40th Forward #184, March 17th 2023

There has truly been so much to cover this past week, and I know many of you are beginning your weekend of much needed celebration and rest, so I will share some articles covering the things that we helped moved through city council this week!

1) Safe Streets legislation - the Smart Streets, Plow the Streets, Complete Streets, and Bike Right of Access ordinances: https://chi.streetsblog.org/2023/03/15/smart-streets-complete-streets-ordinances-pass-plow-the-sidewalks-introduced/

2) The Human Services Labor Peace Agreement ordinance: https://news.wttw.com/2023/03/15/city-council-votes-41-2-ensure-nonprofit-employees-can-unionize-over-lightfoot-s

3) The Winnemac Improvement TIF Proposal:

At the March City Council hearing The Chicago Park District introduced legislation to appropriate two million dollars of Tax Increment Financing funds for improvements at Winnemac Park including baseball diamond turf infield and ball field improvements, field drainage improvements and field restoration, tennis court rehab and site paving and site improvements which may include lighting upgrades. These funds will be originating from the Western Avenue North TIF Fund. More details on the distribution of this funding can be found in the chart below. After being introduced, this legislation will be heard at the finance committee in April and then it will be officially passed in the April city council meeting.

Uses	Amount
Baseball diamond turf infield and ball field improvements	$1,000,000
Field drainage improvements and field restoration	$550,000
Tennis court rehab (2)	$175,000
Site paving and site improvements which may include lighting upgrades	$275,000
TOTAL	$2,000,000