Results tagged “mannyflores”

In a move that surprised no one, the City Council today voted 49-0 to approve the host city contract for the 2016 Summer Olympics that Mayor Daley will now sign, putting the city on the hook for the cost of the Games, though officials insist taxpayers are well-insulated in the case of a financial disaster thanks, in part, to insurance policies. Said Mayor Daley moments before the vote, "This is not about Richard M. Daley's legacy. This is about the city of Chicago.This is a journey. A journey requires all of us being committed." Daley's earlier refusal to sign the contract was seen as a hurdle for the city's bid; the other three candidate cities - Rio, Tokyo, and Madrid - had all signed the contract and a signed contract was an IOC preference though not a requirement. It was telling that an IOC member was present for today's vote. Perhaps just as telling was this line from the Trib's report: "Afterward, aldermen and Mayor Richard Daley gave themselves a standing ovation."

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.

On Monday, 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores took his new website live. In spite of a few initial hiccups, (I couldn't get the website to take my email address for updates), the site seems to be a nice interface for a high-profile city alderman. Separate from his official ward website, mannyflores.org pulls together the alderman's social networking portals, linking users back to YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. As of now, there are no links back to Wooxie.

As the date of the formal announcement of which city will host the 2016 Summer Olympics approaches, it seems that there are still unanswered questions about who will finance the Games and how it will all be paid for. Among the members of the city council, 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores has been perhaps one of the most outspoken proponents of transparency and accountability in the bid process. Flores has already introduced an ordinance that would cap the city's liabilities for the Games at $500 million, the amount previously approved by the city council. Now Flores is raising the stakes in his calls for accountability for the Games. In an editorial published in the Tribune yesterday, he outlines five points that he believes will protect taxpayers and provide the protections needed to support a city guarantee for the Games.

In a rare moment of aldermanic clarity, it seems some members of the city council don't believe what they're being told about the city's Olympic bid. Led by 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores, a group of aldermen are asking for an independent third-party auditor to look through the city's bid book for potential cost overruns. "It is critically important that we pursue the bid in a financially responsible manner and also in a manner where we provide full transparency for the city of Chicago, and fully vetting and evaluating the merits of the Games," Flores told CBS2. "That's what the residents of the city want," Flores said. "They want the assurance they're not going to be put on the hook long term."

1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores is moving forward with his plans to introduce an ordinance in the City Council to limit the city's Olympic liabilities. "While I remain a strong supporter of hosting the Olympic Games here at home and believe that the Games can provide an economic boost to our city," Flores said in a press release. "We must pursue the Olympic bid in a financially responsible and transparent manner." Flores would like to restrict the city's liability to $500,000,000 should the city win the bid to host the 2016 Summer Games. Mayor Daley signed a contract with the International Olympic Committee earlier this month in Switzerland, leaving taxpayers on the hook for unlimited damages.

Ald. Manny Flores (1st) is still fighting the bacterial infection that is traditional Chicago politics - with sunshine. First he, with Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), pushed hard enough to pass the so-called TIF Sunshine Ordinance. Then he and Ald. Ed Burke (14th) won the baby bottle battle last week. Then he proposed even more legislation requiring city government to clear up its muddy financing via online publishing. And somewhere in there, he was the first alderman to attract our attention to the plight of charity magazine Streetwise. So what's he up to this time? More transparency, combined with his favorite constituent-focused hobbies: social media and cable television.

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.”

The public has always been in the dark, it seems, about TIFs, the way they are used to pay for city improvement projects and the beneficiaries. Therefore we’re thrilled to hear about a new “TIF Sunshine” ordinance being proposed in the City Council. Wicker Park Aldermen Manny Flores (1st) and Scott Waguespack (32nd) submitted an ordinance - now backed by 22 council members including senior Alderman Bernard Stone (50th) - that would force city government to post all TIF documents, from weekly payroll filings to annual reports, on a city-funded website. The pair argued that the benefits of the service, in terms of time and transparency, far outweigh the small costs of the endeavor. Check out the ordinance here [PDF].

46th Ward Alderman Helen Shiller, along with 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores, proposed an ordinance Tuesday afternoon that requires new apartment buildings in the city to set aside space for recycling. New buildings with four or fewer units, which are served by the city's Streets and Sanitation Department, would be mandated to set aside space to sort and store recyclables and townhouses would have to have set aside space, either indoors or screened off outdoors for recycling. Buildings with five or more units, which are served by private waste haulers, would have to set aside space on each floor, or incorporate chutes to handle recyclable waste. "It's very difficult, right now, to actually comply with that ordinance, give that there is minimal space," Flores told the Tribune.

1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores and 14th Ward Alderman Ed Burke are calling for a citywide ban on Bisphenol A, or BPA, an industrial chemical commonly found in plastics. Recent scientific studies, including work by the National Toxicology Program have raised concerns about the health hazards associated with the chemical. While the NTP report on BPA cited “some concern for neural and behavioral effects on fetuses, infants and children at current exposures,” and expressed concern for BPA exposure in these populations based on effects in the prostate, mammary gland and an earlier age for puberty in females, the FDA is saying that plastic bottles are safe.

The Chicago Journal has an update on the Green Exchange, the eco-themed shopping mall that's slated to open in the old Cooper lamp factory on Diversey. There are two bits of news in the article: first, the Green Exchange is expected to open by the end of 2008, and second, "city planners are exploring the possibility of creating an eco-industrial park or green-themed planned manufacturing district nearby."

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...

When lasted we checked in, all was not "love they neighbor" on the corner of Winchester and Thomas. Neighbors of the Inner Town Pub were angry about the drunken and sloppy behavior of the bar's patrons and wanted Alderman Manny Flores to do something about it. This week's Chicago Journal has a nice little wrap-up of what's happened since. Bar representatives, upset neighbors and Flores have been meeting on a monthly basis to improve...

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...

Nearly two weeks after Congressman Luis Gutierrez announced that he will, indeed, seek a ninth term in Congress (after announcing that he wouldn't run again), First Ward Alderman Manny Flores has announced that he won't seek the congressional seat. "I did this of my own accord. He's my friend," Flores told the Sun-Times, adding that Gutierrez didn't try to persuade him. Of course, Gutierrez's decision shouldn't be too shocking. The conventional wisdom is that if...

"'Cause it's Friday, you ain't got no job ... and you ain't got shit to do." Well, you can go check out the New Orleans Social Club at Millennium Park. If you aren't, here's some stuff in the news. Buckingham Fountain is slated to undergo a complete overhaul in autumn 2008. Near West Side businesses get $1.5 million in TIF money intended for keeping manufacturing jobs in the area. Does Manny Flores have the...

After a veritable outpouring of support expressed through an open letter, Fourth District Congressman Luis Gutiérrez announced that he would seek a 9th term in congress. “The situation is going to get worse for the immigrant community, there’ll be more deportations and more separation of families and more damage to our community,” Gutierrez said yesterday. “I want to come back to see if a Democrat-controlled Congress with a president called Barack Obama can bring an...

Yesterday, we focused on the presidential candidates that made their way to the YearlyKos Convention at McCormick Place. But the event wasn't just Democratic hopefuls trying to connect with bloggers and grassroots activists from around the nation. The annual event was also an opportunity for progressives around the country to get out from behind their laptops for a few days and talk to each other, sharing tactics, experiences, pitfalls, strategies and ideas, networking with other...

- Say hello to Cuppy's. Another coffee chain opens its first Chicago location. - Taking parenting advice from Britney Spears, a 26-year-old woman left her kids in the car with the windows up and hot air blowing while she went to Cook County Criminal Court on the south side. - Oak Park/River Forest High School alumni Charles Simic was named poet laureate by the Library of Congress. - Keep drinking your beer, Cubs fans....

Takeout Menu Ban?

You know what we think would be pretty dumb? It would be dumb to rent an apartment at Adams and Wabash and then complain to the city that the trains make a loud, rumbling noise. Of course they do; they are trains. Likewise, we somehow can't wrap our minds around how someone would buy a house next to a popular neighborhood bar, and then complain about the bar and try to get it shut down....

Does it ever seem like interesting political news dries up after an election? Surely the pols who ran are taking a vacation — and why wouldn't they? After a grueling election, knocking on doors, rallying the troops, and getting out the vote, it's no wonder that they want to take some rest and relaxation. With that in mind, we present you our weekly roundup of political news. Manny Flores to Seek Fourth District Congressional Seat....

As Luis Gutierrez makes the rounds for Barack Obama, Latino politicians around the city are jockeying for the opportunity to run for his soon-to-be vacated Congressional seat. Gutierrez has announced that he will "retire" in 2008, but makes no mention of what he will do after that. Last week, Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado (D - 8th) announced that he had created a campaign committee to raise funds for an '08 congressional bid. City Alderman...

If you're looking for a quick way to score an easy 20% on the AlderTrack Challenge, here's your crib sheet. Yesterday we told you about five of the ten aldermen who, through luck, the will of the community, or (more likely) legal wrangling, have the political good fortune of running unopposed. Today, let's take a look at the rest of the bunch. Much has been written about how Alderman Mary Ann Smith skillfully removed her...

Yesterday, the hipster kids' favorite spot for comfort food, Hilary's Urban Eatery, shut the doors at its Division Street location with plans to reopen at an as-of-yet unofficial location in the Wicker Park neighborhood—though Chicago Magazine is reporting that fans should look for it sometime in the fall three blocks west between Ashland and Western Avenues. Moves such as Hilary's aren't uncommon, especially when you consider how popular it has become. Interestingly enough, our friends...

As a court hearing on the fate of Double Door commences this afternoon, a new website is trying to organize the venue's fans into a critical mass.

Chicagoist went to the CTA budget hearings last night and managed to have a pretty good time. The hearing was really just a chance for people to get up and vent, and for the CTA officials to look bored and pained, but as far as bitchfests go, it was a lovely opportunity. Thanks for giving us the chance to stand up and have strangers clap. Hoo yeah. We were surprised how empty the auditorium was—the...