2022 City Budget Hearings [Board of Ethics, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Civilian Office of Police Accountability, Department of Public Health]

City Council has been in the groove and running late all week: https://twitter.com/ahmad_sayles/status/1442863157375012867?s=20

9:40 it starts!

https://twitter.com/TheChrisGentry_/status/1443585722645053442?s=20

There’s only one person signed up for public comment, who is urging the city to hire African American contractors in the new Office of Violence Prevention via the CDPH. There’s inequities in this $50 million program that haven’t been addressed yet.

Executive Director of the Board of Ethics, Steve Berlin, is now giving a presentation on his agency. In this city of crooky politicians, he says, “The way to prevent ethical breaches is to encourage memebers to seek confidential ethics opinions before making a decision/acting.”

The Board of Ethics publishes their formal opinions on their website with confidential details redacted for educational purposes.

The ald. are addressing Berlin with questions and comments. Most thank him for being responsive and keeping them on the straight and narrow path, but some alders are asking about lobbying rules and clarification. Ald. Raymond Lopez asks about the Revolving Door rules.

You can look up registered lobbyists on the Board of Ethics website here: https://webapps1.chicago.gov/elf/public_search.html
The Board investigates and posts info on unregistered lobbyists and former elected officials who make money in the private sector after leaving office.

One alder asks Berlin what the definition of a lobbyist is. He cites the code where you can find the city’s definition and says, “the short answer is there’s no short answer.”
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/ethics/supp_info/lobbyist_definitions.html

Here’s the budget recommendation for the Board of Ethics https://t.co/K1mHAQXuB2

That’s it for the Board of Ethics budget hearing. Taking a 5 min break before the Cultural Affairs and Special Events hearing.

@ChicagoDCASE‘s commissioner Mark Kelly is presenting on the budget for the arts office. The budget is now restored to 90% of pre-pandemic budget. Next year priorities include equity and the expansion in the arts city wide with a particular focus on Invest South West.

Their budget mostly comes from the Hotel tax, hence losing 50% of their revenue because of the pandemic.

Kelly says that the office is getting $10 million from the City’s general budget and $26 million investment in arts and community.

Ald Thompson of Bridgeport addresses Kelly and highlights all the artists that live in his ward. Kelly responds that for the first time all 50 wards are receiving arts grants bc DCASE has broadened the definition of who can apply.

Kelly says that there are 15 television shows being filmed in Chicago right now worth over $750 million, providing 20 thousand mostly union jobs, with over 50% of the crews are BIPOC/female.

He mentions some breaking news: Common is expected to break ground on his south side studio any day now. Will be six studios. https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment-and-culture/2021/7/15/22578760/south-shore-film-studio-chicago-plan-commission-derek-dudley-the-chi-regal-mile-ventures

Ald Irvin addresses Kelly.

“Some of our best grant writers are not our best producers.”

He thinks there needs to be more input and oversight over the grant programs for arts in the parks and sites low attendance, no promotion sort of events.

The council members are talking about festivals and filming in certain neighborhoods. Chairwoman Pat Dowell just told a west side ald. “Yal don’t know anything about house music on the west side.”

Kelly says Cinespace is the largest studio in North America & that the film industry is redefining Chicago in the same way that Jordan did in the 90s. 🤯

He says @DCASE is working on making a direct pipeline for Chicago residents into trade & craft unions in the film industry.

DCASE is getting creating more tools and transparency to let residents know when filming is happening on their blocks. https://chi.streetsblog.org/2019/10/04/southwest-siders-want-action-on-cinespace-filming-that-blocks-transportation-access/

Ald Leslie Harriston says to @ChicagoDCASE, “I would have liked to have seen what we could have done if it wasn’t for COVID. Thanks for letting people feel a little more normal and being able to go out and enjoy some music and dancing this year.”

Like many many alderman before her, she echos that she wants to see more sollaboration between their office and her ward. She also wants to see DCASE support improv or acting.

Another alder asks if there are any plans to hire a new Chicago Cultural Historian?
A: No, no one can fill Tim Samuelso’s shoes. Samuelson has been instrumental in celebrating and protecting Chicago’s past for more than 25 years. https://chicago.suntimes.com/fran-spielman-show/2021/2/6/22267046/tim-samuelson-chicago-cultural-historian-retire-landmarks-garrick-theater-chess-records

Kelly mentions that his parting gift is an exhibit at the Cultural Center on the Chicago Fire, opening next week. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/fire_focus.html

Alderman Burnett is asking if DCASE can rearrange the way they hire Chicago cops to cover festivals? He says that during Riot Fest he got a phone call tip about a shooting about to happen, called the cops, and was told all the cops were at all the festivals. Wants something done.

42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly says that the relationship between DCASE and his office has deteriorated over the years. He tells a story about going to a afterhours party with a few DCASE workers who were speaking freely. He says that one worker mocked City Council’s budget…

…process, saying, “we don’t really care about it because we get all our money from the hotel tax.” Reilly asks Kelly, “How much are you requesting from the General Fund?”
A: “$10 million”
“Ok,” says Riley, “I hope you take city council more seriously.”

A lot of alders recognize that DCASE is the office that draws visitors to the city and are grateful for the revenue it brings, but are frustrated by a lack of communication.

“Butts in seats and heads in beds”

Ald Rossana Rodriguez asks for an update on DCASE’s Monuments Project advisory committee, which formed last year after protesters tried to tear down the Columbus statue were attacked by police. https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/02/17/city-lists-40-statues-that-could-be-problematic-for-public-review-including-5-of-abe-lincoln/

She asks this in anticipation for Indigenous People’s day, but there’s no update on the committee.

We’re on break til 2pm. Cue the DJ

Interim Chief Administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability Andrea Kersten is taking the stand to defend COPA’s budget hearing for @CHIdocumenters. Watch the live stream at https://livestream.com/accounts/28669066/events/8800236

Their budget is increasing by $1.5 million, mostly for new hires for the video unit. https://t.co/8RoZxmSQsm

COPA has seen an increase in complaints over the last two years. They sustain 44% of the allegations against the police.

Alderman Patrick Thompson (11th ward) asks what that number means?

Kersten responds “Chicago has had a police oversight committee for much of the last few decades, but have generally had 1-2% sustained allegations. This is a criticism of predecessor agencies that we were assigned to correct.”

“The 44% means that there’s more trust in what this agency does. Were proud of the fact that we have been able to approach every case w/ proper consideration.”

“We wanna have 100% of cases of the police acting right, right?” asks Thompson. He seems to not understand some basics.

Ald. Burnett surprisingly has nothing to say.

4 years into the life of the agency, they’re adding another deputy chief administrator to manage the more than 18,000 cases & 3 more supervisors.

They’re not going to meet their 6mo deadline for all cases, but hope to be able to speed along cases –> discipline of abusive cops.

For the past 4 yrs paralegals have been filing all your COPA FOIAs and video releases. COPA is now hiring 3 FOIA officers for their transparency unit.

They’re also adding more case liaisons. ‘Victims assistance’ are assigned as case liaisons. These people will be take a trauma informed approach to dealing with people seeking justice from police abuse and misconduct.

Ald. Harriston asks about the Policy, Research, and Analysis Division. Kersten says that this office makes policy recommendations to the Police Department and with direct derivatives from their investigations.

Do those recommendations ever include #defunding the cops?

COPA doesn’t want to be seen working too closely with CAPS (Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy), but is proud to work with the States Attorney and CPS.

Q: How does COPA prioritize cases?
A: This question came up a lot in the Anjanette Young case last year. There’s not necessarily a rubric, but there’s always robust conversation about cases when the public is looking to us.

Ald Ramirez Rosa asks how COPA is preparing for the Civilian Commission, which will convene local meetings and be charged with oversight and improving the level of trust between the community and the cops. Kersten says they’re excited. https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/07/21/city-council-approves-first-ever-civilian-led-commission-to-oversee-chicago-police-department/

60% of COPA complaint cases are still open. Cases often take 12, 18, 24 mo to close.

One ald who’s name I didn’t catch asked for the number of workers who have left COPA from 2019 to date? Kersten will follow up with the number.

The COPA budget hearing ended, and after a brief break, we’re moving on to the Department of Public Health with Commissioner Allison Arwady. She starts with stats about COVID, says the death rate has hovered around .1 to .2 per 100,000 deaths a day, it’s 6x higher nation wide.

Before COVID, life expectancy had been decreasing for all groups except white people.

Arwardy says that $86 million is being allocated to mental health services for 2022. It’s a huge increase that involves bringing health care outside of the clinic walls and directly to city residents. It will integrate mental health services into the 911 system.

One ald. says, “Mental health issues is the strain that won’t leave us.”

Arwardy says that $33 million of CDPH budget is going to cleaning up contaminated sites to address environmental threats to health. $47 million to remove lead paint hazards from homes to protect young children.

Ald Garza is addressing Arwardy. She says she met with the USEPA last week on their 10 yr air quality study and health report. The data is used in the health impact study that CDPH is currently conducting.

Arwady is talking about structural racism and how city policies affect health outcomes. I seriously feel like she’s 1 second away from saying that CPD is a racist institution. Despite the obvious statistics and numbers, nobody brought up racism in the prior discussion on COPA.

She says that Black Chicagoan’s live an average of 9.1 years less than white Chicagoans, which is just under the national average.

CDPH literally addresses every aspect of life in Chicago. In Arwady’s opening statement she talked about how housing access is a root cause of health determinants and that homelessness is a public health crisis.

here’s the budget for those interested. Personnel budgetary lines follow on the master doc. https://t.co/jzhFi6tvE6

Arwardy says that gun violence is the number 2 reason for the life expectancy gap by race in Chicago. Ald Mitts is asking about gun violence prevention through the CDPH.

38th Ward Ald Sposato says that he is not anti-vaxx or anti-mask while purporting to tell stats and ‘facts’ to Dr Arwady.

Arwady on mental health: If someone has a mental health crisis, where do we take them? To the emergency department. The DPH is making funding for more diversion centers so people don’t just end up on the street or in jail. This is a better way to address mental health needs.

Please bookmark this page!! Here is a list of mental health diversion centers. These places will never call the police on someone experiencing a mental health crisis, and use peer based model of care that rejects hospitalization and criminalization: https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=126349

These places are called #LivingRooms. The concept was developed by self identified mad people who organized for better ways to treat people in crisis or experiencing substance use issues, folks like the Icarus Project, the Fireweed Collective, and other anarchist projects.

Arwady says that on average there’s over 60,000 911 calls in Chicago that involve a mental health component. Teams of social workers are going out with ambulances in the next couple of years, Arwady mentions a national dedicated mental health crisis line to call unveiled in 2023.

In 2022, people will be able to call 211 for non emergency mental health care crises.

Ald Raymond Lopez is saying some truly heinous anti-homeless garbage, focusing on how his complaints against people living under the train in his ward go unresolved. His focus is not getting them housed, either, it’s getting them removed.

Arwady is plugging their new mental health website, which includes stories from real Chicagoans as a way to break the stigma around mental health, provide resources for things like substance use, and see on a map the closest clinic: https://mentalhealth.chicago.gov

Also, I feel my mental health waning 10.5 hours into this f*ccking meeting.

It’s over! Wow is all I can say. Check out Leon Downs’ notes on https://chicago.documenters.org/assignments/committee-on-budget-and-government-operations-2807/ for @CHIdocumenters for more coverage of today’s epic meeting. Thanks for following along, and remember to FOIA for that amazing playlist.