Editor’s Note
Welcome to Newswire — your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what action we can take to make our city great, featuring public meeting coverage by City Bureau’s Documenters.
Quote of the Week
“How can this project be the best for me if I don’t even know what it looks like?”
— Sharron McGee, resident of Harvey, Illinois, on a stormwater retention pond project that requires some residents to relocate.
[Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024]
Watershed moments
When it comes to flooding, what does environmental justice look like for Harvey, Illinois? Some residents of the south suburb are resisting a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District program to buy out homeowners in flood-prone areas to create a stormwater retention pond. The Harvey Central Park Stormwater Detention Basin project is a $9.8 million effort to reduce flooding along Myrtle Avenue between 153rd and 154th streets, according to the district. Officials say it will help protect 209 homes in the area. MWRD Board President Kari Steele said at a meeting last week that she considers the project a form of environmental justice.
But the project also meant 15 homeowners would have to move so the land can be used for the site. Many have accepted the district’s offer to buy them out, but the Poole family has said the rationale and financial incentive – $159,500 – are not enough to make them leave the homes that have been in their family for five decades, according to the Daily Southtown. Members of the Poole family and other Harvey residents shared their concerns during this meeting’s public comment period, namely that the project is primarily displacing Black seniors.
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board of Commissioners by Jennifer Guerrero and Monique Petty-Ashmeade
Faring well
While regular fares range from 75 cents to $2.50, CTA’s actual operating cost averages $5.93 per ride, according to metrics presented at a recent meeting of CTA’s Citizens Advisory Board on a proposed budget of $2.16 billion for 2025.
The amounts subsidized and charged by CTA are lower than most other comparable public transit systems, but officials emphasized they must increase ridership and shrink operating losses. Ridership, which has been slow to rebound since COVID, is projected to reach 80% of pre-pandemic rates in the coming year.
The Citizens Advisory Board meets four times a year, and several of the 11 seats are held by transit activists (or at least people who ride the bus regularly, unlike some CTA leadership). While it has no real decision-making power, it can elevate rider feedback and input to CTA’s Board of Directors.
Chicago Transit Authority Citizens Advisory Board by Mare Ralph and Luis Badillo
The Issue
Our biweekly look at local civics. This week, we’re gearing up for the most wonderful time of the year (for Chicago Documenters, at any rate) — it’s #ChiBudgetSzn!
Mayor Brandon Johnson is pushing back the city budget process this year, starting with his budget address on Oct. 30, in the interest of a more “comprehensive and inclusive” process, he said.
The elephant in the room, of course, is Johnson faces some intractable challenges in his second city budget season (see: $982 million deficit, lower-than-projected revenue, whether to raise property taxes or not, etc.).
This schedule change has some other interesting ripple effects: For the first time in recent memory, Chicago is blowing its unofficial deadline of passing the budget by Thanksgiving; city officials say they are hoping for approval by Dec. 4. Some hearings will be held on Saturdays. And it will all be unfolding alongside presidential election results.
While we won’t get our hands on the budget proposal until next week, here are three things we’ll be looking for:
With the looming expiration date for federal COVID relief funds (they must be allocated by end of 2024 and spent by end of 2026), it is in the city’s best financial interest to make some quick decisions about which programs it will invest in. This spells an uncertain future for ARPA-funded pilot programs that have yet to prove successful. WBEZ reported in May that the guaranteed income program will return, but plans for a sobering/alcohol detox center and a low-barrier shelter will be scrapped.
In last year’s budget, Johnson reestablished the city’s Department of Environment with a $1.8 million budget. (Mayor Rahm Emanuel eliminated the department in 2012). Critics were quick to point out that the department had no enforcing power. Johnson said he would give it more teeth ahead of the next budget cycle, but the department has remained mostly in the background this year.
Johnson’s key win this time last year was passage and funding for Treatment Not Trauma, specifically the formation of a working group that would identify next steps for expanding public mental health resources. The resulting recommendations are more specific about investments in non-police crisis response resources and reopening public mental health clinics, but we have yet to see how much funding will be allocated to these efforts.
As usual, Chicago Documenters will be covering budget discussions every step of the way. Stay tuned as we provide budget season takeaways and context, and don’t miss our game of budget bingo. (If you know, you know. If you don’t you might want to click this link).
A version of this story was first published in the October 23, 2024 issue of the Newswire, an email newsletter that is your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what we can do to make our city great. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here.
Have thoughts on what you'd like to see in this feature? Email Editorial Director Ariel Cheung at ariel@citybureau.org.