Aldermen Edward Burke and Brendan Reilly wrote a letter to AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer that suggested the labor union forgo a proposed 3.5 percent pay raise this year. They said doing so could restore most of the jobs lost by library employees and reopen libraries on Mondays. more ›

River North, you're getting a Wal-Mart. more ›

A pilot program to test protected bike lanes is soon coming to a half-mile stretch of Kinzie Street. more ›

Ah, urine: the forgotten excretion. Forgotten, that is, until 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly got the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection to amend city rules to include it. more ›

With the battle over the Children's Museum's controversial move to Grant Park next yet over, a new lease extension is expected to be agreed to that will keep the museum at its current Navy Pier location until at least 2013. Fox 32 reports that the agreement will give the museum a November 2011 deadline to extend its lease to 2013, 2014, or 2025. Children's Museum spokesman Natalie Kreiger said, "There are several phases that have to take place before we can break ground. I don't have a specific date, but it'll be in the next few years. While we're at Navy Pier, we'll continue to develop new exhibits that rotate out just as we always have. We'll continue to maintain the museum in a way that ensures it's attractive to visitors and fun for them until we move." more ›

42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, who represents the north end of Chicago's downtown, is opposing efforts by the city's commercial property owners to establish a TIF district in the East Loop, bounded by Wacker, Randolph, Columbus and Wabash. "Owner reinvestment and market forces should ultimately decide ‘winners’ and ‘losers,’ not TIF subsidies,” Reilly said in a press release. “The East Loop TIF proposal appears to provide a competitive advantage to those properties within the proposed TIF boundary. The intent of TIF was never to place surrounding properties at a leasing disadvantage. This proposal would very likely have exactly that effect.” Reilly seems to understand that TIFs were intended to combat blighted neighborhoods, not subsidize established business. more ›

A City Council committee has approved moving ahead with a noise ordinance proposed by Ald. Brendan Reilly, aimed at cracking down on the "Bucket Boys" and other street performers downtown. Picking up where his predecessor Burt Natarus left off, Reilly wants to give an existing noise ordinance more teeth by revoking a performer's license after fewer violations of playing above acceptable decibel levels. Police Cmdr. Steve Georgas testified to the committee agreeing with Reilly that the performers weren't just annoyances, but can also contribute to petty crime, like pickpocketing. more ›

Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd) has taken up the mantle of his predecessor Burt Natarus in the crackdown on street performers. For years Natarus tried to get them -- especially the "bucket boys" -- to pipe down, and introduced two ordinances towards the end of his career. The first -- which sought to ban street performers entirely -- met with charges of "urban cleansing" so the second time around, instead of bans, Natarus requested license fees, noise limits, and control of where performing was permitted. That version made it into law. more ›

Motorists chatting away on their cell phones could pay up to $500 under a new ordinance designed to strengthen Chicago’s cell phone ban. Ald. Vi Daley of the Lincoln Park area is pushing to increase fines from $75 to $100 for drivers caught yapping without a hands-free device. Fines for drivers who cause an accident while using a cell phone could increase from $250 to $500. more ›

This weekend we mentioned the MetraMarket and the fact it's finally getting built. Today we attended the "groundbreaking" ceremony for the Market, held at the future site of the French Market portion of the project. The 15,000 square foot market will be the first year-round market in the Chicago area and will feature plenty of butcher, produce, and fish stands, just to name a few. The entire project will include 48,000 square feet of restaurant space and 52,000 square feet of retail space. Of course, how does one hold a "groundbreaking" in a concourse with a solid concrete floor? By pulling windows out, of course! With Alderman Brendan Reilly, Chicago Deputy Commissioner Michael Jasso, and Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano in attendance, a group of people marked the occasion by pulling two window frames out of the wall in dramatic fashion, video of which is after the jump. more ›

City Council this afternoon voted 33-16 in favor of the plan to put the Children's Museum in a hole in Grant Park. more ›

The City Council's Zoning Committee approved the Children's Museum's move to Grant Park today by a 6-3 vote after six hours of testimony. Next up, the whole City Council votes on the plan next Wednesday, and Mayor Daley says he has all the votes he needs to get the plan approved. more ›

Oh man, we almost forgot about the Children's Museum debate! Luckily, Alderman Brendan Reilly wants to keep it front and center, which is why he sent the Museum a list of 24 possible places it could relocate that aren't Grant Park: more ›

One of the races that we've been watching this winter is the Democratic Primary in the 3rd Congressional District. Incumbent Dan Lipinski is hoping voters will send him back to D.C. for a third term, but he's facing a tough challenge from Mark Pera, an assistant county prosecutor from Western Springs. That challenge may have gotten a little tougher yesterday when Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool endorsed Pera. If you don't remember the 2004 general... more ›

Judge Joan Lefkow handed 28 aldermen their asses today, denying their request to force the City to disclose the names of the police officers accused of brutality. Lefkow said that the case is currently being appealed (busy day at the 7th Circuit), but if the aldermen want to sue the City, they can. Have you been wondering which 28 aldermen signed the petition? We sure have. We called Manny Flores's office and were told there... more ›

$40 million buys a nice view. The Children's Museum discourse just got even more ridiculous: Ald. Brendan Reilly said he'd consider putting the museum in a cave. Three fires, all in 7901 S. Paxton Ave.? Not surprisingly, the police suspect arson. Blagojevich and Madigan ... can those crazy kids ever work it out? The union that represents the singers, dancers, actors and production personnel at the Lyric Opera says it might strike. image by... more ›

Parking Meter Zones? more ›

A piece that ran in Sunday's Tribune got us to thinking about the ramifications of last week's election here in Chicago. Much has been made about the significance of the nine new aldermen that will take office in May, especially those that had the support of labor. Dorothy Tillman, Madeline Haithcock, and Shirley Coleman all went down, beaten by union backed candidates. Toni Foulkes in the 15th Ward, an actual union member, beat Felicia Simmons-Stoval... more ›

This has been quite a week on the city council with a dozen aldermen headed to runoffs on April 17 in one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. Today we take a look back at a man that was as much a character of Chicago as any other, soon-to-be-former alderman of the 42nd Ward, Burt Natarus. In many ways he represented a time when being a character, when being eccentric was OK. As Eric... more ›

With most of Tuesday's election settled around the city, 24 candidates are gearing up for the special election April 17. The big story that is coming out of this vote is the role that unions played in this election. Of the twelve runoffs, five were candidates that were endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor. Two are union members; Leroy Jones in the 21st is a member of SEIU Local 73, and Toni Foulkes is... more ›

Well, another municipal election has come in Chicago, and in many wards (but not all) it's gone. As expected, Richard M. Daley sailed to re-election, set to eclipse his father as the Chicago's longest-serving mayor, in spite of Ben Joravsky's best efforts. At the time of this writing, a few things are clear: there will be a few runoffs this year, including Madeline Haithcock - Bob Fioretti (2nd), Dorothy Tillman - Pat Dowell (3rd), Shirley... more ›

After a brief jaunt out west, Chicagoist is back at the homestead, making camp here on the prairie that is sweet home Chicago. But just because we took a long weekend doesn't mean that our elected officials did. Here's a look back at what's been newsworthy so far this week: Illinois junior senator Barack Obama has a huge lead — in MySpace friends! Outpacing Hillary Clinton's "friends" by some 20,000, he's clearly in the lead,... more ›