Richard Day

Budget Talks are Missing One Key Option Importantly, an option completely in City Council’s control

what's missing in Chicago's budget talks?
the short answer is "growing the tax base".

Steffany describes what City Council is not addressing in City That Works.

The good news is that all the BlueSky criticism is just conjecture by amateurs, imagine if there was a monumental station just around the block from State/Lake that was constructed less than a decade ago for a quarter of the cost even inflation-adjusted, wouldn’t that be embarrassing for the city

Lessons from New York’s recent housing wins A path to better housing policy in one of our most expensive cities

what I'm reading today...

1. lessons [for Chicago?] from the New York City election, specifically the referenda to update the city charter to make it easier to get new housing approved

citythatworks.substack.com/p/lessons-fr...

CTA to buy up to 150 hybrid buses with $121 million federal grant The Federal Transit Administration on Thursday announced $1.1 billion in awards through its Low or No Emission Grant Program.

Per @davidstruett.bsky.social @chicagocta.bsky.social is purchasing hybrid buses with federal grant money. Should NITA prioritize future capital $$$ on zero emissions vehicles or should other needs take priority—e.g., BRT, station/bus stop accessibility? chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...

Lessons from New York’s recent housing wins A path to better housing policy in one of our most expensive cities

Over at A City That Works, I took a look at what Chicago (and other cities) can learn from New York's effort to speed housing development and weaken aldermanic prerogative. citythatworks.substack.com/p/lessons-fr...

"CTA keeps using federal funding to pay debt service, which negatively impacts the agency's ability to execute new projects. By the way, we're going to add another $1.5 billion in debt over the next five years, but don't worry, we'll pay it back with federal funding."

Also how many in this town have evaluated every Super Bowl result since ‘85

To the charge that it doesn't fit in: I don't think it's supposed to. Sometimes we should add new idiosyncratic, monumental buildings/spaces

Oh this would be fun

Budget Season 2026: the good, the bad, and the ugly Some thoughts on the first - but certainly not last - draft of next year’s City Budget.

Over at A City That Works, Conor's got a great new piece looking at the Mayor's new budget proposal: citythatworks.substack.com/p/budget-sea...

The good news is that a new workforce allocation study *could* shift the Department's approach to provide more coverage, and consistent community-oriented policing in the neighborhoods that need it most. Much more at the link: t.co/QkWiwYkOqC

This is only the tip of the iceberg - less tenured officers work the most violent parts of the city. CPD also understaffs districts during the most violent hours of the night, and doesn't give officers consistent supervision or support. That also makes accountability and oversight harder. (3/4)

In fact, the safest North Side police district (the 20th District, which covers Uptown and Lincoln Square), has *17 times* more officers per homicide than the South Side's 3rd District, which covers Grand Crossing. (2/4)

Put police officers where the violence is The promise of CPD’s workforce allocation study

Over at A City That Works: Police are far more effective when deployed to the hotspots where violence is most likely to occur. But Chicago's deployments are heavily skewed towards the least-violent parts of the city. (1/4) citythatworks.substack.com/p/put-police...

And a full blown @chicagocta.bsky.social meltdown getting out, sadly.

The Suburban Case for Transit Reform Trips don’t end at the city limits, so why do our transit agencies?

Chicagoland’s transit agencies can’t afford to go it alone. Real reform means Metra, Pace, and CTA working together, with unified planning, fares, and goals, to build a system that truly serves the whole region. 🚇 🚂 🚍

citythatworks.substack.com/p/the-suburb...

Responding to the Trump Administration's assault on Chicago Don’t give a bully the fight he wants

Wrote about the Trump administration’s power grab unfolding in Chicago, and the most effective tools we have to respond.

The Suburban Case for Transit Reform Trips don’t end at the city limits, so why do our transit agencies?

Humpty Dumpty keeps falling off the wall, and while we’ve gotten very efficient at putting him back together each time, it’s time to start thinking about the wall as the real problem.

New from me on A City That Works: The Suburban Case for Transit Reform

In Minneapolis’s downtown, development must be 10 stories tall with a 4.0 FAR, while different transit-adjacent areas have minimum heights ranging from 2 to 10 stories. This policy has come into play a couple of times in the past few years. For example, in 2023, a developer wanted to build a seven-story, 135-unit building next to Minneapolis’s Prospect Park Green Line stop. However, the lot was zoned for a 10-story height minimum and city staff refused to grant a variance for a seven-story building. The development was rejected, and no new construction has occurred on the lot.

IMO @zyudhishthu.bsky.social nails it on mandatory minimum densities: you CAN do them right, but the benefits are so minimal & the risks so inevitable that they're not worth the trouble pencillingout.substack.com/p/can-we-boo...

There is only one good ADU bill Chicago struggles with the basics of better housing policy

City That Works author Richard Day is out with a great write-up of the current accessory dwelling unit (ADU) situation. 🏘️

His conclusion is alarming: Ald. Quinn's ADU ordinance will kill ADU construction citywide, even in current ADU pilot areas. 😠

citythatworks.substack.com/p/there-is-o...

Anyway, we've got the best comment section in town.

Solving Chicago's lead pipe problem Better answers for one of the city's most difficult challenges

Over at A City That Works: Harjas Sandhu has a great piece breaking down Chicago's lead pipe problem. And I think it may have already helped trigger a City Council hearing next week?

citythatworks.substack.com/p/solving-ch...

The Northern Illinois Transit Authority is a good idea A solid compromise on a challenging problem

A good new post about NITA in A City That Works today: citythatworks.substack.com/p/the-northe...

Come on out!

The design is still a customer experience nightmare, but at least it’s more than twice as expensive now than it was four years ago

It’s a really fun piece. airmail.news/issues/2025-...

Map Description: Housing Units Permitted per 1,000 Residents by State, 2024 This choropleth map of the United States displays housing permit rates across all 50 states using a color scale from dark red (lowest) to dark green (highest). The national median is 4.23 units per 1,000 residents. Highest permit rates (dark green, 7+ units/1,000): Idaho: 8.97 (highest) South Carolina: 8.78 North Carolina: 8.76 Florida: 7.67 Texas: 7.4 Above-average rates (medium green, 5-7 units/1,000): Arizona: 8.02 Nevada: 6.99 Colorado: 6.55 Tennessee: 6.3 Georgia: 6.2 Utah: 6.26 Montana: 5.48 Nebraska: 5.3 Near median (light green/beige, 3-5 units/1,000): Most states fall in this range, including Washington (4.84), Montana (4.74), Wisconsin (4.03), and others scattered across regions. Below average (orange/light red, 2-3 units/1,000): Michigan: 2.17 Pennsylvania: 2.37 California: 2.61 New York: 2.38 And several others primarily in the Northeast and Midwest Lowest rates (dark red, under 2 units/1,000): Alaska: 1.41 (lowest) Illinois: 1.62 Massachusetts: 1.64 Pennsylvania: 1.91 The map reveals that southern and western states generally have higher housing permit rates, while northeastern and some midwestern states have lower rates relative to their populations.

In 2024, Illinois was almost dead-last for new housing permits on a per capita basis

It seems like every week I see Chicago reject more residents and lower property taxes by saying no to development. Would hope for more from 1st ward @aldermanlaspata.bsky.social