Alex Nitkin

These hearings were required under the ordinance negotiated last year by alders — part of the same deal that required more robust reporting from the City Council Office of Financial Analysis
bsky.app/profile/did:...

New: for the first time in memory, the City Council is going to hold an entire round of PRELIMINARY public budget hearings in September, before the mayor releases a proposal.
Check the schedule:

But if you think cutting vacancies would be a good way to control spending, consider that many of those same departments dished 100s of millions in overtime pay last year!
This is organized labor's argument against layoffs: they'd end up costing the city more through increased overtime.

Check this chart of "carryover vacancies," ie full-time positions the city keeps on its spending ledger that went unfilled for a full year from 1/1/24-1/1/25.
CPD, the city's largest department by far, leads with nearly 800 chronic vacancies.

The newly beefed-up City Council Office of Financial Analysis quietly dropped its mid-year budget report last week, including a 1st-ever report on city employee vacancies by department.
chicago.gov/content/dam/...
Should be of interest to anyone advocating cuts over new taxes!

The infamous Evanston Brothel Law!
dailynorthwestern.com/2021/10/18/c...

In 2016, as Chicago mayor, Emanuel banned city employees from making most trips at the city’s expense to North Carolina, which banned trans people from using the bathroom that aligned with their gender.

He also backed an ordinance blocking any Chicago business from imposing similar bans.

I’ll be talking about the ordinance to allow citywide construction of ADUs, which just advanced out of the City Council Zoning Committee in a 13-7 vote

Mayor to force a vote next week on legalizing ADUs citywide, Fran Spielman reports.
chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/20...
Letting people build backyard coach houses would represent an "attack by the mayor’s office on the bungalow belt," says Ald. Marty Quinn (13th).

A Solution To Chicago’s Housing Crisis? Podcast Episode · Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons · 06/24/2025 · 26m

Thanks @wbez.org for having me on Reset yesterday to talk ADUs! Take a listen:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

(4/4)
So I hope that as Craig looks back on his extraordinary 42-year career pursuing and exposing truth at WBBM, he remembers the enduring impact he's made on generations of reporters.
And I hope he has a relaxed and fulfilling retirement for the next 42 years. He's earned it.

(3/4)
I — and untold others who have sat in that room — learned from Craig that journalism should lead with empathy and humanity. He's been THE model for unflappable professionalism, calm amid chaos, taking your work seriously without taking yourself too seriously.

(2/4)
But that's Craig's superpower. Newsrooms shrink, role models fail, beat reporters get younger, and somehow this man just becomes kinder. More curious. More open-minded and in love with the world.
I truly never understood it. But it made me better!

🧵(1/4)
I remember walking into the City Hall press room at age 26 on my first day on the beat and being floored by the sheer force of Craig's kindness and sincerity. Like...veteran journalists are not supposed to act like this! Who did this guy think he was??

“This will be a blanket approval … it will allow two-flats to become three-flats, three to become four and four to become five,” said then-Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th), who represented the city’s Bridgeport and Chinatown neighborhoods. “If someone wants to change a two-flat to a three-flat, in my ward, we do a community meeting. All of my neighbors — the community comes out and has participation. Not a bureaucrat at City Hall making a decision for my community.” “This will be a blanket approval … it will allow two-flats to become three-flats, three to become four and four to become five,” said then-Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th), who represented the city’s Bridgeport and Chinatown neighborhoods. “If someone wants to change a two-flat to a three-flat, in my ward, we do a community meeting. All of my neighbors — the community comes out and has participation. Not a bureaucrat at City Hall making a decision for my community.” via https://illinoisanswers.org/2025/05/27/granny-flats-are-illegal-to-build-in-most-of-chicago-and-political-gridlock-is-keeping-it-that-way/

WBEZ Reset host right now:

*WHY does there need to be a community meeting for a homeowner to add a unit??*

(they are talking about ADUs, and referred to this statement in @alexnitkin.bsky.social's recent article)

Requiring a special use permit (ZBA approval) to build an ADU in an RS-1 or RS-2 zone.

Chicago might end up being superseded by state legislators, who are considering a bill that would prohibit cities from banning ADUs. The bill is backed by Illinois Realtors and Gov. JB Pritzker has signaled support.
ilga.gov/legislation/...
(6/6)

Also getting in the way of ADU legalization: Chicago is 2 years into negotiations with @HUDgov over aldermanic prerogative, which fed officials ruled in 2023 effectuates racial segregation.
City attorneys say Lawson's compromise ordinance could weaken the city's position.
(5/6)

Ald. Bennett Lawson last year pitched a compromise ordinance to legalize ADUs citywide, but with some additional regulations in low-density neighborhoods.
Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration is blocking it, insisting on by-right citywide legalization.
Stalemate remains in place.
(4/6)

The Chicago City Council isn't sold on ADUs. Alders' main objection: allowing new homes by right would run afoul of "aldermanic prerogative," the unwritten rule that council members should have veto power over any new development in their own ward.
(3/6)

Other cities have shown that Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) — a term used to describe coach houses and unused basement spaces converted into garden apartments — can open up affordable, unsubsidized housing options in rich neighborhoods.
(2/6)

Here's my story, on an affordable housing tool nearly everyone seems to agree is a good idea, but that the Chicago City Council and (so far) state legislators can't manage to push forward:
t.co/YDh0XBRHiP
(1/6)

Detours and Dead Ends on the Path to Opportunity

In awe of this important, ambitious project — a collab between
@illinoisanswers.bsky.social and @southsideweekly.bsky.social — and proud of the small part I got to play in it:
makingitinchicago.illinoisanswers.org
Please check it out today.

'Granny flats' are illegal to build in most of Chicago —and political gridlock is keeping it that way. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) or "granny flats" are illegal to build in most of Chicago, but a pilot program allowing them in some areas showed promising results. City officials are divided over the...

This article about ADUs in Chicago by @alexnitkin.bsky.social does the best at tying together all of the “blockers” to citywide expansion. illinoisanswers.org/2025/05/27/g...

Officials in @mayorofchicago.bsky.social's administration rejected the ordinance but agreed to fund 3 more staffers for COFA, more than doubling its size. Now all eyes are on the tiny office to see how big a role it can play to help the city close its likely $1B+ budget gap...
(5/5)

Last year, about a half-dozen alders led by @andrefor40th.bsky.social pushed an ordinance to set a mandatory budget floor under COFA and require departmental budget requests to be sent their way.
chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/Matter/?matt...
(4/5)

COFA was supposed to be Chicago's version of the NYC Independent Budget Office, which has 50 full-time staffers and pumps out dozens of reports each year.
ibo.nyc.gov/content/
Instead, COFA has rarely had more than 2 staffers and its work has been uneven at best.
(3/5)

Alders including Ameya Pawar created the City Council Office of Financial Analysis (COFA) back in 2013 so they could have an independent check on financial projections coming out of the mayor's office (and prevent another Parking Meter Deal).
(2/5)

New from me: An obscure, perennially resource-starved oversight office is set to take center stage in the Chicago City Council's effort to wrest more control over the city budget-making process.
They face a mighty task.
(1/5)

Quiet Use of Bonuses for City Council Aides on the Rise Alderpeople defend the practice, saying the aides deserve the extra money for their hard work, but critics decry the process as arbitrary.

Folks neck deep in Chicago politics Twitter might remember screenshots of the city's salary database a few months ago seemed to show a bunch of aldermanic staffers earning more than the mayor. @alexnitkin.bsky.social dug in and found an opaque bonus system: illinoisanswers.org/2025/04/14/c...