Three key items on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s progressive to-do list inched ever so slowly forward Wednesday despite opposition or parliamentary maneuvers aimed at derailing them.
The City Council held a public hearing on Johnson’s revised plan to raise the real estate transfer tax on high-end home sales to generate $100 million in annual revenue. That money would be used to combat homelessness.
Also, over objections from a handful of council members, mayoral allies succeeded in scheduling a special Friday meeting to approve a landmark ordinance eliminating the subminimum wage for tipped workers. The goal is to level the economic playing field for waitstaff working on the front lines of Chicago restaurants.
And without a word of debate, the council agreed to establish a “working group” to implement Johnson’s “Treatment Not Trauma” plan to reopen shuttered mental health clinics and create a non-police response system to handle mental health emergencies.
With a final report months away, the working group will buy Johnson time to find the money to honor his campaign promise to reopen mental health clinics as he struggles to resolve a burgeoning migrant crisis expected to cost the city $363 million by Dec. 31.
Familiar arguments for, against plan to help homeless Chicagoans
The public hearing on the “Bring Chicago Home” followed a now-familiar script.
The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and Building Owners and Managers Association warned the mayor’s plan would discourage global investors, impede development and union job creation, and shrink Chicago’s tax base at the worst possible time.
“We are already experiencing record vacancy rates and available sublease space downtown. The last thing the city needs is another setback to our recovery,” said Brad Tietz, vice president of government and strategy for the Chicagoland Chamber.
The plan would decrease the transaction tax on properties sold for under $1 million, raise it slightly for properties sold for $1 million to just under $1.5 million and quadruple it for sales of $1.5 million and above.
“Not only is the proposed increase an unreliable source of revenue, but if the proposal passes, Chicago will have the second-highest transfer tax compared to competitive cities,” Tietz said. “And many of the states that we are losing revenue to do not impose a transfer tax at all.”
BOMA Executive Director Farzin Parang noted the downtown vacancy rate for commercial office buildings is the highest in 75 years — enough to “fill 16 Willis Towers.”
Half of downtown office buildings are “in some stage of financial distress” having lost 40% to 80% of their value, Parang said.
Advocates for homeless people, and some who have been homeless themselves, argued housing is a “human right,” and Chicago is long overdue to create a dedicated funding source to combat the burgeoning problem. More than 68,000 Chicagoans live either on the streets, in shelters or “doubled-up” without homes of their own.
“Every day, they’re under the bridges. They’re under the viaducts. Living in tents. I call ’em doghouses because that’s what they look like to me. And that’s the way people are treated,” said Chicago resident Debra Murphy, who said she and her two children have been homeless before.
“I come home from work and everything I own is floating. And all my landlord says to me is, ‘Where’s my rent?’ I take my kids to their father until I can get on my feet. I work double [shifts], working a second job. Working another job. Working my ass off to get my kids back with me. To get a home for us. To pay one month’s rent and two months’ security. It is not easy out here. It’s a human right to have a home. It’s God’s given right to have a home. ... It could be your mother. I could be your mother.”
Final delay for phasing out lower minimum wage for tipped workers
Wednesday’s highlight was supposed to be the subminimum wage ordinance, but City Clerk Anna Valencia’s office failed to post public notice 48 hours in advance of the meeting, resulting in the delay until a special meeting set for 10:45 a.m. Friday.
A handful of council members argued against the special meeting. They called it a waste of taxpayers’ money and questioned why tipped workers — a group dominated by African American women — couldn’t wait a few more weeks for the higher wage to be approved. Chicago restaurants would get five years to absorb the 66% increase in labor costs.
Other members, like downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), accused Johnson of running roughshod over council rules to set the stage for Friday’s vote. Reilly argued because the matter was “not properly noticed” it could not be kicked to Friday.
Johnson ruled otherwise. Reilly appealed. The council voted 30-15 to sustain the mayor’s ruling.
The disputed ruling was reminiscent of what happened repeatedly over the last four years, when then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot routinely thumbed her nose at Roberts Rules of Order.
Afterward, Reilly kept his promise to introduce an ordinance paving the way for an Office of Legislative Counsel to serve the council.
“To me, parliamentary procedure is sacred. We need to stay within the boundaries of our own procedure,” Reilly said, and avoid “parliamentary gymnastics” that “contort the process.”
Instead, he added, “What we’re saying is, ‘Oops, we made a mistake, so let’s forget about the rules.’ ... How we went about getting there was wrong.”
The compromise approved by the Committee on Workforce Development calls for tipped workers — now paid $9.48 an hour — to receive 8% annual increases beginning July 1, until reaching 100% parity with the regular hourly minimum wage, currently $15.80, on July 1, 2028.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), Zoning Committee chair and Johnson’s floor leader, said the ordinance will give a raise to “some of the lowest-paid workers” in Chicago.
“These are mostly Black women. These are mostly Brown women who struggle to make ends meet,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) was incensed by complaints from colleagues that the special meeting was an inconvenience.
“Working people in Chicago are inconvenienced every day, and they’re asking us to protect workers,” Sigcho-Lopez said.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) , one of those who objected to Friday’s special meeting, sent all of the legislation introduced by Johnson to the Rules Committee. That will slow things down by requiring those items to be re-referred to the appropriate committee.
