September 8
At its meeting the Missing and Murdered Chicago Women Task Force heard a presentation by Craig Burge, the manager of the statewide AMBER alert and coordinator of the Missing Person Clearinghouse, a repository of information and resources related to solving cases of missing and exploited children. The clearinghouse is the focal point for coordination by law enforcement, social services, education and prevention programs, legislative advocacy, and dissemination of information to the public. It maintains a toll-free hotline, distributes information about missing persons, provides analytical support to law enforcement, conducts prevention programs, and flags birth records and school notices. The task force’s writing committee is completing recommendations before a December report is due. The task force is continuing to gather information to achieve its goals. They include examining five areas: the systemic causes of violence against Chicago women and girls, ways to track and collect data, policies and institutions responsible for investigating and prosecuting gender-based violence, measures to reduce violence against Chicago women and girls, and measures to help affected victims heal. An obstacle is that the task force still does not have a Chicago Police Department representative as a member of the task force, making it difficult to gain police input on recommendations.
September 11
The Chicago Commission on Landmarks approved the Original Providence Baptist Church, 515 North Pine Avenue, as a Chicago landmark at its meeting. The church is an historic place of worship founded by formerly enslaved people. The Commission also approved a building restoration project at 1032 West Fulton Market in the Fulton Market District for a Class L tax incentive. The project includes modifications to the building’s interior to expose wood framing, a part of the original infrastructure, and to the exterior to remove metal plating as well as to clean exposed signs. The Commission’s Permit Review Committee reviewed the feasibility of a dog-friendly area at Washington Square Park, a Chicago Landmark; the conversion of a single-family residence into two residential units to include a new rooftop addition; conversion of a two-story, two-unit building into a single-family residence at 1032 North Wood Street, including construction of a rear addition and a partial third-story addition; and proposed modifications to a third-floor temporary casino floor with additional ceiling lighting and security cameras and partitions at Medinah Temple, 600 North Wabash Avenue, which houses Bally’s Chicago, a casino. The commissioners announced two public meetings: a September 16 hearing on a proposal to designate Bankers Building, 105 West Adams, a Chicago landmark, and a review of suggestions for Chicago landmark designation and nominations to the National Register of Historic Places for September 18.
September 15
At their meeting members of the Chicago City Council Committee on Finance unanimously passed a ninety million dollar settlement order in connection with victims of former CPD Sgt. Ronald Watts. The committee commended the law department for its recommendation to settle in order to save the city from a much higher judgment from a trial. They also commended Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration for plans to bring more housing to downtown. Some members were concerned with the consequences of a developer failing to meet women and minority-owned business enterprise requirements and whether the housing would include multi-bedroom units to accommodate families. Public comments included one in favor of the police misconduct settlement order and two in favor of developments at 105 West Adams Street and 135 South LaSalle Street. One speaker supporting the developments represented Preservation Chicago and another the Chicago Central Area Committee. The Committee also authorized payment of three other settlement orders totaling $825,000. The settlements were in connection with these alleged incidents: a woman tripping on stairs on Michigan Avenue, injuries and vehicle damage incurred when a city sanitation truck struck a car turning left, and paramedics transporting an injured individual and requesting assistance from a bystander.
September 26
The first time the Chicago Police District Councils 3rd District Council—Woodlawn/Park Manor/South Shore met in two months couldn’t be called to order as a meeting, council community engagement lead Janice Jones explained, because two council “seats” were not filled—one due to the absence of a council member and one due to a vacancy. The police department had been in direct contact with the council during the gap. Six people attended the meeting. Jones opened an informal “community meeting” in which attendees were encouraged to voice concerns or offer ideas about the district. Police Commander Melvin Branch and Sergeant Dina Patterson were also in attendance. Patterson discussed events CPD has initiated to engage with the community directly. Flyers explaining the events were available. The community meeting ended after twelve minutes.
October 7
During a meeting of the Chicago City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate, fourteen of the twenty developments that members reviewed were City-owned land parcels from the ChiBlockBuilding platform. The City launched the platform in 2019 with the intention of streamlining sales of vacant lots on the South and West sides and shaving six to eight months off of the real estate transaction timelines to speed development. The city owns nearly seven thousand vacant lots. Earlier this month, a new round of applications was opened for the city-owned lots. Four hundred and eighty-six parcels are available for private purchase. They are designated for a variety of uses—commercial, residential and mixed-use construction, side yards, open space, and urban agriculture.
October 9
A $240,000 water bill? “It’s mind-boggling and, quite frankly, it’s very disturbing,” said Council Member Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) during a meeting of the City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development. “We’re gonna fix this.” With support from Council members, a Chicago property owner is fighting the six-figure invoice for a long-vacant family property on the Southwest Side. A water meter installed in 2023 registered 500,000 gallons of water passing through the property monthly, the Council learned. The Council is calling on the city comptroller to activate provisions of the Leak Relief Pilot Program. The two-year pilot program launched in January to provide debt relief to eligible applicants experiencing unexpected hikes in their water bill due to leaks. Council members shared various stories from constituents who have reported misreadings on their water meters, which tracks with a trend of property owners reporting significant jumps in water bills in recent years. Committee Chair Villegas said the committee would work directly with City attorneys to find a solution and ensure the family is not held responsible for the bill.
This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.