Results tagged “cookcountycommission”

• Things got heated at today's Cook County Commission vote on the tax roll back and WBEZ has the sound bites to prove it.
• The CTA is investigating rider claims that a door on a Red Line train stayed open as the train moved from the Addison to Sheridan stops just after midnight Sunday morning.
• A deal has been reached between the University of Illinois and striking graduate assistants.

After a summer filled with debate amongst the Cook County Commissioners in regards to the sales tax rollback, Board President Todd Stroger's veto, and the commissioners inability to garner enough votes to override said veto, the state legislature has gotten involved. Yesterday, both the House (by a 66-49 vote) and the Senate (by a 49-1 vote) passed a bill that sets the new requirement for a veto override at three-fifths of the commissioners (11) rather than the current requirement of fourth-fifths (14). Now all that's left is for Gov. Quinn to sign it. The bill was specifically aimed at Stroger and the tax rollback. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge), said, "This is a great win for taxpayers in Cook County." Stroger spokeswoman Chris Geovanis said, "We're disappointed that the legislature chose not to use logic and decided to change the rules in the middle of the game." Stroger has previously said he would fight any such legislation in court if it was passed.

Illinois state Rep. John Fritchey (D-11th) is expected to announce that he is running for Cook County Commissioner in the 12th District (Northwest Side), this morning, the seat currently held by Forrest Claypool. Fritchey said last night in a press release that he, Claypool and Rep. Mike Quigley (D-5th) would, "appear together tomorrow to make an important campaign announcement regarding the Feb. 2010 Primary Election."

...state trooper Edwin Reyes. The 46-year old was selected after a four-hour meeting today. He'll be thrown right into the fray tomorrow with the Commission's vote on the tax rollback, which Reyes says he supports. Should be fun. [S-T, Trib]

Perhaps signaling that he’s jumping ship on the Toddler, Mayor Daley said on Friday that he wouldn’t be drawn into a battle with the Toddler over who has raised taxes more. "Remember. I said there was gonna be a gig -- a headline. You would try to get Todd and I kind of fighting. And I said, 'I don't know why you're doing that. ... Don't do that gig. I did not fight Todd Stroger,'" the mayor told the Sun-Times last week. "I just said the members of the County Board had to deal with that issue. ... They have to make some difficult decisions, and they made it. I'm the mayor of the city of Chicago. I'm making difficult decisions on my budget. So, no more gigs. Don't write any more headlines like that. ... The gig's up."

Greg Hinz is reporting on his blog that Cook County Board President Todd Stroger issued a scathing statement late Tuesday, threatening "thousands" of health care and public safety layoffs as a result of the tax cut county board commissioners voted for earlier in the day. The statement also featured an amusing typo that seemed almost appropriate.

It's a good day if you're tired of higher taxes. WBEZ reports the Cook County Commission has just voted 12-3 to repeal last year's one percentage point sales tax increase. The three votes against the appeal came from William Beavers, Robert Steele and Jerry Butler. Even more eye-opening is Tony Peraica's Twitter feed which featured the following tweets from the Commission's meeting:

Chicagoist wasn't the only one reminiscing about Harold Washington this week. With the Cook County Commission deadlocked over the budget, County Commissioner Bill Beavers lashed out at the opposition in a press conference yesterday, saying that if Stroger were white, his budget proposal would pass. “This is a remake of the Harold Washington days with the 29, 21,” Beavers said, adding “it’s basically dealing with who’s going to control the county, white or black.... If...