The City Council met last Wednesday, February 9, for its monthly meeting and the result was business as usual. But yesterday, February 14, when an ad hoc committee and a roomful of engaged Chicagoans held a hearing in the same space, the result was a significant step forward for the...

The first City Council meeting of the year consisted almost entirely of routine matters -- resolutions, tributes, and appointments, with no debate... that is, until the closing moments. The topic at hand was affordable housing and the legislation to address the issue is known as the "Sweet Home...

The Chicago City Council last week handed Mayor Daley another victory when it voted overwhelmingly in favor of his proposed 2010 budget, handing him a perfect score. Of the 21 city budgets the mayor has proposed over the years, the City Council has approved each and every one of them...

For months, City Hall observers speculated about how our outgoing Mayor would respond to the City's yawning $650 million deficit. Would he confront the budget honestly and forthrightly, calling upon Chicagoans to make sacrifices, or would he "kick the can down the road" and paper over the deficit with short-term,...

Four weeks ago, after a long and contentious debate, Chicago's City Council voted unanimously to allow a zoning change for a Wal-Mart to open a store in Chicago's far south side Pullman neighborhood (making it the second Wal-Mart in the city, the first being in the west-side Austin area).

The City Council on Wednesday turned its attention once again to one of the most contentious issues it has faced in recent years -- Walmart's entry into Chicago's retail market.

Four years ago, a closely divided City Council voted to oppose a zoning change to allow a...

In most of my City Council reports, I've focused on the resolutions, ordinances, and orders introduced, debated, or voted upon at that monthly assembly. But another important step in the process is when the legislation is assigned to a City Council committee to be discussed and then sent back (or...

To the surprise of no one, the Chicago City Council Wednesday voted to create their own "legislative inspector general," a post designed to quiet critics who rightly challenged the City Council's decision twenty years ago to exempt itself from the purview of the city's existing inspector general.

I voted...

Welcome to the inaugural post of my City Council Report on Huffington Post! Several years ago, I began e-mailing to my 49th Ward constituents regular summaries of the Chicago City Council meetings. The reports have been well-received, and I've been encouraged to post them to a wider audience, including residents...

From Chicago's City Hall to the halls of Congress, important policy and spending decisions have been made for far too long by a handful of politicians behind closed doors working in concert with corporations and special interests. This old way of doing the public's business has bred anger and mistrust...