May 21
At its meeting, the Chicago Police District 007 Council—Englewood (covering Gage Park, Auburn Gresham, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing, West Englewood) heard from Dion McGill, who serves on the nominating committee. He reviewed the Felony Review Bypass Program, which was initiated by the State’s Attorney’s office to reduce roadblocks in connection with low-level gun possession charges. This pilot initiative allows some CPD officers to file certain felony gun possession charges directly without review by a Cook County State’s Attorney. The usual process is for police officers to call prosecutors to alert the office to a potential charge, provide the necessary facts, and then wait for a prosecutor to call back with a yes or no as to whether charges are warranted. This process can take several hours, which can also take officers off the street. District Council Member McGill expressed concern that District 7 Council members were not even aware of this program until a community member circulated a press article about it. “I feel like this is a cut of due process,” he said. An invited speaker from the Chicago Police District Council 2, Alexander Perez, that council’s community engagement member, explained the District Strategic Plan (DSP) and its significance. “How do you know these plans are taking place?” an audience member asked. Perez said that more community input is needed and made two explanatory documents available at the meeting. One is a brochure, “Help Your District Council Improve the Police District Planning Process.” The other is “Community Input Handout on CPD’s Strategic Planning Process.” Twenty-two district councils were created by the Chicago City Council in 2021, according to the committee’s web page.
May 29
Should CPD officers be allowed to make “consent” searches of vehicles they stop? If so, under what circumstances? Conflicting answers to those two questions were debated at a meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). The answers turn, in part, on interpretation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which protects individuals from “unreasonable searches and seizures” by the government, noted CCPSA Executive Director Adam Gross. Disagreements existed not only among members of the Commission but also among members and CPD. In certain instances police can search a car without consent, including when they have a search warrant or specific information to suspect a car might contain evidence related to a crime, Gross said. Without a warrant or enough information to justify a search, officers can still conduct a search if they have a driver’s permission—in other words, their “consent.” CPD doesn’t have a policy spelling out when and under what circumstances a consent search may be conducted, Gross said: “If a police officer pulls over a car, they have a lot of discretion about whether to ask to do a consent search… For example, an officer could ask to do a consent search if they just suspect there’s evidence of criminal activity in the car. They don’t currently need anything more specific.” Some commissioners want a stricter requirement; others want written forms. “Consent searches are essentially a short cut,” said Commissioner Aaron Gottlieb. “They’re a way around having probable cause [and] they have been shown to be incredibly ineffective and inefficient… They’re also among the most racial disparate policing tools that exist. From my perspective, they should be used rarely.” A policy would require sign-off from the Illinois Attorney General and the designated independent monitor, who oversees CPD’s adherence to the department’s federal consent decree, which stipulates reforms to be implemented by CPD.
June 3
Chicagoans might not know if their groceries will be taxed in 2026 until after October 1, when the City Council must vote to continue the tax or let it expire. At its meeting, the City Council Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Revenue reviewed the issues. With the city staring down a one billion-dollar budget deficit next year, the argument is strong to hang onto the eighty million dollars Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget team expects the tax to bring in. The Council must decide because a statewide one percent grocery tax is to be scrapped as of January 1. But individual towns and cities can keep the tax, and many already have. One argument for cities to retain the tax is that consumers are used to paying it and will not notice any new adverse effects. On the other hand, the tax is regressive and hits lower income households harder than wealthier ones. During the meeting, the subcommittee members discussed the broader issue of taxation policy. Some Council members supported progressive taxation in which wealthier residents are taxed at higher rates. “A lot of the taxes we’re talking about here today are still a burden on working-class people, on poor people, on small businesses,” said newly appointed Council Member Anthony Quezada (35th Ward). “We all have our fair share to pay, but we continue to leverage this burden on working-class people… we should be really examining how we make the wealthiest people in our state pay their fair share.” Right now, the flat rate for all income levels is 4.95 percent. Quezada recalled the failure of an attempt at progressive taxation in 2020, the Fair Tax Amendment. The current one percent tax specifically applies to “food prepared for consumption off the premises where it is sold.” Groceries purchased with SNAP benefits are not taxed.
Chicago’s Uber and Lyft drivers demanding safety standards, a living wage, and decent working conditions dominated the public comment portion of a Chicago City Council Committee on Finance meeting—even though the topic was not on the committee’s agenda. Specifically, public commenters were supporting the Chicago Rideshare Living Wage and Safety Ordinance, which covers many of the drivers’ concerns. The drivers are also seeking more transparency by Lyft and Uber in fares and deactivation processes. The issue falls more directly under the Council’s Workforce Development Committee, chaired by Alderperson Michael Rodriguez (22nd Ward), who sponsored the proposed ordinance in 2023. A vote on the measure by the Workforce Development Committee was anticipated in the near future. If passed by the full Council, the ordinance would also create a public assistance fund and an appeals process for drivers facing suspensions. One commenter, a ride-share driver who said he had ten years of experience including 27,000 rides, said there have been discrepancies with Uber not only with underpaying drivers, but also overcharging passengers.
This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.