As aldermen ramped up their questions and criticism of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust created by Mayor Rahm Emanuel with $1.7 billion in funding from corporate financing, city budget director Alexandra Holt told a group Wednesday the Trust is a result of economic necessity. more ›

In afternoon and evening actions planned to oppose Mayor Rahm Emanuel's budget and to call for dropping the civil disobedience charges of hundreds of protesters in October, Occupy Chicago managed to “mic check” both Emanuel and 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore yesterday. more ›

Now that we're done congratulating ourselves with the "Little Hawaii" post that many of you bought into hook, line and sinker yesterday, we want to hip you to what we thought was the most plausible April Fool's Day prank of the day, which probably had more than a fair share of 49th Ward residents shouting, "WTF?!?!?!" when they received it in their email, Below is a screengrab from Rogerspark.com. more ›

In the on-going saga of Chicago’s best kept secret - a shadow budget kept on a second set of books - the Chicago News Cooperative’s Mick Dumke takes a look at how Tax Increment Financing, once a behind-the-scenes function of the city’s development funds, has begun to appear front and center in both city wards and in the mayor’s race. more ›

Earlier this year 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore opened up hearings to his constituency on how to best spend $1.3 million in funding for infrastructure improvements. So-called participatory budgets have been around for years in South America, but the 49th Ward was the first place in the United States to try this out. more ›

49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore asked Rogers Park residents to vote on how to spend $1.3 million in funding for ward improvements, known as "menu money" over the weekend. CBS2 says that sidewalk repair, more bike lanes and a dog park were the top three items residents voted for. According to Moore's office (PDF) "Beginning April 5, 2010, with early voting, and culminating in an election held on April 10th, 2010, all 49th Ward residents age 16 and over, regardless of citizenship or voter registration status, were invited to vote for their favorite ward improvement projects. Each voter was entitled to vote for up to eight (8) projects. Ballots were cast by 1,652 ward residents." more ›

Earlier today, we mentioned the efforts by Ald. Joe Moore, Willie Cochran (20th), and Ricardo Munoz (22nd) to call a special session of the City Council to fight Mayor Daley's new proposal for street sweeping. While Daley relented on his original plan and proposed a compromise, Moore et al went forward with today's special session but fell just one alderman shy of being able to call a quorum. That means the new "compromise" plan begins tomorrow. more ›

Authorities are investigating a break-in at the 49th Ward Democratic Party campaign office but don't believe it was a politically-motivated break-in, so keep the "-gate" in check for now. According to 49th Ward Democratic Committeeman David Fagus that a computer and monitor were taken. According to CBS 2: more ›

• Rev. Al Sharpton is the latest activist to get involved in the Fenger High School fray.
• Police revealed more details today in the murders of Ruby and Milton McClendon.
• Ald. Joe Moore (49th) plans to allow constituents to vote on how the ward will spend $1 million on infrastructure projects.

Following a course similar to previous transparency ordinances that he's proposed, 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores, along with Leslie Hairston (5th), Eugene Schulter (47th) and Joe Moore (49th), introduced the long awaited Olympics oversight ordinance (PDF). City Hall introduced a competing proposal that would put two aldermen on the organizing committee for the games if Chicago wins the 2016 bid. Flores's ordinance establishes three levels of oversight, including a City Council oversight committee and authority for the city's inspector general to monitor the games. The Flores ordinance also requires Olympic committee members who earn more than $50,000 to publicly disclose their financial dealings with the games. more ›

According to the Reader's Mick Dumke, Ald. Joe Moore (49th) sent out an email to constituents this morning informing them that the hearings on the Great Meter Debacle will commence this Thursday, July 2nd. This considering the City has already announced plans to spend some of the money made from the deal. more ›

On Wednesday, a bevy of new parking meter boxes across downtown stopped working, leading to free parking for many. Yesterday, Mayor Daley blamed it all on the media a computer glitch, acknowledging frustration with the new system: "Let's be realistic, everybody's frustrated about what took place [Wednesday], the glitch that took place." But some elected officials were more vocal in the frustration. more ›

Just a few weeks ago, the Chicago Reader brought us the terrific and comprehensive look at Mayor Daley's controversial parking meter privatization plan. Now, the Reader's Mike Dumke brings word that several aldermen aren't too pleased with what was uncovered. According to Dumke, Ald. Joe Moore (49th) and four other aldermen are planning to introduce a resolution this week that will call for hearings to examine the process by which the agreement was made. Dumke points out that Moore and two other sponsors of the resolution - Ald. Ric Munoz (22nd) and Ald. Manny Flores (1st) - all voted for the deal initially. Moore told The Reader, “It’s a vote I’ve come to regret. I don’t know if we can overturn the agreement, but certainly we can shed light on the implementation of it, which has been abysmal. I think this was a consequence of the rush to get this through.” more ›

From today's Tribune: Alderman Tom "Sticky Buns" Tunney, citing opposition from the restaurant industry (of which he's a member as owner of Ann Sather's) intends to force a vote on repealing the ridiculous-but-upheld-in-court foie gras ban. "We think we have the votes to (repeal) it," Tunney told the Trib. 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 ›

Undeniable proof that cops actually are cracking down on drivers who disregard the cell phone ban: Alderman Tom Tunney got a ticket for talking on his cell phone while driving. more ›

Around 9:42 this morning, an armed robber, believed to be male, attempted to rob a First Commercial Bank branch at 6945 N. Clark St. According to the Tribune, something went wrong and the robbery escalated to a hostage situation. The hostages were freed around 1:30 p.m.; none of them were harmed. No one is saying whether the gunman is still in the bank, or has been arrested. more ›

A little over a year ago we collectively sighed with relief when Ald. Joe Moore of the 49th Ward persuaded city councilmen to decide, in a 48-to-1 vote, to ban the sale of foie gras, those delicious fatty livers of geese and ducks. We sighed not because we were happy, but because there was so much talk about it at the time, even we got tired of the whole debate. But the issue just wouldn't... more ›

Outside.in, the aggregator of all things in neighborhoods across the country, recently tallied their numbers of neighborhood specific blogging and released the top 10 "bloggiest" neighborhoods in the country. Coming in at number 5 was Rogers Park/North Howard. Outside.in describes the neighborhood as, "Located in one of the last remaining pockets of poverty in Chicago's North Side, it‘s home to a culturally diverse group of residents that have very mixed feelings about the rapid gentrification."... more ›

This election has been one of the most significant in recent memory. With seven new aldermen set to take office in May, including the wife of Jesse Jackson Jr. in the 7th Ward, the stage is set for a new power struggle in Chicago. This year, more than any other, saw the city's labor movement — especially the service-sector unions — flex their political muscle. The result? A record-low turnout in the mayoral vote, and... more ›

Now that all the aldermanic candidates are rested and refreshed, and the runoffs are coming quickly upon us, there is a renewed sense of hatred and mudslinging in the wards that are still contested this year. In the 49th Ward, Alderman Joe Moore is pointing to the $60,000 that his opponent Don Gordon took from money manager David Herro of Harris Associates, a major Wal-Mart stock-holder. While connecting those dots requires a bit of a... 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 ›

You remember back in November, when the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce announced that it was going to develop some clout of its own. Claiming that they wanted to make sure they could protect their interests and take out aldermen that threatened those interests, they had announced that they were going to build their own political machine, including having employees of their members canvass neighborhoods. Now it seems that the ghost of corruption past has found... more ›

Well, it's been an interesting couple weeks for CTA watchers. We won't touch another argument about operating budgets with a ten-foot pole, but there really have been a lot of interesting, hilarious, and downright upsetting news regarding the agency lately. Really, the best (and worst) has been the RTA movie snafu. A rather embarassed head of the Regional Transit Authority apologized today for a video that was shown to Metra officials last week that was... more ›

If you're like us (and we bet you are — hell, you're reading the damned site) you surf the net all day. And when you surf the net all day, some pretty neat things come across your desk. We stumbled across this yesterday. It seems that the CTA Tattler scooped your star political writer here at Chicagoist (not that we do any real reporting, anyway), with a piece about 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore's resolution... more ›

While we were busy obsessing over Ward politics and aldermanic races, all kinds of newsworthy events happened in the spectator sport of local Chicago politics. Lets take a look back at the week so far: Todd Stroger is asking Cook County's elected officials for budget cuts, in an attempt to trim the deficit. Facing a nearly $500 million shortfall, Stroger is asking Sheriff Tom Dart, State's Attorney Dick Devine, and Clerk of the Court Dorothy... more ›

The Chicago Tribune is reporting today on plans by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce to transform itself into a piece of the machine. Citing recent developments in the city council, such as the passage of the Big Box Ordinance, the Chamber wants to make sure that its interests aren't threatented. By taking down Aldermen that work against their interests. The most shocking part of the plan isn't that business feels it needs to protect its... more ›

We've gone round and about the blue bag debacle many times, but it's back. And just in time, too, because Chicagoist was just at a party this weekend where recycling came up *again.* Seriously. Did we do it, did they do it? Why? Why not? Was it all really a scam? Why did you have to buy blue bags? Did anyone notice that the Tribune came in a blue bag and that sometimes Dominick's and... more ›