Alderman Laurino Calls for Crack Down on Illegal Use of Handicapped Parking Placards and Plates
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(November 16) Following publication of a Chicago Sun-Times series that uncovered widespread illegal use of state-issued disabled placard and plates within the City Limits by non-disabled motorists, Alderman Margaret Laurino (39th) today called for hearings to examine the implementation of steeper fines and more stringent enforcement by police.
By fraudulently using disabled placards and plates, scofflaws were able to park for free at metered parking spots and gain access to prime parking spaces in congested areas of the City, according to the series.
"Drivers who illegally park in these spots are not only breaking the law, they are also abusing disabled residents by denying them designated locations near important entrances," Ald. Laurino said. "This measure will not only help rectify abuse of the law but also ensure easy access by disabled residents to important services at hospitals, clinics, grocery stores and government offices."
Alderman Laurino, the Chairman of the Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, said that she introduced a resolution today which calls for hearings into the matter. The resolution calls on Karen Tamley, the Commissioner of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, to testify regarding her recommendations to curb the abuses. Representatives from the Chicago Police Department would also be called to testify regarding implementing steeper fines and stricter enforcement.
The series reported that the City of Chicago issued approximately only a dozen tickets annually to such scofflaws between 2006 and 2010, and that the number of citations increased to 155 tickets in 2011.
Currently, individuals caught using disabled placards or license plates without the holder present in the present in the vehicle face a $500 fine and a 30-day license suspension.
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Chicago City Council Bans Texting While Bicycling
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Chicago Tribune
Chicago City Council bans texting while bicycling
By John Byrne Clout Street
12:34 p.m. CDT, October 5, 2011
Bicyclists soon will face the same restrictions against texting while riding in Chicago as motorists do while behind the wheel.
The City Council today passed an ordinance prohibiting bicyclists from texting while moving. They also cannot make cell phone calls unless using a hands-free device under an ordinance that passed the council without dissent. The ban will go into effect next month.
Fines will start at $20 for a first offense and go up to $100 for a third or subsequent violation. If an accident is involved, the fine could shoot up to $500.
Sponsoring Ald. Margaret Laurino, 39th, said the issue is a matter of fairness as well as safety, since motorists already are prohibited from texting and making calls with hand-held devices in Chicago.
Copyright 2011, Chicago Tribune
City Council Panel Extends Texting and Cell Phone Ban to Bicyclists
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Chicago Sun-Times
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com October 3, 2011 2:42PM
Chicago aldermen agreed Monday to "level the playing field" between bicycle riders and motorists by banning texting and talking on a cell phone without a hands-free device while riding.
The watered-down ordinance, approved by the City Council's Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, includes a graduated scale of fines from $20 to $50 for the first offense to $75 to $100 for three or more violations and up to $500 if the violation coincides with a traffic accident.
Committee Chairman Marge Laurino (39th) acknowledged that the ordinance she championed would be difficult to enforce.
But, she argued that it's high-time bike riders abide by the same rules of the road that motorists have been following for years.
"We are just trying to level the playing field," Laurino said.
She added, "I've actually seen people riding and texting with both hands. I'm not quite sure how they do that."
Matthew Tobias, the Chicago Police Department's deputy chief of Area 3 patrol, said he has no intention of bringing the hammer down on Chicago's growing number of bike riders.
"The goal is not to have a lot of enforcement. It's for people to be safe," Tobias said.
"What we're gonna do is try education as our primary means. We have bicycle ambassadors. We have bicycle patrol units. All those things will help."
What happens if fliers and warning notices don't work? Will Chicago Police officers engage in bike chases?
"We'll stop him like we would stop anybody else in a safe manner. We have bicycle patrol officers also. We would just do it the best we can while keeping everybody safe," Tobias said.
The Active Transportation Alliance has expressed concern that the "rarely enforced" ban on texting and talking on a cell phone while driving will get even less attention from already inundated Chicago Police officers once the bike ordinance takes effect.
Tobias countered, "I can assure you that's not gonna happen. The enforcement of texting while driving and talking on a cell phone has risen every single year since that was passed"from 2,577 administrative violations in 2008 to 10,920 in 2009 and 19,701 last year.
Last year, there were more than 1,600 crashes involving bicycles. Five people were killed, according to Deputy Transportation Commissioner Luann Hamilton.
"Distracted cyclists can get in the way of other road users, leading to situations that can result in crashes involving motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. Distracted cyclists can put themselves in harm's way and, in a crash, cyclists can cause serious harm to pedestrians," Hamilton said.
"As bicyclists are road users with the same rights and duties as drivers, bicyclists should operate under the same restrictions."
The crackdown comes as the city prepares to offer 3,000 bicycles for rent at 300 stations by next summer and continues to follow through on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's promise to install 100 miles of protected bike lanes over the next four years.
2011 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
Chicago Urged to Become Hub for Emerging Biofuel Industry Job Growth
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(May 12, 2010) Chicago would seek to become the epicenter of a breakthrough technology hailed as the future of alternative biofuels under a resolution introduced today by Aldermen Margaret Laurino (39th), Edward M. Burke (14th), and Virginia Rugai (19th).
The measure calls for city officials to examine ways for Chicago to create incentives to lure companies that would produce biofuels made from a host of "agricultural left-overs," such as grass and the inedible parts of plants.
The so-called "grassoline" biofuel is being touted as the newest alternative to corn-based ethanol. In addition, major companies such as BP, Verenium, DuPont and Iogen have already pledged millions of dollars to joint ventures committed to the emerging product's development and commercialization.
Locating such emerging "green movement" companies in Chicago would create jobs for local residents. The success of the new biofuel would also reduce America's reliance on corn and soybeans to produce ethanol, a practice which competes with the food supply and raises consumer prices.
"Grassoline appears to be the future of biofuel technology and acting now to develop incentives to convince such companies to locate in Chicago could pay big dividends in the long term for our city's employment base," Alderman Laurino said.
"The City of Chicago's geographic location as a transportation hub in the heart of the U. S. agricultural belt makes it an attractive setting for this next generation of biofuels which rely upon plant waste," Alderman Burke added.
"Chicago is well positioned to court such companies and if we are successful, it would also enhance Chicago's reputation as a City which prided itself on exploring green initiatives," Alderman Rugai said.
The measure calls for hearings to be held on the proposal before a Joint Committee of Energy, Environmental Protection & Public Utilities and the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development.
City Council Passes TIF Sunshine Ordinance
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City Council Passes TIF Sunshine Ordinance
The TIF Sunshine Ordinance passed Chairman Margaret Laurino's Committee on Economic, Capital, and Technology Development and the full City Council on April 22, 2009. Chairman Laurino's revised ordinance requires that the city's Department of Community Development post detailed information about each of the city's tax increment finance (TIF) districts on their website by July 30, 2009.
"Although media accounts would lead people to think this was a controversial measure, passage of this ordinance was never in doubt," said Chairman Laurino. "Most of this information is currently available online, but it is often difficult to locate. The new site will present information about TIFs in an easily accessible and comprehensive format."
For the past several weeks, staff from the Department of Community Development worked diligently to develop a prototype for the new site. Many thanks to them, as well as Chairman Laurino's Committee staff and the staff from the Committee on Finance, for their hard work and dedication to allow the City Council to move this ordinance forward.
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City Examines Stripping Social Security Numbers from its Database to Reduce Risk of Identity Theft
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(July 30, 2008) Chicago Aldermen Margaret Laurino (39th) and Edward M. Burke (14th) today introduced legislation that call upon city officials to examine ways to stop using social security numbers for record-keeping purposes and replace them with "unique employee identification numbers."
The proposal aims to reduce the risk that municipal records, which currently contain sensitive personal data, could be compromised by criminals and used for the purpose of identity theft.
According to a resolution introduced by the aldermen, "A person's Social Security number acts as a skeleton key, providing information on his/her credit rating, employment history, and criminal history."
The City of Chicago already uses a unique employee identification number on employee paychecks and on certain health insurance cards, a practice that should be expanded, the aldermen said.
Elsewhere in the nation, some private entities, such as health insurance companies, have already stopped using social security numbers to identify their clients. For example, Pennsylvania-based Highmark, Inc. and independent licensee of Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Inc. has successfully transitioned twenty-three million members to using unique numerical identifiers in lieu of Social Security numbers.
The Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 8.3 million Americans have become the victims of identity theft. Fraud involving identity theft can take many forms, ranging from opening a new credit card to falsely obtaining medical services. It is estimated that identity theft has cost businesses and victims over fifty billion dollars in lost revenue to date.
Federal legislation adopted in 2004 prohibits states from displaying social security numbers on drivers' licenses, state identification cards or motor vehicle registration cards. But more needs to be accomplished.
"The time has come for local government agencies to assess what they can do to make their records safer," Alderman Laurino said.
"While it may be a large and complex task, it would be prudent for the City of Chicago to study ways to remove social security numbers from our municipality's database or to at least begin the process of reducing our reliance on this extremely sensitive personal data, " Alderman Burke said.
Statement of Alderman Laurino, Chicago Children's Museum
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Chicago Children's Museum
Statement of Alderman Margaret Laurino, 39th Ward
In the City Council, Aldermen often have to vote on controversial matters. Recently, we were asked to consider the relocation of the Chicago Children's Museum from its current location at Navy Pier to a new location replacing the Daley Bicentennial Plaza at Grant Park.
Proponents of the Chicago Children's Museum move said the new site was the only location that would offer a centralized location, convenient to public transportation and parking, and accessible to open green space. Opponents claimed that moving the museum would violate the open, clean and free standards of Grant Park.
I appreciate the hundreds of 39th Ward residents who contacted my office expressing their views, both in favor of and opposed to the move to Daley Bicentennial Plaza. This became a very emotional issue, with both the proponents and opponents presented good arguments expressing their point of view. In considering my vote, I weighed both sides of the issue. After careful deliberation, I decided to support the move of the Chicago Children's Museum to Daley Bicentennial Plaza.
In my view, the most troublesome rhetoric surrounding this issue was the suggestion that the Chicago Children's Museum would be built on open park land, both reducing green space and violating longstanding open space precedents in Grant Park.
This is not the case. The Chicago Children's Museum would replace an existing structure, the Daley Bicentennial Plaza fieldhouse and entrance to the Monroe parking garage. The new Chicago Children's Museum will add significant green space to the park by removing the existing concrete plaza presently at the location.
The museum will be built with private philanthropic and corporate funds. No tax dollars will be used for the construction of the museum. In addition, the museum will build a new park fieldhouse, replacing the outdated structure currently in the park, and will donate the fieldhouse to the Park District. Again, this will be built without using tax dollars. The Chicago Park District will continue to own the land and will lease it to the Chicago Children's Museum.
More than 6,800 school children from the 39th Ward have visited and benefited from programming at the Chicago Children's Museum. The new location will allow the museum to better serve even more children from the 39th Ward, all Chicago neighborhoods, and families visiting our great city.
Chicago Sun Times" Chicago Has Solution in the Bag
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City has solution in the bag
Chicago Sun-Times Commentary
April 25, 2008
When it comes to attacking the problem of plastic shopping bags, Chicago is thinking small.
And that's not a bad thing.
Chicago officials could try to ban the environmental pests -- produced by the billions each year -- as San Francisco has.
Or tax them nearly out of existence, as in Ireland.
But Chicago isn't San Francisco. And heaven knows, we're taxed enough. So after much discussion with business and environmental groups, City Hall has come up with a more modest proposal, to be considered by the City Council next month.
The plan calls for grocery stores and pharmacies to provide bins for customers to drop off their plastic bags for recycling and also to sell reusable bags, such as those trendy canvas sacks.
Some environmentalists want Chicago to do more, and Ald. Margaret Laurino (39th), who is co-sponsoring the measure with Ald. Ed Burke (14th), stresses this is just a first step. The idea is to get people in the habit of recycling their plastic bags at a place they routinely visit.
That's smart. Make it convenient, and people will get on board.
Some large stores already offer the bins. Mom-and-pop shops, under the plan, would be allowed more time to get with the program.
It's nothing radical, just a nudge in the right direction that can make the Earth a little cleaner, our lives a bit brighter.
Chicago Tribune Editorial: Recycle plastic? Fantastic.
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Chicago Tribune
Editorial
Recycle plastic? Fantastic.
February 25, 2008
In recent years, a number of countries and U.S. cities have moved to curtail the use of disposable plastic bags. The hundreds of billions of bags used annually worldwide cause environmental mischief. Marine animals mistake them for food and then suffocate or starve to death. Sea turtles mistake them for jellyfish, their primary food source. In 2002, a whale that washed ashore on a Normandy beach had an 800-kilogram knot of plastic in its stomach.
Chicago Ald. Margaret Laurino (39th) and Edward Burke (14th) have sponsored an ordinance that would require chains with five or more large stores -- at least 5,000 square feet -- to have easily accessible recycling bins for their bags. The stores would be required to sell reusable bags, such as cloth sacks.
Many grocery chains already do this. The ordinance sounds reasonable and is preferable to a city ban on plastic bags. Most grocery stores sell reusable bags for a nominal fee -- often $1. Options abound at various prices: canvas, linen, bamboo, lightweight nylon.
Designers are even getting into the act. Those focused on convenience can buy bags that fold into a pouch small enough to fit in a coat pocket, glove compartment or handbag. Many reusable bags can carry more content than the standard plastic bags. Fewer bags of groceries equal fewer trips to the car to unload after a shopping trip.
The plastic bags are still convenient, and a lot of people reuse them around the house. But if you're not reusing them, try to recycle them at the grocery store. (You can take dry-cleaning and newspaper bags too.) It's precisely the attributes that make plastic bags convenient -- their virtual weightlessness and their compactness -- that make them easy to carry to recycle.
Plastic never biodegrades -- meaning its waste can do harm forever. Using less plastic is best, and recycling is a good way to dispose of the plastic you do use. The proposed city ordinance would encourage that.
Copyright 2008, Chicago Tribune
Chicago's Food Deserts
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CBS 2 Chicago
City's 'Food Deserts' Can Lead To Big Health Risks
Many Minority Communities Have No Easy Access To Fresh Food In Chicago
February 20, 2008
Reporting Diann Burns
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Many people in Chicago take for granted that they can run a quick errand and pick up fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhood. Half a million people here cannot do that because they live in what's called a "food desert" -- an isolated area with no major grocery stores, but a lot of fast food, on practically every corner.
To buy a single head of lettuce Delores Wedgeworth took two buses on a 45 minute ride each way, with a transfer.
"I think it's important for me to make the effort to go out of the neighborhood 'caise if I eat just fast food all week, I can tell, I'm sluggish, not, as they say, on the edge..." Wedgeworth said.
She is a working senior -- a teacher at a preschool.
"I jump, I climb. I'm not a spring chicken, but I have a lot of energy. I gotta fuel my body," she said.
CBS 2's Dianne Burns reports most of Chicago's food deserts are on the South and West sides, and almost all of them are predominantly African American.
A liquor store is at every turn in those food desserts, as well as a blinding array of fast food. Many people buy meals there, and at the gas station.
"If you live in these communities you're more likely to suffer from hypertension, diabetes, certain kinds of cancers, so it's very serious," said Mari Gallagher of MG Research and Consulting.
MG Research looked at all 18,000 blocks in the city. The study found that fresh fruits and vegetables are very difficult to find in food deserts because the major grocery stores fled the inner city.
"I'm embarrassed, outraged," said Congressman Bobby Rush. "You can buy French fries, but you can't buy fresh potatoes. You can get ketchup, but no tomatoes. Something is wrong with that."
Rep. Rush saw the trend firsthand in his First District, and pushed for lawmakers in Washington to acknowledge the food desert with a designation in the 2008 farm bill to help Chicago pay for solutions.
"It's not gonna happen overnight," said Ald. Margaret Laurino. "It's a real slow process. I feel we've brought enough people to the table that are committed to this project."
Ald. Laurino's city council committee every year puts together the grocery expo -- a report that offers a list of attractive properties for locations in the city where a grocery store could open, with perhaps a chance for success.
The city hopes to lure independent, medium-sized stores to the grocery deserts. With childhood obesity reaching the epidemic stage, time is critical. And studies show that healthy eating promotes better learning.
"It's shameful, it's again a death sentence to generations of people and it shouldn't be that way and it's got to stop," Rep. Rush said.
The Chicago City Council is also reaching out to a Pennsylvania group that helped tackle the food desert problem in Philadelphia. They will be conducting more research on what can be done here in Chicago.
( MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Legislation Passed to Curb Cyberstalking
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On January 9, 2008 the Chicago City Council passed legislation sponsored by Alderman Margaret Laurino (39th Ward) and Alderman Edward Burke (14th Ward) which expands the tools available to protect people from cyberstalking. Cyberstalking is defined in the legislation as harassing and threatening someone through electronic communication on at least two or more occasions.
In the wake of recent incidents of harmfu1 cyberstalking nationwide, the Chicago City Council has taken a proactive stance that such crimes will not be tolerated. The legislation imposes fines of up to $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for subsequent offenses as well as up to 90 days in jail or up to 1,500 hours of community service.
Illinois is one of forty-five states that have cyberstalking laws on the books and this city legislation broadens the options available to law enforcement officials and judges to punish this conduct.
As Chairman of the Chicago City Council's Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development, Alderman Margaret Laurino is concerned with making sure our city's legislation keeps up with technology. "As we heard from law enforcement officials from both the city and county at our committee hearing, this legislation gives us an additional tool to help fight crime and keep our citizens safe, particularly our children", said Alderman Laurino.
City Council Begins Live Video Streaming
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Live, from Chicago, it's the City Council
Chicago Sun-Times
September 27, 2007
By: Fran Spielman
Chicago has come a long way since the days when television cameras were not allowed to broadcast or record City Council meetings. In those days, it took an order from then-Finance Committee Chairman Tom Keane, introduced at each meeting, to let the cameras roll.
Fast forward more than three decades. After years of talk, City Council meetings will finally be televised live on the Internet, starting today.
Welcome to the 21st Century.
"I've got to check with my makeup artist," joked Ald. Pat O'Connor (40th).
"Speeches are probably gonna get about fifteen minutes longer. [Ald. Edward] Burke's history lessons will probably ramble on for hours," said Rules Committee Chairman Richard Mell (33rd).
3 CAMERAS FIXED ON SPEAKER
Ever since the city was wired for cable, there's been talk of televising Council meetings.
An ordinance authorizing the live streaming video on the Internet was approved by the City Council in January 2004.
It never happened, largely because of a heated debate about where to position the cameras.
Some aldermen complained that cameras free to pan the Council floor could paint an unflattering portrait of inattentive aldermen, aldermen who arrive fashionably late, wheel and deal on the Council floor or doze off during long-winded speeches.
"For guys like me who walk around a little bit, talk to people and do head-counts, my constituents might not see me in my chair all the time," O'Connor said.
To placate aldermen, cameras were installed at a cost of $100,000 in three locations. Each will be fixed on the speaker. No panning the floor for reaction shots from aldermen while colleagues are speaking. No shots of the audience. "It's not gonna be like it's on television. It's gonna be a very stilted version of what goes on in the City Council," O'Connor said.
The live video will be available on two Web sites: www.chicityclerk.com and www.committeeonfinance.org.
Copyright 2007 Chicago Sun-Times. All rights reserved.
Legislative Corner
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As Chairman of the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology
Development, Alderman Laurino not only looks after the needs of her
ward but also tackles citywide issues that affect quality of life for
all Chicagoans. She has been the driving force behind several key
pieces of legislation.
Alderman Laurino has worked
closely with Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th Ward) on
creating a wireless infrastructure that would allow ubiquitous,
citywide high speed internet access for Chicago residents. She chaired
four public hearings in communities around the city on this topic and
currently sits on the Mayor's Advisory Council on Closing the Digital
Divide. Significant progress has been made on this project in the past
year, with the city of Chicago issuing a Request for Proposals for
installation of the infrastructure. The City is expecting to evaluate
responses to the proposals in 2007.
Alderman Laurino
introduced an ordinance which would expand mandatory ethics training to
include all city employees on a yearly basis. In order to implement
such training at minimal cost, one of the innovative ideas included in
this ordinance is to make the training available as an online program.
This program was up and running by the end of 2006.
Again
partnering with Alderman Burke, Alderman Laurino sponsored legislation
that requires the City to have realtime webcasts of the Chicago City
Council meetings. Equipment will be installed in the City Council
Chambers, with the first live webcast expected in 2007.
Joining
with Alderman Manuel Flores (1st Ward), Alderman Laurino sponsored a
ground breaking ordinance that regulates restrictive covenants that are
placed on property once occupied by grocery and drug stores. In the
past grocery and drug stores would close and leave behind
anticompetitive covenants attached to their deeds, which prevented
other similar stores from occupying the property, even if the original
store had no intention of returning to the area. This new law is
thought to be the first of its kind and greatly limits the duration of
such restrictive covenants, enabling future development and hastening
the return of needed services to communities.
Recently
Alderman Laurino again joined with Alderman Flores to introduce a
resolution that called together various civic groups and industry
associations to shed light on the disparity in distribution of grocery
stores throughout the city. At her Committee meeting, Chairman Laurino
convened a Task Force, with member on both sides of this issue, to
provide recommendations that would help to alleviate this problem.
In
the coming year, Alderman Laurino is looking forward to further
advancing these and other economic and technological advances.
Task force pushes for grocery stores in every neighborhood
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Daily Southtown
By Jonathan Lipman
Chicago can do more to get grocery stores into neighborhoods that don't have
them, says a task force tackling the problem of "food access."
Some Chicago communities, such as West Lawn, have no neighborhood grocery
stores.
The southern half of the city has fewer grocers overall, business consultant
Mari Gallagher said. While there are pockets of problems on the Southwest Side, the problem is
worse in poor and minority communities to the east.
"It can be very difficult to buy healthy food, ... which is especially
troubling because of a lot of people living in these communities have high
blood pressure and other health needs," Gallagher said.
Aldermen began focusing on the issue last summer, when community groups such
as the West Lawn Chamber of Commerce pointed out many South Side residents
must travel north or to the suburbs to find a grocery store.
"If you want to bring fresh produce, fresh meats to communities ... we have
to look at some additional ways to help finance these projects," said task
force member David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants
Association.
Alds. Manuel Flores (1st) and Margaret Laurino (39th) last month created the
task force of community advocates, academics and industry representatives.
The group made its first report to Laurino's economic development committee
Monday.
The group applauded a city plan to hold a "grocery store expo" Feb. 14 that
will let grocers meet with city officials who hope to encourage investment
in new stores.
The planning department has invited established chains such as Jewel Food
Stores and Dominick's Finer Foods as well as companies that haven't opened
stores in Chicago yet, spokeswoman Constance Buscemi said.
Grocery store owners need financial help in some communities, Vite said,
suggesting Chicago use sales tax rebates that are popular incentives in some
suburbs. He also pressed for less regulation, a perennial complaint of store
owners in Chicago.
