 2021
  5. Public Meetings Report – May 13, 2021
  6. Public Meetings Report – May 27, 2021
  7. Public Meetings Report – June 10, 2021
  8. Public Meetings Report – June 24, 2021
  9. Public Meetings Report – July 08, 2021
  10. Public Meetings Report – July 22, 2021
  11. Public Meetings Report – August 05, 2021
  12. Public Meetings Report – August 19, 2021
  13. Public Meetings Report – September 30, 2021
  14. Public Meetings Report – October 14, 2021
  15. Public Meetings Report – October 28, 2021
  16. Public Meetings Report – November 11, 2021
  17. Public Meetings Report – November 25, 2021
  18. Public Meetings Report – December 9, 2021
  19. Public Meetings Report – January 13, 2022
  20. Public Meetings Report – January 27, 2022
  21. Public Meetings Report – February 10, 2022
  22. Public Meetings Report – February 24, 2022
  23. Public Meetings Report – March 10, 2022
  24. Public Meetings Report – March 24, 2022
  25. Public Meetings Report – April 7, 2022
  26. Public Meetings Report – April 21, 2022
  27. Public Meetings Report – May 5, 2022
  28. Public Meetings Report – May 19, 2022
  29. Public Meetings Report – June 2, 2022
  30. Public Meetings Report – June 22, 2022
  31. Public Meetings Report – June 30, 2022
  32. Public Meetings Report – July 14, 2022
  33. Public Meetings Report – July 28, 2022
  34. Public Meetings Report – August 11, 2022
  35. Public Meetings Report – August 25, 2022
  36. Public Meetings Report — October 20, 2022
  37. Public Meetings Report — November 17, 2022
  38. Public Meetings Report — December 1, 2022
  39. Public Meetings Report — January 12, 2023
  40. Public Meetings Report — January 26, 2023
  41. Public Meetings Report — February 9, 2023
  42. Public Meetings Report — February 23, 2023
  43. Public Meetings Report — March 9, 2023
  44. Public Meetings Report — March 23, 2023
  45. Public Meetings Report — April 20, 2023
  46. Public Meetings Report — May 4, 2023
  47. Public Meetings Report — May 18, 2023
  48. Public Meetings Report — June 1, 2023
  49. Public Meetings Report — June 15, 2023
  50. Public Meetings Report — June 29, 2023
  51. Public Meetings Report — July 13, 2023
  52. Public Meetings Report — July 27, 2023
  53. Public Meetings Report — August 10, 2023
  54. Public Meetings Report — August 24, 2023
  55. Public Meetings Report — September 7, 2023
  56. Public Meetings Report — September 21, 2023
  57. Public Meetings Report — December 7, 2023
  58. Public Meetings Report — February 1, 2024
  59. Public Meetings Report — February 15, 2024

May 10

About sixty-five to seventy people attended the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability CPD Superintendent Public Forum #5 meeting, including several City Council members who commented on the selection of a new CPD superintendent. Public commenters, police officers, and news media were also present. Citing a goal of a “transparent, collaborative, [and] open” hiring process, the commission provided some information on current applicants. The total of fifty-three is about twice the number received the last time the superintendent’s position was open. The current applicants include eleven women, forty-two men, twenty-two Black people, twenty-four white people, and seven Latinx people. Fourteen have experience as police chiefs, and the applicants represent ten states, Washington, D.C., and one foreign country. The commission must present the mayor with three choices for the position by July 14. The mayor then has thirty days to select one of the finalists or ask for three new names.

May 12

The main topic considered by the Cook County Board of Commissioners Justice Advisory Council at its meeting was the actions and results of the county’s post-incarceration re-entry program. The Justice Advisory Council (JAC) coordinates and implements criminal and juvenile justice reform efforts and community safety policy development, according to its website. The JAC has grown to seventeen members from five last year and hopes to reach the full participation of twenty-five, according to county official Avik Das. Service Coordinator Faith Hong reported that JAC “placed 2,000 people into housing, 1,500 males and ninety females” in 2021-2022 as well as “transgender-identifying participants.” Saint Leonard’s House provides interim housing and services for previously incarcerated individuals identifying as men re-entering communities from Illinois prisons, a representative reported. The program has beds for thirty-six individuals. Saint Leonard’s offers a holistic programming approach, in part because two-thirds of its employees have been incarcerated themselves. The organization, under the name Saint Leonard’s Ministries, provides services for men and women. 

At its first meeting the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability Police District 19 Town Hall focused on ways to connect and communicate effectively with the district police and with organizations that can impact community safety. “The more of us having conversations with them [police] the better,” said one council member. Suggestions for learning about the community’s policing issues included ride-a-longs with patrol officers and with a “crisis assistance response and engagement,” or CARE, team. Launched in September 2021, CARE teams have various configurations—for example, a multidisciplinary team includes a paramedic, mental health clinical professional and a police officer trained in de-escalating mental health crises. The CARE program is designed to “ensure that individuals experiencing a mental health crisis are assisted by teams of behavioral health professionals, with resources to address their unmet health and social needs,” according to the City’s CARE web page.

May 16

At a meeting of the Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, CEO Tracey Scott reported that 1,650 mixed-income units are under construction by the CHA and its partners. Five hundred households are on a waitlist for those units out of a total of 44,000 families. In 2021, the City reported a shortage of 120,000 units. Public commenters complained of quality issues. One resident described CHA work as “inadequate,” amounting to “senior abuse,” and suggested that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development investigate. Another commenter noted a lack of security in some senior buildings that allowed drug dealing and the use of laundry equipment by non-residents in unsecured buildings. The board authorized $28 million for “integrated pest management” services at the discretion of the CEO.

May 18

At its meeting, the Chicago Police Board heard a report from Damon Smith, deputy director of Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, who oversees the newly elected police district councils for the commission. He described the nature, purpose, and structure of the councils. The CPD will ensure that district commanders or other police leaders in each district will attend council meetings. Council members, who number sixty-six with three for each of the CPD’s twenty-two districts, received three days of training on current police and accountability structures. The members are charged, in part, with implementing restorative justice practices and identifying other potential changes to local policing. They are elected every four years.

May 22

At the first regular meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability 18th Police District Council—Near North, Council Chair Brad Kessler reported that sixty-seven migrants had been housed in the police district’s station to date. Currently, twenty-one adults and nine children, mostly Venezuelans and Colombians who arrived from Texas, are at the station, which has one bathroom and no showers. The council has organized restaurants and volunteers to provide lunches and dinners each day. Migrants generally move to shelters or respite centers within three weeks. Members heard several public commenters, some representing organizations and others speaking for themselves. Topics included encouraging police to hold bar and restaurant owners accountable for public disturbances related to their businesses, protecting school personnel and students from gun violence, and controlling crimes and gatherings prompted through social media with gang members coming from other areas. Council members also elected officers, outlined police council responsibilities, and designated the fourth Tuesday of each month as their regular meeting date. Newly instituted this year, the twenty-two councils represent each of Chicago’s police districts; each council’s three members are elected every four years.

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This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.

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